God of War Ragnarok to Be One Unbroken Shot Like GOW 2018; Dev Answers Criticism to Character’s Race

God of War Ragnarok will be one unbroken shot from start to finish like God of War 2018 confirmed! Dev responds to character race criticism.

[Rimeskeem]

Why is race even questioned in mythology? Like it's based on interpretation and is rooted in a false narrative which means none nothing can be proven exactly true usually. So complaining about race in mythology is just stupid.

[excaliburps]

I agree. The game has friggin' giant talking snakes, and they made it so Loki is Kratos' son, and someone is arguing why there is a black person? LOL! Sony dev handled it quite nicely though.

[porkChop]

Haven't gone back to finish the first one yet lol, didn't know that...

[excaliburps]

@porkchop. Sorry!! I’ll edit my comment for that but sorry again.

Edit: and I can’t edit my comment. Ugh.

[bouzebbal]

So called anti racists criticizing something due to race question is not hypocrisy at all /s
To all those morons, stfu let people enjoy the greatness of what Santa Monica is preparing for us

[Eonjay]

Kratos is Gray. This imaginary gray dude is voiced by a black man and is literally designed to be white and black. And he is not even mythologically accurate by Greek terms let alone Nordic terms. A gray guy from Greece who fathered Loki? No objections? Yeah why would anyone give a damn? It's a game. The source material be damned clearly.

[UnHoly_One]

Not taking either side here but Kratos is gray for a reason that is explained in the first game.

It has nothing to do with race.

[Stanjara]

Dude don't ever spoil a game... there are other people that didn't play the game. I know it's in the trailer an all... I personally finished it but there is no reason to spoil a game ever...or to spoil anything.

[Greg2801]

@Porkchop Why would you even go to a article of God of War: Ragnarok, when you didn't even finish the first game. That's just asking to get spoiled...

[SinisterKieran]

I see people moaning about spoilers, the only people spoiling the game at this point are people who haven’t played it.
You’re in the wrong place for no spoilers

[ElvisHuxley]

I don't think it's the race that people care about, it's more that they know why it's done.

[Muigi]

Explain…Elvis the name checks out.

[jBlakeeper]

Yeah true. It just seems weird to me. The game is in a Nordic setting with not one mixed race person seen in the first one. Now all of a sudden we have a Norse giant who is black. I’m not racist in the slightest it just doesn’t make sense to me in the story.

[ballisticvoodoo]

That's the WIN comment of the day!

[Rimeskeem]

You don’t see people asking why game characters are you white so I don’t see the point asking why they are black.

[Melankolis]

It's not a "real" mythology (Kratos also doesn't exist in Norse mythology), let alone history, it's just a videogame inside outside, do you people forget about that?.

Oh, and while we're at it, why all the characters speak English???.

[zeuanimals]

Simple. The demographics in media doesn't represent our reality. This has tangible effects on sales. If devs wanna make more money, they're gonna have to show more representation, even if it means being "historically incorrect" about a game about myths, traveling to new lands and the sharing of said myths and cultures. It might piss off the hate mobs online, but they wouldn't keep doing this stuff if the results weren't clear, and the results show the hate is from a vocal minority.

If this stuff really bothers you, take a hot bath or something. There's no sign of this trend changing and there's actual shit to be bothered by.

[ravens52]

Doesn't make sense in the story... and it makes sense how he was fighting Zues and them and now he's fighting norsegods... for all you kno she could be from a different mythology.

[mgszelda1]

Just sony probably mandating woke quotas

[medman]

@rimeskeem
Because people are ignorant and focus on things in life that don't matter worth a lick and yet the things they should care about they are oblivious to.

[Eonjay]

I have to agree. I see cute black chick and I think... Oh she's cute. How did BOY land that? Lol. Plus, and this may fuck some people up, none of this is real. Get a grip. Who is really that triggered by the existence of black characters?

It's always the same,. Why is there a woman, why is she black, why is she into chicks, now why is Kratos fighting End Game Thor 😆.

If y'all was really worried about being accurate the biggest issue would be the existence of Kratos in the first place. Duh. He is the main character and he never even existed in the mythology at all. Forgot the fact that the mythology isn't real to begin with.

[annoyedgamer]

They should cast Europeans in non european mythology and see how that plays out.

[SyntheticForm]

What I find interesting is how it only goes one way. People actually complained that the Italian soccer team wasn't diverse enough. THE ITALIAN SOCCER TEAM.

Why is nobody complaining about the lack of diversity in the middle east, or far eastern countries?

The only countries that 'must' be diverse are, let's face it, western (white) nations. Nobody else is held to this nonsensical and frankly idiotic standard.

[YoungKingDoran]

👃 oy vey, shut it down!!! 👃

[Imalwaysright]

"Cultural appropriation" would be the topic of the day.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Complaining about race in general is stupid. You should only care, on the internet and in the public space, about what the people close to you say...others don't matter and don't affect you.

If there's an immediate race issue just take it to court.systemic racism wouldn't have allowed a black president.

I do disagree about the interpretation part though. I wouldn't want to be the one telling the Vikings that Odin is black....they might laugh you off or even cut your head off for fun. This mythology belongs to a culture and that culture has already down it's part in how it's gods and creatures are described and depicted. No culture has shown a go or creature of a different human race. The nords were very white...

[medman]

"I wouldn't want to be the one telling the Vikings that Odin is black....they might laugh you off or even cut your head off for fun"

Then they would be just as clueless as many others who have a low level of education rivaled only by their astronomical levels of confusion and are ignorant to the fact that the vast preponderance of paleoanthropologists believe the first modern human was a black female from northern Africa.

It's not much different than the lost souls who also don't realize that biblical historians believe Jesus Christ looked a lot more like Nelson Mandela or Osama Bin Laden in complexion than to the whitewashed western depiction of Jesus. The more you know.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Where does it say systemic racism would permit a black person from doing anything - it's there to make progress as difficult as possible which is not the same thing as impossible. Last I checked Obama was one out of 46 Presidents. Anyway, there were many important black firsts especially post Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action. Thurgood Marshall was the first black judge elected to the Supreme Court in 1967. Did he faced systemic racism? Well yea his grandparents were slaves and he lived in a time were blacks were barred from many jobs other than menial work, marrying whites, or using white facilities etc. That's systemic racism.

[TheDoomedGuy]

@medman

Well then they were clueless...doesnt mean you can justify changing up thier mythology for them. Dont progressives call that cultural appropriation?
Their level of education was not really my point at all.

@343
Because systemic racism is chalked up to be this invisible force that you cant really pinpoint but that keeps the black man down. Its funny usually when you claim something exists that you cant see people call it bullshit but i guess here then it must exist. Simply because of the common majority being white doesnt make a country oppressive towards non whites.

How many whites are in power in african countries? I doubt many if any are in power. How many whites in middle eastern countries? It boils down to the majority. There is a much higher chance of white people succeeding or appearing to succeed simply because theres more of them and they were born and raised here and didnt come from another country having to start over. This is the natural thing with immigration. The fact that they are a minority and that most of the country voted for obama is prove enough that this invisible oppression does not in fact exist in the systemic level.

That my take on it anyways. Until I see it or see facts that support it Im not sure its real. Youre entitled to your opinion and it is on you to make sure that what you believe you back it up for yourself. Bringing up people who lived through racism is the only case I acknoweledge systemic racism. But its wrong to call it systemic...since it was pure across the board racism and slavery. But dont confuse slavery/servitude with racism. Slavery/servitude has happened to all races despite of color. Black on black and white on white.

[Teflon02]

Doom
Maybe you don't understand systemic racism the way you think it is. They'd allow Obama to be president to try mask systemic racism. He didn't do much to change things outside being a half black president. Like he didn't get alot of pushback even as the president lol

That's another story.

Simply, this is a game with a inaccurate depiction of it and no one cares about the fact they pronounced things wrong or used a few things out of assumption or created a few things to add to it all. But people are more worried about the race of a character in a mythology that doesn't even have all its answers lol. It's racism at its finest. Who cares if they have a black girl designed in it etc. How about play the game, people complained about Thor despite the fact they actually have a better depiction of him than is generally used lol

[n1kki6]

Complaining about race is stupid.

[Magatsuhi]

No it's not stupid, a myth is based on fiction yes but it's also based in the region it resides in. There shouldn't be any people of color in Nordic mythology because it's based off a white nation. Imagine if in the movie black panther the army was led by a white female, all hell would break loose but sure let's have a black female lead the valkyries in Thor.

[ravens52]

Wonder if you saw any problem with Tom Cruise being The Last Samurai lol. Your weird. The region thing is silly because there's a such thing as traveling. There were black vikings lol. There are alot of racist or just ignorant people on here.

[Sully_III]

Did you make the same case with the Scarlet Johanson in Ghost in the Shell? Would you make the same case when they move to the Egyptian Pantheon and a few of the Gods are crystal white? Its the double standards that are annoying.

[Shiore2u]

The main character in Ghost in the Shell is a cyborg, it's also an anime/manga. Most character designs from those mediums tend to look Caucasian, much less Japanese anyway so not an odd-out choice aesthetically. Large colored eyes, multiple hair colors, tall, strong jawlines, pale, flat ears, ect.

[TheDoomedGuy]

So what color was the skin in the anime...somehow I recall it as white. But I guess eyes can deceive...lol
And of course your project your judgement into the future....if we were dealing with the egyptians I would expect them to look egyptian. If we were delaing with native americans I would expect them to look native american.

Its a simple as that...no double standard.

[Imalwaysright]

Because it's scandinavian mythology wich makes it part of scandinavian culture. It's no different than portraying King Arthur as being black or Obotala as being white.

[ravens52]

There were black people in sweden, in other Scandinavian countries as well since 1747.

[Teflon02]

People cry like this like people of colour didn't exist places. Its like how most people aren't even aware darker skined Japanese people are directly connected to Africa despite the fact in Asian culture the white man is seen in a good light and they tend to stick with Asians. They have African roots in about half the country and having a black person in something from long in the past isn't out of the question. It's also shocking to me that people assume everyone and every race was and always is segregated. All the time

[ravens52]

@Teflon02
Exactly, just do a little research. Guess people don't like facts nowadays. W.e. stay ignant my gs

[Imalwaysright]

Teflon02

What does Japan have to do with Scandinavian countries? Also, segregation?! The physical makeup of the native people from any given region is dictated by evolution and natural selection. Low light levels in Northern Europe favored paler skin tones wich is why through natural selection humans that lived in that region became to be white, developed blonde hair and blue eyes and according to the largest DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons ever made there was indeed an influx of people from other regions into Scandinavian kingdoms from Southern Europe and Asia but there isn't any evidence of Vikings having sub-saharan ancestry so the likelyhood of there being a black deity in Scandinavian mythology is next to none just like the likelyhood of there being a white deity in Yoruba religion is next to none.

[babadivad]

The people who made the Gods imagine them in their own image(the ones who take human form at least)

The Norsemen are as white as can be, they won't have black African Gods in their pantheon.

I imagine if you guys would have the same stance if Kratos went to India and the Gods he encountered were pale skinned blue-eyed white people.

If you're going to borrow from source material, at least be respectful enough not to change the identity so much as to make it unrecognizable.

[dsammy04]

Guess it's the same people that was mad about Idris Elba being Heimdall.

[The Wood]

Yet saw zero issue with Cleopatra being played by Elizabeth Taylor...if you're old enough lol. Swings and roundabouts. I'm not for tokenism but this is mythology. People need to chill tfo because its sounding like said people are pissed about a darker skinned character being involved in a fantasy game.....

[Imalwaysright]

Why would there be any issue when Cleopatra was the last ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty? She was of greek/macedonian descent.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Dude...darker? She straight up african!
Im sure slavery existed then...perhaps she got somehow transported all the way there.

[SyntheticForm]

It's a fantasy game based on Norse mythology which is a huge part of Scandinavian culture. I think the culture should be respected.

Africans have absolutely zero to do with Scandinavian culture and Norse mythology - it's just a fact - it's not racist. People have every right to desire to see depictions of this mythology and culture unmolested by things that are incompatible with it.

Just because it's fictional doesn't make it right or desirable.

[wraith9999]

@SyntheticForm what does kratos have to do with norse mythology? You guys have no problem with a fictional son of a greek god transporting himself into another mytho-verse but then there's a black woman and all of a sudden its "DiSrEsPeCtFuL To ThEiR CuLtUrE" stfu bro let the devs do what they want

[Promachos]

Imalwaysright I’m really impressed you knew that. Gal Gadot gave the same answer for her following role.

[Inverno]

I'm personally not a fan of white washing not black washing characters. It's not a deal breaker but I'm tired of seeing forced diversity.

[Rimeskeem]

How is it forced? Maybe she was the best cast for the job? It’s not like it’s real history or based on something with concrete details. It’s mythology, who the fuck cares what color someone’s skin is.

[Inverno]

I mean forced in media overall. You can't tell me you haven't seen many characters rewritten as black or female or gay over the last decade. Look at Amazon's Cinderella casting a black guy to be the fairy godmother or The Little Mermaid live action adaptation changing Ariel black, Marks gf in Invincible being turned black.
my point is that if something's written one way why is it then changed to include a character of different skin colour/gender/sexual orientation when made into a movie or a show? Look at Heman, Batwoman, it's all just forced and it's painfully obvious.

[EvertonFC]

Exactly and going by this post comments lots of racists out there still unfortunately but they'll tell you there not racist it's because it's being forced on us 🙄😔😂
29315;

[TheDoomedGuy]

Oh...so youre of the mindset that black voice actress should represent only black people and white only white...hmmm okay thats kinda racist but sure.

It is forced. Ive no problem with it but it is forced. Given the setting...area...timeline...my th or not...a main character suddenly being of a different skin color than the entire nation does constitute some kind of questioning. And unfortunately because of the culture of today...they added the black girl to add diversity...not to necessarily add to the story or lore. Most likely.

She'll still likely be a great character unlike when other devs do this but still...it is what it is. Maybe black panther should be white...it aint even mythology...completely made up so why not? I wouldnt want a white black panther but you think everyone would be fine with that?

[NomadR3aper]

It's funny how you and others keep spouting "It's Mythology" Who's Mythology? The Vikings! Who were white! They could have included many myths and cultures here and it would have been ok. But I guarantee that if this was an African Mythology game and their were white gods or characters it would be canceled. Why are there no Latinos, Asians, Indians or Middle East represented here? Not voiced. It's Mythology right?

[Jobu]

Unfortunately it feels forced because when it comes to black characters (especially main characters), there's not that many in main stream media. So we are playing catch up.

[Inverno]

That's one of the problems isn't it. Comes out sloppy and poorly written when you're rushing to catch up. Was watching Letter For a King and I was really digging who I thought was the main character before they pulled the twist and forced the role of the hero on the girl. It's not just black characters it's also trying to write in female characters too

[jznrpg]

But we haven’t played GoW Ragnarok and how do you know it’s a crappy part ? She’s the last of the giants maybe she has a good story ??

[NomadR3aper]

That's false. In the USA almost all TV shows and movie stars are either white or black. The 80s 90s and 2000s had loads of leading black actors and movie stars. Most of the popular shows I remember growing up were black. Hell I bet more people could name black actors and shows over Latino and Asian. Bringing in African mythology into GoW would have been great, that teaches people of other cultures. But replacing some other cultures myths for the sake of the woke is unacceptable.

[LoveSpuds]

Inverno,, you forgot the usual ,'I'm not racist but....' opening to your comment.

Ask yourself why it really bothers you that new takes on characters bothers you so much when people of colour are cast in roles you think should be white. You are honestly upset because a mermaid was black...if you cannot see how profoundly dim that is I don't know what to say to you.

James bond was a sophisticated English man in the books, are you upset they cast a man with a Scottish accent in the role with Sean Connery?

[Inverno]

I'm not racist, but if people want to believe that I honestly couldn't care less. I'm not upset about a mermaid being black I'm upset about already established characters and lore being changed in ways that make no sense all for the sake of diversity. If you can't tell the difference between racism and legitimate criticism then idk what to say to you.

[RedDevils]

Sound like one of those white people that say I'm not racist, and then afraid to say the word black cause they think it offensive. btw I'm white.

[Knushwood Butt]

No, but Connery put on an English accent to meet the expectations of the role.

I don't know the background of the guy that played Quarrel, but he did it well and is a memorable character.

[EvertonFC]

If you feel that way don't buy the game then?
But we all know the answer too that.

[Inverno]

What's the answer? I'm buying the game I have no problem with her being black. Not sure why that's what everyone seems to take away from what I said. I never said I have a problem with skin colours

[hotnickles]

Why would he even respond to that? Why would I respond to this?

[talocaca]

Just adjust the brightness of your TV and make her white 🤷‍♂️

[TheDoomedGuy]

You think that would work? I mean she african dark...she might disappear if you push it to high or if you push it to low....for those that maybe dont want to see the character at all.

[Sayai jin]

African dark? Spoken like a ignorant racist. Africans come in all shades from almost looking white to dark. You have people in Mexico, India that are darler than Africans.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

@Sayai Jin true, but she looks 100% African with facial features, hair and skin colour.

[Sayai jin]

You do know that Africans look like many black americans, carribiean blacks, Haitians and other afro-latinos. Saying that the character is african black is ignoarant as hell.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

God of War has never been completely accurate to the mythology it’s based on.E.g. Kratos in Greek mythos is not a son of Zeus. Perhaps, the black characters named after a Norse god/jotunn isn’t from the Nordic region in the game’s canon. Also, some the gods in GOW canon can take different form at will.

[TheDoomedGuy]

While it was i think a little off in terms of context...which it's a fact that it was. You know like how in a room full of black people the white pale kid stands out and vice versa.

No different here. People may wonder why and we can speculate all year but in the end i don't think Santa Monica is the type to make it political. I'm sure this character is going to stand on its own instead of being all about diversity and their skin color.

[The Wood]

Some people of a certain type just need something to b1tc# about. Let it be a deal breaker for them and let the rest of us enjoy a quality franchise and story arc that's growing up.

[jBlakeeper]

If you haven’t noticed there has been a HUGE push for diversity in gaming in the past five years. LGBTQ characters have been pushed into so many games. TLOU 2 and Horizon being the biggest examples I can think of. Nothing wrong with it IMO but it’s very evident.

[hotnickles]

That’s the entire point of the new god of war though. Cultural diversity. The Norse gods are not like the Greek gods. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is tied to the Egyptian side of things. And that would be a great use of diversity. Ancient Egyptians and the Nubians had similar gods like Greeks and Romans. It’s not a stretch to see a black character walking around if these cultures mingled because of Tyr.

I hear this game ends the Norse side of things is that true?

[jznrpg]

From what I heard she’s the last of the giants .

[hotnickles]

Yes but the giants and Tyr mingled with other cultures. She is young and perhaps a mix of some sort and a connection to that other culture. Like Atreus is the son of a giant and a greek god. “The twist”. That’s why her children are animalistic.

[Samonuske]

In a lot of cases it’s just developers finally being able to make the characters they’ve wanted to make. Assassin’s creed is a great example. The writers have wanted a female main character for multiple games, each time they were shot down and forced to make sure that you could also play as a male.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Right of course...cuz when you think of norse mythology a black character immediately springs to mind. Good on you for your creativity...its very ....out of blue in style.

[hotnickles]

How many people are mad that the giant is black? This article is one guy asking a question and the new director (big shoes to fill) “signal boosting” on him. It’s not a good look for the new director in my opinion. But then again it’s just snapshot of his daily Twitter feed and who cares? Let’s see.

Vote up if you are enthusiastic about a black character in the game

Vote down if you don’t like that the character is black and perhaps give a reason(curious)

If you don’t care then don’t vote.

[hotnickles]

On this topic I would love to see the west African god Anansi show up in god of war as a “helper head” ally. That would be as good as mimir. He is easily one of my favorite gods, amazing stories. If you haven’t read anansi boys I would recommend it. The audio book is fantastic too.

[Knushwood Butt]

I assume people are talking about the chick.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Yup...but hey she predicted this shit. Didnt she say about us having questions and only getting answers to some of them.

Some of the questions:
Wathcu doing here!?

[hotnickles]

Well that’s the only black character haha. I’m asking whether or not you like the idea with an anonymous vote. I think the attention towards this is fabricated by a few tweets and bored publications so I’m asking you. Apparently people don’t like that the character is black and I’m wondering why. I’m assuming it’s not racism but what is it?

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

The problem isn't being black, but she looks African while representing a Norse Giantess who's the mate of Loki. She's just there for the diversity check mark.

[hotnickles]

There could be a reason though. There is potential. I think it’s too early to play it as a check mark. But at least I understand where you are coming from now. You have to remember this isn’t a strict telling of the myths. Loki isn’t who he is supposed to be either.

[victorMaje]

At first I thought it’s a bit off, but after all it’s a fantasy game, where a greek character wielding magical weapons has been killing mythological gods…as long as it doesn’t feel forced just for the sake of diversity it’ll be fine.

[VariantAEC]

What confuses me most about this is why these developers don't just ask to talk with level-headed black gamers and see what they want if a game was made to include them?

Why pander by just inserting people with what is somehow considered a diverse skin tone (or indeed people with diverse sexual preferences) into games today. Like why not make a game they will actually "want to play"?

Also while they're at it go ahead and have a sit down with everyone of every race, creed, sexual preference, religious practice, blood type, hair color, physical disorder, mental ability, etc, etc.
That should keep them busy... maybe they'd be making less games though.

I mean last I checked it doesn't really matter and I do agree that God of War was never strongly adhering to the original mythology but also I'm not aware of any gamers not enjoying the game because "the game didn't [insert checkboxes here] so I couldn't relate and didn't like it."
I mean will all white players skip Deathloop because the protagonist is a b-b-b-Black male? That hardly stopped Spider-Man Miles Morales from becoming an instant hit.

The bottom line is people don't care... until it becomes obvious. The line in the sand for me is if this new character starts talking about BLM and modern day issues, that might mess up the story just a tad.

[Knushwood Butt]

Covid delays are an illusion, it is WOKE delays.

[TheDoomedGuy]

Come to think of it...I dont think deathloop character has even come up in an article....really shows no one gives a shait.

[ballisticvoodoo]

Don't care.

[Good-Smurf]

Wait where is this criticism coming from must be a vocal tiny minority since I can't find such criticism anywhere yesterday.
These people have to chill up, even my country mythology have white monkey in it does that mean we're being racist and hate black and yellow people?

[howyeman]

Dev Answers Criticism to... clickbait sites, in order to prevent woke culture to spam stories on how Kratos has Gray privilege.

[TheColuch]

I don’t know anything about this mythology but here is what I have to say. If this character was written or originally intended to be one race and they are changing it to something else I can understand this argument, I don’t care if things are made up or fake if you want to change anything then make up a character and do whatever you want with it. It’s like if you changed James Bond’s race, I’m not mad because you made him black, Asian, etc… that WOULD be racist. I’m mad that you changed who he is originally intended to be, if you want a black, Asian, whatever agent then don’t make him/her bond, shine light on a new character in the universe and they would be welcomed gracefully. Like Peter Parker and mile morales for a prime example! I feel like that makes sense… 🤷‍♂️

[artgamer]

Haven't you heard? There's a black female new character in the latest Bond film and the sweaty neckbeards are crying about it.

[Knushwood Butt]

Bambi and Thumper gave Bond a run for his money. 50 years ago.

[TheColuch]

To me I’m okay with her being in there for the exact reasoning I’m my previous comment. She is a new character introduced into the franchise. But if people are still crying about it then I guess we just can’t escape them unfortunately…

[Magog]

Being "white" isn't part of James Bond's character. Being English is. There are lots of people of other races born and raised in England.

[pr33k33]

I just appreciate the part about it being one unbroken shot. I like that they're keeping up with how it is in the first one. No comment at all on the race and all that other divisive crap.

[Sully_III]

It's not diversity that's the issue, its the way its handled that grinds peoples gears.
We all know that this kind of identity bending only ever goes one way, where its not only allowed, but its pressured to be so. When it goes the other, there tends to be riots and a few weeks of news cycles.

[artgamer]

This argument again. The reason it seems to "only ever go one way" is because the straight white male has already always been represented in everything throughout history.

It's time for something new now.

[Sayai jin]

Don't worry, they'll get over it eventually. The future is gping to be full of grief for them though.

[Sayai jin]

You mean like riots after sporitng teams wins or loses championships...

[EvertonFC]

The stuff I read on here astounds me these days. What happened to gamers just playing games?
Also what happened to journalism, you can be a 10 year old kid these days and write better than these adults.

[Fonsecap]

Is it forced, having black characters in Norse mythology? Yes it is. Do I care? No. It's like those Chinese movies that they hire one or two American actors so they can boost audiences.

[Magog]

The first people on earth were black so they could easily have incorporated that into the character ie she was from the time of the first people and it would make great sense in that context.

[Eamon]

Alright let's do this in bullet points:

- Is it wrong to have black characters in a videogame?
-- No.

- Should the dev ignore twitter comment and not fan flame wars?
-- Yes

- Does Norse mythology have black or brown skinned deities?
-- Most probably not.

- Is there a reason why Norse humanoid characters are white?
-- Probably because the Norsemen that made them up likely created them in their own image. And Norse people at the time were homogeneously white European.

- Then should GoW Ragnorak not have included a black character?
-- Of course not. It's up to devs to decide how to design the characters.

- But did the devs decide to cast a black actress for Angrboda for the sake of creativity or diversity?
-- No idea, could be either or both.

- Should we be enraged by this?
-- No of course not. GoW Ragnarok looks amazing.

- But what about forced diversity?
-- I'm no fan of forcing diversity for the sake of it as it usually achieves an opposite effect in terms of quality. But there's only one black character in the game. I hardly think that's an example of forced diversity.

- Did seeing Angrboda as black feel a bit weird?
-- Yeh it did, but she's also a jötunn giant, not a human or Aesir or Vanir. Just like we saw light and dark elves in GoW 2018, it's also possible the Jötunn race come in different colours and sizes.

[digitalwriter]

😏

[SullysCigar]

The last game was a revelation in that regard, so I'm glad to hear they're putting that effort in again.

[Bronbron92]

Jeez people get upset about anything let the developers do there thing I mean after he said loki isn’t the son of a demigod it was a wrap lol regardless of a character’s race whether the original was another I’m a fan of the game, book, movie, or show imma still support it it’s sad to see people still look at race and get pretty triggered about it

[Father__Merrin]

God of war R is clearly graphics King...

[Killer2020UK]

Man, some fragile people really searching out problems where there are none.

[godofiron]

Kratos is from Greek Mythos and he's black (though the gods whitewashed him lol).
The only real problem is if Angrboda isn't a *good* character and if in original mythos her skin colour as a vital part of her story/stories. Skin colour is incidental.

[Giblet_Head]

Kratos is ethnically hellenic. His physiognomy makes that incredibly obvious.

[PhillyDillyDee]

I have the answer!

From here on out, every character in any medium is blue. That should appease everyone.

[buckaroobanzai21]

The exact same people will tell you when you have white people in prominent roles about asian or black folktales and mythology it’s white washing, but when it’s a black person in a Nordic mythology it’s nothing to see, that’s hypocrisy.

The problem isn’t that the giant is black, the problem is broken social justice ideology behind it.

[cluclap]

As a black gamer some of these comments really hurt. I hate that one community i identify with (gamers) are upset with "forced representation" of another community i also identify with (black community. I hate that they cant themselves in our shoes and realize it makes us feel good to see characters that look like us, after literal years of white washing and theft of originally black content, to cater white audiences. Having literally our own history stripped from us, then being told we cant rewrite theirs. Idk what to say about that in 2021

[buffig]

If you believe that adding a black person to anything, is forcing diversity, then I believe that says more about you than anything else. You need to look at yourself and ask, "Why do I feel that way?" and perhaps, challenge that feeling a little bit.

[Shiore2u]

If you believe every form of media needs a token regardless of context, You need to look at yourself and ask, "Why do I feel that way?" and perhaps, challenge that feeling a little bit.

[Aussiesummer]

Can we get a white character in a pivotal black role in the next black panther? Imagine the woke uproar over that.
The forced diversity here is blinding.

[Dirtnapstor]

If I had been in Matt's shoes, I would not have bothered to entertain such nonsense. Perhaps a simple "SMFH" would have said enough.
Armchair critics... I suppose ignorance and stupidity is legal tender.

[Dirtnapstor]

*are legal tender 😬

[Vizigoth04]

I can consider myself the most conservative gamer alive. But there is no reason to get triggered over a character in a video game. This is fiction. Freaking fiction. I’ll be ready to go day one because I guarenfuc****ingty this game is going to be incredible!

[ITPython]

Eh, at this point I am pretty much numb to all the virtue signaling. I saw the character, knew why she was put in the game, and moved on. Plus it really makes no difference at all, this game series has a lot of things going on which make zero sense.

Now if they replaced Kratos son with this girl and said that he had a transition? Yeah, that would be something to complain about because it would fundamentally change the character.