Atreus' Motivation
- Atreus seeks recognition and love
- From a young age, he is exposed to the indifference and cruelty imposed on him and his father due to their perceived standing as the lowest of castes.
- Kratos is distant most of the time, Atreus always feels that there is a barrier between them
- Atreus sees Panchali (original name) and they hit it off
- There is a spark of romance, but Panchali is forced to put it off because her father finds out about it and says that it is beneath her caste
- Atreus runs in with Pandavas and Kauravas during Ekalavya's thumb chopping event
- He interferes
- Situation escalates somehow
- Forced to confront Bhishma
- Kratos arrives to get Atreus released, who Bhishma recognises
- Bhishma offers Atreus a place alongside the Princes, but Kratos objects
- Atreus has a fight with Kratos about their situation
- All this time Kratos was Bhishma's teacher but still chose to live like this
- They could be recognised and respected
- Kratos talks to Atreus about what true respect, love and recognition means
- Atreus argues that it is all sophistry, why does it matter what the underlying reason for being on the receiving end of recognition is?
- The fight reaches a breaking point and Atreus decides to leave:
- [A] "I hate the way people look down at us. I hate the disrespect thrown our way even though we are better-"
- [K] "Do not conflate what you want with what I want, boy! I do not care what people think."
- [A] "What about me? Does it matter what I think?"
- [K] Silence
- [K] I respect you father. I will do whatever you tell me to do. But to me it really does matter. And maybe you are happy the way you are. Maybe you've achieved your objective in life. That's great! But this is not what I want. So, all I ask is that you don't consciously hold me back from achieving what I want in life."
- He approaches Bhishma and joins.
- Atreus gets recognition and love
- Atreus realises that recognition and love are conditional
- Atreus realises that said conditional recognition and love were being exploited to manipulate him
- Atreus realises