This article contains lore based on real-life sources from Norse Mythology as introduced from the God of War Norse Era.
| “ | The sight of Gondul always took my breath away. Gondul had a silver tongue, a sharp wit, and struck a figure so stunning, it literally drove men insane. Odin forbid her from setting foot in Midgard after a time, as insanity is not a welcome trait in Valhalla. | ” |
–Mimir's remarks about Gondul | ||
Göndul is a Valkyrie introduced in God of War (2018). She is one of the nine Valkyries who have been cursed by Odin to remain in a corporal form, eventually driving them to insanity. As she became too dangerous, Göndul eventually found herself sealed away by the Valkyrie Queen in Muspelheim. Widely considered as the most powerful of the Valkyries after Sigrún, she is nevertheless freed by Kratos and Atreus after they engaged and defeated her physical form. Blessing them with her eternal gratitude, her spirit vanished and eventually reunited with her sisters.
Göndul returns in God of War: Ragnarök as a Shield Maiden, having regained a pure physical form thanks to Freya and her Vanir magic. Grateful for having been freed from Odin's curse and having acknowledged Kratos as their General, she actively participates together with her freed sisters to the final assault against Asgard during Ragnarök.
Norse Mythology[]
In Norse mythology, Göndul (Old Norse "wand-wielder") is a Valkyrie. Göndul is attested in Heimskringla, Sörla þáttr, and a 14th-century Norwegian charm. In addition, Göndul appears within the Valkyrie list in the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, in both of the two Nafnaþulur lists found in the Prose Edda, and among the valkyries listed in Darraðarljóð.
Appearance[]
God of War (2018)[]
Like all Valkyries, Göndul's face is never shown and each Valkyrie would wear a very different type of helmet, the helmets would be themed together based upon a different creature. Göndul wears a golden helmet inspired by a Vulture, these masks are extenuate in all different directions, from various color choices to metalwork designs. The masks emitted regal beauty, while still being creepy in nature. Due to her corruption, her skin is an unhealthy pale blue. But one of the most striking elements of the Valkyries came in the design of their wings. Like the other Valkyries Göndul had extremely large mechanical wings, Göndul's wings were red, they are covered in golden metal plates as armor thus why they are mechanical in the first place. Like her sisters, her design showed her both skilled and refined. With each Valkyrie, hints of their past would be shown off in their armor sets – not looking completely polished and showcasing a long-and-tired past, such as in the torn feather designs on the helmets.
God of War Ragnarök[]
After Freya resurrected Göndul and her sisters with Seidr magic, their skin returned to its original healthy color. Additionally, like all Shield Maidens, her original Valkyrie wings were replaced with more organic-looking birdlike wings.
Combat[]
Göndul is perhaps one of the most formidable foe in the game, even compared to her sisters. Not only does she has a sizable health pool, she has her own version of deadly tactics used by several other Valkyries, all of them dealing very high damage and require precise and punctual decision making while suffering her spatial sabotage powers. In terms of unpredictability and moveset, she's arguably second only to Sigrun.
The area Göndul is fought against is rather spacious, but this only barely makes up for the aggressiveness that Göndul helms in combat and her ability to create fiery hazards on the floor.
Göndul's signature power is her limited pyrokinesis; she can make fireballs fall from the sky to a certain spot and make that spot burn with lingering fire; turning it into a life-sapping zone. She would use this to create a row flaming hazard in a straight line between her and Kratos. The damage from this ground hazard is nothing to scoff at, and in GMGOW, they can eat away Kratos' health bar rather quickly, enough for players to fail from just one additional mistake. Tough this can be easily dodged sideways, players must be careful with the direction they chose to dodge into, as the fire hazard would remain for some time; the side of the arena the player dodges into will likely be the place where they have to endure Göndul's onslaught for the next minute. Dodging into tight spaces might inhibit some maneuvers that are necessary to avoid her other attacks.
Countering the possible follow-up to her meteor attack is probably one of the trickiest thing in surviving her encounter. If Göndul strides to her right (Kratos' left), that means she's about to close in and do regular wing slash, which should be blocked. If she strides to her left (Kratos' right), it means that she's going to close in with a Thrust with her Right wing; this should be dodged to the right. If she strides straight onto Kratos, it means she's going to do a Cyclone with her wing (blockable) and will follow it up by taking to the sky and execute a Grappling attack that requires dodging to any direction with the right pace and timing; getting as far as possible from point A to B does nothing against her Grappling move since she tracks Kratos when doing so, the key is to dodge at the moment she plummets from the sky, and the timing window is rather small. Also she always shoot one meteor at Kratos before plummeting, which coukd prompt panic to the player and make them dodge at the wrong time.
Göndul is also capable of using her feather as projectiles, akin to throwing knives (blockable), she might do this after strafing backwards.
Göndul seem to adopt the same exact Mace tactics with Eir, tough she could also add Mace Swing as a finisher to her wing blade attack. Just remember that unlike Eir, Göndul can affect the availability of safe space in combat, and Mace attacks require some room to move around against.
Trivia[]
- In legend, Göndul was considered the most beautiful of the Valkyries. Known of her silver tongue, sharp wit and struck a figure so stunning it would literally drive men insane. Thus, Odin forbid her from entering Midgard after a time, for insanity is not a welcome trait in Valhalla. This detail was said by Mimir.
- Unlike other Valkyries, Göndul can be encountered without requiring Mimir's help, thus should you managed to brave the Trials of Muspelheim early on and fight her, Kratos and Atreus will have a different dialogue with them not knowing who she is.
- Since Muspelheim cipher can be completed before the Stone Mason quest, this also makes Göndul the earliest accessible Valkyrie in the game.
- Defeating Göndul is necessary to upgrade the Blades of Chaos to its maximum level in the 2018 game. The Raging Fire of Muspelheim, the material needed for a Chaos Flame in the Dwarven Shop, is her exclusive loot.
- Göndul's armour design is based on a vulture.[1]
Gallery[]
Portraits[]
Panoramas[]
Concept Arts[]
References[]
- ↑ The Art of God of War