One of God of War 2018’s biggest mysteries finally sees an answer, and it all has to do with that snake Atreus decides to save in God of War Ragnarok.
Spoiler warning – If you haven’t beaten the game, you probably don’t want to read this as it goes into endgame-related spoilers.
Saving More Than Just a Random Snake
Very early on, Atreus learns of the location of where the last remaining giants are from the world serpent, Jormungandr. This location is known as Iron Wood, and it’s here where Atreus meets Angrboda, another giant who has long been waiting for Loki’s (Atreus) arrival.
The two get acquainted, eventually leading to the pair learning that Angrboda’s grandmother, Grýla, is kidnapping animals in Iron Wood so that she may steal their souls. Atreus, the animal lover he is, sets off to stop her and save a recently taken wolf.
Before arriving at Gryla’s home, Angrboda gives Atreus a bag of marbles, explaining that they have the souls of the giants in them and that they all didn’t die off like he was led to believe in the previous game.
Once the pair enters the home of Grýla, they soon come in contact with one of these soulless animals, a giant snake. Despite Angrboda’s plea, Atreus decides to take one of the giant’s marbles and infuse the soul inside the snake. This awakens the snake, which then slithers off, making Atreus confused and second-guessing himself as he feels he has done something wrong and shouldn’t be trusted with the giant’s souls.
So, where in the world does this snake go? Well, right around mid-game, it is revealed by Angrboda that the snake continued to live in Iron Wood, growing at an insane rate. She notes that the snake has grown up, like a lot, since they last encountered it and is continuing to do so.
Later in the game, Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard, finally arrives, and thus, the final battle begins. With all the realms uniting as one, they all start their assault on Asgard, hoping to end Odin’s tyranny. We again see the world serpent, Jormungandr, as he joins in on the final battle, going head-to-head with Thor as it was prophesized that he would. However, upon looking at Jormungandr, you and the other characters notice that he looks very different. He doesn’t look quite as big or as old. This is because, as it turns out, the snake that Atreus saved was a younger version of Jormungandr. But how?
There is No Time Loop
In God of War 2018, Freya reveals to Kratos and Atreus that one day, the World Serpent appeared in the Lake of the Nines, prompting Thor to battle with it, resulting in a stalemate. The giant then decided to sleep under the lake, continuing to grow. It grew so much that Freya comments that its entire body could wrap around the entirety of Midgard.
Later, Mirmir tells a story about Jormungandr and how it’s been prophesized that they would one day face off against Thor during Ragnarok, only for the god of thunder to strike him so hard that he gets thrown back in time to repeat the loop.
In Ragnarok, this very thing happens as Thor hits Jormungandr so hard that he vanishes from the battlefield, puzzling everyone. The truth is, this younger version of Jormungandr gets sent back in time, waiting the day for Atreus to arrive, thus prompting the events of God of War 2018.
This suggests that Jormungandr is stuck in some time loop, but there is no loop. The Jormungandr that gets sent to the past is experiencing his future and never time travels again. This means that during the events of God of War Ragnarok, there are not one but two world serpents in the current period. A bit confusing, considering you meet the original 2018 Jormungandr earlier in the game, but during the final battle, this version of Jormungandr is still in Midgard, chilling out and doing whatever world serpents do in their free time.
He guides Atreus to Iron Wood so that he may be born and, eventually, that younger version of himself could be sent back in time. He doesn’t join in on the final fight solely because it’s not what happened before, so interfering could result in a completely different fate.
This is shortly confirmed after traveling with Freya post-game in Midgard where she comments about how there is signs of Jormungandr being around still, despite vanishing during the final battle. Mirmir comments on this saying that the legends were true, and that Thor sent him back in time, while the fully grown Jormungandr is still around. Kratos says that Jormungandr mentioned that Atreus seemed familiar when they first met in God of War 2018, referring to their first meeting in God of War Ragnarok.
Pretty awesome to see this explanation come full circle, but what’s more interesting is that this may explain a number of other things in God of War, since the World Serpent was sent back well before Atreus was even born, and possibly even before Kratos arrived in Midgard. That means that it’s possible that he’s the reason why the Jotnar (giants) have so much knowledge of the past and future, as it wouldn’t be out of the question that he may have shared it when the giants were roaming Midgard. You also have to consider that the story of him facing against Thor during Ragnarok would have needed to originated somewhere, and with him in the past, it was probably a story he told to his fellow giants, possibly with Faye, Kratos’s wife.
Hopefully this article has helped clear up any confusions you may have had.
