God Of War Fans Just Realizing How Old Kratos Really Is In Ragnarok

1 week ago 15

Published May 17, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

James is a gaming writer from London who has spent thousands of hours exploring titles from every genre. Though he has a particular affinity for multiplayer titles like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2 and League of Legends, he has also put thousands of hours into single-player experiences, from deep RPGs to epic PC strategies. When he's not playing or writing, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC.

The God of War reboot was undoubtedly a notable departure from the beloved original trilogy of games, not least because of the eight-year gap in their development. That led to two genuinely excellent titles that, while they did feature the same protagonist, felt like an entirely different experience throughout.

Kratos and Atreus in God of War Ragnarok

Over on Twitter/X, the user Rock Rider shared an infographic detailing Kratos' supposed age in all the God of War games. In the original trilogy, he starts at a youthful 28, before concluding the events of the Greek games at around 50. What you might not have realized is that, by the time we get to the 2018 reboot, he's staggeringly over a thousand years old.

The reason for this is that the OG trilogy takes place in the Classical Period of Ancient Greece, around 460BC. By the time Kratos triggers the permanent apocalypse of Fimbulwinter at the end of God of War (2018), it's the middle of the first millennium, or around 535 AD.

There is some debate about whether it's definitively as long as that, with some estimates putting the gap at around 150 years, though the real, historical timeline makes more sense if it's longer than that. That said, it's clearly easy to forget the time gap given just how similar he looks to his original form, and the comments were full of shocked replies.

"Bro needed 1000 years to calm himself down," one comment read.

In any case, Kratos is, at a minimum, around 250 years old, but in this humble opinion, it makes more sense if he's considerably older than that, given some of the dialogue we get in the newer games.

What comes next for the God of War series is still unclear, with rumors of a spin-off starring the beloved Freya still circulating widely. At the same time, there are far more controversial theories that Sony Santa Monica Studio is planning to replace Kratos as the protagonist of the next game with someone else, though that would undoubtedly be a much bigger risk in terms of keeping fans on side.