Faye is one of the most important characters in the modern God of War series and yet most players never actually met her alive. She died before the 2018 game even begins, but her presence shapes everything that follows across both titles. With God of War Laufey making her the protagonist for the first time, it is worth understanding exactly who she is and why Santa Monica Studio built an entire game around her.

Faye's Role in the Norse Saga

Faye, whose real name is Laufey, was a Giant from Jötunheim and one of the last of her kind. She was known among the Giants as the Golden Hand of the Jötnar. The most powerful protector of her people, capable of wielding the fearsome magic native to Jötunheim, including the ability to manipulate souls. She eventually left her world behind, settled in Midgard, and built a life with Kratos, raising their son Atreus together.

She dies of an unspecified illness before the events of God of War 2018, and her final wish sets the entire story of the Norse saga in motion. She asked Kratos and Atreus to scatter her ashes from the highest peak in all the nine realms, which turns out not to be in Midgard at all but in Jötunheim itself. That journey is what drives the first game from start to finish.

How Faye Shaped God of War's Norse Saga Lore

What makes Faye so fascinating is how deliberately she engineered everything. By the end of God of War 2018, it becomes clear she knew far more than she ever let on. The path she marked through the trees around their home was not random. She had foreseen the journey Kratos and Atreus would take and quietly prepared the way for them without either of them knowing it.

In Ragnarok, this becomes even clearer. The prophecy painted on the walls of Jötunheim showing the events of both games was something the Giants had seen long in advance, and Faye had lived with that knowledge the entire time she was with Kratos. She knew what was coming, chose Kratos specifically, and shaped her son's destiny while making it all look like ordinary family life.

Why God of War Laufey Makes Sense

Playing as Faye fills in what is arguably the biggest gap in the entire series. We know what she meant to Kratos and Atreus. We know what she sacrificed and what she set in motion. But we never experienced who she actually was as a warrior, as a Giant, or as someone carrying the weight of prophecy alone. Laufey puts all of that front and centre. She has always been the quiet architect of everything the Norse saga became. A game built around her is not just a spinoff curiosity; it is the story the series was always building toward telling.