Summary

  • Theron Guards are elite soldiers in the Locust Horde with powerful weapons and ceremonial armor.
  • The Coalition may leave out Theron Guards in E-Day since they were only revealed late in the first Gears of War game.
  • Theron Guards could return as a playable unit in E-Day's multiplayer, offering a glimpse of the mysterious rank.

Throughout the Gears of War series, players were introduced to a wide variety of hostile factions and their legions of soldiers. Each of these factions were broken down by complex hierarchies of combatants, from skilled warriors to tamed or unwilling creatures of Sera and its hive-like Hollows. These ranks helped distinguish each faction and ensured that violent encounters would be varied, complex, and memorable for players. With the return of the classic Locust Horde in the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day, the iconic Drones, Boomers, Wretches, and Corpsers are expected to torment fans once more. However, there’s one Locust rank that may be forced to stay on the sidelines for Gears of War: E-Day’s next-gen debut: the Theron Guards.

The Locust’s Theron Guards Explained

First introduced in the sixth chapter of Act 3 in Gears of War 1’s campaign called Tip of the Iceberg, the Theron Guards are the Locust’s elite soldiers and the highest standard rank a common Drone can achieve. The Therons are structured similarly to the COG’s Onyx Guards or the Elite Zealots in Halo as being some of the most rarely seen but hyper-lethal soldiers encountered on the battlefield. Unlike ordinary Drones, Therons are equipped with thick, ceremonial armor that immediately alerts both their fellow Locust soldiers and the COG of the power and lethality they possess. While this armor is intimidating, it provides little defense against bullets and virtually no defense against lancer chainsaw bayonets.

Given their superior ranks, Therons are equipped with a more varied set of weapons that are typically more powerful than the common hammerburst rifle most Drones use in the Horde. Therons can still be found wielding the hammerburst, but they are more commonly seen utilizing the explosive torque bow, butcher cleaver, and even the COG’s very own lancers. Therons are often assigned to defend critical, strategic locations such as the Nexus or will be sent out to acquire or destroy COG machines and personnel. They’ll also be found accompanying high-ranking Locust military and political figures such as General RAAM and Queen Myrrah as seen in Gears of War 3.

In a Gears of War 2 deleted scene, Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago disguise themselves as Theron Guards to infiltrate the Nexus following Maria Santiago's death.

The Potential Lack of Theron Guards in E-Day

Since Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago first encountered the Theron Guards 14 years after E-Day in Gears of War 1, The Coalition may be pigeonholed to keep the elite Locust out of E-Day. While Fenix and Santiago didn’t encounter Therons till the Lightmass Offensive, the Therons have existed among the Locusts since before their invasion on Sera’s surface, as seen in multiple Gears of War comics and books. Other COG soldiers would encounter the Therons a few weeks after E-Day, such as Damon Baird and Augustus Cole in Gears of War: Judgment.

The Coalition could retcon this encounter to have Fenix and Santiago encounter Therons on E-Day, but this might anger fans of the classic Gears of War trilogy, despite Therons being a relatively minor part of the game’s story. Instead, The Coalition could have the duo listen to a radio broadcast of other COG squads encountering unknown armored squads, hinting at the Therons without directly mentioning them by name. Therons may additionally be sidelined in E-Day due to a new emphasis on horror from even the meager Locust Drones, as The Coalition may want to make Drones horrifying without having to bring out the elite Therons.

Theron Guards in E-Day’s Multiplayer

Theron Guards may not appear in E-Day’s campaign, but they could still appear in the game’s multiplayer. Theron Locusts have already appeared in the multiplayer of Gears games when they don’t appear in the campaign such as Gears 5. The Coalition could have players reach a high rank or earn a high number of kills while playing as a Locust to unlock the Theron Guard in multiplayer. This could make fans of the Theron Guards in Gears of War: E-Day pleased while intriguing new players to the series to try and find out what this mysterious rank of Locust is by playing the rest of the Gears of War games.

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Gears of War: E-Day Tag Page Cover Art

Gears of War: E-Day
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Third-Person Shooter
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Systems
PC-1 Xbox-1
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Developer(s)
The Coalition
Publisher(s)
Xbox Game Studios
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Franchise
Gears of War
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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The Story of E-Day
Fourteen years before Gears of War, war heroes Marcus Fenix and Dom Santiago return home to face a new nightmare: the Locust Horde. These subterranean monsters, grotesque and relentless, erupt from below, laying siege on humanity itself. New Foundations
Built from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5, Gears of War: E-Day delivers unprecedented graphical fidelity.

Genre(s)
Third-Person Shooter