JD Fenix



James Dominic Fenix, also known as "JD", is the main protagonist of Gear of War 4. He was a former Gear soldier and the son of the legendary Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud. He met Delmont Walker in boarding school in one of the restored Coalition of Ordered Governments' walled city-states during the post-Locust War era, and together they joined the COG militia. A classified incident caused JD and Del to go AWOL and seek refuge among the Outsiders, where he later on befriended Outsider Kait Diaz.

Early Life
JD was born to Marcus Fenix and Anya Stroud on the Stroud Estate sometime after the Locust War, far from the walled confines of sanctioned COG territory. From a young age, he was surrounded by stories of his parents, both of whom were war heroes who helped bring about the end of the war. Augustus Cole and Damon S. Baird, Marcus' former squadmates, played a part in JD's upbringing. Despite some idyllic early years of childhood, such as when he watched Marcus plant a tree and carve his initials onto it, JD's rebellious nature put a strain on his relationship with his father.

At some point, JD was sent to an elite boarding school in New Ephyra, where he met Delmont Walker, a ward of the state. Although they were both loners, and for different reasons, they had a woundedness in common and became fast friends. Before long, Del was accompanying JD back to the family estate, and had become a practical member of the Fenix family.

Joining the COG and estrangement
Upon graduating, JD announced that he would be enlisting in the COG as a Gear. Marcus objected, having withdrawn from the new COG when they proved more interested in authoritarian control than civic-minded rebuilding. This proved to be the final straw between father and son, as JD ran away from home and Marcus washed his hands of him. Marcus had seen JD only once in the five years leading up to the Swarm Crisis—an encounter that did not go well.

Accompanied by Del, JD entered an officer training program and reached the rank of Lieutenant when he caught the eye of First Minister Jinn, who selected him and Del to lead a unit of security DeeBees. However, a classified (and disastrous) incident left the both of them deeply disillusioned with the new COG; wanting to leave, Del convinced JD into going AWOL with him, an action that made them enemies of the state. The pair eventually wound up in an Outsider village, led by Reyna Diaz.

Raiding Settlement 5
Approximately six months after they left the COG, JD and Del took part in a raid on Settlement 5, a COG settlement under construction, with the objective of stealing a Fabricator for Outsider use. Along with Kait and Kait's uncle, Oscar, the small team survived a Windflare and successfully breached the settlement's perimeter, however shortly afterward ended up with a prolonged skirmish with the settlement's DeeBee security force.

Defending the Village
After escaping from Settlement 5 with the help of an unknown benefactor, JD and his squad returned to the Outsider village with the Fabricator, just in time to hold off a heavy assault from the mechanized forces of COG First Minister Jinn. Jinn accused the Outsiders of abducting COG citizens, and soon declares that the Outsiders are starting a war they cannot hope to win. After a violent battle which left large parts of the village in flames, JD and Del attempt to fix the Fabricator which had sustained damage during the battle, with Kait watching guard. Shortly thereafter, the village is attacked by unknown creatures, with JD, Del and Kait being spared only through the heroic actions of Kait's mother Reyna, who was abducted along with all the other Outsiders. Before her abduction, Reyna was able to remove the hand of her attacker. JD later found and studied the strange hand, harvesting one of the crystal growths on it.

Battle Across the Estate
Desperate to get her mother and friends back, Kait pleads for JD and Del to help, and after a short debate between the group, Del suggests that JD knows someone who might have an answer to who abducted the Outsiders. After a short horse ride, the group find themselves at JD's home and endures a tense first meeting with JD's father, Marcus Fenix. Shortly thereafter, COG forces assault the estate, and JD assists in defeating the initial wave of DeeBees before Marcus reveals some family heirlooms; JD and Del's COG armor, his own COG armor, and the armor of JD's mother, Anya Stroud, gifting it to Kait. The group then battles across the estate, enduring many waves of DeeBee assaults and a Windflare before finally escaping on two MULE bikes that Marcus had stored there. During their escape, JD drives one of the bikes, with Marcus riding on the back and helping to bring down a Vulture gunship. This leads the COG to seemingly abandon its pursuit of the fugitives.

Lost Ally, New Enemies
Having been spurred into action by the strange crystal harvested at the Outsider village, Marcus leads the group towards an abandoned Osmium mine that had been used as a mass grave for the Locust bodies following the events of the Second Battle of Azura, which had encased the Locust bodies in strange, unbreakable crystal cocoons. The mine was located beyond the abandoned Fort Reval, an ancient fortress city that had existed during the Silver Age of Sera, and had been a popular tourist destination before the Locust War where the COG used it as a medical facility. During their investigation, the group is stalked by an unknown creature while encountering strange red pods, within one is the remains of a COG citizen. Soon after, Marcus is abducted by a Snatcher, and before they can rescue him, are attacked in force by the Swarm. Fighting off waves of Juvies, Drones and Pouncers, the group tracks the Snatcher through Fort Reval's stronghold and then through its catacombs, eventually reaching the abandoned osmium mine, with JD and Kait sharing a quiet moment, and Kait feeling guilty over involving JD's father.

Rescuing Marcus
JD and his friends battle their way to a massive ore transporter. Before boarding it, Del speaks to JD, saying that the group has no idea what is at the bottom of the mine or what the Swarm even is. JD said he trusted Del when he chose to leave the COG months earlier, and asks Del to trust him now. Del agrees, boarding the transporter and utilizing it to reach the bottom of the mine, having to employ numerous static defenses from an onboard Fabricator to combat the incoming Swarm. Once at the bottom, JD and the others continue to search for Marcus, who is their only lead to what might be happening. Over the course of the prolonged battle within the mine, it is discovered that the Locust were not actually wiped out by the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon, instead merely entering a hibernation sleep state and evolving into the Swarm. After many violent encounters with the Swarm, the group finds Marcus' pod and releases him, initially assuming that he was dead before the old soldier gasped back to life. Marcus tells the group that while he was within the pod, he was connected to the Swarm's hive mind, and that while most of the Outsiders were dead, Kait's mother was still alive in another burial site. Kait immediately proposes the group assault the new Swarm nest. JD, Del, Kait and Marcus then escape from the mine on the destroyed transporter's cables. After escaping, Kait angrily lashes out at Marcus when he proposes a detour for backup instead, due to the much larger size of the second site. Refusing to wait, Kait, JD and Del charge off into the night, with Marcus reluctantly following.

Doubling Back for Backup
The group reaches an old COG damn, built before the discovery of Imulsion, which seems to be the only entrance to the new burial site. After several encounters with the Swarm and a Windflare, JD and the team have to make several detours through the dam, engaging the Swarm while Kait and Del repair the dam's subsystems. When the group braves a vicious Swarm assault and a much more severe Windflare, they discover just how massive the second Swarm nest is, and Kait begrudgingly relents to Marcus' plan to call for backup, helping to shunt power to a large communication station in the nearby town of Speyer, which they then proceed to. On the way, they encounter the massive Swarm commander that attacked the Outsider village and had abducted Kait's mother. In the ensuing battle, the group battles a Swarmak, a horribly disfigured variant of the Brumak, and Swarm reinforcements. Finally defeating the massive creature and restraining the Swarm commander, Kait angrily declares to the Swarm's hive mind that she is coming to destroy their entire nest, before brutally executing the Swarm commander with a curb stomp. The group then proceeds on their way to Speyer.

After a brief, mostly peaceful encounter with First Minister Jinn at the outskirts of Speyer, JD and the group fight through both Swarm and DeeBee forces to the communications array, finally securing it and then tasked with using a Fabricator to defend it. After successfully holding off a massive Swarm counterattack, the backup that Marcus had called for arrives in the form of Damon Baird, Augustus Cole and Samantha Byrne, the former members of Delta Squad. During the reunion, Baird reveals that he was the one who originally saved JD, Del, and Kait during the raid on Settlement 5, as he is the CEO and creator of the DeeBees, and that he brought more than just ammunition. Baird reveals two large assault mechs, Jack Jnr. and Second Betty, along with air support from an old King Raven, piloted by his wife Samantha. Soon the group heads out, with JD and Kait manning the mechs as they head back to the dam.

Mechanized Assault through Tollen
Their trek back through the dam takes the group through the abandoned and sunken city of Tollen, where JD and Kait have little trouble mowing down the Swarm hostiles in the much larger and more powerful mechs. They even fight off several Swarmaks with little difficulty, eventually encountering an immense Swarm creature at the site of the main nest. After an intense fight which leads to the dismemberment of the huge creature, JD, Kait, Del and the former members of Delta Squad regroup at the main entrance to the nest.

Kait's Reunion with Reyna
Soon after entering, Kait's excitement turns to horror as she find her mother Reyna biologically entombed within Swarm biomass with no way of freeing her. Reyna awakens from a trance-like state and tells Kait that if she is freed, she will die, and asks Kait to kill her. JD and the others leave so Kait can farewell her mother.

Afterwards, Kait makes her way out of the nest and tearfully embraces JD. Afterward, Kait shows the assembled soldiers the medallion that her mother had given her; it had belonged to Kait's grandmother, whom Kait had never known. Although on the front side, the medallion was ornate and decorative, on the back side, unbeknownst to the group, the medallion was shaped as the icon of the Locust Horde.

Del declares that it is beautiful.

Personality and Traits
Unlike his father, JD Fenix is an idealist who wanted to live his life with a purpose. JD is very loyal and protective towards his friends and family, leaving the COG with Del simply because he trusted Del's judgement about the COG and wanting to cover Del's back, as well as comforting Kait during their mission to find her kidnapped mother. JD had a strained relationship with his father Marcus Fenix partially due to Marcus' displeasure at JD for joining the COG and possibly other childhood issues. Despite their differences, JD cared for Marcus deeply and raced to find his father when Marcus was captured by a Snatcher. As a soldier, JD is a natural leader much like his father, easily calming down his teammates and sticking to the objective despite seeing his father getting captured.

Trivia

 * JD is a playable multiplayer character for the COG in Gears of War 4, and has six unlockable character skins, excluding his Armored skin: Color Blast, Day of the Dead, Festive, Outsider, Vintage, and Zombie. His Festive skin is only available in the Gearsmas Gear Pack, his Vintage skin is only available via the Vintage VIP Pack in the Season Pass, and his Zombie skin is exclusive to a Totino's Pizza Rolls promotional bonus.