In the final assault on Asgard, it’s revealed that Odin is using the Midgardians to man war machines along the Wall. Kratos objects to using the Ragnarok beast to blindly destroy them as he is choosing to “be better” which is a core theme of the game.

It just occurred to me how profound this is. Obviously sparing the innocent is a hallmark of “being better” but this siege also directly parallels when Kratos was in service to Ares and decided blindly raze a village in his name. This is what resulted in the death of his first family. The Midgardians in the final assault, thematically, play the same role as Kratos’ wife and daughter in Sparta during the destruction of that village, but he refuses to repeat his mistakes and shows restraints.

Thematic writing in this game is amazing.