Borderlands: Maliwan / Characters

Spoilers Off for games prior to Borderlands 3 as well as for spoiler characters that are marked as such. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

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"Isn't it time you take your weapons to the next level? Sure, old-fashioned slug throwers have served you well in the past, but so did Bologna sandwiches. You've grown. Your tastes have changed. They've refined. It's time you had a gun that evolved with you and didn't feel like a family heirloom. Maliwan believes in honoring the past by embracing the future. Every Maliwan weapon is designed by the skilled technicians in our bleeding-edge laboratories to pack as much elemental punch as possible. Our staff of artisans crafts each weapon to look as good as it performs. Maliwan offers a full line of pistols, shotguns, rifles, and rocket launchers to fit every style. If it's not elemental, it's not a Maliwan."

Headed by the Katagawa family, the Maliwan corporation focuses on weapons for the sophisticated intellectual (IE, hipsters). As such, they focus on elemental damage with sleek design elements. Maliwan lasers increase in damage as the trigger is held, and Maliwan barrels turn lasers into beams. Maliwan shields continue the trend by either emitting an elemental nova when depleted or retaliating against melee attacks with elemental spikes, while their grenades contain the much-valued Transfusion effect, healing the user whenever they damage an enemy.

In Borderlands 3, their guns gain the ability to switch elements on the fly at the cost of needing to be charged up. They have also allied themselves with the Children of the Vault as part of company heir Katagawa Jr.'s war on Atlas.

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In general/The brand

Abnormal Ammo: Maliwan "ammo" seem less like actual bullets and more like firing energy balls at enemies.
The Aesthetics of Technology: Maliwan weapons look like what Apple might produce with access to hyper-advanced technology, albeit significantly more colorful. When in doubt, look for diagonal stripes of white, black, blue, and orange.
- Their weapons in Borderlands 3 lean even heavier into this, looking almost like they came from another galaxy.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: As of Borderlands 3, they've started sending a massive army of soldiers and robots to invade the newly built Atlas territories to usurp them. By the time the Vault Hunters arrive, the city is littered in Maliwan forces.
Awesome, but Impractical: Sure, the fancy light effects and elemental damage of the weapons in Borderlands 2 look nice, but it all comes at the cost of actual damage per shot, rate of fire, bullet speed and, in the case of pistols, extra ammo consumption. Most players just use a Maliwan gun to slag things^*and even that much is in question, as few Maliwan slag guns beat the Bandit legendary Slagga before switching to a more powerful weapon for the actual killing. They do become more practical in True or Ultimate Vault Hunter mode, though, with the increased relevance of Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, but even so most of the time it's more effective to use a high quality elemental weapon from someone else that has better firepower to exploit it. The Pre-Sequel does give them a leg up with lasers, since Maliwan lasers increase in damage over time while being fired.
- Borderlands 3 alleviates this problem a bit by allowing some their weapons to harness two elements at the same time, which lets their users switch to which element they'd prefer to have at the moment. However, this came at the cost of requiring most of their weapons needing to charge before firing.
Charged Attack: In 3, most of their guns need to be charged up in order to fire.
Crippling Overspecialization: Maliwan guns do one thing: elemental damage. On enemies that can't be hit by such an effect, or ones that resist what should ostensibly be their elemental weakness (such as a badass fire skag), Maliwan Weapons can't really do much of anything. At least shock doesn't suffer any damage penalties against non-shielded enemies.
Deliberately Bad Example: They're this towards Hyperion as the resident "Evil Corporation to beat the crap out of". While human Hyperion employees are Punch-Clock Villains who only fight out of survival or to follow orders, Maliwan soldiers are of the Card-Carrying Villain type. Handsome Jack has an ego, flaunts it every time he gets the chance, has killed a few influential characters, and has genuine, if misguided, affection for his daughter. Katagawa Jr. also has an ego, one that falls a bit short, murders all but one of his siblings just to inherit the company, and is swiftly thwarted by the Crimson Raiders early in the story.
Elemental Weapon: All Maliwan weapons are elemental with high elemental effect damage and Damage Over Time proc chance.
Everything Is An I Pod In The Future: While they're far more colorful, Maliwan guns all have sleek curved designs and are clearly inspired by Apple consumer products.
Family Business: Maliwan is evidently run by the Katagawa family, though the family has been severely trimmed after Katagawa Jr. killed his siblings in order to move up the line of succession.
Hufflepuff House: Until 3, very little detail was given about Maliwan as a corporation.
It's All About Me: Maliwan's corporate culture is that everything is about the people at the very top of the food chain, and that everyone else exists to serve them. Their corporate branding presents their customers as being superior to everyone else precisely because they use Maliwan tech, and Katagawa Jr. repeatedly talks about how no one else in any corporation matters but the executives, and employees are completely expendable. An employee orientation manual on Skywell-27 explicitly says that the menial employees are only slightly more valuable than the wood used on the Zanara's floors and that the workers should avoid trying to sample any of the executives' food or luxuries unless they want to be driven to suicide or, even worse, feel hope.
Letter Motif: Perhaps you have picked up on their preference to put "P" names and prefixes on all of their rocket launchers. Except for that one in The Pre-Sequel. ^note
Life Drain: Maliwan grenades in 2 and TPS explode and release homing projectiles which touch and damage enemies, spawning a healing projectile that returns back to the player.
Non-Elemental:
- Curiously, there are game files for Dummied Out Maliwan weapons without elemental properties. There are even prefixes, such as "Technetronic" for submachine guns.
- In The Pre-Sequel, there is exactly one Laser weapon with no element which also happens to be a Maliwan Weapon, the E-Gun. However this is a weird case as the E-Gun is explicitly modified to kill Ghosts, which might be why it has no element (the elemental capacitor being tampered to harm ghosts instead).
- In 3, we have the Mind Killer, a legendary shotgun that spawns with no element.
Replacement Flat Character: Would become the next Atlas & Hyperion equivalent in 3 as the resident antagonistic corporation. However, they're not as well-developed and become quickly ousted by the time the first vault is opened save for one more late-game appearance due to their army being defeated in the battle of Promethea and their CEO being killed in battle.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Maliwan naming conventions usually give their names verbose and over-elaborate names such as "SubMalevolent Grace" for their basic SMGs or "Florentine" for sniper rifles. Jack mocks them in an Echo Log in Opportunity and Torgue PR loathes the very idea.
Sighted Guns Are Low-Tech: Averted. All Maliwan weapons have decent iron sights, and their scope accessory on submachine guns and pistols is a holographic reflex sight. They only have true-to-form scopes for sniper rifles and rocket launchers.
Sociopathic Soldier: Most of Maliwan's military is made up of this, with their armies invading Promethea and Athenas virtually relishing in the death and mayhem they're inflicting. Looking closely at the Maliwan troops and listening to their voices indicates that they're largely bandits just like the Children of the Vault, only working for Maliwan instead of the Calypsos. Most notable are the Traunts, a rather numerous family of psychopathic Heavy Troopers obsessed with screaming their names, committing warcrimes and avenging fallen family members.
Spectacular Spinning: The magazines of their pistols, rocket launchers and high-tier submachine guns spin when fired and reloaded, and in the latter case, also spin (but more slowly) when idle. There's no known purpose for that except to make them look cool.
Starter Equipment: An Electrified Aegis is Athena's starting weapon in a new game in Pre-Sequel. Because it's a Maliwan, it's the only starting weapon that can spawn with an elemental capacitor.
Starter Villain: Became this in 3 when much of the early-game focus was on beating back Maliwan from their assault on Atlas and Athenas. After Katagawa is killed, much of the conflict returns back to the Children of the Vault, although a Maliwan fleet under the command of General Traunt somehow managed to end up on Nekrotefayo.
Stuff Blowing Up: The Norfleet in 2 is an E-Tech rocket launcher that fires a volley of explosive orbs of energy with a blast radius so massive that everything in front of you will more than likely get blown away by it - including yourself if you're not far enough. Unless you're using The Sham shield with a high absorb chance, in which case, you'll get some free rockets.
Unorthodox Reload: The "iPod" aesthetics means that changing mags looks more like swapping a battery. In all cases, the Tron Lines on the gun have to first flicker on for it to be usable.
- In SMG's, it's done depending on the rarity level. For white and green ones, you swipe a finger on the side of the receiver for a perfectly form-fitting magazine on the side to drop out, then put a new one. Nicer ones (blue and above) have an external circular magazine that is cranked upon insertion. In both kinds, if the gun's reload speed is low, the Vault Hunter will give the magazine a slap to insert it properly. In 3, a new magazine type that looks even more like a battery is inserted from the top of the gun.
- In sniper rifles, the trick is to pull the barrel down to break open the entire frontal half to get to the magazine sitting in the center of the receiver. In 3, another magazine type has you pull it out from the top along with the scope, putting another one back in like a cassette tape.
- In rocket launchers, the set of three barrels near the muzzle are pulled out, and another is inserted and does a little spin for good measure.
- For pistols, the guns are styled after revolvers with their battery packs where the cylinder on an actual revolver would be. They are flipped out and another is slapped in sideways.
Villain Team-Up: In 3, Maliwan have allied with the Children of the Vault for the sake of expendable goons in Katagawa Jr's war against the Atlas corporation. A sidequest reveals that Katagawa fully intends on betraying the Calypso twins, which leads to the dissolution of the alliance after Atlas leaks said info to the public.

Individuals

Naoko

A civilian that attempted to get out of the city by disguising as an Atlas soldier, but was captured by Tumorhead as a hostage. She is a member of the Katagawa family and attempted to escape Katagawa Jr.'s attempts on her life.

Cain and Abel: While we do not know if Naoko is evil or not she seems to be much better than the nasty piece of work her brother, Katagawa Jr., is.
Damsel in Distress: Strangely not because of her secret, but because Tumorhead mistook her for an Atlas soldier.
Developer's Foresight: You'll most likely meet Naoko before fighting Katagawa Jr., but if you do rescue her after killing him the Vault Hunter will blurt a line on how they've already "put a bullet into his head" surprising Naoko.
Defector from Decadence: She's actually the last surviving heir of the Katagawa family. She wants to get away from her crazed brother and is willing to part with a family heirloom for being rescued from Tumorhead.
Hidden Backup Prince: Since Katagawa Jr. offed all of his many siblings, and he inevitably gets killed by the Vault Hunters, Naoko is essentially the last heiress to Maliwan alive, but she goes into hiding after being rescued. What will become of this only time will tell.
Mission Control: Solely for the "Proof of Wife" quest. She instructs the Vault Hunters on how to act in order to save her skin.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Decides to make a run for it even if you had killed Katagawa Jr. before rescuing her and informed he's dead.
Shock and Awe: The reward for saving her is a unique Maliwan Shock-elemental Sniper Rifle: Soleki Protocol. And it's not a coincidence said weapon is useful against her little brother. When she told you to "put a bullet in that dickbag's head" she meant it.
Unluckily Lucky: She manages to survive Katagawa Jr.'s attempt on her life only to get caught by an insane Child of the Vault member thinking she's an Atlas soldier.
The Unreveal: Nope, she doesn't take the helmet off. She does let you know she's a Katagawa, though.
Vocal Dissonance: Female Atlas soldiers are nothing new, but still, hearing Naoko gentle voice while she's wearing the standard Atlas Crimson attire feels a bit off.

Katagawa Jr.

Favorite Son (By Elimination)

Voiced by: Christopher Wehkamp

"You should've joined the family, Rhys!"

The Head of Maliwan Mergers and Acquisitions and heir to the corporation, who has a personal interest in Rhys.

Abhorrent Admirer: According to Zer0, Katagawa has an obsession with Rhys, hence why his war against him has him insisting that it's just a 'friendly' quarrel between two corporations.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Katagawa Jr. is waging a massive takeover against the newly rebuilt Atlas to merge all their assets into Maliwan. As he puts it, once he's done Maliwan and Atlas will be 'One big titanic family'. Then he sends an all-out attack on the Atlas HQ with the sole intention of burning it to the ground instead of assimilating it.
Ambiguously Gay: Katagawa's interest in Rhys has some strongly romantic undertones to it. It's never fully gone into detail, though.
Ambition Is Evil: Despite already being very wealthy and well off, he just decides that Maliwan needed to grow much more and starts by having his siblings murdered by Tyreen.
Arc Villain: Of the Promethea storyline.
Big Bad Wannabe: He likes to think he's biggest threat in the galaxy. But his pettiness, smugness compared to the influence, and Siren powers, of the Calypsos makes it rather clear who is more dangerous.
Big "NO!": His last word before he explodes.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: Actually downplayed... Since he's not fighting on home ground and on Atlas HQ rooftop, but really, standing on top of the generator transformers is a really stupid idea for Junior.
The Bully: He spends most of the first trip to Promethea creepily harassing Rhys and belittling the Vault Hunters and Rhys' employees. During the raid on his Kill Sat he ramps up these tendencies while destroying places that Rhys loves with said Kill Sat to torment him into signing the surrender papers. Also like most bullies, he can't take what he dishes out and becomes panicked when Rhys and the Vault Hunters successfully hijack his Kill Sat and aim it at the Zanara, begging them much like Rhys did with him not to destroy something he loves. Naturally when his pleas fall on deaf ears he reacts much more viscerally than Rhys' quiet sorrow.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Junior doesn't have allies. He has minions, murder victims, and soon-to-be murder victims who are still useful for the moment. The player gets to trigger an Enemy Civil War when they leak audio of what he plans to do to the Calypsos to the Children of the Vault.
Climax Boss: Katagawa is fought on the roof of Atlas HQ to save Rhys from him, to end the Maliwan siege on Atlas, and for the final piece of the Promethea Vault key.
Contractual Boss Immunity: When fought personally he will heal from any damage-over-time you apply to him whenever he teleports to upper ground.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Run of the mill as far as the series goes. In fact, Katagawa outright says that Corrupt Corporate Executive behavior is considered the norm for how Borderlands MegaCorps work.
Deadly Euphemism: "Partying on [his] pleasure yacht". It inevitably leads to the unfortunate invitee dying horribly.
Dirty Coward: Will do everything in his power to avoid a direct confrontation with the Vault Hunters. Even when the time does come for his boss fight, Katagawa will never confront you directly, preferring to send copies of himself to attack you while the real one takes potshots at you from atop one of the nearby radio towers.
Doppelgänger Attack: During his boss battle he loves to split into several clones.
Evil Is Petty: Oh good lord. He spends a large amount of time destroying Rhys's favorite things, such as a bagel stand, a frozen yogurt stand and Rhys's favorite theme park, Lazy River Land. He also had his siblings murdered because his father liked them all more and said they would be important heads in Maliwan, with Katagawa coming last. The fact that his sister Naoko escaped the slaughter pisses him off to no end. To add more pettiness to his list, the password for his database is simply "naokomustdiepainfully".
Expy:
- He's this game's successor to Handsome Jack as the resident smug, brutal Corrupt Corporate Executive, although he's a cocky Spoiled Brat rather than a corporate apex predator with a hero complex.
- He also bears a lot of resemblance to Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, right down to his job as head of Mergers and Acquisitions.
False Flag Operation: Tries to pull one on Rhys and the Vault Hunters by disguising himself as Zer0. Thankfully the real Zer0 arrives and stops Katagawa from killing Rhys.
Fatal Flaw: Pride and wrath. He's too arrogant for his own good and once things don't go his way, especially when you blow up the Zanara to smithereens, he lets his temper get what little best of him he had and tries to personally murder Rhys and the Vault Hunters. This ends up getting him killed despite all his money and power.
Faux Affably Evil: He has some charm and charisma, but it's fairly obvious from his smugness and callousness that Junior is just one more Corrupt Corporate Executive prick in the vast galaxy of Borderlands who cares only about himself, his stuff and getting more stuff for himself.
Foreshadowing: In the sidequest on the Skywell, there is a recording of Katagawa mentioning his plan to kill the Calypso twins by slicing their heads off. Soon after, a mysterious sword-wielding assailant shows up.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: You'll probably spend most of the battle trying to hit the right Katagawa trying to snipe you more than anything. Sometimes he will just charge at you, but don't count on it.
Glass Cannon: In his last fight Katagawa Jr. can easily snipe you and hit you with a powerful melee attack if you're not careful. However he's very fragile for boss standards.
Hate Sink: Fills the void of obnoxious, sociopathic corporate douche that Handsome Jack left behind. And unlike Handsome Jack, he's doesn't even draw the line where his own family is concerned.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Katagawa Jr. really should have waterproofed his disguise.
Interface Screw: When fought posing as Zer0 he loves to throw smoke grenades to mess with your perception.
Interplay of Sex and Violence: Much of his dialogue comes across as weirdly flirtatious, especially towards Rhys, but you soon learn that, much like his literary inspiration Patrick Bateman, his only real passion is for murder. The fact that his favorite place to kill people, including his own siblings, is on his pleasure yacht the Zanara just makes the whole thing even creepier.
Jerkass: Just like Handsome Jack before him, but without any of the wit, humor and charm that made Jack likeable as a villain.
Karmic Death: A Maliwan executive is killed by elemental damage (specifically, his special battlesuit overloading from electricity). Bonus points if you use Maliwan weaponry in your fight with him. Double bonus points if you kill him with the unique shock rifle his sister gives you.
Massive Numbered Siblings: He used to have eleven other siblings whom he killed in order to move his way up the succession line. The only survivor is his sister Naoko, which infuriates him.
Only One Name: His first name is never revealed, though presumably he's named after his father.
Orcus on His Throne: For most of the war with Atlas, Katagawa Jr is content to sit back and watch, occasionally coming in over the ECHO to complain when the Vault Hunters and Rhys destroy something valuable. Even when they destroy the Zanara, he only intervenes remotely by taking command of a death sphere. Tyreen outright says that he thought he could "win a war from the pool." However, at the Calypso's urging, he takes the field personally and proves to be an extremely dangerous assassin and saboteur while fighting with stolen Zer0 tech.
Psychopathic Manchild: He's basically nothing more than a spoiled rich kid in a grown man's body.
Recurring Boss: You have to deal with him twice in the story. First indirectly as he controls Katagawa Ball and then in a direct fight against Katagawa Jr. who'll be using a copy of Zer0's suit.
Rage Breaking Point: Rhys having you use Katagawa's own asteroid laser to destroy his prized pleasure yacht; the Zanara, pushed him to get much more serious and take matters into his own hands, by screaming his lungs out and immediately destroying Rhys-Ball. When that fails he goes after Rhys personally under the guise of Zer0 and attempts to undermine his and Atlas' forces morale doing it.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Unlike Rhys, Katagawa can actually hold his own in a fight. He's able to replicate Zer0's fighting style via duplicates of his armor and tech.
Puzzle Boss: Downplayed. You can still kill him just by shooting until he dies, but using the transformers to deal massive Shock damage on him helps a lot, especially if all you got is crappy guns.
Smug Smiler: His portrait always has an obnoxious and condescending smirk, but this is by far the smallest reason to dislike this guy.
Smug Snake: A cocky, arrogant brat who thinks he's far more charming than he actually is. Even his ECHO portrait has an annoying smirk. While he is by no means a pushover he lacks the cunning and temper to be a real threat in the end.
Spotting the Thread/Imposter Forgot One Detail: Pay close attention to the hands. Zer0 has four fingers. Additionally, he leaves Zero's signature 0's written in blood but forgets the detail that Zer0 writes theirs with a slash. During his boss fight an easy way to see if you're shooting at the real Katagawa or not is to check his health/shield bar at the top of the screen, if you hit Katagawa and that bar didn't go down, time to swap targets.
Strong Family Resemblance: New Tales from the Borderlands shows that Katagawa Sr. is effectively just Jr's model with facial hair and some creases on his face.
Villain Team-Up: He's struck a deal with the Calypso Twins to help further both of their goals. The Twins will supply Maliwan an army of fanatical bandits/cultists to support their assault against Atlas, while the Twins and their cult get shipments of Maliwan weaponry to better arm them all. While the alliance continues after his death, a optional side-mission basically dismantles it after it's revealed that Katagawa intended to murder the twins once they won and then go after the rest of the cult.
Villainous Breakdown: Loses all semblance of feigned civility when Rhys and the Vault Hunter use his cannon to destroy the Zanara, deciding he would rather burn Atlas to the ground than take it over.
Rhys: Sayonara, Zanara! Ho-ho-ho-HO, Shit! Oh, that-that-that was amazing! Eat my big ball, Katagawa!
Katagawa Jr.: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
We Can Rule Together: He's constantly trying to badger Rhys into agreeing to an unconditional surrender so that Maliwan can absorb Atlas and the two can be friends.
Wealthy Yacht Owner: He has a 'pleasure yacht' in space called the Zanara which doubles as his most frequent spot for assassinations. It's probably best not to speculate on whether and how those two functions tie together.
Yuppie: He's a rich materialistic snob who only cares about getting ahead and flaunting his wealth.

Gigamind

Min-Maxed Intelligence

Maliwan's main computational unit. A parody of Megamind and his drones.

King Mook: It's a boss version of the NOG enemy units.
Mook Debut Cutscene: It's the first NOG unit encountered, though given how it is their leader, they are more like the Degraded Boss version.
Wetware CPU: It's a giant brain in a robot suit.

Rax and Max

Rax (left) and Max (right)

A pair of Maliwan goons. One of them is responsible for the murder of Ziff's parents, but she can't tell which one. The two are in a pissing contest to see who's eviller than the other and are not too subtle about being psycopaths and wanting the Vault Hunters to come and fight them.

Card-Carrying Villain: Both utterly revel in the fact that they're war criminals, boasting about horrific acts they've committed For the Evulz and arguing about which of them is the most awful.
Comedic Sociopathy: Rax and Max are Maliwan stooges who actively tries to get Vault Hunters to kill them by saying "hey, I did this horrible thing", because apparently being targeted by Vault Hunters gives them street cred. And, oh boy, they do try very much hard to get your attention. In fact, you might want to off both of them anyway.
Death Seeker: They seem rather excited at apparently being so vile that someone would put a hit on their heads, and argue over which one of them deserves to die the most.
Dual Boss: You must kill Rax or Max, after one is dead the other will become passive. Then you have the option to go back and finish the surviving one. By then you'll probably have killed everything and it will become more or less a Duel Boss.
Dual Wielding: Rax, being a Badass Trooper, uses two guns.
Elite Mook: Rax is a Badass Trooper and Max is a souped up Flash Trooper.
Establishing Character Moment: Their ECHO communications aside, the first you see of them in person is making a captured civilian jump off a ledge to fall to their death.
Eviler than Thou: They're constantly competing to see who's worse than the other, to the point that they both confess to murdering the parents in the hopes that the Vault Hunters will decide for themselves which one deserves to die the most. If the Vault Hunter so chooses, both meet bloody ends.
Flash Step: Max uses the same standard ability of a Flash Trooper that is dashing at great speeds to move from one spot to another.
Foil: When fighting Rax and Max employ two very different tactics: Rax will usually stay in the open blasting you with his pistols while Max has a tendency to rush to cover and fight you from there. This usually means Rax will be the one who will get killed first.
Knights and Knaves: Parodied. You'd think this would be a "one person is telling the truth" situation but there's no solid evidence who did what crime and they're both Asshole Victims anyway, so you can cover your bases by just shooting both of them. Upon killing them both, Ziff just shrugs and says her family's probably avenged.
Skewed Priorities: When you kill one of them, the other protests at not being (initially) singled out for death: "Oh, come ON! I was WAY worse!" And then the survivor gets all giddy when you come back to finish the job.
Sociopathic Soldier: Both of them. See Card-Carrying Villain for more details.
Too Dumb to Live: Anyone goading and taunting Vault Hunters into coming to kill them like these two morons deserve this trope in earnest.

Coffee Commander

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cc_4.jpg

A Maliwan Heavy officer that really, really likes coffee.

Bad Boss: Considering that he's more concerned about getting his coffee thermos back than avenging his soldiers, he probably doesn't deserve that 'World's Greatest Commander' mug of his.
King Mook: Gameplay-wise he's just a Heavy Gunner with a name.
Meaningful Name: Considering the objective of the mission during which you face him, his nickname is pretty appropriate.
Must Have Caffeine: His need for coffee rivals (if not outstrips) Lorelei's.
Serious Business: Coffee, and his special 'World's Greatest Commander' travel mug. He doesn't care if tons of his men or himself may die, he will try to get that mug back.
Skewed Priorities: The fact that you gunned down his troops and coffee runner doesn't bother him as much as the fact that you nabbed his customized coffee thermos. He sends a full battalion after you for the sole purpose of getting the mug back, as opposed to revenge against the Atlas-allied Vault Hunter.
Trade Mark Favorite Food: Just guess what it is. Go ahead.

Gary

Voiced by: Keith Kubal

A Maliwan war criminal that was captured by ATLAS, and became part of the secret experiments Terry was using to try and save Glenn.

I'm a Humanitarian: Threatens to do this, and Glenn comments that he probably ate people even before becoming a human-Ratch hybrid.

Captain Samuel Traunt

That's Traunt

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/borderlands3_captaintraunt.jpg

Voiced by: Ian Sinclair

A Maliwan Heavy soldier leading the siege on Athenas. He fights with Fire and Cryo.

Affectionate Nickname: His older brother reveals his first name to be Samuel but calls him 'Sammy.'
Attack Its Weak Point: Like all Maliwan Heavies his "backpack" is his critical spot.
Climax Boss: He is fought to end Maliwan's attack on Athenas and for the first piece of the Promethea Vault key.
Combo Platter Powers: Unlike other Heavy Troopers he can use both Fire and Cryo attacks.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: He actually admits to the monks he's terrifying that it's his reason for doing so.
King Mook: He and his family are all Heavy Gunners with boss-level health and the ability to use two different elements.
I Shall Traunt You: Er, taunt. But still, he does it a lot. Ironically, he developed his love for taunting from his childhood trauma of constantly being called "Sammy Taunt".
Jerkass: To comical levels. The game doesn't even try to pretend he can be nice, and he takes a little too much pleasure in his job as "oppressor", he's such a douche you just can't take him seriously at all.
Say My Name: He's prone to screaming his name randomly.
Underestimating Badassery: Perhaps being briefed on Athenas being populated mostly by pacifist monks misled him, because he is so incredulous at reports of his men being shot (mostly by Maya and the player characters) that all he can do is laugh at the absurdity of anyone standing up to him.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Traunt is the first big boss battle that has the boss changing elements after certain health thresholds meaning you can't rely only on Shock or Fire to deal with him. He will also constantly bombard your location with area-of-effect attacks if you try to hide and camp on a single spot, not to mention he will summon an attack that will circle the corners of the arena in case you try to camp there as well.

Rhys-Ball

Voiced by: Ray Chase

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rhisb.jpg

A Maliwan "death sphere" drone that's hacked into by Rhys during the fight on Skywell-27, allowing the Vault Hunters passage through the area.

Big "NO!": Rhys lets one out right as it gets vaporized by the Katagawa Ball.
Morphic Resonance: It sports Rhys' ridiculous— er— siege mustache.
Surveillance Drone: Rhys uses it to remotely assist the Vault Hunters. Despite being a death sphere, it doesn't have any combat functions, it's primary use being for pleasure. However Rhys can use it to remotely hack and bypass Maliwan security.

Katagawa Ball

Voiced by: Christopher Wehkamp

Round, Hates You

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/borderlands3_katagawaball.jpg

A gigantic death sphere controlled by Katagawa Jr.

Barrier Change Boss: A weird variation: Katagawa starts with a thick armor health (yellow bar) and has two more shield (blue bars). Using the correct weapon for each health bar will make the fight much easier.
Beam Spam: One of its attacks is an erratic spray of lasers that will fill the entire room.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: All of its attacks are telegraphed by a nice flash giving you a few seconds to react or take cover.
- Orange: Fireballs.
- Red: Missile Barrage. On its third phase it becomes an all elements ball or all elements laser cutter spam.
- Yellow: Laser blast spam. On its second phase it becomes a radiation balls.
- Blue: Laser ray. On its second phase it becomes several laser cutting beams or shock balls. On its last phase Katagawa Ball will create a shock aura and try to zap you via Collision Damage.
- Green: Corrosion balls.
Climax Boss: You fight this thing for the second piece of the Promethea Vault key and to save Rhys and Atlas from the massive orbital laser Katagawa Jr. is using against them.
Didn't Need Those Anyway!: While Katagawa Ball is firing its attacks you can break its two side turrets/cannons. Doing so will prevent it from using its most devastating attack, the missile barrage.
Energy Weapons: One its attacks is a shock laser beam that will cut through your shield like a hot knife through butter.
Evil Counterpart: To the Rhys-Ball.
Lightning Bruiser: This thing is very fast despite its size and bulk and has enough armor to reasonably endure even effective damage against it.
King Mook: Katagawa Ball serves one for the "death spheres" enemies.
Nuke 'em: Its most devastating attack during the first stage of its fight where it launches a salvo of nuclear missiles at you and leaves you practically at death's door. Thankfully, it is telegraphed by the Ball glowing dark red, giving time to take cover.
Sequential Boss: Fights in three stages reflected by its 3 health bars. The first stage is blowing its outer casing off, the second is destroying its inner casing, and the final is destroying the Ball's core.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Many of its attacks have very wide range that combined with its high mobility can quickly wipe you out from any angle, and its three health bars give it lengthy endurance. You have to learn how to take cover and swap places during this battle or Katagawa Ball will make short work of you. And unlike Killavolt, Katagawa Ball is not an optional fight.

General Daniel Traunt

Voiced by: Ian Sinclair

The older brother of Captain Traunt. He fights with Electricity and Corrosion.

Avenging the Villain: "I taught Sammy how to fight, and you taught him how to die. Now I'm gonna teach you. H-How to die, just-just to be clear-TRAUNT!!"
Combo Platter Powers: Just like his little bro.
The Family That Slays Together: After he's killed, an ECHO can be found where Traunt tells his many, many relatives to avenge his death should he fall in battle.

Captain Haunt

That's Haunt

Voiced by: Ian Sinclair

A fallen member of the Traunt clan who resides in Heck. He is the boss of the timed-exclusive Bloody Harvest event.

See You in Hell: General Traunt's literal last words to his clan implies that this may have actually been the case for him, though Haunt is a Captain and not a General like him.

Forces

Troopers

Maliwan Troopers are the standard infantry, and are seen as the occupational force deployed on Promethea, Atlas' HQ, and Nekrotafeyo, the Eridian homeworld. The standard Troopers are armed with a variety of weapons and offer no particular specialization, but their armor may be augmented with modifications that grant high-tech abilities in battle. These specialists are the Flash Trooper, Med Trooper, Jet Trooper and the Riot Trooper.

Agony of the Feet: Riot Troopers can be shot in the legs to make them trip, which makes them drop their shield when they get back up.
Airborne Mooks: Jet Troopers use jetpacks to hover around the battlefield at a decent enough of a speed to be hard to hit.
Dual Wield: Badass Troopers use two Maliwan Blasters to fight you.
Dynamic Entry: Flash Troppers sometimes will just run up to your face and fly kick you.
In the Back: If you shoot a Flash Trooper in the back enough times, their boosters will malfunction and jettison them forward as they die. If they're facing a wall, they'll splat right into it.
In the Hood: Badass Troopers sport a pretty cool hood + cape outfit.
It's Raining Men: Maliwan drop pods fall from orbit and teleport their troops to the fight in bulk, similar to Hyperion moonshot delivering Loaders from before.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Riot Troopers carry shields that deflect gunfire and make hitting their heads a little trickier.
Professional Voice Dissonance: They have voice modulators that slightly change their voices and make a bit more difficult to discern what they're shouting (or about to do) in the middle of a gunfight.
Shoot the Medic First: It's in your best interest to find and kill their medics before they can heal their troops. Same thing if there's a NOG nearby, who is reinforcing their shields.
Sociopathic Soldier: Listening to their dialogue indicates that they're only a bit more well adjusted compared to the COV lunatics.
Super-Reflexes: Flash Troopers can enter a sprint that crosses a room in the blink of an eye. When being shot at, they can start dodging around bullets Matrix style while weaving their bodies around the attacks.
Too Fast to Stop: Kill Flash Troopers by blowing up their backpacks and you'll see a hilarious death animation where the poor schmuck loses control of it and runs uncontrollably until they splat on a wall.
Punch-Clock Villain: Played with, as a bunch of their dialogue makes it clear that they're only in the war for the money (even complaining they never got their bonus as they die), but they're so amoral and vicious that they can only be considered slightly more well adjusted than the bandit populace.

Heavies

Maliwan Heavies have been given the heaviest and strongest firepower infantry may get, and as a result are massive and lumbering enemies. In battle, they'll launch lobs of elementally-charged explosive projectiles to incinerate, contaminate, electrocute or otherwise destroy targets with. Aside from headshotting them, their backpacks are vulnerable to being shot and compromised, which leads to their explosive death. Elementally charged Heavies are the Pyrotech, Contaminator, Icebreaker and Powerhouse, with the odd members out being the Gunner.

Area of Effect: One of the reasons Heavies are so annoying. Their attacks usually leave puddles of the element they wield that will deal constant damage to any player that steps on it.
Attack Its Weak Point: Their backpacks/fuel tanks are their critical spots. Damaging it enough will cause it to prematurely explode killing the Heavy and damaging anything around it.
Boss in Mook Clothing: Badass Heavies are inordinately tough and without top grade equipment they take more punishment than anything short of a boss the game throws at you.
The Family That Slays Together: The Traunt family are a family of Heavies who are all violent assholes with a tendency for screaming their name as a battlecry. They're also rather vengeful and are all dedicated to hunting down the Vault Hunters after they've killed at least two of them.
Giant Mook: They're absolutely massive compared to regular Troopers, but tend to move sluggishly when they're not leaping or going for a tackle.
Ground Pound: All of them can prepare a leap towards their enemies that slams the ground around them.
Hollywood Acid: Contaminators are the Corrosive specialists, and spew a constant torrent of acid as an attack.
In a Single Bound: Thanks to their equipment they can jump a frighteningly long distance to close in to their targets.
In the Back: Shoot them in the back where they draw their fuel/ammo from enough times, and they'll be rendered helpless as it malfunctions and prepares to blow them up.
Lightning Bruiser: Tough to kill, packs quite a punch with their attacks and surprisingly mobile if they decide chase you down.
Oh, Crap!: If you manage to critically damage their elemental fuel tanks they'll realize how screwed they are before exploding in a rather spectacular fashion.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The recruitment pool of Heavies is made up of Bandit Nomads who finally got sick of trying to metaphorically herd cats within the Bandits and threw their chips in with Maliwan.
You Will Not Evade Me: Trying to keep your distance from their elemental-throwers? Heavies will do a big leap to give chase.

NOGs

NOGs are the diminutive support infantry in the Maliwan army, being armed with high-tech gadgets to the provide aid to their fellow troops and to hamper the Vault Hunters.

Expressive Accessory: The tiny modules that fly around NOGs and give them their support abilities will sometimes shift into expressive shapes, particularly when they're dying. If they died to an elemental attack, for example, they might have a radiation symbol or a fire symbol over their heads before all the modules fall to the ground. Other times the modules become an unhappy face or stuff like that.
Fun with Acronyms: What 'NOG' stands for isn't disclosed, however it still acts as a joke to their disproportionately large heads/noggins.
Inside a Computer System: NOGs are apparently immersed and convinced that they're playing a video game thanks to their suits.
In the Back: Their helmets are so armored that shooting their heads won't act as a crit. Instead, they must be shot in their backpacks.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Badass NOGs will be armed with so many drones that they can deploy a frontal shield, protecting them from most attacks everywhere but their backs.
Mini Mook: Mini Maliwan Mooks.
Shoot the Medic First: Given their ability to restore shields, this should be a priority.

Death Spheres

Death Spheres are the flying and autonomous security drones deployed at key Maliwan positions as a security measure.

Airborne Mooks: They're constantly in flight and move lazily as they attack, with an armored HP bar to give them a certain level of durability. Fortunately, their spherical bodies give them an easy center-of-mass to attack.
Calling Your Attacks: They tend to call out what their incoming attack will be.
Dissonant Serenity: They speak with a calm and somewhat jovial female tone similar to the Hyperion announcer, even as they blast their enemies into pieces and as they die, and only sound mildly concerned when they start burning to death.
Lightning Bruiser: Badass Death Spheres don't stand hover still for long, constantly side-'stepping' in the air and flying at high speeds to deliver crippling laser blasts that sweep across the battlefield. Thankfully, they tend to be predictable with their flight and attack patterns.
Macross Missile Massacre: Stingers are Spheres armed with missiles, when attacking they'll start firing entire volleys at the player.
Spectacular Spinning: Badass Spheres have an attack where they'll start spinning wildly while letting loose tons of laser blasts to carpet bomb an area.

Bots

Maliwan Bots are the mechanical infantry usually deployed alongside the human troops. In terms of design, they resemble smaller and professionally built versions of Deathtrap. Besides combat, they're also configured to handle a variety of more mundane roles such as policing, firefighting and janitorial duties.

Mecha-Mooks: Autonomous soldiers and workers that make up a decent chunk of the Maliwan army.
Shoddy Knockoff Product: As revealed in an ECHO log, Mr. Holloway, father of Marcie Holloway (who ripped off Gaige's design for Deathtrap for their science fair and accidentally got killed by Deathtrap as a result), took the robotic designs his daughter made and started a robotics company, which Maliwan evidently did business with. Visually, they're similar to Deathtrap by being floating torsos with attached weaponry, but they're much smaller and frailer despite being built in a factory unlike Deathtrap, who was built from home.

Characters / Borderlands: Maliwan

Spoilers Off for games prior to Borderlands 3 as well as for spoiler characters that are marked as such. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

Individuals

Favorite Son (By Elimination)

Min-Maxed Intelligence

That's Traunt

Round, Hates You

That's Haunt

Forces

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Borderlands: Maliwan

Edit Locked

Spoilers Off for games prior to Borderlands 3 as well as for spoiler characters that are marked as such. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.

Individuals

Favorite Son (By Elimination)

Min-Maxed Intelligence

That's Traunt

Round, Hates You

That's Haunt

Forces

Previous

Index

Next