In this war-torn galaxy, these inhabitants have proven themselves worthy of the title of Badass through their audacity and cleverness.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
- "Mad" Moxxi is a brilliant, promiscuous entrepreneur and a recurring ally of the Vault Hunters who balances her ruthless streak with a pleasant demeanor and non-stop innuendos. Moxxi's quests throughout the series generally involve you following her directions to accomplish whatever goals either party desires. Moxxi's most prominent feat is working alongside "Handsome" Jack and his crew to take back Helios in order to save Elpis, while secretly planning to kill Jack to stop his escalating megalomania, nearly succeeding when she tricks him into blowing up the Eye of the Destroyer. Still sore over Jack burning down her beloved Underdome bloodsport arena, when Mr. Torgue hosts a bloody tournament to find the ultimate badass on Pandora, Moxxi acts as the player's manager and co-commentates the matches, only to blackmail Torgue at the very end into giving her the keys to his arena. Eventually deciding she wants to scrub Jack out of her life forever, Moxxi leads a heist on the Handsome Jackpot casino, taking over and freeing its trapped denizens.
- Original game: Taylor Kobb shows himself to be unusually clever by Bandit standards. Plotting to overtake a town ruled over by his brother, he tasks the Vault Hunters with killing him, convincing them that Jaynis is worse than he actually is and to not tell Helena Pierce about his plan. Successfully overtaking the town after the assassination, he lures the Hunters into an ambush and, anticipating their survival, upgrades the town into a deadly fortress to combat them, himself fighting them with a Fire rocket launcher and two rocket turrets.
- Borderlands 2
- Zer0 is the most feared and cunning assassin in the galaxy who chose to become a Vault Hunter to find ever great challenges to test his skills. A devious combatant, Zer0 opens combat by unleashing pin point headshots on his targets before closing in to massacre his foes with his blue edged black katana, all the while controlling the battlefield by using a decoy to confound his foes and line up the perfect shot or backstab. Utterly mysterious in his iconic full body black suit, Zer0 chooses to communicate only through haiku, even in the midst of battle, or through emoticons that reveal his emotions to his allies. After saving the life of Hyperion worker Rhys, Zer0 becomes his most valuable operative when he takes control of the Atlas Corporation and Zer0 performs acts of espionage, sabotage, and assassination on Maliwan when they launch an invasion.
- Ellie is the daughter of "Mad" Moxxi and combines her mother's wicked intellect and cunning with bloodlust and engineering skills that surpass even her brother Scooter. Proudly obese and highly flirtatious, Ellie is first introduced crushing a hapless bandit in her scrapyard and aids the Vault Hunters in creating a perfect transport to infiltrate an enemy stronghold. She later masterminds the reigniting of the bloody feud between the Hodunk and Zaford clans and ensures the conflict escalates until both families are decimated, partly for personal vengeance and mostly for the fun of it. After giving a proper send off to her late brother, Ellie replaces him as the Crimson Raiders' chief engineer and single handedly builds the Raiders a massive starship from local scrap and provides her new allies versatile and deadly vehicles to wage war on the Calypso Twins and their Children of the Vault.
- The Pre-Sequel!
- Colonel Tungsteena Zarpedon is the "Commander of the Lost Legion", and the head of the assault on Helios. After her men corner Jack and his Vault Hunters, forcing the latter to flee to Elpis, Zarpedon monitors their movements and attempts to sabotage their efforts to stop her at every opportunity, all the while showing them utmost respect and offering to help them leave Elpis should they no longer wish to fight. Zarpedon is a valorous woman who earned the love and respect of her soldiers, to the point where they will follow her cause even after she's killed, and her ultimate goal—to destroy Elpis with the Eye of Helios—is purely to prevent a worse fate from befalling the universe at large.
- 5H4D0W-TP, aka "Shadowtrap", is the manifestation of Claptrap's Vault Hunter.EXE program who seeks to take vengeance on everyone who's wronged Claptrap. Taking advantage of the Vault Hunters not taking him seriously, he helps them retrieve the H-Source before convincing them to release him from his prison, making off with the stolen H-Source into Claptrap's Subconscious, at one point disguising as Claptrap himself to trick them into giving him Claptrap's Hope and Self-Esteem, using them to escape further into his Subconscious. Seemingly beaten by the Vault Hunters when cornered, he tricks them once again into giving him the H-Source by disguising as "Handsome" Jack and engages them in one last brutal fight. Even after being defeated, he sacrifices himself to save Claptrap from dying, thus ensuring Jack's downfall.
- Tales from the Borderlands: Vallory is the "Queenpin", an affable, cheery mistress of crime on Pandora who functions as a major player in the hunt for the Vault of the Traveler. When her son August loses millions in cash while trying to buy a Vault Key, Vallory steps in and traps the entire group who swindled him, mincing threats with signs of respect towards the leader, Fiona, while gleaming as much information about the Vault of the Traveler from her as possible. When the Vault Hunter Athena saves the group, Vallory hires Brick and Mordecai to take her out of the picture, then interrogates and forces Fiona and Rhys to work with August in infiltrating Helios and opening the Vault. Lacking in the typical psychopathy or absurd levels of greed showcased by most on Pandora, Vallory actually sacrifices the Vault treasure to work with Fiona in banishing the "Traveler" monster once the Vault is open, showcasing how resourceful and reasonable Vallory is in a cast of scumbags and self-serving cowards.
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands:
- The Dragon Lord is the menacing yet oddly casual overlord terrorizing the Wonderlands. Originally Tina's own player character, the Dragon Lord has built up extreme resentment towards her for using him as the main villain for her campaigns, and resolves to take fate into his own hands. In a fine moment that not even Tina herself saw coming, the Dragon Lord waits for the Fatemaker to reclaim the Sword of Souls, only to steal it, chop off the head of his nemesis Queen Butt Stallion, and retreat to his lair, intending to use the sword to free himself from Tina's control, while doing what he can to halt the Fatemaker as they advance towards his lair. The Dragon Lord is ultimately defeated in the battle for the Wonderlands, turning over a new leaf when the Fatemaker spares him and guiding them through a series of challenges to help them grow stronger.
- Zygaxis is a Daemon that, after the Fatemaker Kills his host in self defense, hires them to recover an incantation containing his true name so that he can find a new host. Locating a coven containing said name, he has the Fatemaker commit various acts of evil so that he can posses them and infiltrate the coven, reluctantly allowing them to commit more harmless crimes as they're just evil enough. Successfully infiltrating the coven, he has the Fatemaker kill the members and read his name, and then chooses a prisoner to posses as his new host, settling on a willing host. He then rewards the Fatemaker and leaves, remaining legitimately friendly towards them all throughout.
