Hey everyone, welcome to Mythology Explained. In preparation for the upcoming God of War game,
we’ve decided to deviate slightly from the structure we’ve used for our previous versus
videos - which, hitherto, have only featured either gods or heroes from, for lack of a better
word, ‘real’ mythologies - to bring a relatively newly minted pop culture character into the mix,
Kratos: the embodiment of rage, the incarnation of onslaught, whose rampage razed Olympus,
exterminated the gods, and reduced the land of Greece to a maelstrom of mayhem and chaos,
in which the forces of nature became unleashed upon the land,
unfettered and seething, as the divine powers keeping them in check were utterly extinguished.
Here’s how we’re going to structure this one: we’re going to start the comparison
off by discussing Thor. Following that, we’re going to discuss Kratos,
but for him, we’re going to take two approaches. The first approach will be to judge Kratos
only by his accomplishments in Norse territory, meaning only those of God of War 4.
The second approach will be to judge Kratos by his entire history,
both Norse and Greek, meaning every God of War game that’s been released to date.
This is going to make for an interesting comparison because Thor and Kratos have
many corresponding characteristics, paralleling each in a multitude of ways. Both of them are
overwhelmingly strong and formidable warriors, resolving virtually all of their problems
with brute strength. Both of them wield a signature devastating weapon - the Blades
of Chaos for Kratos and Mjolnir for Thor. Each of them leaves a wake of carnage wherever they go,
and neither of them, by god standards, are particularly cunning or magically adept - sure,
Thor has thunder and lightning at his beck and call, but his mastery of the magical arts pales
in comparison to many of the other gods. Also, Kratos and Thor are each the son of the king
of their respective pantheons, are both bastards, and are both only half-god: Kratos is half mortal,
and Thor is half-giant - though, to be fair, it seems like most of the Aesir are half-giant,
even Odin and his two brothers Vili and Ve. The two of them going head-to-head is truly the
ultimate strength versus strength smackdown. Not since God of War 3, when Kratos killed Hercules,
will he have faced off against a foe so similar to himself.
Let’s get into it.
Rippling with muscle, with a mane of red hair and an untamed red beard, Thor was the champion
of the Aesir, and there wasn’t a man or god stronger than him. His appetites were voracious,
insatiable, even, and he spent his days much like the Einherjar -the warriors selected by the
Valkyrie - did in the halls of Valhalla: feasting and fighting. His favourite activities were the
slaughtering of trolls and the destruction of giants, and when engaged in these, his eyes blazed
with a fiery glee; and his hammer, dripping with blood, struck killing blow after killing blow.
Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, was the most powerful weapon in all of Norse mythology,
and this isn’t conjecture, as it states as much in the Prose Edda. Forged by the dwarves, It was
of such strong make that it could withstand even Thor’s most violent moods, and more amazingly,
it always returned to the wielder’s hand whenever it was thrown. Undoubtedly,
this hammer was Thor’s most prized possession, but there were others precious to him too. Megingjard,
meaning “Belt of Strength, doubled his already prodigious strength, and he was never far from
his iron gloves, as he always wore them whenever the haft of his hammer was in his grasp.
It was said that the deeds of Thor were so numerous that even the very wise were unable to
recall everything he accomplished, so for the sake of this video, we’re going to restrict our scope
and focus only on the handful of stories that best highlight how powerful Thor was. First we’re going
to look at a smattering of miscellaneous feats, and then, in more detail, we’re going to look at
Thor’s duel with Hrungnir, the strongest giant, and at his duel against the Midgard Serpent.
In his visit to the stronghold of Utgarda-Loki, a giant chief, Thor was presented with a series
of challenges. He failed all of them, but this was because the circumstances of each were not as they
appeared. Though his own powers were technically inadequate, the real reason he failed was because
the challenges he attempted were impossible. First, he lost a drinking contest, but this
was because one end of the horn was in the ocean; so while he didn’t finish his drink, he drank so
deeply that he created the tides. Second, he lost a contest of strength, but this was because of a
magical deception. There was a huge cat, and Thor walked underneath it, put his hands on its belly,
and pressed upwards; but to his dismay, only one of the cat’s paws left the ground. In reality,
though, the cat was the Midgard Serpent, a monster so large it encircled the world,
and Thor lifted it so high that its colossal bulk nearly touched the sky.
Third, Thor lost a wrestling contest, but this was because his opponent’s victory was
inevitable for all those not blessed with immortality, which the Norse gods weren’t.
Thor was pitted against an old woman, but even she, old and frail looking as she was,
overpowered him, forcing him down to one knee; for her ancient appearance beguiled her true potency:
she was the personification of old age, so how Thor withstood her was thought an awe-inspiring
feat of strength and will; for he stayed on his feet a long time and was only brought to one knee.
Now for Thor’s two most impressive feats as they pertain to his abilities as a warrior.
Hrungnir was the strongest of the giants. He became drunk in Asgard, and once in this state,
there was no end to his boasting. This led to a confrontation between He and Thor,
who was bemused by Hrungnir having Odin’s countenance and not being dead on the floor, like
a giant in his midst usually would be. Hrungnir explained that there was no honour or renown to
be gained by killing a weaponless foe, so then and there, the situation didn’t reach a killing pitch.
But Hrungnir promptly departed, galloping with all the speed of the wind, and returned to the
land of the giants where he fetched his whetstone, a huge slab of stone with such heft that it could
only be wielded using both arms. Later, when the duel commenced, Thor and Hrungnir threw
their weapons at each other, and they collided in mid-flight. The whetstone split in two. One
half became the source of all the whetstones on earth, and the other-half pierced Thor’s head
and became lodged there. Thor’s hammer, despite the mid-air collision, wasn’t hit off course,
so it smashed into Hrungnir’s head and shattered the giant’s skull, killing him instantly.
Thor’s final fight was against his nemesis, the Midgard Serpent. They were fated to duel to the
death during Ragnarok, and this was exactly what happened. Thor ostensibly emerged as the winner,
but his victory was fleeting, for over the course of the fight he was covered
in such a copious amount of poison that he dropped dead after taking only nine steps.
With Thor’s heroics and highlights fleshed out, it’s time to turn our focus to Kratos,
focusing only on his Norse accomplishments until the final comparison.
In God of War 4, Kratos settles down and tries to lead a quiet life away from the
gods and their wicked ways. Unfortunately, what he gets is the exact opposite of what he wants.
He and his son become embroiled in a series of events that has all of Asgard
set against them. What starts off as a simple journey to honour his dead wife’s last wish
becomes a turbulent quest fraught with peril that spans the nine realms and, after a lengthy hiatus,
puts Kratos back in touch with his god-killing roots. Though disinclined to begin decimating
gods again, the will to survive and protect his son trumps his reluctance. Kratos kills three
gods over the course of the game. He kills Baldr, one of Odin’s sons, and he kills Magni and Modi,
both of Thor’s sons. Let’s look at each of these killings in turn, starting with Baldr.
In Norse mythology, Baldr was said to be the best of the Aesir, wise,
fair, and universally loved. He was so bright and beautiful that light seemed to
radiate from him. His speech was eloquent, his mind merciful, and his bearing regal.
Baldr’s mother, in an effort to protect her son from death, travelled all the realms and secured
oaths. Everything and everyone swore that they would not harm Baldr, making him invincible.
However, there was one exception: Baldr’s mother didn’t secure an oath from mistletoe,
thinking it too innocuous to be worth the effort, an oversight she would come to rue.
In the game Baldr is almost nothing like how he’s described in Norse mythology.
They make him rough and tattooed, nothing shining or splendid about him.
However, they do make him invulnerable, meaning Kratos can’t kill Baldr until he discovers by
accident Baldr’s one weakness, mistletoe, near the end of the story. Consequently, Kratos has to
defeat Baldr several times over the course of the game, as Baldr regenerates after each encounter.
Magni, meaning “Strong One”, and Modi, meaning “Angry-One”, ironically, are two of the gods
prophesied to survive Ragnarok. It was said they would inherit Their father’s hammer
and, with it, would usher in an era of peace and prosperity in the world that emerges from the fire
and flood of Ragnarok. Unfortunately, Norse mythology didn’t account for Kratos showing
up and turning everything on its head. First, Kratos fights Magni and Modi at the same time,
he defeats them and the exchange ends with Kratos burying his axe in Magni’s face. The second fight
has Kratos defeat Modi, despite being ambushed by him, and ends with Modi slinking away in defeat.
It isn’t until their third meeting, by which point Thor has beaten Modi black and blue for
his failures - that Modi finally dies. He’s already got one foot in the grave when Atreus,
Kratos’ son, finishes the job by sticking him with his dagger.
Now, with the accomplishments laid out, we can decide who would win.
If we exclude Kratos’ accomplishments in Greece, then I think it’s a wash.
Basically, we’re weighing the killing of three gods against Thor being the bane of giant-kind
for who knows how long. I feel like a case could be made for either.
While the fight looks as though it could go either way if the version of Kratos considered
only factors in his Norse accomplishments, our hypothetical battle becomes cut and
dried when Kratos’ time in Greece enters the equation. Basically, it all boils
down to a simple matter of deduction: Kratos killed Zeus; Zeus is more powerful than Thor;
Therefore, Kratos can kill Thor. And beyond killing a far more powerful foe in Zeus,
the totality of Kratos’ excising exploits completely eclipses those of Thor - I mean, Kratos
literally perpetrated single-handed genocide against the gods of an entire culture. What else
is there to say? His trophy room is unimpeachable: he’s got the taxidermied heads of the Greek Gods
and the Titans decorating the walls in there. At least Kratos made the getting-his-affairs-in-order
process easier for Thor: originally he needed to bequeath his estate so that it split three ways,
but thanks to Kratos, who killed off Magni and Modi, now all Thor has to do is pass everything
along to his sole surviving heir, his daughter, Thrud. Also, Kratos now has a Robin to his Batman.
His son Atreus is a demon with a bow and is growing more powerful by the day,
especially now that the cognitive dissonance of thinking he’s mortal isn’t causing his mind and
body to destroy themselves; so while Kratos fights Thor head on, Atreus is going to be lurking around
shooting arrows in Thor’s back and stunning him with lightning wolves.
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