Don’t Assume God Of War’s Horn Mystery Will Be Solved In The Upcoming Spin-Off

God of War Laufey is the next big installment in the God of War series, but rather than Kratos it stars Faye, his late wife, as she tries to help him and their son Atreus from the afterlife. Because of when the game is set in the timeline and Faye’s goal, many fans believe that Laufey will finally answer the franchise’s biggest mystery. But the upcoming spin-off’s director is being very cagey about whether fans will get an answer or not.

Some context: In God of War (2018), there’s a moment later in the game when Kratos is carrying a sick Atreus to Freya’s hut and he and the other characters hear someone offscreen blow the horn that summons Jörmungandr, the giant World Serpent who lives in Midgard’s Lake of Nine. The game makes a point to acknowledge that the horn was blown, but then moves on and never reveals who blew it or why. And no answer is provided in the sequel, God of War Ragnarok, either. Now, fans are hoping that after nearly a decade of waiting, they’ll finally learn that Faye blew the horn. But uh, don’t be so sure about that.

In a new interview with GameSpot, Laufey game director Ariel Lawrence was directly asked about the horn mystery and if the spin-off will “move forward the discussion” about the horn mystery.

“That is a very good question,” said Lawrence. “I am not at liberty to discuss. I think that’s a very exciting question for folks to dig into.”

That’s the type of fairly standard answer you’ll often get when posing a question like this to someone about a pre-release game. But the more interesting answer comes when GameSpot asks if Lawrence feels any pressure to reveal who blew the horn.

“I don’t think people understand how stubborn [God of War creative director] Cory Barlog can be,” said Lawrence.  “So we may be waiting a while.”

Barlog is a patient man, it seems

Elsewhere in the interview, there are a few other answers that show just how long Barlog is willing to wait before revealing his plans or ideas to fans. Lawrence mentions that the actress playing Faye, Deborah Ann Woll, was likely told about the plan to do a spin-off game starring her character back during the development of Ragnarok or earlier.

“Deborah and I have talked about that, and she was like, ‘I’ve had to keep this under wraps for, I don’t know, what is it, 8, 10 years at this point,'” said Lawrence, who also mentioned that Barlog was careful with who he cast as Faye back during development of the 2018 game, as God of War Laufey has been a “a twinkle in his eye for a while.”

Another example of how Barlog takes his time with ideas and concepts involves him (and others at the studio) having long-standing ideas about an afterlife for the gods and what that would look like.

“I won’t go into all the details, but I can tell you we’ve been killing gods for a really long time. So we’ve been thinking about this question,” said Lawrence. “I think this concept of the place beyond has been in Cory’s brain for a long, long time.”

So, perhaps the mystery of who blew that horn will finally be revealed. Or maybe fans will be waiting a few more years before finally getting an answer. It does seem like Barlog is patient.

God of War Laufey is set to launch sometime in the future on PS5.