Titans

“	We will help you defeat Zeus.	”
–Gaia

Gow2-gaia — Gaia, mother of the Titans and the Earth itself.

The Titans were the second generation of Greek Gods who ruled over Greece before the Olympians and after the Primordials. They were the ones who aided Kratos in his quest for vengeance against Zeus, but later became the secondary group of antagonists upon Gaia's betrayal.

It appears that out of spite for the rest of the race given his deep hatred towards Cronos, their king and his own father, Zeus had stripped them of their roles, thus denying all of their rights towards mortals, scornfully viewing them as nothing more uncivilized brutes not much superior than dumb beasts. Or at the very least second-rate gods unfit for worship and rule Greece, further adding insult to their injury.

However, Zeus accepted those who allied with him and his fellow Olympians to his newly established pantheon of Grecian gods, such as Helios and his sisters or Iris, the Goddess of Rainbows. He even honors them by allowing the Greeks to have places of worship and monuments dedicated to them, chief among them the Colossus of Rhodes. He even honored Hekate, Perses' daughter above all else by bestowing her a significant authority over the Grecian heavens, earth and underworld.

Greek Mythology

In Greek mythology, the Titans (Τιτάν) were the second generation of extremely powerful and physically huge Greek Gods that ruled Greece during the legendary Golden Age of mankind. The original Titans were the children of Gaia and Ouranos.

There were 12 original Titans, the males being known as the Titans (Oceanus, Coeus, Kreios, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronos) and the females as the Titanides (Rhea, Theia, Phoebe, Mnemosyne, Themis and Tethys). They were ruled by the youngest Titan, Cronos, who overthrew Ouranos with the aid of Gaia (who crafted his sickle) and his brothers (not Oceanus).

Later, several of the Titans also produced offspring. These included the children of Oceanus (the Potamoi and Oceanids), the children of Coeus (the Coeides: Leto, Asteria and Lelantos), the children of Kreios (the Creionides: Astraeus, Pallas and Perses), the children of Hyperion (the Hyperionides: Helios, Eos and Selene), the children of Iapetus (the Iapetionides: Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus).

The Titans preceded the Olympians who, led by Zeus, eventually overthrew them in the Titanomachy. The Titans were then imprisoned in Tartarus, the deepest and darkest pit of the Underworld. Only a few Titans (such as Prometheus, Oceanus) were spared that fate. Atlas, who led the Titans in the Titanomachy, was forced to hold the sky (Ouranos) upon his shoulders, fore the sky was greatly damaged in the war and couldn't support itself and also because of the death of the sky (Ouranus).

In the God of War Series

Birth and Fate

Rhea 1 — Rhea awaiting Cronos atop the Summit of Sacrifice.

In the beginning, there was darkness. The first twelve elder Titans were born on the Island of Creation to the union of the Heavens, their father Ouranos and their mother Gaia, the Earth. The beautiful Island was created before the Titans birth by the Primordials and was home to the Sisters of Fate, the daughters of Nyx and the arbiters of fate and destiny.

The Titans were powerful dieties and created and added new domains and concepts to the still developing cosmos, such as the Sun and Moon by Hyperion and his children, divine law and order by Themis, mortality by Iapetus and finally Time itself, by the youngest one, Cronos.

Their father Ouranos ruled supremely and increasingly tyrannically over the universe, with the Titans being merely tolerated on the face of the Earth unlike their older brothers, the mighty trios of Elder Cyclopes and Hecatonchires who were banished into the primordial abyss for their hideousness, much to the dismay and rage of their mother, Gaia who loved all her children equally.

When the Earth Mother beseeched her children to stand up to the Tyrant, no one objected but only Cronos, the youngest and most ambitious one was ready to actually face and challenge the all-powerful Skyfather. In a terrible cosmic battle, resembling the primordial clashes before the creation of the world, the Titan of Time has slain and castrated his sire, taking over the supreme lordship over the cosmos for himself and bringing forth the Golden Age of Titan rule.

Next to their ever-present father in the Heavens, the Titans also were very cautious and frightened by the power and authority of the Sisters of Fate, perhaps the mightiest of the Night Mothers many children. The Sisters lived on the Island of Creation and ruled over the every-day life and ultimate destiny of all deities, their authority being near-absolute. The Titans saw it fit to move from their birthplace into the wide world and started to shape and take roots in it.

The Golden Age

During the Reign of the Titans, the story of mankind has its roots, as it was the crafty Prometheus, the son of Iapetus who has created the race of mortals. The humans in that ancient age, were called the Golden Race when later compared to their "Bronze" and "Stone" variations during the Olympian Age, as they lived a much longer life and welcomed death as minor nature spirits, instead of shades in the dark Underworld. Under the Titans they lived a blissful existence in harmony with nature and the dieties. The Titans themselves ruled over the cosmos and its domains, like the vast Oceanus reigning over the endless seas, the beaming Hyperion presiding over the Sun and its life-giving light. Many second and third generation Titans such as Perses, Atlas and Helios were born and took their place in the divine order.

However, it was prophesized that one day Cronos, the ruler of the world would be overthrown by his very children, just as his father Ouranos had been years before. In an attempt to sway the Sisters of Fate to his favor, Cronos gifted them with the Steeds of Time so that the Island of Creation on which they dwelt would never fall off the Edge of Creation. The Sisters accepted the gift but refused to change his destiny and the fate that would also haunt the Titans forever. Cronos began devouring his children one by one so that the prophecy may not come true. His wife, Rhea, could not bear another such loss and hid the sixth and final child on an island far away from the watchful eyes of her husband. Cronos foolishly swallowed a rock wrapped in cloth in the baby's place. The Queen of the Titans gave her third son a mighty name, Zeus. Fitting for the future Lord and King that Destiny promised.

While humanity thrived, all was not well for the ruler of the world, Cronos whose decreed fate was ever-present on his mind. His grave sin of devouring his children was ultimately harshly punished, as his last son who escaped his siblings’ fate was Zeus, who was raised by his grandmother Gaia herself to nurture his desire to free his brothers and sisters from their prison. When the day came and Zeus had become a young man, he freed his siblings from their cruel father and the Great War began.

The Great War and Downfall

Untitled 43432 — Titans in their last moments on the mortal world before being engulfed by the Blade of Olympus' power.

The Titans believed that they had to win or the Olympians would make the mortals suffer, caring only for control and power, aswell as revenge on the Titans for the sins of their father. The war over supremacy of the cosmos was terrifying and destructive, lasting for several centuries of brutal combat between the warring dieties, which forged the landscape of the mortal world. The Titans Hekate, Iris, Prometheus and Helios joined the Olympians in the battle against them, betraying their own kin. Zeus would much later claim to his daughter Athena that the Gods were able to destroy the Titans and their rule, cause they constantly fought among themselves over never-forgotted feuds and were divided until it was too late, implying that in the early stages the young Gods could have been defeated by the united might of the Titans.

The Titans loyal to Cronos were led into battle by the great General Atlas, the son of Iapetus. All the five older brothers of Cronos, stood by their King along with many of their children like the mighty Perses and Epimetheus. The Olympians however stood their ground and grew more powerful as they aged and fought. Zeus, the leader of the uprising was a notorious womanizer and seduced and slept with many Titanesses and his sister Hera, which birthed new and powerful deities like Hephaestus and Hermes or the twins Artemis and Apollo, all fiercely loyal to their fathers cause. To gain even more power and craftsmanship, the mighty Zeus went into Tartarus and freed the Elder Cyclopes and Hecantoncheries, whose younger brother Cronos has never freed and cruelly left in the Pit. Now, with Zeus promising them freedom and honour in exchange for their aid, they were eager to return the favour.

The second son of Cronos, the wrathful Poseidon challenged the supremacy of the ancient Oceanus over the oceans, seas and lakes of the world, starting a brutal struggle. Eventually, Poseidon grew powerful enough to summon all water in the world and overthrow the reign of the old Titan and his thousends of Oceanid children, which made him the new Lord of the Oceans, wielding a mighty Trident that trembeled the very Earth and ruled the waves.

The Sisters of Fate, in their Loom Chamber within their Island, have managed and oversaw the world-trembling struggles and battles across the long centuries, their ultimate decision already decreed long ago.

The final battle of the Great War was an last, desperate assault by the Titans, led still by their General Atlas and King Cronos. As the Titans attacked the Olympian forces, Zeus the King of the Gods was busy behind the rear. So great was the power of the last son of Cronos, that now he exerted influence and power over the very essence of creation to a far greater extent than his father ever did. He channelled the Heavens and the Earth, aswell as the Afterlife and the Seas with his own blood and lightning, to forge the ultimate instrument of power, the Blade of Olympus. In the meantime, the Titans didnt manage to break through the Olympian lines. Cronos, in his last moments as the King of the Cosmos was about to have his soul consumed by the hands of his eldest son Hades, but Atlas was able to save his King by hurtling rocks and causing earthquakes towards the God. In Cronos' place Atlas was captured by Hades with the help of Poseidon, but the battle continued. Mountains were hurled like mere pebbles, and the ground shook from massive earthquakes. Eventually, Zeus created the Blade of Olympus, and used its immense power to send the Titans to the foulest pits of the Underworld – Tartarus. This ended the Great War, and the Olympians established their domain upon Mount Olympus, being worshiped by the mortals who begged for their mercy and guidance. The Golden Age had indeed ended.

Imprisonment

Unidentified Titan — An unidentified Titan, imprisoned in The Jails of Tartarus.

In Tartarus, the Titans would be tortured or trapped for all eternity (despite Cronos being the one who caused the great war) with the Gauntlet of Zeus being created to chain and bind them. All their meta-physical domains of mortal and cosmic existence, all their divine power was stripped away by the new ruling pantheon. One of the Titans chained to the walls of Tartarus with this method that Kratos encounters was Hyperion. Cronos suffered the fate of wandering the Desert of Lost Souls with Pandora's Temple chained to his back until the strength of the whirling winds and sands ripped his flesh from his bones. The King of the Gods, in his wise foresight refused to slay his father Cronos and all of the Titans who were still standing by the final Battle. In this decision, he hoped to stop and circumvent the Cycle of Patricide, though he was aware of his sin and that the immortal curse for those who spill their kin's blood lays on him.

Aegaeon was transformed into a living prison for oathbreakers by the Furies for breaking his oath to Zeus to fight alongside the Olympians with the other Hecatonchires. The Titan Typhon was imprisoned within an enormous mountain. On the same mountain as Prometheus, because of betraying Zeus and giving the mortals the fires of Olympus, was forced to endure the pain of having his liver eaten everyday by a large eagle only to suffer the fate again and again. The great Atlas was to hold the world of the living on his shoulders, his hands chained to the earth though Kratos broke one of the chains, releasing him from some of the pain. Meanwhile, the Titans that sided with Zeus such as Helios and Hekate are accepted in his Olympian pantheon. Zeus even honors Hekate by granting her a significant share and authority over the Grecian heaven, earth and underworld.

Kratos' Encounter With Cronos

Cronos Desert — Cronos, with the temple of Pandora on his back, suffering in the Desert of Lost Souls.

The Goddess Athena instructed Kratos to journey to the Desert of Lost Souls where Cronos crawled with Pandora's Temple upon his back. Cronos showed no notice of him as Kratos climbed a mountain leading to the temple for three days, while Cronos was still crawling pitifully across the harsh desert wasteland with the wind blowing in his face. The mighty Titan walked in the desert for millennia until Kratos retrieved Pandora's Box. They would later meet at the Steeds of Time (A holograph of Cronos). He was later sent to Tartarus with the temple chained to his back.

The Prisoner of Atlantis

Within the volcanic mountain outside of Atlantis, Thera, was imprisoned and she appears to be the core of the volcanic activity. There, Kratos was informed by her that his arrival was foretold by Gaia and pleaded to be released or they would both remain prisoners of their own torments.

Kratos hurled his blades into Thera's chest, thus receiving the power of Thera's Bane and setting Thera free, who then started tearing down her chains as the Spartan left the chamber, leaving destruction in her wake. As the volcano erupted, she was seen rising out of her captivity in the distance, though what became of Thera remains unknown.

It's likely that Thera, along with the other Titans, joined Kratos in his assault against the Olympians and was killed during the battle.

Alliance with Kratos

Capture2 — Kratos meets Gaia and the Titans.

Kratos was saved by Gaia's guidance while he was being taken to the Underworld. She told Kratos that Zeus would have to be destroyed in order for there to be any hope for Kratos. With her voice whispering into Kratos' ear, the powerful warrior traveled to the mountain where Typhon and Prometheus rested. Typhon, bound to his mountainous prison, refused to help the former Olympian. Typhon tried blowing Kratos off of the cliffs where he walked, hoping he would fall to his death. Kratos managed to obtain Typhon's Bane by stabbing Typhon's eye, blinding him. Kratos also released Prometheus from his torment by burning him to death in a fiery pit, granting him the power of the Rage of the Titans. Cronos gifted Kratos with the last of his magic while traveling with the Steeds of Time. This magic was known as Cronos' Rage. Kratos also fell into the grasp of the mighty Atlas, who gifted him with the knowledge of the Great War and the powerful Atlas Quake. With all of his powers and gifts, Kratos defeated the Sisters of Fate and traveled back in time to the final minutes of the Great War. He saved the Titans from being banished and brought them into his time. There, he and the Titans climbed Mount Olympus to finally rid the world of the petty Olympians once and for all. The mortals were terrified, but there was nowhere to run or hide from the brutal battle.

It is stated in the novelization how the mortals feel the unrest on Olympus amid Kratos defiance and conquering of Greece. Many feel like the Gods dont care about humanity and that Zeus could destroy them easily in his rashness. In the ruined and rebuilding Athens, many mortals have placed modest, hidden shrines to the Titans and the Earth Mother, longing for a time way lost in the past, but not unreachable as Time itself is nothing but another goal for the Ghost of Sparta to conquer. When Athena lets it slip infront of her father Zeus how some mortals have started to worship the Titans, the King of the Gods looses all remaining pretense of control and destroys Sparta in a fit of megalomania, rage and fear.

During Kratos quest to change his destiny, the Sisters of Fate had mixed opinions of the Titans and their mother Gaia. Clotho took their alliance with Kratos seriously, while Lahkesis dismissed the old, deposed dieties rather arrogantly, due to their depowered and desperate status. However, in her many calculations she was once open to consider allowing the Titans return, as the world was "not the same" anymore without Gaia, Cronos and the rest, but her sister Atropos quickly denied that idea, refusing to overrule her former decree of supremacy of the Olympians over the Titans.

No matter their opinions and decrees, the Ghost of Sparta progressed through their Island, guided by Gaia and empowered by Cronos, Atlas and his own burning rage. After the Sisters died, Kratos severed all the Titans threads of fate with the Spear of Destiny, freeing them from their doomed fate, as the Titans had the last laugh against the old sisters who chased them from their home island and condemned them to the Pit so long ago.

Second Titanomachy

“

Zeus! Your son has returned! I bring the destruction of Olympus!!

”

With the Second Titanomachy having begun, the Olympians immediately leapt into battle against the Titans climbing up Mount Olympus. Helios, Hermes, Hercules, and Hades engaged the Titans head on, while Poseidon waits with Zeus. Hades in his giant form would use his Claws to dislodge Oceanus as he was making his way up the mountain.

Poseidon then entered the fray by leaping off the top of Olympus, he targeted Epimetheus and blasted through his chest, killing him instantly and knocking him off the mountain into the waters below. With the help of his Hippocampi, which erupted from the water, Poseidon pulled at least one more Titan off Mount Olympus before reaching Kratos and Gaia, in the form of a colossal watery construct. After a long and hard struggle, Kratos and Gaia combined their efforts, managing to kill the God of the Sea, with the Spartan gouging his eyes and snapping his neck.

Victorious from their battle with Poseidon, Kratos and Gaia reached Zeus, who then summoned a lightning bolt to blast them off the mountain, resulting in Kratos falling into the Underworld, though not before learning that he was just a pawn for Gaia which made the Titans his new enemies along with the Gods.

Olympia 2 — In retribution for her betrayal, Kratos sends Gaia plummeting from Olympus.

After killing Hades and escaping the Underworld, Kratos happened upon a wounded Gaia who praised the Spartan for surviving his fall, stating "The blood of Cronos serves you well". She then pleaded with him for help but he cuts the vines of Gaia's damaged hand. When she pleads to him by asking if she meant anything to him, Kratos responded in a form of cruel irony that Gaia was his pawn as she stated she must face Zeus so the Titans may have their vengeance on the Gods. However, Kratos stated the war against the Olympus was his war not hers. For her earlier betrayal, he uses the Blade of Olympus and cuts the remaining vine to her hand causing her to fall off the mountain to her supposed demise.

Perses2 — Kratos battling a Centaur General as Perses looks on

Later in the war-torn city of Olympia, Helios was still engaged in combat with Perses when Kratos reached the site of the battle. With the help of a Ballista, Kratos knocked Helios and his chariot into the grasp of Perses, who crushed and tossed the Sun God across the city. Perses then proceeded to rampage throughout the city while Kratos continued onward with his own agenda and decapitated the Sun God with his bare hands.

Once he made his way through an Icarus Vent, Kratos came across Perses again, who tried to kill him, as possible retribution for what Kratos had done to Gaia. Kratos managed to shun the attack of the Titan, then pulled out the Blade of Olympus and impaled Perses' left eye before causing an explosion, blasting the Titan's face. Perses fell off the mountain once again, only this time, it seemed very unlikely he would have survived the fall as he is never seen again.

Cronos-Hi-Def — Cronos, attempting to crush Kratos to death

When sent by Hephaestus on a suicide mission to find the Omphalos Stone in Tartarus, Kratos stumbled onto the fallen hand of Gaia before encountering his grandfather: Cronos.

Enraged at his very presence and for supposedly killing Gaia, Cronos made an attempt to kill his grandson, losing a few finger nails to Kratos in the process. After battling against the massive Titan, Cronos managed to swallow Kratos, which proved to be a fatal mistake as the Spartan managed to cut his way out using the Blade of Olympus, spilling Cronos' intestines in the process. Kratos then proceeded to kill Cronos with the Blade of Olympus before returning to Hephaestus with the Omphalos Stone to craft the Nemesis Whip.

During the final battle between him and Zeus, Kratos encountered Gaia, who managed to mostly regrow her lost hand to climb back up the mountain, one last time when she interrupted the fight between father and son. Declaring that "the reign of Olympus ends now" upon her return, Gaia then expresses anger towards Kratos and the Olympians as her world "bleeds" because of them. Revealing that she never sought Kratos' death, Gaia proclaims that the Spartan has left her no other choice; Zeus took this moment to comment that Kratos has failed her and that she should have chosen the other one instead. Angered by this defiance, Gaia simply replied that "father and son will die together" and crushed the Shrine of Olympus in her hands. Zeus and Kratos leapt into a large gaping wound in her chest caused earlier by Poseidon's Hippocampi and found their way to her heart, where Kratos proceeded to shatter its defenses, and drew energy from the Titan, causing her immense pain. The battle resumed when Zeus made his appearance and continued until Kratos stabbed Zeus with the Blade of Olympus and ran him through Gaia's heart, killing her as her body dissolving collapsed onto Olympus, leaving only large chunks of earth, and some withered trees and branches behind. With the destruction of the other Titans, the only remaining Titan is possibly Atlas as he is left holding the world on his shoulders at Pillar of the World, Typhon's fate is largely unknown but possibly still alive.

Appearance

Physical

Titans are as large as mountains and appear to be mostly elemental. Though they are evidently not very physically beautiful in any way with few exceptions, they possess immense physical strength and stamina. The Olympians appear more civilized and human than the Titans, whereas the Titans appear more ancient, earthly, and primal. However, this is not applied to all Titans, as Rhea, Prometheus, Eos and Helios look more human, and share the human's common figure and overall height and appearance.

In-Game

There are numerous Titans who make various appearances throughout the entire God of War series. These are a few:

Atlas: The Titan that was forced to carry the Sky on his shoulders. Also, he was new leader of the Titans in the events of the Great War. He was the God of Strength and Endurance.
Cronos †: The father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter. He is the former Emperor of the Titans and God of the Harvest.
Hyperion †: The father of Helios, Eos, and Selene. He is the Titan God of Light.
Selene: The daughter of Hyperion, and sister of Helios and Eos. She is the Goddess of the Moon.
Helios †: God of the Sun.
Eos: The daughter of Hyperion and sister of Helios and Selene. She is the Goddess of Dawn.
Oceanus †: The Oceanic Titan seen climbing Mt. Olympus in God of War III. He is the divine personification of the "World Ocean" and the Titan God of the Sea.
Prometheus †: The God of Foresight and Forethought, forced to bear the pain of having his liver eaten every day by an eagle after giving fire to mankind.
Rhea: The mother of the first 6 Olympians, the wife of Cronos, and Queen of the Titans. She was the Goddess of Fertility and Motherhood.
Themis: Goddess of Order and Justice. She is the sister of Mnemosyne.
Mnemosyne: Goddess of Memory. She is the sister of Themis.
Typhon: The Titan-Giant of Wind and Storm, who is punished by Zeus by trapping him underneath a large mountain.
Perses †: The God of Destruction.
Epimetheus †: The God of Hindsight and Afterthought
Thera: Goddess of Light, who is trapped inside a volcano in Atlantis.
Iapetus: Ancestor of all of Mortal races. God of Mortality.
Polyphemus †: A gigantic Cyclops, son of Poseidon.
Gyges †: One of the Hecatonchires, sons of Gaia and Ouranos and brothers of the Titans, though not Titans themselves.
Aegaeon †: Another Hecatonchire. Turned into a prison for the living damned by The Furies for breaking his blood oath with Zeus.
Python †: The Titan-Serpent son of Gaia and by the blood of Ouranos, slain by the god Apollo in Delphi.
Cottus †: One of the Hecatonchires, sons of Gaia and Ouranos and brothers of the Titans.

Powers

The main powers that all Titans possessed are superhuman strength, stamina, durability, immortality and regenerative abilities. Some of the Titans may also possess some form of energy projection and the power to control and manipulate the elements which they embody. Oceanus and Perses seem to be covered in their respective elements, Oceanus being covered in Water and Lightning, and Perses is covered in Lava implying that they both could manipulate those elements. Gaia could also possess the power over Earth and possibly over the life on it.

It is described in the in-game lore and novels, that the Titans used to rule over the universe just like the Gods of Olympus did during their reign. After their defeat, they were stated to have been depowered and dispossessed of their divine powers and domains, so that they wont ever be able to escape their imprisonments.

It is unknown what powers Rhea, mother of the six original Olympians, possesses, as she hasn't displayed her own powers in the series. In the novelization of God of War II, Rhea is mentioned as being among the Titans imprisoned within Tartarus, indicating great potential for being a threat to Mount Olympus.

They also seem to have awareness over the events that happen in the corresponding element that they embody in the world. For example, Gaia saw all the events that happened to Kratos and was able to talk to him despite not being present at the time. The same happens with other Titans like Prometheus and Typhon, who had some knowledge about Kratos even though they were both isolated in a mountain.