One of the most well-deserved awards given out last night. Christopher Judge has rightfully won the Best Voice Actor award again for his role as Kratos in God of War Ragnarök, ensuing that the night was not entirely a miss for Sony.
This was the clear choice for this category, so I appreciate the Voters Jury choice to pick Christopher Judge over and ‘outsider’ candidate. Now, I’m not saying that any of Judge’s competitors were bad or weren’t deserving, as they most certainly were, but it was just that Judge was on an entirely different level to his competition.
Ever since his casting as Kratos for Ragnarök’s predecessor, God of War (2018), Christopher Judge has taken this role and made it his own with some of the most classic, noteworthy, and easily recognizable phrases, sayings, and vocal gestures in gaming history.
I mean, who hasn’t seen his classic “BOY!” in a meme or one of Kratos’ trademark grunts by now.
Judge has become synonymous with The God of War himself with his amazing performances, which is actually very impressive given how beloved Kratos already was as a character coming into the Nordic chapter of the series.
Prior to Judge’s casting, God of War and Kratos were already household names in the gaming world. With the first three “God of War” games all scoring a 90+ on Metacritic and numerous spinoff games made due to the franchise’s success, replacing the original Kratos voice actor, TC Carson, with Judge would have been unthinkable given the adoration the GOW fanbase had for Kratos and his bloodthirsty, vengeful demeanor.
But it was clearly the right decision to move on from TC Carson as the ‘older’ Kratos needed a hardened, aged, and weathered voice to match the retired, remorseful God of War, which was something I’m not sure Carson could have provided.
Don’t get me wrong, TC Carson is a great voice actor and is one of the main reasons for Kratos’ enormous popularity, but Christopher Judge just has one extraordinarily unique voice that has expertly matched this version of Kratos.
And that’s something none of the other nominees could boast of having with their own, respective, characters. Sunny Suljic, the voice actor of Atreus, was probably the only other actor who I’d have given a shot of winning this award, but maybe that’s in store for the next God of War game.
Why? Well, if I am remembering correctly, I thought I heard Judge say in his acceptance speech that Sunny Suljic was ‘the future’ of God of War, which I hope doesn’t mean that he’s leaving after this game.
I don’t think I could picture anyone else in the Kratos role, and especially not after the fact that he’s coming off back-to-back Best Voice Actor wins for the role.
Nevertheless, congratulations, Christopher Judge, you have more than earned the praise, awards, and admiration for your work as Kratos.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Sony/Santa Monica Studio) (God Of War Ragnarök – PlayStation Showcase 2021 Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games – YouTube)
