The Fate of Kratos

This is a very irrelevant wall of text, but since I'm using this more as a diary/library of my gaming thoughts, I may as well throw this on there too. Although, on the extreme off-chance someone besides myself is reading this, I should make it clear that SPOILAZ BE AHEAD BRAH.

Ok so, at the beginning and end of the first God of War Kratos is seen throwing himself from Mount Olympus; he's intending to end his own life since the "Gods have abandoned" him. Of course, before he hits his bald head on some rocks Athena pulls his ass back up and gives him some gold-plated swords. Which is nice. In any case, he ain't dead, but instead goes on to become the God of War and features in two more games.

So what's the deal then? Well, when God of War III hit and people finished it, there was talk of Kratos still being alive. To refresh our memory, here's what happens at the end of the game after the credits roll. As you can see there's a trail of blood leading to the edge of the cliff. This has lead a lot of people to -- wrongly, in my opinion -- deem that Kratos is still alive after thrusting a sword through his own belly.

This was Kratos' response when asked why fans think he's still alive

Essentially, I think people have missed the point of this cut scene and its meaning. To my mind the trail of blood leading to the cliff is to show that Kratos has truly gone full-circle. We were literally introduced to Kratos as he threw himself off a mountain in the first God of War, and now we're seeing him achieve this goal properly at the end of God of War III. It means the story is done and that what we initially saw of Kratos has come to pass.

It's a shame, then, that this message appears to have gone straight over the heads of most people I see posting comments online. In fact, it seems the meaning has been missed so much that Sony Santa Monica may use the lack of insight as an excuse to keep Kratos alive anyway. I firmly believe they wanted to move onto other things, or at the very least a different protagonist if another GoW-like game is to be made, but now since people seem unaware its pretty easy for them to pull Kratos back for a cynical fourth game. Oh well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of these games and would likely pre-order a Kratos-fronted GoW IV without hesitation, but to see a clear message at the end of GoW III that's supposed to highlight the whole series and signal the end only for it to be completely missed is a big shame.