Kratos

Born as a demigod in the city-state of Sparta, Kratos began his life as a respected general who eventually pledged his soul to Ares in exchange for victory on the battlefield, only to be tricked by the War God into murdering his own wife, Lysandra, and daughter, Calliope, in a blind rage. This tragedy marked his skin white with their ashes, earning him the title "Ghost of Sparta" and fueling a vengeance that would dismantle the entire Greek pantheon. During this Greek era, Kratos was a vessel of pure, unbridled rage, systematically slaughtering those who had wronged him or stood in his way, including the Furies (Megaera, Tisiphone, Alecto), the God of Death Thanatos, and eventually Ares himself, whose throne he usurped. His war against Olympus escalated until he personally executed the majority of the major deities: he decapitated Helios, severed the legs of Hermes, crushed Hercules under his own weapons, snapped Poseidon's neck, beat Zeus to death with his bare hands, ripped the soul from Hades, and ended the lives of Hera, Hephaestus, Athena (accidentally), and the Titans Gaia and Cronos. Centuries later, Kratos migrated north to the realm of Midgard to escape his bloody past, maturing into a stoic, disciplined father who sought to break the cycle of patricide and violence that defined his earlier life. In this Norse era, he is no longer a monster driven by hate but a protector trying to raise his son, Atreus, to be better than the gods who came before. While he attempted to live in peace, the Aesir gods forced his hand, leading him to kill Magni (with Atreus finishing off Modi), the invincible god Baldur, and the foresight-gifted Heimdall. In the final war of Ragnarök, Kratos helped defeat the All-Father Odin and the Thunder God Thor, though he notably spared Thor (who was later killed by Odin) and allowed Sindri to strike the final blow against Odin's soul, cementing his transformation from a god-killer into a god of hope and justice.