Mimir (God of War) (2024)

Mimir, also known as the Smartest Man Alive and nicknamed by Kratos as Head, is the tritagonist of the Norse Era of the God of War franchise. He is the Norse God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and an ally of Kratos and Atreus.

He was Odin's advisor and the ambassador of the Aesir Gods until Odin imprisoned him 109 years ago, and took his left eye to place it into statue of Thor at the lake near Tyr's Temple. He was temporarily killed and beheaded by Kratos as well reanimated by Freya. Since then, he has become a close companion of Kratos and Atreus, remaining by their side since.

He is voiced by Alastair Duncan, who also voiced Celebrimbor in the Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor series, and Nihlus Kryik in Mass Effect. In the Japanese version, he is voiced by Yōhei Tadano, who also voiced Gen in Street Fighter series and Vegapunk in One Piece.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Mimir was born to Fae parents, and was the jester to Oberon, King of the Faeries. He and other faeries would cause mischief to mortals, and would often get away with it due to it pleasing the king. When the king grew weary of their mischief, Mimir left his homeland and ended up in the Nine Realms. There, he the Odin, and told him of suppose mystical well of knowledge that he wanted, but was actually mystical mushrooms laced enough to give the king visions. Odin was joyed with what he saw, and Mimir stopped the Norse God from taking out his second eye after taking out one.

Odin hired him as his ambassador, and would try to make peace between the Nine Realms despite the violence and prejudice of the Aesir. Despite this attempt, Odin wouldn't listen to Mimir's advice, and started wars against the Vanir, the Giants, and gained a great obsession with knowledges, prophecies, and beating his enemies. However, Mimir was able to get Odin to marry Freya, queen of the Vanir, and he fell in love with the goddess.

Mimir would become a great ally of the Giants, and was bestowed with Bifrost crystals so that he could travel between the realms. When accused of aiding the giants alongside Tyr, Mimir was punished to be tortured upon the highest peak of Midgard, and no one would be able to break the branches holding him. According to Mimir, he has been tortured for 109 winters, and states that Odin punishes him on a daily basis. In addition, Odin took his left eye, and placed into the statue of Thor upon the Lake of Nine, doing so that his son could be glorified. Mimir was close (and possibly romantic) with Sigrun, Freya's second-in-command of the Valkyries, and visited him before she departed.

God of War (2018)[]

Mimir is first met when Baldur and his nephews, Magni and Modi, asked the advisor of Kratos and Atreus' whereabouts. Mimir scoffed the trio, knowing that he couldn't be harmed, and that the father and son were blessed with protection by the witch. When Kratos and Atreus arrive on the peak, Mimir tells the former that he is Mimir - the smartest man alive, and that he knows he's a god. Mimir informed them that the highest peak in the realms is Jötunheim, and that he knows how to get them there, since he can to talk the World Serpent. Mimir tells Kratos to chop off his head, and bring him to the witch so that she can revive him. Before doing the act, Mimir tells Kratos to tell Atreus of his godhood, and if he does not, his son will resent him.

Kratos beheads Mimir, and he supposedly goes to Helheim, the realm of the dead for a while. When speaking of the place, he states the experience was traumatizing, and doesn't want to go there again.

Once revived, the witch spits on his face, and Mimir reveals to Kratos and Atreus that she is Freya, the former Vanir queen. Once outside the witch's house, Mimir becomes a companion that advises the duo on Norse mythology, the nine realms, the Aesir's cruelty, and helping the conflict between the two. When questioned on Baldur's weakness, but constantly replies that he is invulnerable to all physical and magical attacks. Mimir also believes that Baldur came to there home because Odin wants to enter Jötunheim, but this later proven false. Afterward, Mimir is taken to the horn, and talks to the world serpent to move the bridge so that they can get to their goal.

Mimir takes them to Thamur's corpse to collect the chisel piece, and sees the duo fight against Magni and Modi. After Magni's death, Mimir notices Atreus' fever growing, and insists that he be seen by the witch. Once entering Tyr's vault, Modi returns and attacks them, causing Atreus to fall into a coma when using his Spartan rage. Mimir tells Kratos to take Atreus to the witch, who informs him that he has to go to Helheim, and retrieve the heart of the bridge keeper. There, Kratos sees his father vision, he reveals to Mimir that he was Zeus, and realizes that he is accompanying the Ghost of Sparta.

After curing Atreus of his fever, Kratos reveals his godhood, as Mimir tells him that every god is unique to respond to Atreus' wonders on his powers. Atreus becomes arrogant and co*cky, believing that gods can do whatever they want, and should no longer feel remorse (something Mimir states wasn't okay to Kratos). While traveling up the mountain peak, Mimir becomes more concerned of their strained relationship, and states that the silence is becoming unnerving.

Baldur ambushes the group at the mountain, and Mimir attempts to pela to the god, but is kicked in the head. While unconscious, Kratos destroys the rune to Jötunheim, and Atreus is kidnapped by Baldur after shooting his father with an arrow. Mimir awakens once Kratos saves Atreus off of Baldur's dragon, and goes back to the lowest part of Helheim. While traveling out of the realm, the group learn that Freya is Baldur's mother, who blessed with the power of invulnerability. When questioned on why they weren't informed, Mimir tells them he was surprised himself. Mimir aids them on getting them to a boat, and the group make to the Bifrost's hidden chamber, where they see Tyr's missing panel. Mimir learns that Tyr had aided the giants in hiding the Jötunheim realm tower, and states that he can help them get to the realm.

Kratos once again questions Baldur's weakness, but Mimir responds to the same reply, and is informed that he has been bewitched by Freya. Going back to Tyr's vault, they are able to flip the Bifrost machine, and collect the unity stone. Mimir realizes that Tyr used the stone to travel between realms, and tells them they need to go there to find tower. The group find the tower between the realms, and fight off various enemies from the other realms to return the tower back to the lake. Going to the Bifrost, Mimir tells them they can't travel yet, since the tower doesn't have a crystal for that tower. He tells them that his eyes can travel between realms, but doesn't know where his eyes are, but states that the dwarves might.

After Brok tells them that the eye is in Thor's statue, Mimir talks to Jörmungandr on letting them go into his stomach (since the giant ate the rock when first being called). Mimir receives his second eye, and the group is thrown out of the snake's stomach, returning to Thamur's corpse. Mimir aids Kratos and Atreus on their fight against Baldur, with Freya trying to stop them from hurting her son. Atreus is punched in the chest by Baldur, who loses his invulnerability by the mistletoe on the boy's strap. Mimir tells the two that the spell has been broken, and that everything is coming back to him. After Kratos kills Baldur to save Freya, Mimir replies that they were "the bad guys" now, much to Atreus' confusion. Atreus is left befuddled on the idea of a parent allowing their child to kill them, but Kratos tells his son that he would do the same. When Atreus asked why did Baldur said they cost him, Mimir assumed that Odin must've convinced him that following to Jotunheim would be his cure revealing to be a lie. Atreus then asked why did Mistletoe broke Baldur's curse, Mimir revealed Vanir's magic is powerful but its rules remained slippery and elusive which is the reason if they were a witch as well telling Baldur was the greatest gift Odin granted Freya from their marriage leading good parents to doing such terribly stupid decisions.

Returning to the Bifrost, Mimir is used to open the bridge to Jötunheim, and decides to stay since it was personal for the two. Mimir is left with the dwarves, who measure him until they left him by realm gate. While the two were in Jötunheim, Freya asked Mimir where Odin had hidden her Valkyrie wings, wanting to reclaim her warrior spirit to get revenge on Kratos. Once they had returned, Mimir informed them of this, stating that the cycle of revenge won't end so easily. In addition, Mimir informs that Baldur's death has caused Fimbulwinter, the precursor of Ragnarok to start, which wasn't supposed to happen for a hundred of years.

Mimir asks Kratos and Atreus to take him somewhere not with the dwarves, and goes to their home in the Wildwoods to sleep. He appears in Atreus' vision of Thor coming to their home, but doesn't have a line alongside the boy. At this point, the player can continue traveling across the realms, with Mimir wanting to help end the corruption of the Valkyries.

God of War: Ragnarök[]

To be added

Personality[]

In stark contrast to most other Aesirs, with Tyr being the only other known exception, Mimir is a genuinely benevolent, kind, and well-mannered god. His sense of humor is usually cheery, witty, and even sarcastic. Mimir is also quite humble, an oddity for a God, as while he takes pride in being the smartest man alive, he freely admits when there are "gaps" in his knowledge or when dealing with something he has never seen before. Due to his genuinely nice personality, Mimir is the only god in Norse apart from Tyr that Kratos and Atreus respects and are fond of, and even the Giants trusted Mimir despite their hatred for the Aesir.

Mimir's good heart is displayed by how he quickly becomes a truly loyal ally and friend to Kratos and his son, fondly seeing and addressing them as brothers and being grateful to them for freeing him. He displays great concern and worry for Atreus after he began to grow ill after the battle with Magni and Modi, and regularly worries for and tries to offer assistance and help to Kratos. As a part of the traveling company of Kratos and his son, Mimir is effectively the balancing force between them, teaching Atreus to use his abilities for good and often advising Kratos to be more open about the truth of his past, showing his great emotional wisdom and insight as he was fully aware of the potential impact that Kratos's distant attitude towards Atreus could have, but respects Kratos's wishes and doesn't inform Atreus himself, wishing Kratos to find his own way and eventually be honest with his son over time. Mimir also was the first to notice the dark change in Atreus's behavior once he finally learned of his godly heritage and attempted to instill the ideals that figures like Tyr stood for, using one's powers with wisdom and for good. He also behavior began to fracture the already tense bond between Atreus and Kratos, Mimir did his best to address the issue carefully.

Despite his bright personality, Mimir is deeply and bitterly angry and resentful towards the Aesir Gods, Odin and Thor in particular, finding a great majority of them to be hedonistic, paranoid, arrogant, warmongering and the ones to blame for the tragedies the Nine Realms have endured and lamenting his decision to become Odin's advisor, as he never expected or wanted the chaos Odin would bring using his power and Mimir's intelligence. He regularly insults Thor, Magni, and Modi and shows nothing but spite towards Odin for everything he's done.

However, Mimir held Tyr in the highest esteem, believing him to be a great leader who fought for peace, knowledge, and understanding, not for power and control. He also showed a degree of empathy towards Baldur, acknowledging he had suffered a lot from Freya's spell.

He also shows genuine remorse and self-depression over how he never managed to do any actual lasting peace when he was Odin's advisor and his intellect was instead perverted and used by Odin for diabolical causes, despite his best efforts. One of the examples was when he openly professed that he deserved Freya's anger and showed remorse for what his convincing Freya to marry Odin caused her. He also apologized to Sigrun for being so helpless to save her and the Valkyries, and regrets inadvertently causing the death of Starkaðr, having told Odin that if the giants ever had an army, Starkaðr might have been their general.

Even though he is part of the Norse mythology, Mimir is aware of other mythologies and their pantheons, mentioning in Tyr's vault about the Egyptian gods and of the Greek pantheon in Helheim. With the Greek Gods, he also knows of their demise, which he claimed was deserved. However, he did not know who had dismantled the pantheon until he accompanied Kratos, whom he later learned was Zeus' son and recognized him as the Ghost of Sparta.

Mimir also has a drinking history, having fallen off a mountain in a drunken stupor and suffered severe enough wounds that Eir had to heal him, which he was visibly ashamed of, and was noted to have been at least intoxicated when in the presence of giants, implied when he said he never spoke their language while sober.

Powers And Abilities[]

• Near-Omniscient Knowledge: As the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, Mimir knows almost everything in Norse mythology, claiming that he is aware of every deal, war, and corner of all the Nine Realms. He is heavily indicated to be capable of instinctively and esoterically learning and keeping track of new knowledge, as despite his imprisonment, Baldur and his nephews saw him as their best chance at finding the "tattooed man". His knowledge is displayed by his ability to effortlessly identify mythical figures and give a thorough description of their tales. He is even decently knowledgeable of other cultures and pantheons, able to recognize Kratos's divine power and his origins not from any of the Nine Realms, along with expressing familiarity with the many gifts Tyr has from other cultures. However, as he freely admits, even his knowledge has limits, being unable to tell why Odin wants Kratos and Atreus. He is clever that in order to breach Asgard's wall, Mimir, Kratos and Atreus needs to find Surtr. In the end of Ragnarok after Odin's death, Mimir finally realize the prison on Nifilheim of Odin keeping prisoners alive just to imitate their appearance when discovering the real Tyr.
  • Multilanguism: Mimir can speak and read seemingly all the languages of the Norse Realm, even dead tongues like the Giants.
  • Magical Knowledge: Mimir's knowledge of magic is considerable, displaying comprehensive knowledge of the rules of the Seidr magic used by the Vanir, describing it as powerful but slippery and even being aware of the weakness to the Invulnerability Spell placed on Baldur by Freya as mistletoe, which Freya went as far as to bewitch him to prevent him from telling anyone about it, as well as the astonishing blacksmith magics of the Dwarfs. He was also able to use mystical hallucinogetic mushrooms of such power he was able to even bewitch Odin himself.
• Immense Intellectual Genius: In addition to having nearly absolute knowledge, Mimir is also tremendously intelligent, being regarded as the smartest man alive. Indeed, his intellect was such that even Odin, despite his tendency to be petty, held his intelligence at such a high regard he would hire him as his advisor, and after he finally decided to act against him, chose to imprison him to still acquire his advice, with Freya going as far as to say releasing him would immediately make Odin furious.
  • Master Detective: Mimir, owing to his intelligence, has proven to be very accomplished at deductive reasoning: With just the clues of Kratos speaking about Athena and him referring to Zeus as his father, he was able to deduce that Kratos was the Ghost of Sparta. He also concluded that Odin must have been after Kratos and Atreus because he is afraid of Kratos's power. Despite being emotional about it, Mimir was able to quickly deduce that the Valkyries must have been locked up by Sigrun, as only she would have that power, and Odin must have had a hand in it.

Gallery[]

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

• The character is very similar to Prometheus from God of War II:
  • The two were accused by a king of their pantheon, Zeus and Odin.
  • Both were punished to be attached and imprisoned, and constantly tortured.
  • Both are freed by Kratos for a mercy kill, but Mimir is reanimated.
• He is also similar to Athena:
  • Both are Kratos' ally
  • Both are Gods/Goddess of Wisdom.
• Mimir is the first Norse God killed by Kratos, but was second to be requested to be killed (first was Orkos).
• He is the fourth head to be carried by Kratos on a journey, following were Medusa, Euryale and Helios.
  • Unlike the previous, he requested to be killed.
  • Secondly, he is the only one to speak, and be used as an advisor than a weapon.

Navigation[]

Heroes

Protagonists Kratos |Atreus |Athena |Mimir |Freya Greek Era Gods of Olympus Athena |Aphrodite |Pandora |Poseidon |Hades |Helios Demigods Deimos |Orkos Others Grave Digger |Pathos Verdes III |Poseidon's Princess Norse Era Aesir Mimir |Týr |Sif |Thrúd Vanir Freya |Freyr |Hildisvíni Jötunn Surtr |Faye |Angrboda |Jörmungandr Dwarves Huldra Brothers |Durlin |Lúnda Elves Byggvir |Beyla |The Maven Valkyries Freya |Sigrún |Gunnr |Geirdriful |Eir |Kara |Ròta |Olrun |Gondul |Hildr Others Ratatoskr |Niðhögg |Birgir |Chaurli |Fenrir |Sköll and Hati