Afterlife

NOTE: This page represents the Afterlife as a whole. For the individual locations within the Afterlife see below.

Afterlife
Location	Earth (Various countries)
Rulers	Various Greek Hades and Persephone (Underworld) Norse Hræsvelgr (Helheim) Hel (Future ruler of Helheim) Rán and Aegir (Rán's Domain) Odin (Valhalla) Freya (Fólkvangr) (possibly)
Inhabitants	Various
Visitors	Souls

The Afterlife, called the Underworld in Greek Mythology and Helheim in Norse Mythology, is the colloquial term for the realm where characters, mortal or otherwise, go when they die, different for each Mythology. It is also where some deities (chtonic gods, death gods, etc.) reside, bringing the dead there or judging their fates. Since the afterlives are physical locations as much as spiritual, it is possible to find ways to enter the afterlife while still alive and come back.

Overview

The afterlife is the main destination for all deceased people and creatures after death, however, it is also home to powerful deities such as Hades and Hræsvelgr, who act as the celestial bureaucracy and who are in charge of running the various day-to-day activities of the Afterlife.

Damaged or incomplete souls are unable to properly enter the afterlife, and so that unfortunate person is doomed to remain trapped between the world of the living and the world of the dead for all eternity and for all intents and purposes ceasing to exist in either realm. A fate which was greatly feared by Odin who did everything he possibly could to try and avoid it.

As shown in God of War (2018), there appears to be multiple versions of the afterlife for each mythologies of the known universe all separate yet also connected, and the afterlife you are sent to appears to be dictated solely according to whatever culture you end up dying in, without regard to whatever culture or cultures you have any connections to, sentimental or otherwise.

In addition to this, each afterlife appears to be divided up into separate areas for certain souls depending on what they were like in life i.e., Elysium for the heroic and virtuous, Tartarus for the wicked, Asphodel for those in between etc. These realms make up the Greek Afterlife, which is entirely ruled over by the God Hades, with all the chtonic gods answering to him as their Lord and Master.

The Norse Afterlife is also vast and layered and ruled by powerful beings, though it is splintered across the Yggdrassil and each Norse realm of the Afterlife is ruled over by different factions, such as the Vanir presiding over Folkvangr, the Jötnar over Helheim and the Aesir, namely their chief Odin, over Valhalla, though not entirely.

It is implied that the Lord of the Oceans, Poseidon could claim the souls of those who perish in his infinite domain. If so, that would be comparable to the Norse watery afterlife, the domain and hall of Aegir and Ran, who together rule over the seas in the Nine Realms.

In the God of War Series

Throughout the series, Kratos journeyed to various afterlives numerous times, but always eventually made it out.

God of War: Chains of Olympus

After he restored life to the Fire Steeds, Kratos was taken into the Underworld for the first time. While journeying through the dark realm, Kratos met and fought Charon on his boat along the River Styx. It was also during this quest, where Kratos would find himself in both Tartarus and Elysium, aswell as pass by the Fields of Asphodel, seeing each of the eternal afterlifes in the cosmic order of Zeus and Olympus for his own eyes.

God of War

After Kratos retrieved Pandora's Box, Ares learned of that and threw a pillar from the ruins of Athens far into the Desert of Lost Souls where it pierced Kratos through the chest. As he slowly died, Kratos watched helplessly as Ares' Harpies took the Box for their master. Kratos fell into the Underworld along with many other souls, but fought his way out of the Underworld to continue his mission.

In the novelization its stated that Kratos has spent decades in the realm of Hades, fighting against the countless beasts and hordes, as apparently Time itself works different in the realms below.

God of War II

After Zeus killed Kratos with the Blade of Olympus, the Arms of Hades surfaced and reached out to Kratos’ corpse. Bringing him down with them, Kratos was met by Gaia who gave him the opportunity to resurface and change his fate. The wound that was left by the Blade of Olympus in his chest was healed, but was scarred over, and Kratos opened his eyes. Climbing upon the walls of the Underworld, Kratos was powerful enough to overcome the arms which tried to pull him down.

God of War III

After the beginning sequence of the game, Kratos was unable to hold onto Gaia who cast him aside due to having tricked him and only saw him as a means to and end in order to kill Zeus. He then fell into the River Styx and lost the Blade of Olympus in the process and thus was left seriously injured due to being deprived of his godly powers once again. While he swam, Kratos was attacked by the souls of the dead who took his health, magic, and even damaged the Blades of Athena.

He cursed the name of Zeus, and, at that time, the Ghost of Athena appeared to him. She told him how to destroy Zeus by destroying the Flame of Olympus. She took the ruined blades and transformed them into the Blades of Exile. While he traveled in the Underworld, Kratos encountered Peirithous, who was tortured by Hades in a cage of bramble for presumably having an affair with Persephone. Peirithous offered to give Kratos the Bow of Apollo, but Kratos freed Cerberus to incinerate Peirithous and saw no need to keep him alive. He acquired the Bow and continued his quest. After he climbed a cliff, Kratos encountered The Three Judges. Kratos needed to complete the Trials of Erebus to have an audience with the Judges.

Kratos ventured to the Palace of Hades where Hades awaited him and despite his best struggle, lost to the spartan after Kratos stole Hades' claws from him and used them to suck out his own soul, killing the god. With their lord and master now dead, the souls of the Underworld disposed of his corpse in the River Styx and were free from his will, allowing them to escape to the mortal world. The realm that once belonged to Hades became a desolate place where hopeless spirits roamed forever in despair as the people above still died, and due to the Three Judges having been destroyed, the souls were never judged or found peace.

God of War (2018)

In order to save his ill son Atreus, Kratos journeyed into Helheim to retrieve the heart of the Keeper of the Bridge of the Damned with his Blades of Chaos. After killing Máttugr Helson and retrieving his heart, the mists of Helheim haunt Kratos with a vision of his father. Mimir assures him that it's not real. The information from this though is what leads Mimir to realize that Kratos was the Ghost of Sparta.

Later, Kratos, Atreus, Mimir and Baldur are thrown into Helheim, beyond the Bridge of the Damned, by the sudden use of the Bifröst in Týr's Temple. Atreus is tormented by a vision of him killing Modi, but Kratos reassures him. The trio then find Baldur, and secretly watch the vision that haunts him. There, they learn that Freya is Baldur's mother, and that she took away his ability to feel in order to protect him. The group makes its way into a ship docked in Helheim Landing, and modify it to make it fly up the waterfall. During the travel, Kratos is once again tormented by a vision of Zeus, this time of Kratos killing him with his bare fists. All the while, Hraesvelg flaps his wings, and the ship reaches Týr's Temple.

God of War Ragnarök

Having seemingly translated another piece of the Mask of Creation, Atreus tells Odin that they have to travel to Helheim in order to find the last piece of the mask. The All-Father then sent him, along with Thrúd and Heimdall, into the Realm of the Dead. The mask glowing-green energy leads them to a chamber that's being guarded by the Hel's Hound Garm, while he's being chained. They break him free, causing him to tears holes and spread chaos across the realms, where Hel-Walkers are now can wreak havoc. Much later, Atreus returned to Helheim with Kratos to stop Garm, doing so by inserting Fenrir's soul inside him. Moments later, they meet and talks with Hræsvelgr, in which she gave them a quest to close six tears that caused by Garm to stop the spreading of Hel-Walkers.

Later on, after deciding that instigating Ragnarök was the only way to end Odin's despotic reign over the Nine Realms, Kratos and his allies sought to recruit Helheim's Army of the Dead, leading Hildisvíni to negotiate with Hræsvelgr. However to make the negotiations go more smoothly, Hildisvíni brought Mimir along believing Hræsvelgr would be more open to speaking to one of the "deceased". Mimir and Hræsvelgr succeeded in gaining Hræsvelgr's cooperation, lending Hel's army as the realm's vanguard against Asgard. However, as part of the arrangement, whether they succeeded or not, Mimir stated that they would need to find a successor for Hræsvelgr to become ruler of Helheim, as Hel's Eagle wished to retire.

According to Týr's writings, in the southern lands, the God of Death takes great pleasure in torturing expired souls with fire and water.

God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla

Kratos is summoned to Valhalla, which can only be accessed by those who have died, to fight his way through a cycle of battles and confront the horrors of his past and make peace with them.

Known Afterlives

Greek

• Underworld
  • Asphodel
  • Domain of Death
  • Elysium Fields
  • Tartarus

Norse

• Helheim
• Lake of Souls
• Valhalla
• Fólkvangr
• Rán's Domain

Trivia

• All those who died, but are missing a piece of their soul (Like Brok), or whose souls were destroyed (Like Odin) do not have the ability to have life after death and cease to exist.
• The Underworld, aswell as Helheim and Valhalla provide armies of the dead for their rulers. Ares, the God of War had a claim on dead warrior souls and could summon and use them in his armies on Earth, even strip Kratos of his souls granted by Hades and use them against the Spartan.
  • Upon defeating the Einherjar in the Remnants of Asgard after the downfall of Odin, Kratos notes how it feels right to free these warriors from an eternal afterlife in service of a cruel god, possibly reminding the Spartan of the armies of Ares, Hades and Olympus that he faced in his past.
• In both the Greek Underworld and Helheim, the realm of the dishonourable dead, time moves slower than in the realms of the living.