Warning: Full spoilers for God of War and God of War Ragnarok follow.
Faye is Laufey; let’s get any confusion there may be over that out of the way. Mother to Atreus and second wife of Kratos, she went by the alias Faye when she and her family were forced into hiding from the gods. Though only seen as a corpse in God of War 2018, she plays a significant part in its, and its sequel, God of War Ragnarok’s, story.
“She’s always been a character I wanted to expand on more,” says Cory Barlog, creative director at Santa Monica Studio, and director of 2018’s God of War. “As we continue to expand it and show more and more of what the universe of God of War is all about, these key pivotal characters play a role, not only in what has happened, but what will happen.”
Before we speculate on the future, though, let’s catch you up on how Faye helped Kratos and Atreus to scatter her ashes on the tallest peak in all of the realms. A warrior giant from Jötunheim, Faye kept this secret history hidden from her family, and it isn’t until Mimir reveals that she was known as Laufey the Just in her homeland that Kratos realises that he’s essentially the whole journey of the 2018 game serves as taking her home to rest.
Those gold markings you’ve been following the whole time to clamber up ledges and swing across gaps? Well, they were painted long ago by Faye, who had the foresight to see their adventure coming. Time, and how the past and future intertwine, works in very weird ways in Norse mythology, in case you didn’t know. Loki is the father of the ancient World Serpent, Jörmungandr, for example. But we simply don’t have time to go into that here.
Loki is, of course, the name that Faye wanted to give to Atreus upon his birth, before Kratos stepped in. She would then go on to raise her son and teach him the languages of the nine realms, how to fight, and even make him his trusty bow, until her passing. Those skills come in very handy as Atreus and Kratos finally reach Jötunheim and uncover a mural painted by Faye, depicting what the future has in store for them, in what becomes the story of God of War Ragnarok.
In that sequel, we do actually see and hear from Faye, albeit in dream sequences born out of Kratos’ apprehension over their son’s apocalyptic fate. Portrayed by Daredevil’s Deborah Ann Wolf, who reprises the role in God of War Laufey, she helps to soften Kratos to the world around him, using the words “to grieve deeply is to have loved fully” in a beautiful piece of scripting.
But what about Faye’s future in God of War Laufey? Confirmed not to be a prequel to the two previous Kratos games, we’re set to join her in the afterlife on her own adventure. “Even back in 2018, we started building all this,” Barlog reveals. “We were setting tiny little narrative beats that were going to start to structurally support this growth of the universe. What happens to God’s when they die?” That question is one that God of War Laufey will seemingly try to answer.
We know Faye can handle herself. Kratos discovers late in God of War Ragnarok that she once battled Thor in Vanaheim, with a whole valley torn apart by the clash between Mjolnir and the Leviathan Axe, which her husband would inherit.
“She’s not quite as solidly built a brick wall as Kratos is, but she’s every bit as much of a warrior,” says Ariel Lawrence, the game’s director. “So for her, lean into that agility, that flexibility, the speed, while still maintaining how deadly she is, I think for us that was really a key spot to hone into. The fluidity of the Greek saga, but the up close and gritty personal of the Nord saga, and marry those together in something that’s really uniquely Faye. I think Faye is really a little bit more comfortable with magic as well.”
It looks like Santa Monica is sticking to what has made fans fall in love with the most recent God of War saga, but shifting to a new perspective that will unlock new layers to this world. It’s exciting and refreshing to see a PlayStation Studio not rest on its laurels and give us a straightforward sequel to what came before, but ask new questions and keep us hungry for the answers.
“I think for Faye, we’re getting to the point in the God of War franchise where we can start telling stories about more characters,” Lawrence explains. “And for us, Faye has always really been the starting point for Kratos and Atreus on their journey, and really getting to know her as a character, fully as a three-dimensional human has been really important to us. It started, really, in 2018. Just who was this woman who was a match equal to Kratos?”
It’s something we’ll all be able to find out for ourselves soon when God of War Laufey arrives on PS5.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.