Why God Of War Ragnarök’s Thor Looks Different From His Statue

The new trailer for God of War Ragnarök teased the presence of Thor in a similar manner to the previous game’s ending, but his appearance is no longer a mystery. The game’s art director shared what Thor looks like, and many were surprised to see a more rotund Norse god than they imagined. Perhaps somewhat oddly, the Thor that players will see in Ragnarök also looks different than the most prominent in-game baseline, the god of thunder’s statue on the shore of the Lake of Nine in 2018’s God of War.

[Warning – spoilers for 2018’s God of War below.]

The Lake of Nine serves as the player’s hub world in God of War. Located in Midgard, it provides access to many of the other mythological realms, and players will return to it many times throughout the game. Towering over one of the lake’s banks is a massive statue of Thor brandishing Mjolnir over its head, with one foot elevated like a Norse Captain Morgan. All in all, the statue looks like a rather convincing depiction of a god – tall, armored, apparently muscular, and very imposing. The giant statue doesn’t really offer a very detailed image of Thor, and players only ever get to see it from below, but it is definitely a different look than the official Thor character model that will be in Ragnarök.

The most readily apparent explanation for why Thor’s look has seemingly changed is a matter of game development. Aside from the statue, Thor barely appeared in the ending of 2018’s God of War, and even then, players don’t get a good look at him, so there likely wasn’t an incredible amount of thought put into his appearance. The god of thunder is poised to make a greater contribution to Ragnarök, so he needs a more detailed model. Even aside from this, there is enough narrative obscurity surrounding Thor in God of War that allows for his differing appearance.

The Unreliable Looks Of Thor In God Of War

The statue of Thor gives one impression of the Norse god, but Thor makes a second appearance in the game. After finishing the main story, Kratos and Atreus return to their home. “Years Later…” flashes across the screen before father and son are awoken in the middle of the night by a terrible thunderstorm – one caused by a shrouded Thor found standing outside. The god’s face cannot be seen, and his body is rather nondescript under the cloak and in the darkness. The whole scene is played off as Atreus’ dream when the game returns players to the present day, but is heavily implied to be a vision of the future, which was further reinforced by Thor’s identical cameo in the Ragnarök trailer.

Between the two images of Thor – the statue, and his dream visit to the Kratos abode – there’s really nothing that suggests what he actually looks like. Statues, especially those depicting gods, are often idealized, and since Thor’s is in Midgard, it’s possible that it was built by someone who had never even seen the god of thunder. The face of the statue has little detail, and even if character dialogue and the statue’s associated quest didn’t directly mention it’s supposed to be  Thor, the brandished hammer makes it fairly obvious.

The same can be said about Thor’s appearance in Atreus’ vision. The lightning and Mjolnir are dead giveaways that it is Thor, but nothing about the cloaked character model is descriptive enough to point to him having a definite look prior to the official Ragnarök character artwork. One might be able to argue that their body types are a bit different, but the rest of the game requires more suspension of belief than it takes to imagine Thor’s cloak hiding his belly. Besides, Thor’s appearance in Atreus’ vision is unreliable because it’s a dream-like sequence from a character that has never met Thor, so his character model in God of War Ragnarök has no precedent.

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