God of War Ragnarok director had to fight for a one-eyed squirrel

In God of War Ragnarok there is a rather strange character – the one-eyed squirrel Ratatoskr who guards Yggdrasil. But at some point in development, the project’s director, Eric Williams, had to fight for his presence in the game.

Image source: GameInformer

In fact, Ratatoskr appeared in God of War (2018) but was less of a character and more of an ability. Atreus summoned a squirrel to collect health-boosting elements and other items. In God of War Ragnarok, Ratatoskr is already a full-fledged hero with dialogue, requests, and an introductory scene. And he is the most unexpected character in the game.

As Eric Williams told Game Informer, he was keen to see Ratatoskr in God of War Ragnarok, even though the team wanted to cut him down because of too many characters. Also, it just didn’t fit the style and narrative. But that’s what the character won Williams over: he wanted the game to have a moment of enlightenment, as opposed to the overall dark tone.

Image source: GameInformer

Also, the nuance was that even the music director didn’t know what to do with this character. There was no appropriate music to introduce Ratatoskr. The team had to work on the accompaniment separately because the God of War character was too alien. Then there was the question of the sound.

To make Ratatoskr sound funny, Williams turned to talented voice actor Sang-Won Cho, who has appeared in dozens of games and animated series. That was before God of War Ragnarok was announced. After an email conversation, Cho arrived at the office but had no idea what he needed to work on. Unlike most players, Cho wasn’t too surprised by Ratatoskr’s appearance. “Conceptually, I wasn’t too confused at first, but maybe that’s because I’ve voiced a lot of talking animals in my career.”, he explained. In addition to the voice acting, Cho also gave Ratatoskr a personality and animation (through motion capture).

Image source: twitter.com/ProZD/status/1590464050198360064

God of War Ragnarok was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9th.