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.
Playable Vault Hunters: Borderlands | Borderlands 2 (Krieg) | The Pre-Sequel (Claptrap) | Borderlands 3
Supporting Characters: Borderlands | Borderlands 2 (Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC) | The Pre-Sequel | Borderlands 3
Spinoffs and other media: Tales from the Borderlands | Tiny Tina's Wonderlands | New Tales from the Borderlands | Other media
Weapon Brands: Atlas | Dahl | Hyperion (Handsome Jack) | Maliwan | Jakobs | Torgue | Tediore | Other Weapon Brands
Other: Bandits and Bandit Factions (Children of the Vault) | Hodunk and Zaford Clans | Creatures (Eridians and Vault Monsters) | Raid Bosses
Check the following pages for the following characters:
- Borderlands: Vault Hunters: Roland, Lilith, Brick, Mordecai
- Borderlands 2: Vault Hunters: Zer0, Maya, Gaige, Axton, Salvador
- Borderlands: Krieg: Krieg
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! Vault Hunters: Aurelia Hammerlock, Timothy Lawrence
- Borderlands: Claptrap: Claptrap
- Borderlands 3 Vault Hunters: FL4K, Moze, Amara, Zane
- Borderlands: Marcus Kincaid, Crazy Earl
- Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina, Sir Alistair Hammerlock.
- Tales from the Borderlands: Vaughn
- Borderlands: Atlas: Rhys Strongfork, Lorelei/Lor, Beau, Quinn, Ace Baron, Hardin, Gonner, Terry & Glenn
- Borderlands: Dahl: Dr. Patricia Tannis
- Borderlands: Maliwan: Naoko, Katagawa Jr., Gigamind, Rax and Max, Coffee Commander, Gary, Captain Samuel Traunt, Rhys-Ball, Katagawa-Ball, General Daniel Traunt, Captain Haunt, Troopers, Heavies, NOGs, Death Spheres, Bots.
- Borderlands: Jakobs: Wainwright Jakobs, Clay, Chadd, BALEX, GenIVIV, Montgomery Jakobs
- Borderlands: Torgue: Mr. Torgue
- Borderlands: Bandits and Bandit Factions: Psychos, Goliaths
- Borderlands Children Of The Vault: Tyreen Calypso, Troy Calypso, Shiv, Mouthpiece, Killavolt, Warden, Billy the Anointed, Carnivora, Pain and Terror, Beef Plissken, Anointed, Tinks and Hags
- Borderlands: Hodunk and Zaford Clans: "Mad" Moxxi Hodunk, Ellie Hodunk
- Borderlands: Creatures: Jabbers, Nekrobugs, Rakks, Ratches, Saurians, Skags, Spiderants, Varkids, Wolvens, Krichs, Belliks
- Borderlands: Eridians and Vault Monsters: Guardians
- Borderlands Raid Bosses: Valkyrie Squad, Wotan the Invincible, Anathema the Relentless, Scourge the Invincible Martyr
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Sanctuary
VR-0N1CA/Veronica
Voiced by: Jamie Marchi
- Last of Their Kind: Just like Claptrap being the last of the CL4P-TP units, she was a communication bot that got discontinued after the success of the ECHO 1.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: She's this to Claptrap, being another Claptrap unit. Then subverted when she finds him an entitled creep and wants nothing to do with him.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Subverted Trope. Despite helping rebuild her using all scrap from all the dead Claptrap units, a feat which likely took the Vault Hunter hours, she declares Claptrap to be a creep and tells him off of, then leaves. The subversion comes in that she is only dismissive of Claptrap, and is actually more thankful to the Vault Hunter since they did all of the hard work, regardless of what Claptrap claims. Considering Claptrap usually likes to take credit for other people's hard work, it seems somewhat karmic but she wouldn't have been rebuilt if it weren't for him suggesting it in the first place.
Maurice
Maurice's appearance during the Revenge of the Cartels event.
Click to see his original appearance
Voiced by: Brendan Blaber
A Saurian from another dimension where his kind has fully replaced humanity as the dominant species. Tannis arranges for him to visit Sanctuary as part of a cultural-exchange program. He serves as the host of the game's seasonal events.- All There in the Manual: He appears on Sanctuary III as an NPC even if you just started the game and missed out on the Bloody Harvest timed event, so new players who've played the previous games might wonder why there's a talking dinosaur hanging out with the old gang that they've never seen before and everyone seems to know already.
- Blood Knight: While Maurice doesn't partake in the assaults against the Eridium Cartel he relishes every bit of the destruction you bring on them.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite his sinister appearance, and even more sinister voice, Maurice is a surprisingly nice and helpful guy.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: As Bloody Harvest was the first time that Maurice appeared in the game, the Vault Hunters will be suspicious of his intentions during the event's first mission unlike in other seasonal events where they completely trust him. This is particularly notable whenever Bloody Harvest makes its return.
- Fish out of Water: Maurice lack of understanding of warmblood culture is a great source of humor (and trouble). In Saurian culture vomiting blood and screaming the "friendship scream" is a sign of amicability, but Maurice is flabbergasted that this was not well received in Sanctuary. And then there's the whole deal with the Eridium Cartel where he devoured (literally) the loser of a high-stakes poker game because in Saurian culture it's a sign of respect eating the loser.
- The Gambler: The Saurians of Maurice's universe do not believe in gambling, but Maurice is surprisingly good at it when he plays Poker with the Eridium cartel. He doesn't quite know that humans don't like being eaten when they lose, which gets him in deep trouble with the cartel.
- Injured Limb Episode: During the Revenge of the Cartels event he has his right arm in a cast as a result of a little misunderstanding with the Eridium Cartel.
- The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Maurice has had his own Black Market vending machine added to the game, which exclusively sells Legendary gear. Every week three different items can be purchased. The twist is that the location of the machine changes every week as well, and can be on any map of any planet in the core game, often tucked away somewhere unobtrusive. Happy hunting!
- Quest Giver: Appears to issue timed-exclusive events.
- In the Halloween-themed Bloody Harvest event, he asks the Vault Hunters to gather Hecktoplasm from ghosts that sometimes appear after killing other enemies. Maurice uses it to open a portal to Heck where the Vault Hunters can then put the undead within to permanent death.
- Broken Hearts tasks the Vault Hunters with shooting hearts that appear over enemies' heads. Different hearts offer different effects, from status buffs to loot drops to even summoning ghosts from Bloody Harvest.
- In Revenge of the Cartels, the Vault Hunters must seek out and eliminate members of the Eridium cartel, who appear after enemies drop a homing beacon to summon them. The second part of the mission has the Hunters storming the cartel's headquarters to wipe out their leader.
- Nice Guy: Maurice is nothing but friendly and nice (if a bit scary). One of the quests has Marcus trying to find dirt on him only to know that he's disgustingly clean.
- Strange-Syntax Speaker: The translator device that Maurice wears makes him speak in a deep and sinister voice, which makes some of his expressions sound like he's threatening to kill you. He really means no harm, though.Maurice: Maurice has trouble expressing his feelings sometimes.
[After finishing the Ultraviolet Nights quest]
Maurice: It is done, and Maurice is safe... for now. Return to Maurice so Maurice may... tie up loose ends.
Moze: (more annoyed than worried) Seriously? You know how that sounds!
(after returning to Sanctuary)
Maurice: Now you will accept Maurice's payment for your help.
Moze: See? That's way better. Next time lead with that. - Third-Person Person: Maurice always refers to himself by name.
Pandora
Vic
Voiced by: Rachael Messer
Vic holding Vic
The second-in-command of the Sun Smashers, Vaughn's latest bandit group. She got frustrated by Vaughn's refusal to sell the Vault Map they had found, eventually deciding to take the Sun Smashers and sell if herself. The Children of the Vault, unsurprisingly, killed all of her men and had her decapitated, putting her head on display at the Calypso's broadcast center.- Brain in a Jar: Reduced to a decapitated head in a containment jar that prevents her from fully dying and digistructing.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Yes, Vic. Sell the map containing the location of vaults spread across the galaxy to a cult that murders and mutilates others and themselves to appease their self-proclaimed "Gods". They sound like the trust-worthy sort.
- Inside a Computer System: Her mind is trapped in a virtual reality torture simulation, requiring the Vault Hunters to release it before a new body can be digistructed.
- Mind Rape: Even after she was decapitated and had her head in a jar, she was still very much alive and was trapped Inside a Computer System where the Children of the Vault continued to torture her in horrific ways.
- Verbal Tic: She describes everything as "Slappin'".
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being forgiven by Vaughn for deserting him and being invited to join the Crimson Raiders she's nowhere to be seen after finishing her side mission.
Completely Sane Sid
Sid and his "mighty cap"
A surprisingly rational Psycho attempting to block mind-control rays via tinfoil. Claptrap wants their hat as part of a quest to replace his broken antenna with something more fashionable.- Bait-and-Switch: Instead of remaining sane when the broadcasters are wrecked, it turns out he was receiving calming signals that the hat failed to block, returning him to his preferred state of a manic Child of the Vault that needs to be killed to get his hat.
- Meaningful Name: He is actually sane. You can also tell by the fact he greets you politely instead of yelling some nonsense and trying to carve his buzz axe in your face.
- Mook: He's just a Psycho with a little bit more flair.
- Nice Guy: Sid is one especially for Pandoran standards. The Vault Hunters still stay on guard just in case.
- Tinfoil Hat: Wears one to block signals from entering their brain, and won't give it away until the Vault Hunter destroys some nearby broadcasters.
Buff Film Buff
Voiced by: Ian Sinclair
- Annoying Laugh: Has a very haughty, weird laugh, so weird that Psychos and Tinks screaming at you tend to be less grating.
- Cool Shades: Well, "cool" might be pushing it, but those old-school 3-D glasses of his are pretty distinctive.
- Hidden Depths:
- Despite a somewhat obnoxious demeanor, and an inflated sense of his talent as a traditional filmmaker, he's at least successful enough (or possibly independently wealthy) to be able to pay the Vault Hunter well for their help.
- There's also the risks he took, special effects or not, to film such things as himself getting carried by Varkids. Also, some of the special effects (like a cement mixer disassembling itself, or the Buff confronting a copy of himself) would have taken some understanding of cinematography.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arrogant though he might be, the Buff still pays the Vault Hunter for their services, and notes that they might be almost as good as him. It's quite a bit better than the way certain other NPCs (like Pappy) talk to the Vault Hunter.
- Mauve Shirt: Looks like a Bruiser/Enforcer with long blonde hair and 3D-glasses. He's also not affiliated with the CoV, in fact he thinks Troy's videos are awful.
- Meaningful Name: He's a film buff and he's also quite buff.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a blatant parody of Tommy Wiseau.
- Shout-Out: The "What is really real?" segment of his film might be inspired by The Matrix.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He never appears anywhere else in the series and absolutely no one acknowledges his existence. Despite that, he thinks of himself as a brilliant filmmaker, believing that his film will win many awards and even goes to practice the speech for the award ceremony in front of a camera after you finish his quest.
- Stylistic Suck: His short film is apparently trying for surreal and artistic, but is hampered by (among other things) the Film Buff's narrative in his bizarre speech pattern.
- You No Take Candle: His speech patterns fall into this sometimes.
Pappy
- Abusive Parents: From his caustic remarks to his daughter, she probably didn't have it easy growing up under his "parentage".Pappy: You were a mistake then, and you're a mistake now!!
- Bullying a Dragon: He hurls insults and mean-spirited orders at the Vault Hunter who's killed things far, far, worse than him a hundred times over by this point. And yes, you can kill him for it.
- Cool Car: Well, truck actually. It's got a camo pattern paint job and a spiked grille on the front, along with an explosive barrel launcher.
- Foil: To Ma and Pa Honeywell. The Honeywells live up to their names being a sweet (and badass) old couple and are some of the very few decent folk on Pandora, but Pappy is nothing but a spiteful, vitriolic and ungrateful asshole who basically embodies some of the most despicable aspects of a human being. And unlike the Honeywells, Pappy is all bark. Kill him and his daughter (possibly even you) will be none too bothered by it.
- Hate Sink: There's nothing remotely nice about him. Even Amara, who's usually against directing violence against civilians, gets pissed at him.
- I Gave My Word: He's a prick, but if you actually do all of his errands he pays you like any other questgiver and doesn't try to weasel out of it.
- Jerkass: Oh, yeah. Big time. He's a ludicrously hostile human being who can't go two seconds without insulting and antagonizing everyone around him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: If you think he'll at least stop directing his seething anger towards you after doing all his errands for him, you are sorely mistaken.
- Lack of Empathy: His immediate reaction when finding out that a coin collector he'd made a deal with was slaughtered by bandits is to gloat about not having to pay him now.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Under normal circumstances this is averted. But you can become karma itself either by exploding his Technical or by "accidentally" leaving his car to be riddled with bullets. Conveniently some areas of his mission has plenty of bandits, so his car getting caught in the crossfire and exploding isn't too uncommon.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's as grouchy and rude as he is old. And he's pretty damn old.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Even if you run all his errands, don't expect him to be thankful to you at all.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Unlike other cases of passengers in this game, he won't survive the destruction of his vehicle. And no, you aren't punished for it. If anything, his daughter thanks you.
Edgren, "The Lord of Skags"
Voiced by: Justin Briner
One of the people on Claptrap's list of people in need, though the list hasn't been addressed in some time. Seven years ago, he was a pro gamer; these days, he's an EchoNET meme-dealer. He still needs help restoring Pandora's bandwidth, however.- Call-Back: His very presence is a reference to the "quest" that Claptrap dropped on your lap to access the between-characters stash. Not to mention that he's obsessed with a cryptocurrency called "bEcho Wafers," which Claptrap created during the "Commander Lilith" DLC for Borderlands 2.
- Forced Meme: Once he's back on the air Edgren tries to create a bunch of dank memes in rapid succession. None of them take off.
- Playful Hacker: His "Lord of Skags" online persona, which he adopts when preparing a meme-bomb to drop on the Hyperion data-suppressor known as UG-THAK.
- Self-Deprecation: His meme obsession and attempt to create Forced Memes is yet another case of Gearbox ribbing themselves for how meme-laden Borderlands 2's writing could be at times.
- That One Player: He's the reason why Pandora has such shitty internet: He kept beating Handsome Jack in video games so the latter installed a Wi-Fi throttler on the planet.
Ma and Pa Honeywell
Voiced by: Linda Leonard (Ma), J. Paul Slavens (Pa)
- Beware the Nice Ones: Both of them are polite, intelligent, and friendly. Ma casually mentions that whenever bandits (kindly called "rascals" by her) steal their stuff Pa goes there to get it back since he has a "way with people" as she puts it. And they happen to have a home security system that includes electric fences and a massive anti-personnel cannon.
- Cool Old Guy: The nicest old couple you'll ever meet, who just so happen to be quite knowledgeable in matters of theoretical and practical physics. With a huge auto-turret as part of their home defense.
- Crazy-Prepared: Living on Pandora, this comes as little surprise. They've got electric fences and a giant artillery cannon, for crying out loud!
- Foil: To Pappy. He's a mean-spirited old jerk whose daughter wouldn't be too upset if he got killed. These two are Happily Married and are nothing but friendly to the Vault Hunter.
- Happily Married: The two are quite sweet on each other, and their marriage has lasted into their ripe old age.
- Hidden Depths: To hear Ma Honeywell tell it, they're just two simple folks, living a simple life and doing simple work... building things like superconductors and working on recipes for rocket fuel.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Their referring to the Children of the Vault as a bunch of "rascals" and insisting you "talk politely" to them would suggest as such. Given their defenses, and how calmly they react to you shooting them up instead, "talk politely" might just have been a Deadly Euphemism.
- I Call It "Vera": They refer to their homestead's cannon as "Bessie".
- Nice Guy: Both of them are remarkably nice, especially considering where they live.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, Pa getting Swallowed Whole by a skag isn't anything new, to hear Ma tell it.
- Southern-Fried Genius: While their accents would seem to mark them as typical country folk, they're actually quite knowledgeable in various forms of technology and physics.
- Swallowed Whole: The fate of Pa Honeywell. Given Skag digestive habits, he's no worse for the wear; he actually let it happen so he could look for the dynamite the thing ate. Yes, really.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Helping out these two is a series of side quests, not essential to the main plot. But sticking around to help them out would be its own reward, even if you weren't getting cash and XP for it.
Promethea
Tumorhead
Voiced by: Jamie Marchi
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Naoko assures you that killing her was the right thing to do because they were murderers, slavers... and they were super into PDA, just making out everywhere all the time.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Not that she needs love to be crazy to begin with, being a CoV bandit and all that.
- Widowed at the Wedding: It turns out that she was planning to propose to Bloodshine once she was freed. However, Bloodshine is a suicide bomb psycho Child of the Vault that immediately aggros the Vault Hunter. As does the entire reception party and Tumorhead herself following Bloodshine's death.
Athenas
Ava
Grave Robber, Aspiring Vault Hunter
Voiced by: Felecia Angelle
A young girl that Maya has taken under her wing.
- The Apprentice: She is one to Maya, as a Vault Hunter and as a Siren in training.
- Barrier Warrior: This is how she uses Phaselock after getting it from Troy, to create a bubble to protect the group from rubble, and to shield Tannis while she works a machine.
- Blatant Lies: Yes, her diary is full song lyrics about politics and poems where the sewer is an allegory for boys, and not details about her struggle to survive.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Not exactly the politest kid in the world.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Her diary shows that she lost both of her parents and lived alone for about two and half years before meeting Maya.
- Emo Teen: Tween, and she is more peppy in-person, but her diary is chock-full of this.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: She tries to steal everything from books to guns. She even stole stole a Monk's glass eye, and she still has it.
- Master of Unlocking: She can pick the lock on the doors to the graves.
- Never My Fault: Ava chews out Lilith when Maya gets killed, when it's clear that Ava played a major part in the event since she went against Maya's orders, making it so the Siren had to focus on protecting her from Tyreen and Troy. Subverted if you talk to Lilith She says Ava lashed out because Ava blames herself and Lilith sympathizes since it's how she felt after Roland died.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: She genuinely likes Claptrap and actually nerds out when she meets him for the first time, and continues to like him for the rest of the adventure.
- Took a Level in Badass: After defeating Troy, Ava touches him and absorbs Maya's Phaselocking powers, which she then uses to save the group's life.
- Video Game Caring Potential: You can pet her pet Hermes, and they'll drop ammo for you. You can also choose to try and comfort Ava herself after Maya's death.
- Young and in Charge: Lilith leaves Sanctuary to her before making a Heroic Sacrifice.
Nyriad
Voiced by: Morgan Berry
A Siren who witnessed the rise and fall of the Eridians, and has left her tale throughout the galaxy on hidden slabs.
- The Atoner: She was the one who wiped out the Eridians by draining all their collective energy to seal The Destroyer within Pandora. Nyriad placed herself into isolated exile in hopes that no Siren would ever inherit her power, but it eventually ended up in the possession of Tyreen Calypso (and to a lesser extent, her brother Troy).
- Early-Bird Cameo: Nyriad is first mentioned in a hidden ECHO on Athenas where Maya confronts Ava on the recent theft of her book. After an Eridian translator is obtained, she introduces herself upon translating the first slab in Tannis' lab.
- Exposition Fairy: Many of Nyriad's writings offer a clearer look at some of the ongoing lore of the series, as well as foreshadowing towards the ending.
- Foreshadowing: Her final message warns of a seventh Siren that must never be found. She may or may not have been speaking of her own power.
- The Voice: Nyriad is never seen as she has died centuries before the Borderlands series begins, but her voice has much to tell.
Eden-6
Failurebot
Voiced by: Justin Briner
The robotic assistant of a group of researchers studying the local wildlife, who asks the Vault Hunters for assistance after said group goes missing.- Butt-Monkey: It's even unluckier than Claptrap.
- The Eeyore: He just will not shut up about how much he sucks.
- Meaningful Rename: It wasn't always known as Failurebot, but the researchers edited its designation after repeatedly failing at the simplest tasks. It later tries to rename itself "Triumphbot" after it finally does something right (namely, hiring the Vault Hunter to interfere with King Bobo and Queen iOsaur's duel by killing them both) but fails to do so.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Understands the Jabber King Bobo's speech perfectly, which is one of the few things it's actually perfect at doing.
- Translator Buddy: Acts as this to the Vault Hunter during his quest, specifically for King Bobo.
King Bobo the Almighty
- Affably Evil: The Jabbers may be responsible for killing most of the research team and King Bobo himself looks down on the Saurian Collective, but he'll grant the Vault Hunter an audience if they perform the ceremonial proving trials.
- Arch-Enemy: He is this to Queen iOsaur of the Saurians.
- Cool Mask: Wears a Saurian skull as a mask.
- Fantastic Racism: He believes that Saurians are too stupid to be worthy of uplifting, and so has the Vault Hunter issue their queen a challenge to a duel on his behalf.
- Jerkass: He mocks the Vault Hunters' accomplishments in his tests, downplaying them, and even convinces them to jump into a pit of lava. He'll still reward them if they choose not to jump in it, but according to Failurebot, he would have found it hilarious and would've broadcast the video on the EchoNET.
- King Mook: Literally. He's a beefed up badass and ruler of his tribe.
- Large and in Charge: Failurebot even calls him "His Largeness."
- Schmuck Bait: The "Test of Wisdom'' involves goading the Vault Hunter into jumping into a lava-filled chasm - if they pass, he'll grant them their request. The key word here being "wisdom" - all you have to do is stay still for around half a minute, and you pass.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Responsible for killing most of the research team.
- Uplifted Animal: Was used by the researchers as a test subject, granting improved intelligence and knowledge of tools.
The Saurian Collective
iOsaur, Queen of the Scaleon
A group of Saurians that has mostly transcended their flesh, also thanks to Failurebot's research team.- Arch-Enemy: Queen iOsaur is this to King Bobo of the Jabbers.
- Berserk Button: Being called stupid. Or just being called a wuss in general, if you play Amara, who doesn't tell her that Bobo called her stupid.
- Hive Mind: Most of their minds have been uploaded into a single mainframe, though physical bodies are still useful for combat or reproduction.
- Hypocrite: Queen iOsaur arrogantly boasts that "she is above the needs of flesh". Apparently she's not all above that need to answer for Bobo's taunts.
- Not So Stoic: Upon receiving King Bobo's challenge, their queen's icy demeanor immediately falls apart.Moze: There's a big monkey across the gorge who wants to fight and says you're dumb.
Queen iOsaur: THAT FURRY TURD SAID WHAT?! - Punny Name: Read "iOsaur" out loud. You are free to facepalm now.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Queen iOsaur, normally very collected and eloquent, indulges in intense swearing when King Bobo's comments press her Berserk Button.
- Summon Bigger Fish: After accidentally giving the Jabbers the knowledge and means to wipe out most of them, the research team's remnants intentionally engineered the Saurian Collective as a countermeasure. It didn't turn out well.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Responsible for killing the remaining members of the research team because they wanted to control them.
- Uplifted Animal: Another experiment of the research team given increased intelligence.
Nekrotafeyo [SPOILERS]
Grouse
Voiced by: Anthony Bowling
Typhon DeLeon's servant robot, who's always grouchy and droll.
- Deadpan Snarker: Grouse is always snarking about something, usually relating to Sparrow.
- In Love with Your Carnage: Grouse is really... impressed by the Vault Hunter's capacity for bloodshed. If he had a mouth, he'd be salivating. And you can hear it in his tone.
- Servile Snarker: Rough around the edges and holds everyone, including his master, Typhon, in contempt. However he does have a softer side.
- Theme Naming: Named after a bird, like its partner.
- Tsundere: Typically a hardass, he seemed rather dismissive about Typhon's death in a post-game side mission. Later on it hears a posthumous echo log from Typhon about how he created Grouse to be serious in order to help him survive, but now that he's gone Grouse should have some fun, and bids them farewell saying the two bots were his best buds. Hearing this causes Grouse to break down into Inelegant Blubbering, and after being calmed down he honors his master's wishes by actually having fun and dancing.
Sparrow
Voiced by: Sonny Strait
Typhon DeLeon's other servant robot, who's always cheerful and peppy.
- Good Is Dumb: Sparrow is a nice bot, but he thinks things considerably less through than Grouse to say the least.
- The Pollyanna: No matter what happens, Sparrow's childish optimism never seems to run out. Imagine a more innocent version of Claptrap.
- Theme Naming: Named after a bird, like its partner.
Tern
Voiced by: Bob Hess
A former servant robot who decides to go "rogue" and become a healer of the soul. Grouse tasks the Vault Hunter with killing him for fear that Maliwan or any enemy may take his memory core and use it to locate the secret location of DeLeon's hideout.- Harmful Healing: After analyzing the Vault Hunter's actions with his instructions and diagnosing them with a propensity for violence, his way to heal them is by attacking and telling them not to fight back, even when they go into FFYL mode.
- He Knows Too Much: He belonged to Typhon DeLeon and knows where he is hidden. This knowledge makes Grouse task the Vault Hunter to kill him to prevent any enemy from learning where they are hiding.
- The Medic: Was once this to Typhon before deciding to go off on his own.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: A mix of one of these plus The Shrink.
- Post-Treatment Lollipop: Should you follow all his advice and refrain from attacking him when he kills you, he rewards you with both the memory core of his knowledge of DeLeon and some Eridium, as Sparrow said he would. Sparrow also gives an extra reward should you spare him.
- Theme Naming: Named after a bird, like all bots owned by DeLeon.
Typhon DeLeon
The First Vault Hunter
Click here to see his true appearance
Voiced by: Michael Cosner
The first person to ever open a Vault. After opening the Vault of Promethea, he traveled the galaxies on various adventures and recorded his thoughts on various logs scattered throughout the worlds until he set off on an expedition to the Eridian homeworld and was never seen again.
- Affectionate Nickname: "Starlight" for Tyreen.
- All-Loving Hero: The audio logs he left around the galaxy show Typhon was an upstanding, friendly, optimistic guy, a rarity for a Vault Hunter. When you meet him in person he owns up to his mistakes as a parent, doesn't hold it against the Vault Hunters for killing Troy, tries to reason with Tyreen, and when that fails tries to kill her and himself at the same time.
- Ambiguously Jewish: He's got a thick Bronx accent and speaks fluent Yiddish as a Second Language, but it's anyone's guess how his fondness for Vercuvian ham interacts with kosher rules, even if he doesn't ever actually eat it.
- Badass Normal: At least by Vault Hunter standards; While far from helpless in a fight, Typhon is by his own admission not much of a fighter nor does he possess any unique powers and relied more on his luck and wits compared to the playable characters of the series but is a legendary figure in-universe who's done amazing things and has at least two Vault Monster kills to his name. He even brags that being small and ugly meant that people tended to underestimate him as well as letting him access places no one else could get into.
- Been There, Shaped History: He's been involved with various important figures of the setting during his adventures. Not only was he responsible for Atlas becoming the powerhouse it was by the time of the first game, he's been romantically involved with the Siren queen of Athenas and was friends with the Jakobs (even coming up with their slogan and encouraging Wainwright to use shotguns to compensate for his eyesight).
- Cursed with Awesome: A somewhat amusing example. He considers his unattractive appearance to be an unconventional advantage, because nobody wants to pay attention to him and this allows him to get places he might otherwise not be able to.
- Deathbringer the Adorable: Shares a name with a fearsome monster from Greek mythology while being a rather genial fellow.
- Family Theme Naming: The names of his children, Tyreen and Troy, also begin with the letter T.
- Foil: He's the anti-Angel. She was the daughter of Handsome Jack and reluctantly helps him conquer Pandora and get rid of the Vault Hunters while acting as their guide under the guise of an A.I., while Typhon is the father of the Calypso Twins, is openly fighting them, and doesn't even meet the Vault Hunter while still inspiring them via his ECHO logs and movie posters that portray him as much more handsome than he actually is. Yet both had a hand in their respective parent/child's Start of Darkness. Both of them are killed before the final showdown, although Typhon is the victim of a more direct murder from his daughter.
- Gonk: The real Typhon is almost the size of a Tink who wears a coat that makes him look as fat as Marcus and can generously be described as goblin-like.
- Hero of Another Story: Part of his story can be uncovered if you search for his Typhon Logs across the galaxy. However he never tells how he, and his wife, Leda, dealt with the Vault Guardian of Nekrotafeyo, who was guarding the Vault of the Serpent...
- Hidden Supplies: He has stashes of loot scattered throughout the gameworld that can only be unlocked once you find all of his logs within the area.
- Historical Beauty Update: In-universe. Numerous posters advertise a film called "Typhon DeLeon and the First Vault", starring a dashing, clean-cut actor named Dante Silver in the role of Typhon. The real Typhon's appearance is practically the opposite of the actor depicting him.
- Kavorka Man: Despite his cartoonish appearance he has amazing luck with women with a long history of romances and is still capable of impressing Tannis with his legacy alone.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: A while after you meet him, a good portion of his dialogue is about how much sex he had with his wife, Leda, on their honeymoon to Nekrotafeyo, including what positions, how long they did it for, and where they did it (including the elevator you're standing on). In fact, the reason they got stranded on Nekrotafeyo was because he put his ship on auto-pilot while he and Leda "got busy" and they crash-landed.Typhon DeLeon (ECHOLog): After we beat the monster, we "beat the monster", if ya know what I'm sayin'.
- Matter Replicator: He has an Eridian Replicator that's capable of turning Eridium into guns. He later gives it to you, which fires 10 guns for 10 Eridium or a Legendary for 250 Eridium.
- Meaningful Name:
- In Greek Mythology, Typhon was considered the father of the most famous monsters who plagued Greece. Typhon is the father of Tyreen and Troy, the main antagonists of Borderlands 3, whom he considers "monsters".
- Ponce DeLeon was a Spanish conquistador famous for leading the first European expedition to Florida, like how Borderlands' DeLeon left his home planet and conquered the first Vault.
- Never Found the Body: As far as anyone knows, he was last known departing for a journey to find Necrotefayo and was never seen again. It's revealed that he succeeded and is still alive or was before Tyreen got to him.
- Nice Guy: In a galaxy full of self-serving, egomaniac, arrogant jerks it's a breath of fresh air meeting someone who is genuinely nice and cheery like Mr. DeLeon.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- The in-universe movie "Typhon DeLeon and the First Vault" has an actor named Dante Silver in the eponymous role, and his design takes some cues from Errol Flynn.
- The real Typhon strongly resembles Danny DeVito, in both appearance and his exaggerated Jersey accent.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted; he shares the same first name as a Crimson Lance miniboss from the original Borderlands.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He becomes noticably less cheerful and more goal-oriented for a period of time after being informed you killed his son Troy. He bounces back after having some time to process this information.
- Outliving One's Offspring: He enters the story soon after his son Troy Calypso is killed. He is conflicted about his death, as he isn't exactly happy about losing his only son, but acknowledges that the vault hunter did it to prevent him from harming innocents. As he puts it, his son had became a monster, and vault hunters kill monsters.
- Parents as People: He openly admits he screwed up raising Troy and Tyreen. He was afraid of losing them after losing Leda, on top of wanting to protect them because of them being Sirens; and back then, he saw no problem with never letting them leave Nekrotefeyo, because to him, Nekrotefeyo was enough, the reward at the end of his journey, never knowing that to them it was only a cage. And he's deeply remorseful over what his parenting led them to become, and wishes to atone for indirectly causing the events of the game; not just to the Vault Hunters, but to his surviving daughter as well.Typhon: I might've been a first-rate adventurer, but I was a third-rate pops. If you don't raise your kids right, what kinda hero are you?
- Precursor Hero: He's the very first Vault Hunter.
- The Rival: His first partner/nemesis Azlan DeVega who left him for dead in a hole that happened to contain the first Vault. Typhon's refusal to give Azlan half credit for the discovery led to him repeatedly trying to get even until his eventual death by skag.
- Remember the New Guy?: Despite his legendary reputation, he was never mentioned until 3.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Uses a Jakobs shotgun in the final few missions with him.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: One of his recordings has him say multiple times that there's no second Vault on Promethea. Said recording is found inside said second Vault.
- Taking You with Me: Tries to blow up Tyreen and himself with a grenade, but it only results in his death.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Vercuvian Ham, but not for its nutritional value as it's implied many times to be completely inedible. Rather, he wears it on his back as body armor and a dangerous Improvised Weapon. At one point in his life, he even built a yacht made of ham. The ham yacht was later repossessed.
- Trigger-Happy: Pandora has conditioned him to shoot first and ask questions immediately after, and he suggests any aspiring Hunter visiting Pandora to do the same. He's rather unique in that he's fully willing to give people he shoots a medkit provided they don't mean any harm.Typhon: We call that a Pandoran Handshake!
- Vocal Dissonance: You'd expect that the handsome man in the picture above would have a deep voice and a high-class accent? Nope, he sounds like if Daxter was from Jersey. Once you find out what he really looks like, it makes more sense.
- The Voice: You mainly hear him via the audio logs that he's left all over the planets he's been to. You meet the man for real when you get to Nekrotefayo.
- Underestimating Badassery: He wryly voices what players may be thinking of his real appearance: "This guy is the first Vault Hunter?" Then again he also says "Heroes come in all sizes and shapes". And he can easily keep up with you using nothing but his shotgun, grenades and his trusty whip.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Keeping your children sheltered on a planet most of their lives while telling stories about the Vaults isn't really a good thing as it led to them creating a cult/army when they got out. At least Typhon is apologetic about his actions, unlike Handsome Jack.
- Weak, but Skilled: He states that the secret to how he's always able to stay one step ahead of his enemies is that he's smart enough to out-think them, small enough to get into places others can't and ugly enough that few would bother looking at him.
- Yiddish as a Second Language: He peppers his dialogue with a lot of Yiddish phrases, and even his grammar structure when speaking English is often distinctly Yiddish.
Mad Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot
Ember
Fights With Fire
Voiced by: Caitlin Glass
A performer on the Handsome Jackpot with a burning desire to make everything burn, starting with Pretty Boy.
- Accidental Misnaming: Mostly due to her heavy French accent she calls Handsome Jack, Handsome "Jacque". In his face. After a complaint she melted one of his subordinates. Jack obviously isn't amused by this and gives her a not-so-Implied Death Threat if she fails to impress him, but Ember managed to do it in one way or another given she's very much alive when the Vault Hunters meets her.
- Amicable Exes: She and Timothy were evidently an item but they were forced to part due to the latter's life being in constant danger. Nonetheless she's one of the few people sympathetic to his plight and recognizes how miserable his life is.
- Artificial Limbs: Her right arm and left leg is mechanical, and her arm even has a built-in lighter. She didn't lose them in a pyrotechnic accident, though. Rather, her people are comfortable with getting new limbs as a form of expression.
- Bald Head of Toughness: Ember has apparently shaved hair and is tough as nails. The first thing she asks of you just before you meet her personally is to give him a very warm welcome (i.e: bomb one of Pretty Boy's statues).
- Barcode Tattoo: She has two of them on the each side of her head.
- Cyborg: She has two mechanical limbs, an implant in the back of her neck, and both of her eyes appear to be cybernetic.
- Electronic Eyes: Both of her pupils are glowing blue.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: She speaks with a pronounced French accent, and Zane is smitten with her In-Universe. She is so French that she refers to Jack as Jacques.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: She has one over her left eye, and another over the left side of her lip.
- Mad Artist: She views her fire as an art form and her body as a canvas, as she chose to get Artificial Limbs to express herself.
- Nice Girl: Pyromaniac tendencies aside Ember holds no grudges against Timothy for their breakup and is very polite to the Vault Hunters.
- Oblivious to Love: Zane's attempts at flirting with her go completely over her head.
- Pyromaniac: And how!Moxxi: Ember, you... really like fire, huh?
Ember: Fire solves many things.
Digby Vermouth
Voiced by: Gabe Kunda
The greatest jazz musician in the galaxy, whose performance schedule is indefinitely delayed when he gets trapped on the Jackpot.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Digby's name is dropped a few times in the main campaign of Borderlands 3. The Handsome Jackpot DLC is his official debut.
- Everyone Hates Mimes: You end up encountering a robot mime during your search for his saxophone. And yes, the poor 'bot ends up taking a pummeling. Subverted, however, in that Digby just wanted you to talk to him, and seems a bit upset that your attempts to mime in return translated into an insult.
- Foil: To the Mayor of Trashlantis. Both are very kind, eccentric men who have been stuck on the casino for years. However, The Mayor quit his old job of high fashion, even if it remains a passion, and gave up material wealth and things for a lifetime of responsibility. Digby, remained a passionate musician, remains care-free and hard-partying, and still carries around money and luxuries, as seen with the cash he rewards the player and the special assault rifle he gives as a final thank you.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: His snazzy purple suit's overcoat comes with neon tubing trim, for heck's sake! And, of course, there's his hat and Cool Shades.
- Made of Iron: He takes a hit to the head from a vault-hunter. Similar hits can kill low-level enemies and one severed Ace Baron's arm at the elbow, but Digby just wakes up almost fully.
- Music Soothes the Savage Beast: To hear him tell it, when the lockdown kicked in, a bunch of guests were getting ready to riot where he was performing. That is, until they put their guns down to listen to the sick tunes he started playing to calm them down.
- Nice Guy: Were you expecting some prima donna musician who thinks it's all about him? Think again - Digby's nothing but grateful for the Vault Hunter's help, and even remarks that he'd love to jam with them sometime.
- The Pollyanna: Sure, he's been trapped on a casino space station turned Death World, but apart from needing you to mix him a pick-me-up, Digby's not wholly bothered by the whole mess and remains upbeat and dedicated to his craft. To wit, he actually calmed down part of the rioting casino during the lockdown by playing some tunes!
- The Roadie: What the Vault Hunter essentially becomes for him, helping him get back on his feet and making sure his performance goes off without a hitch. And Digby's actually grateful for it!
- Seen It All: Apparently, requiring the Vault Hunter to escort him to Foxxi's and protect him from a violent heavy metal band isn't the bloodiest gig he's played.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: He's in a fog when you find him, and the quest that follows your mixing a pick-me-up involves helping him track down his prized instrument.
Freddie
Freddie
Passions: Bot Repair, Fashion
Voiced by: Brendan Blaber
A drifter on the Jackpot with a talent for hacking and programming. He considers the Loader robots to be his only friends. He ends up helping the Vault Hunters recover Ember's ship as part of her agreement to join the heist crew, and he ends up tagging along, too. He's a bit full of himself.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Amara has this opinion of Freddy, given his Face–Heel Turn:Amara: Freddy! You're not getting away with this! Or that shirt!
- Battle Strip: Right before his boss fight, two Loader Bots rip off his pants. For little given reason.
- Better with Non-Human Company: Freddie prefers the company of machines to people because the former are easier to control. The moment that any of his robots start developing a personality he'll wipe them.
- Boomerang Bigot: Doesn't like to hang around with humans, preferring the company of robots.
- Boss Subtitles: Freddie the Traitor, Undressed for Success.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's rather kooky (and cocky), but he is very good at reprogramming bots and helps the Vault Hunters deal with the particularly stubborn/cowardly Clapstructor.
- Catchphrase: "Freddie's got this!"
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Freddie is unique. Let's just leave it at that.
- Control Freak: He has a habit of doing mind-wipes on any of his hacked Loaders that start to operate outside his parameters.
- Disco Dan: Everything about him screams 80's, ranging from the hair to the parachute pants.
- Death by Irony: For someone who loves robots so much, him potentially meeting his end at the hands of one is this. Either through Moze's mechs, FL4K's loader bot pet, FL4K themselves, or Zane's SNTL drone.
- '80s Hair: Sports a blond mullet.
- Expy: He's based on Hackerman from Kung Fury, sharing the character's appearance and tech-savvy.
- Evil Virtues: He's a sellout prick, but he does not shy away from a fight against the Vault Hunters.
- Face–Heel Turn: He sells Timothy out to Pretty Boy during the mission to destroy the Jackpot's core.
- Foreshadowing:
- Considering that he's a Control Freak who thinks it's all about him, is it that surprising that he turns on you?
- He notes that you can trust robots, but only fools trust humans. He brings this point back up when he betrays you, noting that you were a fool to trust a human like him.
- Hate Sink: He's whiny, misanthropic and selfish, but kidnapping Timothy, betraying the Vault Hunters, and flat-out stating he doesn't feel bad about it are what make him utterly despicable. It can be cathartic to take him down in the boss fight against him.
- It's All About Me: He's got a high opinion of himself and his own abilities; after the Vault Hunters save Trashlantis, Freddie casually tries to take credit for it. All in all, it definitely seems like he's the one in the crew only in it for himself. So it's not too much of a surprise that when Pretty Boy makes him a hefty offer to betray the group, he takes it without hesitation.
- I Warned You: His thoughts on betraying you to Pretty Boy. He did tell you never to trust a human, and he's human.
- Nothing Personal: His whole shtick when betraying you, before subverting it by crowing that sure, hard feelings can be had.
- Person as Verb: He refers to hacking and refurbishing the various mechanicals around the Handsome Jackpot as "Freddy-ing" them.
- Third-Person Person: Freddie sometimes refers to himself in the third-person sense. And sometimes he switches to first-person, probably owing to his peculiar personality.
- Verbal Tic: He's prone to yelling his own name when he's excited about something.
The Mayor
Of Trashlantis!
Voiced by: Oliver Tull
"Welcome to Trashlantis! Here we take refuge in the refuse! Yes, we live a simple life among the discarded remnants of a world built on greed! Do you smell that? That's the smell of human comradery! Now, what brings you to our little scrap of utopia?"
Originally Handsome Jack's personal tailor, he forsook the materialistic greed of the casino-goers and fled to the garbage compactor. He now runs an entire village of refugees within the refuse. The crew needs him to help procure a suit for Timothy convincing enough to fool the security scanners, but since Pretty Boy sees him as a nuisance and Trashlantis is in danger, he's got to need some help of his own, first...
- Beware the Nice Ones: He took a personal vow of anti-captalism, not of non-violence and as such he has Trashlantis' main gate guarded by a massive cannon.
- Chummy Commies: He's a Reasonable Authority Figure par excellence, and one of his first proposals at the inaugural Trashlantis council meeting was to dismantle capitalism.
- Foil: To Pretty Boy. Both used to work for and were abused by Handsome Jack, and both don't use their original names, but the Mayor eventually left the Jackpot to live in the garbage and became a fair and just leader who rejected everything Handsome Jack stood for, while Pretty Boy stuck it out and got locked in the opulent VIP tower where he became a dictator.
- Nice Guy: He is willing to give even a Claptrap unit's AI a chance.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only known as "The Mayor (of Trashlantis)" and we never actually learn his real name.
- Quest Giver: Once Trashlantis is secured from Pretty Boy's forces, the Mayor asks the Vault Hunters to help kill specific bandits and robots who he feels are committing horrendous crimes of fashion. He rewards player cosmetics for each target that gets taken out.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a benevolent ruler who founded Trashlantis as a safe haven away from the Casino's greed and ultra-violence. He refers to the Clapstructor as a new citizen, rather than a tool, and promises that Trashlantis will never forget his Heroic Sacrifice. Even when Moxxi asks what he wants for his take in the heist, he only wants her to promise Trashlantis's safety, even though Pretty Boy's downfall will make living there no longer necessary.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He's seen wearing some nice duds. He can't help but make a commentary on Freddie's fashion sense (or lack thereof). He is a professional tailor, after all.
- Sheathe Your Sword: In order to gain access to Trashlantis you need to prove you're not like the crazed greedy people of the casino above. You do that by doing nothing or throwing enough stuff on the ground enough times.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Subverted. When the Clapstructor asks if they are really friends, right before its Heroic Sacrifice, he prefaces the confirmation with an "uh...". After the Clapstructor's Heroic Sacrifice, he promises that they will never forget his actions, showing genuine gratitude.
Pretty Boy
And His Mech
Voiced by: Earl Fisher
The big boss of the Handsome Jackpot, if only by default due to being trapped in the control tower after Jack's death. Acts like a stereotypical Mafia don.
- Appropriated Appelation: His nickname was an ironic one that Jack gave him that he eventually adopted as an actual title.
- Bad Boss: Unsurprisingly, he isn't the best employer around, he treats Tony Bordel like dirt with arrogance and pettiness ala Handsome Jack.
- Beam Spam: Jackpot's most used attacks are laser beams and one of the more dangerous attacks is just firing its laser beams everywhere while spinning for massive damage across a very large radius around itself.
- Big Bad: Of the Handsome Jackpot DLC.
- Breath Weapon: Jackpot can shoot an incendiary beam from its mouth.
- Cast from Hit Points: The third time the Jackpot tries to repair itself leads to a downpayment of blood from the pilot for its "ultra-high-interest payment plan" to repair itself, complete with a change from an armored-yellow health bar to a flesh-red health bar. For extra irony, the Jackpot becomes more vulnerable to fire weapons.
- Cast from Money: After taking down his mecha's armor bar, it puts up a shield and offers to repair itself for a large sum of Pretty Boy's money. The second time, it costs him a far larger amount.
- Classy Cane: Has one with Jack's face in gold for the head.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Subjects Timothy to it once he gets his grubby hands on him. We don't get to see it but Timothy pained grunts suggests it was pretty nasty.
- Court Jester: Jack treated him like this. One ECHO Log in the VIP Tower has Jack demanding Pretty Boy to make him laugh after a tiresome day.
- Depraved Dwarf: A Tink with dreams of taking over the Handsome Jackpot casino, as well as the hidden Loader manufacturing plant deep inside the casino's core. With the casino in permanent lockdown after Jack's death, Pretty Boy wants to capture Timothy and steal his security clearances so he can disable the lockdown and take the entire Jackpot for himself.
- Energy Weapon: One of Jackpot's most common attacks is just to blast you with its lasers.
- Evil Is Petty: Once he's had enough of Timothy's antics he increases the prize on his head from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000.87¢ for no other reason than to be a petty asshole.
- Foil: He and Vasquez have a lot of similarities: they share the same tale of being influenced by Handsome Jack, both being punching bags, literally for Vasquez, and metaphorically for Pretty Boy. Both are Faux Affably Evil pricks with less than superficial charm, both got into relatively high positions in their stations and both were too arrogant for their own good which led them to their demise. But whereas Vasquez decided to take the matters into his hands the moment he saw things going awry, Pretty Boy sits comfortably atop his VIP Tower, although not by his choice, sending his goons and flaunting his money get the job done only getting involved at the very last moment when he thinks he's won.
- Faux Affably Evil: He tries to put a hair thin facade of civility and nicety, but it's very obvious he's not someone to be trusted at all. As Moxxi says: "He's all teeth."
- Fiction 500: Pretty Boy's wealth is not mere boasting, his networth is around the trillions.
- Final Boss: He's the final enemy battled in the "Handsome Jackpot" DLC, and the story ends with his defeat.
- Flunky Boss: Jackpot will constantly create mini-loaders to aid it during its boss fight.
- Gilded Cage: He's the most powerful man on the Jackpot, with an obscene amount of money, tons of bandits and bounty hunters on his payroll, and (near) full control over the Jackpot's security systems, but he's trapped in the VIP tower (the turrets will just as readily hose HIM down if he tries to leave), his money can only buy so much, and the one thing he needs for TOTAL control (Timothy's Winning Hand) consistently remains out of his reach until the endgame.
- Gonk: Like most Tinks in the game, he's got a bulbous head a bit too large for his body on top of bulbous ears.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Pretty Boy prides himself on his wealth, but when the Jackpot mecha is critically damaged, he pays it everything he has to cover the repair fees. Eventually, he has to take out an "ultra-high-interest payment plan", and he literally pays with his own blood.
- Humongous Mecha: Fights you in Jackpot, a gigantic mecha built in Jack's image.
- Ironic Last Words: "Should have made a deal..." is rife with irony since from the moment you started helping Timothy he tried to get you to strike a deal with him.
- Ironic Nickname: Jack took to calling him "Pretty Boy" to mock his ugly appearance.
- Loan Shark: With all of the Jackpot's residents trapped in deep gambling debts, Pretty Boy uses their desperation to make them do what he wants.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Pretty Boy is obviously not his given name and we never learn it.
- Pelvic Thrust: How the Jackpot spawns mini-Loaders, aptly named "PP Loaders", during the boss fight.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Hehehe... Jackpot!"
- Rags to Riches: Audio logs reveal that Handsome Jack only kept him around as a jester, mocking his height, face, and voice, ordering him to dance and tell jokes, and essentially treating him like absolute crap; Pretty Boy put up with the humiliation because it came with a modicum of luxury (that, and Jack would obviously have him killed if he didn't perform). After Jack's death, he's become the de facto ruler of the Jackpot, and as a result, is fabulously wealthy and powerful... on the Jackpot itself, at least.
- Robotic Assembly Lines: Jack's big secret hidden deep in the Jackpot is an enormous manufacturing plant for Loader robots; by Moxxi's reckoning, it's large enough to conquer the galaxy several times over. Pretty Boy plans to do exactly that once he gets his hands on Timothy's Winning Hand, starting by purging the Jackpot itself of all its inhabitants.
- Rush Boss: Jackpot's final phase, the "blood-cooled mode", is pretty damn fast and hits very hard with melee attacks, but will go down just as fast. Chances are nothing will be in the arena to give you a Second Wind, so the fight becomes a matter of who kills the other faster.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He certainly thinks so and makes liberal use of his wealth to put a price on Timothy's head. He also thinks he has enough money to keep up with Jackpot's repairs indefinitely, but the Vault Hunters prove him to be fatally wrong about this.
- Shed Armor, Gain Speed: As the fight wages on, the Jackpot will lose more and more parts, first with legs, then arms and finally torso. It gains increased speed, new attacks, and flight as a benefit.
- Smug Smiler: His ECHO portrait has a smile that you'd see in someone trying to sell you a banged up car.
- Smug Snake: He thinks he's a big shot and can bribe/intimidate/kill anyone who gets in his way or doesn't help get his way, but his over inflated ego and the fact he doesn't have the golden key to control the Handsome Jackpot (until the end, but he doesn't live long enough to profit from it) prevents him from becoming a real threat.
- Terms of Endangerment: Calls Timothy "Timmo" and the Vault Hunters "Big Spenders" in the most condescending way possible. It's pretty obvious from the get go, even without Moxxi's warning, this guy is bad news.
- Turns Red: After taking Pretty Boy's blood payment, the Jackpot gains red Tron Lines and trades its weakness to corrosive for a weakness to fire.
- Villainous Gold Tooth: All his teeth has gold in it.
Scraptrap Nest
You Asked For It
TRAVELEEEEERRR!!
Voiced by: Jim Faronda
"Tra...traaa... traaaaaa... TRAVELEEEEEEER!!!"
A hive of feral scrapped Claptraps that survived Jack's purging.
- Ax-Crazy: Surviving the purge of the Claptraps and literally hiding in trash for years has made their collective sanity take a horrific nosedive.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Claptrap units tend to be regarded as the resident Butt-Monkey group of the whole franchise... but the Scraptraps have any potential humor completely removed due to their becoming feral and murderously insane.
- Body Horror: A robotic example. The Scraptraps generally look very beat up and broken compared to normal Claptraps, not that it seems to slow them down much.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing: Scraptrap Prime.
- The Dog Bites Back: Implied in their Boss Subtitles "You Asked For It".
- Irony: Jack viewed the Claptraps as pests and killed them off because of it. The last Claptraps, barring the one in Sanctuary, survived Jack's purge in his own personal casino, acting as a feral bandit tribe/Ratch nest.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: You can see their scarlet optics peeking at you from within piles of trash en route to their lair. And, unlike our Claptrap, these guys are straight-up horrifying.
- Say My Name: "Tra-tra-tra-tra... TRAVELER!!!"
- Spikes of Villainy: They have a lot of them. Mainly on their wheels and mid-sections.
- Wolf Pack Boss: Each individual Scraptrap represents the boss's life bar.
- Zerg Rush: Their main method of attack.
Clapstructor
Voiced by: Jim Faronda
A special constructor made using Scraptrap Prime's A.I. chip.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Well, he was a Scraptrap, a feral Claptrap, so this was expected. Freddie fixes this before it becomes a problem, though.
- Came Back Wrong: Inverted, he's able to talk instead of just going apeshit and attacking everyone on sight. He also Came Back Strong due to being inserted into the body of a Constructor bot instead of being, well, a Claptrap.
- Dirty Coward: Although he has the body of a friggin' Constructor he wants to take no part into the quest to save Trashlantis.
- Fate Worse than Death: Initially, he is fused to a beam and unable to move for the rest of his life, but the credits show that he gains worshippers in the Trashlantis citizens he saved, negating the terrible loneliness that afflicts him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Decides to fuse itself to the beam jamming the compactor when he finds it still too weak after he reinforces it. He survives but was certain it would kill him.
- Karmic Jackpot: His actions get him regarded as a hero by the Trashlantis citizens and he has people literally bowing to him in the credits. He ends up being the only widely liked Claptrap unit in history.
- Restraining Bolt: Courtesy of Freddie. He's unable to not follow orders after Freddie tweaks with his programming. He can initially disagree, but will always comply.
- Tractor Beam: He uses it to lift the trash barricade on the way to Tony Bordel's fortress.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Subverted. He attemps a Heroic Sacrifice in what is possibly not even 15 minutes after being introduced, but survives.
Joy
Voiced by: Tyson Rinehart
A defective loader who got sent to the trash heap.
- Actual Pacifist: He's a lover, not a fighter. He was thrown away into The Compactor for this reason.
- Bleak Level: Joy's sidequest is earnestly touching and sad, uncharacteristic of a Black Comedy like Borderlands. This is even more jarring since the DLC he's featured in is one of the sillier ones.
- Foil: To Mal from 2. Both are passive Loader Bots that have very human-like desires. Whereas Mal becomes aggressive at the end of his quest in a misunderstanding of what makes one "human", Joy never attacks the players and thanks them in earnest for humoring him.
- Last Request: His last wish was to have a picnic with a friend.
- Nice Guy: Maybe the nicest the player will ever encounter.
- Robot Buddy: The only Loader Bot in the Handsome Jackpot that won't try to shoot you on sight.
- Secretly Dying: He has a faulty power core and only reveal this after his picnic with the Vault Hunter.Joy: I had a nice day...
- Stay with Me Until I Die: Joy's final request is for you to stay with him as he dies.
Guns, Love & Tentacles
Mancubus Bloodtooth
Enjoy your Stay...
Voiced by: Arin Hanson
The barman at The Lodge, who is definitely more than he seems. Something is very, very weird about him.
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Speaks with offbeat pauses between certain words and puts an unnatural emphasis in his speech, adding to his strangeness.
- The Bartender: He's first seen manning the bar at the lodge, mixing a drink.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Despite being cordial and passive at the Lodge, he made it a point to confront and painfully kill a man who was trying to scam the cursed townsfolk by falsely claiming he can cure curses. Hiphonius, an Eldritch Abomination that can be found in the Lodge's basement after collecting the pieces of several possessed statues, warns the Vault Hunter to respect Bloodtooth and the Lodge, as his hospitality only goes so far, and to "beware the fury of a patient man".
- Big Good: Despite... literally everything about him, he's the closest thing to this on Xylourgos - he and The Lodge provide a safe, hospitable place removed from the power of the Bonded, he kills a Snake Oil Salesman lying about his ability to remove curses, he actively works against the Bonded to save Wainwright, and he's nothing but helpful to you.
- Black Eyes of Evil: His eyes are pitch black. But then again, so are everyone else's eyes in Cursehaven.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Downplayed. His morality is mostly based on running The Lodge properly and making sure the guests enjoy themselves. As such, he acts cordial, understands human social norms, is disgusted by humans who break normal social conventions, and his most alien moment is insisting the Vault Hunter destroy the protections around a man's house because the man stole the bottles he used from The Lodge. The last bit is a pretty normal Borderlands reaction, though, and he claims he would have been happy to simply take the bottles back had the wine still been in them.
- Character Catchphrase: "The Lodge provides." or "The Lodge will provide."
- Creepy Good: He talks in an extremely sinister tone, he has Black Eyes of Evil, pointed teeth, and his name is Mancubus Bloodtooth. However, he helps the Vault Hunters through much of their stay, takes genuine concern over Wainwright's condition, and is among the most helpful and nicest of residents on Xylourgos. The Vault Hunters themselves acknowledge that while he's incredibly creepy he's a good guy.
- Expy: Keeping with the Lovecraft theme of the DLC, He may be a Nyarlathotep-type of being vaguely taking on a human form, except that good old Nyarly is a sadistic bastard while Mancubus is genuinely good despite being creepy as all hell.
- Humanoid Abomination: While lacking explicit confirmation, his actions and abilities make it clear he is not actually human.
- He claims to have a curse, but he hasn't been specific.
- He has pure black eyes and pointed teeth.
- He speaks in an incredibly odd manner.
- Touching him apparently killed someone.
- He is the proprietor of the Lodge, which is somehow capable of blocking Gythian's power.
- He shows an incredible understanding of the supernatural.
- He can interact safely with items that are dangerous to any normal human, such as using recipes from the Nibblenomicon that instantly transformed the local librarian into a monster.
- His Suspiciously Specific Denial about how long he has been running the lodge has him claim to be a normal human age, then he claims to be twenty despite appearing to be in his late thirties at least.
- Depending on how reliable the memory of Maya in Krieg's mind is, it's implied both he and the Lodge once showed up on Athenas one day before vanishing just as quick overnight.
- Inexplicably Awesome: He is able to somehow repel the power of a Vault Monster by himself, something that only Eridians were able to do.
- Sacred Hospitality: The graceful, if unbelievably creepy, host of The Lodge. And The Lodge is always open to tired travelers and ones in need. But do not overstay your welcome, or worse, do not make yourself unwelcome, or else...
- Supreme Chef: At least the Nibblenomicon agrees his cooking is the best. The Vault Hunters make some excuse not to taste his cooking, though. Probably for the best.
- Verbal Tic: Whenever he speaks he tends to make some very strange... pauses.
Eista
Slass Means Fight!!
Voiced by: Adam Croasdell
- Blood Knight: Loves a good Slass. And it's basically the whole purpose of his Side-missions. He's thrilled at the fact you're so good at slassing.
- Boisterous Bruiser: His introduction has him loudly congratulating you on beating his clansmen and them challenging you himself.
- Braggart Boss: Eista is very loud and confident in his ability to slass.
- Character Catchphrase: "We slass!" His introduction tells you right out the gate what he means by that.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: To Eista, those who "slass" with him are considered his friends. He will not trust people who refuse to do so like Burton Briggs.
- Dual Wielding: Eista dual-wields giant hammers like they're a pair of swords.
- Empowered Badass Normal: In a science fiction setting where everyone has augmentations that border on Clarke's Third Law and/or enough guns to kill an army, this guy is able to stand on his own with two ordinary stone hammers and weird crap he eats in the forest.
- I Let You Win: Eista explicitly says he let you win the first time as it was more of a "friendly sparring" than an actual fight. His subsequent fights proves this wasn't an empty boast.
- Nice Guy: Fighting is the same as friendship to him, and treats those around him with nothing short of respect. He also complies with Burton's unwillingness to fight him with his daughter watching.
- The Nicknamer: Dubs you "Gai-Lo" after slassing with him.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Eista used to be a tracker in another planet working for royalty, but felt hunting became too easy for him robbing him of any satisfaction. He then moved to Xylourgos in order to stay sharp.
- Optional Boss / Upgraded Boss: By completing Eista's side-missions, he fights you in increasingly-difficult battles. On the last fight, he takes on the title "Eista The Invincible" like the traditional Borderlands Raid Bosses (though he's not as heavily-scaled as one). He has three whole bars for Armor, Shields, and Health, plus a bevy of powerful elemental attacks.
- Power-Up Food: Eista calls his food "kife" and considers it the source of all strength in nature. His side-missions involve bringing him new forms of kife so he can grow strong enough to fight you again. By the way, Kife means gonads.
- Varying Tactics Boss: Every next time you fight Eista he'll have a new trick up his sleeve: a fireball attack, shields and an ice breath and finally armor and an radiation aura for his last battle.
- Verbal Tic: Tends to pepper his speech with words like "slass" and "kife" very often.
Burton Briggs
Voiced by: D.C. Douglas
A local detective in Cursehaven whose lack of memories doesn't stop him from solving the case... maybe.
- Dark and Troubled Past: When you first meet him, Burton has a vague hunch that his past is dark and troubled, but can't elaborate due to his amnesia.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The moment Burton goes to kill Vincent it's easy to forget that he possesses someone to gain his powers back. And once Vincent is killed by Burton, Iris appears in his place...
- Forgetful Jones: At first it's worth a good chuckle especially with the Vault Hunters' reactions to it. But it's definitely not Played for Laughs when you hear and see his backstory.
- Gut Feeling: Burton's secret to his detective work is to always trust his hunches, which he will frequently remind you of.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: An example that is not played for laughs. Just before his questline is finished he rushes back to The Lodge, ashamed of what he had done to Iris.
- Murder by Mistake: He went to kill the Gythian cult leader, Vincent, in order to save Iris, unaware that Vincent possessed his victims.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He accidentally killed his daughter when trying to save her from the Bonded, which left him so grief-stricken and remorseful that he tried his best to repress the memory.
- Nice Guy: He may be easily forgetful, but Burton's a polite, friendly, helpful man to the Vault Hunters.
- Not in Front of the Kid: Burton's reason as to why he won't "slass" with Eista. The hunter respects Burton's decision to protect Iris, but warns him that he will not trust a man who won't fight him.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Wields one when fighting alongside you. He used to have one called "Seventh Sense". This revolver allows him to see ghosts and the like, but it's a source of the huge trauma that was the reason he repressed his memories.
- Trauma Button: Entering the extradimensional portal sparks every repressed memory he had about accidentally murdering his own daughter and he can do nothing but run away from the sheer horror of the (re)realization.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: As his line of missions continues, the reason behind Burton's amnesia is explained. His (very young) daughter Iris was kidnapped by Eleanor's Bonded cultists and used as a host body for Vincent. In shooting Vincent, Burton killed Iris without knowing and became so traumatized that he blocked all memory of it from his mind.
DJ Midnight
A rather... unique DJ that Gaige hired for the wedding party. She mixes dark melodies using sounds like bones breaking and the howling of beasts, which she hires the Vault Hunter to record.
- Ambiguously Evil : Her love of nightmarish sounds are... questionable. She also voices that she has no problem with using the Vault Hunter's own dying sounds for her mix.
- Goth: In all but (brightly colored) clothing. Personality wise she revels in dark, insidious sound material that quakes the human soul.
- Large Ham: She speaks in an overly sinister tone of voice and makes use of a wide vocabulary to compliment the sounds she acquires.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Her schtick. Her music uses voice samples from unsettling noises to shake people's hearts. And it's clear that she personally enjoys them while you're running bandits over.
Bounty of Blood
The Liar
Voiced by: Brandon Potter
Since Bounty of Blood is a Western it gets its own gravelly-voiced narrator, replacing Marcus.- Berserk Button:
- While the Liar doesn't approve of any wrongdoing, he seems to have a special dislike of cattle rustlers, calling them ticks on society and saving some of his most venomous words for them, before catching himself and keeping the narrative more or less neutral.
- He's not very fond of loudmouth braggarts either as some of his more acidic commentaries are aimed straight to Titus.
- Captain Obvious: He narrates everything the Vault Hunters do, to the point of telling what objectives are next.
- The Comically Serious: His voice has that distinct whimsical tone of a western storyteller, sounding kind of grandfatherly, but that doesn't stop him from saying some really silly things with a straight face, erm, voice.
- Foil: To Marcus. Both are storytellers, but The Liar narrates the whole tale in a more personal way even chimming in on occasion while Marcus sticks to a more traditional narrative.
- Interactive Narrator: During the side mission "Dirty Deeds," he tells the Vault Hunters what is on the message in a bottle that starts the mission, given they find it illegible, but notes it is a one-time deal.
- Let Me Tell You a Story: The Bounty of Blood starts with him telling the tale of the long lasting war of Vestige against the Devil Riders. And then all about your journey to deal with them.
- Lemony Narrator: Will make smartass comments occasionally and says stuff like devil milk curing erectile dysfunction. Not that he would know.
- Series Establishing Moment: His very existence sets the tone for the DLC, as the very existence of a different narrator from Marcus is a big hint that the Vault Hunter won't see any familiar faces in Gehenna.
- The Voice: His face is never seen and he's never directly mentioned by anyone.
- Unreliable Narrator: How other people in-universe allegedly view him (hence his nickname "The Liar"), because he claims to know things he couldn't have known, though from what we see everything he says is accurate. He says people started calling him Liar because the tale of the Vault Hunters killing Butcher Rose and The Ruiner in Crater's Edge sounded too far fetched for anyone to believe.
Butcher Rose
Leader of the Devil Riders.
Voiced by: Miley Yamamoto
- Ambiguously Human: She has glowing yellow eyes, spikes growing out of her arm, displays inexplicable abilities such as Super-Speed, a strange affinity with Core devices, a dark green aura, and her sadistic apex predator mindset has more in common with the saurians she rides than humans.
- Ax-Crazy: She's more violent and prone to killing than the former Devil Rider leader planning on going full scorched earth on Vestige instead of raiding the town just for supplies. This was one of the reasons Juno left them.
- The Beastmaster: She's capable of exerting some level of control over Devilsaurs through whistling a specific tune, with her ultimate goal being to control The Ruiner. Her whistling is capable of calling to other creatures like Bellik Primis as well.
- Bad Boss: Downplayed. Rose doesn't execute anyone (onscreen) for failure, but her orders are never questioned or challenged in the least and the Devil Riders seem to follow her more out of respect than outright fear. She has no tolerance for deserters, though, as Juno can attest.
- Big Bad: She's the central antagonist and the primary bounty of the Bounty of Blood DLC.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Bounty of Blood is very dry on the humor and so is Butcher Rose. She has none of the whimsicality that most Borderlands villains have— she isn't a dick to you like the Calypsos (main game), isn't a sleazy prick like Pretty Boy (Handsome Jackpot), and isn't a hammy crazed leader like Eleanor and Vincent (Guns, Love and Tentacles).
- Duel Boss: Fights you one-on-one. Or 2~4 vs 1.
- False Friend: Poses as a random, if somewhat friendly, gunslinger that greets the Vault Hunters upon their arrival on Gehenna. It's not even before the first mission is over she reveals her true colors, being the leader of the Devil Riders. Rose later admits she didn't see the Vault Hunters as a threat and even muses she should've killed them when she had the chance.
- Fantastic Nuke: She successfully sends The Ruiner's egg to space and it falls back to Gehenna causing a massive explosion of nuclear proportions which also rains fire everywhere and turn the sky a putrid green.
- Flower Motifs: Take a guess. Her whole design, from her green leaf-like clothes to the thorns that cover her whole are based on a rose.
- Flunky Boss: Averted. Unlike other bosses in the series, she has no minions to call in for Second Winds. Her fight is a duel in every sense of the word.
- Fragile Speedster: By boss standards she's fairly fragile, but the duel with her is prolong by her quick movement across the field.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes have a faint, but noticeable glow when she's about to duel the Sheriff, the same type of color of coresplodders scattered across Gehenna.
- Hero Killer: It's all but outright stated that she and her Devil Riders killed, or at very least scared off, many bounty hunters before the Vault Hunters of Pandora. This happened even before she took over the gang. She also kills the Sheriff of Vestige.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: How she fights; she typically runs across the field to evade the Vault Hunter before stopping or swooping in to attack. Rinse and repeat.
- Klingon Promotion: She earned her spot as leader of the Devil Riders by siccing Toge, his Devilsaur, on the previous one.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Rose doesn't strike a lot of fear. Butcher Rose on the hand...
- Near-Villain Victory: She manages to wake up The Ruiner and her last attack on Vestige almost kills Juno. Safe to say if the Vault Hunters weren't on Gehenna at that time, Rose would've won.
- Never Found the Body: Her ultimate fate. The narrator speculates that she might have survived the ordeal as a result.
- The Nicknamer: Calls the Vault Hunters "gunslinger". It paradoxically comes off as both condescending and respectful given she thinks they're "just grunts after some coin" but also acknowledging them as someone not to be triffled with.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: If Butcher Rose wants something done she doesn't waste time and doesn't try to pointlessly risk herself or her big plan just to get another shot at killing the Vault Hunter and makes sure to use her forces to stall for time when she needs to.
- Noble Demon: She at least gives the Sheriff a chance to duel her instead of shooting him while he's down on his knees. It's unclear if this has something to do with the "code" the Devil Riders follow or if it is an act of her own.
- Permanently Missable Content: Butcher Rose can be fought only once in Bounty of Blood. After that returning to the arena will always have you facing The Ruiner.
- Quick Draw: Faces off the Sheriff in a duel and proves not only to be faster but also scarily accurate preferring to Blasting It Out of Their Hands instead of outright killing him. She finishes the job soon enough, however.
- Red Baron: The Sheriff calls her "Butcher Rose" while her Devil Riders refer to her only as "The Butcher".
- Samurai Cowboy: As befitting the Far-East meets Wild West aesthetic of the DLC, she's a combination of both a Western Outlaw and a Ronin.
- Sinister Whistling: When you first hear it it's a somewhat soothing melody that is seemingly used to tame Devilsaurs, but as the journey through Gehenna goes on it's used to summon other types of dangerous creatures. Including The Ruiner.
- Smug Smiler: Her most common expression is that of a satisfied smirk, and she's very assured of herself most of the time.
- Spikes of Villainy: For whatever reason, Rose has spikes under her lip and all over her left arm.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: She has a pretty calm tone voice, but is one of the most vile people in Gehenna.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- She's very similar to Nisha with an added Eastern flavor. Unlike her however, it's implied that she survives her encounters with the Vault Hunters.
- Butcher Rose's battle and goal is eerily similar to Handsome Jack's: both are unique enemies that can be fought only once in a Duel Boss style in their stories and are replaced by bioweapons, Ruiner from The Company's for Rose and The Warrior from Eridians for Jack. Even where they are fought is somewhat similar with both being fought in a fiery battleground with frail airborne enemies for Second Winds. Rose's goal of taking over Gehenna mirrors Jack's goal of conquering Pandora and both inteded to use their bioweapons or it.
- Sword and Gun: She wields both a sword and the Bloom in her fight.
- The Social Darwinist: Her Establishing Character Moment has her put down her pet devil after it suffers a crippling but non-fatal injury, musing that only the strongest survive on Gehenna.
- Take Over the World: Rose's ultimate goal. She intends to use The Ruiner for it.
- Unusable Enemy Equipment: Averted. Her pistol, Bloom, is a legendary Jakobs pistol and you can get it from any loot source in Bounty of Blood. Though the dedicated drop source is The Ruiner, not her.
- Villain Respect: Rose shows some degree of respect as the Vault Hunters just tear through her small army of bandits.
Sheriff
Voiced by: Bob Reed
The Sheriff of Vestige and the man responsible for posting the titular Bounties of Blood. Killed by Butcher Rose in the prologue.- Establishing Character Moment: Shows up in the middle of a Bar Brawl and fires a "Shut Up!" Gunshot so everyone cut that shit out. Then he offers to pay a free round of drink for everyone. In just a few seconds he's established as the authority in Vestige and how people listen and respect him.
- Foil: To Nisha. Vestige is full of people on their edge but he's not a Hanging Judge and he's also outlawed duels which the coffin maker of Vestige complains about (it's bad for her business). He WILL shoot to scare or non-lethally wound people to shut them up, though.
- Good Is Not Soft: He responds to a citizen's complaints about Juno and moreso to him questioning his position of sheriff by non-fatally shooting him. He then declares that he'll bury anyone who tries to lay a finger on Juno without his say-so.
- He asks the Vault Hunters to scare a miscreant giving someone dance lessons with gunfire by shooting their hat off their head.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: The former Sheriff of Vestige who played a big part in Juno's redemption prior to the beginning of the DLC.
- Irony: The Sheriff mentions the weird stone in Vestige is what keeps the Devil Riders from completely destroying it, but it's not even before the first mission ends proper that Butcher Rose attacks Vestige and steals it. It's the egg of a bioweapon called The Ruiner and Rose intends to use it not only to destroy Vestige, but take complete control over Gehenna.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: He's been mentoring Titus and ends up dead after a Devil Rider raid on Vestige. Titus is understandably shocked when he finds out.
- Mr. Exposition: His main job is to give the players the rundown on how things are in Vestige. Justfied as he was the one who put up the bounty which the Vault Hunters answered.
- Old Soldier: He's been the law in Vestige for quite a while and muses that lawmen usually "don't go grey" around these parts, but some ECHO Logs reveals he was painfully aware of his age.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Nobody, not even The Liar, says his name and he's known only as "Sheriff" by everyone.
- Parental Substitute: ECHO Logs imply he was one to Titus. One of the reasons Titus doesn't try to kill Juno, even after the Sheriff dies, despite hating her for her Devil Rider past.
- Posthumous Character: Most of what we learn about the Sheriff comes from second-hand accounts after he dies.
- Quick Draw: He's shown to be very fast on the draw. Unfortunately he isn't fast enough to deal with Butcher Rose...
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He gave Juno a second chance when she wanted to atone, and sounds like he was good for Vestige.
- The Sheriff: Natch. He's the authority in Vestige alongisde Deputy Titus.
- "Shut Up!" Gunshot: Fires one to stop the bar brawl caused by Drunk William and the Vault Hunter and make his presence known.
- Unwanted Assistance: Not him as he's the one who put up the bounty on the Devil Riders, but he (and Titus) mention that some of the people in Vestige aren't particularly happy about him asking for help from outsiders.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Part of the short time we see him alive has him keeping the people of Vestige from killing themselves.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies after giving you an introduction to Gehenna.
Juno
Voiced by: Madeleine Morris
- The Atoner: Juno is motivated by a desire to make up for her actions as a Devil Rider.
- Big Good: Once she becomes sheriff Juno works tirelessly to protect Vestige and direct the Vault Hunters towards Rose.
- Brawn Hilda: Juno absolutely towers over everyone else on Gehenna, and from the looks of it she is very muscular.
- Close-Range Combatant: Juno fights only using her machetes, never using a gun.
- Defector from Decadence: After Butcher Rose took over the leadership of the Devil Riders, Rose decided she wanted to burn down Vestige and everyone in it and it was too much for Juno who decided to ditch her old gang. Rose hasn't taken to this kindly and put a pretty prize on her head, doubling it if someone manages to do it with her own machete.
- Easily Forgiven: Brutally averted. She was member of the Devil Riders and it's unclear how much time has passed since she left them, but the people of Vestige sure as all Ruin hasn't forgotten nor forgiven her. Not until the very end of Bounty of Blood.
- Everyone Has Standards: She left the Devil Riders when Rose wanted to attack Vestige For the Evulz instead of for supplies.
- Field Promotion: The Sheriff names her new sheriff with his dying breath.
- Genius Bruiser: Very capable in combat and knows her way around Gehenna. She also has deep knowledge of her old gang's most notorious members, Gehenna's Most Wanted, and will let you know what they're capable of as you approach their locations.
- Good Counterpart: To Nisha as a sheriff of a Western-themed town who used to be a bandit, only much nicer and saner.
- Heel Realization: Happened an unnamed time before the Vault Hunters arrived. An ECHO Log has Butcher Rose expressing desire in killing everyone in Vestige. Another one has Juno warning everyone of an imminent big scale attack and it's most likely due to her warning Vestige is still standing by the time Bounty of Blood happens.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Juno genuinely wants to make up for her past as a Devil Rider, but the people of Vestige are basically hostile to her and expect her to start killing them again at any time; she's accused of killing the Sheriff herself for the badge when she claims that he elected her to the post. The only reason she's managed to stick around this long is that the Sheriff vouches for her... and assures the townsfolk he'd be the first to shoot her if she does that. Understandable, as she had been a part of the Devil Rider raids against the town and they've lost family and friends to those.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Juno is initially apprehensive about becoming the new sheriff of Vestige, partly due to how people still hate her for being a former Devil Rider and partly because she doesn't understand why The Sheriff would want her to become one instead of Titus.
- The Insomniac: On the grounds that she has to worry about the people of Vestige possibly slicing her throat while she sleeps.
- Made of Iron: Downplayed. A direct hit from a coresplodder nearly takes her out and she says if Titus wasn't there to help her she would've died.
- Non-Indicative Name: She was known as "The Hatchet", but her main weapon looks more like machetes or even short swords.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: It can be easy to mistake her for male at first, before hearing her voice and without a closer look.
- Machete Mayhem: Her primary weapons are two machetes.
- Ms. Exposition: Juno gives details about her former Devil Rider compatriots to the Vault Hunters as they are being hunted down. She also teaches them to use breezeblooms and telezappers.
- Old Shame: She doesn't view her time with the Devil Riders as something to remember fondly.
- Red Baron: She was known as "The Hatchet".
- Reformed, but Rejected: Left the Devil Riders, but people from Vestige are still very wary of her. Being "promoted" to sheriff only makes Juno even more nervous as she's smart enough to understand people will think she murdered him to become one.
- Reformed Criminal: She was part of the Devil Riders, but left after Butcher Rose's ascension to power. Juno never expresses longing for her time in her old gang and remains firmly on the side of Vestige throughout the entirety of Bounty of Blood.
- Trapped in Villainy: Defied. Despite the people of Vestige, including Deputy Titus, deeply resenting her Juno never once thinks about giving up or returning to the Devil Riders.
Titus
Voiced by: Daman Mills
The deputy sheriff of Vestige.- A Boy and His X: A Bellik, named Bella, that he found injured near Vestige before the campaign. They became friends before the Sheriff deemed her too dangerous and forced Titu to let her back into the wild. After the Sheriff's death, Titus hires the Vault Hunter to bring her back.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: He has a very soft spot for Bella and cried like a baby when he had to leave it behind in Obisidian Forest, as Oletta remember.
- Butt-Monkey: Titus gets put through a fair amount of shit in Bounty of Blood: the Sheriff dies and hands over his star to Juno (whom he hates), he gets captured by Devil Riders, roughed up, and is forced to follow Juno's orders but they eventually get on friendly terms.
- Character Development: It takes him the entire DLC to see Juno for the hero that she is, and they do eventually establish a friendly rapport with each other.
- Hot-Blooded: Just listen to him when he fights.
- Hidden Depths: Your first encounter makes him seem like an arrogant jerk who's a bit full of himself. The next time you meet him, however, he's genuinely upset that the Sheriff was killed; while he's not happy about Juno being named Sheriff, he knows the Devil Riders' plans take higher priority, and reins in his disgust until the crisis has passed.
- Miles Gloriosus: Subverted and downplayed. At first Titus is portrayed as a loudmouth whose mouth is faster than his guns and when the Devil Riders attack Vestige the first time it seems Titus just legged it, but you find out he was actually captured. After breaking him out of his prison he fights besides you only backing off when you're about to storm a huge Devil Rider stronghold with the implication he doesn't want to bite more than he can chew and that he wants to have words with Juno. Later in the story Titus takes part in Juno's posse in the final assault against the Devil Riders and never shows any sign of cowardice when he's fighting alongside you.
- Number Two: He's the deputy sheriff of Vestige. And continues to be even after the Sheriff's death and Juno's "promotion", which he deeply resents. Until the very end of the story, that is.
- The Resenter: Titus dislikes Juno for getting the sheriff job instead of him despite being a former Devil Rider.
- Percussive Pickpocket: He steals something from a Devil Rider that allows you to use coresplodders. Except Titus didn't bump into him, the guy was basically torturing him when he stole it.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After getting the news the Sheriff was killed by the Devil Riders he decides he'll stick around and kill some of them until you reach Ashfall Peaks' Bathhouse.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He does not like nor trusts Juno at all and isn't quiet about it.
- You Talk Too Much!: One ECHO Log has the Sheriff thinking that Titus can become a great lawman one day... and then musing to himself: "if his mouth doesn't get him killed first, that is."
Kormash
Clean Kill
Voiced by: Greg Dulcie
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The coresplodders Kormash uses to try kill you can be used to deal heavy damage to him.
- Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: He says he'll fight you according to the "Devil Rider code". Said code probably doesn't mean he won't call for a lot of backup.
- Mirror Boss: Kormash can use coresplodders the same way player can and they're pretty painful.
- Power Tattoo: Sports fancy tattoos that glow. Sato's Saga mentions said tattoos have core in them.
- Serial Escalation: How the Vault Hunters piss him off enough to make him open the door to him (and Butcher Rose): First they burn all the shit they stole, then they wreck the bathhouse hot water pipes, and when that fails they just decide to burn the whole place down. Kormash wisely concedes and allows the Vault Hunters further in.
Rancher Margot
A devilsaur rancher that the Vault Hunter assists in the Blast Plains.
- An Arm and a Leg: She's down a leg when you meet her, thanks to her prized devilsaur Daisy. She's not too sore about it, apart from idly remarking that she's got to save up for a bionic replacement now.
- Damsel in Distress: Sort of. She's a civilian, and your first mission involves saving her from some Devil Riders who have her under siege at her ranch.
- Easily Forgiven: If she's got any grudges against Daisy for eating one of her legs, you wouldn't know.
- Fetch Quest: The second mission you get from her involves collecting a couple dozen eggs, about 15 devilsaur teeth, and several canisters of milk from her prize devil, Daisy. Thankfully, all of these are close by.
- Fluffy the Terrible: No, not her. Her prize devilsaur, Daisy, on the other hand...
- Nice Gal: Unlike a few of the other quest-related NPCs in the Blast Plains, she's as good-natured as they come. Her follow-up mission involves just helping her out around the farm, and she makes sure to let you know she's grateful for your time.
- Older Than They Look: Despite the narrator referring to her as an "old rancher", she doesn't look any older than her forties, tops.
- Shout-Out: Her second quest given is called "Saurdew Valley" and has you going around doing some farm work for Margot so she can save up money and buy a cybernetic prosthetic leg.
Doc Stanely
Voiced by: Francis Henry
A peddler of miracle medicines who serves as the main focus of a sidequest in the BlastPlains.- Affably Evil: A swindler and an ally of the Devil Riders? Undeniable. But he doesn't drop his friendly mannerisms, even when you turn down his offer... or when trying to kill you.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Top hat, groomed mustache, profession as a Snake Oil Salesman, tries to buy you off before attacking you... yep, he ticks off many of the boxes.
- Evil Counterpart: To Dr. Zed and Nurse Nina, who are respectively a Mad Scientist Back-Alley Doctor and a Battleaxe Nurse but still are more of a help than a hindrance. Doc Stanley is a pure Snake Oil Salesman who's more trouble than he's worth. For bonus points, he has a handlebar mustache just like Dr. Zed's Evil Twin Dr. Ned.
- Honest John's Dealership: His advertisements claim his elixirs can cure just about anything. When you see one of them applied, the results are not pretty.
- Incendiary Exponent: What his "Miracle Elixir" really does. It's so lethal that Hina is able to repurpose and sell it as a grenade.
- Money Is Not Power: He claims to have never met a rival or dissatisfied customer he couldn't pay off. He's not met the Vault Hunter yet.
- Rhymes on a Dime: "If your ailment's chronic, try my tonic!"
- Snake Oil Salesman: Given the western theme of the DLC, it'd be a surprise if one didn't show up. He's shadier than most, considering he works with the Devil Riders.
- Wicked Cultured: He's got a posh, cultured accent to go with his swindling ways.
Stickly
Voiced by: Patrick McAlister
A gun-seller that the Vault Hunter encounters in a sidequest in the BlastPlains.- Bullying a Dragon: He not only cons the Vault Hunter into buying a shoddy firearm, but leaves them a message taunting them about it. That he Didn't Think This Through doesn't even remotely begin to cover what a mistake this is.
- Evil Counterpart: To Marcus, who while extremely unscrupulous himself seems to draw the line at outright scamming customers, while Stickly has no such scruples. He's also an evil-er counterpart to Doc Stanley, who is as shady a businessman as Stickly but is at least friendly, while Stickly is a Jerkass through and through.
- Fatal Flaw: His penchant for Evil Gloating when he thinks he's gotten away scot-free is what allows one of his other scam victims to point you towards his hideout.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears a pair of shades/goggles and is not a reputable salesman.
- Hate Sink: He scammed you out of your money, he's responsible for a fort of good people getting wiped out by the Devil Riders, he works with the Devil Riders, and his voice will make you want to punch him before the side quest is over.
- Honest John's Dealership: He promises "your new favorite weapon" in exchange for a pile of cash. What you get is... very much not your new favorite weapon. And you're not his only victim; you end up teaming up with another of his marks to bring him to justice.
- I Surrender, Suckers: When you catch up to him, he agrees to give you a refund. It's just a ruse for him to get to a fortified bunker while his buddies among the Devil Riders open fire on you.
- Joke Item: What he sells you. The Shoddy's flavor text says it all - "100% Fakobs!"
- Karma Houdini Warranty: An ECHO Log found in Fort Kickwater with him and General Marks implies the Vault Hunters and General Marks were far from being Stickly's first scam victims and he got away scot-free with everything... until the Vault Hunters came along.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Victim of his own shadiness. General Marks, another person he scammed, offers a solution to deal with his bunker: a freaking artillery cannon shell. He even pays you double of what Stickly owed you to sweeten the deal.
- Person as Verb: He crows to one of his scam victims that they "got Stickly-ed".
- Smug Snake: He's an oily-voiced jerk who loves to gloat when he's got the upper hand, but considering his latest mark is the Vault Hunter, he's in way over his head.
- Too Dumb to Live: As The Liar mentions during the mission featuring this sleazebag: crossing a Vault Hunter is a very, very, dumb idea. He not only rips them off with a shitty gun, he outright taunts them twice; once upon leaving them behind and another time when the Vault Hunters find him again when he hides inside a bunkered house. Stickly comes to realize of his mistake Dave-stylenote .Moze: (pissed) Oh no. You do NOT get to talk to me like that.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: You have to fall for his rather obvious scam to proceed the quest.
McSmugger
Voiced by: Rick Robertson
An older adventurer who's earned quite the reputation. The Vault Hunter can find his camp in Ashfall Peaks, and learn a little more about the man behind the legend.- But Thou Must!: When he tasks you with climbing the same mountain he once did in search of wisdom, you have no choice to Refuse the Call. He'll acknowledge this, wait a second or two, then craftily ask if you're ready now. This time, you can accept.
- Cool Old Guy: Cool enough to impress a Vault Hunter, even!
- Ice-Cream Koan: When asked for some cowboy wisdom, he remarks that "the first thing you need to know is that you don't know nothin'. It's time to unlearn what you don't know."
- Living Legend: The mission text describes him thus: "True wisdom comes from within, but the TRUEST wisdom comes from McSmugger".
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is his wisdom real, or just common sense with a bit of profound musing? Is the goddess statue encountered on the journey up the mountain for real, or did it contain a hidden radio? Was he a hologram all along, or did he truly Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence? We may never know.
- Passing the Torch: Once the Vault Hunter completes their journey up Mt. Maraboshi, the title of "wisest cowboy who ever lived" goes to them.
- Remember the New Guy?: Apparently, he's famous enough that seasoned Vault Hunters geek out about meeting him, but this is the first time he's ever been mentioned in the Borderlands universe. Even Digby Vermouth had some foreshadowing in the main game before showing up in The Handsome Jackpot!
Oletta
Wizened Wise Ass
Voiced by: Pam Dougherty
A former researcher for The Company who stayed behind on Gehenna when the rest of The Company abandoned the planet.- The Beastmaster: As shown with Bella, she seems to be able to communicate with Gehenna's fauna on some level. She just says it part of her charm.
- Don't Ask: What she says relation to her having a pair of Titus' pants.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She's Rose's grandmother, and they seem to have a neutral relationship.
- Mad Scientist: In terms of her weird biological experiments, though less in demeanor.
- Mind Control: Helps create something out of "mind gnats" that allow players to control enemies for a short time if they hit a plant called "Traitorweed".
- Mrs. Robinson: An echo log reveals her trying to seduce Titus. Possibly why she might have two pairs of his pants.
- The Remnant: Former employee of The Company. She's the one responsible for the theory that one could tame The Ruiner too.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She stayed behind when The Company left Gehenna and had studies that led Butcher Rose to believe she could control The Ruiner and thus, causing the biggest conflict in the plot.
The Ruiner
- Attack Its Weak Point: The glowing spikes atop of its shell.
- Battle Trophy: After killing it, the beast's head serves as a replacement for Vestige's lost stone. Or really, it's just put back where we first saw it.
- Bioweapon Beast: A product of the Company's experiments.
- Breath Weapon: It either chucks massives boulders made of Core rolling your way, or a laser beam across the field that will tear you a new one if you don't duck.
- The Dreaded: What little of it is known by the populace of Gehenna strikes fear in the bravest of hearts and with good reason.
- Fantastic Nuke: Its hatching is accompanied by a green mushroom cloud that sends fire across the sky.
- Final Boss: The last thing you fight in the Bounty of Blood DLC.
- Kaiju: It's as big as the Vault Guardians the Eridians created.
- Meaningful Name: It's as destructive as it names implies. Butcher Rose's awakening rains down ruin across Crater's Edge region, which includes Vestige.
- Rare Random Drop: The Ruiner has a chance to drop the Bloomnote .
- Red Herring: Savvy players might think this thing is another Eridian monster left behind and that the Company found a vault in Gehenna... Nope. It's just a freaking huge bioweapon the Company didn't wake and left behind because they at least had a modicum of sanity and knew they wouldn't be able to control something so big and destructive.
- That's No Moon: The big green rock that the Devil Riders steal in Vestige? That was this thing's egg.
Psycho Krieg & the Fantastic Fustercluck
P.A.T
A sentient Tediore Gun that the Vault Hunters assist after completing the Crimson Castle. He enlists their help in retrieving both ammo and his creators' schematics from nearby bandits.
- BFG: Thanks to the VH, he becomes one. Though because he only ate three bullets he still needs their help in getting rid of the bandits in his way.
- Magikarp Power: He starts out as a regular sized Tediore SMG, then after eating through three giant bullets he becomes bigger than the Vault Hunter and is able to blow a hole through a concrete wall. Unfortunately, he's still useless in combat since he only has two bullets after that.
- Robo Speak: Speaks in an incredibly artificial monotone, to the point where saying "Thank you" five times in a row is a protocol.
Evil Vault Hunters
Evil Brick: Hulking Genius / Evil Mordecai: Skinny Idiot / Evil Lilith: Scary Fire Lady
- Anthropomorphic Personification: They're representations of his insecurity around the Vault Hunters.
- The Beastmaster: Like his real-world counterpart, Evil Mordecai will summon a bird.
- Butt-Monkey: Just look at Evil Mordecai's intro tag. And it shows, he's an absolute moron.Mordecai: Is this guy really what Krieg thinks of me? Man. If I were a little more insecure, I'd be offended.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: They all take an absurd degree of damage and unless the player has an endgame-build they'll be shooting long enough to be at risk of running out of ammo.
- Dark Is Evil: All three of them are colored in a dark shade of purple and nothing else.
- Dual Boss: Brick and Mordecai both face you at the same time.
- Evil Is Bigger: Brick is noticeably a few feet taller than regular Brick; this also applies to Lilith. Brick changes back to regular size after defeating him. It also reflects how Krieg feels "small" to them.
- False Friend: Insane Krieg thinks that they only pretended to accept him while the Sane half of him remembers that they legitimately accepted him as one of their own.
- Flanderization: Due to being representations of Krieg's insecurities, their traits have been exaggerated in his mind. Their traits suggest Krieg was too scared to learn more about them and how he felt stupid whenever he was around them. He also villainized them in his head so he can make it easier for himself to hate them back.
- Evil Mordecai mimics birds and his low intelligence means he's a "birdbrain"; since Krieg didn't speak to him that often, Mordecai and Talon were fused together in his mind. This is shown when Mordecai asked where Talon was, indicating Krieg never knew Talon as an individual and didn't speak to Mordecai after Bloodwing's death.
- Evil Brick's random words are in reference to his use of catchphrases; it's also revealed that Brick didn't fully understand Krieg's dialect and phrasing, something Krieg misinterpreted as Brick looking down on him for being stupid.
- Evil Lilith's callousness reflects her leadership and how Krieg believed the real Lilith only saw him as their most expendable soldier. Good-Lilith also says that Krieg imagined her with an ankle tattoo, something she never had in real life. Evil Lilith also had pyrokinectic powers, reflecting her title as "The Firehawk".
- Genius Bruiser: For whatever reason only Krieg knows, Evil Brick makes use of a sophisticated vocabulary. In Krieg's mind, Brick was valued more because he was smarter than him despite their similar melee strategies.
- Heel–Face Turn: After defeating them, Evil Brick and Mordecai stick around back in the Psychoscape along with their good counterparts and the good version of Lilith. The same presumably cannot be said of Evil Lilith, who isn't present and whom Good Lilith regards as an asshole.
- Jerkass: They all taunt Krieg and regard him as a disposable Attack Animal, especially Evil Lilith. Evil Brick and Mordecai change their tune and live in the Psychoscape after you beat them. But based on a remark from Good Lilith, Evil Lilith didn't join them presumably because she's that much of an asshole.
- Laughably Evil: Averted with Lilith, who's played straight as a representation of the revulsion that Insane Krieg imagines the Crimson Raiders have of him. Brick and Mordecai, on the other hand, are portrayed respectively as a haughty, sophisticated brute and a joking idiot.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Evil Brick will just spout complex words randomly since that's what Krieg thinks smart people does.
- Teleport Spam: Evil Mordecai fights from atop multiple high mounts around the arena, and will teleport from one to another after taking too much damage.
- Voice of the Legion: Each one of them speaks in a reverbing tone.
Locomöbius
Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, choo choo!
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Represents Krieg's fear of losing Maya.
- Attack Its Weak Point: You can damage it further by attacking its rainbow-glowing engines underneath it.
- Car Fu: And it's the car. Or train. Throughout the level and in its boss fight, Locomöbius frequently teleports in certain areas near your position to try and run you over.
- Fisher King: The sky turns dark once it appears to kidnap Maya. Immediately after killing it, the sky turns back to normal and stays this way whenever you revisit Sapphire's run. (Though the train still teleports around to try and kill you.)
- It Can Think: To the Vault Hunter's exasperation, it has a lair. It also purposefully spams portals near them in an attempt to run them down and stops to drop off Bandits to fight them.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: It uses the various train tracks scattered around Saphire's run (and sometimes even makes its own) to come roaring out of nowhere and try to run you over.
- Sentient Vehicle: It is, as Sane Krieg puts it, an "angry anthropomorphic brain train".
- Stealth Pun / Visual Pun: It's a train-based entity in Krieg's Mind that basically kidnaps Maya and forces the Kriegs and the Vault Hunter to chase after it. It's a literal runaway train of thought. Which you derail after its boss fight.
- Thinking Up Portals: It creates portals in front of it to travel, using it to either escape or to run over the Vault Hunter in an instant.
- Trainstopping: Kind of. It's less "stop it before it can run off the tracks/crash" and more "stop it before it takes Maya away forever".
Dr. Benedict
The Needleman
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Represents Krieg's Despair Event Horizon, trauma and fracturing of his psyche.
- Black Eyes of Crazy: He has darkened scleroses in both of his eyes.
- The Dreaded: Both of the Kriegs fear him, and the insane one was reluctant to go relieve that memory.
- Climax Boss: He's the final boss you must face before venturing into Vaulthalla.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has two large, stitched up scars across his head, similar to Frankenstein.
- Mad Scientist: No other way to go about it.
- Karmic Death: Got killed by Psycho Krieg in the past as revenge for what he did to him and the other test subjects.
- Knight of Cerebus: Even the worst villains of the series have their (albeit twisted) moments of humor. There is very little, if anything resembling levity from him and the level that introduces him takes a turn for the disturbing in comparison to the others. He is on par with the Olmsteads for this trope. Justified, as he is the Anthropomorphic Personification of the worst things to ever happen to Krieg.
- Posthumous Character: He's long dead by the time the player learns about him, but the horrific experiments he put Krieg through still have an effect on him to this day.
- Sadist: If the Evil Laugh right before his boss fight in the Psychoscape is anything to go by, he seems to take a truly disturbing amount of pleasure in torturing his test subjects.
- The Sociopath: Over the course of the level, he is heard making announcements of his scientific results, i.e the horrible things he's been doing to his test subjects in detail in an eerily indifferent, analytic tone.
- Would Hurt a Child: In one of his announcements he wonders why all psychos seem to manifest the same split personality. He suggests testing the berserker gas on what he calls "a homogenous sample group." His proposal? An elementary school.
Psychoreaver
Psychoreaver: Hate springs eternal
HATE!!!
The Guardian of Vaulthalla, and the unending hatred of all Psychos, including Krieg.- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He's already about 50 feet tall when you first face him. And he becomes as big as a mountain in the second half of the fight.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Rage. Both Krieg's and every Psycho there is. He's first heard screaming the word "Hate" atop of his lungs, and Sane Krieg feels a burning amount of rage just by being near him.
- As Long as There Is Evil: Despite his defeat, Krieg speculates that that wasn't the last he'll see of him but now he believes that he is capable of fighting back against it.
- Ax-Crazy: As his killing of the Badass Psycho in his intro tells you, even his fellow psychos aren't safe from him.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: At first, it seems that you're fighting a Badass Psycho, only for his flail to crush it.
- Epic Flail: It looks to be a metal cage chained to the handle of a buzzsaw axe.
- Final Boss: In "Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck".
- Humanoid Abomination: He's an utterly massive brick wall of a Psycho with a tiny shaped head, but moreover he's the source of the psychological compulsion towards violence that every Psycho has.
- Javelin Thrower: Should the Vault Hunters jump to higher ground using the Jump Pads in Krieg's mind, Psychoreaver will respond by jumping up and throwing a spear at them emitting an electrical field that lasts for a few seconds. This prevents players from just camping on the platforms out of his reach.
- Mighty Glacier: Relatively, anyway. While he's kind of slow for his size and strength, he still walks just fast enough to keep up with players.
- Lightning Bruiser: Sometimes he'll break into a charging sprint to try and flatten you with a flail smash, though.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Upon killing him in his final form, Vaulthalla starts to collapse. Interestingly, there's no risk of actually dying during the escape sequence. Rather, it's a rush to loot as much as possible from the treasure room before time runs out, though even if you do run out of time you can still unlock a secret set of chests by shooting specific symbols scattered around the room.
- Loud of War / Light 'em Up: In his second phase, one of his attacks involves blasting a huge wave of light at you from his belt buckle/abdomen while an incredibly loud horn blares. It deals continuous damage and forces you to hide behind rubble to avoid being taken down.
- Pokémon Speak: Variant. The only words that come out of his mouth are things like "HATE!!!" and such, given that he's the personification of a Psycho's rage.
- Though, interestingly, he also namedrops "Lieberman" like this game's Psychos do, which does raise a few questions, especially because he claims to be Lieberman.
- The Power of Hate: He represents it, being the embodiment of a Psycho's rage and mania. It's so strong that Sane Krieg states he can feel extreme rage just by being at the entrance to his arena.
- Screaming Warrior: So loud that it's hard to hear what he's saying, especially when he gets bigger.
- Sequential Boss: He first starts out as an already fairly big titan of a Psycho. His second phase has him grow even huger, to the point he can only stand in place while trying to crush you.
- Stripperiffic: A male example. Compared to the Psychos whose rage he represents, while they at least wear pants, the Psychoreaver only has a small harness and loincloth on his torso and pelvis, respectfully. His giant body is almost completely on display as a result.
- Tiny-Headed Behemoth: His head is proportionally unusually small compared to the rest of his body, though it's more Rob Liefeld Heroic Build inaccurate proportions rather than freakishly pinheaded. Of course, since he's already a giant it's still an easy crit spot to hit.
- The Unintelligible: He's actually able to speak, but other than his bellow of "HATE" and "LIEBERMAN" nothing else he says sounds too audible.
