After meeting Ratatoskr’s incarnation Bitter in God of War 2018, Ragnarok brings players to him in the flesh. While this implies that his function and evolution in the God of War Norse Saga make sense, it turns out that he was on the verge of being cut at one time.
During a recent interview with Game Informer, God of War Ragnarok director Eric Williams discussed Ratatoskr’s presence in the game, why he battled to keep him, and how he and actor SungWon Cho discussed the character’s progression in the game.
It turns out that when Ratatoskr originally emerged in God of War Ragnarok, several devs questioned whether they were taking the character too far. The sight of Ratatoskr atop Kratos’ shoulder isn’t very memorable or necessary in the franchise context. Even the music director wondered what to do with the character because it was “so far apart from God of War.” However, when everyone exclaimed, “This must be cut. We have an excessive number of characters “Williams insisted on his inclusion for one primary reason: levity to balance out God of War Ragnarok’s darker, more adult plot.
Williams also wanted Cho to portray him from the start, and Cho said that he was invited to board the project before it was officially publicised. Cho was able to develop and design Ratatoskr’s personality, including how to cope with the fact that he had all of these ghostly projections, and disclosed that the writing team had followed his idea for the character (though some dialogue lines were changed or added). Cho describes Ratatoskr’s pitch in God of War Ragnarok as “almost like a car salesman who wants you to like him so he can sell you more cars.”
God of War Ragnarok is now available for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
