The God of War Ragnarok narrative director has addressed the design of new character Angrboda.
Matt Sophos worked as a writer and story lead on God of War and, in a Twitter thread, they dismissed spurious claims that the portrayal of Angrboda - a giant known in Norse mythology as the wife of Loki - as a black woman was a political decision or one borne out of outside pressure. He stated that "I can count on two fingers the number of notes we've gotten for story changes to 2018 and GoW Ragnarok combined. This was not one of them."
As for the suggestion that Ragnarok's version of Angrboda isn't accurate to Norse mythology, Sophos says that God of War "is our interpretation of mythology, not history - Norse or Greek. We tell a personal story with the backdrop of gods, giants etc through our lens. And that lens is not 100% by-the-Eddas."
"It's not accurate to Norse mythology/doesn't respect the culture."Hoo boy. The big one. Let me start with this:God of War is our interpretation of mythology, not history—Norse or Greek. We tell a personal story with the backdrop of gods, Giants, etc. through our lens. 5/11September 13, 2021
Sophos goes on to point out that few of the characters in God of War are particularly accurate to their Norse setting. Blacksmith Brok has blue skin and a Texas accent, while his brother Sindri understands the existence of bacteria. Mimir is Scottish, and tied to a character from English folklore and Shakespeare. Kratos and Atreus are both adapted versions of established mythological figures. Sophos closes his thread by saying that their team has "consistently taken mythological characters and given them our own spin."
With the recent reveal of a new God of War trailer, here's hoping we can learn more of the mysteries of Kratos and Atreus' journey sooner rather than later.
An Instagram post offered a closer look at Angrboda, Thor, and Tyr.
