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Birth
During the reign of the Titans, Cronos was informed of a prophecy foretelling his eventual downfall at the hands of one of his own sons. To prevent this fate, Cronos swallowed all of his children, one by one.
When Zeus was born, his mother Rhea was distraught at the loss of her first five children and devised a trick to save him by letting an eagle carry the baby Zeus to safety, while he was replaced by a stone wrapped in cloth which Cronos devoured, having mistaken it for Zeus. The eagle then carried the infant Zeus to Gaia so that he would be raised and blessed with the strength to stand up to Cronos. During this time, Zeus developed a deep hatred for his father, and looked forward to the day he would finally release his siblings; one of Zeus' drawings inside Gaia portray him opening Cronos's belly and setting them free.
The Great War
As he came of age, Zeus decided to put his plans into action. Zeus freed his siblings and declared war on all of the Titans, thus betraying Gaia. The new rulers of Greece, the Gods, calling themselves Olympians, fought against their predecessors with great ferocity and power. The battle between the Gods and the Titans formed the landscape of Greece, shaking the earth with massive earthquakes and crumbling mountains. To end the war, Zeus created the all-powerful Blade of Olympus, which was used to banish the Titans to the foulest pits of Tartarus. However, the Evils borne from the war posed another threat to Olympus, so Zeus commissioned Hephaestus, the Smith God, to build Pandora's Box in order to house the Evils. Unbeknownst to him, Athena called forth a power that transcended any God, Hope, and placed it inside the box to counteract the Evils should the box ever be opened. When Zeus asked Hephaestus where to hide the box, the Smith God suggested that it should be placed on the back of Cronos. Using the architect Pathos Verdes III, he constructed an enormous temple to house the box and then chained it to the Titan's back, sentencing him to wander the Desert of Lost Souls for all eternity. Little did the great Zeus know that the events that had just transpired would eventually doom him.
After the Great War
At some point, Zeus had an affair with a mortal woman named Callisto. The circumstances are unknown, but the affair resulted in two sons. The oldest one was Kratos, a mighty warrior with unstoppable rage and ambition. Hera, displeased with Zeus for fathering yet another illegitimate child and (correctly) predicting that his existence would eventually doom Olympus, demanded that he kill the boy immediately after his birth. Zeus, at this point still a somewhat benevolent and caring figure, took pity on the child and refused. Around the same time, however, the Oracle foretold that one of Zeus' sons, a "marked warrior", would rise up against the King of the Gods and kill him. Noticing the strange birthmarks on the youngest son of Zeus and Callisto, Deimos, he sent Ares and Athena to Sparta in order to capture the boy and bring him to Thanatos.
Later on in Kratos' life, having brutally slain his own family in blind anger due to a scheme by Ares, the newly christened "Ghost of Sparta" pledged to serve the Gods of Olympus, including his father Zeus, in the hopes that they would relieve him of his nightmares. This can be compared to the fate of his half-brother Hercules, who had also killed his family in a madness caused by Hera.
About halfway through Kratos' penance, Zeus was one of the many Gods that fell victim to an enchanted slumber, orchestrated by Morpheus when the Sun God, Helios, was kidnapped by the Titan Atlas. Kratos eventually discovered that this was the work of Persephone, who intended to use the Sun God to empower Atlas in order to destroy the Pillar of the World and bring an end to all life, as well as her own suffering. Fortunately for Zeus and the other gods, Kratos was able to defeat the Queen of the Underworld and save Helios, returning him to the sky and forcing Morpheus to retreat. What they did not know was that Kratos had been forced to relinquish any hopes of reuniting with his beloved daughter in the process of saving the world, pushing his disillusionment with the Gods ever closer to open hatred and rebellion.
Near the end of Kratos' service, Ares besieged the city of Athens in the hopes of gaining Zeus' favor over his sister, Athena. Zeus, having forbidden the Gods from waging war on each other and fearing the possibility that Ares might be the "Marked Warrior" who would overthrow Zeus, allowed Athena to receive help from Kratos. Athena told him that killing Ares would complete his penance and rid him of his past sins. During his quest, Kratos met Zeus himself within the damaged city of Athens, where he was given Zeus' Fury, the ability to wield and throw powerful lighting bolts. In addition, Zeus took on the mortal guise of a Grave Digger and created a portal to the Underworld via a grave he claimed to be digging for Kratos, allowing the Spartan to escape the realm of the dead (after Ares impaled the Spartan with a pillar) late in his adventure.
Retrieving Pandora's Box from Kratos' dead corpse, Ares yelled to the skies, cursing his father for constantly favoring Athena and asking Zeus if he could finally see what his son was capable of. Ares declared that he would not hesitate to use the Box against Olympus itself, only for Kratos to return from the Underworld and use a bolt of Zeus' Fury to reclaim it. Kratos opened the ancient artifact and harnessed its power to kill Ares, his former master. Zeus and the Gods guided Kratos to kill Ares, as they had incorrectly believed that he was the only real threat to Olympus. The Olympians rewarded Kratos by forgiving him for the crime of killing his own family (although, to Kratos' dismay, they were unable to remove the horrible memories from his mind), and made him the new God of War.
Zeus' Betrayal
It was believed that Deimos is the Marked Warrior so it is very possible that Deimos' death and Kratos' destructive and aggressive behaviour led Zeus into believing that Kratos is the Marked Warrior who would seek revenge against the Gods of Olympus and one day destroy them. Another moment which led Zeus betray Kratos is when Kratos told Athena that the Gods would pay for that... Even though Kratos did not know that the grave digger was actually Zeus, he was there when Kratos exclaimed these words. Later on in Rhodes, Zeus tricked Kratos, told him to cast his powers into the Blade of Olympus and with that act, Zeus found a way to take it and kill Kratos as long as his powers would not be inside Kratos himself.
It is later revealed that Zeus and the other Gods had fallen prey to the Evils locked away in Pandora's Box after Kratos opened it to kill Ares. Apparently, Zeus didn't realize that if Kratos used the Box, the Evils would be released onto them; he had instead hoped that the Evils would fuel Kratos. As a result, Zeus was overwhelmed by his personal plague: Fear. Overcome with extreme paranoia and frightened by Kratos' increasingly destructive behavior, Zeus soon realized that Kratos would be the one to perpetuate the cycle of son killing father. Just as Cronos killed Ouranus, and as Zeus himself defeated Cronos, the King of the Gods expected that Kratos, infuriated by the revelation that not even the Gods could end his nightmares, would kill Zeus.
Some point after Ares' death, Zeus confronted his son Hephaestus and brutally interrogated him, after suspecting that the Smith God lied to him by stating that storing Pandora's Box at Pandora's Temple on the back of Cronos was the best option, when really, the Flame of Olympus was the most crucial place to store the box with Hephaestus' forged daughter, Pandora, being the key to the flames. As punishment for his deceit, Hephaestus was banished to Tartarus by Zeus as well has having his daughter, Pandora, taken away by the latter. With Pandora's Box retrieved by Kratos from it's temple, Zeus would also have his father Cronos spend the remainder of his eternity tortured in the foulest regions of Tartarus.
Zeus' fears were further exacerbated by Kratos' open defiance of the other Gods, ignoring their demands that he cease his relentless conquest and destruction of Greece. During Kratos' attack on Rhodes, Zeus devised a scheme that would put an end to Kratos' reign. He disguised himself as an eagle and drained a portion of the new God of War's power, transferring it to the Colossus of Rhodes. This caused the statue to come alive and attack the now mortal-sized Kratos, who initially believed that Athena was the one who betrayed him. Zeus further took advantage of the situation by tricking Kratos into infusing the rest of his god powers into the Blade of Olympus, the weapon that brought an end to the Great War of the Gods and Titans. Upon doing so, Kratos destroyed the Colossus with ease, but was crushed under the crumbling statue's hand soon afterwards, weakening the Spartan to the brink of death. Thus, in order to survive, he needed to retrieve the Blade, which had been knocked out of his grasp by the falling Colossus.
As Kratos was about to reach the Blade, Zeus finally revealed himself, admitting responsibility to Kratos for everything that had just transpired. Zeus claimed that his motivation was to "undo Athena's mistake" (presumably the act of making Kratos a God) and prevent Ares' fate from becoming his own. The King of the Gods then ordered the Spartan to submit, but an outraged Kratos refused, causing Zeus to stab him with the Blade of Olympus. As Kratos slowly died, Zeus expressed his disappointment in Kratos, insisting that the Spartan warrior had made the wrong choice. However, Kratos continued to insult the King of Olympus, and Zeus responded by stabbing him with the Blade again, telling his son that the cycle has come to an end, and everything that he ever knew would now suffer because of his sacrilege. Zeus then destroyed all of the soldiers present, while a dying Kratos promised that he would have his revenge as Zeus leaves and casts Kratos into the Underworld.
Upon leaving Rhodes, Zeus proceeded to destroy Sparta not only because the Spartan people worshipped Kratos, but to further punish Kratos himself. After destroying Sparta, Zeus believed he finally dealt with Kratos and returned to his throne on Mount Olympus.
Kratos' Revenge
Unfortunately for Zeus, Kratos was far from finished. Aided by Gaia and the Titans, he returned to life, journeyed to the Island of Creation, and killed the Sisters of Fate. With the Power of Time itself at his command, Kratos returned to the moment when Zeus tried to stab him with the Blade of Olympus, emerging from a portal and knocking the off-guard God King to the ground. Surprised at this development, Zeus presumed that the Sisters of Fate had unexpectedly aided him. Kratos, pulling the Blade of Olympus from his past self, told Zeus that the Sisters were dead. The King of Olympus declared that he had underestimated Kratos but will not make the same mistake again and the two combatants charged towards one another, taking to the skies as they fought. They ended up on the Summit of Sacrifice, where an epic battle began. Kratos fought Zeus furiously and managed to deliver several powerful blows, as he stated he would kill Zeus for his actions. Enraged at his defiance, Zeus unleashed his full might on the vengeful warrior in the form of a deadly electrical storm.
Unable to overpower the furious god, Kratos resorted to military tactics, a feigned surrender that Kratos knew would immediately stop the onslaught. Kneeling in front of the Blade of Olympus he asked Zeus to end his life and release him from his torment. Granting what he thought was Kratos' final request, Zeus agreed to release him from his life, but insisted that his torment was just beginning. The Great God was tricked, however, and the Spartan, using the Golden Fleece to deflect a small remainder of Zeus' lighting, overpowered and took the Blade from Zeus, pinning both of his arms to a rock and began to impale Zeus with the Blade of Olympus, intending to kill him the same way he did to him until Athena intervened.
Zeus took this opportunity to free himself, warning the Spartan that he had started a war he had no hope of winning. Zeus then attempted to flee, but Kratos immediately pushed Athena aside taking the Blade to make one more attempt on the severely weakened Zeus. However, Athena jumped in the way at the last second, sacrificing herself to save her father who took the moment to flee. Kratos was far more affected by Athena's death than Zeus, who coldly ignored her and narrowly escaped back to Mount Olympus though he did express concern for her later.
Just before she died, Athena told Kratos that he was compelled to kill Zeus just as Zeus did to Cronos, for Kratos was Zeus' son. This was the cycle Zeus had mentioned when he killed Kratos before. Declaring that no son should ever destroy his own father (ignoring the fact that Zeus had already done the same to his own father), Athena told Kratos that Zeus must live so that Olympus would prevail. God after God would deny Kratos his vengeance, for they would protect Zeus for the sake of Olympus. Watching the fallen Athena disintegrate, Kratos felt betrayed yet again and, using the Loom Chamber, he returned to the first Great War urging the Titans to accompany him back to his own time, where a wounded Zeus had fled back to Mount Olympus.
After the events of God of War II, Zeus returned to Olympus and told Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, and Helios about Kratos' intentions, telling them that they have to unite once more to preserve Olympus. When they saw the Titans ascending the mountain, the Gods immediately took action, while Zeus remained out of the front lines, likely still weak after his encounter with Kratos.
After witnessing the death of his brother, Poseidon, the King of the Gods decided to join the battle, with his Aegis being armed. As Kratos and Gaia reached the platform where Zeus was waiting for them, the Spartan approached the King of the Gods, telling his father that he could no longer hide behind Athena for safety. Zeus then chided his son by insisting that it was his blind rage that caused Athena's death, asking the Spartan how far he was willing to go to have his revenge. The Ghost of Sparta replied by listing his previous battles before stating that nothing would stand in his way and that he would stop have his revenge.
Infuriated with Kratos' defiance, The King of the Gods then decided to strike both Kratos and Gaia with his thunderbolts, thinking that they would both fall into the River Styx. Although Kratos did fall into the River Styx, he nevertheless survived and fought his way back to the top of Mount Olympus, destroying even more Gods and his son Hercules along the way.
Zeus later indirectly encountered his son through one of Pandora's Statues, warning him to stay away from Pandora. He would not encounter Kratos in person again until he raised the Labyrinth, thereby destroying much of the inner sanctum of Mount Olympus. He attempted to stop Pandora from entering The Flame of Olympus while disparaging Kratos both for his obsession with Pandora and all of the destruction he has caused.
They soon engaged in another fight, destroying more of Olympus' inner chambers. Their battle was interrupted when Pandora made another attempt to jump into the Flame. Kratos managed to grab her, but Pandora insisted to Kratos that he needed to let her go. Zeus, however, warned that he must not let her into the Flame, telling the Spartan that for once in his "pathetic life" he cannot fail like he failed in protecting his family. This inadvertently caused Kratos to let go of Pandora and attack Zeus in blind fury. With the Flame gone, Kratos saw and opened Pandora's Box, only to discover that it was empty. Zeus mocked his own son, stating that in spite of all his efforts, they ended in yet another "stunning failure", laughing his words further drove Kratos to the brink of madness. Zeus then retreated outside to the same dias that Kratos and Gaia confronted him on earlier, with Kratos following closely behind.
The King of the Gods observes all of the destruction his son has caused to Greece, telling him that he would have much to do once their battle is over. They fight each other again until they are interrupted by Gaia, who was thought to have been killed by Kratos. She returned to kill both her grandson for vengeance and her great-grandson for destroying her world, ignoring the fact that it was the death of the Olympians that caused it and that it would have happened anyway if the Titans had won. Zeus told Gaia that her pawn has failed her, and commented that she should have chosen the other one (probably referring to Deimos). Gaia then decided to crush the platform, declaring that father and son would die together. Both of them managed to enter the large chest wound she incurred earlier from her fight with Poseidon, making their way to her heart. There the fight raged on with both using Gaia's Heart to heal themselves in the battle.
Eventually, Gaia was killed when Kratos impaled Zeus against her heart with the Blade of Olympus, which apparently also killed Zeus. Gaia's body slowly broke apart and destroyed most of Mount Olympus.
Regaining consciousness, Kratos retrieved the Blade of Olympus from Zeus' "corpse", but when he tries to leave, he is attacked by Zeus' still active spirit, which taking away all of his magic and equipment except for the Blade of Olympus, the Blades of Exile, and the Boots of Hermes, infecting him with Fear. Kratos was thought to be finished, but with the help of Pandora's spirit, Kratos managed to forgive his sins and unleash Hope from within himself. He then briefly battled Zeus' astral form, eventually forcing it to retreat back to his body, reviving Zeus. Kratos considered of attacking him with his blades but paused and realized that Zeus was so weak he could kill him with his bare hands. He then threw his blades aside and charged at Zeus.
Death
Terrified, Zeus backed away, and tried to stop Kratos with his arms, but was unable to resist the Spartan's fury and was thrown against a rock. A black smoke (presumably Fear) escaped from Zeus' mouth, possibly meaning that the Fear had finally left Zeus. Kratos then begins to beat Zeus uncontrollably, kicking him in the face and throwing him against rocks, ultimately grabbing Zeus' beard and beating him to a bloody pulp. Interestingly enough, Zeus does not put up any resistance when the black smoke left his body. It is possible that he realized that by causing Kratos so much pain, he was responsible for his own demise.
Zeus' body disintegrated and exploded in a huge blast of light, unleashing absolute chaos upon Greece, and with this, the King of Olympus was no more, thus ending the reign of the Olympian gods.
God of War (2018)
Even many years following his death, Zeus still haunts Kratos. After Kratos defeats the Bridge Keeper of Helheim, he soon sees the image of Zeus in the sky calling to him. Kratos, surprised by the sudden arrival of his father, reveals to Mimir that he was Zeus' son.
Kratos asks Mimir what that place was and how it's possible for the former King of Olympus to be there. Mimir tells Kratos to never venture there and that Helheim is known for torturing it's inhabitants with illusions of memories of their past. Later on in Hel, Kratos hears the past echos of Zeus speaking to him, which he ignores but would later see, along with Atreus, a ghostly reenactment of Zeus' final moments before his death, being beaten to death by Kratos.
Moments before killing Baldur, Kratos quotes his father of the cycle before breaking his neck, preventing Baldur from killing Freya in revenge.
Afterwards, Kratos tells his son of how he killed his own father as Atreus realizes the specter was his grandfather. This makes Atreus wonder if the cycle of children killing their parents is the fate of gods, although Kratos assures his son that his past doesn't define their future, and that they will be the gods they choose to be.
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