Bringing back Carole Ruggier as Athena for GOW : 2018 was such a great choice. The second you hear that familiar voice say, “You will always be a monster,” it feels like Kratos’s entire past has followed him into that room. Having anyone else voice her wouldn’t have hit nearly as hard.

Athena is the type to wait until all her enemies are gone just to take up new management.

I really like the fan theory that she was corrupted by the evil of Greed, or rather that it exposed what was already there. They have also hinted that whatever "higher state" Athena achieved is a HUGE part of the GOW mythos that is probably their endgame for the story.

People of Greece: Thank you; we're saved!

Athena: Oh, I wouldn't say saved; more like, under new management.

Athena is a villain. BUT just like everything in God of War, it's complicated.

Athena feels like someone who thinks they're better than their awful family, but doesn't realize/want to admit they're still awful, just in a different way. She's not actively murderous the way Ares and Zeus are, but she still used Kratos for her own gain.

Personally I'm a fan of the theory that Athena was infected by the evil of Greed from Pandora's Box, and her supposed 'new truths' are that evil whispering in her ear, appealing to her intellect to subsume her by convincing her that she has knowledge that means she can assume power. Note that in GOW3 she's a monochromatic shadow of herself just like Zues is at the end of his boss battle; I believe that an evil from the box combined with godly essence created this ghost-like form of being in both cases.

The last scene with her reminds me of the phrase "every accusation is a confession". Everything she accuses Kratos of can be (quite easily) reflected back to her. On Olmypus, she pretended to herself that she was a good person to hide the fact that she was a monster. I guess being a spouse and mother doesn't really apply to her, but a mentor? She was easily the worse mentor anyone has ever seen. And unlike Kratos, she could not really change.

At the end of GOW Ghost of Sparta, after Deimos is dead, Athena comes and attempts to remove Kratos’s memories claiming he has shed the last thing that made him mortal, and Kratos asks “is this all a game to you Athena”

It’s both a Oh now you’re gonna give me what I asked for in the first place after it’s way too late, and also she’s trying to make him forget all the suffering he’s gone through not because he deserves mercy but trying to hide all the stuff she had a huge role in, so she’s just trying to cover her tracks, and still has the nerve to say Kratos is the problem

Kratos ends up being the one to break the family killing cycle.  I remember from Ragnarok when Atreus asks if he'll ever be as strong or even stronger than Kratos, to which the latter responds "If you do not, then I have failed."  He WANTS his son to succeed him, and does so in an incredible way

Oh, Athena’s DEFINITELY a villain. I feel like she’s one of the biggest reasons Kratos refuses to even hear out Odin, who’s clearly trying to manipulate him in Ragnarök.

There's a parallel between her saying "you disappoint me Spartan" to Kratos at the end of GoW 3 and Odin going "I did not want this" to Thor after running him through the chest with his spear close to the end of Ragnarok. Odin wanted to keep using Thor as his destroyer like Athena used Kratos. To bring about destruction of their realms to wipe the slate clean so they could re-create it into their perfect world with nobody around, at least not strong enough in both mind and body, to stop them. Athena encouraged Kratos to continue his path of revenge despite knowing the devastation that would happen after each god was destroy by Kratos's fury. Odin used Thor as wrecking ball to keep the realms in line so nobody would oppose him as he came closer to finding the answers he sought after using the mask.

Last time I was this early, Kratos still had a wife and child

I think Athena is the bad kind of good person. The one who believes they are the kindest, most benevolent person in the room. That no matter what she does, if she thinks it’s for “the greater good” then she will do it, even if it contradicts herself later.

Athena is herself a war goddess, in addition to being a goddess of wisdom. She was never likely to have entirely clean hands.

In a way Athena is the perfect reflection of Kratos, trying to do the right thing, but the burden of power and responsibility that godhood brings crushes morals and emotions, leading only to brutal purpose

There is something I realized when she said "You disappointed me, Spartan". She never said his name, nor his title "God of War", which further amplified the fact that she never saw him as her equal. To her, he will always be a tool, even a sort of a pet to her.

Kratos is always accidentally killing his loved ones with blades. 😅

18:10 "you have to live for the rest of your life remembering the worst atrocity.", also "The rest of your life... is forever!"

I hope Athena plays a role in GOW Laufey. You can tell in the OG trilogy that she was just biding her time waiting for Zeus to be destroyed to take power for herself, or if Kratos failed, she was content biding her time until Zeus self destructed