Charybdis is an unseen sea monster that appeared in God of War: Ascension. Being a transformation of Alecto, the queen of the furies.
Greek Mythology[]
Charybdis is a sea monster in Greek mythology. Charybdis, along with the sea monster Scylla, appears as a challenge to epic characters such as Odysseus, Jason, and Aeneas. Scholarship locates her in the Strait of Messina.
The sea monster Charybdis was believed to live under a small rock on one side of a narrow channel. Opposite her was Scylla, another sea monster, who lived inside a much larger rock. The sides of the strait were within an arrow-shot of each other, and sailors attempting to avoid one of them would come in reach of the other. To be "between Scylla and Charybdis" therefore means to be presented with two opposite dangers, the task being to find a route that avoids both. Three times a day, Charybdis swallowed a huge amount of water, before belching it back out again, creating large whirlpools capable of dragging a ship underwater. In some variations of the story, Charybdis was simply a large whirlpool instead of a sea monster.
Through the descriptions of Greek mythical chroniclers and Greek historians such as Thucydides, modern scholars generally agree that Charybdis was said to have been located in the Strait of Messina, off the coast of Sicily and opposite a rock on the mainland identified with Scylla. A whirlpool does exist there, caused by currents meeting, but it is dangerous only to small craft in extreme conditions.
God of War: Ascension[]
The kraken-like sea monster attacks Kratos several times during his tour of the island of Delos until at the end of demo. While the former beta design of Charybdis, it was replaced by Alecto herself as a form of sea monster, she appeared only tentacles attack to Kratos during his obstacle of island of Delos with its numerous tentacles and taking the lighthouse of the Statue of Apollo, where the Eyes of Truth are located, into the depths. Kratos, after his fight against Megeara, finally reaches Alecto's Chamber, where it is revealed that Charybdis is really Alecto. The Spartan climbs on it and runs between its tentacles until it manages to attack it directly in its huge mouth, after which the battle continues underwater. Kratos attacks directly on his skull which causes him to open a slight head wound, the beast takes Kratos to a platform where it attacks him with its jaws or tentacles, at the same time Tisiphone appears mounted on Daimon to attack him. When Charybdis takes enough damage, he will fall and Kratos will use the moment to jump on his head while attacking his left eye and the wound made earlier. Then, he sticks his swords to throw it against one of the towers to leave it immobilized, it will try to attack Kratos with its tentacles, but using the Amulet of Uroboros it temporarily stops them and climbs on top of them to stand on the beast's head. to jump where the wound had been made, but before this Tisiphone and Daimon try to stop Kratos who uses the Eyes of Truth to stun Daimon and then attack again concentrating the power of his swords and impale them on the beast's wound leaving it severely injured causing her to return to her original form, Alecto.
Trivia[]
- The proof of the presence of Charybdis in Ascension is the description of the "Sword of Poseidon", one of the weapons in the Multiplayer, where it reads: "Forged in the swirling chaos of Charybdis, this sword is barbed for maximum destruction".