While everyone knows God of War‘s muscular lead as Kratos, it turns out the gaming franchise’s protagonist nearly went by a completely different name. Since 2005’s Greek mythology God of War through to last year’s Nordic reinvention, Kratos had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and always gone by the same name.

Stig Asmussen currently works at Respawn Entertainment and is the director of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, however, his roots are with God of War. Starting as a developer on the original game, Asmussen rose through the God of War ranks and even directed God of War 3 in 2010. When it came to naming Kratos all those years ago, it turns out Sony nearly went with a name a little closer to home.

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Speaking to Game Informer, Asmussen confirms Kratos was nearly named after him. Although developers were working under the name of Dominus for Kratos, it turns out the marketing department wasn’t impressed. Asmussen went on to explain how his name ended up on the shortlist:

“I don’t know how many members of the team submitted names, but I submitted maybe a handful of them and they went to marketing and they came back with four, maybe five names for Kratos – Kratos was one of them … and Stig was one of them.”

Asmussen says he didn’t put his own name forward but simply added “Stig” to the list to identify it was his choice of potential names. Director David Jaffe told him Stig had been shortlisted, which Asmussen joked, “I totally would have been cool with it.” Back then, Asmussen admits it was weird to call the main character anything other than Dominus. Also, God of War was originally titled Dark Odyssey. Although Asmussen and the rest of the team championed Dark Odyssey, it was deemed too high-brow. When God of War was eventually revealed as the final name, Asmussen remembers how the developers were pretty underwhelmed.

Interestingly, Kratos is the Greek personification of strength and fits perfectly with the video game character players have come to know over the years. From swinging the Blades of Chaos to his Leviathan Axe, there aren’t many out there who are stronger than Kratos. The name Dominus – Latin for master or owner – also sounds like it could’ve fit with Kratos’ rugged exterior, but it’s hard to imagine calling him Stig for the past 14 years. Thankfully, Kratos has stuck and the franchise looks to be going strong with work plenty of rumors about a God of War sequel.

Source: Game Informer

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Tom Chapman
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Tom Chapman is a Manchester-based writer with square eyes and the love of a good pun. Raised on a diet of Jurassic Park and Jumanji, this ’90s boy had VHS movies flowing in his blood from a young age. Heading into further education, Tom turned his passion for the silver screen into a degree in Broadcast Journalism at Leeds University. These days, he is addicted to all things Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Westworld, while reading up on what the X-Men are doing and imagining a life in Gotham City. Having previously worked at What Culture, Movie Pilot, and Digital Spy, Tom is now finding his way at Screen Rant and CBR. No topic is too big or too small for this freelance writer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night.

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