WARNING: The following contains spoilers for God of War: Fallen God #3 from Chris Roberson, Tony Parker, Dan Jackson and Jimmy Betancourt, on sale now.
To say that the relationship Kratos has with his iconic Blades of Chaos is a complicated one is an understatement. Throughout the series, Kratos has shown his hatred for his signature weapons, despite how often he has needed them. That's the case in the new God of War: Fallen God prequel series, which is proving to Kratos how much he relies on the cursed weapons.
After surviving the end of God of War III, Kratos leaves Greece in search of a more peaceful life. However, Kratos is cursed to be followed by the Blades of Chaos. No matter how hard he tries to get rid of them, they return right to his side again any time he wakes up. Kratos has been avoiding sleep in an attempt to keep them away, to no avail.
In this issue of Fallen God, Kratos saves a village from a large crocodile beast. Riping its head apart with his bare hands, he believes he can take on any creature without the need of his blades (even if his bare-fisted brawling leveled the villagers' homes). However, when an even greater beast, a gigantic hippopotamus, emerges from the river beside the village, his previous tactics prove useless.
Kratos laments about how he cannot be left alone by the gods after all this time, channeling that rage into his fists. He leaps into the air towards the beast and punches it square in the snout. Though it clearly connects, Kratos is shocked that the beast barely reacted to the full force of his fist. It's mere seconds before the beast sweeps Kratos away to the mountain far beyond the village, leaving him unconscious in a crater. With such a quick and brutal defeat, it's clear that Kratos cannot fight with fists alone -- he needs the blades.
The Blades of Chaos were forged by Ares, the Greek God of War, and bound to Kratos when he made a deal with the god. Kratos promised to serve Ares if Ares saved him and brought him victory in battle. Ares granted Kratos the victory, immediately binding the blades to Kratos' body as a mark of his servitude. Ares removed the blades near the end of the first God of War game when Kratos became a threat to him. That was the last time, chonologically, that the original Blades of Chaos were seen before the 2018 game on the PS4.
Kratos was glad to be free of the blades, as he saw them as nothing but a curse. Serving Ares with the blades bound to him turned him into something of a monster. Kratos's rage in wielding the blades as Ares servant allowed Ares to deceive Kratos into killing his wife and child, something for which Kratos vowed vengeance against.
It's understandable then why Kratos would wish never to use the blades again, even in such dire circumstances. Though he used them in the PS4 game, this was to protect his son, Atreus. Even then it was only as a last resort. When the dwarf blacksmith Brok saw the blades he was in awe of them, asking if they were a family heirloom. Kratos tells Brok they are not, and that they will never be.
Though Kratos has accepted that it is his destiny to fight this beast, he hasn't accepted that the blades are also a part of said destiny -- despite already being told so. Since Kratos clearly intends to fulfill this part of his destiny and defeat the hippo beast, eventually he will have to accept his destiny with the blades and wield them again, however painful that may be.