Too Many Afterlives[]
Honestly the afterlives in Norse Mythology have always been kind of vague. At least for me. Maybe somebody out there smarter or more knowledgeable about the myths will have a way of explaining this.
On the one hand you have Valhalla which is ruled by Odin and I suppose is where all the supposed "heroes" go. And then there's Hel where the leftovers are pretty much sent. If it stopped there, then things would be much simpler. But it doesn't.
Instead to complicate matters even further we also have multiple other known afterlives that each apparently operate under their own regulations and deities. The most popular, or most famous, of which is probably Folkvangr ruled by the Vanir goddess Freya (who interestingly enough also happens to be Odin's wife).
You remember how the souls of all the warriors go to Valhalla after they die? Well, apparently Folkvangr was involved with this condo timeshare scheme as well. According to most versions of the mythology, the souls of the warriors were split into two separate groups. One half went to Valhalla. The other to Folkvangr. Why exactly this system existed, we don't know. We can assume that Valhalla was for only the really Elite warriors and Folkvangr was likely for all the lower-class but if so, then it's never expanded on (also if that is the case, then why didn't they just get sent to Helheim? If they really sucked that badly then you would think that Odin or Freya or whoever's in charge wouldn't have any interest in them. Maybe they just didn't want to give Hel any unnecessary advantages).
There's also Ran's Net, which if the myths are to be believed was basically just a large fishing net where sailors who had died at sea were forced to swim underwater for all eternity (why exactly is Helheim considered such a bad place again?). Yeah. That's right. Your forced to spend all eternity trapped in a net underwater in the soul-crushing darkness in deep pressure. And I was afraid to go sailing before...
And that's not even scratching the surface! You see the issue here? Too many conflicting afterlives.
I hope that in the future games, they'll try to clear some of this stuff up.
(119.224.76.126 09:19, March 27, 2019 (UTC))
It's really quite simple. Odin and Freya split the honorable dead, so as to keep peace between the Aesir and Vanir. Valhalla is part of Asgard, and Folkvangr is part of Vanaheim. Unworthy dead are sent to Hel, and most of the other afterlives are considered different parts of Hel, sorted out by how they died unworthy. There are exceptions to the rules, and reincarnation has been noted to happen when Freya and Odin don't decide who gets the soul. All in the name of peace. The really bad criminals are sent to the bottom of Yggdrasil to be devoured by Nidhoggr for eternity. Tengen Toppa Lazengann (talk) 22:30, March 27, 2019 (UTC)
That may all be true in the original mythology, but can we say that its the same for God of War? Considering the fact that Freya was pretty much exiled, I think its probably safe to say that quite a few things are different.
I guess only time will tell for sure.
(119.224.76.126 00:55, March 29, 2019 (UTC))