Sony's monumental PlayStation franchises have produced important character mascots, such as Ratchet and Clank, Nathan Drake, or Aloy. But easily two of Sony's largest modern franchises are Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and Santa Monica Studios' God of War.
God of War has been around for a lot longer than The Last of Us, though in its limited number of entries The Last of Us has produced comprehensive characters that are beloved by players. Meanwhile, God of War's structural franchise reboot modernized the series and its protagonist Kratos. Recently, a digital creator and render artist has married both franchises to create intriguing imagery.
DoomsdayDaveVP shares a series of wonderful renders depicting the events that might have occurred had The Last of Us' Ellie been raised by God of War's Kratos. In a play on the streaming service series Marvel's What If...? DoomsdayDave presents an alternate universe where Ellie replaces Atreus as they hunt together. Just like the introduction to the latest God of War, Kratos is seen activating his Spartan Rage ability, though this time his fury is targeted toward one of The Last of Us' bloaters, suggesting that Kratos is depicted in Ellie's universe and not vice versa.
Further, with a leap ahead in time to The Last of Us 2, DoomsdayDave portrays what might have become of Ellie's rage if Kratos had been her father figure instead of Joel. DoomsdayDave's render features Ellie in a graffiti-laden corridor as she wields Kratos' Blades of Chaos and overwhelms a bloater on her own. If similar events to The Last of Us 2 took place as context for these renders, DoomsdayDave demonstrates that Ellie would become like Kratos and be filled with seething rage.
DoomsdayDave states that they plan to create more renders that include Kratos in the near future while continuing to produce more renders featuring Ellie and other characters from The Last of Us, as well as more projects that feature crossovers of both franchises together. Though Kratos and Ellie may not logistically appear together in either of their franchises, it is still fun to see alternate universe crossovers where such events could take place.
The Last of Us 2 is available now for the PS4. God of War is available now for PS4 and PS5, with a PC port set to release January 14th, 2022.