15 Famous Video Game Tattoos (And What They Actually Mean)

15. Kratos - God Of War

Looking at gaming's angriest hero, it's easy to just take the red lightning-shaped tattoo as a necessary part of his make-up. Without it, he'd just look a skinny, pasty dude who spends too much time indoors. But ever the family man, Kratos in fact inked himself up with these carmine markings as a tribute to his younger brother Deimos. The story goes that Ares and Athena raided Kratos' hometown in search of a Spartan with a lightning-shaped birthmark running down the left side of his body, who they believed was the person prophesised to topple to Gods of Olympus. Deimos had just such a birthmark, leading Ares to kidnap him and chuck him into the Domain of Death to ensure the prophecy could never come to pass. Subsequently, Kratos inked himself up to replicate his doomed bro's tat and went off on his vengeful quest against the Gods. Of course, now we know it was all just a big silly misunderstanding, and what the Gods thought was a birthmark was actually Kratos' tattoo, meaning it was him who was destined to tear them all to pieces. So much for mindless violence - it's actually pretty well thought out.