God of War Ragnarok was finally revealed during the 2021 PlayStation Showcase, but the appearance of one of its new characters, Angrboda, has sparked some controversy.
When God of War Ragnarok appeared during the PlayStation Showcase, fans finally had the reveal they had waited over a year for. The reception was positive for the most part, but the reveal of one character has set tongues wagging. However, the reasons why this is could be seen as dubious.
The appearance of a character called Angrboda, who will likely have a connection to Kratos’ son Atreus, is being described as historically inaccurate by some fans. This is due to Angrboda being a woman of color – rather than the same ethnicity as the rest of the cast.
As the controversy erupted online, the game’s lead writer, Matt Sophos, weighed in on Twitter. Sophos addressed the criticism directly, called out trolls, and explained the writer’s reasoning behind the character’s design. You can read his response below.
Angrboda in our game is a young black woman. The vast, vast majority of players are thrilled and think she looks incredible—and boy, does she. 😊💪But a tiny, vocal sliver of the internet was offended at this notion. I'm going to address a few of the main topics of outrage. 2/11
— Matt Sophos (@mattsophos) September 13, 2021
God of War Ragnarok is not based on history
Sophos also disputes “nonsense” claims that the studio caved to any exterior pressure to alter Angrboda’s appearance, noting “I can count on 2 fingers the # of notes we’ve gotten for story changes to 2018 + GoW Ragnarok combined. This was not one of them.”
“I’m grateful for the trust given to us to tell the best story possible without interference. So yeah, nonsense,” he says.
When it comes to comparisons with the traditional Norse mythology, Sophos notes the differing origins of key characters in the first game, specifically drawing attention to Brok, Sindri, and Mimir.
Sophos was keen to stress that God of War Ragnarok is a fantasy game, rather than one attempting to be “historically accurate.” After all, the game is about infighting between fictional deities rather than any conflicts from actual recorded history. For example, the World Serpent is also historically inaccurate – because it didn’t exist.
"It's not accurate to Norse mythology/doesn't respect the culture."
Hoo boy. The big one. Let me start with this:
God of War is our interpretation of mythology, not history—Norse or Greek. We tell a personal story with the backdrop of gods, Giants, etc. through our lens. 5/11
— Matt Sophos (@mattsophos) September 13, 2021
Not only does the game deliberately take liberties with history, but it also makes changes to Greek and Norse mythology. It even goes as far as interwinding the two to create a compelling story. Sophos considers the matter closed, stating that his tweets will be “the last time” he will engage on the issue.
Most fans probably didn’t bat an eyelid during the reveal of Angrboda. They were likely too excited to finally see real God of War Ragnarok footage. Any disappointment was likely due to the lack of release date rather than any character models.
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