God of War: Ragnarok Early Story Draft Made Thor Kill Kratos, All You Need to Know

God of War: Ragnarök, the PlayStation Game of the Year, is a title that will not leave the players’ minds anytime soon. The game provided us with the much-needed conclusion to the Norse chapter, along with a spectacular new adventure for Kratos and Atreus to embark upon. After playing this one, players can’t control their excitement to learn what’s next for the duo.

#GodofWarRagnarok is OFFICIALLY LIVE!

On behalf of everyone here at Santa Monica Studio and all of our development partners, thank you to our wonderful fans for supporting us.

Every person who touched this game put their all into it, we hope you love it as much as we do ???? pic.twitter.com/N7IR9p2jCD

— Santa Monica Studio – God of War Ragnarök (@SonySantaMonica) November 9, 2022

Though we aren’t going to learn about the next instalment series anytime soon, we at least know what the writers had planned for God of War: Ragnarök though one of their earlier drafts. If this detail had been added to the final game, it would’ve surely turned some heads.

Through an interview with MinnMax, we learned what Matt Sophos, narrative director and Richard Gaubert, story lead had planned for Kratos when they were pitching the story for the sequel of the 2018 title. Bear in mind, there are spoilers ahead if you haven’t played God of War: Ragnarök yet.

Through the revelation, it has been understood that the duo had decided to kill off Kratos during his battle with Thor in the early stages of the game. This death was not meant to be permanent, and it was written that Atreus would pull Kratos out of Hell. The catch was that Atreus was only able to pull Kratos out of hell after 20 years had passed by, which was shown through a time skip in the game.

However, Eric Williams, the game director, was not a fan of this storyline and stated that Kratos had died “too many times” and it wouldn’t make sense to recreate this situation. The duo also stated that this change eventually worked out for them, as they wanted to go with the angle of “fate and prophecy being bullshit”. Which could only be displayed by bringing a change in Kratos’ ways. Killing him would just mean that the prophecy came true.