SPOILER ALERT: This feature will reveal the death of a major character in God of War: Ragnarok, key plot points, and events after the end of the game.
Despite a tremendous amount of epic battles and devastating casualties, God of War: Ragnarok wraps up rather cleanly. For the most part, the main characters make it out relatively unscathed. Except for our colorful dwarves.
Brok was the first major casualty of the game, wrapped up in the reveal that the Tyr we’ve been working with the whole time was actually Odin in disguise. This death broke Sindri; he became inconsolable, turning from the chirpier and sillier of the dwarven brothers to a cold and bitter emotional husk. This is felt most keenly during his interactions with Atreus. The two had grown extremely close since the previous game, sneaking off on their own adventures between games and during Ragnarok.
After Brok’s death, Sindri disappears for a while in his grief, returning later to rally the dwarves for Ragnarok, and ultimately playing a crucial role in bringing down the walls of Asgard. Even during these moments, Sindri is not the same person he was before. Once so clean and tidy, he’s covered in dirt and blood. Atreus tries to engage with him, to express his sorrow, and despite the others constantly reminding Sindri that Odin-as-Tyr fooled them all, he continually lays the blame at Atreus’ feet. Atreus is the one who brought Tyr into their home, so in Sindri’s mind Atreus is the one who ultimately betrayed him.
There is no reconciliation between Sindri and Atreus by the time the credits roll. At the end of the game, Atreus leaves to seek out the remaining Giants, having never repaired the damage between him and Sindri.
One of the many post-credits quests keeps the hope alive, however, when you travel to Svartalfheim for Brok’s funeral. When you arrive however, Sindri is nowhere to be seen. He shows up eventually, and while I desperately hoped to see some softening in his grief – to see the razor sharp edge to his pain dulled somewhat to show at least a small step toward healing – but there was none. Sindri’s pain was just as raw. No, not even raw. It felt like he’d grown comfortable in his bitterness. There was no sign of reconciliation or understanding. Only pain.
After completing this mission, a second, longer round of credits will roll. It’s a bit of a dour note to end on, especially after there were some fairly uplifting wrap-ups to other characters’ stories.
Sindri isn’t swearing revenge like Freya at the end of God of War (2018), but his ending is an uncomfortable one. Where so many other characters are ultimately in a better, healthier place at the end of the game, Sindri is pointedly in the darkest place he’s ever been. With the way the game concludes, it feels extremely unlikely that we’ll ever get a follow-up to Sindri’s story, leaving us with a melancholic moment to close out the game.
Seeing Freya’s journey from blind rage and revenge toward acceptance during this game might leave a sliver of hope that Sindri might follow in similar footsteps, but I don’t think that will happen. Freya’s rage was so overwhelming that it became all-consuming. When she was forced to work closely with Kratos – forced to confront the person who had done this terrible thing for a good reason – it tempered her unquenchable rage.
But Sindri doesn’t have that rage, only bitterness and grief. His ability to slip between realms makes it too easy for him to escape from those who wish to help him. He can’t be forced into confronting his pain, as it is incredibly easy for him to keep running from it. Rather than leaning on his friends, he abandons them entirely, isolating himself in the process.
This isn’t a pretty or healthy situation for Sindri, but it is a realistic one, and it’s a bold move for a game to irrevocably change a well liked and comical character into a painfully real one like this. With how thoroughly Ragnarok closes out the Norse saga, it’s unlikely we’ll ever get a follow-up on Sindri, leaving us with this poignant yet sobering final note to close out Kratos’ and Atreus’ adventures through Norse mythology.
