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The characters of the ''God of War'' video game franchise belong to a fictional universe loosely based on Greek mythology. As such, the series features a range of traditional figures, including Olympian Gods, Titans, and heroes. A number of original characters have also been created to supplement storylines. The overall story arc focuses on the series' only playable character, the protagonist Kratos, a Spartan warrior haunted by visions of himself accidentally killing his wife and child. The character finally avenges his family by killing his former master and manipulator, Ares, the God of War. Although Kratos becomes the new God of War, he is still plagued by nightmares and is eventually betrayed by Zeus, the King of the Olympian Gods—revealed by the goddess Athena to be Kratos' father. The constant machinations of the gods and Titans and their misuse of Kratos eventually drive him to destroy Mount Olympus. ''God of War'' (2005), created by Sony's Santa Monica Studio, was the inaugural game in the series, which continued with the sequels, ''God of War II'' (2007), ''God of War: Betrayal'' (2007), ''God of War III'' (2010), and ''God of War: Ghost of Sparta'' (2010), and the prequels, ''God of War: Chains of Olympus'' (2008) and ''God of War: Ascension'' (2013). The ''God of War'' mythos expanded into literature, with a novelization of the original ''God of War'' published in 2010, and a six-issue ''God of War'' comic series that introduced new characters and plot developments was published from 2010–11. A novelization of ''God of War II'' was published in 2013, and a film adaptation of the original ''God of War'' has been in development since 2005. A prequel graphic novel titled ''Rise of the Warrior'' (October 2012–March 2013) was released in the lead up to ''Ascension's'' release and is a backstory of the players' multiplayer character. ''God of War'' has become a highly lucrative franchise on account of the commercial and critical success of the series. Products include action figures, artwork, clothing, Slurpee cups, sweepstakes, and special edition video game consoles. The character of Kratos received positive comments from reviewers, and was described as a "sympathetic antihero" by GameSpy.〔 Game Guru claimed "Practically anyone, even if they hadn't played any of the ''God of War'' games, would know about Kratos."〔 Several reviewers have praised the portrayal of the characters: PAL Gaming Network claimed that ''God of War's'' voice acting is "up there with the best",〔 while IGN have complimented most of the games in the series, saying of ''God of War II'' that the characters were "timeless"〔 and the voice acting was "great".〔 ==Concept and creation== During the creation of ''God of War'', the game's director David Jaffe attempted to create a version of Kratos that looked brutal but had a different appearance from what is considered to be the traditional Greek hero. The character's traditional armor was removed to show the character's individualism, and details such as hair and other "flowing things" were removed. Jaffe said of his final version of the character, that while "() may not totally feel at home in Ancient Greece from a costume standpoint, I think he achieves the greater purpose which is to give players a character who they can play who really does just let them go nuts and unleash the nasty fantasies that they have in their head." When designing Ares, Charlie Wen was advised that the character should be 90% elemental and 5–10% human, then began sketching. He said that the rest of the team liked the designs, but were uncertain about execution. The transition towards Ares' human form was slow, and Wen said of the final design, "he's still a huge guy, but he's got all this armor on that allows him to do all these things." Like most of the Olympian gods in ''God of War'', Zeus first appeared as a floating translucent head, and was modeled on the typical representation of the god in Greek mythology. Cory Barlog (Game Director of ''God of War II'') said that for ''God of War II'', they wanted to maintain Zeus' appearance from literature, but also to add their own interpretation to the character. Zeus' human appearance was originally designed by Charlie Wen for ''God of War II''. This design was also used in ''God of War III'', with updated graphics and the addition of an arm piece during the final fight. Andy Park was responsible for designing Zeus' spirit form for the final fight. Park produced several sketches, and imagined Zeus as a "massive tornado creature with lightning searing throughout the form." Park said that the ultimate goal was that "we are looking at Zeus, but it is him transformed into a big cloud of smoke." Hades first appeared in ''God of War''; the original design portrayed Hades as a fiery, demonic face with horns. Statues in the game adhered to this design. Hades' character design was changed in ''God of War II'', with the character now appearing in a more human-like form with spikes protruding from his body and wielding a pair of chained claws, similar to Kratos' chained blades. The new design featured a helmet that appeared to cover a fiery face, which in ''God of War III'', it is eventually revealed to be very grotesque but more human-like than the original design from ''God of War''. Hermes was originally designed for ''God of War II'' by Andy Park and did appear in the final cut scene of the game. For ''God of War III'', Park updated the design and painting of the character. Park said he "wanted to create a character that was sly, cunning, and a bit comical in both appearance and personality" and he imagined he would be "much like a dancer." The Titan Oceanus was sketched by Erik San Juan and was originally intended to appear in ''God of War II'' in a completely watery form with no feet. This concept, however, was cut during development. Oceanus appeared in ''God of War III'', with a similar appearance to the other Titans and with an emphasis on lightning instead of the original watery design. Oceanus's original watery design was the basis of the design for Poseidon's avatar sea construct for ''God of War III''. The character Daedalus was designed by Izzy Medrano, who said that he imagined Daedalus as a brilliant architect gone mad, and that Daedalus, similar to Kratos, was a pawn of the gods. The character was originally intended to have long white hair, but was eventually rendered bald, "as long hair is a difficult thing to manage." Icarus was conceived as an "old disgusting man" and portrayed as an evil, although slightly comedic, character. Medrano also designed Pandora, whom he said is vital in reintroducing the player to the human side of Kratos. Medrano also said that they knew Pandora had to be young and reminiscent of Kratos' daughter, Calliope, and that "() had to be pretty without being sexy and spunky without being saucy." Medrano said the character's final attire was a "Greek Punk" fashion style. The first version of the Gorgon, Medusa, was to have five feet, but due to perceived animation difficulties, the final version had one tail. Other Gorgons in the game adhered to this design. The goddess Artemis was considered for inclusion in ''God of War: Ascension'' as a playable female character, offering alternative combat options. Game Director Todd Papy said she would have been depicted as half-human and half-feline, with the head and torso of a woman and the legs of a lioness. However, she was ultimately cut from the game and thus only appears in the original ''God of War'' as a translucent head. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Characters of God of War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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