That’s news to some players, who are starting to discover various eccentricities about the series as they dive into Gears of War: E-Day, the latest entry. The unique Gears setting in particular is the basis of a crockpot fan theory as old as the series itself: that heightened in-universe gravity is why every character is so comically jacked. But according to lead creatives on E-Day, there is no truth to that theory whatsoever.
Gears of War takes place on a planet named Sera. Though it’s Earth-like in general composition, Sera is distinct in notable ways: It has two moons, days last for 26 hours, and years run an average of 440 days. Also, the center of the planet is hollow and home to a horde of mutants hellbent on the destruction of humanity. (E-Day explores the first day of said destruction.) So the theory goes like this: Due to the planetary characteristics, Sera must have a stronger gravitational pull than standard Earth gravity. (This would also explain why Gears of War characters can barely jump.) Since these higher-than-standard gravitational forces are constantly bearing down on human bodies, biology compensates by leading them to pack on ridiculous amounts of muscle mass.
I’m by no means a Gears of War lore scholar. But I’ve been playing the games on and off for two decades, and have never heard the games mention the Gravity That Makes You Jacked. Even trawling the various Wikis and official pages for Gears of War lore has turned up nothing to confirm or deny it.
Nevertheless, this theory stubbornly pops up in corners of the fandom year after year. You needn’t look far to find Reddit posts regurgitating it, often paired with the suggestion that Marcus, Dom, and all the other COG soldiers (or “Gears”) are simply just loaded up on steroids. The truth, at least according to Gears of War brand director Nicole Fawcette, is far more down to Ear- uhhh, I mean Sera: food.
Enough daily food to individually feed three fully grown adult human people. Sera is an Earth-like planet, but I don't think we've put any hard lore in terms of a gravitational field.” There’s another gap of logic in the gravity theory. What about the civilians?
If Sera’s gravity is supposed to explain why Gears have tree trunks for forearms, why are the regular people regular-people-sized? Wouldn’t they too walk around with traps like the Andes? Whether Earth or Sera gravity, Gears are subject to intense training regimens that put all 6,000 of those daily calories to work.
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