Destiny 2andGod of Warhave rich tapestries of lore and history that occur within the timeline of humanity existing on Earth and throughout the Solar System. Though the genres of each game share Sci-Fi elements,God of Waris rooted more in fantasy, taking place during the ancient times of Greece and Nordic history and featuring the pantheon of Gods from mythology.Destiny 2, on the other hand, presents humanity’s far future after colonizing the Solar System through a Golden Age and subsequent Collapse, where humanity now battles the forces of the Darkness.
Throughout the lore of both franchises, God of War is bestowed upon different entities that are Gods themselves and use their power to promote combat, war, and other grand conflicts that are aimed to enhance their abilities and motivations. While their natures at times overlap in their quests, comparing the God of War inDestiny 2to Kratos inGod of Warisn’t so simple. Overall, Xivu Arath, the God of War withinDestiny 2, far exceeds the violence anddestruction that Kratos demonstrates.
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Kratos Becoming a God of War
While Kratos, by nature, is a demigod, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, he begins and lives his early life as a Spartan warrior, demonstrating leadership, skills, and tactical understanding. When the current God of War, Ares, plans to overthrow his father Zeus and rule Olympus in his stead, he searches for a strong mortal to mold into the perfect warrior to enact his plans.Ares saved Kratos from near deathand recruited the Spartan into his schemes.
As Kratos continued serving Ares and amassing power, the Spartan traveled down a power-hungry path of bloodlust. To sever his connection to the mortal world, Ares teleported Kratos’s wife and child into a temple where Kratos was slaughtering the inhabitants in a fury. Believing them safe in Sparta, Kratos unknowingly murdered his family. This eventually set him on a path of vengeance that would see him ultimately slaying Ares and assuming themantle of God of War.
Xivu Arath Becoming a God of War
Xivu Arath began her life as a Krill called Xi Ro from the planet Fundament billions of years ago. When her father, the Osmium King, was murdered by rivals of his throne, Xi Ro fled the kingdom with her two sisters, Aurash and Sathona. The siblings desired to not only avenge their father but to save their planet from a cataclysmic event that their father’s dead Worm familiar continuously warned them of.
Discovering an advanced derelict ship, the siblings ventured deep into the ocean depths of Fundament, where they encountered the Worm Godswho served the Darkness. The Worm Gods promised the siblings eternal life and the ability to save their people by taking larvae and forming a symbiotic relationship where the siblings would follow the Sword Logic. This philosophy dictated those who could not survive were not worthy of survival. The Worm larvae would be fed with death and destruction from the Sword Logic as the siblings embarked on genocidal missions across galaxies.
Xi Ro became Xivu Arath, the God of War, an enhancement of her nature involving strength and combat. Her Krill form was transformed into the Hive, which the siblings converted the other Krill into and launched their campaigns of destruction. Throughout these conquests, the siblings continuously killed and resurrected each other in their attempts to sharpen their powers and knowledge, feed their Worms through more death, and help theDarkness attempt to achieve the Final Shape. This Shape would be the ultimate entity capable of surviving any force in the universe.
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Differentiating Motivations
Throughout their missions, Kratos and Xivu Arath demonstrated untold destruction, violence, and slaughtering of innocents to achieve their goals. After slaying Ares, Zeus feared Kratos would try to murder him just as Zeus had murdered his father, Cronus. Zeus decided to eliminate Kratos, which only succeeded in Kratos setting his sights of vengeance on the Gods of Olympus, primarily Zeus. Utilizing the help of the Titans,Zeus began a bloody campaignwhere he swore to kill any God or mortal in his way until he had slain the Olympians.
While Xivu Arath regularly participated in the murder of her siblings, the other two Hive Gods, her motivations were not rooted in vengeance. These actions allowed the siblings to retreat to the Ascendant Realm, where their Throne Worlds permitted them to recover before returning to reality. This cycle of death, recovery, and return allowed them to strengthen themselves and learnmore about their Worms, the Darkness, the Sword Logic, and reality.
Current Goals and Status
Kratos ultimately succeeded in his quest to destroy the Olympian Gods, finalizing his pursuit of vengeance for his family and betrayal; he had an epiphany once he saw the world killed after the Olympian’s demise. In the act of sacrifice,Kratos stabbed himself with his blades, releasing the power of Hope into the world of mankind to let them rebuild and thrive. He ended up surviving his sacrificial act and retreated to Nordic lands. There, with his son Atreus, he aims to prevent past mistakes from repeating while guiding his son.
On the other hand, Xivu Arath has continued her conquests through the universe, committing genocide after genocide to feed her Worm and immortality. While she has yet to appear in theDestiny 2game physically, her forces have invaded the Solar System to stop her sister, Savathun, from removing her Worm parasite. Those forces breached and fought within the Dreaming City and nearly succeeded before being driven back. With Savathun abandoning theDarkness and the Witnessto protect the Traveler, it’s uncertain what Xivu Arath’s next steps will be.
Destiny 2andGod of Warshare characters with the eponymous title God of War, a mantle steeped in rich lore and history. While comparisons can be drawn regarding their strength, bloodlust, and violent tendencies, there are also staggering differences. Kratos was used as a tool for assassination, tricked into slaughtering his family, which set him on a path of vengeance - eventually relinquishing upon success and looking for redemption.Xivu Arath ultimately chose immortalityand power to hold her title, relishing in the genocidal campaigns that fed her powers and Worm as high-ranking servants of the Darkness.
Destiny 2is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
