Borderlands: Vault Hunters / 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.

The Vault Hunters of the first Borderlands game.

open/close all folders

In General

Been There, Shaped History: Suffice to say, these four guys shaped the entire Borderlands universe.
- Them opening the Pandoran Vault filled the planet with Eridium. This allowed, among other things, the discovery of the Eridian race and the rise of a low-level Hyperion employee from being a code monkey into the universe's biggest despot.
- Them taking own of dangerous bandit groups and leaders led to many cities being reconnected and thriving again, at least until Jack's reign of terror.
- Their constant skirmishes against the Crimson Lance led to said group imploding and taking down with it its backing company. It would take several years and a rebranding before said company is rebuilt.
- Roland creating the Crimson Raiders in the wake of the Crimson Lance's dissolution and the rise of Handsome Jack paved the way for an actual contention group for future Vault Hunting groups.
Breaking the Fellowship: Between games Brick has gone off alone away from the other three due to Roland and Brick clashing on ideologies from Brick delivering a Cruel and Unusual Death to a traitor. Eventually he returns when Roland sends him letter through the Vault Hunters of 2 and they make up in person.
Characterization Marches On: In their debut game, they were all somewhat flat in terms of character before being fleshed out in later titles.
- Roland began as a boisterous ex-soldier with slight Jive Turkey undertones, who later became a mature if somewhat socially awkward heroic figure for Pandora's people.
- Lilith began as a sassy, power obsessed woman who liked to draw attention to her powers and looks, and later became a more mature leader figure with a more unreasonably ornery way of handling things.
- Mordecai started as a hunter with a noticeable ego and a penchant for hunting and killing the toughest targets he can challenge, with later depictions bringing his alcoholism and incredibly laidback nature to light.
- Brick was practically a screaming maniac with little interest in anything other than violence and treasure. In the sequels, he's much more reasonable and intelligible with Book Dumb tendencies, and has a deeply loyal brotherly bond with his friends.
Fire-Forged Friends: Perhaps more pronounced than any other band of Vault Hunters. All four of them have become great friends and have deep loyalties with each other in the sequels, with the only strained relationship being between Roland and Brick for their clashing views on morality.
Hired Guns:
- As far roles go in their respective games, this group is the straightest example. There's no overarching objective for them to pursue or a world to save as far as they know, they've just heard that Pandora holds a great treasure in its mythical Vault and arrived together to loot it for themselves before the Atlas corporation can beat them to it, while doing some odd jobs and bounties on their way there. The fact that they didn't even know that they were just brought there to kill the Destroyer as part of a grander plan underlines this.
- The Secret Armory of General Knoxx however does see them take a willingly more benevolent role, with them driving Atlas off of Pandora being in their best interests, if just so they can pillage their gigantic armory's worth of valuable weapons.
Out-of-Character Moment: In 3, Brick, Mordecai and Lilith not actively working together (despite all three being both available and ready to fight) to bring down the Calypsos goes against how close the group was in all other appearances. While part of it can be explained as not wanting to follow Lilith's questionable leadership, the fact that they don't even express interest in joining due to the danger the Calypsos pose is offputting.
Weak, but Skilled: Story-wise and gameplay-wise, they are the weakest vault hunters to come around in the main games, with both 2 and The Pre-Sequel overcoming feats the former thought impossible and just one of the The Pre-Sequel Vault Hunters effortlessly defeating 1's with apparent ease. However, they are all shown to be some of the most effective, being great at using what they have to their advantage and managing to survive encounter after encounter despite being outclassed.

Roland

Roland (AKA The Soldier; Commander of the Crimson Raiders)

As of Borderlands 2. ^{Click to see him in Borderlands 1}

Voiced in English by: Oliver Tull (Borderlands 1), Markus Lloyd (Borderlands 2)

Played by: Kevin Hart (film)

Voiced in Japanese by: Daisuke Hirakawa

An ex-Crimson Lance soldier who quit after his corrupt superiors tried to frame and kill him. By the second game, he has reforged the remnants of the Lance and other survivors on Pandora into the Crimson Raiders, the anti-Hyperion resistance. He dated Lilith between games.

Amicable Exes: Despite their breakup, Lilith and Roland are still very close and on good terms, it gets to the point where it's implied they rekindle their relationship late in the game, seeing how Lilith promises him Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex afterwards and he doesn't necessarily turn down the offer.
Apologetic Attacker: In The Pre-Sequel, Roland apologizes to Jack and his Vault Hunters just as the Eye of Helios is destroyed.
Badass Normal: Just a regular human with serious military training.
Badass in Distress: He ends up captured by the Bloodshots early on in 2. How? He was taking a piss and the Bandits knocked him out.
Bald of Authority: He is bald and in charge.
Black Dude Dies First: The first of the Vault Hunters chronologically-wise to eat the dust. Dies right after Angel does, making him the second major character to die. Canonically-wise, he's the second/third fallen Vault Hunter following Wilhelm and Nisha.
Big Good: In 2 he's the leader of the Crimson Raiders.
Captain Obvious: Some of his lines.
[Shoots a bandit and makes his head explode]
TARGET HIT!
Casual Danger Dialogue: Talks to the player before casually taking out mechs who were attacking him, before re-starting the conversation as if nothing happened.
Characterization Marches On: From 1 and 2, Roland evolves into a more level-headed, mature, and responsible character who ultimately attempts to shy away from the Grey-and-Gray Morality most of Pandora's citizens tend to have. It's a big step from his early days as a vault hunter, where he was cockier, boisterous and invested in loot like most vault hunters are.
Combat and Support: Roland has the most skills focused around supporting teammates. However, he has by far the least capacity for self-healing compared to the other 3 characters^note, and is especially challenging to play in solo mode.
Combat Medic: Roland has a skill tree called "Medic" that helps him heal his allies, but that doesn't mean he's any less capable of shooting you. The tree has other abilities that increase his health, give him damage resistance to bullets, and increases his weaponry's magazine size. The ultimate skill for this skill tree heals him every time he kills an enemy. And one of the ways he can heal allies is by shooting them, giving the term new meaning. Plus he can upgrade his turret to heal allies while unhealing everyone else. In 2, his turret has the healing aura built-in.
Commanding Coolness: Roland took command of the remnants of the Crimson Lance, renamed them the Crimson Raiders, and in the second game holds the rank of Commander.
Corporate Samurai: Formerly a member of the Crimson Lance, Atlas's private army.
Create Your Own Villain: Takes part of the events that led Jack to become Handsome Jack in The Pre-Sequel, though unlike Lilith and Moxxi, he's actually apologetic for betraying Jack.
Death by Irony:
- A noble soldier who sought vengeance against the corrupt superiors who betrayed and tried to kill him is killed by the man he reluctantly conspired to betray and kill.
- The one member of the conspiracy to kill Jack who expressed regret at the action is the only one Handsome Jack personally murders.
- The player class who has many skills in regenerating health and shields is killed in one hit.
Defector from Decadence: A former member of the Crimson Lance.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: He's killed both suddenly and unceremoniously moments after Angel's death.
Emergency Weapon: His knife. Unlike all other characters in both games, Roland has no skills or mods whatsoever that increase his melee in any way, and so his melee attacks are ridiculously underpowered. The only reason a player might ever find to use it is to stun a pursuing Psycho while Roland desperately runs to a safe place to recover health and shields, since the flinch chance is the same with all characters.
The Engineer: His Scorpio Turret. Notably, only Crimson Lance Engineers can deploy Scorpio Turrets, indicating he was trained as one by the Lance.
Forgotten Fallen Friend: Subverted, both 2 and 3 make a point to dedicate a memorial to him after his life was cut short, Mordecai, Lilith, and Brick have all mentioned him after the fact. Ironically, since his death eclipses Angel, it causes her to play this trope straight.
Frame-Up: The Borderlands: Origins comic reveals his desertion from Crimson Lance that had him kill his superior officer involved said officer slaughtering Roland's unit to cover up his corrupt dealings and trying to pin their deaths on Roland.
Genius Bruiser: While not a genius like Tannis, Roland has plenty of technical, tactical, and fighting capabilities that make him a very valuable ally both on and off the field.
Good Is Not Soft: Despite his reservations on doing anything exceptionally cruel and his overall Nice Guy personality, he ultimately IS willing to Shoot the Dog. Most prominent examples being when it comes to attempting to assassinate Jack by sabotaging the Eye Of Helios and helping deliver a Mercy Kill to Angel.
Healing Shiv: Roland can access Cauterize, a special ability that makes his weaponry heal allies. The text of the skill states this also works with rockets and grenades.
Hidden Depths: Tiny Tina's Wonderlands reveals that it was he who got Tina into Bunkers and Badasses, serving as her Bunker Master for her first adventure.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's far larger than Lilith.
Intergenerational Friendship: Had a close friend with Tiny Tina, despite the age gap. One of the plot points of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is her getting over his death.
Jack of All Stats: He's the most balanced of the four original player characters, although this means he doesn't specialize in a specific area of combat to the same extent as the others.
The Leader: Of 1's Vault hunters and later of the Crimson Raiders.
Meaningful Name: As the most moral of the original 4, with a heavy knight motif due to his crimson lance origin, it's fitting that he's named "Roland", like the legendary knight.
The Medic: Has an entire skill tree devoted to it (appropriately titled "Medic"), and is the only one of the original Vault Hunters who can heal others directly.
Mission Control: For many plot missions in 2.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The reason he left the Crimson Lance was that he found out that his superior was setting him and his squad up. Of course, his boss had his teammates killed and left him for dead.
The Nicknamer: In the second game, he always refers to the player as "Soldier".
Nice Guy: Easily the nicest one of the original group.
Noodle Incident: His killing of a superior officer before deserting the Lance; the circumstances surrounding this are never revealed in either game. The Origins comic reveals that his immediate superior slaughtered Roland's unit in order to cover up his corrupt dealings and Roland killed him as revenge.
No Social Skills: In 2, he tends to be incredibly blunt to the point that he has to be reminded about basic greetings. After the new Vault Hunters survive a hard mission, he greets them with:
Roland: Oh good, you're not dead.
Lilith: That's his way of saying "Wow, you're a badass; I'm glad you're okay".
Not So Above It All: On two separate occasions:
- For all his maturity and stoic nature, he never turns down Lilith's offer for Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex, implying he'd be happy with the offer.
- Despite being a Workaholic, he's more than willing to just relax on vacation in The Pre-Sequel, and refuses to do work until the situation proves dire enough.
Only Sane Man: DEFINITELY. Though Brick does, almost ludicrously, have his moments.
Parental Substitute: To Tiny Tina, according to a picture she keeps on her nightstand in Borderlands 2.
The Paladin: Definitely. Perhaps the only unambiguously good person in the game. And, his name is Roland, after all. For those not following the link, Roland was a legendary Frankish knight who led Charlemagne's twelve paladins, his best soldiers and finest commanders. In Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, he's represented as The White Knight in Tina's campaign.
Posthumous Character: In Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, he has a monument built in his honor.
Quest Giver: In 2, you need to redeem the quests "A Dam Fine Rescue" and "Bright Lights, Future City" to him, and he gives you the quests "A Train to Catch", "Wildlife Preservation", "The Once and Future Slab", "The Man Who Would Be Jack" and both parts of "Where Angels Fear To Tread".
Regenerating Shields, Static Health: Roland has a few skills that increase his shield regeneration, but has considerably less health regeneration options compared to any of the other 3 original player characters. Unless you equip a healing shield on him, he really has trouble restoring lost health in combat unless you fully unlock his Medic skill tree.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Swore to his former boss that he would get his revenge. He got it.
Sacrificial Lion: He's the second major character to die after Angel, but his death at Jack's hands is a major turning point in the campaign and the true race to stop Jack's plans from coming to fruition begins.
Sentry Gun: The Action Skill deploys a Scorpio Turret, that same turret as used by Crimson Lance engineers, and the massive coastal defense guns visible on some maps.
The Smart Guy: Borderlands 2 pushes this, as he's the one who comes up with most of the missions to put a stop to Jack's madness and knows how to use his ally's strengths to their advantage.
Straight Man: In Borderlands 2 onwards, to Lilith and the other Vault Hunters. He's also seemingly the only person capable of tolerating Tannis and Tina (aside from Brick and Mr. Torgue, who are enablers of Tina's madness more than anything else).
Still Wearing the Old Colors: Mostly in 1. By the time of 2, the Crimson Raiders' symbol is the old Crimson Lance symbol merged with The Vault symbol.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Claptastic Voyage shows that the "guy allergic to smiling" really does care for Lilith after all.
Roland: I really like Lilith. I want to hug her for a reeeally long time.
Supporting Leader: His role in 2.
The Stoic: While Roland in 2 is clearly not alien to emotion, he does show the greatest emotional restraint out of the entire cast. It comes across as him being an unwavering pillar of stability during the wild ride that is the fight against Handsome Jack.
The Turret Master: Thanks to his Scorpio Turret.
This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Roland is known to say "Critical, Bitch!"
Token Good Teammate: Among the Vault Hunters in the first game. He's not just good by Borderlands standards, but a good guy all around.
Token Minority: Of course, Borderlands 2 reveals that Mordecai is Hispanic, thus subverting this trope.
Throw Down the Bomblet: His skill Grenadier increases his grenade damage and regenerates grenades upon him getting a kill.
Universally Beloved Leader: As a leader, he's much-beloved by the folks of Sanctuary and the Crimson Raiders, the latter composed of former enemies. As such, his death affects the locals quite heavily, with many of the Raiders swearing vengeance on Jack.
Vocal Evolution: His voice is noticeably younger and more cocky in the first game compared to the second, due to, well, being a lot younger and cockier. The meta reason being a case of The Other Darrin.
Worf Had the Flu: How Jack kills him: Sneaking up on him after a hard fought battle with performing a Mercy Kill on Angel, and shooting him in the back before anyone's aware to his presence.
Workaholic: Unlike the rest of 1's Vault Hunters, Roland is mainly concerned with business more than anything else, his biggest detour being having the second generation of Vault Hunters deliver an apology to Brick.

Mordecai

Mordecai (AKA The Hunter; w/ his BFF Bloodwing)

As of Fight for Sanctuary. Click to see him in: ^{Borderlands 1} - ^{2 (w/Bloodwing)} - ^TFTB

Voiced in English by: Julio Cardillo (Borderlands 1) and Jason Liebrecht (Borderlands 2)

Voiced in Japanese by: Shoma Yamamoto

A sniper with an exotic alien bird for a pet, Mordecai is known for being friendly and helpful, even if he does prefer Bloodwing's companionship over other humans. In the sequel, he is the advance scout for the Crimson Raiders.

Mordecai

Adaptational Attractiveness: He's much less skinny in the comics, where he's rather well-built.
The Alcoholic: Although Fall of Fyrestone depicts him as a bit of one, by the time of Borderlands 2, he became one. He gets deep onto booze after Bloodwing's death. However it starts to be gone during the credits, once Talon is born. By the time of Son of Crawmerax he left it, and Fight for Sanctuary confirms that he's one year sober.
Animal Motif: Birds of prey; he's a sniper known for his perfect accuracy, fights with falcons, wears feathers in 3 and his hair pulled back under his mask somewhat resembles a bird's tail.
Armor-Piercing Attack:
- The ultimate skill in his Sniper skill tree lets him completely bypass shields and directly damage health.
- In the sequel, one of his quest rewards is a sniper rifle that does this as well.
Badass Longcoat: His original model used this, and the influence can still be seen in the vest combo he sports.
The Beastmaster: Barring its cooldown, he has a skill which allows him to sic his bird, Bloodwing, on his enemies.
Big "NO!":
- Whenever he dies.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I NEVER DIE!!!"
- Also in 2, when Jack kills Bloodwing.
Bilingual Bonus: He's a huge potty-mouth. Chances are you probably only found out from Jason Liebrecht's portrayals in real-world cons; but if you know Spanish, you already knew that from how much he curses in Spanish in-game.
Cold Sniper: Extremely cold and ruthless during his appearance in Tales from the Borderlands.
Cool Mask: Wears a leather mask in the first game. In the second game, he instead has a headwrap of some sort.
Butt-Monkey: Tends to be the butt of the joke whenever he hangs out with Brick and Tina, notably in Fight for Sanctuary and Borderlands 3.
Character Development: He starts 2 as a more detached, apathetic, person who's nearly a nonfunctional alcoholic. Come Fight for Sanctuary however, he becomes a much happier, emotional, and caring person who kicks alcohol completely.
Deadpan Snarker: Some of his idle lines smack of this.
How much longer are you gonna admire that dirt?
Demoted to Extra: Appears only in a few missions of Borderlands 3.
Disney Death: Towards the end of 2, when his stolen Hyperion barge crashes.
Drowning My Sorrows: Sends you to fetch him more booze after Bloodwing dies. It's revealed that he won Moxxi's underdome challenges, only to get into a relationship with her that went really sour, causing another instance of the trope.
Evil Laugh: Employs this trope quite often when he scores a kill.
Flipping the Bird: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment during the first game's intro, in response to Marcus' Truxican wrestler/dominatrix comment.
Foreign Cuss Word: He says "pendejo" a lot, which is Mexican Spanish for "asshole".
Foreign-Language Tirade: Often starts cursing up a storm in Spanish when upset.
Friendly Sniper: His victory dialogue against elite mooks ("Nothin' like a challengin' kill!"; "Yeah, not bad! Not bad."; "Heh; another trophy for my wall.") seem to imply that he regards his enemies as sport, as challenges that he is excited to meet. As opposed to, y'know, people like bandits who kill others just because they feel like doing it. Which is probably what you think of them.
Genius Ditz: He's not very bright: Mordecai has trouble thinking more than one step ahead, and merrily falls into more than one trap set by Jack with serious consequences for the Crimson Raiders each time. On top of that, he's a borderline non-functioning alcoholic. However, he's also the best sniper on the planet, and one of its best trackers and when riled, is a serious threat.
Glass Cannon: Not quite to the same extent as Zer0, but his skills are generally focused a lot more on dealing heavy damage to single targets rather than on avoiding damage or enhancing his own survival odds^note. He's probably the most difficult character to play as solo, given that he's the only one whose action skill can't be used for crowd control (unless you max out one particular skill tree) and also doesn't help him avoid or soak enemy attacks, and he's very much dependent on harming enemies to regain health.
Good Parents: Despite his flaws such as his alcoholism, depression, and apathy, he's described as a very good pet owner to Bloodwing, the bird even going out of its way to make him proud.
Gratuitous Spanish: At least in Borderlands 2, where he'll yell "Gotcha, Pendejo" as he shoots people while helping the player, amongst other things.
The Gunslinger: Every playable character can use guns and has skill trees relating to them, but Mordecai actually gets a skill tree that's called this, specifically with pistols.
Hand Wave: In Borderlands 2 Lilith relays a story that acts as an explanation for the bug-like behaviour of his action skill, where Bloodwing doesn't attack anyone when Mordecai is behind cover
Lilith: Remember that time Mordecai got shot in the shoulder and he just hid behind cover and threw Bloodwing out to face those bandits on his own? And Bloodwing just flew around and around in circles, not attacking anybody, and Mordecai was screaming at him: 'What are you doing you coward? Get to killin!' blah blah blah, and finally Mordecai stood up out of cover...
Roland: And Bloodwing went down screaming down into the fray and killed all those bandits in a half-second. Yeah, he wanted Mordecai to see him do it, wanted to make him proud.
Large Ham: "NOOOOOO! I NEVER DIE!!!"
Mission Control: In 2, after Roland's death and Lilith's capture.
Muscles Are Meaningless: He's quite skinny, however he can use some pretty big guns such as heavy-weight revolvers and sniper rifles. At the end of 2 he's seen helping to support Brick, of all people.
The Musketeer: Specializes in sniper rifles and pistols, but also deadly with his sword.
The Nicknamer: In the second game, he often refers to Lilith as "Lil". In the case of the player, he generally addresses them as "amigo".
Noodle People:
- He's a lot thinner than the other player characters (including Lilith). Knoxx even comments on it in one of his tweetergrams.
Knoxx: Troops will deploy today if all goes to plan. Just met a man named Mord-ee-kai. Dude, eat something.
- A summary on him from Borderlands 2's official Facebook group even says he dislikes eating.
Not So Above It All: He likes to act apathetic to his surroundings and the zanier antics of those around him, but he's actually prone to them himself, albeit to a lesser degree.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Just before he lets loose his revenge against the Hyperion robots after Jack killed Bloodwing, thus making the new Vault Hunters escape to safety:
"Vault Hunter. Get down."
Quest Giver: In 2 he gives you the quests "The Good, The Bad and The Mordecai", "Animal Rights", "Rakkaholics Anonymous", "Bearer of Bad News", "This Just In", "Toil and Trouble", "Data Mining" and "The Talon of God".
Real Men Wear Pink: Rather than that show everyone else watches, Mordy's favorite show is that one about those two duchesses that are trying to get married n' stuff.
Brick: Oh my god, this show sounds stupid.
Mordecai: You're stupid!
Revolvers Are Just Better: The Gunslinger tree lets him turn into a one-handed death machine, and, if you still have a good Masher or an Unforgiven Masher, you can become a gunslinging Terminator with a bird. This is referenced during his appearance in Tales from the Borderlands, as we saw him bringing back the Unforgiven Masher once more. As it turns out, he uses an upgraded Unforgiven that looks like Maggie, the same revolver's spiritual successor, but with dark red coloring and a Maliwan sight. This implies that Mordecai had a custom Unforgiven Masher made for him since normal Mashers (apart from Maggie) didn't exist in both 2 and TPS and Unforgiven in 2 acts differently compared to Mordecai's Unforgiven.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Bloodwing dies, Jack sends a wave of robots to keep the player from leaving. Mordecai responds with a (presumed) sniper rifle that, to put it mildly, shoots explosions instead of bullets. Later, he sends the new Vault Hunters on a mission to set loose some of the captive animals in the Exploitation Preserve so they can slaughter the Hyperion workers.
Sarcasm Mode: Some of Mordecai's lines when standing still. HE LOVES IT!
Scarily Competent Tracker: Despite his seemingly uncaring attitude towards most things, Mordecai ends up finding most of Pandora's more important structures and people without any difficulty.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Liebrecht portrays him this way at cons. In the games he's exactly as much of a potty-mouth, but he curses in Spanish so that nobody finds out.
Skill Gate Characters: Mordecai's special ability, unleashing his pet hawk Bloodwing, can wipe out most low-level non-boss enemies, turning it into an "I Win" button in the early game. As the game progresses, though, the enemies increase in strength more quickly than Bloodwing does, reducing its effect and making the late game far more difficult.
The Straight Man: He's arguably the most down-to-earth or "normal" out of his friends, and as such his role in comedy situations has him dealing with their Insane Troll Logic. The most apparent example is Dragon Keep DLC. Lilith's the only one with about as much common sense as he does, but she gets caught up in the occasional nerd rant. Brick punches everything just because. Tina is, well, Tina. And Mordecai sits around either apathetic, snarking at the game, trying to make sense of what's happening, or get aggravated by what's happening and his friends' antics.
Teeny Weenie: According to Moxxi he's rather underendowed.
Moxxi: Oh, and if you see Mordecai, let him know: three inches? Not average size. Not even close.
Those Two Guys: He is most commonly depicted with Brick from 2 onwards.
Unstoppable Rage: After Bloodwing is killed, Mordecai destroys quite a few badass robots almost entirely on his own. See Roaring Rampage of Revenge above.
Vocal Evolution: His voice is noticeably deeper and more growly in the first game, due to being voiced by a different actor. He does have a few lines in the first game where he actually sounds pretty close to how he does in the second game.
Worf Had the Flu: His and Brick's lackluster performance in Tales From The Borderlands was due to their attempts to hold back as they had to bring back Athena alive.

Bloodwing

As of Borderlands 2 (Tiny Tina DLC)

Brutal Bird of Prey: To whoever Mordecai's setting him on.
Your Head A-Splode: After being calmed during the boss fight, Jack actions a bomb on her collar that blows her head, killing her.
Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: Probably the reason Bloodwing is a "she" in 2. According to the head writer, Bloodwing is of a species that changes gender halfway through his/her life, much like what happened to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. This also explains why, in 2, Lilith and Brick refer to Bloodwing as male when reminiscing about a much earlier incident.

Talon

As of Borderlands 2 (Fight for Sanctuary DLC)

Late-Arrival Spoiler: The DLC for 2, Tales from the Borderlands and 3 assume that you watched the end credits for the main game of 2.
Someone to Remember Him By: He's Bloodwing's child.

Lilith

Lilith Cashlin (AKA The Siren; Firehawk)

As of 3. Click to see her in: ¹ - ²

Voiced in English by: Colleen Clinkenbeard

Played by: Yasemin Arslan, Cate Blanchett (film)

Voiced in Japanese by: Asami Imai

Full name Lilith Cashlin. A Siren, one of six women in the universe born with mysterious powers, she came to Pandora after hearing rumors there was another Siren on the planet. By the second game, her powers have been enhanced by Eridium, and she is waging a one-woman war against the bandits of the Tundra so that Roland and the Crimson Raiders can focus on Jack. She dated Roland between games.

Action Girl: Being a Siren fully capable of keeping up with the rest of the male Vault Hunters, and being just as dangerous as Brick in close quarters with her powers.
All the Other Reindeer: Apparently when she was a kid, all the boys made fun of her because of her tattoos, and because she played Bunkers & Badasses.
Amicable Exes: Despite their breakup, Lilith and Roland are still very close and on good terms, it gets to the point where it's implied they rekindle their relationship late in the game, seeing how Lilith promises him Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex afterwards and he doesn't turn down the offer.
And This Is for...: If you give her the option of killing Jack at the end of 2:
Lilith: That was for Roland, asshole...
Ascended Fangirl: Lilith's powers as a Siren make her the Borderlands equivalent of a sorcerer, and she grew up being teased for two things: her Siren tattoos, and her passion for Bunkers & Badasses. She has some issues with bandwagon geeks because of it. She's also read the universe's equivalent to A Song of Ice and Fire.
Badass Adorable: She's a beautiful and deadly Siren who loves nerding out over her hobbies.
Badass Boast: After scoring a critical hit, she sometimes says: "[laugh] I'm really good at this!"
Badass Fingersnap: She'll teleport you at the end of "Hunting the Firehawk" with a finger-snap. The "badass" part is downplayed however since the distance was just ten feet away.
Badass in Distress:
- In 2, you first meet her when she's under attack by a bandit clan.
- She also needs to be rescued later, after Jack captures her.
Be Yourself: In Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary, she tries to think like Roland during the fight against Colonel Hector until she realizes that she has to do things her own way to achieve success.
Big Good: After Roland dies in 2, she takes over this role. By the time of 3, she's already saved Pandora a dozen times over.
Brought Down to Normal: In 3, she loses her Siren powers thanks to the Calypsos.
Call-Back: In the "We Are Mayhem" trailer for Borderlands 3, Lilith blows a kiss to the camera and strikes the same pose as she did in the intro cinematic to Borderlands 1, only this time she follows it up with a middle finger.
Cannot Spit It Out: Some of the ECHOs of her the player finds in Borderlands 2 have her trying to seduce Roland, only to creep him out/drive him away due to her inability to spit it out and general weirdness.
Catchphrase: In the second game, she's fond of saying "'Sup" before or after she does something with her powers.
Character Development: In the Commander Lilith DLC, Lilith begins learning how to become a better leader, to think and plan carefully, to be patient, and to step out of Roland's shadow. In 3 (set seven years later), she's far less impulsive, hotheaded and arrogant than she used to be, and has saved Pandora a dozen times by then. Over the course of the story, she proves to be a good and patient commander, and the loss of her powers manages to humble her into becoming a careful and more cautious individual, discarding the last shreds of her old arrogance. However, this comes at the cost of making her too scared to take any risks due to the severe harm done to her by the twins, and leads to the Vault Hunters struggling to win the war of attrition the Twins are waging. But at the end, Lilith finally regains her old confidence by willingly pulling off a Heroic Sacrifice to protect all of Pandora from being destroyed by its own moon, coming full circle and ending on a high note.
Clothing Damage: Her outfit in the second game is the exact same one she wore in the first game, save for the fact that it has been ripped and torn and patched back up in multiple places, particularly along her left side, exposing both a lot of skin and her Siren tattoos.
Cool Big Sis: To Tiny Tina by the time of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep. It's unclear if she filled this role before Roland died, or if it's more recent.
Covert Pervert: Lilith has a Blue Screen of Death in her hideout computer. On it, it states that someone has been looking at porn on the computer and is blackmailing the user that it will send the user's search history to their grandma if they don't wipe the gunk off the computer's keyboard and get a new graphics card. Lilith is the only person who lives in the cave.
Cult: Unintentionally starts one among the bandits of Frostburn Canyon when she set a bandit on fire after the first Borderlands. They can be encountered and fought in the second game 'worshipping the Firehawk' while arming themselves with fire equipment, making human sacrifices, and burning people and things to death.
Create Your Own Villain: The Pre-Sequel shows that she was directly responsible for giving Jack his scar and giving him the final push into full-blown psychopathy.
Deadpan Snarker: It is unsure if she was this during the first Borderlands, but when dealing with ultra-serious and grim Roland, she's this in the second.
Roland: Handsome Jack is going to kill us all unless you can stop him.
Lilith: He means hi. That's his way of saying "hi."
Doesn't Trust Those Guys: An ECHO in the "Fantastic Fustercluck" DLC reveals that she initially had reservations accepting Krieg into the Crimson Raiders due to him being a Psycho and only did so after Maya vouched for him. Nonetheless, she came to see him as a friend and embraced his eccentricities.
Everyone Has Standards: Like Timothy, Aurelia, Claptrap and Athena, Lilith is horrified when Jack spaces all his scientists out of paranoia, wanting to pull a Screw This, I'm Outta Here. It's only due to Roland convincing her otherwise that they stay in the story for a bit longer.
Exposed to the Elements: Her first hideout in 2 is located inside a frozen mountain, in a snow-covered valley. Yet she seems to get by in her worn, damaged, and somewhat revealing outfit.
Facepalm of Doom: How Lilith kills Jack with her Siren powers if you let her do so. Canonly, she's the one to give the finishing blow, no matter how he was killed in 2.
Faking the Dead: She faked her own death when Hyperion attacked New Haven.
Flash Step: Her special ability allows her to step into an alternate dimension (causing an explosion that helps discourage her enemies from attacking), run quickly to her target, pop out with an energetic shockwave that stuns her foes, and then proceed to mow them all down.
Foil: As of the events in Borderlands 2, Lilith and Brick both became leaders or head figures of bandit groups but their circumstances are different from each other:
- Lilith has her "Firehawk" god persona while Brick is the "Slab King". While both of them also use masks to conceal their identities, Lilith uses a male voice modulator while Brick doesn't need to. Furthermore, the Cultists freaked out when their goddess appears in person, while the Slabs are just fine with their leader being unmasked and reveals himself as a Vault Hunter allied to Sanctuary (Rocko even calls Brick by his name in one sidequest).
- Lilith unintentionally formed a Cult of bandits who worship her as a goddess after one saw her fire abilities. While one of Brick's motivations to form the Slabs is to rival the Sawteeth, especially their leader Mortar.
- The Cultists will attack you after they find out that their leader is not a goddess, but a female mortal, while the Slabs are allied with you to take down the Bunker.
- The Cultists have an extensive resistance against the fire element and a reliance on fire weapons themed after the Firehawk. Slabs on the other hand, will assist you in certain quests using their flying Buzzards.
Gamer Chick: She's a big fan of Tabletop RPGs and much more knowledgeable about them than Brick or Mordecai. Mister Torgue's requesting to join in on their Bunkers & Badasses has her mention being mocked for playing the game when she was younger.
Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: Declares to Roland that if he dies while she protects Sanctuary and he is off stealing the Vault Key, she'll be really pissed. If he lives, she will rip off all of his clothes. She says this out loud and in front all the Vault Hunters, both new and old.
Mordecai: Ugh, Lilith, we're standing right here! Nobody wants to hear that!
Brick: [lewdly] Go on...
A God Am I: After she finds out that a cult has formed around her, she's actually pretty flattered (although she admits to it being horrible), until she finds out they were sacrificing innocent residents of Sanctuary^note She kinda likes it though..
A God I Am Not: She thinks of herself as just a mere mortal and doesn't like the implicit responsibility that comes with being a goddess to a bunch of people. She is, however, willing to put up a larger-than-life act before her worshippers if that means manipulating them into protecting the people of Sanctuary.
God Guise: Despite unknowingly starting a Cult, the second game's "Hunting the Firehawk" mission shows that she went along playing as their goddess "Firehawk" so that she could keep the other bandits in check while Roland focuses on taking down Jack.
Good Is Not Nice: Unlike Roland, but similarly to Brick, Lilith has no problems killing people who she views as dangerous, or simply get on her wrong nerves such as Athena or Jack. Unlike Brick, Lilith has a much better hold on her anger and is much less likely to murder people on a whim.
Hipster: Minor example, but she starts out refusing to let Mister Torgue play Bunkers & Badasses out of fear he's only interested in it because being geeky is now "trendy".
Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of 3, she flies into Elpis (which is in danger of crashing into Pandora and killing everyone thanks to the Twins), and uses her Phasewalk ability to teleport Elpis away, leaving a giant shield of a crowned phoenix in the sky where it was. Tannis and Ava believe she's still out there somewhere, and Word of God confirms she's still alive.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Roland is almost twice her size.
Hypocrite:
- In Assault on Dragon Keep, she tells Tina she has to accept and move on from Roland's death. In the Framing Device of The Pre-Sequel!, she actively refuses to do either and instead becomes obsessed with taking revenge on anyone and anything even remotely related to Jack and his rise to power.
- Lilith refuses to let Torgue play in Assault on Dragon Keep campaign. Him giving ridiculous quests is justifiable, but her other reason (aside from accusing him of trying to appeal to geek culture because its trendy) is because he's a "big muscly guy." You know, like Brick, who's also playing and pulling ridiculous stunts.
Ignored Epiphany: In The Pre-Sequel when Athena's recounting her story reveals Lilith's direct role in creating Handsome Jack, her own reckless and apathetic attitude having had dire consequences; she completely ignores the revelation, continues to see Athena as solely responsible for Jack's creation and orders her to be executed for it - much to the shock of Brick and Mordecai, both of which even call her out on the unfair decision. Lilith proceeds to ignore both her oldest friends, too - in fact, it's only because an Eridian directly intervenes that Athena isn't killed. Ultimately she apologizes to Athena for that, but it does harm her relationship with Brick and Mordecai.
I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: In the Son of Crawmerax DLC, she can't help but think that Mordecai's new bird is absolutely adorable, even as it's biting her hard enough to draw blood^note.
Incendiary Exponent:
- Her Phoenix skill sets her on fire. It also allows her shots to cause fire damage, acquainting their targets with the Man on Fire trope. Note that the fire can also set off barrels which can severely harm Lilith herself, especially the shock variant.
- She is also an expert with elemental guns and can crank the elemental damage done by them up. A Maliwan Hellfire submachinegun turns Lilith into a firebreathing goddess of pure destruction. Which is mildly amusing given that she is worshipped as a god in 2.
Kick the Dog: Orders Athena's execution at the end of The Pre-Sequel, even after Athena admits she regretted ever working for Jack. Even Brick and Mordecai are disgusted by it and the former notes that this isn't like her, either.
The Lancer: In 2, this is her role in the Crimson Raiders. Mordecai is too much of a lone wolf (and a drunk), and Brick is... Brick.
Leeroy Jenkins: She jumps into the fray against Angel's and Roland's wishes during the mission to help free angel of Jack's influence once and for all. While she does admittedly help, she ends up being captured and furthering Jack's plans.
Magic A Is Magic A: Lilith's Phasewalking follows some specific rules. She's immune to physical force while Phasewalking, but she can't jump (because "immune to physical force" works both ways). She can attack an enemy, but only once, before the Phasewalk ends, which appears to be the reason why in The Pre-Sequel!, she could only brand Jack's face while smashing the Vault artifact before vanishing through another portal.
Major Injury Underreaction: When she first encounters the new Vault Hunters in the second game.
Lilith: I'm with the Raiders, like you — I keep the bandits in line so Roland can focus on taking down Jack. Anyway, long story, lots of internal bleeding.
Master of the Mixed Message: As seen in ECHO logs, her attempts at flirting with Roland end up just confusing him.
Ms. Fanservice: Definitely played the role in the sequels, see Clothing Damage. Several characters also remark on how beautiful she is, and the Atlas wanted posters◊ in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx do not focus on her face. It is implied that unusual beauty may be a mark of being a Siren.
Mission Control: In 2, before Roland's rescue.
Mythical Motifs: She has a phoenix motif that grows in blatancy as the series goes on. She has orange hair, her Siren powers are coloured orange, has a phoenix emblem and after she sacrifices herself to save Pandora, her phoenix emblem appears on Elpis.
Never My Fault: In The Pre-Sequel, she still blames Athena completely for Handsome Jack's rise, despite her being the one who drove Jack to insanity.
- Ultimately Subverted however as Jack had already locked up Angel to use for his own purposes, manipulated the events of the first game, committed horrendous actions in his fight to save Elpis without any remorse and built a giant laser pointed at Pandora to kill the populace long before he dropped any semblance of reason. Lilith was simply the last straw that drove Jack into becoming Handsome Jack.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Despite Angel and Roland telling her to stay away, she just has to show up at Control Core Angel. Said rashness gets her picked as Jack's replacement Siren for opening the Vault.
- In The Pre-Sequel, branding Jack with the Vault symbol while leaving him alive left him as a vengeful lunatic with a massive bone to pick with the Vault Hunters. By not killing Jack then and there on Elpis, Lilith is indirectly responsible for the tragedies and problems that occurred on and off Pandora. Worse, she tried to execute Athena just for working with Jack, despite Brick and Mordecai's protests. Although she did apologize to Athena, this act cost Lilith an ally in the war against the New Pandora Army and later on, the COV.
The Nicknamer: In 2, she refers to the player character as "Killer".
Nonstandard Character Design: After being abducted by Handsome Jack, she communicates using the same live-action style that Angel used before her.
No True Scotsman: Lilith is resistant to letting Mister Torgue play Bunkers & Badasses, requiring Tiny Tina to make a quest where the players find questions around the world for Mister Torgue to answer to prove his geek cred.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Brick and Mordecai's objections are any indication, Lilith's ordering Athena executed in The Pre-Sequel^note is not something she'd normally do. One possible explanation for this is that, as was alluded to in 2, Eridium addiction is messing with her mind. Another is that grief over Roland is making her lash out and punish anyone involved no matter what. Yet one more is that she simply doesn't want to acknowledge, much less accept, that she's indirectly responsible (at least partly so) for Roland's death. Even more likely, it's a combination of all the above.
One-Man Army: While all the vault hunters could be considered this, Lilith is especially notable as she's responsible for both being a thorn in Jack's side as well as keeping the bandit clans relatively in check while masquerading as the Firehawk. Especially notable considering Brick and Roland both have their own army to support them in their skirmishes and Mordecai takes a more passive role in the fight while Lilith takes a more active one completely on her own.
Only Sane Man: She's the only player during "Assault on Dragon Keep" that is trying to legitimately engage with Tina's Bunkers and Badassess campaign, as Mordecai doesn't care for most of it and Brick elects to be Chaotic Stupid. She even has to reign in Tina's more problematic dungeonmaster tendencies, such as forcing an early boss fight change to prevent a Total Party Kill and arguing against being blatantly railroaded.
Power Gives You Wings: Made of fire. The origin of the name Firehawk. Also, late in 2, she has white wings (like Angel's) while she is charging the Vault Key.
Power High: Has one after she finds out what Eridium does to her powers.
Power Tattoo: Comes with being a Siren.
Quest Giver: In 2, you redeem her the "Hunting the Firehawk" chain, and she gives you the "A Dam Fine Rescue", "In Memoriam", "Cult Following" chain, "Mine, All Mine", and "Home Movies" quests. In addition, in Commander Lilith... she also gives you the quests "Spore Chores", "Winging It", "A Hard Place", "The Cost of Progress", "Paradise Found" and "Sirentology".
Reasonable Authority Figure: She's mellowed out considerably as of 3's story, even proving that she's willing to assist in rescuing Claptrap from the Children of the Vault.
Red Baron: "The Firehawk" as of the events in 2.
Required Secondary Powers: Lilith can turn invisible and become immune to enemy weapons and explosives thanks to being in another dimension where kinetic, thermal, and electromagnetic energy from ours cannot affect her. On the other hand, she can't manipulate objects, use her own weapons, or even jump because she's in that same dimension and she can't do the same to ours.
The Roleplayer: In Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, she's the only player who tries to roleplay and get into the setting (even claiming to have the highest Charisma score of the party), with Brick being more interested in combat and Mordecai being mostly disinterested. She's even willing to try and talk like either Salvador, Zer0, or Krieg if the situation calls for it.
Lilith: I talk to her [Ellie]. In character, of course. (ahem)
"Krieg": I'LL CRACK YOUR MIND AND BEAT YOUR PROBLEMS TO DEATH.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: The relationship between her and Roland in the sequel. While the latter is serious and to the point when dealing with the Vault Hunters, Lilith is friendly with a sarcastic sense of humor.
Secret Identity Vocal Shift: The "Firehawk" ECHO that you pick up in Sanctuary shows a masked bandit speaking with a voice modulator. When you meet the Firehawk in person during that mission, it turns out to be no other than Lilith outside of that disguise.
Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: One of the first things she asks the Borderlands 2 Vault Hunters is to help her rescue her boyfriend. Said boyfriend (well, ex-boyfriend, as she later clarifies) happens to be the very Married to the Job Chaste Hero Roland.
The Smurfette Principle: Out of the first batch of playable Vault Hunters.
Solo Class: Lilith is probably the easiest character to play through the game solo, as her special ability lets her escape from danger when overwhelmed and with the right Elite Tweak to her skills she can regenerate most of her health when phasewalking while having a delay of only a few seconds between phasewalks. The significant movement speed boost she receives from phasewalking also makes her the preferred choice when speedrunning the game. Until certain exploits involving Legendary item synchronizations were discovered, she was also widely considered the only character that could defeat the raid boss solo. This fits with the lore of the game, given that she's basically a Physical God compared to the other 3 original Vault Hunters who are more Badass Normal.
Straight Man: In The Pre-Sequel!, while Brick and Mordecai mostly just make a few quips and remarks on Athena's story due to the fact that they weren't on Elpis during said events, Lilith generally tries to keep them focused and ask Athena relevant questions. Not that she isn't above banter either.
Stop Worshipping Me: She sends the new Vault Hunters out to make sure a cult she accidentally started aren't committing acts of wanton murder in her name. When they are, she intervenes. However, she was otherwise totally okay with them killing monsters and immolating themselves in her name. She kinda appreciates it though, until she dismisses herself as a horrible person.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: In spades towards Roland. When flirting with him didn't work (because she sucks at it really), the next time she meets with him she shoos' him out so that she can focus on keeping the bandit clans at bay. And after he awkwardly walks himself out;
Lilith: Playing hard to get; Thats how you do it.
Teleportation: Gains the ability to teleport anything by the time of Borderlands 2.
- The first time she uses it on the player, she only teleports him/her 10 feet away.
- She later teleports the entire floating city of Sanctuary when its shields were left open from Jack's moonshot bombardment. Though she unintentionally teleports the Vault Hunter(s) out of the city too.
Took a Level in Badass:
- She takes one in Borderlands 2, thanks to Eridium. Which is impressive considering already by the end of the first Borderlands, one of her skill trees gives her a precursor ability to her later abilities as the Firehawk.
- Not satisfied with her position in 2, she gets one more in 3. In the opening mission she shows herself capable of telepathic communication (which she was only able to do under Jack's control in 2) and makes her introduction by slamming into the earth from high up in a firey shockwave.
Touched by Vorlons: The source of her powers, although she insists it's because she's crossed the "Hotness Threshold." Upon the opening of the Vault and the spreading of Eridium, her powers have since increased.
Tsundere:
- After she and Roland broke up prior to the events of the second game, she tried to play "hard-to-get" with him. Played for Laughs as it just confuses him and he backs off.
- If you zoom in on some screens in Lilith's base, you see Roland's Expy Facebook-alike profile page. It is covered in posts from Lilith.
- Roland's death actually made her irrational enough that she eventually chose to order Athena be executed because she willingly worked for Handsome Jack, making her indirectly responsible for Roland's death.
Uncertain Doom: Whether or not she died from her Heroic Sacrifice is unclear, something Tannis herself questions.
Unwanted False Faith: In the second game, a cult was founded to worship her completely without her knowledge, and the new Vault Hunters get to compare the cult's version of things and their "god's" actual opinions. When Clayton claims to have received her message demanding a sacrifice, she wastes no time chiming in to say that she didn't actually tell him anything. Conversely, after the player kills Scorch, a "Heathen Demigod" on Clayton's order, he tells the player that he can feel the Firehawk smiling upon them and Lilith notes that she does indeed feel flattered.
What the Hell, Hero?: Brick and Mordecai are aghast when she orders Athena killed at the end of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! and both immediately object. It doesn't stop her from ordering it anyway, but the alien suddenly appears and stops the bullets from reaching Athena.
With Great Power Comes Great Hotness:
- Implied Trope with regards to her being a Siren.
- Subverted as of 3. Even when she is Brought Down to Normal, she keeps her good looks, just not her Power Tattoo.

Brick

Brick (AKA The Berserker; Slab King)

As of Fight for Sanctuary. Click to see him in: ¹ - ^{2 (main game)} - ^TFTB

Voiced in English by: Marcus Mauldin

Voiced in Japanese by: Yasuhiro Mamiya

A simple-minded but deadly Vault Hunter who likes punching things. Eventually got thrown out of the Crimson Raiders for his overly violent approach to problems, becoming the leader of bandit clan called the Slabs.

Adaptational Attractiveness: In The Fall of Fyrestone comic, Brick's face is much less brutish and he isn't sporting the shaved head that he does in the games.
Badasses Wear Bandanas: In 3, he wears a bandana that makes him look like Marcus Fenix.
Bad Boss: Hilariously enough, a... well, not heroic, let's say protagonist example. Brick constantly reminds the player that while he has his gang, pretty much all of them are expendable in his mission to exterminate Hyperion, mainly for the fact they're completely stupid, completely crazy, or completely both. He treats the player as the only member of his gang he genuinely respects and tells them to not worry about killing other Slabs since he does it all the time.
The Berserker: With his Action Skill. Players who focus on Berserk when building Brick are all about exposing themselves to damage and doing way more damage right back.
Best Friend: He considers Mordecai to be his "BFFF" ^note and even makes him a gift for staying sober for a whole year.
The Big Guy: Stands a staggering 7'3" and is built like a brickhouse.
Big Word Shout: Whenever he uses his Action Skill, he will shout one of these three every time he kills someone:
- "BLOOOOOOOOOD!"
- "MOOOOOOOOORE!"
- "KIIIIIIIIIILL!!!"
The Blacksmith: The Commander Lilith DLC shows that he's surprisingly competent as a gunsmith. Not only does he cobble together a rifle out of spare parts for Mordecai as a gift but is able to use the leftover parts to make a Legendary Jakobs sniper for the player.
Blood Knight: He says so himself: you either fight like a badass or die like a bitch!
Blown Across the Room: In Borderlands 2, whatever hostile target that crosses him tends to fly quite a bit if he can punch them.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Say what you want about Brick, but he loves dogs and hates anyone who would hurt one.
- His backstory shows that he's strongly opposed to harming children, to the point that he killed his former gang to save them.
- He calls dibs on the Siren when playing Bunkers & Badasses. Her name is Brick and she is the prettiest. He also imagines himself as Maya when escaping capture in the + 5 to Punching short.
- In The Pre-Sequel, He's horrified when Lilith orders Athena to be executed after telling her story, telling her that "this ain't you".
Chaotic Stupid: In 2's "Assault on Dragon Keep" DLC, his decisions in the campaign tend to be of the "for the lulz, consequences be damned" variety. For example, he punches the dwarven King Ragnar during what is supposed to be a diplomatic meeting to save the dwarves from slavery to join forces against the Handsome Sorcerer. This leads to Ragnar's death and causes the dwarves to become permanently hostile.
Character as Himself: His title card in the first game simply reads "and BRICK as HIMSELF".
Covert Pervert: When Lilith starts to tell Roland how they're going to have Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex if he survives the assault on Jack's bunker, he's the one who encourages her to continue in further detail.
A Day in the Limelight: He and Tina are the protagonists of the + 5 to Punching short film, which tells the story of how they captured the Hyperion spy that was being interrogated off-screen during the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC.
Demolitions Expert: He's the resident explosive damage expert of the game, and the only character to get boosts to elemental impact damage. In the sequel, when Mordecai asks him for a plan to help the Vault Hunters get past a closed bridge, his natural response is to "blow stuff up", and then sends the Vault Hunters to obtain explosives from a nearby bandit camp.
Demoted to Extra: Only has a very minimal impact in the main story of Borderlands 3, and is only in a few missions.
Disney Death: Towards the end of the second game, when the Hyperion barge he stole for Mordecai explodes. Except not really.
Does Not Know His Own Strength: One sidequest in the Tiny Tina DLC has him "solve" a riddle when he accidentally crushes the questgiver's model with his die.
Dumb Muscle: Subverted. While he's barely literate and has "rhino-like" strength in the first game, come Borderlands 2, he's shown to also be surprisingly eloquent and have a good mind for combat tactics and guerrilla warfare. Later on still, he's stated to have read a whole book trilogy, to the point of being able to compare the books and the TV series, so claims on his so-called illiteracy are either a bum rap, or he made an effort to learn.
Everyone Has Standards:
- After Athena's Pre-Sequel story ends, Lilith proceeds to order her troops to shoot Athena despite her regrets in helping Jack. Brick is against Lilith's command.
- The Commander Lilith DLC has an ECHO of the conversation where Brick lays out that shooting an unarmed prisoner is where he draws the line, and leaves the Crimson Raiders rather than take orders from Lilith.
Evil Laugh: A very good heroic example. Sometimes, on getting a critical hit kill or with Berserk active, Brick will let out a maniacal, sadistic laughter that reflects his Blood Knight personality. After blowing up the BNK-3R, he gives one terrifying laugh that makes you wonder if he's doing this to pay back Roland on the IOU, or if he's genuinely insane and enjoying the slaughter.
Foil: As of the events in 2, Lilith and Brick both became leaders or head figures of bandit groups but their circumstances are different from each other:
- Lilith has her "Firehawk" god persona while Brick is the "Slab King". While both of them also use masks to conceal their identities, Lilith uses a male voice modulator while Brick doesn't need to. Furthermore, the Cultists freaked out when their goddess appears in person, while the Slabs are just fine with their leader being unmasked and reveals himself as a Vault Hunter allied to Sanctuary (Rocko even calls Brick by his name in one sidequest).
- Lilith unintentionally formed a Cult of bandits who worship her as goddess after one saw her fire abilities. While one of Brick's motivations to form the Slabs is to rival the Sawteeth, especially their leader Mortar.
- The Cultists will attack you after they find out that their leader is not a goddess, but a female mortal, while the Slabs are allied with you to take down the Bunker.
- The Cultists have an extensive resistance against the fire element and a reliance on fire weapons themed after the Firehawk. Slabs on the other hand, will assist you in certain quests using their flying Buzzards.
Friend to All Children: As well as getting along well with Tina, Origins reveals his backstory that as part of a bandit gang, he refused to participate in the kidnapping and ransoming of children of a town they attacked, to the point that he simply tosses his gun and lets himself get captured. After breaking out, he proceeds to punch his way through his gang and saves the kids, getting Priscilla (his puppy) in return.
Genius Bruiser: Something like this; he's certainly not the complete moron players of the first game took him for. In fact, this is so pronounced in the second game that he verges on being the Only Sane Man, despite his Blood Knight tendency and other assorted insanities, but does seem more put together as a person than either Mordecai (drunk, depressed, talks to a bird) or Lilith (Ax-Crazy god-like being and completely intoxicated with her power). He's also read the setting's equivalent of A Song of Ice and Fire, the "Swordchair Trilogy."
Good Is Not Soft: As nice as Brick is, he won't hesitate to squash someone's head like an egg upon being betrayed by them. This put him at odds with Roland, who firmly believed that sort of behavior was going too far.
Good Old Fisticuffs:
- He can specialize in hand-to-hand combat. Keep in mind the planet is populated with gun-toting road-warrior-type bandits and assorted monsters. Good thing Brick hits like a train. In the sequel, he's never even seen holding a gun and solely attacks with his fists (and tossing Sledge's hammer at unreachable enemies) as an AI-controlled ally. This is pretty much the only thing he wants to do while he plays Bunkers & Badasses in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep.
  "I punch him!"
- Played for laughs in one conversation with Mordecai where the latter was explaining his combat style (which involves tracking and hunting with a sniper rifle). Brick comments that he got lost after Mordy had said "instead of punching".
Green Thumb: Played with. In between Athena's interrogation in The Pre-Sequel and Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary, Brick takes up gardening as a hobby but his attempts are...questionable. He uses blood as water and body parts as fertilizer ^note.
Handwriting as Characterization: Brick's Dumb Muscle status is shown by his childlike scrawled handwriting.
Hero Antagonist: He's a lot less aggressive towards Fiona than Mordecai is during Tales from the Borderlands, but all bets are off after she manages to stab him.
Heroes Love Dogs: The one thing that Brick loves above all else, more than punching, explosions, and brutal violence? Puppies! In contrast, his personal nemesis Nisha despises puppies and small animals, due to her own puppy nearly killing her when she was a kid, and her own sadism. It's no surprise that Brick takes vicious pleasure in screwing her over.
Healing Factor: While Berserk is active. He's notably the only character in the original game who gets Regenerating Health as part of his special ability by default; all the other characters have to unlock it with specific skills.
He Who Fights Monsters: After Roland is killed, Brick vows to kill Jack and all his associates, friends, loved ones, and even those he met on the street before calming down. This mirrors Handsome Jack's planetwide speech after Angel dies.
Hidden Depths: On the surface, he's a blood-crazed meathead who solves every problem by punching it and is mostly interested in bloodshed. Dig a little deeper, and you find a compassionate man who looks out for his friends' emotional state as well as physical and is considerably smarter than he appears.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He mentions that he's raided Sawtooth Cauldron before with Tiny Tina (a 13-year-old girl) on his back. At the end of Borderlands 2, he's seen with Tiny Tina killing Bandits.
Invulnerable Knuckles: Brick can beat alien monsters, robots, bandits with various headgear, and other things to death with his bare hands and not bat an eye. He even regenerates while he does it.
Intergenerational Friendship: With Tiny Tina over their loves of explosions and killing Bandits according to some dialogue and the credits of Borderlands 2. Tina even considers him her big brother. Or little brother. Or something. Either way, she definitely considers him something close to a brother.
It's Personal:
- He holds a special loathing for Nisha in the second game for killing his dog, and Jack for murdering Roland, attacking New Haven, kidnapping Lilith and funding the Sawtooth. He's the one behind most of the missions in Lynchwood. Oddly enough, although Nisha tells you about killing Brick's dog and how he blew up her jail (which gives her an excuse to hang everybody else) during the arc and she put a bounty on his head, she doesn't seem to be too irritated that you and Brick have declared war on the whole bandit-infested town.
- He also really, really, really hates Mortar and the Sawteeth, as they constantly handed potential Vault Hunters over to Hyperion for money, they killed thousands of Slabs and they shot him in the chest when he tried to join.
Laughing Mad: When he uses his Action Skill. See Evil Laugh above.
Legacy Character: Its implied he's becoming something like this to the bandit lords from the first game. He took up Sledge's sledgehammer and wears a fairly similar helmet, it's implied he lost a toe to Fiona's derringer, leaving him like Nine-Toes, and of course he becomes a (more benevolent) bandit lord himself by 2.
Lightning Bruiser: Brick can Dash Attack up to 20 feet across entire rooms in a blink of an eye, shrug off massive damage, and hit both fast and hard, not to mention stunlock anyone he hits for more hitting.
Made of Iron: His Tier 1 Tank skills let him have up to 160% health and/or 140% shields; in comparison Roland maxes out at 125% health with no enhanced shields, Lilith maxes out at 125% shields with no enhanced health, and Mordecai has no enhanced durability skills at all. To top it off he has a Tier 2 Tank skill that increases his damage resistance up to 50% as long as he keeps killing enemies.
Motifs: Brick has an association with stone due to his brawler-based playstyle. His clothes are grey coloured, his names are themed around stone i.e. Brick and Slab King and his gang in 2 is named "Slabs".
Nice Guy:
- Ironically, despite being a huge Blood Knight and one of the least moral Vault Hunters, he's one of the softest character you could count on after the first game, arguably toe-to-toe with Mister Torgue himself.
- Saved a spot in this trope after: sporting an entire army of bandits under a single banner, trying to spare Athena from Lilith's anger in The Pre-Sequel and becoming Tina's adopted older brother in the series.
The Nicknamer: In the second game, he always refers to the player as "Slab". In addition, he refers to Mordecai as "Mordy".
Noble Top Enforcer:
- Becomes this for Lilith following Roland's death. Lilith is addicted to eridium and lashes out at anyone who she perceives to be even remotely related to Roland's death, and Mordecai is a sullen drunk willing to resort to simply shooting people. Brick? He tries to take people alive, and objects to executing prisoners. Hurt his friends, though... ^note.
- Takes this trope even further in the final DLC for two, where you can find an ECHO recording of him calling Lilith out for attempting to execute Athena, claiming she's not living up to Roland's example, and admitting Roland was right to exile him after his own instance of killing a prisoner.
Only One Name: He doesn't seem to have a last name, and if the prequels comics were any indication, there's a possibility he didn't know his own name, simply handing Lilith and Mordecai a brick when asked to introduce himself.
Only Sane Man: Surprisingly enough, turns out to be this for the first Vault Hunters after Roland is killed by Jack. Mordecai is Drowning His Sorrows and feels sullen even whenever relatively sober, lashing out at random, while Lilith is addicted to Eridium and clearly unstable. Brick, while by no means functional in normal society, is a downright Reasonable Authority Figure for a world like Pandora, and knows when to be a Berserker and when to calm down and think.
Pipe Pain: His melee weapon outside of Berserk. In the sequel, he seems to have replaced it with Sledge's hammer, though he isn't seen actually using it beyond throwing it at enemies out of melee range.
Precious Puppy: His dog, Priscilla. It died and now he wears its paw as a necklace. Although he still loves puppies as well as bloody murder. He later got another puppy by the name of Dusty, who was killed by Nisha (who, in turn, had a phobia of puppies thanks to a horribly traumatic experience as a child, combined with her own sadistic nature).
Psychopathic Manchild: Downplayed — the only evidence of this is in his large, child-like handwriting. Otherwise, he acts very maturely, arguably even more so than his friends Lilith and Mordecai.
Quest Giver: In 2 he gives you the quests "Rocko's Modern Strife" and "Capture the Flags". In the Commander Lilith... DLC, he also gives you the "Shooting the Moon" and "BFFFs".
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Brick's fighting style, when compared to Krieg, Zer0, and Athena, who do more damage per hit. He punches at three times the normal melee attack rate, and has a chance to daze people with his fists. This lets him dash around, downing lesser bandits in seconds and locking down badasses to take them down while they can't fight back.
The Real Man: As an RPG player, he's just as enthusiastic about combat as he is in actual life. More specifically, punching. Unfortunately, he tends to roll initiative when it comes to diplomacy, which causes more problems than it solves. He seems to be pretty terrible when it comes to actual roleplaying since cut dialog indicates that when he does actually try to roleplay, it simply results in the various characters imitating him.
Real Men Wear Pink: In Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, Brick shows an uncharacteristic appreciation for female characters... and ponies. Also, as shown in the +5 to Punching film, he escaped Hyperion custody by imagining himself to be Maya.
Revenge: The most vocal advocate for it after the deaths of his dog, and Roland.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His reaction to Roland's death: Kill Jack, his associates, his friends, "his FAMILY — EVERYONE HE'S EVER MET! WE SKIN 'EM WITH THEIR OWN GODDAMN TEETH!"
Screaming Warrior: Whenever he uses his Action Skill, to either annoying or hilarious effect. It's surprisingly well-done, too: his voice actor must have nursed quite a few calluses on his vocal cords after recording Brick's yelling. Mordecai actually lampshades this in the second game when the two of them are helping you.
Mordecai: Oh god, is he screaming again?
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After Lilith nearly kills Athena in cold blood, Brick becomes fed up and plans to leave Pandora. He postpones his plan after receiving news of the attack on Sanctuary and Mordecai becoming infected but still plans to leave. Subverted in the end as he remains with his friends.
Smarter Than You Look: Despite seeming like a simple-minded brute by appearance alone and his aptitude for violence, Brick is actually pretty smart and introspective when he's not lost in a rage.
Sociopathic Hero: By far the most brutal of the characters. In the second game, he even becomes a bandit chieftain, and he's pretty damn nasty to his gang, too (though he justifies by pointing out that they're excessively trigger-happy idiots that can't even tell ally from foe unless Brick points them out right before action). Ironically enough, when dealing with his friends or small animals, he's a giant, well-meaning puppy.
So Proud of You: In Borderlands 2, if you jump off the Buzzard's Nest, he says that to you in his own way.
Brick: Slab, did you... did you just jump off the Buzzard's Nest? Goddamn, you make me proud!
Strong and Skilled: While the rest of his teammates could fall Weak, but Skilled taking everything into account, Brick remains notable in using both his brains and brawn to very effective use.
Suddenly Voiced: Brick could already speak, but it was often monosyllabic, almost Hulk Speak chatter. In 2, he talks normally.
Surrounded by Idiots: He believes that his Slabs are all incredibly dumb and can't fight properly, and the Vault Hunter is the only Slab who's actually competent. He's not wrong, considering they're still trying to kill the Vault Hunter every time they show up.
Then Let Me Be Evil: Tired of Handsome Jack labeling him a bandit and among other reasons such as Nisha killing his pet dog, Brick left the Crimson Raiders to form a bandit gang of his own, calling himself the Slab King.
Those Two Guys: Is most commonly depicted with Mordecai from 2 onwards.
Token Evil Teammate: Despite being a founding member of the Crimson Raiders, Roland disagreed with his overtly brutal methods and the two had a falling out. They make up during the game, however.
Token Heroic Orc: His Bandit clan, The Slabs. They only seem to ever be in conflict with Hyperion or other Bandits instead of raiding innocent settlements. Of course, they'll still attack the player when they're moving through Thousand Cuts even though the player is one of them, but Brick chalks this up to them being "freaking idiots".
Tragic Keepsake: The paw necklace he has used to belong to a dog he had when he was young. In Borderlands 2, he wears this paw alongside a paw from another dog, Dusty, who was killed by Nisha.
Tranquil Fury: Despite how badly Nisha broke him, his orders for you to utterly fuck up her operations in Lynchwood, declare war on its inhabitants and end her overly brutal rule is spoken with only a hint of murderous rage, but nothing more.
Violence Really Is the Answer: His default solution while playing Bunkers & Badasses is punching everything in sight, even when the victim doesn't do anything that warrants violence. The one time punching something does work, ironically enough, is when they encounter a puzzle. The one time he actually tries to just talk, it turns out to be a boss fight.
Brick: I TOLD YOU WE SHOULD'VE PUNCHED HER! I TOLD YOU!
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Brick's default solution to any problem is to punch it. Even when he's playing Bunkers & Badasses. This leads to some problems when he's the one attempting diplomacy with the Dwarves, since he kills their leader and makes all the dwarves hostile to the new Vault Hunters.
Worf Had the Flu: His and Mordecai's lackluster performance in Tales From The Borderlands was due to their attempts to hold back as they had to bring back Athena alive.
Would Hit a Girl:
- His personal nemesis in 2 is Nisha. Needless to say he wouldn't have any issues dealing with her himself.
- He has no issues fighting Athena aside from the fact that they were former allies and has no problem knocking Fiona out with a single punch.

Characters / Borderlands: Vault Hunters

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.

Roland (AKA The Soldier; Commander of the Crimson Raiders)