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 stage of development, the director of the project, Eric Williams, had to fight for her presence in the game.

Image Source: Game Informer

In fact, Ratatoskr appeared in God of War (2018), but was rather not a character, but an ability. Atreus summoned a squirrel to collect health-replenishing elements and other items. In God of War Ragnarok, Ratatoskr is already a full-fledged hero with dialogues, requests, and an introduction scene. And he is the most unexpected character in the game.

As Eric Williams told Game Informer, he really wanted to see Ratatoskr in God of War Ragnarok, despite the fact that the team wanted to cut him due to too many characters. In addition, it simply did not match the style and narrative. But this is what the character won over Williams: he wanted the game to have a moment of enlightenment as opposed to the overall dark tone.

Image Source: Game Informer

The nuance was also that even the music director did not know what to do with this character. There was no music that suited the introduction to Ratatoskr. The team had to work separately on the accompaniment because the character was too alien to God of War. In addition, there was the question of sound.

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