Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: God of War, god of war 4, sony, sony santa monica

God of War's Steelbook Runes have Been Deciphered

The steelbook edition of God of War comes with a bit of runic text printed on the side. Many fans probably wondered what exactly the runes meant, and now we know. And the text is a poetic flourish that hints at the game's main plot.

Redditor Wolfstrong identified the runes as belonging to the Elder Futhark dialect which were lost until 1865 when Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge deciphered how to read them. Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabets and was used by Germanic tribes during the Migration Period, and can be found on artifacts from the 2nd to 8th centuries. Which makes it a pretty good fit for the text of God of War.

The text is not a proper translation, more of a transliteration. If you use the Elder Futhark alphabet, the runes translate straight into English. That said, the steelbook reads "This is the story of a bear and a wolf, who wandered the realms nine to fulfill a promise of one before; they walk the twilight path, destined to discower (discover) the truth that is to come." You can see the steelbook runes with the transliteration above from Wolfstrong's instagram below.

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For those of you, like us, still playing God of War, the text lays out the basic plot – a bear and wolf obviously refers to Kratos and Atreus, who go on a journey to fulfill a promise they made to Atreus' mother. And the "truth that is to come" is obviously a reference to some kind of prophecy, which makes perfect sense. Prophecies have been at the heart of all God of War games since the series started way back in 2005. What that prophecy is though, you'll have to find out for yourself.

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