List of Gears of War characters

This article provides a list of characters and organizations encountered in Xbox 360 and PC video game Gears of War by Epic Games, and its Xbox-exclusive sequel Gears of War 2.

Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG)

Long before the Pendulum Wars, the Coalition of Ordered Governments existed only as an obscure world-government philosophy, created by Alexiy Desipich and based on eight guiding principle values: Order, Diligence, Purity, Labor, Honor, Loyalty, Faith, and Humanity. During the 79-year long Pendulum Wars, the COG grew into a legitimate, though minor, political party. The Pendulum Wars began soon after the discovery of Imulsion, a substance exploited for its energy applications. Nations with little Imulsion available waged war with those that had a surplus of it. The wars abruptly ended with "Emergence Day," when the Locust Horde began their attack. COG leaders were the only ones who took the steps needed to help humanity to survive, instituting martial law and taking charge of the effort against the Locust. Fourteen years later, the COG is the only form of government left on Sera, the world where Gears of War takes place.

Delta squad

Throughout the Gears of War and Gears of War 2 campaign, the game experience is centered around the members of a COG unit known as Delta squad. During the first act of the game, several characters rotate in and out of Delta squad. The squad's line is augmented throughout the game's chapters due to casualties, and the inclusion of the remnants of other squads.

Marcus Fenix

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Marcus Fenix (voiced by John Di Maggio) is the main protagonist of the series. He is first introduced as an inmate, serving a prison sentence for abandoning his military post in order to make a vain attempt to save his father, Adam Fenix. Prior to the Locust Invasion, Fenix is noted for having a famed military career, during which he played a notable part in the Pendulum Wars. Despite this, Fenix is left for dead in a dilapidated penitentiary, until Dominic "Dom" Santiago, his friend and former comrade, saves him in the first act of Gears of War. After being freed from prison, Fenix is immediately reinstated into the military and is assigned to serve with Delta Squad. He is later promoted to Sergeant and becomes commander of Delta squad shortly after their previous squad commander, Lieutenant Kim, is killed by General RAAM. Fenix leads his comrades across the ruins of Sera, in an attempt to activate the Lightmass Bomb against the Locust. One of the goals when being designed by Epic games was to be an "intelligent bad-ass", to summarize the style of the game at one glance.

Dominic Santiago

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Dominic Santiago (voiced by Carlos Ferro) is the secondary protagonist of the series. He was first introduced in the original Gears of War as a second playable character. Dom has a close friendship with Marcus, his longtime comrade. Like Marcus, he is a seasoned veteran with a strong sense for family, and often thinks of his wife Maria. In Gears of War 2, he attempts to locate his wife Maria. They lost their two children, Sylvia and Benedicto, on E-day, and four years later when that day's trauma became too much Maria disappeared. He finds his wife ten years later, imprisoned by the Locust, and is forced to make the hard decision to euthanize her because she has been tortured beyond recovery.

Augustus Cole

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Augustus "Cole Train" Cole (voiced by Lester Speight) is a COG soldier that serves under Marcus Fenix. He is often recognized by characters in the game for his previous career as a "thrashball" defensive lineman. Cole possesses a vibrant and often outspoken character, and is extremely enthusiastic in combat. Cole, along with Baird, is member of Alpha squad, but joins Delta squad during the events of Gears of War, and later during the events of Gears of War 2, after saving Marcus, Dom, and Ben Carmine from an ambush.

Damon Baird

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Damon Baird (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) is a cynical and reluctant soldier, whose main strengths lie in his intelligence. During the events of Gears of War, he appears as a sarcastic soldier, that takes and makes jokes. He is initially a member of Alpha squad, but is folded into Delta squad. He is highly knowledgeable about the Locust Horde and, for this reason, he is a great asset to his squad. Among other things, he also excels in mechanics, hacking and other repair-related tasks, such as repairing a damaged APC and hacking into geobots. Early in Gears of War, Baird expresses disdain for Fenix, and indicates that he thinks he should have been promoted to lead Delta squad. However, Fenix quickly earns his respect through his battlefield leadership.

Minh Young Kim

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Minh Kim (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes) is a strictly by-the-book soldier, who closely follows the COG's rules and code of conduct. Early in Gears of War, Hoffman entrusts Kim to lead Fenix and the rest of Delta squad to locate Alpha squad. They succeed in finding Alpha squad, but fail to acquire extraction. Kim is separated from his comrades during an intense fire-fight with the Locust when awaiting retrieval. While attempting to hold off the Locust ambush from the rest of Delta squad, Kim is killed by General RAAM.

Anthony Carmine

Anthony Carmine (voiced by Michael Gough), along with Lieutenant Kim, is one of the original members of Delta squad, and he possesses a bright and gung-ho attitude. He serves with Delta squad through earlier segments of Gears of War, but is shot in the head and killed by a Locust sniper while complaining about a weapon malfunction.

Benjamin Carmine

Benjamin Carmine (also voiced by Michael Gough) is a rookie soldier that joins Delta squad at the beginning of Gears of War 2. He receives training from Marcus and Dom in the game's tutorial, during which he reveals that he was Anthony Carmine's brother. He is reluctant to fight in combat due to his inexperience, but eventually earns praise from Marcus. Once Benjamin and his squad arrive in the Hollow, he is the sole survivor and tags along with Marcus and Dom. As Delta squad is escaping from the Hollow in Gears of War 2, Benjamin is shot in the chest defending them from Locust. He manages to make it back to the squad's extraction helicopter, but falls out of it once the Riftworm emerges. He and the helicopter are both swallowed by the worm. Delta squad later finds him just before he dies, mauled and partially eaten by creatures living inside the Riftworm.

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Tai Kaliso

Tai Kaliso (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) is a spiritual and meditative warrior from a tradition of honor-bound fighters, who fought with Fenix during the Pendulum Wars. He views the war from a spiritual standpoint, which often confuses the other soldiers. Nonetheless, he is still well-liked by his fellow squad members. Tai is introduced in the beginning of Gears of War 2. Throughout the game, Tai is a resilient and well-disciplined soldier, prompting Marcus to claim that he is "as tough as a Brumak." Early in the game, Tai separates from Delta squad to defend them from Skorge. Delta squad later discovers Tai inside of a Beast Barge, where he has undergone severe torture. Marcus, unaware of the extent of the psychological damage Tai has suffered, hands Tai a shotgun to help fight the Locust, but he uses it to commit suicide.

Dizzy Wallin

Dizzy Wallin (voiced by Peter Jason) is from a family of Stranded rescued by Operation Lifeboat, a COG program which evacuated Stranded families to COG-controlled safe zones in exchange for the able-bodied men of the family serving in the military. Dizzy operates an Assault Derrick he named Betty, which is used as part of a COG assault on Landown. Before the grindlifts activate after arriving at the town of Landown, where the assault began, Dizzy and Delta squad are attacked by Skorge. Along with Tai Kaliso, Dizzy remains behind to hold Skorge off while Dom and Marcus tunnel underground in the grindlifts.

In Issue #7 of the Gears of War Comic, it is revealed that Dizzy ran away from the battle after Tai insisted that he escape. His ultimate fate remains a mystery, however.

Other COGs

Richard Prescott

Richard Prescott (voiced by Charles Cioffi) is the dictatorial military leader of the COG who has mandated several sweeping authoritarian powers to the government to control the remaining human population and fight off the Locust Horde in the wake of E-Day. These actions have made him unpopular with those who feel the COG has overstepped its bounds in the name of security, but Prescott has dedicated himself to the survival of humanity, whatever the cost may be.

Victor Hoffman

Victor Hoffman commands Fenix and Delta squad. He frequently communicated with Delta squad throughout Gears of War. Early in Gears of War, Hoffman is reluctant to reinstate Fenix into the military. However, given the COG's dwindling number of armed forces, he allows Fenix to fight. Hoffman eventually grows to trust Fenix; Hoffman allows him to lead Delta squad, and ultimately helps save him from falling from a King Raven in the game's end sequence. He receives a slightly larger role in Gears of War 2's plot, and even assists Delta squad during the game's final act.

Anya Stroud

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Anya Stroud (voiced by Nan McNamara) is the dispatch girl of Delta Squad. She is usually detailing location information through radio for Marcus, Dom, or Kim — particularly where to go next, if the Hammer of Dawn is online or whether hostiles are en route, and during the middle portion of Gears of War, directs mine carts used by Delta squad for transportation. She is only visible once throughout the first game, onboard a King Raven helicopter, but appears more frequently in Gears of War 2.

Locust Horde

The Locust Horde is a collection of various species. Most of them are humanoid, while others are distinctly bestial, varying in size and shape. The Horde inhabited the subterranean regions of Sera, until Emergence Day, when they emerged across the surface in a massive, overwhelming attack against the human population. The Locust Horde inhabits extensive underground tunnel networks that honeycomb the crust of the planet Sera, known collectively as "the Hollow." It was revealed in Gears of War 2 that the Locust worship worms. According to a Locust transcript found in the bowels of the Locust's subterranean capital city, Nexus, the explosion of the lightmass bomb that occurred in Gears of War caused the giant Riftworm to "awaken". The Locust were able to communicate with the awakened worm, and eventually convinced it to aid them in their war efforts against humanity. The Locust's only known objective was the complete and total annihilation of the human population of Sera, until Gears of War 2, when it is discovered that the Locust are also trying to annihilate an infected form of Locust. The subset of infected Locust are known as the Lambent Locust, and have been mutated by extensive contact with Imulsion. The Lambent Locust and the unaffected Locust factions are engaged in a civil war, in which the Lambent Locust appear to be successful in driving the Locust out of the Hollow. This leads to the desperate Locust attacks on the COG at Jacinto and the Locust plot to sink COG cities, as they are trying to re-take the surface of Sera to ensure survival, and kill the Lambent Locust. The whole reason for the war is to take the surface of Sera in order to survive being pushed out of their homes by the Lambent.

Myrrah

In the credits sequence of Gears of War a character called "Myrrah" (voiced by Carolyn Seymour) is listed; however, such a character was never seen during the course of the game. At various times throughout the game, narration is provided by an unknown female character, somehow affiliated with the Locust Horde. Her voice is heard during the opening cinematic, the death of Lt. Kim, and the end-game sequence, as well as during split-screen or online multiplayer when the Locust side loses or wins.

At the beginning of Gears of War 2, Myrrah (referred only as "the Locust queen" by other characters) provides a voice-over introduction discussing humanity's violent nature, adding that, though she feels pity for the humans, they brought the war with the Locust upon themselves. Far through the game, Delta squad manages to penetrate Nexus, the Locust capital, where the Locust queen is issuing a series of propaganda broadcasts ordering the Locust to fight against the "Lambent Locust." Later on, Delta squad finally tracks down the queen in her palace, accompanied by Skorge, and discovers that she either is, or appears to be, at least partially human. She orders Skorge to kill Delta, and escapes on a Reaver during the subsequent battle. Myrrah appears to have known Marcus' father, Adam Fenix.

General RAAM

General RAAM (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) is the primary antagonist and final boss of Gears of War. He is a savage, cunning, and mostly silent Locust general with a dark cinematic presence. RAAM is the tallest character in the game, standing well above the height of COG and Locust soldiers. He is also extremely strong, being able to carry and operate a Troika machine gun by himself. RAAM is first seen in the beginning of Gears of War killing Kim. He is seen again after the detonation of the sonic resonator, apparently listening to a captured COG soldier's radio in order to discover Delta squad's plans. His last appearance is in the game's climax as the final boss; he is killed by Fenix and Dom before they plant the data to activate the Lightmass Bomb. He is also playable in the assassination multi-player mode as the leader for the Locust side.

RAAM is also an unlockable character for multi-player in Gears of War 2.

Skorge

Skorge is the primary antagonist of Gears of War 2, and serves as the leader of the Kantus monks within the Locust Horde. He wields a double-edged chainsaw staff, and wears an elaborate headdress. Martin Robinson, a columnist for IGN.com, noted that the character possessed a physical resemblance to the eponymous creature from the 1987 film, Predator. During the course of Gears of War 2 he is shown assaulting COG troops, leading the massive Riftworm, and battling Delta squad. Towards the end of the game, Skorge pursues the escaping members of Delta squad on his Hydra. Delta defeats Skorge and destroys his Hydra whilst pursuing them in midair, causing him to plummet to the ground below, presumably killing him.

The Stranded

The Stranded are the human survivors of E-Day living outside of Jacinto. They live in poor conditions, ravaged by war and suffering from malnutrition. Their former way of life was destroyed when the COG enacted a scorched earth strategy to stop the Locust assaults. This course of action led the Stranded to refer to COGs as fascist pigs. The Gears and the Stranded do not get along well, but will occasionally fight together against their common enemy, the Locust Horde. After the Locust started sinking cities in Gears of War 2, groups of stranded started hiding underground thinking it was safe as long as they stayed away from Nexus and the Locust highway.

Franklin

Franklin (voiced by John DiMaggio) is a Stranded that has come into possession of a Junker APC critical to the Gears. Dom acquires the Junker from Franklin by "calling in a favor." He spends most of the Nightfall act in Gears of War guiding Dom and Fenix through the ruined city and two checkpoints to Chaps' Aspho Gas Station. He is also the one helping Dom find a mysterious "lady" (Santiago's missing wife, Maria Santiago).

Franklin makes an appearance in Gears of War 2 multiplayer, acting as the Meatflag in Submission mode.

Chaps

Chaps (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes) is the elderly, foul-mouthed Stranded who runs the gas station where Franklin's Junker is parked. He supplies ammo and cover at the arrival of Fenix and Dom. When the Locust Horde ambush the gas station, he fights alongside Fenix and Dom. He also accompanies Fenix and Dom on the highway as they drive the Junker back to the Stranded base camp, giving notices as to which directions Kryll attack from during their run. Chaps later appears in Gears of War 2, as part of a Stranded camp hiding under Mount Kadar. He provides Dom with information about the possible whereabouts of his wife.

Hanley

Hanley (voiced by Peter Jason) is a drunken Stranded who is situated at Checkpoint Two, on the way to Chaps' Gas Station. Marcus and Dom make their way to Checkpoint Two where they give Jack to Hanley, in order to help them traverse the darkness. Hanley guides Marcus and Dom through various buildings and streets whilst they make their way to the gas station.

Hanley makes an appearance in Gears of War 2 multiplayer, acting as the Meatflag in Submission mode.

Other characters

Maria Santiago

Maria Santiago is Dom's wife. They lost their two children, Sylvia and Benedicto, on E-Day. Maria was devastated by the incident and vanished four years later. Dom relentlessly searched for her over the next ten years, and finally discovers that she is being detained at a Locust work camp. By the time he finds her, Maria, having been tortured and forced to endure other extreme conditions, is emaciated and in a state of extreme shock. Dom realizes that Maria is unable to respond to his voice or even acknowledge his presence and after struggling with an answer chooses to euthanize her.

Adam Fenix

Adam Fenix is Marcus Fenix's father. He was considered one of Sera's greatest geniuses, and his radically advanced research figured majorly into the plots of both games. During the fourth act of Gears of War 2, Delta squad discovers recordings of Adam Fenix detailing a plan to kill the Locust by deliberately sinking Jacinto to flood Nexus with water. At the conclusion of the game, after the COG have sunk Jacinto, a transmission from Adam Fenix is played at the end of the credits asking, "This is Adam Fenix, is anyone out there...? Can you hear me...? This is Adam Fenix, can you hear me...? What have you done...?"