Gears Of War: Best Characters

Highlights

• Originally an unimportant character, Anya Stroud evolves into a vital member of the COG and becomes the First Minister.
• Kait Diaz’s connection to the Locust Horde adds depth to her character and her desire to potentially become the next queen.
• Skorge stands out with his violent fighting style, unique weapons, and menacing appearance.

The Gears of War series may be most well-known for its over-the-top gory gameplay, but it’s also become synonymous with its plethora of amazing characters who captivate players every time they appear on-screen. While the series primarily focuses on the core 4 beloved members of Delta Team, as the story and world, in general, have expanded, more characters have gradually been introduced into the fold, with there now being quite a few soldiers who are widely considered to be fan-favorites.

It’s not just the COG who get a lot of love though, as there are also a handful of Locust characters who have made quite a name for themselves, becoming extremely iconic in their own right. A good character in a video game needs to have a unique design, an interesting personality, and a genuine relevance to the story at large, and luckily, there are plenty of characters in the long-running Gears of War series that tick all these boxes.

8 Anya Stroud

An Unimportant Side Character To A Fully Fledged Soldier

Anya goes through quite a character arc from the events of the first game up until Gears 3. While she was simply tasked with providing intel and information to Marcus and his allies for the first two entries of the series, she would eventually actually be on the frontlines in Gears of War 3 where she fought alongside her soon-to-be husband and her friends to withstand the merciless Lambent swarms.

Despite starting off as a seemingly fairly unimportant character, Epic spent a lot of time integrating Anya into the much broader story as the games went on, making her very memorable and an essential member of the COG’s forces. She would even eventually become the First Minister of the Reformed Coalition, giving her the massive responsibility of leading humanity’s effort to rebuild after witnessing so many disastrous battles and conflicts.

7 Kait Diaz

Connection To The Locust Horde Makes Kait A Layered Protagonist

Admittedly, a lot of players struggled to get on board with JD as the main character in Gears 4 since he seemed a little too bland and basic to be very interesting, but Kait, who plays the leading role in Gears 5, was received much more favorably. She’s an extremely layered character who goes through one hell of an ordeal during her time in the games, first adapting to the lifestyle of being a COG after having been an outsider all her life, and then realizing that Myrrah, the Locust Queen, is actually her own grandmother.

Kait’s connection to the horde makes her incredibly unique as a protagonist, and while this unfortunately isn’t highlighted quite as much as fans would have liked in Gears 5, there were still some fascinating insights into her mental state throughout the game, showing a growing desire to potentially become the next queen of the Locust.

6 Skorge

Violent Fighting Style & Unique Weapons Make Skorge A Standout Character

The assault rifle chainsaw hybrid known as the Lancer is undoubtedly one of the most unique weapons in video game history, but Skorge takes the chainsaw fascination to a whole new level. Players will eventually run into the High General of the Locust horde near the end of Gears of War 2 where he will leap around the stage, wielding his gigantic dual chainsaw-staff which can easily rip the COG to shreds if they aren’t careful, resulting in the most intense boss fight in the entire series.

Despite not saying a word throughout the games, it’s clear just from the way Skorge looks, and his extremely aggressive, no-nonsense attitude, why he is considered to be the most dangerous combatant of his kind. The spiky arm gauntlets, beady red eyes, and long flowing headdress all help Skorge stand out from his brethren, with him making a real impression on players, despite his limited screentime.

5 Myrrah

Expanded The World Of Gears Of War As A Layered Villain

Throughout much of the first game, the Locust are simply depicted as horrifying alien-like creatures who are driven by nothing more than a lust for destruction, but Myrrah’s introduction in the sequel did so much to develop them as antagonists. Myrrah is the queen of the horde who, strangely, seems a lot more human than Locust in her appearance, which is a subtle hint towards her tragic backstory, and how she came to create her massive army in the first place.

Myrrah’s very existence opened up so many questions among the fanbase, questions which Epic would gradually answer over the course of the original trilogy, and even beyond since her connection to Kait also allowed her to subtly influence the fifth game. The fact that she was the only Locust actually capable of speaking to the humans for a long time also makes her incredibly important to the overall story, and her death scene is one of the most satisfying in all of video games.

4 Benjamin Carmine

Emblematic Of How Horrifying The Locust War Is For Regular Soldiers

It’s become somewhat of a running joke that a new member of the cursed Carmine family will pop up in each new Gears game, but by far the most memorable to a lot of fans, especially for his purpose in the story, was Benjamin in Gers of War 2. Benjamin is clearly a soldier who is way in over his head, showing up to Marcus’ squad with little to no clue about how to actually fight the Locust, but this naivety does lend him an incredibly fun and infectious personality which can help alleviate a lot of the darker moments.

He, unfortunately, meets his demise pretty early on in the game, but it’s still a gut-wrenching scene as Benjamin gradually withers away inside the Riftworm while asking Marcus to relay a message to his family after he passes. Epic managed to make a character who was comic relief in one sense, but also a serious depiction of how dangerous these times would have been for inexperienced soldiers who were often thrown away like cannon fodder by their commanders and generals.

3 Augustus Cole

Screaming One-Liners & Popping Off Locust Heads

The world of Gears is dark, bleak, and at times, downright horrifying, but Cole never fails to inject some lighthearted humor into the games thanks to his snappy one-liners and stories about his time as a football player. Still, when the going gets tough, he isn’t shy about knocking together a few Locust heads if he needs to, with Cole often yelling at the top of his lungs in glee whenever he gets to put his Gnasher shotgun or Lancer to good use.

Epic actually decided to take a more serious angle with Cole in Gears of War 3 where he begins to reflect more about his professional football career, and when life was a lot more peaceful. He’s an extremely well-written character who is an absolute joy to be around, and his uncensored speech directly to the Queen herself shows just how passionate he is about taking down the horde for good.

2 Dominic Santiago

Dom’s Emotional Personal Arc Made Him A Truly Captivating Character

It’s hard to argue that anyone in the Gears of War series goes through a more emotional personal character arc than Dom. Initially, all we know about Dom is that he’s best buds with Marcus, and has been for a very long time before the first game, but in Gears 2, fans learn more about Dom’s family, and how his wife Maria had been kidnapped. Rather than rescuing her and riding away into the sunset together, Dom comes to find that Maria has been tortured beyond recognition by the ruthless Locust, and takes it upon himself to put an end to her misery.

Dom’s internal struggle about the death of his wife deeply affects him in Gears of War 3, with him often questioning how much longer he has left, and if the ongoing war with the Locust and Lambent will ever come to an end. It results in what is by far the saddest death scene in the entire series, as Dom gives his own life to save his comrades and best friend after they become surrounded by swarms of Locust and Lambent. Dom goes through a tremendously deep and emotional arc throughout the games that see him grow from a young and plucky soldier to a disillusioned veteran who eventually makes the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good.

1 Marcus Fenix

Disgraced Prisoner To The Saviour Of Humanity

When a character is compared to the likes of Master Chief and Nathan Drake in terms of their popularity, it means that they are well-known even outside the world of video games, and there are plenty of reasons why Marcus is so admired by so many people. Due to the traumatic events he had already faced prior to the first game, Marcus appears as a very grizzled and stern soldier who also has a pretty charismatic side to him which he isn’t afraid to let out when popping off locust heads.

What really makes Marcus so captivating as a character though, aside from his iconic bulky appearance and doo-rag, is how complex and believable he is. When Marcus first appears locked inside a prison in the first game, it is because he disobeyed orders when he decided to try and save his father rather than a group of COG soldiers, making him very morally gray rather than a typical virtuous hero. After believing that he had failed to save his father, Marcus’ anger against the Locust slowly bubbles up until he’s eventually able to wipe out the horde at the end of the third game using his dad’s own research, leading to a very poetic ending for such an amazing character.