Why does everyone think...? *Major Spoilers*

That Dels death will be the canon One? Personally I think TC could pull off two campaigns for each guy as they are Microsoft’s 2nd child, but anyways even if TC goes by game data I believe majority will save Del, as a lot of new peoe got into gears from the gamepass and they have no reason to save JD as they have barely any attachment to him or Marcus, plus many die hard fans picked Del as well (enough for a good debate on these forums) including myself (although I like the JD living ending better). It is entirely possible that Del living will be canon. Is it for the better? That’s each person opinion, but I think that if for some reason they have to pick a canon one it could be Del just going off of data

The reason why is because of a number of things. JD is Marcus’s son, so that’s a strike in his favor. The cutscenes definitely show more from Del’s death than from JD’s in that the emotions are much darker, deeper. Not to say that JD dying doesn’t have an impact, but it just feels more deep, less rushed, more are affected by Del. More understanding is there.
Del, to me, wasn’t a very good character. He was just a comic relief shell and it was just, he was there.
Also, I don’t like the fact that TC made us choose in the first place. It breaks up the story telling if they were to go the route of two stories. Gears has always been a linear tale and it has been good that way. So, Del is the obvious choice for me just to continue the Fenix line and also becuase JD has a lot of growing up to do and a lot of character development.
Not saying Del couldn’t have had something, but his character just didn’t feel completely fleshed out. But that’s just my observation.

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See in game I agree, but I think when they look at the data to choose one if one has to be canon it’s gonna be Del that lives as with all the new players coming in had no reason to pick JD

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Basically this. If nothing else, saving JD gives the semblance of at least one character completing something that can be described as an arc in this game. Kait stops developing as soon as Act 2 ends, and since Del was mainly a support to her arc, there’s nothing left for him.

If JD lives, we see Marcus and his son finally connect after spending two games clashing with one another. If Del lives, it’s just everyone’s sad, JD dies randomly with no closure or answers for anything.

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I don’t think so just because that I picked JD, and more than a few that I’ve spoken to picked JD for the reason that they couldn’t do that to Marcus. He’s been through enough and there are more vets than new comers.
Marcus has lost his brothers, his dad, his mom, his wife. He deserves a break. He’s also the flagship of the franchise and to put him through the death of his only son would be a catestrophic heartache to endure.
Yes, I’m aware that it’s a fictional character, but I’ve been in Marcus’s shoes long enough that his suffering makes me so d^mn sad.
Also, to be frank, they’ve probably made the choice to keep JD anyway due to having it written. I really don’t think they would branch off two stories for something that’s linear and I really don’t think they’d choose Del over JD.
Again, IMO.

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I agree with the in game stuff, everything says JD will live and it’s better written if he lives imo, but TC obviously put the choice there to see fan interest and while they may have an idea, they can’t be 100% sure. So I think it could go either way if they look at the data

This.

The reason I picked JD is because I love Marcus to death, and also because, imho, JD is more interesting of a character than Del. He’s far from being the most interesting in the franchise, but but definitely beats Del.

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That choice is not going to be the most accurate because others, myself included, played both endings to see what the cutscenes would be like for both choices and completionism to have the whole game complete in that way. So they can’t 100% go by what we chose in game because it’s is highly inaccurate to what the playerbase really wants.
In essence, JD is probably going to be who TC chooses and the lame ‘choice’ will be null and void in the next game.

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Honestly I don’t see why everyone thinks they can’t do both, I believe they will get the funding to, but it’s really just a matter on if TC wants to commit and not be lazy about the choice in Gears 6

It’s not whether they can or can’t, it’s if they should. I honestly believe they shouldn’t when the whole entire lore and plot has been linear up until this point. Keeping it linear is the smart choice. It’s why I’ve been invested in the story this long. It’s why there are several books and comics and lore expanding things. Having a choice for each player destroys this.

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The problem is if they go that route, as in have two seperate stories to the game, how will that translate into the novels, comics, etc… Will they not mention/feature JD and Del anymore outside of the games unless the story revolves around pre Gears5? Will they start releasing different novels for different timelines/alternate universes? Or does it simply mean that they will stop releasing official comics/novels altogether?

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I’m a big fan of the Gears lore, and I picked Del. My reasoning behind it was that most of the game was spent with Del at that point, and I also thought we might be able to save JD, so the neck snap was a bit of a shock.
I did think, though, that the death of JD made for a better story beat. People are saying they couldn’t do that to Marcus, but I actually think it gives a better story, and gives a good set up for whatever they do with him in the next game.
JD’s death hits more people more deeply than Del’s, and that just makes things more interesting.
As for what happens in the next game, and how they continue the storyline, I figure that TC will probably have the other character die in the next game anyway, and that any future novels can be set post Gears 6, so that any grieving done by the characters can reference both of them.

The thing is even if they decide to kill off the other character sometime during Gears 6, there will still be that question on which one is the legitimate storyline. So even if say they decide to never write about their deaths in the books, those that follow the story to the T will still feel perplexed as to what is the official lore. Did JD die at the end of Gears5, or did Del?

I know that most Gears fans don’t care much for the lore or the books, but some of us do and would like to keep it consistent.

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This is why the ‘choice’ is such a bad thing in a lore and game that has always been linear. This isn’t fallout or elder scrolls or any other RPG where your choices actually matter. This is a linear progression and should stay that way.

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Oh I totally get it. I have all the novels, the comics, the survivor’s guide, etc. I am a big fan of the world they built up, and I know that they have now painted themselves into a corner.
Either they’re both canon and you have diverging timelines, which gets complicated and is a bad idea, or you choose one canon ending, and the playerbase feels cheated.
It was a bad decision to put that story option in, in my opinion, and the only way I can think of to minimise it from a future lore perspective is to have the other character die at the beginning of Gears 6, and the rest of them say things like how both Del and JD died so close to each other, and be vague enough that either way works. When you’re woolly like that, though, it just makes the storytelling worse, and feels like a cop out.
In all likelihood, whatever TC do from now on will feel like a cop out.

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Ah another reader. I guess we’re three now along with @OnyxCrimsonBlur.

I do hope they don’t go for the whole different timelines route as I feel it would just be too exhausting to keep up with. I would much prefer a single storyline, but I guess we’ll see.

I do agree that whatever they come up with, there will be some us that will be disappointed in the end. Oh well, we’ll see about that too.

It’s going to feel cheap if they don’t retcon it and choose the real ending that we have to deal with to keep the story linear. Putting in a choice in a game like this is just asking for trouble. Needless to say, JD probably will be the choice and that’s just going on pure feeling in the campaign and how much of an impact JD has over Del and how much more development he has as an overall character to the story. How much there is yet to learn about him that we haven’t yet.

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I posted about this in another thread, no matter who is chosen, the simple addition of making us choose is what I really don’t understand. Everything in the story up until that point made sense. This just (imo) didn’t add anything, I actually felt gross for having to make the choice.

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Whichever doesn’t get picked could maybe come back. I can picture the swarm infecting the corpse and semi infesting/resurrecting that person for their knowledge of their enemies tactics. Much like the Zerg from Star Craft.

Personally id rather save JD. I liked Del but JDs character had more development. He committed grave mistakes in the past and tries to make amends for them by learning from his mistakes.

It felt like everyone in the game, outside of Fahz towards the end, wanted JD to just go away.