God of War creator David Jaffe has lashed out at critics of the series’ protagonist Kratos, expressing frustrations at those who compare his portrayal of the character to Santa Monica Studio’s 2018 sequel.
Jaffe created the God of War franchise and served as director until God of War 2, which was also co-directed by Cory Barlog. Barlog went on to direct God of War 2018, which has widely been hailed as one of the best PS4 exclusives.
As the latest GoW game focuses on Kratos’ struggles with coming to terms with his violent past while simultaneously raising his son, Jaffe complained that he believed the anti-hero had been mischaracterized following the 2018 game’s release.
“I must continually state that Kratos was NEVER a misogynist in GOD OF WAR 1. Like AT ALL,” Jaffe tweeted. “And it pisses me off ‘journalists’ continue to retcon that game in order to justify the thesis of their GOD OF WAR 2018 stories.”
Jaffe went on to further defend the character, adding: “Misogyny is defined as a hatred and mistrust of women. That is not on display.
“Is Kratos using the women for his own selfish purpose? Yep. He totally is. Are they using him for the same? Who knows. But they are all having a good time (and we make that super clear). If you think that casual, consensual sex where the only reason you want to have sex is your own personal gratification is misogyny then ok, that’s what this is. But I’ve never heard that definition used for misogyny.”
ALSO: The GR Show | Is Animal Crossing: New Horizons the best Switch game yet?
God of War was always known for its sexual scenes, with each entry in the mainline series featuring a mini-game that would see Kratos engaging in sexual activities with female characters.
However, the series’ most controversial moment arguably came in God of War 3, a game which wasn’t directed by Jaffe, in which Kratos forcibly attached Poseidon’s Princess to a crank in order to open two gates, which would then crush her to death. This scene has been used to retroactively shine a negative light on GoW‘s origins, though as Jaffe only served as a consultant on GoW 3, he wasn’t directly responsible for its inclusion in the closing chapter of the original GoW trilogy.
Jaffe hasn’t formally worked on the series since 2007’s God of War 2, with his last release being 2017’s Drawn to Death.
