- "So you always have me with you... I love you, Dominic... Always, Maria."
- —Maria Santiago's note written to Dominic.
Maria Santiago (née Flores) was the wife of Corporal Dominic Santiago. A childhood friend of the Santiago Family and Marcus Fenix, she married Dominic shortly before giving birth to their first child, Benedicto, when they were both sixteen. They later had a second child two years later named Sylvia. Maria's children and parents were killed on Emergence Day by the Locust Horde. That event led to her depression and eventual self-exile.
Maria spent the remainder of her life with a Stranded group led by Stu. In 14 A.E., Maria and her group were captured by the Locust and taken to a labor camp where she endured extreme torture. After searching for ten years, Dominic found Maria at the prison camp only to discover that she was lobotomized and in a permanent vegetative state. Dominic was forced to euthanize her to end her suffering, which was something that he never recovered from.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Maria Flores was born in 21 B.E. to her mother and father and raised in the Imulsion township Mercy, Tyrus. The Flores were a prominent family in Mercy's history. The family patriarch was established in the area. Among their history in Mercy, the Flores' had their own family tomb in the graveyard at the local church.
Pendulum Wars[]
Bombardment of Mercy[]
In 9 B.E., Mercy was bombarded by the Union of Independent Republics (UIR) with mortar strikes. Maria and her family survived the bombings due to the town's many bomb shelters, but evacuated shortly after for their safety - except for her great-grandfather, who remained in Mercy.
The Flores family relocated to the suburbs of Ephyra, the capital of Tyrus and the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG). Maria and her parents lived two houses down from the Santiago family. Maria would climb the tree in her front-yard, which attracted the attention of Dominic Santiago, the youngest of the Santiago's. Dominic eventually introduced himself to Maria and the two became good friends, with Maria also befriending Dominic's older brother, Carlos, and their friend, Marcus Fenix.
Living in Ephyra[]
In 4 B.E., when they both were sixteen, Maria and Dominic began dating and became pregnant. Dominic, who after revealing the news to his parents, accompanied Maria in telling her parents about the pregnancy, Afterwards, the two went on a trip to Mercy to ask Maria's great-grandfather for her hand in marriage, to which he approved. Dominic revealed he had always planned on marrying Maria. Maria gave birth to their son, Benedicto, in Frost 4 B.E. He was named after his uncle's middle name. When Benedicto was born, Maria received a single pearl necklace from Dominic to celebrate the birth of their son.
Maria and Dom at the bar on Embry Square[2]
Maria spent the next several months with Dominic and Benedicto. The three moved from the suburbs of Ephyra to an apartment in Lower Jacinto. While Dominic worked as a mechanic to support his family, he quit his job and dropped out of school to enlist in the COG Army to better provide for his family, as well as follow the family tradition of being a Gear. Before Dominic left for basic training, Maria and Carlos went to a bar off Embry Square to celebrate. After Dominic went to basic training, Maria mostly took care of Benedicto by herself.
One year later, Maria was pregnant again with a girl. During her second pregnancy, Maria saw Dominic only once while on his leave for two weeks. Maria was woken up by Dominic in the middle of the night. She congratulated him when he presented her his commando knife, revealing that he had passed his training. The two spent the next week buying and building baby furniture for their expectant daughter, only for Dominic to be called back early from leave. Maria was promised by Dominic to be home before the baby was born.
Battle of Aspho Fields[]
- "She's right, you are one in a million."
- —Telling Dom what Anya said about him[3]
Maria went into premature labor the night before Battle of Aspho Fields, the battle in which the COG Army invaded Aspho Point in the Ostri Republic and obtained schematics for the Hammer of Dawn, an orbital beam weapon of mass destruction to help end the Pendulum Wars. Dominic received the message that Maria had given birth to a girl named Sylvia Carla, her middle name also in honor of Dominic's brother: Carlos had been wounded in action and sacrificed himself by blowing up a bridge to stop UIR reinforcements.
Due to their heroic actions Dominic and Marcus received the Embry Star, as well as Carlos, posthumously. Maria attended the ceremony and a formal dinner at a hotel with Dominic, Marcus, Anya Stroud, Eva and Eduardo Santiago, and Adam Fenix. After Dominic's parents left, Maria and Dominic chose to be home with the children. Maria told Dominic that she was not enthusiastic about the idea of a relationship between Marcus and Anya, who were clearly attracted to each other and went home together, saying that they would get into trouble as she was an officer and Marcus was enlisted. Dominic believed if they kept it to off-duty hours, they would be fine.
End of the Pendulum Wars[]
Dom and Maria renting their house.
In the next two years, Dominic spent more time with his family as the Pendulum Wars quickly came to an end. During that time, Maria's great-grandfather had died. He was later buried in the family graveyard, placed under an angelic tombstone. Towards the end of the war, Maria and Dominic decided to move from of their city apartment in Jacinto and into a house in the suburbs of Ephyra. Dominic found and rented an Ephyra residence, a two-story house, for him and Maria to create a new life with Benedicto and Sylvia in the new era of peace.
Maria and Dominic in the park with Benedicto and Sylvia.
By the end of of those two years, the Hammer of Dawn was used by the COG Army to end the Pendulum Wars, allowing Maria to be with her husband and kids together in their new home. During the six weeks of peace, Maria and Dominic maintained their family with outings, picnics, and playing in the park. Maria's parents had also decided to move from their residence after living near the Santiago family for nine years. During their move into the new apartment in south Ephyra, they brought in a stray cat as a pet. Benedicto expressed excitement about seeing his grandparent's new home and cat. With the war over, Maria's parents wanted to spend as much time as possible with their grandchildren. Wanting to have time alone with Dominic, Maria planned for her children to spend some time with their grandparents.
Locust War[]
Emergence Day[]
- "Dom? Dom? Dom you awake? I brought you breakfast! The kids are at my mother's, so we get the whole day to ourselves!"
- —Maria waking up her husband, Dom, on the morning of Emergence Day
Maria on morning of Emergence Day.
Six weeks after the end of the Pendulum Wars, Maria sent Benedicto and Sylvia to be with her parents for the day so she and Dominic could spend it together, surprising him with breakfast in bed.
Later that day, the Locust Horde, a race of subterranean creatures, emerged from the Hollow and invaded every major city on Sera, including Ephyra. In what would be known as Emergence Day. Dominic was ordered to report to duty, along with Marcus Fenix, in response to the emergence in Kalona. Within the initial attacks, the Locust killed a quarter of the planet's population.
During the attack in Ephyra, the Locust killed Maria's parents. Benedicto and Sylvia were swallowed by an Emergence Hole and fell to their deaths.
Aftermath[]
- "So you always have me with you. Don't let me go. Keep it in your pocket, please."
- —Maria giving Dom the photo of them so he has something to remember her by.
While unable to bury her children, Maria had her parents buried in the Flores tomb at Mercy. The deaths of the children and her parents devastated both Maria and Dominic. Maria was officially diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After attending counseling sessions, she was prescribed anti-depressant medication. Dominic was called back to duty during the Locust War, leaving Maria at home alone and exposed to news reports of the Locust incursions.
In the months following Emergence Day, Maria still grieved for her children. She developed a routine of cleaning their bedrooms followed by walks in the city. Sometimes going weeks without speaking or eating, she blamed herself for her children's deaths by having sent the kids to her parents that day - believing she let the Locust get them.
Several months after E-Day, Dominic cooked dinner for Maria and Marcus, which allowed him to show Marcus the extent of Maria's depression. Afterward, when Dominic was prepared to go back from leave, Maria found the photo that Carlos took of them at the bar in Embry Square. She signed it with a note on the back: "So you always have me with you. I love you, Dominic. Always, Maria." She gave the photo to Dominic and he promised to always keep it safe to remind him of her.
Hammer of Dawn Strikes[]
- "I need to find them. Bennie and Sylvie. I know I saw them. Just once, but they're out there, and they'll be so scared. I have to find them."
- —Maria stating why she needed to go after her kids died.
In Bloom 1 A.E., the newly appointed Chairman Richard Prescott announced that 90% of Sera was to be incinerated by the Hammer of Dawn. After the announcement, Maria was transported by Adam Fenix to Haldane Hall where he took care of her.
Following the announcement, Dominic came home to Maria but found the house empty, not knowing she had been taken to Haldane Hall. He worried that Maria had gone to tend her parents grave in Mercy, but Marcus was able to locate her at his home. They arrived at the Estate, and Dominic eventually got her to admit that she went on her walks because she believed that Benedicto and Sylvia were still alive and that she had seen them. Maria had blocked out the truth that her children were dead and would not listen to the truth by Dominic.
Days after the Hammer deployed, Maria risked her health to go outside to see the children again despite the event causing pollution clouds to blanket Ephyra and all over Sera.
Living with the Stranded[]
- "Hey, Santiago, what you doing here man? No news on the lady, I'd tell you if I heard anything."
- —Franklin, when Dom arrived at his outpost with Delta-One
In 2 A.E., Maria's depression led to her self-exile; initially going on one last venture to find her children, she ended up leaving entirely. Maria eventually joined a Stranded group led by Stu in Ephyra. Dominic began a search for his wife, asking the Stranded if they saw her using the photo she had signed for him, and employing Stranded and Gears friends to help search for Maria in their spare time. One such Stranded was Franklin Tsoko, the leader of the "New Ephyra" Outpost. Dominic deduced that Maria was likely well-cared for: she was not a fighter or survivor. Suffering from PTSD and depression, she was with people that loved her and took care of her.[2]
Maria venturing to Mount Kadar.
Dominic routinely visited Tsoko for updates on Maria, but she kept herself out of sight; by Gale 14 A.E., she still had not been found. The COG initiated the Lightmass Offensive, which involved bombing the Hollow with the Lightmass Bomb, hoping to end the Locust War. Dominic was part of the mission, but when air transport was no longer an option due to Nemacysts, Dominic led Delta-One to Tsoko's outpost to get Laverne, a scrapped APC with a ultraviolet light turret to help defend against the Kryll. Tsoko had no leads on Maria, but promised to keep looking. After a brief argument over the APC, Tsoko gave Dominic Laverne's keys and assisted Delta went on their mission to deploy the Lightmass Bomb.
After the COG launched the Lightmass Bomb in Timgad City, the Locust began sinking cities surrounding Jacinto and launching desperate raids on the surface against Stranded camps and COG Army bases. Due to the bomb evaporating the Imulsion, an epidemic of Rustlung began to infect the humans in the area. The Stranded, believing nowhere was truly safe anymore, began to camp underground in the Hollow, believing that it would be safer since the Locust were focused on the surface. Maria's group went under Mount Kadar to escape from the constant fighting, setting up camp in the ruins of a Locust city on the shore of an underground lake to wait for Stu's friend, Chaps.[4]
Capture by the Locust[]
- "Maybe she was with one of the other groups that came down before... Stu's group, I think. Ah, but Stu and them got captured."
- —Chaps, telling Cpl. Dominic Santiago about Maria's capture.
Maria's mugshot.
Maria lived in the camp beneath Mount Kadar for several weeks. Chaps and his people eventually arrived beneath Mount Kadar to join Stu's group. However, a Locust squad patrolling the lake had discovered Stu's group, capturing most of them - including Maria. They were taken across the lake to a prison camp on the Nexus Highway, near the dam. Chaps attempted to reach Maria and her group at the prison, but it was too heavily guarded; he barely managed to return to his camp on the shore due to the Leviathans in the lake.
Maria following her processing.
At the prison camp, Maria was put to extreme labor. For weeks, she was deprived of food and became emaciated. She experienced torture at the hands of the Locust, causing major scarring and physical damage. Maria was ultimately processed: a crude lobotomy performed by the Locust as a final form of torture for their prisoners. They placed Maria into a machine, cut into the tear duct of her left eye, and scraped away at her brain, inducing her into a permanent vegetative state and rendering her a mindless slave to the Locust Horde.
Due to the neglect, torture, and lobotomy, Maria developed multiple physical and neurological disorders such as ataxia, dystonia, nystagmus, bradykinesia, and ocular toxin deposition. While she continued to exist as a living being, she was no longer herself and suffered from lifelong, terminal diseases which she could not be saved from.
Death[]
- "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Maria... I love you, so much."
- —Dom's last words to Maria before she is euthanized.
Maria remained in her pod until the events of Operation: Hollow Storm. Dominic Santiago had questioned Chap's Stranded group, whom he and Marcus Fenix found in the caverns of Mount Kadar. Chaps informed him that Maria and the rest of her group were captured and brought to the prison camp on the Nexus Highway.
Maria's last moments.
After crossing the underground lake and arriving at the Nexus Highway, Dominic and Marcus located the prison and managed to find Maria's information and cellblock area in the Locust terminals. After eliminating the Locust guards and liberating the camp, Dominic and Marcus found her cellblock. After searching through the area, JACK located Maria's pod.
Dominic finally reunited with Maria, but in her vegetative state and showed no signs of recognition or reaction. Marcus consoled the distraught Dominic that it was "okay" and gave them privacy. Apologizing for not finding her in time, Dominic euthanized Maria by shooting her in the head with his pistol. Dominic took the single-pearl necklace that he gave her when their son was born and tied it to his own COG Tag before continuing with Marcus to Nexus.
Legacy[]
- "Maria... baby I'm sorry I couldn't bring you home. But you're with the kids now, that's home, yeah? I'll see you all again some day. Look, Marcus is busy saving the world again so, I gotta be there for him. Sleep tight, sweetheart."
- —Dom praying to Maria at the Flores Family Grave
Dom's re-worked tattoo as a memorial to Maria.
Maria's death took an emotional toll on Dom: his optimistic personality grew cold with a pessimistic outlook on life. Dom's friends gave their condolences and assured him that euthanizing her was the right thing to do, but Dom blamed himself for not finding her in time; believing she could have been saved, he felt that euthanizing her might have been a mistake.
Dr. Isabel Hayman believed that Maria had ataxia, dystonia, nystagmus, bradykinesia, and ocular toxin deposition, none which are curable; Maria was slowly dying and in a permanent vegetative state due to the lobotomy. She assured Dom that euthanizing Maria was the right thing to do and nothing else could have been done.
As time went on, Dom came to accept Maria's death, hoping that she was happy and loved when she lived with the Stranded before she was captured. Two years after her death, Dom still grieved for her and the actions that he took. He let himself grow a beard and took up tomato farming in order to care for something. To honor and remember Maria, he had his fellow Gear Samantha Byrne modify his heart tattoo into an angelic Maria cradling the heart with her wings. During this, Samantha grew a romantic attachment to Dominic, but he was unable to reciprocate the same feelings.
During the Lambent Invasion, Dom lived on the CNV Sovereign and tried to go on with his life. The Lambent began to attack the ship when Sovereign was entering Lambent waters near Hanover Coast. Dom was reluctant to leaving his crops and radishes as if they were his family. As the Lambent boarded the Sovereign deck, he was concerned for the well being of his tomatoes and crops. When Sovereign crashed, they ventured to Anvil Gate to decode the late Prescott’s disk that would lead them to Adam Fenix so that he could end the Lambent Pandemic.
After being tasked to get a submarine from the Endeavour Naval Shipyard to Azura, Dom suggested that they should get fuel from Mercy or Char: Sam was concerned about going to Maria’s hometown. Though emotionally broken, Dom assured her that he could handle it and they needed the fuel. When they arrived to Mercy, Dom began to remember Maria and visited the Flores family grave. He prayed to Maria that he was sorry for not saving her, but promised her that he would be with them one day, placing his COG tags and Maria's necklace on the grave.
When Delta got the fuel, they were cornered by the Locust and Lambent. Due to his emptiness without Maria and out of brotherly love for Marcus, he drove a truck into the fuel tanks to kill all Lambent and Locust in the area. Because of this Dom managed to save Marcus and Delta Squad, who were able to reach Adam Fenix and end the Locust and Lambent War. Maria's legacy ultimately encouraged Dom to save the world.
Personality and Traits[]
Maria was a loving wife.
Maria, typical of most parents, loved her children and husband: however, she also had an independent streak. When Dom was in the army, she wanted to take care of Benedicto and Sylvia by herself without her mother's help.
When her children are killed on Emergence Day, she suffered from PTSD due to immense grief. She was later prescribed anti-depressants with some revealing side effects: she would cry every day while she still cleaned the kids' bedrooms and went on walks believing that she would still find them, as well as going on without food or water for days. Giving into her loss, Maria left Dom and the safety of Jacinto in order to live among the Stranded, eventually leading to her being captured and processed by the Locust.
Quotes[]
- "Now, Marcus and Anya... I know it looks like a good idea to you, but those two will never last beyond tonight. Don't try to fix it for them. And she's an officer, he's enlisted. They'll end up on a charge."
- —Maria pointing out why Anya and Marcus could never be together .
Behind the Scenes[]
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- Maria Santiago was voiced by Courtney Ford.
- Maria's fate was based on Terri Schiavo, a woman who suffered from an irreversible persistent vegetative state following a heart attack that deprived her brain of oxygen. For fifteen years, Terri's husband argued for her predetermined decision to not remain on life-support. Her parents fought against her wishes and went to the Supreme Court to keep her alive. Terri was ultimately allowed to die and was taken off life-support in 2005. Maria's death served as Cliff Bleszinski's personal statement on her "right to death", which the debate focuses on an individual's right to elect to die rather than be forced to live with a debilitating condition.[5]
- Joshua Ortega revealed part of the storytelling purpose behind Tai Kaliso’s suicide was to set-up justification for Dom’s decision to euthanize Maria. Tai's death established that if the “indestructible” Gear could be broken by a few hours of Locust torture, Maria was beyond hope of recovery after weeks of torture. [6]
Appearances[]
- Aspho Fields (First appearance) (Appears in flashback(s))
- Last Day (Photo only)
- Barren (Photo only)
- One Day (Appears in flashback(s))
- Gears of War 2
- Jacinto's Remnant (Appears in flashback(s))
- Gears of War 3 (Photo only)
- Gears of War 4 (Photo only)
References[]
- ↑ Beneath the Surface
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedJREM - ↑ Gears of War: Aspho Fields
- ↑ Gears of War 2
- ↑ https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/635974096392716288
- ↑ https://twitter.com/joshuaortega88/status/1244679626699362304