History Headscratchers / GearsOfWar

* Okay, is Sera a colony world of Earth, or are its inhabitants HumanAliens? The games never actually address this, and I've rarely heard a reliable-sounding citation of WordOfGod on the issue either.

*** This troper hears this question a lot. It seems like everyone is expecting the Gears of War universe to tie in with Earth somewhere. But...does it have to be? Why can't it just be a regular ol' planet in a regular ol', non Earth related universe the creators just made up to tell their story? This troper figured that Earth and our universe was entirely nonexistent in Gears of War; that it's just its own standalone universe. I guess the 'This planet is REALLY A LONG LOST COLONY WORLD OF EARTH' reveal has been used so much in fiction, that everyone is just sorta standing around for it.

*** OP here: In my case, I was figuring it was its own universe, or at least own corner of the universe. The only reason I considered the option of it being a colony world was a bogus citation of Word of God.

*** Look, IF we assume these people are Human-like beings on an alien world, the chances of them having names with origins tied to human history, which all surnames are, is so insane it almost bears no effort to even consider it. More over, as the above post said, IF we assume this is alternate Earth the very existence of the Horde makes that incredibly unlikely--even if we go with the in-universe implication that we "made" the Locusts somehow, none of it makes sense with regard to their religion, the fact the Locust have their own language, or why no one ever saw the things before. Frankly the Lambent are a far more pressing question. Apparently touching the stuff will cause you to play act the end of Akira, yet humans never realized this when we evolved on the planet...why again? No offense, but the only logical explanation for any of this is that Sera was a colony of Earth at some incredibly distant point in the future, and they can no longer leave or contact home. This makes even more sense when you realize they had TWO world wars, one nuclear no less (Armageddon War or the like I forget the name exactly but it's clear from the description it was nuclear) which almost led to humanity's extinction on Sera. The most likely scenario is that during the endless wars the colonists lost the ability to leave, or call for help. Whatever government exists off-world may have assumed they all died. That's not all head canon: the Armageddon War did happen, so did the Pendulum Wars, both were so devastating they eclipse even the pair of world wars we had and one of them is explicitly stated to have brought mankind to extinction's doorstep; the Lambent and Locusts are clearly sentient and yet have no place in human history on Sera or otherwise; the flora and fauna of the planet don't fit in to any we've ever known or even would imagine (unless we discovered a race of anti-gravity octopi and no one told the public) so logic dictates we're looking at a world that is at least outside of our solar system.

** I'd say it's pretty tough to say. Tai DID walk out of a crash vehicle while acting as if he barely noticed it, but he ''could'' of just gotten lucky of where he landed, or maybe he intended such a simple escape. He ''is'' a military veteran. But since the torture appeared to be pointless, we don't really know how they tortured him (aside from the big cuts), what they planned for him (or, if they made clear what they planned for him to him), that cell they put him it is ''very'' claustrophobic, and he have no idea he'd escape. Or maybe he saw the conditions of the prison camps and the prisoners, which could of brought him over the edge. If you're wondering about Baird, he probably wasn't imprisoned very long. Plus, with his JerkAss-ness, he's probably pretty close to being as emotionally down as it goes.
** Tai couldn't have been in there very long, which I think goes to show just how ''nasty'' Locust torture really is.

** This troper speculates that it wasn't what they did to Tai that made him crack, but what they did to Dizzy and made Tai watch.
*** My thoughts exactly. Seeing Dizzy [[MemeticBadass survive something so brutal with nothing more than mild annoyance]] made Tai kill himself because he knew he'd never see anything that awesome again, and felt that his life was complete.

*** Well, as to that, there are innumerable species on Earth that demonstrate incredible intelligence in very limited areas. Just because something can create elaborate traps to catch prey (ex. many variations of spider) doesn't necessarily mean it'll find a way to herd the prey into the trap. Anyway, thanks for that response. I was considering reading Aspho Fields but the whole breeding farm theory just nipped that in the bud.

** What this troper got from it was that drones were quite good at TACTICS (smallest scale of battle planning such as traps and ambushes) but total morons about STRATEGY (higher level planning like starving your enemy).
** Anyway, there were female Raven pilots in both games, and I'm pretty sure there was a female gear in Gears2.
*** The underground offensive includes a female medic gear...who uses the same model as all the other standard gears, which ([[FridgeBrilliance I have literally just thought of this]]) would almost imply that any of the COG soldiers we see but don't hear could in fact be female!

*** This troper likes to believe they're only in non-Jacinto area. But yeah it is f* cking stupid, hey writers we get it the COG have to do a lot of horrible stuff in order to fight the Locust, we got it when they glassed their own cities, we don't need rape camps.

*** I actually think it's well in the C.O.G. nature to do something like that. Given their vague fascist undertone. And quite frankly the C.O.G. has been shown screwing up before. And i still think glassing the planet was a short sighted thing to do regardless of their rational. Which has probably helped the locust depopulate Sera of men women and children, then it did to undermine them. I actually think that was '''WORSE'''.
*** God, guys, do the research. They're not camps; they're ''farms''. Sera has been in a sate of total war for over a century and in total war NOBODY is a civilian. If you're a woman and can't fight in the Army, then you fight with your body; by being ''paid'' (in rations which are at this point the most valuable thing on Sera) to breed. Of course, giving hormones to 10-year olds is a little extreme but it's not that different from the rest of what [[NukeEm COG]] [[KillSat has done]].

* Something that I haven't been able to figure out. Colonel Hoffman. He seems kind of important. He's part of command, he does... something that involves strategic decisions, I'm not sure, as it's left kind of vague along with everything else in this game. But he's only a Colonel. Not only that, but his model has 4 stars - the symbol of a General, an O-10. Something doesn't add up here.

* Could someone please explain to me where everyone is getting all the backstory from? Is it the novel? Is it the comic books? It can't find it in the manuals. Maybe I'm not reading between the lines on the stuff you pick up.

*** (Ahem): The novels Ashpho Feilds, Jacinto's Remaint, Anvil Gate, and the recently-released Coalition's End and the SERIOUSLY recently released The Slab. Also, two comic runs.

** Having just replayed that level, I can tell you that the reason he didn't move was because the street had been torn up by the crashing helicopter, cutting him off from the rest of the squad. He was close enough to the wreck to go around it, but would've run into the advancing Drones if he did that.

* I have a question: how many [[KillSat Hammer of Dawn satellites]] are there around Sera? That little beam that they fire doesn't seem particularly powerful, so I can only imagine that they have hundreds, if not thousands of the things in orbit if they managed to scorch the planet so badly. But if there are that many available, why is the lack of an available satellite considered that big a problem?

* Do we have any evidence that the scorched earth policy the government implemented was actually necessary? Because I don't exactly trust this government and they are the only ones I've heard say it was a good idea.

* And while were talking about messed up tactics, what about the Locust? 14 years into the war, and then they bring out the Worm that can sink cities? Really? They didn't see the value of that sooner?
** I can't remember where I read this, because as noted the back story is scattered, but the worm was supposedly a byproduct of the Lightmass bomb you set off in 1.

* The network system of tunnels bugs me, more specifically, why didn't the Locusts just hollow out the foundations of the settlements and then they'd all just collapse without, storming out storming the surface and robbing themselves of the initiative?

** As noted above, that is EXACTLY what they did with great success during the opening days of the war. Indeed, E-Day was pretty much them doing this to one settlement after another and then moving on. The only reason Jacinto survived was because the solid foundation upon which it rests apparently is prohibitively difficult to tunnel through, thus forcing the Locust to launch frontal assaults against the fairly entrenched defenses. The plot of Gears 2 was basically their attempt to find something big enough to sink Jacinto and prepare it for the slaughter in a massive project that must have been a massive engineering project and the Gears' discovery that preventing them from doing it was more or less hopeless and the only way to save the city's populace (if not the city itself) was to sink it before the Locust were ready and thus flood the Hollows. TL;DR: They do it all the time. Jacinto was the only city we know of they couldn't do so easily due to the natural protection it lies on, and they eventually found a way to sink it despite even THAT.

*** Oh, yeah? Well... [[LameComeback your FACE!]]
*** That is a very good response for the average soldier in the COG, but I kinda think the whole "going for the neck" would make a lot of logical sense for the very-experienced ultra-huge protagonists of the games who probably could pull that off. I just assume the lengthy cutting is also done because it's brutally [[RuleOfCool bloodier and cooler]].

* Why did Dom kill Maria? She was a prisoner of war. She had been tortured and deprived of food and water for a long time. Of course she's going to look sick. So, upon seeing a POW with a severe case of PTSD, he shoots her. Why? He already expressed that Maria and her safety was more important than his own, more important than than the mission, and more important than Sera. Then how is she too much of a burden? He didn't want her to suffer? It would be considered extremely, ''extremely'' immoral to kill a POW because of the tragedy she's suffered. The state she was in did not necessarily mean that's how she'll always be for the rest of her life. I know the comics said something about her dying anyway, but that's even more damning in my book: because he didn't know that, it means he had no idea that she would have died anyway. He didn't know what was wrong with her, only that ''something'' was wrong. But without knowing the details, he couldn't possibly fathom how critical her state was. Earlier in the game he was willing to move slowly to protect a box of explosives. But he couldn't move slowly to protect Maria? What would have have done if she were weak, but still seemed sane? Would he have killed her then for being a burden, for being weak? I doubt it. Is there some piece I'm missing that made this alright?
** I think you are understating just how bad off Maria was. She was so weak that she couldn't hold herself up, and clearly emaciated to the point that starvation was likely close at hand. Her mental faculties were degraded; she was unable to even respond to simple human contact, much less recognize and acknowledge any sort of communication, or more importantly, command. Heck, the scars on her head may have even indicated brain damage. Dom's been a soldier for a long time; he's seen people die from just about every cause under the sun. He knows when someone's time is short, and Maria wasn't going to make it out of the Hollow. Even if she'd been conscious and mobile, Dom and Marcus couldn't go back. They had a mission to complete, and were smack in the middle of hostile territory. She would have never made it back on her own, especially not in her current state, and the couldn't escort her. Dom only had two options: Leave her, to face death (or worse, recapture) at the hands of the Locust, or bring her with them and risk putting all of their lives in danger. Dom didn't kill her because of how much she'd suffered (though that probably helped the decision), he killed her because there was no way he could get her out, and he didn't want her to suffer again. I hate to sound cliche, but its very likely what Maria would have wanted.
*** I don't know if you've ever seen anyone with PTSD, but it can be ''very, very'' severe. She is a POW. Being nearly catatonic for a few minutes is not unheard of. As I already said, I'm positive she would have died anyway. But Dom didn't know that--he expressed as much in the comic. He didn't even try to save her. As I said earlier, Dom had already prioritized Maria over the mission. What if she had been somewhat functional? What if she could speak? Do you think she would have shot her then? My issue is that he didn't even consider for a second that she could be saved. He just shot her.

*** I think closure was the important thing for Dom. If he'd known Maria was dead he could have lived with that, but it was the not knowing that was destroying him. I think he built up this idealized scenario where he'd rescue her and everything would be fine. Then being faced with the cold hard reality, he just realised how naive he'd been and how hopeless her chances were.
*** Have you ever had your dreams crushed to dust? Dom felt that when he noticed that all the fighting he did to rescue Maria was pointless: She was just another lobotomized, starving slave for the Locust. Yeah, he didn't knew if she would survive. But if she DID survived, she would be brain damaged, with scars and sings of abuse for the rest of her life. That excluding possible episodes where her memories could get back to the torture, in a world where the only safe haven of humanity just got sunk down a few hours later. So let's say he saved her. I think he would feel incredibly bad afterwards.

* After the conclusion of Gears 3, I find myself with unanswered questions:

* so what are the locust supposed to be exactly? This question has been dogging me since Gears of War 1 and Gears of War 3 still leaves it unanswered. All we get as an explanation is some rather vague dialogue hinting that Humans and Locusts may be related somehow, so what are they then? Did humans and Locust share a common ancestor? Are they the result of genetic tempering? Geez Epic, i was really hoping we'd put this one to rest already.

*** GEARSPEDIA, people. ALL YOUR QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED THERE.

* How did the Locust get into Azura? All the defenses, like the minefield and the torpedo launchers, are still online and able to kill when ''you'' get there, but somehow the Locust have moved a small army there, including air support. There are some Locust boats there, but I doubt they sailed through the hurricane and the minefield in those. Is there some note that I'm missing?

*** Hinted with the books; Locust can't tunnel so close to the sea. You kinda get a mild case of drowned. It's the reason why Vectes wasn't invaded and there were many groups of stranded living off the sea. So yeah it's pretty odd but I figured they didn't permanently have storm up, they must have brought it down to receive ravens and supplies.
*** No one said that the COG "forgot" that the Locust can tunnel. The fact is that the COG can't defend most areas because the Locust can tunnel right through just about anything that wasn't Jacinto. This is stated explicitly in the very first game when they discuss Locust tunnelling: "Command's tried everything, but nothing works." Azura's only real defense was secrecy; once the Locust found Azura, that was it.
** I gathered that the defenses got shut off somehow (Prescott would have had to get off somehow) and the Locust used the opportunity to move in. I have no idea how, maybe the generators went down for lack of spare parts because the COG disintegrated.

* So, why do the Locust fire out of the ground now? I guess they wanted to get rid of the emergence hole mechanic, but having them rocket 10 feet into the air when they appear seems pretty silly.
** I was very confused when they managed to do it on a bridge. What, do they sleep under the tarmac or something?

* Why did they "have to" sink Jacinto? Couldn't they have just breached the seawall beneath the city and let the Hollow flood instead of collapsing everything? I think the Hollow was a natural formation, not a massive Locust engineering project.

* Okay, so I have a question that regards Locust Strategy: why is it that RAAM used the berserkers when he was in charge, but Skorge didn't use them? The berserkers seemed to work well for RAAM, so one has to wonder why the second general didn't use them...
** I wouldn't say they exactly worked great. The first time you see one it immediately kills its handlers and goes rampaging. Having something that kills discriminitely might not be good to have running around near your own guys.

* What differentiates a Locust from just a hostile Seran animal? I assume the Locust are at least the underground dudes with guns, that's an army, but what are the giant worms, the Leviathan, and the Reavers?

* hey I'v got a great idea! lets have a military trial, even better, lets do it to the people who are currently dealing with the BIGGEST THREAT (this is pre RAAM) ensuring that threat isn't deadified to the max. what the hell?

** This is quite a mouthful to answer, but I'll try to break it down. Basically, the Swarm are evolved forms of the Locust. Shortly after the Imulsion Countermeasure was deployed, the COG noticed that the Locust corpses became encased in a ridiculously tough crystalline structure, so they buried all of them deep underground. Juvies and standard Swarm troops are created when humans are placed into Swarm pods, but the Scions are the old Locust that busted through the crystalline structure encasing them. This explains why the Swarm mostly consists of just Juvies, the various foot soldiers (drones, hunters) and Scions. As for the Snatchers, Pouncers and Carriers, it's tough to pinpoint how they were created. They could be wild Seran creatures that were heavily mutated by the Imulsion Counterweapon or the Swarm could've put wild animals in their pods to see if they would turn out different. The Scions are able to control the Swarm because they are all apart of a HiveMind. Since they have faced humanity before, it's only natural that they are the de-facto leaders for capturing them. However, the Swarm could've been active much earlier and could have gradually captured pockets of humans that were isolated from the main concentration that the COG was monitoring and only decided to show themselves when they had a sizable army 25 years after the war. Maybe some supplemental material will shed some light on them soon enough.

** While Torque Bows do contain Imulsion, that supposedly is not why the arrows explode. According to Gearspedia, the tip of the arrow is laced with an explosive material (which seems to be separate from the Imulsion), which is also attached to a short fuse that causes the arrow to explode after sticking a target. Although it also says the arrows are '''Imulsion-fueled''', the properties of the gun go against this claim. There is a series of magnetic coils within the bow that apply motive force to the bolts. When the arrow is being primed, two other things also happen. There is a small motor within the bow that supplies rotational force to the bolts and the blades compress on the barrel to control tension on the motor. When the tension on this motor is released, the arrow fires. However, I could be wrong in that the "explosive material" actually ''is'' the Imulsion in the arrow. If that's the case, then what you are asking can be answered with a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Technically, the Torque Bows shouldn't explode, but they could still function otherwise. But, it's such a staple weapon of the series that it's easier to overlook a story element for the sake of RuleOfFun.

*** Gears Of War 4 just add to the confusion by having a level that takes place in a historic tomb that's supposed to be similar to "medieval" age. Implying that humans been on Sera for awhile.

*** Well, if you agree with the Mars theory about Sera, [[VideoGamw/DooM3 that makes perfect sense.]]

* This is probably a dumb question. But is possible Dom simply could of jumped out before the crash?

*** Loomis is shown to be a very by-the-book official and considers the Locust to be nothing but animals. Using something as dangerous and powerful as the Lightmass Missle is something that only people very high up in the chain of command would be allowed to approve or even consider, so a lower ranked squad like Kilo using it would be considered treason. Since Loomis doesn't take the Locust as serious opponents, he probably felt that the Lightmass Missle was way too much force to be used on such a trivial opponent. Also, given his by-the-book nature, he justifies in his own mind that dealing with traitors is far more important than some "animals" outside the courtroom.

** This is quite a mouthful to answer, but I'll try to break it down. Basically, the Swarm are evolved forms of the Locust. Shortly after the Imulsion Countermeasure was deployed, the COG noticed that the Locust corpses became encased in a ridiculously tough crystalline structure, so they buried all of them deep underground. Juvies and standard Swarm troops are created when humans are placed into Swarm pods, but the Scions are the old Locust that busted through the crystalline structure encasing them. This explains why the Swarm mostly consists of just Juvies, the various foot soldiers (drones, hunters) and Scions. As for the Snatchers, Pouncers and Carriers, it's tough to pinpoint how they were created. They could be wild Seran creatures that were heavily mutated by the Imulsion Counterweapon or the Swarm could've put wild animals in their pods to see if they would turn out different. The Scions are able to control the Swarm because they are all apart of a HiveMind. Since they have faced humanity before, it's only natural that they are the de-facto leaders for capturing them. However, the Swarm could've been active much earlier and could have gradually captured pockets of humans that were isolated from the main concentration that the COG was monitoring and only decided to show themselves when they had a sizable army 25 years after the war. I'm sure some supplemental material will shed some light on them soon enough.

** While Torque Bows do contain Imulsion, that supposedly is not why the arrows explode. According to Gearspedia, the tip of the arrow is laced with an explosive material (which seems to be separate from the Imulsion), which is also attached to a short fuse that causes the arrow to explode after sticking a target. Although it also says the arrows are '''Imulsion-fueled''', the properties of the gun go against this claim. There is a series of magnetic coils within the bow that apply motive force to the bolts. When the arrow is being primed, two other things also happen. There is a small motor within the bow that supplies rotational force to the bolts and the blades compress on the barrel to control tension on the motor. When the tension on this motor is released, the arrow fires. However, I could be wrong in that the "explosive material" actually ''is'' the Imulsion in the arrow. If that's the case, then what you are asking can be answered with a case of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Technically, the Torque Bows shouldn't explode, but they could still function otherwise. But, it's such a staple weapon of the series that it's easier to overlook a story element for the sake of RuleOfFun.

*** Gears Of War 4 just add to the confusion by having a level that takes place in a historic tomb that's supposed to be similar to "midieviel" age. Implying that humans been on Sera for awhile.

* So, Adam Fenix's superweapon destroyed all the Imulsion at the end of Gears 3, right? And Torque Bow arrows are tipped with Imulsion (that's how they explode), right? So, how are there still functional Torque Bows in Gears 4?

** This is quite a mouthful to answer, but I'll try to break it down. Basically, the Swarm are evolved forms of the Locust. Shortly after the Imulsion Countermeasure was deployed, the COG noticed that the Locust corpses became encased in a ridiculously tough crystalline structure, so they buried all of them deep underground. Juvies and standard Swarm troops are created when humans are placed into Swarm pods, but the Scions are the old Locust that busted through the crystalline structure encasing them. This explains why the Swarm mostly consists of just Juvies, the various foot soldiers (drones, hunters) and Scions. As for the Snatchers, Pouncers and Carriers, it's tough to pinpoint how they were created. They could be wild Seran creatures that were heavily mutated by the Imulsion Counterweapon or the Swarm could've put wild animals in their pods to see if they would turn out different. The Scions are able to control the Swarm because they are all apart of a HiveMind. Since they have faced humanity before, it's only natural that they are the de-facto leaders for capturing them. However, the Swarm could've been active much earlier and could have gradually captured pockets of humans that were isolated from the main concentration that the COG was monitoring and only decided to show themselves when they had a sizable army 25 years after the war. I'm sure some supplemental material will shed some light on them soon enough.

* So... everything about the Swarm. Where did they come from? Were ''all'' swarm specimens captive humans, and if so, what kind of animal evolves to be completely dependent on metamorphosing a completely unrelated creature in order to reproduce? How does pupation work, exactly -- are the Snatchers responsible for all the MeatMoss lying around? How are the Scions able to control them? How did the Scions survive Adam Fenix's anti-Imulsion weapon?

*** Loomis is shown to be a very by-the-book official and considers the Locust to be nothing but animals. Using something as dangerous and powerful as the Lightmass Missle is something that only people very high up in the chain of command would be allowed to approve or even consider, so a lower ranked squad like Kilo using it would be considered treason. Since Loomis doesn't take the Locust as serious opponents, he probably felt that the Lightmass Missle was way too much force to be used on such a trivial opponent. Also, given his by-the-book nature, he justifies in his own mind that dealing with traitors is far more important than some "animals" outside the courtroom.

* hey I'v got a great idea! lets have a military trial, even better, lets do it to the people who are currently dealing with the BIGGEST THREAT (this is pre RAAM) ensuring that threat isn't deadified to the max. what the hell?

** People don't always take the more logical courses of action when they're desperate and feeling like their back is to the wall.

*** Gears Of War 4 just add to the confusion by having a level that takes place in a historic tomb that's supposed to be similar to "midiviel" age. Implying that humans been on Sera for awhile.

*** There is also worth noting that Sera has different ethics from modern day Earth. What Dom saw was a woman who was broken beyond belief. He saw first hand that someone like Tai was DrivenToSuicide as a result of the 'processing'. Maria, a civilian, would have been far worse.

**** FridgeBrilliance: It didn't have to be Dizzy. The Locust had ''many'' prisoners, and evidence suggests that capturing humans is not actually new behavior for them. [[spoiler: For instance, Dom's wife had been missing for years before the events Gears of War 2, and she was malnourished to the point of skin and bones in addition to being tortured into insanity.]]

**** FridgeBrilliance: It didn't have to be Dizzy. The Locust had ''many'' prisoners, and evidence suggests that this behavior is not actually new. [[spoiler: For instance, Dom's wife had been missing for years before the events Gears of War 2, and she was malnourished to the point of skin and bones in addition to being tortured into insanity.]]

**** The 'Korean' names are actually native to Irohma, and Dominic Santiago,as well as Marcus and Baird, are of the Tyran ethnicity.