Video Games Links.
What do you do when you no longer have the right – and soon the opportunity – to do anything? Well… we play.
Finally – I play.
So, since the theatre – you know that curious place where there’s a stage, backstage, a backdrop, a huge room now full of empty seats, artists behind the stage, technicians above, crazy people around – since the theatre has time to become an Ancient Ruin before I go back there, all I have to do is play.
Me, me, I’m exaggerating? This is not my style at all. I am a very balanced Lady.
So, I’ve got time to play and to dream of those immense games that have such huge links with certain theatre performances.
In these games, there are, necessarily God of War.
God of War has become a big video game license, a kind of winning horse for the Sony company and the Playstation console – since the game starts as a PlayStation exclusive and others players are waiting. I don’t advertise for Sony – I’ll play their games later, me and those who don’t have the latest Play.
God of War is one of the greatest games based on Greek Mythology – it’s not the only one – but it easily ranks among the best.
Already because the scenario of this game is worthy of their subject.
The Greek Gods are not nice – they are not cute – they are not loyal: they are vile cheaters, and/but stronger than the others, and besides that, they have a lot of fun: remember all those ancient tragedies that feature the Irony of Fate. What amused the Gods the most was to lead a human to create from scratch a destiny he claims to be fleeing.
Here is Laïos trying to kill the son who will kill him: bad luck, the little one is adopted and a few years later will kill – inadvertently – a grumpy old man with whom he had an argument on the road. Strange, the old man was Laïos. But how could Oedipus have known him?
In God of War, Kratos, the character-hero, is a Spartan. He was born, educated, oriented for the War.
And when one day he finds himself cornered, having lost almost everything – then this child of Sparta does not see any worry to make a pact with his major God: Ares. He offers him his soul – in exchange for the strength of a demigod – I repeat that this is so common in ancient stories that a character like this is very much in the spirit of the times.
What Kratos didn’t know is that Ares didn’t care more about him than he did about his first bottle – yes, all right, no bottle for babies in the Ancient Time – his first feeding on Amalta.
So there you have Kratos, an ally of Ares – who has been a warrior and a victor in a series of wars and victories.
But he no longer has a soul, Kratos.
So one evening, when a whole city is in flames and all the inhabitants in the hands of fury, Kratos will kill a young woman and her child.
The next day – horrified – he realizes that he himself has killed his wife and their daughter.
Remember Orestes and his Furies? I mentioned it a little while ago – Oresteia. Major text – revered – too much. To be played.
Here is Kratos struggling with the same Furies.
If you’re still telling me that there’s no connection between video games and the greatest classics of world literature, one I’m eating my hat and two, my friends, we’re going to die in couscous before I’m done talking about it.
But Kratos is not weak – he has something to offer: he offers his power to the Gods of Olympus. Well, okay – that’s the version: I’m a man and I manage my own destiny. The truth is, it was a little more cruel for Kratos. After all, this guy had killed his wife and daughter, why be nice to him? What do you mean he didn’t know? That’s not a valid objection.
Well, you see, the Greek Gods are absolutely vile cheaters: remember Hades? if he doesn’t want to, you won’t die. You can commit suicide as much as you want. He doesn’t want you.
So you will stay alive – and on top of that, you will be in pain. No one said that he will heal you from your wounds made to die. We said you’re not going to die. The Gods laughed a lot in these situations. They had a terrible sense of humor.
So Hades doesn’t want Kratos to die.
Then, he won’t die.
Zeus offers him a job. When he’s done helping in all the conflicts that agitate this band of Gods, he will obtain the remission of his faults: no more Furies to bring him to his knees.
And here we go with him in all the stories that agitate Olympus. You will see them all, these Gods you were told about when you were a child. You will see them as they are – childish, cruel – adorable too.
But Ares becomes uncontrollable: there will be the confrontation between the hero of Zeus and the brother of Zeus.
Since you have paid attention to the title of the license, you know that Kratos will win.
And as you paid attention to what I said earlier, you know that the Gods have cheated and that they have not – but not at all – kept their promise.
Kratos is not free from anything at all: after all, he should not have slit his wife and daughter’s throats himself.
Here is our hero engaged in a new fight, against the Gods of Olympus: and against them, only the Titans are possible allies.
You can anticipate what will happen next: the Olympian Gods will be massacred.
Impossible?
What do you mean impossible?
Anachronism, vandalism of these dirty scriptwriters paid – badly – by short-sighted capitalist companies?
So there, take a couscous again: the next comedy I would like to see on stage has been written by Lucian.
Of course not, it’s not impossible, nor is it disrespectful, nor is it WTF – on the other hand, it will be the end of Kratos in Greece. The following games are set a little further north, where the Deer is located (this is a replica that became a meme/mythic of Kratos to his young son).
And then, since the Gods are the Gods and you don’t just get rid of them, see instead, in Opus 4 which takes place in the lands of Viking mythology
So God of War will also be bound to the big, big, big Epic gestures from the North – but I’ll talk about that after I get my winnings back.
Featured Image : Kratos – hero character of the series God of War, imagined by David Jaffe and developed by SCE Santa Monica Studio, starting in 2005.
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