15 Iconic Final Shots Of Beloved Video Game Characters

14. Dom Santiago - Gears Of War 3

In the dude-bro, meatfest that is the Gears Of War saga, Dom was the ever present sidekick to main character Marcus Fenix and acted as the avatar for a second player when playing the co-op campaign. As a character, he was a voice of reason, a calming influence over Fenix and the others and would usually break up any internal hostilities between the main characters. Dom also had one of the saddest plot branches, spending most of the second game searching for his wife, only to find her tortured and abused by the Locust beyond recovery. In a heartbreaking scene, he is forced to kill her in an act of devastating mercy. But it's not until he is forced into a corner in Gears Of War 3 that Dom has to make the ultimate sacrifice. The whole group are pinned down with Lambent forces converging from all directions, and death looks to be certain for the COGs. However, Dom takes control of a truck, ordering the group to jump to safety while he drives straight into an Imulsion pipeline, killing himself but saving his squad and his friends. Dom's sacrifice changes the whole tone of the game, with Fenix especially, massively affected by it. The heart-breaking sight of a devastated Dom calling up to Maria was a rare moment of tenderness and emotion in a series that is rampant with testosterone and action. The use of the instrumental version of Mad World (if you remember, the Gary Jules version was used for the ad campaign for the first game) seals the deal as a scene of enormous emotional power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEq0oV21tHI