How God of War Ragnarok Hides its Biggest Twist

Going into God of War Ragnarok, Sony Santa Monica clearly knew that no matter what magic they managed to conjure for the game in the writing room, nothing they did would ever be able to match the sheer impact and shock value of the Blades of Chaos moment in the 2018 game- and the fact that someone can refer to that scene as just “the Blades of Chaos moment” and most people will understand what that’s referring to should tell you all you need to know about how deeply it’s been etched into all our memories.

NOTE: There are major spoilers ahead for God of War Ragnarok.

Even so, as a sequel, God of War Ragnarok shouldered the responsibility of trying to go bigger and better and one-up its predecessor in as many ways as it could- and there’s one particular twist in the story that’s clearly meant as that big moment to serve that purpose. Early on in the game, Kratos and Atreus rescue Tyr, the former God of War of the Norse pantheon, from a long, long term of imprisonment. Taken by Odin because of his connections to the Giants, Tyr had been kept locked up for so long that most believed him to be dead- before Kratos and Atreus ended up learning where he’s been imprisoned, and breaking him out.

From that point until very close to the end of the game, Tyr is shows as a vital ally of Kratos and Atreus’, and an important member of the ever-expanding alliance of soldiers they recruit throughout their journey. But right on the eve of Ragnarok, it is revealed that from the very beginning, Tyr wasn’t Tyr at all, but was actually Odin in disguise. He infiltrated them at the very beginning, and has been manipulating them and lying to them the entire time- and he caps off that deception with Brok’s murder, after which he flees back to Asgard.

It’s a shocking moment, because you don’t see it coming in the slightest- but though it’s surprising, it’s not the kind of twist that leaves you feeling cheated either. The closer you inspect God of War Ragnarok and its story and the more you dive into its seemingly innocuous details, the more you realize that the game foreshadows its big twist in clever and subtle ways.

In fact, a couple of these have been directly called out by game director Eric Williams himself. Speaking in an IGN spoilercast following the game’s launch, Williams revealed one intriguing detail that’s very, very easy to miss, especially on your first playthrough. When Kratos and Atreus first enter Svartalfheim in search of Tyr, one of the first things they see is a Dwarf in the distance across the water, he looks at them, spits in their direction, and quickly zips off the screen. According to Williams, that Dwarf is actually Odin, he once again takes the guise of someone else in order to spy on his enemies without them ever realizing they’re in his presence.

Interestingly enough, Williams also revealed that in the post-game, when you find the Aesir prison in Niflheim that is holding the actual Tyr locked insider, inside the cells, you can find the bodies of everyone that Odin can disguise himself as- and that Dwarf’s character model is in there in that prison as well, among the other corpses.

Another hint pointing at Tyr’s real identity can be found in the very room where Kratos and Atreus first find him, where if you check every nook and cranny thoroughly, you’ll find raven feathers on the floor in one corner. The indication here, of course, is that Odin recently used his ravens to teleport into the prison- oh, and the fact that the abandoned mine with not a great many Einherjar guarding the place is where Odin is keeping someone as valuable as Tyr captive is also kind of a giveaway, in hindsight. As is the fact then when they first arrive at Sindri’s house after the fake Tyr’s rescue, he decides to make himself at home in a broom closet. Is that just the kind of person Tyr is, meant to reflect that he doesn’t really need that much space to be comfortable, especially after having spent so long inside of a cell? Maybe. That’s certainly what goes through the player’s mind on a first playthrough. Then again, maybe he chose the broom closet because he knew it would be a perfect place to teleport in and out of using his ravens without drawing any attention.

And there are a number of other hints, some of them pretty subtle, that consistently keep alluding to Tyr’s real identity. Conveniently enough, he’s completely sworn off violence and has vowed never to pick up a weapon again, to the extent that when Sindri’s house is attacked by enemy forces, Tyr doesn’t so much as pick up anything other than a shield in aid of his supposed companions. Earlier in the game, when Atreus opens up Groa’s shrine while Tyr is journeying alongside them, he also seems quite shocked to learn that Odin had been led to believe a false prediction and that the real one talks about his death and the destruction of Asgard. Of course, on a first playthrough, that seems like a very natural reaction, but looking back with knowledge of the fact that that’s actually Odin learning about how he had been deceived, you can’t help but look at his reaction in a different light.

Another interesting point worth zooming in on are Tyr’s conversations with Freya, and how he occasionally refers to her as Frigg. That, of course, is what Odin used to call her, and understandably enough, she has something of an aversion to that name. Even as Tyr, Odin can’t help but get a sly dig in, using the name Frigg to try and get under Freya’s skin. And if you want hints about the twist that are even subtler, you can even pay close attention to the game’s subtitles. When you find the real Tyr in the post-game, if you have speaker names turned on for your subtitles, you’ll see Tyr’s name written as Týr, with an accent above the y, because that’s the actual spelling. Whenever the fake Tyr speaks, however, there’s no accent above the y in the subtitles. Is it ridiculous that Sony Santa Monica decided to hide clues in such an obscure corner of the game? It certainly is- but in the best way possible.

Really, it’s a second playthrough of God of War Ragnarok that proves just how well the game hides its twist, how well it keeps hinting at it and foreshadowing it, and how well it ultimately pulls it off in such a way that you feel shocked, but not cheated. It’s an effective twist when it first happens, but the deeper you look into it, the more your respect for it grows. No, it’s not even close to the Blades of Chaos moment- but expecting something on that level in every new instalment might be a bit unreasonable, to say the very least.

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