Kratos:
"I am the God of War, none shall defy me!" - Kratos
Born and raised in Sparta, Kratos was monitored, like all other younglings. During several tests, those that were deemed fit were to stay in Sparta to be trained as Spartan protectors, while those deemed unfit would be sent to the mountains, sealing their fates. Kratos, already feisty and aggressive at his young age, along with his brother, Deimos, trained, and dreamed of joining the Spartan army when they grow up. On an ill-fated day, when the young brothers were training outside their home, the city was raided by the Olympian gods, Ares and Athena, and their army of centaurs, in search of the Marked Warrior. Ares, seeing Deimos' birthmark as a sign of the prophecy, then snatched him away. In anger and desperation, Kratos attacked the god to save his brother, only for Ares to smack Kratos back in to a pile of wood, leaving him with a scar. Insulted by this, Ares raised his sword to kill Kratos, but was stopped by Athena reminding him that they had what they were looking for. Before leaving, Athena apologized to Kratos, and disappeared into flames. The loss of his brother left an indelible mark on Kratos, as he vowed to never falter again. In honor of his brother, Kratos had this tattoo adorned on his skin, made in the exact image of Deimos' birthmark. After some time, Kratos married Lysandra, and had a daughter, Calliope.
Calliope, however, was the victim of a plague and was deemed weak, thus, she would be thrown into a chasm and left to die, according to Spartan law. Kratos then heard from an elder the capabilities of the healing elixir known as Ambrosia. Determined to save his daughter, Kratos set out on a journey for the Ambrosia, not knowing that Ares, God of War, had chosen him to be his champion in the wager of the Gods, a contest with the ultimate goal being the capture of the Ambrosia. He later encountered a healer who gave him the Flames of Apollo in order to aid him in his quest. Over the course of his journey, an army of Spartans joined him, along with Captain Nikos. Eventually, he encountered Herodius, Poseidon's champion, and killed him, with Herodius' army slain by the Spartans. After taking the ship, Poseidon, angered at Kratos for costing him the wager, unleashed a handful of hazards at sea to kill the Spartans, but failed, as Kratos and the Spartans made it to land. Later on, Kratos encountered Artemis' champion, Pothia, and killed her as well, her army also falling victim to the Spartans. In fear that Kratos would defeat his champion, Alrik, Hades sent a torrent of fire through the sky in order to kill Kratos, but failed, instead killing many men in Kratos' army, including Nikos. Coming across the Ambrosia, he encountered Helios' champion, who was killed by the Spartan.
After retrieving the Ambrosia and returning to his Spartan army, Alrik and his Barbarian army battled the Spartans for the Ambrosia, as Alrik's father is very ill, and is in need of the elixir. After a grueling battle between the two leaders, Kratos successfully captured the Ambrosia (at the cost of his own men) and summoned an army of Rocs to continuously torture Alrik. Kratos then returned to Sparta, healed Calliope, and was promoted to the title of a Captain by the King of Sparta. Over the course of his battles, Kratos' brutality and war-hunger increased. He won battles through unorthodox, but effective tactics. However, Kratos and his Spartan army would prove no match for the merciless barbarian tribes from the east. Outnumbered and overpowered, the Spartans began losing the battle quickly. Kratos, whom was nearly killed by the barbarian's leader, Alrik, desperately pledged allegiance to Ares, the God of War, in exchange for victory. The God accepted, killing the Barbarians, and giving Kratos the Blades of Chaos as a sign of his servitude. Kratos served Ares loyally, raiding villages and spreading chaos in his name.
However, during a raid on a village of Athena's followers, Ares tricked Kratos into killing his wife and child in a fit of blind rage. Ares justified his trickery as a means to make Kratos the perfect warrior. Stricken with horror and grief, Kratos left the bodies to be burned within the temple as he cursed Ares' name. The Village oracle in turn cursed Kratos, forcing him to forever wear the ashes of his dead family on his skin. From that day forward, he was known as The Ghost of Sparta; his skin now 'pale as the moon' from the ashes that coated him. Distraught, Kratos was haunted by terrible nightmares over the death of his family. In due time, the memories and nightmares began to consume him, driving him to the brink of madness. Abandoning Sparta, Kratos traveled throughout Greece, finding small solace in sailing the Aegean Sea. To find peace again, he pledged himself to the other Gods of Olympus, in the hope that they would one day relieve him of his burden.
To other mortals, he was now marked by his white skin. The knowledge of his past actions had been shown to repulse normal people to the point where they would rather die than allow him to save their lives. He became known as the personification of cruelty and selfishness. Kratos possesses incredible superhuman strength and endurance beyond that of any mortal or beast, the exact limits of which are yet to be determined. His strength seems to fluctuate depending on the situation he's in. It's shown in the games that Kratos can subdue many large and powerful beasts. He has proven capable of overpowering the hydra, throwing the colossus of Rhodes after it attempted to crush him beneath its foot, and prevented both Cronos and Atlas from crushing him between their fingers. During his battle against Hercules, who is considered to be unrivaled in terms of sheer strength, Kratos proved capable of stopping his charges, forcing him backwards and enduring his powerful bear hugs without any ill effects, even breaking free from them by knocking the Olympian down with incredible strength. Kratos was ultimately able to defeat Hercules, proving to be the superior warrior of the two. Hercules is a being who at one point carried the world on his shoulders during his 12 labors, indicating the kind of strentgh Kratos has to overpower a being as strong as Hercules. Kratos ripped off Helios' head, using only his sheer strength, and is able to rip Undead Legionnaires, infected humans, and Satyrs in half, using only his bare hands. It is presumed Kratos was born with his god-like strength and abilities due to being Zeus' demigod son. He might also be partially immortal and gotten stronger when he absorbed Hades' soul.
In addition to his vast strength, he also possesses incredible vast agility, vast stamina, vast durability and vast speed. He is capable of sensing danger and possesses great skills and accuracy with all forms of weapons and magic. Kratos can also keep up with opponents who posses great speed, such as Zeus, Charon and Hermes. He is also able to regenerate from most wounds at a fast rate, though he didn't regenerate from the scar on his stomach caused by the Blade of Olympus and the scar over his right eye caused by Ares for reasons unknown (maybe he can't fully regenerate himself from scars caused by gods' power). Due to these abilities, Kratos is able to defeat monsters and even the Gods themselves. Kratos also possesses high resistance to most forms of attack and magic that would easily kill most humans or magical beings. Kratos is the epitome of what a Spartan soldier is in that he is essentially made for battle. He is exceptionally tall, standing at a height in between 6 to 6.5 feet, in which, due to his status a warrior, he is at his peak physical condition. Based on his facial features and voice patterns, one can assume Kratos' age is ranging from late 30s to early 40s. Prior to the series' actual time of taking place he had tanned skin and a red tattoo going down the majority of his upper body and up to his face. On his face, besides the aforementioned tattoo, he has a scar on his right eye and a black goatee. The scar was caused by Ares, when Kratos was a child and tried to save his brother from the raid of Gods on Sparta. As a Spartan General prior to his service to Ares, Kratos wore Spartan hoplite armor and after becoming the new God of war, he wore a very elaborately decorated piece of armor. By the end of God of War III, Kratos only wears a leather loincloth and armlets without the chains of the Blades of Exile.
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