Kraken

Kraken
Biographical information
Homeland	Vasgar
Date of birth	Unknown
Date of death	Frost, 42 A.E.
Physical description and appearance
Species	Swarm Kraken (Formerly)
Length	576 feet
Body color	Black and red carapace with sandy skin
Chronological and personal information
Era(s)	Prehistory Swarm Invasion
Notable Facts	Extremely aggressive Extremely powerful Extremely durable
Weapons	Mass Swarm Leeches Beak Tongues
Affiliation	Swarm Hollow Creatures (Formerly)

"What the hell is that?!"
"Oh that? Just an old friend of ours!"

—Sgt. Clayton Carmine and 1st Lt. Fahz Chutani during the Battle of Old Ephyra

The Kraken was a massive burrowing creature that came under the control of the Swarm in 42 A.E. presumably through mindjacking via Leeches as a Flock exist within the tentacles of the Kraken.

Like the Riftworm, the Kraken was a naturally-occurring mega-creature that had evolved in the crimson deserts of Vasgar in Sera. In the post-Locust War era, legends of the Kraken's existence in Vasgar had attracted interest among Coalition of Ordered Governments scholars, such as Lenard Shiff.

During the Battle of Old Ephyra, it was slain by JACK using the Hammer of Dawn at the cost of his own life. It is unknown if there are more of these Krakens or whether the one that was fought was a unique specimen.

History

Prehistory

The Kraken had made itself a creature of legendary status in its native homeland of Vasgar. Long thought to be a mythological creature, the Kraken stayed elusive to the Vasgari despite its massive size and was believed to be an ancient prehistoric hyperfauna that laid dormant for an unknown period of time. Unlike the Riftworm, the Kraken's elusiveness meant that it was not aligned with the Locust Horde and was overall neutral, like a wild animal. However, through reasons unknown, a Kraken was brought under the Swarm's mind control after the Locust War.

Appearance at OZP-11

The Kraken's maw

As the UIR had several Hammer of Dawn satellites prepared prior to the end of the war, Delta Squad was assigned to find the rocket containing the satellites and the firing beacons needed to home in on them. With the rocket prepared and beacons obtained, they fired the rocket and made their leave as it was launching off. The Kraken then emerged, attempting to crush the group and stop the rocket from being fired. Delta Squad managed to escape the platform by shooting the spiracles on its tentacles, which caused it to loosen its grip on the platform, though several Swarm Leeches were released as a result.

The Kraken's mass brought the platform down, and it attempted to ram its way in. Delta Squad managed to hold off its assault by shooting its tongues, and it feigned a retreat, only to attempt to ram its way in again. After being repulsed a second time, it rammed again, though one of its tentacles caused a hatch to fly loose. The rocket then ignited for takeoff, burning the Kraken and allowing Delta Squad to escape.

Demise

The flames did nothing to affect the Kraken, and the Swarm used it to spearhead their assault on Old Ephyra. It appeared to have killed Augustus Cole after severing his construction mech in half, although Cole managed to survive. All conventional COG weapons could not damage the beast, and it consumed several Onyx Guards with its tentacles as it neared the wall. Kait managed to slightly wound it by firing a charged railgun, ripping off one part of its beak. The Kraken then attempted to suck everything in, but this attempt was repulsed when its tonsils were damaged. Kait then attempted to have Baird use the Hammer of Dawn to level it, but he refused to do so as without beacons he would kill them and level half the city.

JACK, knowing that there was no other way to stop the massive beast, overrode Baird's firing controls and turned himself into a targeting beacon. Flying into the Kraken's maw, JACK fired the Hammer of Dawn with himself as the target, destroying the Kraken who suffered a direct hit from the weapon.

Behind the scenes

• The Kraken is the final boss of Gears 5, succeeding General RAAM, the Lambent Brumak, the Tempest, the Hive Beast, and Shibboleth from Gears of War, Gears of War 2, Gears of War 3, Gears of War 4, and Gears of War: Judgment respectively.
• The Kraken gets its name from the legendary sea monster.
• The Kraken is the only known being directly killed by JACK or any of his model. During the Second Battle of Azura, JACK helped stun enemies for Delta to kill, but never directly killed anything himself. Though Troy was used as a targeting beacon for the Lightmass Missile in the Destruction of Halvo Bay, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Locust, he was acting under orders unlike JACK who was acting of his own volition.
• The average teeth of a Kraken is roughly 6 feet in length, the same as the Leviathan. As such, one can estimate and calculate its length to be roughly 576 feet, or 175.5 meters.
• It is highly likely that the Kraken was mind-controlled by a Leech swarm, as Leeches appeared to burst within the Kraken itself and have mind-altering abilities as shown from Leech-hijacked DeeBees. Given that the Kraken did not take part in either the Pendulum Wars or the Locust War, and had existed long before the Swarm was a thing, this theory holds credence.

Appearances

• Gears 5 (First appearance)

References

Human and Surface Creatures
COG
Chairman · First Minister
DR-1 · Gears (Commando, Hivebuster, Medic, NCOG Marine, Onyx Guard, Sapper) · JACK (Geobot) · Shepherd (Command Bot, Deadeye) · Silverback (Mechanical Loader) · Tracker (Shock-Bots, Shock Tracker) · Watcher (Guardian, Sentinel)
UIR
Premier
Indies (Cosmonaut, UIR Elite, UIR Officer, Sandswept Trooper)
Surface Creatures
Ape · Armored Fish · Armored Shark · Beast of Pahanu · Cat · Chicken · Cattle · Crow · Dog · Goat · Horse · Iron Jaw · Kraken · Mawfish · Monkey · Pig · Rat · Rock Eel · Salmon · Sand Wasp · Scree-Mite · Serano Blowfish · Serano Cephalopod · Serano Lobster · Serano Shark · Tyran Steelpike · Unidentified Mammalian Carnivore · Wakaatu · Whale Fish · Whale