Gears 5 Canon Ending: What the True Ending Is (Spoilers)

As you play through Gears 5, for the most part, you’ll follow the narrative that the talented team at The Coalition has laid out for you. You’ll embark on an adventure to uncover Kait’s family history with her and Del, and Delta Squad will reunited at particular points thereafter. However, towards the end, you’ll have to make a decision, which ultimately affects Gears 5’s ending. Here’s what Gears 5‘s canon ending, or true ending, actually is.

What Gears 5’s True Ending Is

Okay so before we dive much further into this, it’s worth noting that we’re basing this off our own opinion, and therefore, while we think it’s highly unlikely we’re wrong on this one, The Coalition could have different ideas.

The JD or Del Decision

We’ve already written a post guiding you through the big decision of JD or Del that comes in Act 4, and this is the key point where players will be split between the true, canon ending in Gears 5, and the ‘false’ ending for want of a better term.

Simply put, to get Gears 5’s true ending, you’ll want to save Del and kill JD when you’re given the choice by Queen Reyna.

Why Is This Gears 5’s Canon Ending?

As we said above, this is where things are open to interpretation somewhat. However, when playing through Gears 5’s story leading up to this decision, the game pushes the idea that JD’s kinda done some bad things in his past, and this is almost certainly his comeuppance.

In the first Act, a conversation between Delta Squad and Fahz reveals that JD was involved in one way or other with the deaths of women and children, which comes right around the same time he has a nightmare with his Hammer of Dawn plan, killing Lizzie Carmine and a truck-full of people.

Following the conclusion of Gears 4’s story which brought the likes of Baird, Marcus, and Cole into the frame, and focused largely on JD as the protagonist, Gears 5 instead brings the focus onto Kait, her relationship to the Swarm, and the growing ‘family feud’ so to speak between her and her mother.

As such, JD becomes less significant as a character the further Gears 5’s campaign moves on. Plus, Marcus and JD’s farewell right at the beginning of Act 4 where they say they’ll “see each other on the other side” almost kind of hints that they’re probably not going to.

Of course, this is just our interpretation. Do you agree with our thoughts on what Gears 5’s canon ending is? Let us know in the comments below.

For more tips, tricks, and guides, be sure to check out our ever-expanding Gears 5 guide wiki.