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God of War Laufey: who Laufey, Sekhmet and Begtse really are

Short answer: all three are real mythological figures, not inventions. Laufey is Loki's mother in the Eddas. Sekhmet is the Egyptian lioness of war and plague, daughter of Ra. And Begtse is the strangest of the three: a pre-Buddhist Mongolian war god whom Buddhism converted and set to guard the faith that had defeated him.

God of War Laufey arrives on 16 February 2027 and is set in Everywhen, the afterlife of the gods. Here is what the sources actually say about each.

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Laufey: the series' most elegant catch

In the games, Faye is Kratos' wife and Atreus' mother. At the end of the first one, Atreus is revealed to be Loki.

That makes Faye the mother of Loki, and this is where the game lines up with the myth in a way almost nobody notices: in the Eddas, Loki's mother is called Laufey. His father is the giant Fárbauti.

And there is a detail that makes the move even better. In the texts, Loki appears as Loki Laufeyjarson, "son of Laufey". He carries his mother's name in a culture where everyone carried their father's. That is an anomaly in the myth, not in the video game.

Sekhmet: the one who nearly ended humanity

Sekhmet is Ra's daughter, a woman's body with a lioness' head. She is war, plague and also healing: in Egypt, whoever sends the disease is the one who can withdraw it.

Her best known myth is a massacre. Ra sends her to punish humankind and she takes it so seriously that she sets out to exterminate everyone. Nobody can stop her. So Ra dyes seven thousand jars of beer red and pours them over the land. Sekhmet drinks it believing it is blood, gets drunk and falls asleep.

Humanity survives because of a hangover.

Begtse: the god who changed religion

Begtse is the least known of the three and has the best story.

He was a pre-Buddhist Mongolian god of war. His name comes from the Mongolian begder, "coat of mail". He is depicted with red skin, orange hair, three bloodshot eyes, a sword in his right hand and a human heart in his left.

Then Buddhism arrives. The most widespread account has him subdued when the Third Dalai Lama travelled to Mongolia to convert Altan Khan in 1577. More recent scholarship suggests he may have been known in Tibet a century earlier.

Whatever the date, the outcome is the same and it is extraordinary: he was defeated, bound by oath and turned into a dharmapala, a protector of the doctrine. The god of war was put on guard duty for the religion that had beaten him.

It is as close as mythology gets to signing your enemy.

What is real and what is the game

Element Verdict
Laufey is Loki's mother Real, and in the texts Loki carries her name, not his father's
Fárbauti, the giant father Real, he appears in the Eddas
Sekhmet as a war goddess Real, and of plague and healing too
The beer trick Real, it is her most famous myth
Begtse, Mongolian war god Real, and later a Buddhist protector as well
Everywhen, the afterlife of gods The game's. None of the three mythologies has that place
The three of them meeting The game's. They never shared a story

Quick questions

Does Laufey exist in Norse mythology?

Yes. She is Loki's mother in the Eddas, married to the giant Fárbauti, and also called Nál. Her trace in the texts is short, but her son's name carries her: Loki is Loki Laufeyjarson, "son of Laufey".

Are Sekhmet and Bastet the same goddess?

No, though both are feline and sometimes overlap. Sekhmet is the lioness: war, plague and healing. Bastet is the cat: home, protection and joy. Egyptian tradition sometimes presents them as two faces of one power, the fury and the calm.

Is Begtse a Mongolian god or a Buddhist one?

Both, in that order. He began as a pre-Buddhist Mongolian god of war, and Tibetan Buddhism took him in as a dharmapala, a protector of the doctrine. His name comes from the Mongolian for "coat of mail".

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