As if the Elbaf Arc hype wasn’t already enough, the idea of Kratos from the God of War video game appearing in One Piece is making fans feral.
With One Piece Season 1 now having ended on December 28, 2025, anticipation for the upcoming Elbaf Arc is killing fans. Now, to amp up the hype even more, what if we told you that Kratos from the award-winning God of War video game series might have made his way into Elbaf?
All the evidence seems to hint that Oda took a liking to this iconic character, as King Harald appears to be drawn in Kratos’ mold.
In terms of appearance, there isn’t much difference between King Harald (Loki’s father) and Kratos from God of War. They share the same menacing gaze, a bald head paired with a rugged beard. Even their attire seems heavily inspired by European mythology. But what’s even crazier is that these parallels aren’t limited to just their physical appearance.
Every Parallel Between Kratos & King Harald
Apart from Kratos’ looks, which Oda clearly seems to have taken inspiration from, even the characters surrounding King Harald have some pretty wild parallels of their own. Like, they are straight taken from the video game!
The biggest giveaway has to be the names of their sons. King Harald’s son is Loki, an enigmatic figure in One Piece. Meanwhile, Kratos’ son is named Atreus, but his mother, Faye, secretly called him Loki, after the Norse God of Mischief. With that, doesn’t the parallel feel almost too obvious to ignore?
On top of that, both Kratos and King Harald are defined by a lifetime of relentless combat. They’re seasoned warriors in their respective worlds, shaped by war & loss, which only adds to how similar they feel as characters.
And as seen in the X post above, both One Piece’s Loki and God of War’s Loki are assisted by a squirrel in certain scenes. That detail further makes it kind of obvious that Oda surely borrowed a page from God of War.
How One Piece Might Be Inspired By Norse Mythology
After observing these Kratos and King Harald similarities, it certainly feels like Eiichiro Oda may have actually drawn inspiration from Norse or Greek mythology. After all, the anime industry always has this fascination with European history, so Oda having the same wouldn’t be surprising at all.
In fact, a lot of One Piece characters already feel like references to something else. Plus, it should be noted that Oda has never been subtle about borrowing ideas, so this can be another obvious nod.
Some quick info on the One Piece anime series:
| TITLE | One Piece |
| CREATOR | Eiichiro Oda |
| RELEASE DATE | October 20, 1999 |
| STUDIO | Toei Animation |
| RATINGS | IMDb: 9.0/10 | MAL: 8.73/10 |
| WHERE TO WATCH | Crunchyroll |
Out of all One Piece, the Elbaf Arc, in particular, seems heavily inspired by Norse mythology. From the World Tree (Yggdrasil) to Loki’s hammer Ragnir, the World Serpent (Jörmungandr), and even elemental giants reminiscent of Surtr’s fire giants, the influences are hard to miss.
So yeah, it does make you wonder that maybe Oda really was playing God of War while writing the Elbaf arc. We can’t say for sure, but at this point, it honestly feels like a fair assumption. What are your thoughts on this?