u/Jedi-Spartan

For context, the KX Droid was busy beating up a Scout Trooper...

I know it's FAR from a hot take to say that I hate the decision to have Anya die between games but having played them all through in order ahead of E Day, it's downright insulting (which I'll get to at the end).

By the time of Gears of War 3 at the latest, she deserves the main cast title as much as the rest of 'Classic' Delta Squad does, and yet she's the only one confirmed to have died offscreen... even Hoffman is still around and with Bernie it's only implied from what I've seen, with that implication only existing because she and Hoffman are both already old veterans by the time of the Gears of War Trilogy. Technically Dizzy is also absent from the new era but I don't recall any lore confirming it in Gears of War 4/Gears 5.

At least with other character deaths in Gears that you may feel are either unnecessary or shouldn't be/have been done, it can be argued that they show the cruelty and pointlessness of war but Anya's doesn't even apply to that. All it does is rob the story of potentially interesting character dynamics, prime example being how the "You two are more alike than either of you want to admit." line would've made much more sense if it were Anya (who's known Marcus for most of his adult life/career as a Gear) saying it to JD instead of Kait (who as far as the games are concerned could've only known him for a week if not for the fact that her headaches were a known concern to the squad)... then again, since Sam Bryne is relegated to being a taxi driver in the new games, Bernie is nowhere to be found and Lizzie Carmine gets the most narratively justifiable case for the Carmine Curse, Gears 5 was obviously playing favourites among the female Gears and I'll leave the issue there.

However, even worse than the decision to have it happen at all is how uninterested the writers seemed to be in actually dealing with its consequences. Yes, whenever she's mentioned in even a vaguely related context, Dimaggio makes sure that you can hear the impact Anya's loss in Marcus' voice but most of the lines feel vague enough that they could've been retooled to still be included if she were alive by the time of the new games. Not just that but in Gears of War 4, if you don't go to the mini cutscene of JD visiting her grave at the start of Act 2 (which I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of players missed), then the dialogue that most directly acknowledges her death in the game is completely skipped over. Obviously Gears of War is known as the franchise where the characters chainsaw monsters in half while yelling profanities so I'm not expecting multi minute long cutscenes dedicated to the fact but the Trilogy not only manages to have hard hitting emotional moments but also balance the characters' personal issues/stakes with the world ending stakes its campaigns are known for.

The one cutscene that even feels bothered enough to deal with the concept is the Marcus and Jinn conversation in Gears 5/Act 1. Particularly with Marcus seemingly using up all the 'diplomacy' in that side of the conversation by giving Jinn a chance to sidestep the shitstorm she was about to step into with her useless attempt of trying to guilt trip him into agreeing with her by mentioning Anya, then later cutting straight through the BS and making it clear that as far as he's concerned, Jinn acted like she saw more value in Anya as a symbol and figurehead than as a person... but then it's back to the Gears of War 4 approach for the rest of the game once JD and modern Delta Squad enter the room.

If the decision was just down to behind the scenes issues such as Nan McNamara only being available for however long it took to record her Prologue and Multiplayer dialogue then all they needed to do was either not put Anya in the Prologue to allocate the required recording time to adding her to the reunion with Baird and Cole towards the end or add a line explaining why she's absent from the game while still leaving it open for her to appear in the next game.

I decided to save the impact it has on Marcus for last because I largely dislike it from the perspective of Anya herself and not just how she relates to Marcus. Firstly, when you look at the situation in the context of the novels... it gets even worse and I feel angry on behalf of both characters. As shown with parts of Aspho Fields' flashback plotline that actually deal with the Battle of Aspho itself and some of the 'modern day' chapters of Jacinto's Remnant: they've had feelings for each other that they're mostly unable to act on for 19 years by the time of Gears of War 3/the end of the Locust War. However, even with them getting married, how much time would they have actively been able to spend together with Anya being busy leading the effort to rebuild the COG while Marcus chose to remain on the Estate rebuilding it as a way of handling his grief/PTSD? That part specifically I don't have issue with in relation to what I'm about to bring up since after everything he's been through, Marcus deserved at least some time worth of peace before the next big conflict.

Based on dialogue from Baird and Cole's reunion with Marcus, it seems like Anya died about a decade before the new games start and he basically goes no contact even with his friends aside from times when he needs something, like asking Baird to keep JD safe after his defection from the COG. Meanwhile things also spiralled to the point where his connection with his son at adulthood is an even worse version of where things were at with his dad at a similar point in Marcus' own life. By the time of the new games, the only thing that brings Marcus out of his retirement is the realisation that the Locust may be back and that his son's generation is about to go through the same living nightmare he, Dom and Delta Squad all had. Yes, that would still mean that Marcus and Anya had 15 years together which isn't insignificant - or wouldn't be insignificant IRL - but not only does it ruin Anya's last lines of the Trilogy, it still feels like a narrative betrayal of Adam' last wish for Marcus and the others in Gears of War 3 (specific lines will be added in the comments), especially when Baird and Cole seemingly get to live up to it in the new era.

I know the jump from the end of Gears of War 3 to the new era isn't the most obvious example but a) it will hopefully at least delay the online shouting matches and b) it may genuinely be the one I hate most.

Also specifically regarding the next generation sequel version, are there actually any good examples of the trope?

I'm not sure if this got discussed more when either Gears of War 4 and Gears 5 were releasing but something I've picked up on - whether all of it was intended by the writers or not - was how similar certain parts of Marcus and JD's lives were. I could just be seeing more meaning than intended, it's happened before with franchises I like. Also this is from the perspective of someone who has only had a chance to read the first 3 books (plus lore videos) as far as my knowledge of the expanded media goes.

* Things between father and son start out distant, emotionally for Adam and Marcus (and probably a status quo for the Fenix family for generations) while seemingly just literally distant for Marcus and JD with Marcus spending most of his time on the Stroud Estate even when Anya was First Minister.

* Brotherhood level bond between son and his best friend. Carlos/Dom for Marcus and Del for JD (at least with how the writers were trying to portray it).

* Mother disappears/dies and things become even worse between father and son to the point that they're basically estranged by adulthood. Even if this was an intentional similarity in the new generation Gears games, I still HATE that the writers had Anya die offscreen... but I've got enough thoughts on that to rant about it in its own post.

* Against the father's wishes, the son joins the COG. In this regard, I feel Marcus would've had more personal reasons than Adam did and just wasn't able to communicate them properly: specifically that while he could see his son's viewpoint, he didn't want JD to go through the same type of pain he did when Carlos and Dom died, especially with Carlos given how different his reaction is compared to any of the deaths he goes through in the games.. I could be misinterpreting the scene but when Marcus tells Adam that he's enlisting as a regular Gear, Adam's arguments were largely formed from things he wish he had said when in his own equivalent to that conversation or regrets from his time as an officer.

* This one is definitely unrelated but even the Locust/Swarm start to attack the surface at similar points in their lives.

To divert from this topic to Gears 5's campaign, Act 1 makes it seem like the character side of the plot is going to be based around Marcus and JD's father/son relationship. Marcus' side of the brief argument he and JD have after returning from Azura (or at least the start of it) feels like he's trying the most direct path of getting through to his son. Given the situation of the rising threat of the Swarm - along with most of Marcus' own life experience - the most useful way of getting through to him would be treating him as the Gear he's wanting to be and trying to get him out of the 'just hope for the best' mindset he has when improvising so that he wouldn't end up like the many Gears who had preventable deaths that Marcus saw throughout his time in the Locust War (and likely the last years of the Pendulum Wars). On a similar note, it seems like the Marcus' choice to leave tactical decisions to JD (in both games) is an attempt to rebuild his leadership confidence after it may have been shaken by the initial events at Settlement 2 (the obvious/non gameplay example being the deployment into Settlement 2 during Gears 5).

Along with this, Marcus' reasoning for rejoining the COG despite his long standing distrust for both Old and New COG is likely because he believes that if he and the 'old guard' of Delta Squad can get stay ahead of the situation enough then they may be able to stop JD's generation from going through the same horrors that the survivors of the Locust War had done and that having the COG's resources would be the most direct way of achieving that.

With the 2 versions of the Gears 5 ending, I will acknowledge that in isolation Marcus reacting to JD's death is well handled. Especially with the subtle difference in how he asks where JD is compared to Del: it sounds much more like his mind is jumping straight to worst case scenario no matter how much he tries to avoid it when he notices his son is missing and the mournful version of "Goddammit James" makes it sound like he initially thinks his son died doing the type of stupid stuff that he'd been trying to train out of him rather than it simply being down to bad timing or the no win choice Kait was forced to make. However, the context means I'll never choose it: not only has Marcus already lost everyone who has ever understood him the best but he's also lost the one person left who could. While he still has Baird, Cole and others who he fought the Locust/Lambent alongside, I've never gotten the (intentional) sense that any of them could understand him the same way Anya or the Santiagos could.

On the other hand - and circling back to my initial point - ever since reading the novels for the first time, it's felt like the outcome where Del dies turns the scenario into JD's version of Aspho Fields: while yes, having seen other Gears die in battle, but the time when it's someone he's known almost his whole life and in a situation where he could easily blame himself for it. It's also something that I head canon that Marcus is reminded of and so - despite knowing when to mourn battlefield losses - moves to comfort JD and give him a chance to emotionally vent so he could refocus on the ongoing battle long enough to get through it which feels more emotionally unique for Gears of War than just "Quick, we need an emotional moment, get rid of a character Marcus Fenix cares about!"

Then what's the first thing Marcus does when the dust settles during the last cutscene? He goes to check on his son, just like he did for Dom multiple times after (and even before) Maria died in Gears of War 2, the only difference being that the same instinctive understanding isn't there between the two, which could also be why for both their sakes, Marcus makes sure to look his son in the eyes to make sure he can keep going in the previous cutscene. With this new loss unfortunately being the best thing to bring them back together since Marcus knows both what that sort of pain is like and what it takes to get through it (along with the well meaning things that WON'T help).

Also there's the writing side to consider: as far as what's set up in the preexisting games, JD has more potential directions to go as a character, even if things are considered healed with him and Marcus (eg: he may easily still feel the need to define himself separate from Marcus reputation and Anya's legacy) whereas Del is largely there JUST as the best friend to both him and Kait, unlike Dom in the original games who had his own clear character arcs.

Specifically in regards to the ones that have only appeared a few times (instead of the ones that are basically confirmed already through their inclusion in all the other games like the classic Delta Squad armours)?

In particular the end of Dom's death cutscene and just how defeated Marcus sounds at the end of Gears of War 3.

Also on a similar note, the fact that there wasn't a moment like that after Cole was defeated by that Swarm monster in Gears 5 made me immediately guess that the cutscene would be a fakeout death.

As far as the games are concerned, Marcus is presumably homeless right?

I've seen it as a gif but it doesn't seem to be from any of his Dark Eyes stories (at least not featured in any of the trailers) nor is it from The Two Masters.

It's always felt odd given how E Day was only a few weeks before the battle of Halvo Bay and the Locust were able to coordinate a full scale invasion against most if not all cities on the planet simultaneously and cause billions of Human casualties within a single day. Then within a year, Prescott believed that the situation is so hopeless that widescale Hammer of Dawn Strikes were the only practical option of preventing or at least delaying Humanity's extinction.