10 Things You Learn Replaying God of War (2018)

The glowing-eyed youth Kratos is grappling with in the above photo is Heimdall, a key figure in Norse mythology due to his role as herald of Ragnarok. It's a bold interpretation of the character, as Hemidall is typically portrayed in more standard Viking fashion (big, bearded and behelmeted).

Intriguingly, that's also how Santa Monica Studios initially depicted the character, as a mural depicting him can be seen in the 2018 God of War. This mural shows Heimdall blowing on the Gjallarhorn to herald the beginning of Ragnarok, and portrays the far-seeing God as a brawny, hirsute warrior - a far cry from the slim, teenaged bully who shows up in the sequel.

Heimdall's far from the only character to undergo a fairly drastic transformation between games. The various statues of Thor in the God of War prequel depict a muscular hunk with well-groomed facial hair, which makes it somewhat of a shock when the thunder god appears in the sequel as a wildly unkempt bruiser with a belly the size of a beer keg.

To be fair, Thor's differing appearance is explained in an optional conversation in God of War: Ragnarok (the statues in the first game are the work of the second artist commissioned to sculpt Thor's likeness, after the first one's more realistic portrayal of the thunder god resulted in Thor expressing his distaste via an enchanted hammer to the mush).

As for Heimdall's drastically differing look? Maybe the developers realized that Heimdall's high-school bully persona really didn't suit his original design (and to be fair, the Malfoy-meets-Joffrey look they settled with fit the character perfectly).