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The 20-minute gameplay reveal for God of War Laufey puts a lot of focus on protagonist Faye’s new sword. And while we don’t yet know what the sword is called or where it originally came from, I’ve already got so many questions about the blade. Most pressing, I want to know how Faye’s new weapon will act as a thematic mirror for her, much as the Blades of Chaos and the Leviathan Axe acted as narrative reflections for Faye’s husband, Kratos. If I had to guess, I think Faye’s new sword is a reflection of her time as a schemer and that it will act as a catalyst for her coming to terms with the lingering machinations she left for her husband and son to deal with.
The God of War series has long used its trademark weapons as a means to provide a thematic blueprint for whoever wields them. The chains of the Blades of Chaos were originally burned to Kratos’ skin, for example, symbolically chaining him to his vengeance, rage, and servitude to the gods. Meanwhile, the Leviathan Axe returns to Kratos’ hand no matter how far it’s thrown, mimicking how Kratos’ past as a living weapon and a god of war keeps finding and catching up to him in the present, no matter how much he tries to distance himself from it.
So it stands to reason that developer Santa Monica Studio hasn’t just given Faye a random sword–it, too, likely is meant to reflect some sort of trauma or discomfort that Faye will be dealing with over the course of God of War Laufey. On its own, we don’t have much to work with–swords often symbolize power or leadership (like King Arthur’s Excalibur), but can also be symbols of courage or protection (like Link’s Master Sword). But there is some insight to be gleaned from how characters in the God of War Laufey gameplay reveal trailer talk about Faye’s sword, as well as how Faye has been characterized in the franchise up to this point.
What’s most telling–so far, anyway–is that the sword has a past or significance unknown to Faye. A kid saved by Faye tells her “that sword is more than you think it is,” and Begtse warns Faye, “You don’t know what you wield,” leading her to believe the Mongolian god of war is afraid of the sword and what it means to wield it. So just by using the sword, Faye is evidently participating in a legacy she hasn’t been clued into yet. Perhaps, by wielding the sword in the first place, she is even unknowingly fulfilling some prophecy or predestined journey as dictated by someone else. And if that is the case, then she’s being put on a path pretty much like how her husband and son were placed on a path by her.
As seen in 2018’s God of War and 2022’s God of War Ragnarök, Faye used her seer-like Frost Giant abilities to look into the future and then put certain events into motion so that Kratos and Atreus travel to Jötunheim and discover the destiny of Loki, which also causes the lead-up to Fimbulvetr (and subsequently, Ragnarök) to happen early. All of this is in service of going against the Giants’ original prophecy that Kratos would die in Ragnarök, and Faye hoped that by putting her own plan into motion, her husband and son could carve their own destinies and survive the final showdown with Odin.
Faye doesn’t tell her husband or son any of this, and her secrecy becomes a point of strife for Kratos and Atreus, especially during the events of God of War Ragnarök, as the duo can’t tell where Faye’s machinations begin and end, and her decision to lie about who she is and why she’s been doing what she’s doing means it’s not immediately apparent how much of the Giants’ prophecy or her conflicting prophecy should be taken at face value.
See, Faye is a schemer. Worse yet, she’s a schemer who doesn’t realize until it’s much too late that schemes don’t just magically disappear or right themselves after you’re gone. Faye seems so sure her plan for Kratos and Atreus is solid, she’s almost immediately surprised when things don’t work out as planned.
Just after waking up in the afterlife of the gods, Faye finds a mask that resembles that of the Mask of Creation from God of War Ragnarök. Uncovering the truth that there’s more than one of these masks freaks her out (presumably the splinter in Faye’s hand that Sekhmet pulls out of her is all that remains of a mask she destroyed just prior to her death–perhaps even the act of destroying one of these masks is the cause of her death in the first place), and Faye even comments that “If there’s another mask, their path isn’t safe. I have to find a way back.”
And, to me, therein lies Faye’s biggest issue. Schemers often fail to remember that their schemes don’t just die with them. They have a momentum all their own, just like how Faye fights when she’s using the sword.
In describing how Faye fights with her new sword in the God of War Laufey Combat First Look, lead hero designer Kevin Peterson and combat design director Denny Yeh continually repeat that Faye’s fighting style is built around momentum and tempo as well as this idea of manipulation (specifically souls with magic in this case, but the concept of controlling people in general still feels relevant). This feels like further evidence that this concept of constantly moving forward in an effort to control others is the basis for Faye’s hubris and how her weapon is meant to reflect that dangerous flaw.
“One of the defining aspects of Faye’s sword is its tempo, which is a deliberate combination of speed, control, and relentlessness,” Peterson said. “From the moment that we see Faye wielding the sword, she’s attacking with this incredible pace, and she’s able to do that by building and maintaining this momentum and allowing that momentum to carry from one attack to the next. That creates this relentlessness in the way that Faye wields the sword.”
I just feel like that relentless momentum is meant to be a reflection of Faye’s secrecy. You can’t kill a story once you start to tell it, and any mistakes you make don’t magically disappear once you’re dead. Those things spread, usually to the people you care about the most. And in doing so, the carefully curated image of yourself can falter–too often in the real world, people learn a ton about their parents after those parents have died, much as Atreus discovered so much about his heritage and his mom that Faye kept hidden from him and Kratos. And even though Atreus accepts that his mom was doing all of this to be helpful, so much of what Faye did is frustratingly vague and open to interpretation from his and Kratos’ perspective because what was obvious to Faye is not to either of them without the context that she kept hidden.
Similarly, the past of this sword is kept frustratingly vague. Faye keeps asking people about it in the gameplay trailer and doesn’t get an answer, continuing to push forward with the blade in hand despite the potential machinations she might be playing into by wielding it. It kind of feels like Faye is the sword–a weapon at its most dangerous when it’s leaning into the momentum of carving away evil to protect allies, but the truth about what it is and its past aren’t immediately clear.
So much of Kratos’ story in God of War and God of War Ragnarök dealt with him too often looking back at his past and wishing that things had gone differently, culminating in one of the best-written DLC expansions ever in God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla. I think God of War Laufey is going to deal with the opposite issue: the idea that Faye spent way too much time looking forward and putting plans into motion and crafting carefully constructed secrets without considering the ramifications of these plans’ momentum after she’s gone.
Faye literally cannot help her loved ones anymore. She’s dead. She should have looked back and reflected on her actions and done a better job of sharing some of her secrets with Atreus and Kratos so that they weren’t stumbling about with so much uncertainty as to how prophecies work and what the Mask of Creation is. And while we know things do work out for Atreus and Kratos, Faye doesn’t know that at the start of God of War Laufey. And I think that insecurity is going to gnaw on her throughout her story, and dealing with it is key to her growing into someone better, much as Kratos had to grow into someone better.
Whether Faye’s definition of “someone better” is a new god of war is anyone’s guess. I hope that’s the case–much as Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei dealt with Atsu becoming the next Ghost after Jin Sakai, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the story of Miles becoming a new Spider-Man, I’d love for a game with the God of War title in its name to be about its protagonist becoming a new god of war. Faye is already a bit of a god–while she doesn’t belong to a pantheon, she is a Giant, or a Jötunn, meaning she descends from the same divine source as the Aesir and Vanir, like Odin and Freya. It’s why both Begtse and Sekhmet refer to her as a “godling” or a minor deity. If Faye can learn to be less of a control freak who is too caught up with winning at 5D chess, I think she’d make for a great god of war in a young pantheon. Until then, however, she’s as dangerous to others as the sword in her hands.
“}]]
[[{“value”:”The 20-minute gameplay reveal for God of War Laufey puts a lot of focus on protagonist Faye’s new sword. And while we don’t yet know what the sword is called or where it originally came from, I’ve already got so many questions about the blade. Most pressing, I want to know how Faye’s new weapon will act as a thematic mirror for her, much as the Blades of Chaos and the Leviathan Axe acted as narrative reflections for Faye’s husband, Kratos. If I had to guess, I think Faye’s new sword is a reflection of her time as a schemer and that it will act as a catalyst for her coming to terms with the lingering machinations she left for her husband and son to deal with.
The God of War series has long used its trademark weapons as a means to provide a thematic blueprint for whoever wields them. The chains of the Blades of Chaos were originally burned to Kratos’ skin, for example, symbolically chaining him to his vengeance, rage, and servitude to the gods. Meanwhile, the Leviathan Axe returns to Kratos’ hand no matter how far it’s thrown, mimicking how Kratos’ past as a living weapon and a god of war keeps finding and catching up to him in the present, no matter how much he tries to distance himself from it.
So it stands to reason that developer Santa Monica Studio hasn’t just given Faye a random sword–it, too, likely is meant to reflect some sort of trauma or discomfort that Faye will be dealing with over the course of God of War Laufey. On its own, we don’t have much to work with–swords often symbolize power or leadership (like King Arthur’s Excalibur), but can also be symbols of courage or protection (like Link’s Master Sword). But there is some insight to be gleaned from how characters in the God of War Laufey gameplay reveal trailer talk about Faye’s sword, as well as how Faye has been characterized in the franchise up to this point.
What’s most telling–so far, anyway–is that the sword has a past or significance unknown to Faye. A kid saved by Faye tells her “that sword is more than you think it is,” and Begtse warns Faye, “You don’t know what you wield,” leading her to believe the Mongolian god of war is afraid of the sword and what it means to wield it. So just by using the sword, Faye is evidently participating in a legacy she hasn’t been clued into yet. Perhaps, by wielding the sword in the first place, she is even unknowingly fulfilling some prophecy or predestined journey as dictated by someone else. And if that is the case, then she’s being put on a path pretty much like how her husband and son were placed on a path by her.
As seen in 2018’s God of War and 2022’s God of War Ragnarök, Faye used her seer-like Frost Giant abilities to look into the future and then put certain events into motion so that Kratos and Atreus travel to Jötunheim and discover the destiny of Loki, which also causes the lead-up to Fimbulvetr (and subsequently, Ragnarök) to happen early. All of this is in service of going against the Giants’ original prophecy that Kratos would die in Ragnarök, and Faye hoped that by putting her own plan into motion, her husband and son could carve their own destinies and survive the final showdown with Odin.
Faye doesn’t tell her husband or son any of this, and her secrecy becomes a point of strife for Kratos and Atreus, especially during the events of God of War Ragnarök, as the duo can’t tell where Faye’s machinations begin and end, and her decision to lie about who she is and why she’s been doing what she’s doing means it’s not immediately apparent how much of the Giants’ prophecy or her conflicting prophecy should be taken at face value.
See, Faye is a schemer. Worse yet, she’s a schemer who doesn’t realize until it’s much too late that schemes don’t just magically disappear or right themselves after you’re gone. Faye seems so sure her plan for Kratos and Atreus is solid, she’s almost immediately surprised when things don’t work out as planned.
Just after waking up in the afterlife of the gods, Faye finds a mask that resembles that of the Mask of Creation from God of War Ragnarök. Uncovering the truth that there’s more than one of these masks freaks her out (presumably the splinter in Faye’s hand that Sekhmet pulls out of her is all that remains of a mask she destroyed just prior to her death–perhaps even the act of destroying one of these masks is the cause of her death in the first place), and Faye even comments that “If there’s another mask, their path isn’t safe. I have to find a way back.”
And, to me, therein lies Faye’s biggest issue. Schemers often fail to remember that their schemes don’t just die with them. They have a momentum all their own, just like how Faye fights when she’s using the sword.
In describing how Faye fights with her new sword in the God of War Laufey Combat First Look, lead hero designer Kevin Peterson and combat design director Denny Yeh continually repeat that Faye’s fighting style is built around momentum and tempo as well as this idea of manipulation (specifically souls with magic in this case, but the concept of controlling people in general still feels relevant). This feels like further evidence that this concept of constantly moving forward in an effort to control others is the basis for Faye’s hubris and how her weapon is meant to reflect that dangerous flaw.
“One of the defining aspects of Faye’s sword is its tempo, which is a deliberate combination of speed, control, and relentlessness,” Peterson said. “From the moment that we see Faye wielding the sword, she’s attacking with this incredible pace, and she’s able to do that by building and maintaining this momentum and allowing that momentum to carry from one attack to the next. That creates this relentlessness in the way that Faye wields the sword.”
I just feel like that relentless momentum is meant to be a reflection of Faye’s secrecy. You can’t kill a story once you start to tell it, and any mistakes you make don’t magically disappear once you’re dead. Those things spread, usually to the people you care about the most. And in doing so, the carefully curated image of yourself can falter–too often in the real world, people learn a ton about their parents after those parents have died, much as Atreus discovered so much about his heritage and his mom that Faye kept hidden from him and Kratos. And even though Atreus accepts that his mom was doing all of this to be helpful, so much of what Faye did is frustratingly vague and open to interpretation from his and Kratos’ perspective because what was obvious to Faye is not to either of them without the context that she kept hidden.
Similarly, the past of this sword is kept frustratingly vague. Faye keeps asking people about it in the gameplay trailer and doesn’t get an answer, continuing to push forward with the blade in hand despite the potential machinations she might be playing into by wielding it. It kind of feels like Faye is the sword–a weapon at its most dangerous when it’s leaning into the momentum of carving away evil to protect allies, but the truth about what it is and its past aren’t immediately clear.
So much of Kratos’ story in God of War and God of War Ragnarök dealt with him too often looking back at his past and wishing that things had gone differently, culminating in one of the best-written DLC expansions ever in God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla. I think God of War Laufey is going to deal with the opposite issue: the idea that Faye spent way too much time looking forward and putting plans into motion and crafting carefully constructed secrets without considering the ramifications of these plans’ momentum after she’s gone.
Faye literally cannot help her loved ones anymore. She’s dead. She should have looked back and reflected on her actions and done a better job of sharing some of her secrets with Atreus and Kratos so that they weren’t stumbling about with so much uncertainty as to how prophecies work and what the Mask of Creation is. And while we know things do work out for Atreus and Kratos, Faye doesn’t know that at the start of God of War Laufey. And I think that insecurity is going to gnaw on her throughout her story, and dealing with it is key to her growing into someone better, much as Kratos had to grow into someone better.
Whether Faye’s definition of “someone better” is a new god of war is anyone’s guess. I hope that’s the case–much as Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei dealt with Atsu becoming the next Ghost after Jin Sakai, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the story of Miles becoming a new Spider-Man, I’d love for a game with the God of War title in its name to be about its protagonist becoming a new god of war. Faye is already a bit of a god–while she doesn’t belong to a pantheon, she is a Giant, or a Jötunn, meaning she descends from the same divine source as the Aesir and Vanir, like Odin and Freya. It’s why both Begtse and Sekhmet refer to her as a “godling” or a minor deity. If Faye can learn to be less of a control freak who is too caught up with winning at 5D chess, I think she’d make for a great god of war in a young pantheon. Until then, however, she’s as dangerous to others as the sword in her hands.”}]] Read More GameSpot – All Content
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