10 Video Game Origins You Never Knew
2. God Of War's Kratos Was Modelled Off Edward Norton In American History X
God of War's Kratos is one of the most iconic video game protagonists to emerge over the last 15 years, but you'll probably never guess quite which movie character inspired his bald-headed, chiselled look.
In fact, it was none other than Derek Vinyard, Edward Norton's neo-Nazi protagonist in American History X, who served as Kratos' primary visual basis, pertaining to not only his physical stature but also his facial expressions.
In a 2010 interview, the original game's director David Jaffe said:
"It took a long time to figure out what Kratos would look like, and ultimately we took inspiration form Edward Norton in American History X, when he played a Nazi. There's this scene in which the cops arrest him and you just see how buffed and built he's gotten. I showed that to the artist and I said, 'Okay, that sense of power and aggression that you just see in his face, can we somehow take that, the essence of what he's exuding, and somehow turn that into a character that fits into this Greek mythology world?"
As fascinating and unexpected as this is, in retrospect it probably makes sense for one violent psychopath to be inspired by another, no?