War is a pretty obvious theme of Gears of War. After all, it's in the title. But this is more of the essence of war than the kind that any one in the West has ever experienced. Because the wars of Sera have lasted hundreds of years. There are people who's whole lives they have known nothing but war. Women don't work because they are needed to bare children because so many people have died in war. Food is rationed to the degree that the civilian population is starving in order to keep the army going. The COG is also part of this War theme. COGs and gears, these two things go together as pieces of a machine. This is the machine of war or by the Stranded's standard's the machine of oppression. This brings us to the next major theme in Gears of War.
Freedom isn't what people are fighting for in Gears of War. They are fighting for survival. While COGs know that the Locust take people hostage or kill them. Most others believe that the Locust just kill people. This is what the player believes in Gears of War, then in Gears of War 2 the Locusts were shown using humans for experiments and in work camps. Seemed to be a call back to the Holocaust and the Nazis. But similarly to some insurgents or conquered peoples in our world; most Stranded blame the COG for all the troubles of the world. But there is also the element an element of Stalinism to the COG. Either a person is with them or against them. While Stranded are usually tolerated; they are all ways considered as the other, the people who don't fit into what the life and the state require of them. It isn't a matter of freedom of choice; it's a matter of whether or not you are part of the problem or part of the solution. Its an extreme version of emergency procedures.
Brotherhood is the glue that holds the COG together. Without it, there is no respect and no sense of order within the COG. They have lost everything, their families, many of the friends, and in some cases any sense of normality that most of us would recognize. At one point in Jacinto's Remnant Cole realizes that he had only seen what most would consider normal life in paintings in the COG's capital building. This is the kind of thing that Brotherhood helps; it's easier to deal with a severely terrible life with the help of people you trust. Considering trust, usually comes with watching each others backs this means Brotherhood. This sense of comradeship may seem foreign to us or even comedic. But one must remember that if you lived in New York and then watched it sink into the ocean only to then live in a war torn ruin of a city; perhaps sticking together to the end with some friends might not be a bad idea.
Destoryed Beauty is also something that many people bring up about Gears of War. This is the idea that a beautiful place is destroyed and its remains are still beautiful. While some people would argue with the word beautiful here, I think I would perhaps replace it with compelling.
Destroyed Beauty runs through the entire series and can even be seen in the characters themselves. They are scarred, haggard, but in most cases beautiful. Not because of their physical beauty but because of their unshakable determination to survive. While this might not seem beautiful to some people; I think it is THIS that makes Gears of War so attractive to SO many different people. There are plenty of other reasons; but I think this is one subconscious theme, that makes us all really love Gears of War.
Finally, in the Gears of War series the main theme of course is that of Fathers and Sons. Marcus and Dominic have lost everything; until Marcus realizes his Father may still live at the end of Gears of War 2 and then again at the beginning of Gears of War 3. Dominic has lost his wife and family. Which is all about the other side of the loss Marcus is feeling. They are in many ways mirrors of each other. Marcus the Rock and Dominic the emotional wreck. There is much more to both of them than that, of course; but these are the themes that run through their characters.
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