Detailed Analysis - Narration, Collectibles & Context
Mimir's Stories
After finding Mimir on the top of the mountain trapped he agrees to help us in exchange for freeing him, by cutting off his head. After doing this we bring him to Freya who brings him back to life and he reveals that she is actually the Vanir Goddess who was married to Odin. Mimir immediately starts proving his value to the pair and becomes a valuable member of the group. As he proves useful for knowledge about the world that Kratos and Atreus explore for their main quest he is also useful for explaining incredible bits of lore about the Aesir Gods, the Giants, and how the world came into being. Most times when people tell stories but with Alistair Duncan’s masterful and fun performance and brilliant writing we were always waiting for Mimir’s next tale. While Mimir’s tales were completely optional it was always so amazing how well his stories always made me try and look for new areas in the hopes that I could find something that would make Mimir speak again and everything he says is incredibly insightful and give incredible foreshadowing for what Kratos and Atreus might face in the future and how these Gods operate.
When speaking of Odin, Mimir was always quick to dish on his former master, understandably seeing as Odin had Mimir imprisoned in a tree and tortured him for over 100 years. While damning Odin’s reputation, Mimir always made sure to show just how clever Odin was, like how Mimir cane to enter his court by giving Odin ale laced with enough mystic mushrooms to make a God high. While this happened Odin tried to gouge out his last eye, which Mimir prevented and so began a long partnership between Mimir and the AllFather. Whenever on a quest Mimir always made sure to put in his 2 pence which always made the quests even more interesting as Mimir has lived arguably longer than Kratos and has had a completely different journey compared to the old God of War and has even more insightful wisdom that either equals Kratos’ or surpasses it.
Mimir also acts as a conscience of sorts for the pair. Having met his fair share of Norse Gods and seeing how cruel, careless, and selfish they can be, Mimir serves to guide Kratos and Atreus morally in many ways and what’s better is that he doesn’t try to force his wisdom upon the 2 and instead tries to ease them into his teachings, whether they accept his points or not. He also provides fascinating information about his views on fate, the Giants, and perhaps most importantly Thor. As we find the Jotnar Shrines we learn that the vast majority of giants that we’ve seen in the shrines have all been killed by Thor and we learn from Mimir just how badly he felt for all the giants and how his relationship with them made him question his allegiances on occasions. This allows us to see the brutality of the Aesir Gods who are proven to be just as selfish and murderous as the Greek Gods and reinforces Kratos’ point about there being no good Gods. Learning this information is good as it allows us to know who Thor and Odin truly are and how one day we may be forced to face them.
The Jötnar Shrines
The Jötnar shrines are wooden shrines created by the Jötnar to commemorate some of the greatest members of their kind and what their end was. In the early levels that we have access to, we can find several Jötnar Shrines which Atreus makes note of in his journal. After encountering Mimir, Atreus will ask him about the giants he learned about in the prior Jötnar shrines and give incredible insight into their true stories and the events that have influenced the world around us as well as the other realms that are explored. After finding more shrines Mimir will continue to explain many other tales we find and hearing all the tales he tells us helps us to form an amazing perspective of the Jötnar but also an opinion of Thor and Odin. These stories help us to understand just how bad the Aesir are and exactly what we will need to go up against them and what it could take to win.
Mimir’s lovely storytelling voice and funny attitude have a way of making the stories he tells even more than just the tragic stories of the Jötnar but also emphasize his sadness as well as his inability to intervene in any of these events. It also is a tragedy as it is revealed that he was Odin’s greatest advisor and yet he was never able to dissuade Odin or Thor of their cruelty. This is an important storytelling tool as it will emphasize Atreus’ future goals and almost acts as a justification for his future actions. The Jötnar shrines on their own aren’t a great storytelling tool as they don’t provide much information but that’s where Mimir comes in to expand on the information we find by giving us wise and insightful tales.
Lore Markers
During the story, Atreus can translate the Nordic runes spread throughout the world which provides certain insights into the environments around them. The treacherous world of Midgard is a dangerous world where it appears that something that wants to kill you is around virtually every corner. It makes it very difficult to believe that somehow the world had areas that were inhabited by actual people that were strong enough to survive in this world but that was a long time ago. While making their way to the mountain which they thought was the highest peak of the realms at first, Kratos and Atreus come across ancient ruins where they found a sign saying Aesir Gods and Giants were welcome. A sharp contrast seeing as how the Aesir were responsible for so many of the Giant's greatest being killed, it’s difficult to believe that they ever would have met to trade. While exploring the mountain which was originally home to Giants they see other markers that show the dwarves made themselves at home when the giants all left Midgard. While the fact that the dwarves claimed the mountain isn’t exactly noticeable it’s interesting to learn that the plight of the giants was so severe that they had to leave their homes in Midgard. These lore markers are an excellent way to make the player look for information in the world rather than just having constant narration all the time. Staggering the information and making it difficult to get it allows the player to take a rest bite from all the information in the world and gives them time to actually enjoy the reward by making it challenging or fun to get to instead of just giving it to the player.
Atreus' Journal
During multiple encounters and across the course of their journey Atreus will make entries in his journal. Instead of a simple record book, we get to see Atreus make notes in his journal and learn how he perceives the world and threats around him. He doesn’t just note down enemies and what he thinks are their strengths and weaknesses but he will also keep track of the tasks he and his father are given. It helps to be able to keep up with the world around us but also learn about how Atreus continues to learn from these situations. Atreus also records all of Mimir’s stories, Lore Markers and The Jotnar Shrines we encounter. It’s good to be able to keep an eye on how Atreus sees things as this helps us to see how Atreus is being shaped by this harsh world that he and his father must survive in.
