Deborah Ann Woll broke a sturdy wooden stick while filming God of War Laufey motion capture – fans started theorizing about the axe

Sometimes a few seconds of behind-the-scenes footage is all it takes for fans to build a whole theory about an upcoming game. Sometimes it even stretches to the fate of an iconic weapon, all because of one broken stick.

An eighteen-second clip from a motion capture shoot has spread across the web. In it, Deborah Ann Woll, who plays Faye in God of War, brings a prop stick down on a stand with full force.

The swing comes straight overhead, like an axe chop rather than a sword strike, and the stick shatters. Skeptics were quick to point out that the stick looked well past its prime. Then again, it's still a sturdy prop.

The prop's history adds some spice. Woll herself learned that she had been handed the same stick that stood in for the golf club in The Last of Us Part 2.

The more interesting question is why the actress was asked to swing it like an axe. In series lore, the Leviathan Axe originally belonged to Faye. Brok and Sindri forged it for her, and it only passed to Kratos after her death.

In Ragnarök, the Spartan got his own spear, Draupnir, made specifically for him. That makes it logical to assume the bow and sword won't be the only weapons in the heroine's arsenal.

There's a theory for every taste. The most obvious one points to flashbacks from Faye's past, up to and including her fight with Thor in that very valley. Some fans recalled the moment the axe got stuck in Jormungandr and Kratos couldn't summon it back: what if the weapon spent that time with its former owner?

Others expect a temporary rage mode modeled on the Blade of Olympus from the Valhalla DLC, while the boldest dream of an Avengers-style scene where Kratos and Faye swap weapons. One fact should cool the excitement: Woll wasn't wearing a mocap suit, which means this was more of a test, and the final animation could look completely different.