Baldur

Template:Infobox gods

“	Hahaha. And here I thought your kind were supposed to be so enlightened. So much better than us. So much smarter. And yet here you hide out in the woods--like a coward.	”
–Baldur to Kratos in their first confrontation

Baldur (Old Norse: Baldr) was the Norse Aesir God of Light and the main antagonist of God of War (2018).

He was the son of Odin and Freya, half-brother of Thor and Týr, and the half-uncle of Magni and Modi.

Norse Mythology

Baldr was the son of Odin (the King of the Gods) and his wife Frigg. He was known to be beautiful and was the favorite of the Æsir gods.

Most legends about him concern his death. After he and Frigg had a dream in which they saw his death (with dreams being prophetic in Norse mythology), Frigg asked everything in creation to promise to not harm Baldr, only forgetting to ask mistletoe, as she thought it was "too young" to swear an oath. Icelandic stories tell how the gods amused themselves by throwing objects at him (knowing that he was immune from harm). The blind god Höd, (Baldr’s twin brother) deceived by Loki, killed Baldr by hurling mistletoe, the only thing that could hurt him.

After Baldr’s funeral, the messenger Hermod was sent to Hel, the goddess of the land of the dead also known as Hel, to ask for Baldr's return. Hel asked that every being in creation weep for Baldr, and every being did, except the giantess Thökk (who was Loki in disguise), who refused to weep the tears that would release Baldr from death.

Baldr's death was the start of Ragnarök: The Death of the Norse Gods and end of the Nine Realms.

However, it is known that after Ragnarok, Baldr, along with Hod, would come back to life and become the new ruler of the peaceful land.

In the God of War Series

Early life

“	What you did to me... WHAT YOU DID TO ME!! I'm a coward... I'm a... I'm a coward. I'm a worth... worthless coward.	”
–Baldur's past in Helheim

Baldur was an Aesir born to Odin and Freya and was the half-brother of Thor and Týr. At his birth, his mother learned from the runes that he would die a "needless death". Determined to prevent his death at any cost, Freya at some point placed a spell on him that made him invulnerable to all threats, physical or magical.

The spell had one weakness, however: mistletoe. To make sure no one figured out the spell's weakness, she also cursed Mimir to prevent him from speaking about it. However, the spell had a side-effect of removing Baldur's ability to physically feel anything. He could no longer feel anything from pain and pleasure to even the temperature of wherever he stood. Baldur’s pleas to Freya to lift the spell fell on deaf ears, and Freya insisted that Baldur would thank her for it. An outraged Baldur was consumed with hatred for his mother and initially attempted to kill her. With the faintest amount of love for his mother still left, he let her live, citing that he never wanted to see her again.

After abandoning his mother, he spent 100 years at Asgard raising with his father, Odin, his brother, Thor and nephews, Magni and Modi, only to consider that his entire family were "fucked up". Years of being under his mothers' spell soon took its toll on Baldur, and he was driven to insanity due to his sensory incapabilities. As such, he soon came to deeply resent his mother, and wished nothing more than to kill her for the decades of suffering she had inadvertently caused him, later regretting sparing her life.

God of War (2018)

Baldur answers to Odin's call to hunt down the Jötunn Guardian, one of the two remaining Jötnar in Midgard who had been foiling the Aesir's plans for some time. With the sudden disappearance of the protection spell of the Wildwoods, Baldur decided to investigate, eventually finding the cabin where the Guardian lived.

Mistaking the Guardian's husband, the Greek God Kratos, for the actual Guardian, Baldur confronts the God, who in turn thought Baldur knew of his past as the "Ghost of Sparta". Unbeknownst to Baldur, the Guardian had died mere days before and had been cremated minutes prior to his arrival. Kratos is at first unwilling to fight, even though Baldur continuously taunts and punches him, but eventually gives in and punches Baldur to the ground. When Kratos tries to tell him to leave, Baldur punches Kratos clear over the house. Breaking a hole in the roof, Baldur spotted two beds inside and demanded to know who he was hiding. The two start to brutally fight and Kratos is able to overpower Baldur, but the latter seems unaffected by any damage taken, with Baldur subsequently revealing that he doesn't feel pain. Kratos seemingly kills Baldur by snapping his neck and pushes Baldur off himself, causing him to tumble off the cliff edge that's beside them.

Due to Freya's spell, he was simply incapacitated by Kratos' attack. Gathering his nephews, Magni and Modi, they visited the imprisoned ambassador of the Aesir, Mimir, assuming he knows where "the tattooed man" and "the child" are. However, their interrogation is fruitless, as Mimir doesn't know who the two are and refuses to help the Aesir, pointing out that Baldur's offer to convince Odin to free Mimir would be useless, as are death threats since Odin won't allow anyone to harm the prisoner. Baldur leaves with his nephews in tow when Mimir demands that he take the "worthless wankers" with him.

Later, when Kratos, Mimir, and Atreus prepare to go to Jötunheim, Baldur ambushes them, gaining the upper hand against Kratos and goading Atreus into attacking him. He dismisses Kratos as "just meat" and assumes Atreus was the mastermind behind the Guardian's attacks on the Aesir. Atreus tries to fight Baldur, feeling that he is ready for the confrontation. Kratos tries to stop him, only to be shot with an arrow by Atreus. Baldur grows amused upon seeing Atreus strike at his father when he attempted to keep him out of the fight, stating "and I thought my family was fucked up." An overconfident Atreus attacks Baldur but fails to kill him, and he knocks the boy unconscious before departing on a dragon. Kratos jumps off the mountain, intercepts them and fights Baldur, who eventually makes it to the realm travel room and locks in Asgard as the destination, hoping to bring the full weight of the Aesir down upon Kratos. After another brutal fist fight, Kratos alters the destination to Helheim, sending them flying into the Realm of the Dead. Baldur comes across an illusion taking the form of his memories, specifically the time he confronted his mother, Freya, over the spell she placed on him. However, when he spared his mother, he called his vision self a coward. Baldur angrily lashes out at his mother and tearfully called himself a coward, despite her reasons and motives. Kratos, Atreus, and Mimir, in hiding, witness Baldur act irrationally towards the illusion and learn of his connection to Freya.

After finding a way to escape Helheim, Baldur learns of the trio's journey into The World Serpent's stomach and fights the giant serpent in order to make it expel the three next to the colossal corpse of the Frost Giant Thamur. Emerging from the icy waters of the lake, Baldur meets his mother for the first time in years. Despite his time away, Baldur is still consumed by hatred towards his mother. He tries to attack her but Kratos gets in his way, leading to another fight between them while Freya tries to intervene by entangling the two with roots, but her spells are ineffective as they continue to fight.

During a small lull in the fight, Kratos is ensnared by vines conjured by Freya, but Baldur, witnessing Kratos' plight, manages to avoid another conjuration of vines meant for him. Fixed on killing Kratos, Baldur approaches him, but Atreus places himself in Baldur's path. Irritated, Baldur strikes the boy square in the chest. Kratos is horrified, believing that Atreus is wounded, but he tells him that it isn't his blood; in fact, it is Baldur's blood. It is shown that Baldur's hand was pierced by the mistletoe arrow that Kratos had strung onto Atreus' quiver after the strap was broken during their journey. Baldur then revels in his newfound senses as a horrified Freya watches on.

Being vulnerable once again, Baldur resumes his battle with Kratos. He thanks the pair for their assistance, claiming that not even Odin himself was able to remove his "curse". Enraged, Kratos overwhelms Baldur and he and Atreus brutally beat the Aesir god, but Freya intervenes again by manipulating Thamur's corpse, who attacks Kratos and Atreus with his icy breath. Freya's efforts end in failure as Atreus calls the World Serpent to attack the reanimated Giant. An utterly defeated Baldur goads Kratos to kill him, but after some convincing from Atreus and Freya, Kratos spares him and warns him not to come after them again nor lay a hand on Freya.

Baldur confronts his mother once more. Freya implores her son to find understanding in her actions in an attempt to make peace with him. Baldur refuses to forgive her, and Freya allows her son to strangle her as proof of her remorse, but Kratos intervenes again. Quoting his father, Kratos claims that the cycle must end and that they all should be better, as he snaps Baldur's neck a second time, killing him once and for all. Before his passing, Baldur feels a snowflake falling on his face, and utters a final word: "Snow...".

Aftermath

Freya is left devastated and enraged upon his death despite Baldur's attempt on her life. She swears revenge upon Kratos before taking her son's body with her and disappearing.

Despite her tragic fury, Mimir believes that given time, Freya will come to accept that Baldur's death was for the best and that the Nine Realms are better with her alive. However, Baldur's death triggers an occurrence over the realms. Mimir believes that the Fimbulwinter, the terrible winter that lasts three years, has been triggered. To make matters worse, the winter preludes the coming of Ragnarök, something that the Aesir believed wasn't going to happen for at least a hundred more years. However, the Giants knew the full events of Ragnarok and that Baldur was always meant to die by Kratos' hand when he did.

When their journey ends, Atreus has a prophetic dream of many years later: He and his father are confronted outside of their home by a cloaked man with a mystic hammer; it's Baldur's half-brother, Thor, likely coming to avenge his half-brother and fallen sons.

Personality

“	I'd hoped that you, of everyone I’d faced, would finally make me feel something. But you can't.	”
–Baldur to Kratos

Unlike his two fellow Aesir nephews, Baldur presents himself with a more restrained, albeit equally ruthless demeanor. Years of invincibility and lack of sensation from his curse of protection have thoroughly worn his personality and mental state away. His primary mode of operation combines the fearlessness of someone spoiled by invulnerability with a lack of human connection lent by being starved of physical sensation to create a toxic mixture of complete, high-functioning derangement. In short, Baldur's personality is a foul and deeply poisonous mixture of arrogance, hatred, self-loathing and psychopathy, a combination that is dangerous at the best of times, and a harbinger of existential doom at the worst.

Underneath this lack of external satisfaction, he is a font of internal dissatisfaction as well, his unresolved issues with his mother and what he views as cowardice for being unwilling to kill her serving as a bell of resentment and self-hatred over his head, which inevitably spills into his interactions with all things.

As a tracker and combatant, Baldur is informed by his invulnerability. Rightfully unafraid of the consequences of any fight, he is often in no explicit hurry to catch those he has been assigned to track by Odin, nor is he concerned with quickly killing those he inevitably catches up to. From the way he treats his first encounters with Kratos, he commonly mocks and toys with his quarry, is generally unconcerned with diplomacy and is accustomed to getting what he wants through sufficient amounts of bullying and force. This spoiled nature is most clear when something doesn't explicitly go his way - anytime Kratos uses his Spartan rage, or when Kratos does not relent in the final fight, any unpleasant surprise always gives way to rage, and instead of growing or improving as a fighter, only fosters a growing resentment towards Kratos as they encounter each other more and more.

Baldur has a deep hatred for his mother Freya for what she did to him, angrily attacking his her illusion self from Helheim and crying by calling himself a coward.

A large part of the blackest parts of his personality can be traced to his curse of protection, given to him by Freya. As a child, Baldur was normal, kind and innocent, giving a beaded necklace and a bracelet, presumably crafted by himself, to his mother as gifts. When the curse was given to him, it took away his ability to feel anything, in addition to granting him near-total invulnerability and regeneration, resulting in his mental decline. His self-hatred also stems from this, as his desire to kill his mother stemmed from his need for vengeance, and his failure to do is why he sees himself as a coward.

Underneath all of these things, Baldur is ultimately suffering. Unable to experience life due to sensory deprivation, unable to experience challenge due to invulnerability, unable to exact the revenge he desires due to his mother's absence, and unable to even indulge in his self-loathing due to his curse, he lives a life of joyless, empty limbo, endlessly sustained by the curse, his status as an Aesir, and his inability to even end his own life. This most clearly manifests when he is finally defeated and at Kratos' mercy - there is no hesitation as he demands Kratos to "do it," and end his life. His resentment at Freya's part in ultimately staying Kratos' hand only reinforces this.

“	What is this? I can feel this... I can feel everything!	”
–Baldur after getting impaled by the Mistletoe arrow when punched Atreus

On one occasion, Baldur demonstrates somewhat of a change - when the curse of protection is broken, he enters a state of manic sensory euphoria at the rush of sensations after years of complete deprivation. All sensations, but in particular, extreme ones such as pain, brought an ecstatic rush - serving to make him even more aggressive and unafraid of fighting than before, relentlessly seeking to pummel Kratos during this fight, craving the sensation of both delivering and receiving blows.

“	Before you die, I want to thank you. Both of you. You've done what even the Allfather himself could not. I've never felt more alive! Ironic, isn't it?	”
–Baldur to Kratos and Atreus for freeing his curse

After freed from his curse, Baldur appeared to be genuinely thankful to Kratos and Atreus for achieving what even Odin himself couldn't do, despite the fact he still wanted to kill them both. Even before death, his final moments were one of joy in the pleasure of being able to feel the snow on his face.

Family

“	How I feel? How I feel?! I spent the last one hundred years dreaming of this moment. I rehearsed everything I would say to you, every word to make you understand exactly what you stole from me. But now I realized... I don't need you to understand anything. I don't need you at all.	”
–Baldur to Freya before attempting to kill her

The most significant member of Baldur's family is his mother, Freya. While Baldur fosters disdain towards nearly all things, his deepest hatred and resentment is reserved for his mother, Freya. Between giving him the curse of protection and multiple refusals over the years to remove it, Baldur sees Freya and her penchant for "interfering with [his] life" as the source of all of his life's problems. A vision in Helheim reveals that Baldur's greatest regret was not killing Freya years ago. He angrily attacks the vision of Freya then, and after reuniting with her, he does not hesitate to rebuke her attempts at reconciliation, berate her, and ultimately attack and attempt to kill her.

“	And here I thought my family was fucked up...	”
–Baldur when Atreus attacked Kratos

Aside from his animosity towards his mother, Baldur also holds contempt for his family at large, aware of its dysfunctionality and stating it's "fucked up".

“	Oh shut up, you idiots. Let's go.	”
–Baldur to his nephews after their conversation with Mimir

He does not hesitate to call his nephews, Magni and Modi, "idiots", despite their strength and skill, and working with them as his lackeys. According to Modi, Baldur hasn't been straight for years.

“	I'm not my brother.	”
–Baldur to Kratos that he is not like Thor

He is on good enough terms with his brother Thor that Magni and Modi are assigned to him. Baldur recognizes his brother's penchant of destruction, bloodlust, and genocide however, and is glad enough to use this as a point of differentiation between them.

As for his father, Odin deceives and manipulates Baldur with apparent regularity, dangling a cure for his condition as a carrot to persuade him to track and find those he seeks, such as Kratos and Laufey - this is in addition to Freya's seminal lie, that there is no cure for his curse. However, despite Odin's manipulations, Baldur appears to be aware of the hopelessness of ever finding a cure and did not show to be entirely faithful in his father's ability to be able to find one. Even after getting cured, Baldur was shown to be willing to carry out his father's wishes to an extent by attempting to kill Kratos and Atreus.

Ultimately, Baldur's family falls in line with other godly families seen in the God Of War series - a petty, highly dysfunctional and often violent group of damaged yet powerful individuals. Thematically, Baldur's murderous relationship with his mother mirrors Kratos' relationship with his father, and is emblematic of the series' Cycle of Parricide.

Physical description

Baldur is of average height and has an extremely lean, hard physique. His build is unique, as it makes him seem small in comparison to the other male gods in the series, who are generally of towering height and sport broad, heavily muscled builds. His most striking features are his woad-blue tattoos of Norse runes, which coat large portions of his limbs and torso and his eyes, which are distinctly icy blue, particularly noticeable when the camera is close-up.

He has handsome (if haggard) features, with a beaded but unkempt brownish beard and a shaggy, beaded horse-mane hairstyle. He wears a red belt, a hip pouch and a thin string of charms over a torn brown waistcloth sash, which is worn over loose, black cloth pants, bound at the calves with brown leather straps. He wears no top and no shoes.

Powers and Abilities

As a son of two chief gods Odin and Freya, Baldur was one of the most powerful gods, with Odin and Thor as the only known Aesir to surpass him. Baldur's power was great enough to pose a difficult challenge to Kratos.

• Superhuman Strength: As a son of Odin, Baldur possessed immense superhuman strength, far surpassing that of any mortal or monster. He had enough physical aptitude to harm Jörmungandr, easily throw and smash a giant boulder, jump high into the sky, and, despite his skinny and shorter body, proved quite a challenge for Kratos. In their first battle, when Baldur and Kratos have a test of raw strength, the ground begins to collapse, leaving a progressively larger and deeper fissure beneath them. Even after losing his invulnerability, Baldur still proved to be a difficult challenge and once managed to pin down Kratos and choke Atreus with one arm each until the former escaped using his Spartan rage, showing his strength remained just as great as after the curse was broken. However, he wasn't as strong as Kratos, and this, along with his deteriorating mental health, ultimately proved to be his undoing.

• Superhuman Durability: As among the strongest of the Norse Gods, Baldur was extremely durable, even without his invulnerability. Hence, after his mother's spell was broken, Baldur was still able to take extreme punishment, even what would be mortal blows, such as being chopped twice in the shoulder by the Leviathan Axe, being stabbed in the stomach by the Blades of Chaos and getting shot multiple times by Atreus's arrows, even so continuing to fight seemingly unhindered. It was only upon Kratos breaking his neck that he finally succumbed.

• Superhuman Stamina: As a God and his curse, Baldur has near limitless stamina, showing no signs of fatigue during his fight with Kratos or his tracking.

• Immortality: As an Aesir god, Baldur was immortal, and could only be killed by other Immortals or special weapons.

• Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite losing his invulnerability, Baldur seems still to have a certain degree of regeneration, such as taking an immense amount of punishment from Kratos and Atreus and still be able to fight without much injury. After the death of Thamur when was beaten to a pulp by Kratos, Baldur was recovering enough in a moment and almost choke Freya to death.

• Light Manipulation: As the God of Light, Baldur was capable of using light in combat. The runes on his body, as well as his eyes, will light up when he uses his power. He could use light to move at extreme speeds, send a shockwave through the ground, cause an explosion of energy, throw balls of deadly, shining energy; or increase the force of his attacks.
  • Superhuman Speed & Agility: Baldur, perhaps due to his power over light, can move at extremely high speeds much faster than Kratos and Atreus. He uses this to effect in combat, darting around enemies before striking them. His reflexes are similarly fast and is able to block or counter Kratos before he can react.

• True Invulnerability: Baldur's greatest and most infamous attribute was his invulnerability to almost anything, even Kratos' Blades of Chaos. While he can be harmed, his injuries are only temporary, as the curse enhanced his existent supernatural regenerative abilities to heal him almost instantaneously. Despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos.
  • Immunity to Sensations: He also cannot physically feel any injuries, nor any amount of physical exhaustion, enabling him to continue to fight without being slowed down. For instance, he was able to easily attack the World Serpent, a creature that gave his brother Thor a challenge and walks out of the cold depths of the lake within which it resided without any noticeable exhaustion. He could also survive in Hel unharmed despite the immense coldness of the realm. However, his invulnerability came at the cost of robbing him of most of his senses (touch, smell, taste, and pain), ultimately driving him insane. Also, despite his invulnerability, Baldur can be dazed and incapacitated for brief periods, such as when his neck was snapped when he first faced Kratos. His only true weakness was mistletoe. Upon striking Atreus and stabbing his hand with a mistletoe arrow, the spell was broken, and Baldur was not only vulnerable but able to feel everything, causing a sensory-overload and euphoria, even claiming he hasn't felt "more alive".
  • Self-Resurrection: Thanks to the curse, even if Baldur was "killed", he would only be temporarily incapacitated. When he faced Kratos for the first time, Kratos snapped Baldur's neck and he had managed to revive himself and fully recover form a broken neck by the time Kratos left the wildwoods with Atreus.

• Additional Elemental Affinities: In addition to his light-elemental abilities, Baldur could gain the power to control any element he was exposed to by absorbing them, as shown when Kratos had struck him on the shoulder using the Leviathan Axe and Baldur, by grabbing it, was able to gain the power to control ice, allowing him to infuse ice into his fist to increase his strength, send out blasts of ice, and also cause icicles to erupt from the ground. Later, after Atreus had detonated the undead Giant's ring on top of Baldur during the final battle with him, Baldur acquired power over the fire by absorbing the explosion, allowing him to cause eruptions of fire around the ground and perform a fire-enhanced kick as well as summon a wave of flame.

• Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Most likely because of his physical abilities and invulnerability, Baldur does not use or need weapons in combat. He favors his own physical fighting capabilities above all else and is extremely skilled, despite having no known formal training in combat. He can quickly strike, utilizing punches and kicks. He also uses his elbows, knees and even some grappling techniques, in fact, he is noted to be especially good at wrestling, even suplex Kratos in their first and last fight. His skill in pure hand-to-hand combat is almost unmatched, capable of easily fighting against and even at times overwhelming Kratos in melee combat despite the latter's immense training, experience, and prowess, losing only due to Kratos' superior strength, weapons and coordinated attacks with Atreus. He can couple his moves with his superior speed, strength, agility, durability, stamina, and control over light to decimate enemies, and is one of the very few individuals capable of defeating Kratos in a straight match-up without help.

• Expert Tracker: Mimir stated that Baldur was Odin's best tracker. As such, his ability and persistence in finding a given target exceeded that of the other Aesir. Baldur managed to find Kratos's home and attack him, then again find Kratos when he opened the gate to Jötunheim. Despite being stuck in Helheim, across the bridge, from which there was "no way back", Baldur still found a way out and managed to track down Kratos and his son when they in were in the World Serpent's stomach.

Runes Translation

Note: Translations are done by fans and are subject to error, as well as the developers' use of the runes.

• The red runes on his back and across his shoulders, "ᚲᚢᚱᛊᛖᛞ", are in English and translate directly into Cursed, referring to Freya's spell and his inevitable death.

• On his left pectoral, "ᛖᚲ ᛖᚱ ᛞᚨᚢᛞᛁ", written in Latin script as Ek er dauði, means "I am death", possibly a reference to the fact that his death marks the beginning of Ragnarök, the death of the Gods.

• On the circle on his lower abdomen, "ᚾᛟᚱᚾᛁᚱ·ᚠᛚᛖᛏᛏᚨ·ᚢᛏᚦᛖᛏᚨ·ᛒᚢᚾᛞᛁᚾᚾ" Nornir fletta utþeta bundinn; literally: "The Norns strip out this bound", roughly: "The Norns weave out this bound".

• The two triangles on his back may stand for the alchemical symbol for neutrality/balance, called aether or, in Greek, αἰθήρ (aithḗr), the personification of the "upper sky" in Greek mythology. Additionally, in earlier physics, the aether was the hypothesized medium above the terrestrial sphere through which light could propagate.

Trivia

• Like his mother, Baldur goes around barefoot.
• While he is unable to feel anything physically, he is still capable of emotions.
• According to the Art Book for God Of War, Baldur is roughly 5’11/6 feet tall.

  File:God of war heights.png

  Comparisons between the characters height.

• His comments before reuniting with Freya, as well as Mimir's comment after the fight suggests that Odin promised Baldur that he would remove the spell. It is unknown whether Odin actually had the power to remove the curse or if he was lying.
• His Greek counterparts (in terms of attributes) are Apollo and (in terms of his speed) Hermes as well. Some guesses at its etymology suggest a link with "Dagr", the personified day, so he can be seen as a counterpart to the primordial day goddess Hemera.
• Baldur is also similar to Hermes in the following ways:
  • Both possess superhuman speed, though in Hermes' case it was his natural and main attribute.
  • Both seem loyal to their fathers, as Hermes aided Zeus in protecting Olympus, whereas Baldur followed Odin's orders to track down Faye.
  • Both tend to talk when they fight Kratos, and both were also given chances to step aside by Kratos, though, in Hermes' case, he was killed willingly, whereas Kratos was forced to kill Baldur in order to protect Freya.
  • Both taunt Kratos over his failures.
• It's likely that Kratos sees a lot of his younger self in Baldur as a completely psychotic and unreasonable mass murderer that won't be swayed from his path no matter what. Kratos attempts to talk him out of killing his own mother, mentioning that vengeance feels empty since he didn't find peace after killing Zeus - especially since unlike his own father, Freya is a legitimately loving parent that only wanted what was best for Baldur. When forced to put him out of his misery, Kratos repeats the same words Zeus told him before killing him, "the cycle ends here" and says that the gods must become better than this.
  • He's also not too different from Atreus and is what Atreus could have potentially became if Kratos didn't mature or tell him of his godhood. Both Atreus and Baldur have blue eyes and have issues with a parent who did more harm than good in an effort to protect them.
• Some Norse texts describe him as the god of love and beauty, which would make him equivalent to Eros; however, he didn't show any type of amokinetic abilities in the game.
  • In Helheim, his illusion mentioned that he is unable to gain pleasure from women thanks to the invulnerability spell his mother placed on him.
  • In Gesta Danorum, Baldur is depicted as a jealous, lustfull, arrogant braggart and highly malevolent warlord, possibly setting precedent for the game's characterization. However, the entire text is written for both a pagan and a christian audience of the time, so it is not intended to depict accurately reflect some of the beliefs of the pre-Christian Nordic peoples but rather to provide a certain commentary about the moors of the day.
• Baldur's invulnerability was somewhat similar to the Greek curse of Achilles. However, Baldur's curse is far worse than Achilles, as he is unable to feel but at the same time is more effective, as his curse makes his entire body invulnerable, unlike Achilles' weakness in his heels.
• Baldur's mythological wife, Nanna, is briefly referenced by Brok as he proclaimed surprise at Kratos's foreign weapons, though it is unknown at this time if she will fulfill this role in the series.
  • In the mythology, the pair has a son, the god of justice and reconciliation, Forseti. However, since his invulnerability enchantments also rendered him sterile as stated in the novel, Forseti never existed in God of War universe.
• Baldur never introduced himself to Kratos, and he immediately attacks him in Kratos's home as the moniker stated in the Codex: "The Stranger". When Kratos and Atreus discuss Norse Gods while navigating across the Lake of Nine, Kratos indirectly mentions Baldur: When asking Atreus about "one who could feel no pain", he replies "that sounds like Baldur". Later, during their journey atop the Mountain where they were eavesdropping on the Stranger asking Mimir to reveal Kratos's whereabouts, the Stranger was revealed to be Baldur, and the name was added to the Codex.
• In all of Baldur's battles with Kratos, he had a distinct advantage against the latter god: In the first two battles, he had the element of surprise, while in the final battle, he had, though unwanted, the interventions of his mother.
  • Baldur's final battle with Kratos ended the same way their first battle did, with Kratos snapping his neck.
• In Norse mythology, Baldur's death was the beginning of Ragnarök, the end of many gods like Odin, Thor and Loki.

• This may be hinting that future games will include not only other gods but also their deaths (similar to the original trilogy where the death of Ares symbolized the end of the Greek Gods).

• At the conclusion of the game when Faye is revealed to be a Jötunn, Kratos realises that Baldur didn't actually know who he was, but had mistaken him for a Giant due to the fact he was tracking his wife, whose ashes he was carrying throughout the journey.
• Interestingly enough, Faye's true origin was foreshadowed by Baldur's conversations towards Kratos during their first encounter when he mistake Kratos for being a Giant. Such as "I thought you'd be bigger, but you're definetely the one" is hinting the Giants in general, and "Long way from home, aren't you?" he was talking about Jötunheim, the Giants' realm.
• In an ironic twist of fate, Freya's attempt to prevent Baldur's needless death could be argued to be the very reason for it, as this led to Baldur's desire for revenge. Kratos only killed him to protect Freya herself.
• During their third and final battle, before Kratos snaps Baldur's neck, Kratos says "the cycle ends here", the same phrase Zeus said when killing Kratos in God of War II. The cycle refers to the Cycle of Patricide, although, in this case, it would be matricide.
• Baldur had a pet dragon named Dagsetr, which he used to travel to Kratos‘s home in their first encounter and was seen when Baldur kidnapped Atreus.
• A notable difference between mythology and the game is that, in the original mythology, Baldur was made invulnerable after he dreamt of his death. Since dreams were considered prophetic, this caused distress to him. His mother, Frigg, made every single thing, living and lifeless, swear an oath never to harm him, except for mistletoe, because she believed it was too young to swear an oath. In the game, his mother uses Vanir magic to cast invulnerability on Baldur, which, as any Vanir spell, has a weakness; in this case, that weakness would be mistletoe.
• Revisiting Freya's cottage post-game will have Mimir reveal that, although she is capable of it, Freya is not likely to revive Baldur, as being reanimated is a torturous experience. However, in Norse mythology, it is said that Baldur's mother does indeed attempt to retrieve him from Hel, and, due to failing this, Baldur is one of the few gods to return regardless following Ragnarök.
• Strangely, in Norse mythology, despite his violent death, Baldur was stated to have ended up in Helheim instead of Valhalla. Whether or not this holds true in the game is currently unknown.
  • This not only contradicts the very real world beliefs stating that the Vikings had that all warriors go to Valhalla but also Mimir's own that states that the Aesir have their own ways of getting to Valhalla.
  • It also states that after Ragnarök, Baldur would rise up from Helheim and become the new ruler of the Nine Realms. Again, whether or not this will happen in the games is currently unknown.
  • It should be noted, however, that to die and go to Valhalla one has to die fighting. Baldur was not involved in a fight when he was killed, but rather was letting the other Gods throw weapons at him for their own amusement, since he believed nothing could harm him which can be considered a form of cowardice.
• He is the second main antagonist of the series that Kratos kills not out of a personal vendetta but because he was forced to do so. The first was Persephone.
• Similar to Magni and Modi, the death of Baldur didn’t cause a massive explosion or cause a plague like the Greek Gods, despite being a full god and not Demi-gods like the former and latter. However, it could be argued that Fimbulwinter is a result of his death which is supposed to cause widespread death and famine as well as setting the events for Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods.
• Throughout the entire course of the game Baldur apparently never discovered Kratos' true identity as a Greek God. He believed that Kratos was a Jötunn.

Gallery

• Baldur came to visit
• "I thought you'd be bigger"
• Kratos and Baldur during their first encounter.
• First fight against Baldur
• Second fight against Baldur
• Baldur in Helheim
• Final fight against Baldur
• Baldur strikes Atreus in the shoulder.
• Baldur is pierced by a mistletoe arrow
• Baldur chokes both Kratos and Atreus in the final battle.
• Fiery Baldur
• Baldur tries to kill Freya by choking her.
• Kratos chokes Baldur.
• Baldur meets his demise as Kratos snaps his neck.
• Baldur (Codex)

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