There are a few things that make God of War’s Kratos an unmistakable, instantly recognizable video game protagonist. The striking red tattoo that covers part of his face and chest is top of the list, but the ash that covers his entire body, giving him an almost-ghostly white complexion, is a close second.
It’s hard to imagine Kratos not being a bright shade of white, but had God of War’s creator not been shown the series’ lead character before his color treatment had been applied, he might never have been covered in ash. Stig Asmussen, the original God of War’s lead environment artist, recently explained to Retro Games (thanks, GamesRadar+) why Kratos wound up being such a pale shade of white.
Kratos Looked Good On Paper
Asmussen explained that they worked with a lot of white marble and similar surfaces in those early games, allowing for a stark contrast when they were spattered with blood. However, Kratos was only a matching shade of white because Jaffe was shown unfinished concept art.
“Kratos being covered in white ash was decided early on,” Asmussen explained. “Lead concept artist Charlie Wen hadn’t done the skin treatment yet, so Kratos was still white on the page, and Dave said that was really cool.” Asmussen added that he wasn’t sure whether Jaffe came up with the idea for the white being caused by the ash that covers Kratos, or whether that thought came later, after having decided the God of War would be a ghostly white upon seeing Wen’s incomplete concept art.
There’s A Dark Story Behind The Ash That Covers Kratos’s Body
Not only is it hard to imagine Kratos not looking as white as he does across all the God of War games – minus Sons of Sparta, which details his journey before becoming the Kratos we know – but not having him covered in ash would take away a significant, and very dark, part of his backstory.
The ash that covers Kratos’s body isn’t just any ash. It is canonically the ashes of his deceased wife and daughter, Lysandra and Calliope. Like I said, dark. Aside from that, the red tattoo on white is such a striking contrast. All of it comes together to become Kratos, and while the success of the God of War series naturally doesn’t hinge on that seemingly random decision alone, it’s one of many that have come together to ensure its enduring success.
There’s a lot for God of War fans to be excited about in the near and distant future. Work is ongoing on Amazon’s live-action adaptation. Sure, that first image didn’t look great, but Amazon has a good track record when it comes to turning games into shows. There’s also the God of War remake trilogy to look forward to, although that feels like a project we won’t hear anything more about for some time.
- Released
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March 22, 2005
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Publisher(s)
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Sony Computer Entertainment
