Index
The Lambent
A form of mutated Locust that were created from too much exposure to Sera's Imulsion. Lambent are usually nicknamed as "glowies" due to the fact that they're always giving off a yellow glow similar to what's seen with the Imulsion substance. Unlike the Locust, things that turn Lambent are much more stronger, violent and give off Imulsion explosions when they're killed. They even use the same weapons, armor and technology as the Locust, which makes them all the more dangerous. Gears of War 2 reveals that the Locust have actually been losing an underground war against the Lambent, which forced the Locust out on "Emergence Day" to try to take the surface from humanity. The situation only gets worse by the time of Gears of War 3 where the Lambent situation reaches a critical point that puts the entire planet in jeopardy. Underground Lambent Stalks being to pop up onto the surface to kill everything that's still living. Adam Fenix later reveals that the Lambent is actually a parasite that lives within the Imulsion, and has been the main cause of the planet dying.
- Always Chaotic Evil: They're mutated monsters who kill anything in their path.
- Beneath the Earth: The Lambent primarily starts off underneath the planet battling it out against the Locust since that's where the Imulsion resource is at. By the time of Gears of War 3, they're taking over the surface after being dropped off from the Lambent Stalks that pop out of the ground.
- Body Horror: The Lambent bodies mutated by Imulsion exposure look quite disgusting.
- Civil War: Subverted Trope. It seems that this is the case in the fight between normal Locust and Lambent in 2, but 3 makes clear that the effect is more along the lines of a concurrent Zombie Apocalypse.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Many of the different Lambent mutations give off an Imulsion explosion after they're killed.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Lambent didn't have a huge role at first, but the first signs of Imulsion exposure in the first Gears of War is seen amongst the Locust Wretches that took over the Lethia Imulsion Facility.
- Evil Versus Evil: When it's Lambent vs. Locust.
- Expy:
- They're basically the Flood from the Halo franchise.
- The fact that it's a potent energy source that also serves as The Corruption makes it similar to Phazon from the Metroid Prime Trilogy.
- Grows on Trees: Lambent Stalks that pop up from the surface drop off Lambent creatures to battle it out against any nearby living organism.
- In-Universe Nickname: Members of the COG tend to call them "glowies" due to their yellow glow from the Imulsion exposure.
- Kill All Humans: Not just humans, but they kill all Locust in their path as well.
- Made of Iron: Similar to the Locust, they are very tough to bring down.
- Make Way for the New Villains: They take over as the main threat to humanity in Gears of War 3 from the Locust, who's numbers have been greatly reduced by this point in the story.
- Mêlée à Trois: The Lambent will gladly attack both the COG and Locust if all three factions are in the same battlefield.
- Mutants: They're Locust creatures that get mutated from too much exposure to Imulsion. By Gears of War 3, it's revealed that humans have also started to go Lambent.
- Non-Malicious Monster: The Lambent don't seem to be intelligent enough to have any actual malice toward anyone they fight. However, this doesn't make them any less dangerous, as they are essentially a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Puppeteer Parasite: What the Lambent are. The parasites living within the Imulsion take over the bodies of the living organisms they invade into, and turn them into a Parasite Zombie.
- Parasite Zombie: Lambent are basically zombies created from the parasites that live in the Imulsion after they've invaded into nearby living organisms.
- The Reveal:
- It's revealed in Gears of War 2 that the Lambent have been slowly taking over the Locust's underground home, which is why the Locust breached the surface to try to take the planet from humanity.
- It's revealed in Gears of War 3 that the Lambent are actually parasites that live within the Imulsion, and that it's these parasites that get into the nearest living organism, and results in them turning Lambent.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: In Gears 3's campaign and Horde mode, you can get Lambent enemies to start sending their bullets towards the Locust rather than you if you position them so that a Locust ends up shooting them. In fact, the Lambent Berserker will usually take out several Locust for you while making its way towards your team!
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Those who turn Lambent lose all intelligence, and basically become just mutated monsters that kill anything they come across.
- Toxic Phlebotinum: Imulsion, which is the primary fuel source on Sera, is actually the infectious agent that causes lambency.
- The Virus: The Lambent are formed amongst Locust and people that expose themselves too much to Imulsion. It's revealed by Adam Fenix in Gears of War 3 that the Lambent is actually a parasite that lives in the Imulsion, and invades into the bodies of living beings, which returns in them turning Lambent.
- Was Once a Man: They were once Locust, and they were once Humans.
Lambent Mutations
The mutated form of a Berserker. It isn't as invulnerable as it used to be due to the Imulsion infection, but the Lambent variant now has many more methods to attack the enemy other than just trying to charge and rip people to shreds. The Zerker acts as a mid-game boss while Delta Squad are at Anvil Gate.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Has Imulsion spots on the body that can be shot at to deal actual damage to the Zerker without having to use the Hammer of Dawn.
- The Berserker: Still lives up to its name as an unstoppable force-of-nature.
- Boss Battle: Acts as a mid-game boss for the second chapter of Act III.
- The Bus Came Back: Berserkers were nowhere to be seen throughout the entirety of Gears of War 2, but finally returns in Gears of War 3 as one that went Lambent.
- Deadly Gas: During the fourth stage of the fight, the Zerker will leave behind a deadly Imulsion gas.
- Ground Pound: Has a ground slam attack once the Zerker fight reaches the second stage.
- Lightning Bruiser: Charges around trying to smash any enemy along the path.
- Nerf: Locust Berserkers in the first game were completely invulnerable other than getting lasered by the Hammer of Dawn. The Lambent variant has Imulsion weak spots that can be shot at with normal guns to eventually kill it.
- Sequential Boss: The fight goes through 4 stages where the Zerker changes tactics each time enough damage is dealt to him.
- First stage is the Zerker charging around and attacking normally.
- Second stage is the Zerker attempting to slam the ground.
- Third stage is the Zerker leaving behind an Imulsion trail whenever it charges.
- Fourth stage is the Zerker leaving behind an Imulsion fog along with the trail whenever it charges.
- Unique Enemy: The Zerker only appears once in the second chapter of Act III during Gears of War 3.
The mutated form of a Brumak. A Lambent Brumak mutates into a massive and grotesque creature, and is strong enough to be invulnerable to all attacks other than the satellite strikes from the Hammer of Dawn. The Lambent Brumak acts as final boss of Gears of War 2.
- Big, Bulky Bomb: After the loss of their Lightmass Bomb to sink Jacinto, Marcus gets the idea to use the explosion of the Lambent Brumak to sink the city.
- Combat Tentacles: Several burst out from it's back while it mutates.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Brumak's mutation looks really grotesque and alien-like compared to the other Lambent mutations. One probably wouldn't be able to guess that it spawned from a Brumak upon first look.
- Final Boss: Acts as such for Gears of War 2.
- Immune to Bullets: Only the Hammer of Dawn can deal damage to it.
- Orifice Evacuation: Played horrifyingly straight, during its' mutation a new eyeless fleshy head forces it's way out of the Brumaks mouth, with the original heads skin and teeth becoming a grotesque "collar" around its neck.
- Stationary Boss: Due to being stuck in a pool of Imulsion, the Lambent Brumak does not move from its location as Delta Squad flies their helicopter around the creature to kill it.
- Transformation Horror: Players actually get to witness a normal Locust Brumak mutate.
- Unique Enemy: The Lambent Brumak only appears once at the end of Gears of War 2 as the Final Boss.
Mutated Drones that act quite similar to their Locust counterparts. They still use a wide variety of weapons as the Lambent's front-line forces.
- Eyepatch of Power: While it doesn't actually provide power, one of the Lambent Drone's eyes is now covered up with an overgrown skin patch.
- Mooks: Just like their role in the Locust Horde, the Lambent Drones still act as the basic front-line fighters.
The next Lambent evolution of mutated Locust Drones. Drudges are slow moving, but are powerful and can be deadly at close-range. They also have 3 special mutation abilities that they can use during battle.
- Close-Range Combatant: The Arms mutation grants the Drudge long claws that turn it into a powerful close-range fighter.
- Elite Mooks: They're the next evolution of Locust Drones with much more health, and the ability to perform different body mutations that help them in combat.
- Enemy Summoner: The Leg Stalk mutation allows the Drudge to call upon Lambent Polyps to help with the fight.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Headsnake mutation turns the Drudge into a snake-like creature that shoots out Imulsion similar to a flamethrower attack.
- In-Universe Nickname: Some COG soldiers tend to call then "fucklimbs."
- Suicide Attack: Upon death, Drudges will purposefully charge at the target to try to take down the enemy in one final Imulsion explosion.
- Transformation Horror: During battle, Drudges have the choice of using 3 special mutations to try to prolong the fight: Headsnake, Arms and Leg Stalk.
- Headsnake transformation is a dying Drudge turning its head into a snake creature that can shoot a stream of Imulsion out of its mouth like a flamethrower. When the Drudge is killed, the Headsnake separates from the body and continues fighting on its own.
- Arms transformation is the Drudge's 2 arms growing to become long and claw-like that grants it a significant boost at close-combat.
- Leg Stalk transformation turns the Drudge into a taller tree-like creature similar to a small version of a Lambent Stalk that increases its health and defenses while firing its weapon, and being able to summon Polyps to help with the fight.
Mutated Humans that have gone Lambent. It was once believed that humanity was immune to the Lambent virus, but the Lightmass Bomb going off at the end of the first Gears of War resulted in a large amount of Imulsion evaporating. This left a deadly vapour in the air that affected humanity to the point of developing a sickness called "Rustlung," which was the opening for humanity to go through the first stages of turning Lambent, such as a having a fever, headache, and muscle pains. Those who were exposed up close to the Imulsion, such as the workers at the Imulsion mining facilities in Mercy and Char, were amongst the first humans to finally turn Lambent, which they became known as the Formers.
- Death Seeker: At least some of them appear to still have some amount of their sanity left, since you can hear them begging for the player to kill them and end their suffering as they try to rip you apart.
- Jump Scare: The first Former that Delta Squad comes across in Mercy acts as a jump scare reveal to the player.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Humans that turn Lambent lose all intellect, and act like the basic zombie seen in any other game series that just charge at their enemies. Only this time around, they're glowing Lambent yellow.
- The Reveal: As seen in the Imulsion mining facilities at Mercy and Char, a large enough exposure to Imulsion was finally enough to make humans turn Lambent. Humans were believed to be immune to the Lambent virus, but that turns out to not be the case by Gears of War 3 due to the spread of the "Rustlung" virus in Gears of War 2 that opened the way for humans to start turning.
- Zerg Rush: As the basic zombie of the Lambent, they simply charge at enemies in many numbers.
Mutated Boomers that have gone Lambent. Unlike their Locust counterparts, Gunkers perform a lot differently to be considered their own thing. Gunkers are tough to take down, and their methods of attacking is to either fire bombs of Imulsion from long range, or to get in close to perform a massive cleave attack.
- Big, Bulky Bomb: Gunkers are so massive that they might as well be considered massive bombs. Their death explosion is much greater than the other Lambent creatures.
- BFS: One of the Gunker's arms wields a massive cleaver that deals huge amounts of damage if it manages to strike someone up close.
- The Brute: Their role in the Lambent army is to act as the powerful big guy that's tough to bring down.
- Close-Range Combatant: They're quite deadly at close-combat given their giant cleaver.
- Giant Mook: The massive combatants for the Lambent forces.
- Grenade Launcher: The Gunker's long range method of attacking is to fire Imulsion bombs towards the enemy, which performs very similar to a grenade launcher.
- You Will Not Evade Me: Their massive cleaver arms will still down you even if you're behind cover.
The mutated form of a Leviathan. The massive sea-creature being infected by the Lambent allows for it to shoot out Polyps to attack nearby enemies. The Lambent Leviathan acts as the primary enemy of Gears of War 3's first Act when it attacks the Sovereign naval ship that the COG were using to survive on.
- Attack Its Weak Point: When Marcus' ship team gets close to the Leviathan's head, they shoot at its Lambent weak points, which is its eyes and mouth.
- Boss Battle: Marcus' ship team distract the main part of the Leviathan using a couple Silverback mechs that were stored in the ship. While distracted, Cole Train's team on the mainland come up with a solution to kill the Leviathan from their end.
- Combat Tentacles: The Leviathan's tentacles are seen destroying the Sovereign all around as Marcus and company try to make their way through the ship as its being torn apart. It's tentacles also play a part in the Boss Battle.
- Enemy Summoner: Can bring out Polyps to attack nearby enemies.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Suddenly appears out of the water to attack the Sovereign naval ship when it enters Lambent controlled waters.
- Unique Enemy: Only one Lambent Leviathan ever appears. Marcus and company fight the same one thorughout Act I of the third game.
Basic forms of the Lambent that appear as small six-legged crab-like creatures. Polyps are usually seen popping out of the Lambent Stalks, and mutated Drudges.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Polyps take the form of small crab-like creatures.
- Mini Mook: The weakest of the Lambent forces, but also appear the most.
- Zerg Rush: Due to being the smallest and weakest of the Lambent, they're usually seen attacking the enemy in packs.
Mutated Wretches that act quite similar to their Locust counterparts where they charge at their enemies to attack at close-range.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Lambent aren't the biggest threat in the first Gears of War, but the first signs of Lambent mutation is seen in Act III at the Lethia Imulsion Facility. These Lambent Wretches have a different appearance
that still appears to be more Locust-like, which implies that these Wretches might be in the early stages of turning Lambent. - Le Parkour: They leap around the battlefield to attack their enemies.
- Zerg Rush: They're weak and small in size, which they make up for my rushing the enemy in packs.
