Gears of War: E-Day Officially Debunks 20-Year-Old Fan Theory

2 hours ago 13

Published Oct 9, 2026, 3:00 PM EDT

Ari Notis is deputy editor of games at Polygon, where he oversees the gaming section. Previously, he was Polygon’s guides editor. Prior to joining Polygon, he was a reporter at Kotaku, the popular gaming site, and a senior editor at the lifestyle publication Best Life. He also served in various editorial capacities at various Hearst publications, including Esquire, Veranda, and Metropolitan Home. Ari is one of the people who still play Halo Infinite on a weekly basis. There are dozens of them!

The Coalition talks planet fitness

Did you know that Gears of War isn’t set on Earth? 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.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of that,” Gears of War: E-Day art director Aryan Hanbeck told Polygon during an interview at Gamescom 2026.

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. So much food. Enough daily food to individually feed three fully grown adult human people.

Dom and Marcus hold weapons in Gears of War E-Day

“There's references in the books that they eat like 6,000 calories a day and stuff like that,” Fawcette said. “I think that's probably more in line than the gravity. 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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“[Gears are] carrying the burden of the armor as well. They're in this giant tank-like armor, so they're always gonna be a bit bigger than everybody else,” Fawcette said. “That’s the charm of Gears, that character design. That’s something we wanted to maintain.”

“We always think that the Gears are a little bit larger than life,” Hanbeck said. “Like if a Gear walked into this room, we'd be like, ‘Oh my God.’ So, you know, we want them to feel a little more jacked. [...] It's part of the mystique.”

“We’re debunking the gravity,” Hanbeck added.

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