Kratos (Shovel Knight)

Articles About Kratos
Canon	Canon
Other Games	Shovel Knight - Soulcalibur - Mortal Kombat

	“	You know not to whom you speak, gardener. GET out of my way!! ATHENA!!! Is this yet another test? Am I to face this foolish peasant, without even a proper weapon? Then so be it... Prepare yourself for the Spartan wrath of the Blades of Chaos!	„
		~ Kratos to Shovel Knight before the boss fight

	“	Enough! In your hands, a mere farmer's tool burns with the fury of Hades! Surely you have the gods' favor. I shall call you the Ghost of Shovels. My fate lies... elsewhere. Take this gift. If properly honed, it could uproot the olive trees of Olympus.	„
		~ Kratos to Shovel Knight after his boss fight

Background

Kratos is the protagonist of the God of War series whose character and exploits are not fully recognized in the Shovel Knight universe. He serves as an optional boss fight for Shovel Knight.

Kratos is exclusive to the Sony versions and will appear on the map as a wandering encounter once the Curious Map is obtained. He is only present in Shovel of Hope.

After defeating Kratos, the player will receive 2000 gold and the Grave Digger's Shovel, which can be taken to the Armorer at the Armor Outpost to receive the Armor of Chaos, which drastically alters Shovel Knight's play style to be more like Kratos.

General Information

Name: Kratos

Origin: Shovel Knight, originally from God of War

Sex: Male

Age: Unknown

Classification: Ghost of Sparta

Status: Alive

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Initially shown to be antagonistic and ready to attack, though by the end of the fight shows humility by admitting defeat and giving Shovel Knight a weapon)

Codex Statistics

Tier: High 8-C

Cardinality: Finite

Dimensionality: 3-D

Attack Potency: Large Building level (Casually broke the entire arena he fought Shovel Knight in. Fought against Shovel Knight, in a multi-phased battle. Shovel Knight is far superior to Black Knight, who can break the ground, giving these results)

Durability: Large Building level (Went multiple rounds against Shovel Knight)

Striking Strength: Large Building Class

Lifting Strength: Class 1 (Can casually pull giant pillars, should be comparable to Shovel Knight, who lifted the Order of No Quarter, several adult males with full-body armor)

Travel Speed: Supersonic (Comparable to Shovel Knight who can outrun cannonballs)

Combat Speed: Massively Hypersonic (Can tag Shovel Knight, who can dodge attacks from Phantom Striker, who uses cloud-to-ground lightning attacks and Shovel Knight is superior to Specter Knight who can dodge lightning)

Reaction Speed: Massively Hypersonic

Stamina: Very High (Went multiple rounds against Shovel Knight without showing any signs of tiring)

Range: Standard Melee Range, Extended Melee Range to Several Meters with the Blades of Chaos (Can make the Blades of Chaos go across an entire room)

Intelligence: At least Above Average (Noted by Shovel Knight that he is a formidable warrior, his technique being any unlike he's ever seen)

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Powers and Techniques

Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Acrobatics (Can jump far higher than even the likes of Shovel Knight), Weapon Mastery (Uses the blades of chaos as a front swipe, upwards swipe, along with jumping up in the air to deliver a devasting blow back, can use them for an all-covered spin attack. Can also use his blades of chaos to attach the chains across the battlefield to quickly zip over to an area. Can use the Nemean Cestus for a powerful punch attack that shakes the entire room), Chain Manipulation (With the blades of chaos, can extend the chains to reach across and zip to areas), Fire Manipulation (Has his Blades covered in fire whenever he attacks with them), Electricity Manipulation (Summons lightning from the sky), Healing, Life Absorption, and Restoration (Can absorb green and blue orbs of nearby objects to heal himself. Shovel Knight can use blue orbs to restore his magic), Statistics Amplification (After absorbing red orbs from nearby objects, he gains a boost in strength, becoming stronger and faster), Vibration Manipulation (Can use the Nemean Cestus for a powerful punch attack that shakes the entire room), Likely Attack Reflection (While not used in the fight, he has the Golden Fleece on his person and it should function like it does in the God of War series, where it reflects attacks back at the user)

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Equipment

• Blades of Chaos: The Blades of Chaos are introduced in God of War as Kratos’ signature weapons throughout the Greek Era. Forged in the depths of the Underworld and personally offered to Kratos by Ares himself, the Blades became a symbol of the Spartan’s servitude to the Olympians, emphasized by the chains bound to the very flesh of Kratos. Widely feared throughout Greece, the Blades of Chaos personified what Kratos had become during the darkest period of his life: a monster who killed his own family out of bloodlust, turning him into the infamous Ghost of Sparta.

• Nemean Cestus: Two large, strong gauntlets in the form of a lion's head, that have similar moves to the Gauntlet of Zeus. Hercules had acquired these from the Nemean Lion.

• Golden Fleece: While not used in the fight, he has it on his person and it should function like it does in the God of War series, where it reflects attacks back at the user.

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Notable Techniques

• Pillar Hooking: Kratos uses the blades to hook himself temporarily on the pillar before repeating the process two more times.

• Nemean Rush: Kratos switches to the Nemean Cestus and charges at the pillar, causing the screen to violently shake after hitting it.

• Lightning Summon: After Kratos is low on health, he summons lightning and small colorful dots appear on the screen. He absorbs them and is fully healed. After that he becomes faster and gains new attacks, while some of the old ones are upgraded.

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Other

Standard Tactics: During the first phase, Kratos attacks with 6 attacks: Kratos attacks with his blades in both directions, he uses his blades to attack upwards, he jumps around, stunning the knight if he's on the ground, he spins with his blades, covering large area, he switches to gauntlets and charges at the pillar, he uses the blades to hook himself temporarily on the pillar before repeating the process two more times. After Kratos is low on health, he summons lightning and small colorful dots appear on the screen. He absorbs them and is fully healed. After that he becomes faster and gains new attacks, while some of the old ones are upgraded: Kratos can stay in the air for a while. He uses his blades to pull 3 parts of the pillar, throwing them at the knight. Kratos' charge attack can now destroy parts of a pillar, hurling them at the enemy at the process. After Kratos' health is depleted, he destroys the arena and both he and the enemy are sent into the air, while parts of the destroyed arena are in the air too, acting as a platforms. Kratos is fully healed.

Weaknesses: Nothing notable.

Note: This is not the canon Kratos. Despite being claimed as canon from both parties, their words contradict their games. To start with, Cory Balrog's statement of it being canon was in a clear joking manner, "He appears on his journey from Greece to Scandinavia. So that was actually a part of the God of War history where he suddenly became 8-bit... it's canon. Wait for the box set". Along with this, it cannot fit anywhere in the timeline Cory notes here as it's meant to take place in between his journey from the Greek Pantheon to the Norse Pantheon. At the end of God of War 3, Kratos killed the entire pantheon, flooding the earth and killing everyone, if this is canon to Shovel Knight, this implies the world of Shovel Knight is completely destroyed as the events of God of War 3, it's noted that their fight takes place in the City of Olympia also, which would not make sense if this is meant to be post God of War 3. This also doesn't make sense due to how Kratos acts in Shovel Knight. Along with this, even if he is shown to use weapons from God of War 3, this is a Kratos before the events of the games, as he notes to Athena he is still being tested by the gods, which is a thing that was done all the way back in the first God of War and even prior in Chains of Olympus where he was 7-A. Along with noting Shovel Knight has the Gods favor, which is something he would not do in God of War 2 and onward where he has broken free from the chains of fate. Along with this, if this was GoW 2 or onward, he would not simply accept the Gods favor one as he detests the Gods after their betrayal in GoW 2. Another thing to note is the timeline of events, if this is meant to take place after God of War 3, Kratos would no longer be allied with Athena as their alliance ended after he gave hope to all of humanity, with Kratos still detesting her all the way into God of War (2018). One other point to note is that even in a game like God of War Ragnarok, where Playstation All Stars is treated as canon, Shovel Knight is not once mentioned. Even if we were to assume this battle was canon, it would be deemed as an outlier due to Shovel Knight and those comparable to him being threatened and harmed by lesser feats much after the battle against Kratos.

Trivia

• Kratos is one of the 3 bosses that are only fought in Shovel of Hope. The other 2 are Remnant of Fate and the Battletoads.
• The developers of Yacht Club Games visited the team of Santa Monica Studios in order to work on Kratos's design and animations. It also marked the 10th anniversary of the God of War series.
  • The battle's location, a snowy mountain, was a hint to the-then upcoming 2018 God of War game.
  • Santa Monica Studios expressed that Kratos met Shovel Knight on his way from Greece to Scandinavia.
• According to God of War director Cory Barlog, Kratos' appearance in Shovel Knight is considered canon in the God of War lore, though this is more then likely a joke from the way Cory worded it of Kratos suddenly turning "8-bit" and it not fitting the timeline at all.
  • A tweet made by Yacht Club Games also confirmed that God of War is considered canon in the Shovel Knight lore.
• Kratos actually uses the Blades of Exile from God of War III, despite him calling them the Blades of Chaos. This makes it seem likely that his battle with Shovel Knight takes place in the city of Olympia (based on the background) soon after defeating Hermes (since he has the winged boots) and Hercules (since he has already obtained the Nemean Cestus). Though this chronologically cannot happen
  • Between after you complete the Hall of Champions and/or after the Remnant of Fate fight, the events from God of War III happen, since the Nemean Cestus was acquired after Kratos fought Hercules and they were destroyed during the final fight with Zeus.
• After the battle, Kratos will put his cloak back and walk slowly across the screen until he leaves it. During so, Shovel Knight can hit him causing the cowl to fall back. This will make Kratos stop to put it back on. Doing this three times will ultimately cause Kratos to put the hood back on one last time before considerably increase his walking pace. After this it is no longer possible to harass him any further.
• Due to their lack of pronouns, Kratos speeches are among the very few major pieces of dialogue to remain completely unchanged between a standard playthrough and Body Swap Mode.
• If already defeated once during a standard playthrough, during New Game Plus Kratos will skip the first two phases of his fight, starting the battle during the falling section.
  • He will also still reward the Grave Digger's Shovel, but if the Armor of Chaos has already been obtained, neither the Armorer nor the Shovel Smith will acknowledge its presence in the inventory.
• The Grave Digger's shovel is a reference to the Grave Digger from the first God of War game, who rescues Kratos from Hades by digging a deep hole and throwing down a rope. The Grave Digger returns in Ghost of Sparta, and the shovel itself is the last item to be unlocked in the Temple of Zeus.
• This is Kratos's second appearance in a game rated E, with the first of which being in Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. He's appeared as guest character in other games rated T or M, with Soulcalibur and Mortal Kombat being primary examples.

Battle Records

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None.

• Shovel Knight - Fight
  • Conditions: None.
  • Location: Unknown

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