Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
- Roland goes from wise-cracking, bloodthirsty Boisterous Bruiser who just loves his turret — essentially a black Axton — to a quiet, determined leader.
- Mordecai goes from loud-yet-vaguely-professional, to a depressed Truxican slob.
- He gets compared to a Truxican wrestler by Marcus in the first game's character selection screen, so it can be assumed that the Truxican element was always there.
- Lilith goes from being vaguely flirty and somewhat boastful to a gigantic, boastful tsundere.
- Brick is... Brick.
- It's possible that, due to too much Eridium exposure and/or Hyperion capture of the three, the Vault Hunters you see running around (except for Brick, who is Brick) are really Manchurian agents for the Hyperion cause that goes horribly wrong — Roland would have built up an anti-Hyperion resistance to root out and identify all anti-Hyperion rebels and would have died to leave the anti-Hyperion resistance leaderless, Mordecai would have fooled Bloodwing into turning into yet another Eridium experiment, and Lilith would have become a secondary backup for Angel, after leading the player to the core and getting themselves killed. Handsome Jack, however, wasn't counting on the new Vault Hunters being tough sons of bitches.
- It could also be the other way around — the vault hunters in the first game were unwitting Hyperion goons who did Handsome Jack's work, via Angel's commands, and the people you see in the campaign are the real Vault Hunters.
- Or, perhaps, they've just gone through character growth. Roland has grown into his role as a leader, becoming calmer and more responsible. Between games, Mordecai had a bad relationship with Moxxi, who was pretty much an emotional vampire to him and left him a shell of himself. Lilith has had a legend grow up around her, complete with more than one cargo cult in her honor. That can go to someone's head. Brick... is Brick.
- Salvador: Obvious here. He's now a bandit king like Brick, only far more vicious.
- Axton: He took over the surviving Hyperion organization, and is running it like... well, like Axton would. A smirking, cheerful General Ripper.
- Maya: We've seen how easily cargo cults spring up on Pandora. She's been used by a religious order before, but it's a whole 'nother ballgame when you're the one in charge. She's allowed a cult to form around her and is using them to seek out the secrets of the remaining Vaults and Eridium.
- Gaige: Mass produced Deathtrap, programmed it to hunt down bullies in her territory. She is essentially a dictator ruling her territory, but people are really nice to each other in it. The irony of an anarchist doing this is lost on her.
- Zer0: The ultimate Big Bad. What is his goal? To open ALL the vaults. At once. Why?
- Eridian Vaults
Ancient horrors held within
A challenge unlocked
- Eridian Vaults
- Unlikely — after all, both sets of Vault Hunters are basically good — at least, compared to the Bandits and Atlas/Hyperion — and fans would probably riot if they turned into the Five-Man Band of the next game. That said, since Lilith and Brick secretly became leaders of Bandit tribes to keep them in check, it may be possible the New Vault Hunters would do the same thing, using these personas as their cover, and may oppose the new players as an up to eleven Trickster Mentor.. Admittedly, if one of them would pull a Face–Heel Turn, it would DEFINITELY be Zer0, literally because he has the least backstory and the most... "questionable" moral code.
- This was done in MechWarrior 4: Vengeance and Black Knight, with the first games' protagonist becoming the Big Bad in the sequel. It would be an interesting fight to use new vs old game mechanics(Phasewalk vs Phaselock, etc).
- And Krieg will regain his sanity and be the Token Good Teammate of the group, or leading the assault to take them down.
- Jossed. In both Tales from the Borderlands and Borderlands 3 they're still all good guys.
First Vault Hunters
- How many pet owners have assumed their pets were male, and then out pop babies?
- A lot of birds of prey lack visible gender differences.
- Word of God has stated Bloodwing's species changes gender halfway through its life cycle.
- Perhaps he's in hiding for self-protection. The Hyperion Corporation is still around, they might try to tie up loose ends.
- New-Us are not canon, so that wouldn't work. He could always come back as a zombie, a raid boss (raid bosses are confirmed to be resurrected whenever someone challenges them again) or "Roland-Trap", though.
- Or maybe the last station he passed was at the bottom of the peak, and he spent the rest of the game climbing back up.
- Angel was the one who wanted Lilith to stay behind (to keep her out of Jack's grasp). It's also unclear how long since Roland and Lilith were together, but it's implied to be since around the fall of New Haven, which was a few years ago. So she would have noticed before now.
Axton
- Doesn't really make sense since Sarah was Axton's commanding officer when he was still in the army. She was the one who warned him he was going to be executed by firing squad and arranged for him to flee to Pandora.
- Jossed. Sarah is still alive by the time of the game, as shown by the Sir Hammerlock vs. the Son of Crawmerax DLC.
Gaige
- Jossed. Her 4 ECHO logs are up on Youtube, explaining EVERYTHING. The "undead" robot look- it was more convenient to just let him float since she didn't have enough time to build the legs, and in hindsight it made DT far more maneuverable anyway.
- Jossed even further. The Halloween DLC was about TK Baha sending the Vault Hunters to go fight some Halloween-themed boss.
- If this was true, then Gaige's ECHO logs would have been put in the DLC and not up on Youtube. You would think that her wanted poster would have been put into the game as well, even in the Torgue DLC... but it's not. You have to look it up on the internet to see it.
Maya
Krieg
- At South By South-West 2013, Gearbox unveiled a teaser trailer to a muscular, chaotic, and extremely ANGRY new Vault Hunter, ripping bandits apart with his bare hands. No clear shots were shown of him (hence why it's a teaser trailer), but it ended with "TEST SUBJECTS WANTED" followed by a link to Gearbox Software's website, advertising that they really are looking for new employees and game developers. I propose that our new Vault Hunter escaped from the Slag Experimentation labs, managed to maintain his sanity and intelligence, but is now mutated in the same way as the Brutes and the Rats, and he wants to rip Hyperion a new asshole.
- Also, take this line from one of his quotes "...blood and noise forever piercing my skull poisoning me with its psychopathic purple liquid..." now what does that sound like to you?
- Pretty much confirmed, since the last DLC basically stated that Dr Samuel knows about him and his condition. Considering her one other appearance, this basically confirms that Krieg was one of the Slag Experiments, and might have even been held at the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.
- Confirmed even further by Borderlands 3's Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck DLC, where more details are revealed about his backstory. And yep, we can thank Dr. Samuel for Krieg being who he is.
- He was the only Bandit to object selling Tiny Tina's parents to Hyperion for Slag Testing. The other bandits probably just decided it would be easier to get cash for four test subjects rather than waste the ammo to kill Kreig.
- We know he was a Hyperion test subject, just like Tiny Tina's father. He can gain the ability to turn into a Badass Psycho Mutant, which ties into the recording of Handsome Jack saying 'we're just gonna mutate the hell out of them' which is found in the same lab as the recording of her father being tested on. Further, the voice in his head can, when idle, be heard pondering about someone important to him, wondering where she is, if she's alive, if she got away, but it never says who 'she' is. Going along with Tiny Tina, Krieg also has an 'explosive' theme going with several of his skills, including increasing all explosive damage, dropping a grenade when he dies, throwing exploding buzz-axes, making enemies explode when killed, and replacing 'Fight for your Life' with a mode where he runs around hurling bombs at everybody."Where is she? Is she still alive? Did she get away?"
- The short video reveals that "she" is most likely Maya, who Krieg fell in love with and became a Vault Hunter to help protect.
- This isn't quite certain; whoever "she" is, he's speaking of her in the past tense and asking if she got away. He already knows exactly where Maya is; fighting right beside him (his inner voice can sense everything he's doing despite his limited influence, so it's unlikely that he's unaware of this).
- It's also worth noting that there are recordings of a family, two parents and their child (called 'Tina'), in a Hyperion base. The child escapes via a smuggled grenade, the mother is killed, but the father is never accounted for. Said recordings are found in a slag mutation research facility. Connect the dots.
- All but explicitly confirmed in the Wedding Day Massacre DLC - when Moxxi asks Krieg if he ever had a missus Vault Hunter in his life, he simply rants about "THE TINY ONE AND THE SAD-FACED MOTHER AND THE BLUE TATTOO." While 'the blue tattoo' is a pretty clear reference to Maya, there are precious few other people whom "the tiny one and the sad-faced mother" could be referring to.
- And then there's the optional mission of the Crawmerax DLC where Doctor Samuels (Sammy) is Krieg's ally, implying that his slag testing was done at the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.
- Since he refers to (presumably) the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve as "THE BIRTHING PLACE", it's possible that "THE SAD-FACED MOTHER" is Dr. Samuels, the reluctant "mother" of the surviving Slag mutants.
- The short video reveals that "she" is most likely Maya, who Krieg fell in love with and became a Vault Hunter to help protect.
- Jossed, Word of God says that Tina's parents are officially dead, according to the Inside the Box - "Fart Jokes and Tragedy" article.
- This is also false, a DLC named "Sir Hammerlock vs the Son of Crawmerax" officially states that Gaige's father is, in fact, alive and has managed to destroy a transport filled with mercenaries before they can even get to Gaige.
- This one doesn't really fit in with the timeline. It's implied Krieg was previously a Vault Hunter, which meant he would have had to be on Pandora for quite some time. Also, the slag experimentation on him should have happened over a long period of time to shatter his sanity into the state it is now. Plus, from Gaige's ECHO logs, Handsome Jack was already trying to take over Pandora, and she presumably arrived at the same time as the other Vault Hunters.
- Seemingly Jossed by the Son of Crawmerax DLC, where Gaige's dad is evidently a different character.
- It should probably be noted that the primary antagonists of Borderlands and Borderlands 2 are Atlas and Hyperion respectively. In Greek Mythology, Atlas and Hyperion were both Titans, who were overthrown by the Gods of Olympus...
- In an ironic twist, yep, Borderlands 3 is indeed "the age of the gods' mercy". The gods in there, however, are anything but merciful.
- Or, more likely, the person in question who dealt with Krieg's assassin was Dr Samuels from the Wildlife Preserve (who was forced to experiment on people by Jack, who was holding her wife hostage) and her helping out is a result of her extreme guilt for being involved in the experiments.
Possibilities
- The Stringman playing Bass: Based on a combination of Buddy from Six String Samurai, Rocketbilly Redcadillac from Gungrave Overdose, and drawing on other inspirations, we have a retro-50s style rocker with sunglasses, James Dean jacket, a truly ridiculous hairstyle on his default head, and a tendency to make bad musical puns and impersonate Elvis. His default melee attack is a katana, and his class mod is his guitar. His action skill causes him to stun enemies with a power chord or create elemental effects in the area around him.
- The Siren: There will be a Siren just like in the two previous games, but her powers will fill in the Berzerker niche, thus her powers will be called "Phasezerker" and she would an Amazonian Beauty Statuesque Stunner. The Phasezerking will cover her in an aura of energy that will allow her to fire blasts of energy in lieu of her guns that ignore shields and leave her invulnerable at the same time, allowing her get close and melee with punishing physical moves. Her skills trees involve concentrating on the melee and projectile aspect of her phasezerking each and on her physical attributes which concentrate on tanking.
- Confirmed. The siren is Amara, and she's indeed an Amazonian Beauty Statuesque Stunner with Berserker-like inclinations. The only thing that's jossed is the "blast of energy" thing.
- The Necromancer: A mysterious being who looks like a walking mass of old technology and rotted flesh covered in a black billowing robe, his special ability is the deployment of a some kind of stationary monster with lots of teeth and the gun turret on its head. Not only will it shoot down enemies but also pick up the dead bodies using multiple long sticky tongues and eat the bodies, regurgitating a special "juice" item only the Necromancer can use while giving off an aura that inflicts severe debuffs to enemies that walk through it. Once consumed, the "juice" gives the Necromancer various random status buffs such as increased speed, faster reload, health regeneration, etc. The skills trees involve the performance of the turret, such as firing speed, how many corpses it can eat before getting "full" and its reach; the stat buffs received from the "juice" and the debuffs the monster's aura give off; and the debuffs the Necromancer himself inflicts from guns and melee attacks, including leeching off enemy health.
- The Rogue: A former secret agent who's a combination of Triple X and Sean Connery's version of James Bond, his special ability is a grappling hook type device that he can use to latch onto enemies to reel them in for closer kills or even steal their loot right off of them. The skill tree for the ability allows the grappling hook to inflict more damage, add elemental damage, and higher chance of stealing loot, and the second involve increasing the Rogue's proficiency in various gun types, and the third involve increasing his regular stats as well as increasing money drops and the probability of gaining rare items from fallen enemies and chests.
- Mostly confirmed. Zane Flynt is the "Operative", however his actual moveset differs from that.
- The Slacker: A completely random 20-something slacker whose unimportance in greater events caused him to be chosen as the guinea pig to try out various experimental technologies, thinking him as some expendable resources but somehow lucky enough to be able to master them with great ease with little to no initial training. One skill tree is an Elemental Adapter, which increases the chances of Elemental damage in elemental guns while adding chance of elemental damage in guns that don't have any (adds fire damage to a gun, even if its a Jakobs). The second tree is a Healing Pak, which increases the effectiveness of shields, increases Health Drops from enemies, increases effectiveness of Healing Items in general, minor health regen, faster rivival of teammates, massive increase in attack stat when fallen to achieve Second Wind quicker, and allows healing teammates via shooting them. The last skill tree is the Slacker's special ability, the Temporal Disruptor: Once activated, it speeds him up to the point where time has literally stopped from his perspective, allowing him to freely attack enemies, run away, heal allies, etc.
- Dr. Slag as Himself: A scientist who was studying Sirens and hoped to one day replicate their powers in other people. Experimentation with slag injections on himself resulted in him mutating into a Humanoid Abomination, with glowing purple veins and eyes and the ability to control the elements. His power, Slag On!, lets him shoot lightning blasts with his right hand, acid bombs with his left, and melee releases a fire nova to barbeque enemies who get too close. His skill trees would revolve around increasing effectiveness with elemental weapons, increasing the power of Slag On!, and no selling elemental damage, with a chance to slag random enemies. His motivation to coming to Pandora (assuming the next one takes place there) is he heard that three of the six Sirens had congregated there, and he jumped at the chance to continue his life's work.
- The Bionic Woman: A young lady in a suit of ass-kicking armor, she acquired numerous bionic implants, turning her into walking, talking engine of destruction. Her action skill, Overclock, lets her run super fast, jump super high with the aid of a jet pack, overcharge her shields and fire guns much, much faster. Her skill trees would revolve around tanking, increasing effectiveness of weaponry, and making her more agile. Skills could include teleporting ammo from her reserve into her guns without reloading, a dash power, or making her suit randomly fire a missile at who ever shoots at her. Her motivation for coming to Pandora is to field test her new armor and implants in the most dangerous environment she can think of.
- The Scout: A interplanetary Ranger type guy, armed with a drone that he can toss out to distract enemies and pummel them with bullets and lasers, letting The Scout shoot them with sniper rifles and shotguns. Skill trees would revolve around making the drone faster or more durable, increasing damage with weapons, or healing allies.
- Mostly confirmed. This is one of Zane Flynt's motifs. Some of this also fits with FL4K.
- The Replicator: A former Hyperion soldier who uses a hacked digistruct module to create a clone of himself. Said clone is armed with whatever weapon he is currently holding and runs around with its own A.I. to draw fire and shoot bad guys. His skill trees would revolve around making the clone last longer or move faster, making the Replicator harder to find, or making assault rifles and pistols more accurate and damaging.
- The Beastmaster: A hunter/trapper who seeks out the most dangerous creatures in the universe, and tames or kills them. His action command acts like the Mechromancer's, summoning his pet. If the next game takes place off Pandora, he'll have a skag as a way of justifiying keeping them in the game. Skill trees could be: One that focuses on improving his pet. Giving it more health, elemental effects, the ability to burrow and sneak up enemies, even the ability to revive charecters in Fight for Your Life mode. A trapper tree, where he gets access to causing daze effects, and grenades go from fuses to proximity or remote detonators. Finally a huntsman tree that focuses on improving his killing ability with guns, particurly sniper rifles and shotguns.
- Confirmed. In 3 we have FL4K the Beastmaster and he commands three beasts.
- The Engineer: Much like Roland was a former member of the Crimson Lance, so too could there be a former Hyperion Engineer who would slip from Handsome Jack's grip before seeking the potential riches of a Vault. He still has the automated limbs much like a Hyperion Engineer would, but there would be features to distinguish him from the mooks. His special ability could be a powerful burst cannon shot that can be improved upon by use of skill points. The other two skill trees can relate to weapon efficiency and shields. However, the way he is, he'll be more vulnerable to acid compared to other classes.
- The Nomad: A former bandit who, still sane enough to realize he probably wouldn't gain much working with other bandits, decided to go off in search of the bounty of new Vaults located throughout the universe. His action skill could allow him to intimidate all or at least some non-Badass or Loot Midget enemies to attack a certain enemy. His skill trees would focus on improving his abilities with guns in general, but specifically assault rifles and rocket launchers, buffing his minions and himself, and increasing his melee capabilities and ability to tank damage.
- The Hacker: An employee of S&S Munitions, assuming they make a comeback in the next game, he/she is sent out to find weapon technology to help rebuild the S&S Munitions company. Will run around spouting some 1337-speak but also have a really intelligent side of their personality, talking about quantum mechanics and astronomy. The action skill would be "Digistruct Reload" that, when used, makes the next weapon reload use special digistructed S&S ammo that improve the weapon in different ways depending on the weapons stats, manufacturer and elemental type. The skill trees could be one to further improve the digistructed ammo and weapons in general. The second improves the other equipment, shields, grenade mods and such. Finally, the third is general boosts, like getting boosts after resurrecting from a New-U station and buffing friendly mechanical things (turrets and bots) while near, and debuffing enemy bots and weapons.
- Tiny Tina as The Demolitionist: Assuming another time-skip of a few years between Borderlands 2 and 3, Tiny Tina will have grown up enough to actually become a Vault Hunter herself, like Roland. Given her penchant for explosions, her Action Skill would be to deploy one of those massive bombs that litter the area outside her hideout and would favour explosive weapons and grenades; anything that makes a big boom. Her skill trees could be divided into improving her bomb-deploying Action Skill (like modifiying the type of explosion to deal elemental damage, or increasing the spread of the explosion), and another could increase her efficiency with explosive weapons and grenades, and her third skill tree could focus on support/healing just like Roland and is her way of honouring his memory.
- A Medzerker named Dr. J. Hiding. Originally a researcher for the Anshin corporation, he was experimenting with more efficient ways to administer healing items to potential customers. Unfortunately for him, the only thing he had to run tests on was himself. Doubly unfortunate, some jag-off thought it'd be a great idea to store Slag in the same place as the healing stuff. Even more unfortunately, he happened to be experimenting with Slag-tainted heal juice. The result was a twelve-foot hulking pile of angry that drains the blood out of anything within arm's reach. His skill trees would be about increasing the healing effects he grants to his team, doing less damage in keeping with the Hippocratic oath, and draining more health from enemies with each hit while 'Medzerking' before killing them.
- A Bombzerker: The first "Zerker" focused on melee attacks, the second on guns, the third should focus on the third way of making things not live. BOMBS! LOTSA BOMB! A tree that focuses on never running out of grenades, getting one every time you kill someone, increasing how many grenades you pick up per grenade pickup, and increasing grenade regeneration during bombzerking, as well as upgrades like making all grenades home in, throw up to 3 in a bundle while bombzerking and overall Grenade Spam, adding elements to the grenade, and being an unkillable bastard. Bombzerk will let him regenerate grenades, throw them faster, and double explosive radius. He's a bit of a Magikarp with low grenade count at first, but can flat out level entire boss fights with unending grenade spam. His backstory doesn't exist, there's no reason for him to be a grenade-chucking lunatic, he's just born pyromaniacal.
- "'The Goliath'". Pretty obvious, you play as a Goliath. Wears a vision obstructing helmet that restricts your HUD, and your action skill is to remove the helmet. With the helmet removed you can only use your fists, and killing enemies increases the amount of time you can spend making face gravy. Killing enemies also allows you to level up into stronger forms, like the regular Goliath enemies. Your skill trees are How R U, Welcome 2 Die, and Why So Much Hurt?! How R U focuses on improving your abilities while rampaging, such as gaining more experience and being able to spend more time rampaging. It's top tier skill is Unlucky Shot, which causes enemy scored head shots on you to knock off your helmet, instantly sending you rampaging even if the skill hasn't cooled off. Welcome 2 Die focuses on More Gun More Shooty Bang Bang More Pain! It includes thing such as Mor Gun Food!, which decreases movement speed while firing but increases magazine capacity. Why So Much Hurt?! skills focuse on keeping you alive, such as Make Face-Gravy, which give you health for headshots or other critical hits, or Shooty Make Power, which increases shield recharge while firing. And all of your skills are in Hulk speak. Your melee weapon is a sledge hammer, and your class mod is your belt buckle.
- Somewhat fits the bill in 3 as Moze.
- Duke Nukem as Duke Nukem. What? Gearbox manages both series now...
- "The Wereskag" His skill turns him into a melee oriented superfast skag thing. Skill trees focusing on durability (with health regen), speed, and MASSIVE MELEE DAMAGE!!!!!!! Class mod is collar.
- Who knows, maybe the Mechromancer is a Siren and her power is technoempathy.
- You mean 3, the only 3 confirmed Sirens are Lilith, Maya, and Angel. Steele was a regular human and Gaige seems to be a regular human as well.
- There is no reason to believe Commandant Steele isn't a Siren, by the way. What with her tattoos, Lilith's backstory (she came to Pandora hunting down another Siren), and the fact that she has Siren powers.
- Adding to the above, when Jack says he knows three, he of course means Lilith, Maya, and Angel, but this recording was made after Steele's death, so even if she was a Siren and he knew it, he wouldn't say "I know four" in this instance anyway. The original WMG gets the three he knows wrong, but Jack's line is not evidence against Steele being a Siren.
- But if Steele was a Siren why didn't she use her powers? We never see her use any powers when in the main story or in the Robolution DLC.
- tbf she had already died once, and was probably no longer a Siren when she came back.
- As all Sirens have different types of powers, its possible Steele had a power that just wasn't useful in direct combat situations.
- It could be simply chalked up to Jack just not knowing Steele was actually a Siren. He only knew three personally, one of them his daughter Angel.
- I thought the 6 sirens were Lilith, Angel, and the possibility of up to 4 player controlled sirens. Pretty sure that was why they made it 6.
- Definitely not. That's a definite case of Gameplay and Story Segregation; you can play as four Sirens or four Commandos or whatever you want, but in canon there's one of each class. Besides, in the first game they also said there were only 6 Sirens, back when Lilith was a PC.
- The Borderlands: Origins comic mentions Steele being a Siren. Whether it's canon is another story.
- Randy Pitchford confirms that Steele is a Siren.
- Adding to the above, when Jack says he knows three, he of course means Lilith, Maya, and Angel, but this recording was made after Steele's death, so even if she was a Siren and he knew it, he wouldn't say "I know four" in this instance anyway. The original WMG gets the three he knows wrong, but Jack's line is not evidence against Steele being a Siren.
- As part of a larger concentrated effort to find more Vaults. My suggestions for representing Borderlands 1 would be Mordecai and Brick, since Lilith has transitioned to more of a Big Good role and Roland is dead, with these two being her two best men. Borderlands 2 would be represented by Maya and Axton filling in for the absences of the aforesaid Lilith and Roland, due to their similar roles. Even the Pre-Sequel could get in on it with Athena and Claptrap representing that game since Wilhelm and Nisha both died during Borderlands 2, Timothy is apparently MIA and Aurelia pulled a Screw This, I'm Outta Here. The absence of the other Vault Hunters could be explained by them on a different mission (or missions) elsewhere and this is just the team we're focusing (or would be released as DLC). I just think it'd be fun to have a party of Vault Hunters from all the previous games being on a team.
- To elaborate: Zer0 is clearly after the Vault, but seems to go about it subliminally: he makes the line referring to the Vault before anyone else in the bar mentions it - and when it is mentioned by the panicking bartender, Zer0 seems to take the news like he's hearing it for the first time. Either as a robot, or as an alien (perhaps both?), it seems he's "programmed" to find the Vault, "complete the challenge" there, and go after any other "challenge" between him and the Vault: on Pandora, there are certainly plenty of "challenges" to go around. I think the Eridians were hoping, between the body piles of Bandits, Creatures, and Hyperion employees, Zer0 would legitimately mop up the chaotic elements of the planet, and restore Pandora to a greater degree of peace.
- This troper believes Zer0 is a robot, not because he has three fingers and a thumb, not because there's a number in his name like so many other fictitious robots from sci-fi franchises, not because he speaks in haiku (a form of poetry whose symmetry a robot would no doubt find gratifying), but simply because, unlike his fellow Vault Hunters, he doesn't pant or wheeze after sprinting for long distances in-game.
- His title is The Number
- His TARDIS is the Catch-a-Ride system
- His companions are, of course, Salvador, Axton, and Maya.
- Evidence? Three fingers and a thumb on each hand. If he takes off his helmet, he'll say, "Well, obviously./What did you expect I was,/secretly female?"
- Well, today I thought he was a quarian from Mass Effect; three fingers and non-bent legs? Human hybrid, maybe. As far as lore is concerned, Pandora is not Earth and the game's setting is close to that of ME (I think). Note that I didn't finish Borderlands 2 yet so don't hold it against me if anything turns out wrong.
- This troper believes that Zer0 is an incomplete human/Eridian hybrid. He has a fully human body, salvaged from the dead body of an unlucky astronaut, but with Eridian implants to make him an Badass killing machine. However, the aliens couldn't find some of his fingers, so that is why that he doesn't have a full set of fingers. He was indoctrined and trained by Eridian soldiers, hence his lack of understanding about human social graces. Finally, Zer0 was sent to Earth to protect the new Vault Hunters, and he wears a helmet to conceal his identity, both for stealth reasons and to prevent Hyperion from discovering the (rather visible) Eridian implants and torturing him or experimenting on him.
- Captain Jack Harkness. Space-roaming immortals have to get their kicks somehow. He certainly has the good looks and ego, if not the drive or selfishness.
- This is an alternate universe where he ended up traveling with the Master instead of the Doctor, and his vicious and power-mad personality is a direct result of this.
- Apparently, Handsome Jack was based on Captain Jack.
- Actually an Eridian Half-Human Hybrid who took over Pandora for a foothold for the Eridians to gain power in the galaxy and take over the world. Oh, and there's definitely more. (Trollface) See, it occurs to me: Why does anyone want Pandora? My friend postulated that people want it because it's a free license to be as sociopathic as you want, though I'm not sure I believe that — Pandora would probably have way more offworlders with better toys if that was true. And the 'why control Pandora?' question goes double now that Roland, Mordecai, Lilith, and Brick opened the vault. See, Vault Hunting and the support of Vault Hunting seems to be a prosperous industry on Pandora, with Zed giving an air that 'oh, I've done this dozens of times' and mentioning giving the 'vault is a myth you'll get yourself killed lecture' very early. You even hear audio diaries from a Vault Hunter or three, and the fact that people refer to them as 'Vault hunters' implies that this is happens more often than not. Now that it's public knowledge that our favorite sociopathic Kleptomaniac Heroes opened it, why come? What value does it hold? Who's gonna buy your guns? So, in short, Pandora is useless. Then I thought about how Mr. Blake is made to resemble the Unintentional Uncanny Valley appearance of the G-Man (Okay, maybe not, but you can't deny the G-Man inspired him.) the WMG below that Hyperion is run by Eridians, their incredibly advanced tech that they do deceptively little with, and the question of how, if Atlas made its fortune on elemental tech and (allegedly) being the best, Hyperion actually has the best tech. So I came up with an even more fanwanky explanation than my previous idea of Pandora being a giant firearm testing site-Handsome Jack is an Eridian-human hybrid who took over Pandora for a foothold for the Eridians to gain power in the galaxy and take over the universe, and the Eridians will be the Big Bad of the rest of the series. Besides, if the Eridians being Abusive Precursors does not make sense to you, remember: this is Borderlands, people.
- The mask actually serves to hide a marking in the form of the Vault symbol.
- Tales Of The Borderlands reveals that Jack is still alive, but in the form of a murderous hologram that controls and aids Rhys. However, the final episode has Rhys ripping Jack out of his implants and either crushing the ECHO eye Jack resides in, or keeping it.
- Come the Pre-Sequel, this may have some credence - the alien that appears near the start of the game really unsettles him and he tells Athena to keep an eye out for it in the cutscene where he gets his scar.
- Um, confirmed, if Pandorans count as aliens. There's a very definite White Man'sBurden aspect to the character, obsessed with deleting all of Pandoran culture to "civilize" them, and he considers pretty much all people from Pandora to be bandits.
- This is, in fact, intentional, and why the Eridians created such adaptive species on the planet. They're a biological processing system.
- Or perhaps he's unaware of the Eridians, and he really thinks he's acting on his own free will. Wouldn't be the first time they undermined the entire plot of a game to boost the next one.
- Well if the next DLC indicates anything, Jack has had a crop of cultists worshiping him post-death: is it TRULY just an insane band of bandits/ex-Hyperion employees, or are they being commanded to worship him by the Eridians/Eridian Imposters?
- Life must've been hell for him through this sort of upbringing, to an extent that he considers everyone who doesn't support him to be bandits when he took the reins of Hyperion. His "grandma issues" which drive him to hire other bandits to kill her could be one indication that such was his life, and on her (now bloodstained) bed was a "disciplinary" circular saw, not much unlike one that Psychos use. Also, when you look at the face behind his mask, he has the vault symbol on it. Since Psychos wear these on their masks...
- Jossed, as New-U stations aren't canon.
- Nakayama tried to bring him back via cloning, who's to say some other loyal follower won't try it again? Maybe in a DLC where we got to the Hyperion Moon base.
- In hindsight... no, he doesn't come back. Unless you count the Handsome Sorcerer in Dragon Keep or his upcoming appearance in Tales of the Borderlands to count.
- Unlikely. If you pay attention to the opening sequence, Claptrap states "Great. Another dead Vault Hunter." Which implies that the playable characters and the main Crimson Raiders aren't the only Vault Hunters. Just the 6 in this game survive that train, the other ones are killed in the train crash. Jack also knew that by offering to hire the Vault Hunters that survived, it would make it easier for the 6 of them to kill him, because, as you said, the surviving 6 can "decimate the equivalent of a small country in a matter of hours.". The Vault Hunters aren't invincible, just tough to kill.
- Handsome Jack also has a room out in the wastes where he dumps the Vault Hunters he kills, which is where Claptrap gets your first gun from. He also has a cyborg Dragon that (if not conveniently poisoned beforehand) can curb-stomp the original four Vault Hunters without taking a scratch, and he's legitimately one step ahead of you for a large part of the game. Arguably, he has a reason to be cocky.
- Unlikely. If you pay attention to the opening sequence, Claptrap states "Great. Another dead Vault Hunter." Which implies that the playable characters and the main Crimson Raiders aren't the only Vault Hunters. Just the 6 in this game survive that train, the other ones are killed in the train crash. Jack also knew that by offering to hire the Vault Hunters that survived, it would make it easier for the 6 of them to kill him, because, as you said, the surviving 6 can "decimate the equivalent of a small country in a matter of hours.". The Vault Hunters aren't invincible, just tough to kill.
Alternatively, his given name really could be "Jack," and Tassiter is making a false assumption. (Real life example of this: my mom's given name is Peg - it's on her birth certificate and everything - but every now and then she encounters someone who insists on calling her "Margaret.")
- Considering how much of a Heartwarming Moment AND Moment of Awesome that would be, I personally hope this is the case. I'd especially like a mission to frag Blake personally - chase him just like how he chased T.K. when he sent HIS assassins after our favorite crippled, blind widower.
- That, or she could feed Blake to Zombie T.K.
- But... Didn't Blake help T.K. evade the assassins?
- T.K. Baha died in Borderlands (so before Borderlands 2): a sidequest involves stumbling on his hanged body.
- TK shows up in the Zombie Island DLC of the first game as a friendly zombie. Considering that he's getting his own DLC, I guess Zombie TK is canon.
- For those of you who couldn't read between the lines, Blake actually HELPED TK by warning him about the assassins when he had no other reason to do so. He is also one of the few antagonist quest givers who DOESN'T betray you at some point and actually pays you as promised when you complete his quest. He's actually probably the most reasonable man in Hyperion.
- That, or she could feed Blake to Zombie T.K.
- As of Tales Of The Borderlands, Hyperion has been destroyed due to the crash of Helios into Pandora, and only a friendly bandit group lead by Vaughn remains, named the Children of Helios.
- Or, given how easy it is to form a Cargo Cult on Pandora/in the clear absence of a loving god (but I repeat myself), it could be his satellite and other methods to set himself up as a powerful figure ruling from on high have just been very effective on a lot of the local population who form the bulk of his work force.
- Considering that Professor Nakayama of the third DLC seems to be fanatically devoted to Jack out of his own free will, evidently there are just some folks who really like Jack.
- Remember that there are no said ways to leave Pandora. They're just stuck here - bandits, Lancers and Hyperion workers alike. One of Roland ECHO records mentions that Atlas usually send extraction ship to get troops back. Engineers came to Pandora, got the work they were promised, but even if they would leave their job(and survive this), where would they go?
- There are at least three times when leaving is mentioned: by Roland's ECHO record, where he says about Atlas extraction ship, that they usually send to get troops back, by Reiss, who clerly doesn't like this place, and asks VH to "wake him up when he's not on Pandora anymore" and by Ulysses from Great Escape through his strange plan.
- Jack intentionally let the Vault Hunters destroy Wilhelm because it amused him and it was totally worth it to destroy his almighty Dragon just to trick the Raiders. If he really cared that much about Wilhelm, he would have had him rebuilt before the end of the story, since nobody else cares about Wilhelm anyway.
- More likely he'd only be brought back for the sake of having a raid boss with some flimsy justification as to why he's back.
- He never actually did come back in the DLC, but we will get to play as him in the Pre-Sequel.
- Jossed (for now). The confirmed Big Bad of Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC is the extremely loyal Hyperion employee and faithful Handsome Jack follower Professor Nakayama.
- Technically, this is only the third DLC, and it follows a post-story expansion a la General Knoxx. Still have one more to go before we see whether or not Blake shows his hand...
- Well, he doesn't play a role in Season One of the DLC...
- ...and neither does he in Season Two. Unless you count the mission in Mercenary Day where you have to kill midget loaders masquerading as Christmas, I mean Mercenary Day presents.
- Jossed (for now). The confirmed Big Bad of Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC is the extremely loyal Hyperion employee and faithful Handsome Jack follower Professor Nakayama.
- With Jack and Angel both dead leadership of Hyperion will fall to vice-president Jeffrey Blake. Mr. Blake is not only shown as a generally reasonable, upright, honest individual, but he owes two of his biggest promotions to the actions of Vault Hunters and has a history of working successfully and fairly with them. He's also had plenty of time to see what 'being evil' and trying to betray people gets you since he's been around Pandora for so long. With him in charge of Hyperion, the company may encourage and act as 'mission control' for the next group of Vault Hunters while Blake attempts to rebuild Hyperion.
- I see Blake as just wanting Hyperion to turn a profit. Jack's whole plan was wasteful of a lot of resources, and a lot of potential customers. Blake has realized it's best to maintain potential resources. Vault Hunters? Let them find the vault, then pay them for any technological finds inside. Much more efficiant, and doesn't waste any of Hyperion's own resources.
- It is possible that Blake will be a questgiver in the next game, making occasional quips about "We at Hyperion are sorry for trying to conquer your planet and... Everything Handsome Jack did", with quests that may or may not involve blowing up what's left of Opportunity and Blake generally venting a lot of pent-up rage at his boss.
- Tales from the Borderlands has Helios crashing into Pandora, wiping out most of the company's resources. The survivors have formed a friendly bandit clan named the Children of Helios, lead by Vaughn. However, at the time of the crash, Blake was revealed to be acting president of Hyperion.
- The Vault isn't on the moon.
- Nope, just like the first game it's on Pandora and is an extremely easy boss fight.
- Some further evidence to support this theory. A Seraph relic in Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt called "Breath of the Seraphs" has the red text: "Their return is to be feared..."
- The war could be the Eridians fighting against the Seraphs, or the actual Seraphs themselves coming to invade.
- While Jack had his charm until the endgame where he starts losing it, the next game will have someone that when they show up, all comedy goes out the window.
- With a good setup of skills and gear, Wilhelm can be easily dispatched. The next time a dreaded enforcer comes around, he'll be considered so feared that even a stoic badass like Zer0 or a gung-ho wild man like Salvador would say "Run." It's when you have to fight him near the end of the game he gets to show why he's that dangerous, even on Normal, nevermind UVHM!
- Jossed. The Vault on Elpis in the Pre-Sequel was opened by Colonel Zarpedon, who is not shown in any way to be a Siren. (Her powers are implied to be a result of being corrupted by Eridium.)
- Lilith/Rainbow Dash - Both have a LOT of fun with their powers. Rainbow's ability to fly between 1600+ g-forces to 166405.15 g-forces note is almost as awesome as Lilith's Phasewalk, which takes her and other characters through a separate dimension.
- Maya/Twilight Sparkle - Based on the fact they both act as The Leader (most of the time, and compared to their friends), and are Badass Bookworms aside. Maya's Phaselock is just Twilight's standard levitation ability taken up to eleven.
- Angel/Fluttershy - Based on sheer woobieness. If you really stretch the facts, Phaseshift (which gives Angel total control over ANY electronics she's plugged into) can be compared to Fluttershy's Friend to All Living Things status.
- Commandant Steele is currently out of consideration, seeing as: A) She's currently unconfirmed to be a Siren, and B) Wouldn't fit with any of the Mane Six. She's most likely an Element of Discord, and I'm not sure which one she would be if that's the case.
- P.S. - Come to think of it, the grey hair and skin certainly give mind to the "Discorded" Elements. Still can't tell which one she is, since none of the Discorded Mane Six led an army in the name of a neo-Fascist MegaCorp.
Or at the very least he would hire her to work for Torgue, she would surely make great grenades and launchers.
- In the first set of recording you have found Angel needed to know how much Tannis knew about the Vault to know how to manipulate the first wave of Vault hunters, and where better to get that information than the source. The only reason Angel was not on the ECHO recordings was because she edited herself off the them.
- Given that Tannis is confirmed to have Aspergers Syndrome, it is entirely possible that she simply didn't quite directly connect her ECHO recorder talking to her as a person on the other end hacking into it.
- When Tannis has her second major crazy period, it's talking with someone you don't see to get the ECHO network back online. Angel could have been using the loudspeaker to speak, and besides Angel was the other person with the technical know-how and motivation to get the ECHO network back online. Tannis' instructions on how to turn the ECHO network back on are described as "an argument with either an invisible cell mate or a rat" and it would make sense that the argument with Angel who couldn't hear Tannis, but could look at Tannis' notes through the security cameras in the base where Tannis is being kept.
- Also, Angel probably wanted to talk to someone who is definitely outside of Handsome Jack's control, and by making people think that Tannis is crazy, she was able to make sure that Handsome Jack didn't both to spy on her
- This also explains at least part of the "Ceiling Chairs" ECHO logs from Tannis: Angel talking to via a speaker in one of the chairs when Tannis' torturers weren't around, and Tannis, because of her disorder (confirmed to be Aspergers) thought that it was the chair itself talking to her.
- While we find the ECHO logs about the experiments, we never see any of the victims or ever hear about them after the "Doctors Orders" quest. Perhaps the goliaths are the results, as they notably don't appear in the first game.
- Jossed. Claptrap specifically holds Handsome Jack accountable for him being the Last of His Kind.
- Not really jossed, since it was under Hyperion orders that the Vault Hunters took on the Claptraps, so even if the Vault Hunters were the weapon that wiped them out, it was Hyperion pulling the trigger.
- More than likely while the Vault Hunters were the weapon that stopped the Robolution, it is Jack who specifically ordered the annihilation of all remaining Claptraps in order to prevent another Robolution from happening again. Of course, since it was the Valt Hunters' excessive looting that caused CT's ninja switch to be activated in the first place, technically they are responsible for the eradication of the product line.
- Actually, Claptrap specifically mentions that Handsome Jack ordered the end of the production of his model line. This means that the Vault Hunters are NOT responsible for ending the line. Critically thinning out the numbers, perhaps, but Jack was responsible for ordering Hyperion to halt the production of new units.... and then ordered his troops to kill off the remainders.
- This might be revealed in the Pre-Sequel, as Claptrap is apparently one of Jack's Servants. It seems weird that Claptrap would hold this as a grudge if it happened while he was still loyal to Jack.
- He still appears after Sanctuary moves; his (intended) spawn rate is low enough that many people simply believe he stops appearing entirely because they haven't seen him yet.
- Indeed. I never first found him until after I beat the story mode. Anyways, he is actually based off a fan of the first game who passed away before the second was released.
- He still appears after Sanctuary moves; his (intended) spawn rate is low enough that many people simply believe he stops appearing entirely because they haven't seen him yet.
- This makes loads of sense, and Scooter mentions that his dad is the one that told him how great cars were. Cars are pretty much the Hodunks' hat.
- The line you're thinking of says that Scooter's father is paralyzed. Jimbo is in a wheelchair because he's missing a leg.
- It's possible that leg is paralyzed and he is the head of the family.
- Tales of the Borderlands attempted Cutting Off the Branches by showing Tector Hodunk in a post-Borderlands 2 environment. However, this only confirms his survival. It's possible that the Vault Hunters bailed out of the Clan War and Mick Zaford is still alive. Moxxi's Wedding Day Massacre shows that the Hodunk and Zaford clans are still alive and well despite the Clan War ending implying that at least one of the families ends up destroyed.
- Alternatively, Torgue Corp. is operated by Orkz. Checkerboard patterns, red and yellow paint schemes, big and clunky and all the ammo they shoot explodes.
- Moxxi went through two more husbands before the events of Borderlands 2: Mordecai (#4) and Handsome Jack (#5). Reining in Torgue to be #6? Quite possible.
- They weren't husbands. They were just boyfriends/flings.
- No, Mordecai specifically mentions winning the prize from the Underdrome Tournament, which was Moxxi's hand in marriage. Jack was likely just a fling, however.
- They weren't husbands. They were just boyfriends/flings.
- Dahl, coming back to reap the rewards off Pandora due to the riches found, believing they would've hit pay dirt if they hadn't bailed out in their first attempt.
- Dahl definitely seems likely. They not only dropped the ball on the Vault once, which must sit badly with them, but they also already have a huge amount of mining assets not only on Pandora, but other planets as well. If the next game's in Pandora too, they can reclaim their assets there and quickly make a play to take over. Also, they'd be pretty pissed at the Crimson Raiders, considering that Sanctuary itself is technically Dahl property.
- Dahl has already been established to be thoroughly amoral. They most defintely seem to be the front-runner choice, considering what we know about Atlas and Hyperion.
- Jakobs, led by a group of shadowy individuals who all claim to be the descendants of the company's founder.
- Jakobs already was this in the Zombie DLC for the first game.
- Vladof, with the company taking its own sales pitch WAY too seriously and is using Pandora as the main hub for ANY anti-revolutionary group in the galaxy, making the planet even MORE lawless and chaotic than before in stark contrast to Hyperion forcefully trying to instill order.
- On the other hand, they haven't done anything as bad as Atlas, Hyperion, Dahl or Jakobs have......that we know off.
- Vladof isn't really an instigator company. They support "the oppressed", even offering the Crimson Raiders a sponsorship deal if they only used Vladof weapons. Roland mentioned it got kinda awkward when they declined.
- Maliwan and Torgue, both of them trying to claim Pandora for different reasons and clashing in open warfare against each other with their differing styles becoming the most prevalent of the clash. Possibly a chance to parody the Excuse Plot of Team Fortress 2 and maybe a satirical exaggeration of modern day corporate rivals (McDonald's vs. Burger King, Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi, Target vs. Walmart, etc.)
- Torgue already got a DLC and is decidedly non-evil (simply kinda dumb and way too focused on awesomeness to the detriment of everything else).
- Alternatively, Torgue alone - In Borderlands 1, Atlas was the villain, Hyperion starred in a DLC, and Torgue was highlighted in a lengthy side-quest. In Borderlands 2, Hyperion was the villain, Torgue starred in a DLC, and Dahl was highlighted in a lengthy side-quest. In Borderlands 3, following this trend, Torgue will be the main villain, Dahl will star in a DLC, and another company will feature prominently in a side-quest. As for Mr. Torgue, he's already shown to have little to no interaction with the rest of his corporation and has minimal control over it outside of things he's personally involved with, so it's entirely possible they'll kick him out.
- While Mister Torgue is definitely not evil, he doesn't actually control his own company. He's just a figurehead. The Wattle Gobbler DLC shows that the actual president of Torgue is amoral at best and totally evil at worst, considering the fights against the Wattle Gobbler were rigged so that only Mister Torgue could defeat it, hence improving the company's image. Also, the president is willing to murder anybody who risks foiling the plot, including the Vault Hunter.
- What if Torgue was actually a front for an Angry Marine Scout Sergeant, sent to Pandora to scour for the next batch of initiates for the Chapter? Certainly would explain his attitude and his desire to swear at everything.
- It seems very likely that it will be the Torgue Corporation, as in the Campaign of Carnage Torgue was indeed the president and owner of the company, but due to the disaster that followed, Torgue was tricked into selling it all away. Now that Anton's plan has been ruined, he directly threatened to kill Torgue and the Vault Hunters for the Waddle Gobbler incident. It wouldn't be a stretch to think of the 3rd game as helping Mister Torgue survive and destroy his old company.
- Alternatively, Maliwan, with their focus on elemental tech, may try to kidnap Lilith and Maya to experiment on them.
- Also alternatively, Corraza, the Dummied Out manufacturer from the first game. They may have a new gimmick such as shield-sapping grenades, the reason they got Dummied Out in the first place, or reuse Hyperion/Atlas style (High accuracy/High balanced stats).
- Tediore most likely wouldn't, due to a company focused on cheap yet reliable merchandise becoming evil corporate overlords would be impractical in-universe, and extremely cliche gameplay and storywise, while the Bandits not being likely should be obvious.
- Just ONE or TWO mega-corps? Why not up the ante, and have ALL of them! Some of them will shoot each other on sight (i.e. Spec Ops Dahl vs. revolutionary Vladof, backwoods Jakobs vs. technological Maliwan, etc.), and others bare along with Teeth-Clenched Teamwork... until Chronic Backstabbing Disorder ensues. And since it appears there are Vaults all over the Galaxy, end-games may include confronting the various corps. on their home planets, with the end game being to shut them all down for good!
- B-but... Who will make our delicious delicious guns after then?!
- ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'll add an addendum... Ahem. Your goal won't be to DESTROY the mega-corps, but to take out their CEOs (or protect CEOs that are decent enough, like Mr. Torgue), and replace them with more reasonable members of their staff - while denying the wealth and/or superweapons in the other Vaults.
- To elaborate this theory, I'll give a brief summary of how these new factions will act, based on their gun designs, as well as some of the canned dialogue for faction-only vending machines. This won't include the Bandits or Hyperion, since they'll likely be close to their incarnations in BL2 (minus Handsome Jack's insanity for Hyperion - perhaps).
- Dahl - Pretty obvious cannon fodder for the Modern Warfare/Battlefield/"realistic military FPS market". Mooks will be clean-cut military types, constantly shouting off military code/cheesy one-liners in combat. Will be led by a General Ripper sort that makes even Axton want to give him a "Section Eight".
- Maliwan - Will probably yank humor whole-sale from Aperture Industries, from scientists and robots gleefully eager to strapping you to a slab to test elemental weaponry, to bleached clean lab rooms constituting their home territories. Their leader is an emotionless woman that would outdo GLaDOS in terms of Dissonant Serenity and Comedic Sociopathy For Science!.
- Vladof - Loaded with Dirty Communists IN SPACE!!!. Mooks will be naive farmhands/factory workers more likely to shoot themselves than you, with Commissars as Elite Mooks to keep the others in line. The leader is likely acting as The Generalissimo.
- Tediore - The cheesy commercials yanked from The '50s would dig jabs at Fallout, and "Moral Guardians" in general. Their army would consist ENTIRELY of Stepford Smilers, with Mrs. Tediore - the head of the corporation - being the funniest and yet most terrifying foe to face.
- Torgue - Instead of recycling Bandits and Hyperion bots, Torgue's new army will consist of expies of Da Orkz, or men running on Testosterone Poisoning. Since Mr. Torgue was shown to be ultimately good at heart - if not exactly performance - his mentioned shareholders would probably get sick of his idiocy, and try to depose him in a coup.
- Jakobs - Loaded with all kinds of Western Characters, and none for the better. Their leader in particular is crooked and willing to do anything to compete in the weapons market - he certainly allowed a mini-Zombie Apocalypse to happen under Dr. Ned.
- B-but... Who will make our delicious delicious guns after then?!
- Their guns are already semi-autos. They just don't keep firing when you hold down the trigger.
- Fires every time you pull the trigger =/= Semi-auto. A semi auto puts a fresh round into the chamber using the recoil from each shot and re-cocks the firing mechanism. All of the Jakobs weapons I've seen are revolvers, of which maybe 3 models have ever had "automatic" functions.
- Tediore might be based on a crime ridden city planet (thus the emphasis on home defense). The mechanics of their gear (especially legendaries) could also work in dense urban environments. Their weapon selection also fits very well with a city planet, with pistols, SMGs, and shotguns being better choices than bulky assault rifles and sniper rifles. Rocket launchers would be the big surprise weapons for clearing out a whole room at once. The reason they sell the guns they make is to help repel suspicion from themselves.
- A Tediore gun (especially an SMG) could be rigged to blow up with a full magazine in someone's hands before a perfectly normal one is digistructed back. It would look to anyone else like they simply didn't know how to properly reload the gun. The Tediore reload can also be a way to make sure Tediore agents never lose a gun in close combat.
- This makes a lot of sense. Because the guns explode when disposed of that leaves little evidence to indicate who the shooter was. What's more this also explains there whole gimmick of re-spawning guns. It doesn't take a economist to figure out that Tediore's reloading style isn't exactly profitable. Say you buy a Tediore gun and use it five times. You've effectively been given five guns for the price of one. Tediore should have gone bankrupt long ago... unless there's something else supplementing their income. Perhaps they're also using the purchasing of parts for their guns and the selling of those guns to launder their money or disguise their illegitimate profits.
- The Baby Maker was made as a way to get past obstacles, like podiums and columns.
- The Gunerang was made as a way to get past corners and doorways where enemies might be hiding.
- The Deliverance was made as a way to chase down targets in dangerous or unknown areas.
- The Bunny is a Tiny Tina weapon, so it may not count for this list.
- The rather plain nature of their grenades (delivery methods excluded) helps minimize collateral damage, which is good if you're trying to retrieve something after a room has been cleared with said grenades.
- An agent equipped with the Cradle can surprise captors or feisty targets when it's depleted. The damage isn't the point of the Cradle, but rather the surprise factor. The time it would buy would let the shield fully recharge as well.
- Tediore pistols, SMGs, and shotguns sound like they have Hollywood Silencing built into them, perfect for covert missions and assassinations. Their slim profiles also make them easier to slip in through a cracked door or window. Rocket launchers could be rigged to remotely fire their rockets, reload themselves, and appear back in their owner's hands.
- Mrs. Tediore would be the head of the mafia. In the radio ad in Borderlands 2, John (I think that's the guy's name) claims to have lost his thumbs in a foreplay incident. They could have been cut off to make a point or to make him do something. His laugh at the end also seems rather forced, like he doesn't really want to be there.
- Jossed, the New-U network stays active all the way to the endgame. But this begs the question: why doesn't Handsome Jack just turn it off? His Vault Hunter problem would solve itself!
- Well, considering that Jack's hacker is Angel, it could be that he just doesn't have anyone who can undo what she did. So the above might be evidence against it, but I wouldn't call it fully jossed. And the answer to why he didn't just shut the entire system down is easy: They're making too much money off the respawning bandits, not to mention their own people, to do that. We don't know exactly how Hyperion works as a company, but the CEO usually isn't an absolute dictator. Presumably the board of directors or equivalent wouldn't let him turn off one of their greatest sources of income over a grudge.
- A sidequest at the end of the game reveals some of Jack's past, including a conversation he had with the former President of Hyperion. The President mentions that Jack scared the other shareholders out of their shares, so presumably there is no board of directors, Jack owns the entire company.
- Cut material (possibly) has revealed that initially it was Jack's plan, then Angel's doing and then Jack wanting to kill you himself.
- The New-U stations specifically mention that they'll continue to create new clones for you so long as you have the money to do so. It doesn't matter what Handsome Jack or Angel wants or does. It's a simple business tactic: So long as you die, Hyperion keeps making money. Its not much different than Marcus selling guns to two different bandit clans who were trying to kill each other. This is also the reason why you-know-who didn't respawn. Didn't bother to pay up Hyperion for the service.
- Except it's not. When Marcus sells the guns to the bandit clans trying to kill each other, he's not trying to kill *him* right then and there, and causing huge profit damages. The Vault Hunters absolutely are to Hyperion, and any profit they get from the Vault Hunter's respawning is more than counterbalanced by the huge amount of damage (s)he/they do to the company. Couple that with the fact that New-U *will* respawn you if you're broke, and any semblance of sanity this "simple business tactic" has is absolutely thrown out the window.
- Or you just cancel your contract with Hyperion and stop paying them for the service... So long as they make money, it doesn't matter who you are.
- The latest news seems to indicate that Torgue will be the focus of the second DLC. S&S might come up, since they were the "rival" to Torgue (being the More Dakka to Torgue's BFG).
- The official strategy guide confirms that S&S went bankrupt and disbanded over the 5 years between games.
- Word of God has said that, in terms of gameplay, S&S prided itself on having huge magazine clips. Since they made all the different gun companies each hold their own unique property, there was no point in having S&S anymore since Bandit weaponcrafters took up the role instead (and the jury-rigged glue and duct tape gun designs made them more memorable.) * Interestingly, Tales from the Borderlands has both the destruction of Hyperion and the return of Atlas thanks to Rhys, who is the new President of Atlas.
- Possible, they did say that the station could appear in a future DLC.
- Partially confirmed; The B&B game the final DLC was based around turns out to have been the old Vault hunters and Tiny Tina killing time while the new hunters get a Hyperion informant to cough up the codes to the Station (although we don't get to see any of it beyond Maya coming in and revealing it), thus ending on a fairly apparent Sequel Hook.
- Somewhat confirmed, its going to happen in the prequel.
- Because awesomeness. Also, it wouldn't be the first time enemy vehicles became accessible to players (Monster and APCs were enemy exclusive in the first game, but became player-accessible in the General Knoxx DLC, as well as the Bandit Technicals in this game).
- Highly unlikely, since the final DLC will be centered around a fight with Crawmerax Jr. and the only non-player characters that have been confirmed to appear in person are Mordecai, Hammerlock and Crazy Earl.
- She has been confirmed to be alive and well as of The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler though, since Grandma Flexington mentioned meeting her in one of her stories.
- Well, she's neither mentioned nor appears in the Son of Crawmerax DLC. Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens to her.
- She has been confirmed to be alive and well as of The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler though, since Grandma Flexington mentioned meeting her in one of her stories.
- The Big Bad behind all this? BUTT STALLION!!!
- It could also introduce a new player character class- one of those crystal lifeforms who believes that humans aren't bastards and fights against his own race because of this.
- Mostly confirmed as far as Raid On Digistruct Peak goes: it's all guns, no story.
- Yeah, definitely confirmed. It has guns, class mods, and the overpower system to make equipment and enemies more powerful. During the Digistruct Peak missions, however, Tannis does share some interesting information on the various enemies of the game.
Mr. Torgue may be a explosion-obsessed lunatic, but he's has shown himself to be very clever when he needs to be. He designed all his weapons himself, he's organised big events seemingly all by himself, and he figured out how to beat the supposed invincible Wattle-Gobbler. Despite suffering from an extreme case of Testosterone Poisoning, he is still an heroic character who loves children and his grandma. So it stands to reason that he would loathe Piston, an arrogant bully who only ever won anything by cheating.
Torgue could have just fired his biggest explosive into Piston's face and called it a day, but he didn't just want him dead, he wanted everyone to see how pathetic Piston really was. The problem is, no-one is badass enough to best Piston's dirty tricks.
Except the Vault Hunters, of course.
So he creates a fake vault in the Badass Crater to lure the Vault Hunters, and a tournament to lure Piston. He makes the Vault Hunters jump through a lot of hoops because he wants it done by the book: The Vault Hunters need to earn their place on the leaderboard for it to mean anything.
The Vault Hunters easily outclass Piston, who resorts to ever more desperate measures to win. In their final confrontation the audience finally sees Piston for what he is and boo him, before the Vault Hunters hand him his ass.
This is why the 'Vault' rewards you with a pathetic helping of guns, when all others contained an Eridian construct: it's not a real vault. Mr. Torgue managed to play all parties off against each other to get the outcome he wanted.
Consider also these facts:
- 1) Pyro Pete's backstory has him incinerating an entire planet. Yet he's ranked behind frigging Flyboy?
- 2) Pete is the only competitor who returns as a Raid Boss. This proves he is much tougher than he let on, and was probably holding back in your initial bout. If you look at the leaderboards, you'll also see that he is not marked off as dead after you beat him, unlike the others. This indicates his survival is canonical, unlike the other refightable bosses.
- 3) When Pete first calls you up he's very "in character" ranting about fire and such. He becomes much more subdued after Torgue starts Lampshading everything that's going to happen. Almost as if he's frustrated because Torgue is giving away too much of the plan.
- 4) Pyro Pete has his own bar in the crater, right nearby Torgue's arena. So does Moxxi, but that makes sense because she's sponsoring the event. It seems likely that Pete and Torgue know each other. Not only do they work in close proximity, but Pete is the ultimate pyromaniac, and Torgue is the ultimate explosion enthusiast; they'd probably be good friends, which would explain why Pete's the one he recruited for his scheme.
- Conclusion: Torgue and Pete knew Piston was a cheater, and set up a contingency plan for when he inevitably fought dirty, one that would allow the Vault Hunter to acquire a new sponsor when needed, as well as making a great story for the cameras so they could counter Piston's cheating without seeming to cheat themselves. And they didn't; the VH wasn't in on any of this, they earned their way up the leaderboard fair and square where everyone could see, just as they could see what a cheat and coward Piston was. And hey, if you're a little raw that Pyro Pete was maybe going a bit easy on you and want to prove you could take him, he's happy for a sporting rematch at full strength.
- There are also a number of other references, such as Sir Hammerlock namedropping Gentleman Adventurer and using words like "expositing." Not exclusive to TV Tropes by any means, but still, it makes you wonder.
- Hardly WMG material. Headwriter for Borderlands 2 and Gearbox employee Anthony Burch has referenced TV Tropes in the past, in one of his podcasts. He is aware.
- Innuendobot makes it clear that he hates being programmed to constantly make terrible sex-related puns, and after suffering for so long that way, when he finally manages to get that programming removed, he becomes a super strict Moral Guardian out of revenge, and is bent on eradicating all lewdness from Pandora. C3n50r 807 also lapses into innuendo at times, perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because the programming wasn't totally deleted.
- Nope. He's the preacher for the wedding in the Wedding Day Massacre DLC and by the end he's dead.
Pattern anyone?
- She's the one recounting the events of the Pre-Sequel at a point obviously set post-Borderlands 2, and there is no evidence he even attempted to have her killed, so Jossed.
- Further jossed by the Tales From The Borderlands series, where it's revealed that not only was she alive after Jack Canonically died, but Jack's virtual ghost is terrified of her.
(Yes, I do mean that one)
The name is not a merely a matter of shared names, but a twisted continuation of the first story. Eridium is actually an alloy of some sort with unobtanium (or hell simply a much cooler name for the same thing). After kicking all of the human’s off-planet, the Na’vii enjoyed a peaceful rebuilding of their society, with their new-found allies…for a few years.
Then the humans returned with bigger guns, larger mechas and nuclear warheads, having decided that peaceful co-habitation was completely impossible. After nuking the planet into a nuclear winter, massacring all survivors, and then aggressively strip mined, the place was left as a desolate wasteland that was inhabited by a handful of radioactively warped creatures that had gone insane and driven on by a lunatic Ah-wai. This is why Pandora is so deadly to humans: revenge on anything who dares step foot on this planet.
The Eridians found Pandora as the perfect hiding place: an isolated, self-protecting vault that would hide their secrets indefinitely…until hundreds of years later an eager Dahl researcher rediscovered the notes of the planet Pandora and somehow connected it with the legend of the Vault. After managing to convince some higher-ups at a board meeting, the result are the Borderlands we know and fear.
Enter Zer0.
He's either Eridian, or a robot constructed by them. He was sent to kill Jack and stop this bullshit. The Eridians had a VERY vested interest in keeping the Warrior asleep.
But that went to shit, which leads me to my thoughts for DLC and sequels.
DLC is going to hint at Eridian involvement more and more. We're gonna be seeing a lot more E-tech, a lot more ruins, maybe even hear their legends and history. The Cult of the Vault will be explored more.
And in the sequel, all hell breaks loose as the alien fuckers invade.
Axton is a Human RangerSalvador is a Dwarf MonkMaya is an Elf ClericKrieg is a pale-skinned Half Orc or Human BarbarianGaige is a Human Necromancer WizardZer0 is a... Ghoul? Ghost? Rogue (if 3.0) or Great Old One Warlock/Rogue hybrid (If 4.0 or 5.0) Maybe an Antipaladin or Blackguard.
- The Handsome Dragon is the BNK3R.
- The knights and squires are Hyperion. One location in Hatred's Shadow is named "Hall of Hyperion".
- The orcs are bandits.
- The dwarves are Slabs, because Brick's involvement causes them to attack the player even though they're supposed to be allies.
- The spiders are spiderants and varkids.
- The pixies actually use Maya's model.