Name

While I was looking into Kratos’ name, I stumbled across a “Kratos” from Greek mythology. There seems to be quite a bit of evidence that NAMCO may have gotten the idea for Kratos’ name from a Greek Myth about “Kratos.” Also known as “Cratos” and “Cratus,” he was one of the winged enforcers of Zeus along with his siblings Nike, Bia and Zelos (ha). They were all angel-like beings that followed all of Zeus’ orders. The Kratos of mythology had almost a slave-master relationship with Zeus, incapable of understanding those who opposed Zeus and didn’t have his own thoughts or ideals.

There should be a few bells going off and connections being made for those who know about Tales of Symphonia’s Kratos. He is a seraph, which is an angel-like being, he has wings, and he is technically an enforcer of Mithos’ ideals along with Yuan and eventually Zelos. I think it may be a bit more than just coincidence that they decided to use the names “Kratos” and “Zelos” in the same game for angelic beings that both serve the same person. The “Kratos” from mythology just did and thought whatever Zeus told him, and for quite some time, Kratos did the same thing with Mithos. Though Kratos did have his own thoughts and disagreed with Mithos, he still pretty much went along with whatever he asked and tried to justify it in his mind later on.

Lastly, Kratos was the god of strength and power, which could be connected back to Tales of Symphonia’s Kratos. He has incredible skill and power, able to fight and keep at bay the entire group of Lloyd’s friends by himself while still going easy on them. His swordsmanship is so good that Lloyd is jealous that his pales in comparison, and even most enemies know that Kratos is a force to be reckoned with. So, who knows. There are a lot of parallels that can be drawn, especially since “Zelos” is another god (of rivalry of all things) from the same myth. Either way, I thought this bit of information was rather interesting, though there isn’t much else to say about it.

RESOURCES:
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1. Cratus: Greek god of strength & power
2. Cratos @ Wikipedia

b a c k   .   c l e a r   .   f o r w a r d    Count the Stars and its contents are © Samantha, however Kratos and Tales of Symphonia are © NAMCO. Count the Stars is a part of AFTER-DEATH.ORG.