Why did Kratos kill his family in God of War?

God of War is a series about one man’s loss and how he copes with it, albeit in a less-than-healthy way. It doesn’t start that way though, with Kratos starting out as a general in the Spartan armies, known for his serious demeanor and fierce abilities in combat. Tragedy strikes Kratos, however, transforming him into the Ghost of Sparta that we’re familiar with today.

Kratos will forever have to live with the harm he caused to his family and many players are curious about why he did it in the first place. Here’s all the information you need to know about why Kratos killed his wife and daughter in the original God of War.

Why does Kratos kill his wife and child in God of War?

In the original God of War, players learn of Kratos, the son of Zeus, and a human woman named Callisto. Throughout his early life, he would come to have a wife named Lysandra and a daughter named Calliope. Kratos cared enough for his daughter that he fought and killed many of the gods’ champions in search of Ambrosia for his sick daughter.

After a series of victories, Kratos’s power and hunger for battle continued to grow, much to the displeasure of Lysandra. One day, Kratos met his match while fighting an old enemy, and pledged his allegiance to Ares in order to come out of the fight victorious. After winning the battle, Kratos was a good subject of Ares, contracting a growing bloodlust that took what remained of his humanity.

One day, when Kratos was ordered to slaughter a village full of innocent people, Ares transported his wife and daughter to a temple there. While he was warned against it by an oracle, Kratos blindly slaughtered everyone inside the temple in a fit of rage. It wasn’t until it was too late that he realized what he had done, deciding to burn their bodies inside the temple.

The ashes from that fire were bound to his skin, branding him forever as the infamous Ghost of Sparta. Ares tells Kratos that he influenced him to do this to break him free from all of his earthly possessions and make him a better servant of Ares.

The reason why Kratos killed his family is that he was influenced by the blood rage that Ares had instilled in him. It wasn’t all on Ares’s feet, though, with Kratos choosing to kill many other innocents in the God of War’s name before he got to his family. Kratos was forced to reckon with this, sending him on a hunt that would end with him killing Ares and taking his place among the gods.

That’s all you need to know about why Kratos killed his family in God of War.