Zeus readying his lightning bolt
A powerful and devastating weapon to wield, Zeus' Thunderbolts could shatter huge mountains and kill Titans.
The Lightning Bolts were created by the Cyclopes and were given to Zeus as a gift, after he freed the them from Tartarus. In return, Kratos received the bolts as a gift as well, in his fight against Ares.
In the God of War Series
God of War (Novel)
In the Novel, Zeus punished Gods (in that case, Ares) for centuries by having them dodge his Lightning Bolts.
God of War II
The iconic Lightning Bolts made another appearance in God of War II. Here, they were seen in both the flashback to the Great War, but also when Zeus destroyed Sparta. Finally, Zeus used a variety of Lightning powers, including the bolts to fight Kratos atop the Summit of Sacrifice. In the flashback, Zeus was seen shooting long tendrils of Lightning at a tall column of electricity and cloud, presumably in the act of forging the Blade of Olympus. Interestingly, it was the only weapon that was seen in the series to overcome Zeus' Lightning Bolts in terms of pure power. In the flashback with Sparta, Zeus used them again, albeit with more frequency and seemingly less power, to wreak havoc on the city. Finally, he used them against Kratos several times in the final boss battle. The first use was in his God Form, where he occasionally flung the Lightning Bolts at Kratos, and while they did large amounts of damage, they were slow and were easy to dodge. When Zeus came to fight personally, he used the Lightning Bolts again and threw them at Kratos. Their attacks did a fair amount of damage, and were much faster, but could be easily reflected using the Golden Fleece, which yielded Orbs, that were crucial to survive the battle. Finally, when Zeus got tired of Kratos and grew into his "God Form" again, he unleashed the combined powers of his Lightning Bolts, which pushed Kratos to the ground and almost killed him.
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
When in the Combat Arena, and with the Grave Digger Costume equipped, the Thunderbolts could be used.
God of War III
In God of War III, Zeus' Lightning Bolts made a final, but notably more powerful, appearance. After Kratos killed Poseidon, he climbed upon Gaia's hand, in order to finally confront Zeus atop the Palace of Olympus. Though Kratos and Gaia were arguably two of the most powerful beings in the God of War World, Zeus rose to the sky, came down, and formed a column of storm. From the column, he hefted the Lightning Bolt seen in the picture of this page: A 10 foot spear of power, which he threw at the Primordial Goddess. The bolt was so powerful, that it kicked both Kratos and Gaia up and hurled them from Mount Olympus. In addition, it shattered Gaia's earthly skin, and almost cut her hand clean off. Later, during his final battle with Kratos, Zeus used his Lightning Bolts in variety of forms either by firing a barrage of Lightning Bolts or supercharging and firing Lightning from his hands.
Gallery
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