Pandora (God of War)

god of

Pandora (Πανδώρα, "All gifts"), is the self-made and adoptive daughter of Hephaestus, and the tritagonist in God of War III.

God of War III
Created by Hephaestus, Pandora served as a key to the mythological Pandora's Box, rumored to bring about the end of the world. After Kratos found Pandora's Box, protected by the Flame of Olympus, Athena appeared before him, informing him of Pandora's role as key and how to gain access to the Box's contents.

While visiting Hephaestus one more time, the smith god revealed to Kratos that he created Pandora as a key to the Box, she was an object neither living nor dead, but grew fond of her. Consequently, he sheltered her from Zeus and instead suggested Cronos as the perfect guardian for the box, as no mortal could best a Titan. However, after Kratos used the box to defeat Ares, Zeus became fearful of the box's power and tortured Hephaestus until he revealed Pandora's location.

Zeus then hid the Box in the Flame of Olympus so that only Pandora could unseal it, and kidnapped Pandora, preventing her from ever freeing the Box. Zeus then ordered Daedalus to construct a Labyrinth to keep Pandora imprisoned, much like he did with the Minotaur. Pandora was able to communicate with Kratos through bronze statues in her likeness, appearing from a small blue flame in the statue's hands. She appeared several times through the Ghost of Sparta's journey, asking him to free her and hinting at her location.

It was within this Labyrinth that Kratos eventually found Pandora, trapped at the very core of the structure. She helped him escape the Labyrinth by guiding him along its cubes and entering small grates that Kratos could not enter. On the other hand, Kratos had to save Pandora from several traps and protect her from hordes of monsters. Along the way to the Flame, Pandora talked about how much fear consumed the gods: a fear of her and a fear of the "marked warrior."

She expressed how much she hated herself for seeing Hephaestus being tortured by Zeus because of her. Kratos simply replied, "Hephaestus did what every father should: protect his child." Pandora continues, saying that when the gods' fear rose, her own fear was replaced by hope, and even though Kratos believed that hope was for the weak, Pandora insisted that hope is what everyone has when all is lost. When the two of them saw hanging corpse of Daedalus, Kratos told her, "This is what hope delivers, child.You should learn that now."

Eventually, Kratos brought Pandora to the Flame of Olympus, destroying much of the chamber in the process. Kratos however, could not bring himself to use her to free the Box from the Flames, and tried to stop her by vowing to find another way, even though she was already willing to sacrifice herself.

Zeus appeared shortly afterwards, and a fight between the Ghost of Sparta and the King of Olympus ensued. Having buried Zeus under a pile of rubble, Kratos attempted to stop Pandora from rushing into the Flames by grabbing onto her hand. At that point, Zeus and Pandora both attempted to influence Kratos' decision. Zeus demanded his son not to let her go, whilst Pandora demanded otherwise.

Ultimately, Kratos' hatred towards Zeus proved greater than his desire to safeguard Pandora. Kratos lashed out at Zeus, while Pandora disappeared into the flames. Having sacrificed her life to aid Kratos, Pandora succeeded in extinguishing the flames, only for Kratos to discover the box empty. Zeus, who witnessed the whole ordeal, stood near Kratos, gloating and laughing over another one of his "failures" before fleeing outside.

Despite Pandora's apparent death, her spirit lived on, appearing to Kratos as a ball of flame when he was attacked by Zeus' spirit. She was able to guide Kratos out of the chaos and darkness in which Zeus had trapped him in, eventually unlocking the power of Hope, which was sealed within Kratos' own soul, to finally defeat the King of the Gods.