Description[]
God of War vs. Nier. Fathers will go to hell and back for their children, and none more so than these two unstoppable warriors introduced in the season 4 premiere.
Introduction[]
Wiz: The role of a father is a timeless one; to protect and nurture their children until they day they are ready to go out into the world themselves.
Boomstick: But when that world is inhabited by danger and ancient evils, then a dad's role is never truly finished.
Wiz: Like Kratos, the father of Atreus from God of War.
Boomstick: And Nier, the father of Yonah from Drakengard. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.
Kratos[]
Wiz: Kratos; the Ghost of Sparta and the new Greek God of War.
Boomstick: And a man in desperate need of some anger management classes. I mean, why you end up killing your own family and destroying an entire mythological pantheon in your blind rage, then you definitely need to work out some issues.
Wiz: Well, surprisingly, Kratos did get something of the sort.
Boomstick: Really? What did he do?
Wiz: Well, first he stabbed himself with the Blade of Olympus to unleash hope to the world...
Boomstick: Uh-huh.
Wiz:...then he moved to Norse mythology...
Boomstick: Go on.
Wiz: And started a new family, all in an attempt to atone for the mistakes of his past.
Boomstick: Sounds like a solid plan for rage rehabilitation in my books. He even got himself one of those chilled-guy bushy beards. Like a hipster.
- Background
- Age: 150>
- Height: 6’5
- Species: God
- Father of Atreus
- Moved from Greek to Norse
- Known as ‘Cruel Striker’
- Most common phrase; ‘boy’
Wiz: And for the most part, Kratos truly found happiness again. He got married to a woman named Faye and they had a son called Atreus, living out their lives in a forest that was enchanted to keep out two things; the monsters that inhabited Midgard, and the Aesir Norse Gods.
Boomstick: If you thought that Thor in the Marvel universe was a good guy, then he seems like an outright Boy Scout when compared to this lot.
Wiz: But Kratos couldn't be separated from the rest of the world forever; there would be a day when he would have to venture out to teach his son how to survive and grow within it. And that day came when Faye passed away.
Boomstick: Poor Kratos; he just can't keep a significant other in his life for long enough. I feel you buddy.
Wiz: That's...actually rather touching Boomstick.
Boomstick: Well, us multi-married men gotta stick together after all. But Kratos didn't have time to be getting mopey, because he had to carry out Faye's last request; scattering her ashes from the tallest peak of the Nine Realms.
Wiz: And whilst at it, finally get around to bonding with Atreus.
Boomstick: And what better way to do that than facing mythological dangers throughout the Nine Realms on their journey. And whilst Kratos may be older, he's still as bad-ass as ever, still rocking superhuman strength, speed and durability, and even a healing factor. And of course, with the perfect weapons.
- Arsenal
- Leviathan Axe
- Generates ice
- Returns when thrown
- Blades of Chaos
- Generates fire
- Connected to chains
- Guardian Shield
- Spartan Rage
- Runic Attacks
- Light
- Heavy
- Talisman
- Leviathan Axe
Wiz: Originally belonging to his late wife, the Leviathan Axe was forged by the Dwarf brother Sindri and Brok, the same due who created Thor's hammer Mjolnir.
Boomstick: Meaning that Kratos can recall it to his hand whenever he wants to, usually after nailing some unfortunate Draugr between the eyes with a well placed toss that not only leaves behind a splitting heading, but also a brain freeze since the Axe can deal ice damage to whatever it hits.
Wiz: So long as it isn't ice cold itself. But if Kratos ever does come upon an enemy like that, he brings out his original weapons; the Blades of Chaos, connected to his arms via chains. Burning with mystical fire so hot, they can keep their wielder nice and warm within the Norse Realm of the Dead.
Boomstick: Toasty! Also from his wife, Kratos got himself a collapsible shield, perfect for blocking nearly any attack, launching projectiles back at their firers, or just straight up bashing in the brains of others.
Wiz: Both the Axe and Blades can be outfitted with a number of Runes for different Runic Attacks and Kratos even has access to several Talisman with a variety of effects, such as slowing down time.
Boomstick: Or recreating the Infinity Gauntlet. Hang on a moment...returnable throwing weapon, unbreakable shield, magical stones! He's a combination of Thor, Captain America and Thanos!
Wiz: You may want to add the Hulk to that mixture as well, because as it turns out, Kratos still has a healthy bit of anger left, which he lets out in the form of Spartan Rage, dealing devastating attacks to giant monsters with his bare hands. With all these powers and weapons at his fingertips, Kratos has proved himself just as much as a terror to the Norse Pantheon as he was to the Greek.
Popup: Whenever Kratos strikes a target when using Spartan Rage, it appears to heal him.
- Feats
- Solved the Sun and Moon puzzle
- Survived a massive fall
- Fought through an army of dark elves
- Moved Tyr’s temple
- Stayed alive in Helheim
- Defeated Hræzlyr, Magni, Baldur and the Valkyries
Boomstick: He's defeated trolls, dragons, dark elves, zombies, ice zombies, and of course, some Gods.
Wiz: Including Baldur, the God of Light, who was one of the few people capable of matching Kratos blow-for-blow in all three of their battles. At one point, Kratos was able to move the entirety of Tyr's temple with nothing but sheer strength.
Boomstick: And according to Cory Balrog...
Wiz: Barlog.
Boomstick:...Barlog, that temple weighed over one million tons. And Kratos was being casual about pushing it.
Wiz: But Kratos can't afford to be casual about everything however, since at his age he's likely not as fast as he once way.
Boomstick: Yeah, he can't even jump anymore. That's how he pulled off his best combos.
Popup: However, the developers of the game have implied that Kratos' apparent slowing is less due to age and weakening and more due his discipline and understanding of his own strength. This can be supported by the fact that Kratos was able to split the ground apart during his battle with Baldur, something he doesn't do again, implying he is relying on skill over strength.
Wiz: But aside from that, Kratos still has the experience and power needed to survive against whatever the Norse Gods send at him.
Boomstick: When Thor comes knocking at his door, he's going to find himself one heck of an adversary.
Nier[]
Wiz: Before the war between the Androids and the Machines, or wars if you want to get technical, there was another conflict that predated it after the events of Dakengard.
Boomstick: Long and confusing story short, it was an army of black ghost thingies called Shades fighting against the mass-clones of humanity, Replicants, created as part of Project Gestalt to replicate the extinct human race. Oh wait, that's why they're called Replicants!
Wiz: But the plan didn't go exactly as planned, due to the Replicants obtaining their own personalities and identities.
Boomstick: Should have sent the Blade Runners after them then. Anyway, there was one Replicant whose newly found independent led him to live for his little girl. His name was the French word 'to deny', Nier.
- Background
- Age: 44
- Height: 6’
- Occupation: Mercenary
- Species: Replicant
- Father of Yonah
- True self is the Shadowlord
- Is alternately the Brother
Wiz: There's a piece of trivia for the day. Nier spent his days working around the village he and his daughter lived in following the death of his wife, doing any sort of job that was needed so long as it let him provide for Yonah.
Boomstick: Aw...sniff...that's so beautiful. Next thing you're going to tell me is that Nier does all this because she in fact has an incurable disease.
Wiz: Well...
Boomstick: I mean, I don't think I could take it. It would break my heart!
Wiz: Boomstick.
Boomstick: Yeah?
Wiz: She does.
Boomstick: Does what?
Wiz: Have an incurable disease.
Boomstick:...aw hell.
Wiz: It was known as the Black Scrawl, released after the battle between a Giant and a Dragon. But as luck would have it, there was a way to remove it, and not just for Yonah, but for everyone infected as well.
Boomstick: By finding items known as Sealed Verses and placing them in a sentient book known as the Grimoire Weiss.
Wiz: The way to the Verses was fraught with danger however and to get them all Nier would have to make full use of his capabilities.
- Arsenal
- One Handed Weapons
- Two Handed Weapons
- Spears
- Sealed Verses
- Dark Blast
- Dark Lance
- Dark Hand
- Dark Phantasm
- Dark Gluttony
- Dark Wall
- Dark Execution
- Dark Whirlwind
Boomstick: He is a skilled warrior handy with weapons that can be classified as one-handed, two-handed or spears. There are too many of the former two to list in one sitting, but the most notable include swords, axes, twin daggers, a ninja chain sickle and an iron pipe. No matter the weapon, Nier uses it with great skill to get to the Sealed Verses.
Wiz: And before you say knowledge doesn't equal power, whenever Nier obtains one of the Verses, it comes with a new ability. He can send out orbs of energy with Dark Blast, fired sharpened energy with Dark Lance and smash enemies with Dark Hand.
Boomstick: He can also send out a clone of himself to deal damage, combine enemy projectiles to launch them back at the blighters, erect a defensive wall, summon rows of spears and even a giant whirlwind.
Wiz: Although all these skills rely on a source of magic, they refill quickly and natural, meaning Nier is never truly without his techniques. One of which, the Dark Hand, was able to toss around the giant monster Hook with ease.
- Feats
- Found all Sealed Verses
- Can keep up with Emil
- Fought through armies of Shades
- Punched away a giant monster with Dark Hand
- Survived battling against Number 6
- Defeated Kaine, Hook, Grimoire Rebrum and Shadowlord
Boomstick: Nier has done battle against all manner of opponents, from rogue robots to hordes of shades, often alongside his friends, including the boy Emil, a kid who can turn people to stone and wears the weirdest mask ever.
Wiz: Speaking of Emil, from him we can also get a feel for Nier's other capabilities, considering that they both fight at the same pace and even did battle against Emil's sister, Number 6.
Boomstick: In the far future, the one with the machines and androids, several clones of Emil are able to do battle with the android A2, who can dodge flying machines which can go at Mach 40,000 as calculated by DaFritzi.
Wiz: Emil himself was also capable of destroying an area the size of a small down, which can take energy worth 10 kilotons of TNT to pull off. Since Nier was able to battle against his sister, it must mean Nier can survive the same kind of power used against him.
Popup: Although Emil’s self destruct was able to wipe out all life on Earth in one ending to Nier Automata, it was through all his clones self destructing rather than just him.
Boomstick: With that kind of toughness, you can damn well sure that Nier's gonna be throwing himself at any kind of Shade. Unfortunately, it completely bungled up the true means of restoring humanity. As it turns out, Shades are actually the souls of mankind and Nier's been slaughtering them.
Wiz: Including the original Nier, who became known as the Shadowlord and who simply wanted to bring all of humanity back. So yeah, Nier definitely 'bungled' it up.
Boomstick: But if you're willing to bring down an ancient plan for the sake of your child, then you know that Nier is one heck of a dad.
Interlude[]
Wiz: Alright the combatants are set, time to end this debate once and for all.
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
The Battle[]
In a snow laden grove stood a tree, bearing only a single piece of fruit; an apple.
The silence of the grove was suddenly broken by someone wandering into it; Kratos, whose knee eye immediately picked out the apple. With a grunt, he made to walk over to it, before a replica of the silence-breaking sound was heard again.
Kratos turned and saw it was a white haired man; Nier. Both men looked at each other for a moment before their gazes turned to the apple on the tree. Nier sighed in resignation and drew sword sword, pointing it as a warning towards Kratos.
Nier: I'm sorry, but I need that apple for someone.
Kratos narrowed his eyes and drew the Leviathan Axe from his back.
Kratos: So do I.
FIGHT!
Kratos and Nier kicked off towards each other, the head of the Leviathan clashing with the edge of the sword, sending out a shower of sparks. Kratos took the initiative to grind the axe off the sword's blade and hacked at Nier again, who blocked the attack with his sword. Both warriors continued to try and strike at the other with powerful blows, but each time the other blocked. At one point, Kratos swung the Leviathan at Nier's side, only for the latter to catch the weapon on the handle, just below its head, with his sword. With Kratos locked in a position, Nier drew his leg up and kicked the Ghost of Sparta in the chest, sending him stumbled back several steps. Unfortunately for Nier, Kratos quickly recovered; planting his feet back on the ground, he swung the Leviathan down at his opponent. Nier's eyes widened and he held his sword above his head, supporting it with his other hand's palm underneath the blade so that it could better brace against Kratos' swing.
Once the Leviathan Axe clanged against Nier's sword, and then a second time, forcing Nier to lean back slightly under the attacks. A third time the Axe struck the sword and this time Nier noticed the presence of frost on his weapon and a fourth strike of the Leviathan Axe shattered the frost damaged weapon in half. His eyes lighting up at his opponent know being defenseless, Kratos went for a fifth downwards chop.
Which was blocked with the shaft of the spear Nier had pulled out in the nick of time. Straightening back up, Nier pushed against the spear to throw Kratos off him, before stabbing out at Kratos, who darted back to avoid the attack. Not letting up, Nier swung out with the spear, catching Kratos on the side of the head with the side of the point. As Kratos stumbled back with a grunt of pain, Nier spun around, twirling the spear stylishly as he did and stabbed out at Kratos once again. This time, a metallic clang rang out at the spear point was met with the front of the Guardian Shield, which Kratos had sprung form his wrist. With a yell, Kratos wrenched his shield upwards, pushing Nier's spear into the air and leaving his open for Kratos to slash downwards with the Leviathan, cutting shallowly into Nier's chest and drawing blood. Nier cried out in pain once then again when Kratos swung upwards, knocking Nier into the air. Whilst the Replicant was still suspended in the air, Kratos punched out with his shield, the rim catching Nier in his chest and sending him flying backwards to crash against the rock walls surrounding the grove.
Falling to his knees, Nier looked up to see Kratos twirl his axe once before marching towards him. Nier got back to his feet.
Nier: Weiss!
The Grimoire flew out from Nier's belt and hovered beside him.
Grimoire Weiss: My god, what have you gotten yourself into?
Nier: Save the lecture for later Weiss!
Grimoire Weiss: Very well then!
The sentient book hovered in front of Nier and unleashed a stream of red energy orbs towards Kratos. The Ghost of Sparta raised his shield to block the projectiles; in spite of the force behind them, Kratos dug his feet into the ground and marched forward steadily, all the while blocking the shots of dark energy. Seeing that his standard long-range attacks were ineffective, Nier summoned above him three Dark Lances, shooting them one at a time at Kratos. The first two blasts Kratos simply guarded against, but when the third one impacted the Guardian Shield, Kratos drew his arm back before thrusting the shield forward, sending the accumulated energy straight back at Nier. Nier rolled forward to avoid the blast as it seared over him, burning a hole in the rock wall. However, this gave Kratos enough time to run forward, leap into the air slightly and bear down with the Leviathan, striking the ground and sending out a shockwave towards Nier, sending him smashing back into the rock wall. Kratos then rose back to his feet and in the same fluid motion, spun around and hurled the Leviathan Axe at Nier's head. In response, Nier activated Dark Gluttony, which seized a hold of the Leviathan Axe and sent it flying back towards Kratos, his own weapon embedding itself in his shoulder. Although most of the blade was blocked by his shoulder armor, Kratos still cried out in pain before Nier dashed forward, drawing out a two-handed sword and activated Dark Phantom, sending out dark images of himself which all struck Kratos in the span of a single second. In the process, this caused the Leviathan Axe to be knocked out its entry point in Kratos' armor and it lodged itself in the ground a few feet away. As Dark Phantom subsided and Kratos dropped to one knee, Nier raised the sword above his head and swung it down at Kratos.
Only for the blade to be caught by Kratos with his Blades of Chaos, which he had called to his hands to cross in an X-shape. Kratos pushed his blades further against Nier's sword as he got back to his feet, resulting in a blade lock. It was broken by Kratos swiftly uncrossing his blades, pushing Nier's greatsword back. With Nier no longer pinning him down, Kratos extended the length of the Blade of Chaos' chains and performed the Cyclone of Chaos, becoming a whirlwind of slashes. In response, Nier summoned the Dark Wall in front of him, blocking the multitude of cuts. In spite of his spinning, Kratos noticed his attacks weren't getting through, so he brought the Cyclone of Chaos to a halt, thus making himself stop spinning and instead embedded the Blades of Chaos in the ground. With a grunt, Kratos tore the Blades of Chaos from the ground and causing a pillar of fire to burst up from beneath where Nier was standing, launching him into the air and burning him at the same time. The Dark Wall vanished and Kratos was able to launch one of his Blades of Chaos to impale Nier in the chest. Nier coughed out blood before Kratos yanked on the chain connected to the blade, slamming the still slightly smoldering Nier onto the ground.
Kratos looked down at Nier, placing his Blades of Chaos back on his back and recalling the Leviathan Axe to his hand.
Kratos: You've been lucky I haven't had the chance to kill you yet, so I'll tell you this only once; Walk. Away.
Nier glared at the ground.
Nier: Never.
Kratos: Then you have chosen your fate.
He raised his axe above his head to bring it down on Nier's head.
Nier: Weiss!
The Grimoire flew in front of Kratos and behind him extended the Dark Hand, before it swung out and swattered Kratos, sending the Ghost of Sparta flying back. Kratos was able to recover enough of his senses to jam the axe head into the ground, slowing his course backwards. He looked up to see Nier advancing towards him, Dark Hand still sprouting from Weiss. Kratos darted forward and swung the Leviathan Axe at Nier, who deflected the attack with his sword and leaving Kratos open for the Dark Hand to smack him to the side, the attack causing Kratos to grind into the ground chest first. Before he could recover, the Dark Hand grabbed him around the leg, lifted him up and slammed him into the ground. The impact caused Kratos to bounce upwards and the Dark Hand grabbed a hold of him in a crushing grip, which got stronger as the seconds ticked by. Kratos gritted his teeth as the hand enclosed him.
Nier: Don't bother struggling, it's over for-
A burst of red exploded outwards from Kratos and with a roar to the heavens he tore himself free from the Dark Hand. Kratos landed on the ground and dashed forward, grabbing either side of the Dark Hand and with a single fluid motion ripped it in half. Nier's eyes widened as Kratos continued to run at him, swinging it sword down when the Ghost of Sparta came within range. Kratos' arm came up to guard against the attack and the blade shattered against his forearm. Before Nier could draw another weapon, Kratos was unleashing a barrage of rapid punches into Nier's chest, breaking numerous bones and making Nier cough blood before Kratos delivered a kick that sent Nier flying backwards to crash on the ground.
Weiss: Nier, get back up!
Nier coughed out before getting back to his feet, drawing out his smaller sword. Kratos came out of his Spartan Rage and raised an eyebrow at Nier's determination. Nier let out a battle cry and activated Dark Whirling, conjuring a blade from Weiss that began to rotate around himself as he charged forward. Kratos calmly took aim and hurled the Leviathan Axe, striking Weiss and encasing him in ice, and he and the axe went flying off behind Nier.
Nier spared this no mind however as he continued to charge towards Kratos, who brought out his Blades of Chaos and blocked Nier's sword swing. With Nier fully vulnerable, Kratos drove one of the Blades into Nier's side and then the other down through Nier's collar. As Nier coughed up blood, Kratos took a step back and summoned the Leviathan Axe back to his hand; as he seized it, Weiss, who was still stuck on the blade due to the ice, was jerked free and sent flying.
Kratos rose the Leviathan Axe above his head and, with a yell, swung it down to embed the blade into Nier's face, splitting it in half and leaving Nier with a wide-eyed expression at his own death. Kratos stepped back, letting Nier's body fall to the ground.
Kratos: I am sorry but I did say I needed that fruit for another person.
KO!
Kratos walks over to the tree to pick the apple, remembering to recall the Leviathan Axe back to his hand, which in the process, smashed Grimoire Weiss apart as he hovered in distress before Nier's corpse.
Outcome[]
Boomstick: Well look on the bright side viewers, at least only one child is now orphaned.
Wiz: This was a battle that certainly pushed both Nier and Kratos to their limits, but Kratos' superior abilities ultimately outshone Nier.
Boomstick: Aside from the additional 100 or so years Kratos has over Nier, Kratos was simple a whole lot stronger.
Wiz: Nier's best strength feat was him using Dark Hand to lift the giant monster Hook and swing it around. By comparing Hook's larger size to that of Nier's, it appears similar to a blue whale, which can weigh up to 165 tons.
Boomstick: Whilst Kratos pushed the 1 million ton Tyr's Temple, all without hurting his back, making him 6000 times stronger than Nier. In terms of weapons, Nier technically had a wider range than Kratos, what with his different weapon classes and Sealed Verses. But Kratos had his own variety of abilities to help him keep up with Nier's numerous options, such as his Runic attacks countering or even surpassing Nier's Sealed Verses
Popup: The Leviathan Axe in particular could be used to take out Grimoire Weiss, removing Nier's access to the large majority of his powers.
Wiz: Even then, Kratos' superior speed could let him get at Nier before he could utilize his arsenal. Nier scales to Emil who can battle Mach 40,000 opponents whilst Kratos can battle against Baldur, who's well known as the God of Light.
Boomstick: Meaning he must be moving at speeds which must be within the light range, 21 times faster than Nier. And with that out of the way, there's one more area to cover; who was tougher.
Wiz: Nier survived battling against Emil's sister, who, like her brother, could be capable of destroying an area the size of a town, which could take 10 kilotons of TNT to achieve. Whilst Kratos, in his battle against Ares, could generate giant mountains with energy worth, at minimum, 2 gigatons of TNT. Yeah, I know this was the previous trilogy Kratos, but they are still the same person. And honestly considering Kratos is now a god, he would likely be more powerful than his demigod self who could survive against Ares' power. Nier was a skilled warrior, but Kratos unfortunately had him trumped in strength, speed, durability and experience.
Popup: With this likelihood of Kratos' old power remaining and even being empowered also lends credibility to Kratos being capable of moving at lightspeed, as he dodged orbs of light from Helios.
Boomstick: Proving once and for that Kratos is Nier-er to being a Norse of Nature than a man.
Wiz: The winner is Kratos.
Next Time[]
Wielders of deadly katanas
Meet on their growing fields of battle
Trivia[]
- Connections: Both are powerful and protective fathers from action video games, and who both had other former positions in their lives, during which they caused a great deal of destruction; Kratos was the God of War and destroyed Greece by killing the gods and Nier was the Shadowlord, ruler of the hostile Shades, respectively. Both have sought out cures for their children's conditions and allied themselves with compact talkative allies; Mimir and Grimoire Weiss, respectively. Furthermore, both of them are featured in video games that take place after the original games of their respective series; the original Greek installments and Drakengurd respectively.
- Animation Style: 3D.
- OST Idea: 'Nier to the Norse', creating a pun based on Nier's own name alongside the fact that Kratos has migrated to Norse mythology.