Nuanced and complex storytelling has never been a strong suit of the Borderlands series. Frankly, they’re great at making enjoyable couch co-op looter-shooters with a very particular style of humor that you either love or hate.
But, you might be surprised to learn that there’s actually a fair amount of believable characterization in these games, especially in the gap from Borderlands 2 to Borderlands 3. So, let’s take a look at some of the biggest changes, and how they happened.
Disclaimer: There will be spoilers for both BL2 and BL3 in this, but mostly just character-specific ones.
10 Tannis Became A Siren & Trained Her Powers
Patricia Tannis is one of Pandora’s most…unique inhabitants and likely also one of the smartest. She’s an eccentric scientist-type who came to Pandora with the Dahl Corporation to unearth its Eridian Vault, but lost most of her crew and went a little crazy because of it.
She plays a sizeable role in all three games but is most central in BL3 where it’s revealed that she somehow gained Siren powers between BL2 and BL3. And, since she has the Phaseshifting ability (a power that previously belonged to Angel), it’s confirmed that Tannis is who the ability was passed on to after the story of Borderlands 2 ended.
9 Axton Got Into The Modeling Business
An ex-Dahl Soldier, Axton is the Turret-wielding class in the BL2 similar to Roland from BL1. But, Axton is a bit more of a glory-hound than Roland was which led to him getting dishonorably discharged from the military, getting divorced from his wife (also his commanding officer), and fleeing to Pandora.
After the events of Borderlands 2, Axton seems to have found a career as a model as Echo logs in-game talk about his magazine covers, body pillows, and his paint job that Moze can put on her Iron Bear.
8 Lilith Got Used To Being The Leader
Lilith is arguably the most recognizable character from the Borderlands series, her only competitors being Handsome Jack or maybe Tiny Tina. She’s the first Siren you’ll meet and pops back up in BL2 as the “Firehawk”. Then, after Roland’s demise in BL2, she becomes the impromptu leader of the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary.
But, between the second and third games, Lillith really has trouble accepting her commanding role. That is, until the events of Commander Lillith & The Fight For Sanctuary where she’s sort of forced into accepting it. In BL3 she’s a lot more sure of her role in general, which is nice to see.
7 Tiny Tina Formed The B-Team With Mordekai & Brick
Up next is another divisive character from the franchise: Tiny Tina. For the most part, the community loves her, but there is a decent amount of people who don’t like her humor at all (this writer included). That said, even these fans can admit her friendship with Brick and Mordekai (two of the Vault Hunters from BL1) is fantastic.
And, the fact that the three of them separate from the Crimson Raiders and become “The B-Team” is just so cute. Again, some time has passed between the end of BL2 and the start of BL3, so Tiny Tina isn’t so tiny anymore. Ashly Burch, the original voice actress, still brings that bit of insanity to the character though.
6 Hammerlock Found His True Love
Sir Hammerlock quite honestly is probably in the top three in terms of characters who get the most characterization in the third game. And, most of this has to do with what happened between 2 and 3, which is him meeting Wainwright Jakobs on Eden-6.
The most interesting aspect of Hammerlock is that he’s just such a decent guy in comparison to all the crazies around him. Hammerlock in BL2 is a lonely adventurer who is only dedicated to finding his next hunt, but at the start of BL3 (and in the Guns, Love, and Tentacles DLC) Alistair has really begun to build a life for himself.
5 Claptrap Got A New Voice (Maybe Even Two)
Claptrap is another iconic character from the Borderlands games, usually because of how insatiably annoying it is. Part of that irritating aura comes from its voice actor, David Eddings, and his fantastic performance. But, David didn’t reprise the role in BL3. There’s a reason for that, as it turns out, as a lot of drama went down behind-the-scenes between him and Randy Pitchford (the CEO of Gearbox) about owed royalties, physical assault, and a bunch of other stuff.
Because of this, Jim Foronda is the new voice of Claptrap in Borderlands 3, and while he does a good job, the character just doesn’t quite have the same horrendous flair anymore. And, the voice is apparently even changing again in the upcoming live-action adaptation, and this time Jack Black is giving it a shot.
4 Rhys Rebuilt The Atlas Corporation With Zer0’s Help
A few of the characters up until now have had backgrounds in the Dahl Corporation, but now we’re onto someone from another company: Rhys Strongfork. Rhys was a middle-manager at Hyperion looking to move up until he got betrayed and ended up on Pandora. His whole story is told through the Tales from the Borderlands games (now back on Steam) that take place after the events of Borderlands 2.
This Telltale game has a lot going on – too much to summarize at this moment. Essentially, by the end of it, Rhys finds a new purpose in life by rebuilding the Atlas Corporation; he manages to achieve this task thanks to help from his good friend Zer0, one of BL2’s playable Vault Hunters.
3 Krieg Worked On Sorting Out His Psycho Mind
Krieg is one of the DLC Vault Hunters added into Borderlands 2 (a trend of new Vault Hunters they sadly didn’t have in BL3). At first, Krieg might seem like one of the most shallow and easily understandable characters in the Borderlands franchise, but it’s actually quite the opposite. To cope with this tragic past, Krieg sort of unconsciously separated his Psyche into the sane “Krieg” side and the insane “Psycho” side.
While the insane part of him controls his body and mouth, the sane part acts sort of like a moral compass. But, by the time BL3 has started, Krieg has actually spent a lot of time meditating in the caverns under Konrad’s Hold and has begun to work towards fixing his broken mind. All of this story finally culminates in the final DLC for Borderlands 3, Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck. And it’s a good time to go back and check this DLC out, both for the character it sheds new light on and also because the game itself runs much better without Denuvo weighing it down.
2 Vaughn Got Even More Into The Bandit Lifestyle
Our second Tales from the Borderlands character is also likely the one with the most drastic change visually from BL2 to BL3. While it’s a bit of a jump that Rhys goes from being a middle-man to the head of a corporation, it’s even more ridiculous that this man, known as Vaughn, goes from a low-rank cowardly accountant to a full-on bandit legend.
The guy is a stereotypical meek worrywart in Tales from The Borderlands and keeps that personality most of the way through the game. But then, in BL2’s DLC Commander Lillith & The Fight For Sanctuary, we see that Vaughn has somehow become a bandit leader and a lot less…pent-up. But, in Borderlands 3, Vaughn has gone off the deep end in some pretty hilarious ways. However, some fans still have mixed feelings about Chris Hardwick voicing the character.
1 Maya Settled Down & Learned The Secrets Of The Sirens
Maya by far has the largest visual change between games, sporting a much more tame wardrobe and growing her hair out. But, more than that, she’s sort of settled down as a Siren and spends most of her time teaching Ava in a motherly sort of way, a role we never would have expected for her given her personality in BL2. And, while helping the Order of the Impending Storm on Athenas.
And, it seems like Maya also did some research of her own and learned a lot about the way Sirens work, where they came from, and how to read Eridian Writing. which is proven by how she now knows how to pass her Siren powers down to whoever she wants. Maybe she can also explain how Amara’s Phaseflare works in the Designer’s Cut cause we sure had trouble with it.
NEXT: Borderlands 3: 10 Best Legendary Rocket Launchers
