Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny - Kratos
8"I am the god of WAR!"
— Kratos
Kratos, the protagonist of the wildly popular God of War series, is on a quest for revenge. Ordered to assassinate Ares, Kratos only agrees to do so in order to free himself from the nightmares of his past deeds.
The Greek anti-god Kratos combines his animalistic and brutal fighting style with his distinctive weapons, the "Blades of Chaos"(a pair of swords attached to Kratos' arms with the fiery chains of Hades) for a fluid combat style that is a challenger's worst nightmare. Once attached the chains remain that way, chained and seared to the flesh, a part of the bearer's body and a permanent reminder of Kratos' pledge, in return is ultimate power.
Kratos is the true definition of an anti-hero, often making immoral decisions to further his goal (sacrificing unprotected humans for example). Once a captain in the Spartan army, Kratos was only interested in stealing his opponents power for his own gain, his tactics were brutal but effective. Kratos' desire for conquest knew no bounds. One day, the barbarians to the east outnumbered Kratos' men, the Spartans faced a massacre, but Kratos suddenly shouted "Ares, destroy my enemies and my life is your's!" Later as a servant of the god of War Ares, Kratos is eventually tricked by his master into killing his own family in a temple of Athena. An oracle then placed a curse so all would know him for the beast he had become: his skin pale white with the ashes of his dead wife and child, "The Ghost of Sparta" had been born. Hell bent on revenge, Kratos had pledged himself as a champion to the gods of Olympus and was sent to rescue Athens from the mighty Persian Empire, after which Helios, the Greek god of the Sun, was torn from the sky and so Morpheus, the god of dreams, awakened to a world where he and only he wielded power. The power of Morpheus even affected Kratos as he heard a haunting melody, but when he heard it, he recognized it as the song of his daughter: Calliope. When Kratos arrived at a temple in the city of Marathon, he was standing on the Sun Chariot of Helios, the very chariot that the Fire Steeds pulled across the sky every day. Kratos later learned that the Titan Atlas was freed from the pits of Tartarus and took Helios from the sky. As he freed the other steeds with the help of Eos, goddess of dawn and sister to Helios, the beasts crossed over into the Underworld. The first challenge in Hades Kratos had to face was Charon the ferryman and later it was the one behind the whole plot: Persephone, wife of Hades and goddess of death. Persephone claimed that the gods betrayed her and wanted everyone else to share the pain she felt, but she was killed at the hands of Kratos. As for her minion, the mighty Atlas was left enchained atop the pillar that Persephone wanted destroyed. Atlas was to remain there cursed to forever hold the world on his shoulders. The fate of Atlas was sealed and the goddess Persephone was no more. As the Sun Chariot rose higher into the sky and the brilliance of Helios shone on mankind, Morpheus retreated to the shadows. However the dire toll of his battles had caught up with him as Kratos fell from the Chariot to the bluffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. Later, Kratos was sent by Athena to rescue Athens once again, but this time from the minions of his former master. Upon learning an Olympian's weakness, Kratos went after Pandora's Box, which was found across the Desert of Lost Souls inside Pandora's Temple, located on the back of his grandfather: Cronus the Titan. Surprisingly, Kratos was the first mortal to reach Pandora's Box, he then eventually returned to Athens using it's power to kill Ares and became the next god of War. However, when Kratos opened the Box he released the evils of the Titanomachy to the gods, infecting them, changing them. Consumed by the evil, Fear, Zeus tried to dethrone Kratos, but even the King of Olympus cannot defeat this powerful fighter. Kratos even tried to kill Zeus, but Athena sacrificed herself to save him, she then told Kratos that just as Zeus dethroned his father Cronus, Kratos is destined to do the same. Agreeing to serve the gods in order to receive forgiveness, Kratos shows disregard for their plight, only following their orders for his own personal benefit.