History Fridge / BorderlandsThePreSequel

* The Meriff's revolver only being able to fire 2 shots when he tries to shoot Jack in the back seems odd, except the first game actually did have revolvers (usually high-damage Jakobs revolvers) that only hold 2 bullets. If he had been using a Scav pistol, or even a Jakobs that held 6 rounds, [[ForWantOfANail it's likely]] the entirety of ''Borderlands 2'' [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot could have been avoided]].

* Moxxi threatens to have you killed if you tell anyone else she used to be a Hodunk after you stumble upon her in her mechanic outfit and not talking in her usual accent. While this [[DisproportionateRetribution seems pretty excessive at first]], keep in mind basically everyone hates bandits (including [[Characters/BorderlandsHodunkAndZafordClans the Hodunks]]), and considers them AcceptableTargets. If they find out she used to be a bandit they could well have her executed.

* During the mission where you have to rescue three scientists in Helios R&D, there are several indications that Gladstone is right and there is a traitor: it's the third scientist you visit. The third is working on stealth technology, and the Lost Legion scouts that you've been encountering on Helios are ''already equipped'' with that exact technology that hasn't been released for Hyperion's own soldiers. He also wears a jetpack just like the Lost Legion soldiers equip. And lastly, but definitely more important, while the other two scientists send you on minor errands in areas that are incidentally dangerous, the third scientist's seemingly minor errand leads you directly into an encounter with a miniboss Stalker - an enemy significantly more powerful then anything else you've encountered in this area. He gives you no warning of the miniboss until it's right on top of you, but it's clear that he knows exactly what you're walking into - he claims that it's the stalker that ate his keycard and so would already be aware that it was hiding in his workspace. Furthermore, its name indicates it's an experiment he was working on, so he's likely aware of its abilities and resilience as well. Doubles as brilliance on a meta level, as the attempted betrayal is disguised as the end-of-dungeon boss to the player. Thus, Jack's airlock murdering was at least 1/3 justified.

* Back in the second game, Handsome Jack screaming at Angel that ''"All the bandits I've killed, all the people I've manipulated, all of it was to protect you!"'' comes off as a desperate father trying to convince his daughter to not commit suicide... but as ''The Pre-Sequel'' shows, no, that's ''all'' one big lie. Everything he's done over the course of ''Borderlands 2'' was just to get revenge on Lilith, Roland, and Moxxi for trying to stop him in the first place. He's just a desperate, lying bastard during the course of the whole game.
* Why does Lilith have such a psychotic overreaction to Athena [[NotSoDifferentRemark stating they're not so different]]? It's because Lilith betrayed Jack and destroyed his face. Which causes his RoaringRampageOfRevenge/War with the Crimson Raiders/Bloody takeover of Pandora. Lilith's feeling guilty she caused so much damage and is projecting on Athena.
* Why did the Hyperion Board of Directors choose to make Handsome Jack their CEO and sign over their shares? ''Borderlands 2'' leaves that inexplicable, implying possible threats. Here, however, Jack saves Helios Station/Elpis and personally defeats an army with almost no resources. [[{{Irony}} He must look like a big hero.]] Tassiter is the only one who knows how much of that was luck, the Vault Hunters in Jack's employ, and criminal behavior, and by the end of ''TPS'' [[HeKnowsTooMuch he gets killed by Jack]].

* The Guardian Sentinel is sort of a strange final boss to the game, not having much to do with the main plot which was resolved after the death of Colonel Zarpedon. It's also an emotionless, mechanical, and un-characterized creature with no personal connection to the players. Then, after you finish, you realize that [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain the main villain of the game is Jack]] and [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom you]] just helped him come into existence.
* Captain Chef is PlayedForLaughs, being a pseudo-19th century British explorer in the 56th century. However, most of his comments relate to how the natives (Elpian space-travelers) should be grateful for the fact he's coming to civilize them by claiming their world. Also, that they are silly for objecting to being killed with "superior advanced weaponry." [[HarsherInHindsight The thing is, this summarizes Jack's worldview.]]

* During the mission where you have to rescue three scientists in Helios R&D, there are several indications that Gladstone is right and there is a traitor; it's the third scientist you visit. The third is working on stealth technology, and it's difficult to miss that the Lost Legion scouts that you've been encountering on Helios are ''already equipped'' with that exact technology that hasn't been released for Hyperion's own soldiers. When the other two scientists send you on minor errands in areas that are incidentally dangerous, the third scientist's seemingly minor errand leads you directly into an encounter with a miniboss Stalker - an enemy significantly more powerful then anything else you've encountered in this area. He gives you no warning of the miniboss until it's right on top of you, but it's clear that he knows exactly what you're walking into - he claims that it's the stalker that ate his keycard and so would already be aware that it was hiding in his workspace. Furthermore, its name indicates it's an experiment he was working on, so he's likely aware of its abilities and resilience as well. Doubles as brilliance on a meta level, as the attempted betrayal is disguised as the end-of-dungeon boss to the player. Thus, Jack's airlock murdering was at least 1/3 justified.
** Also, look at what he's wearing. It's a jetpack just like the Lost Legion soldiers equip.
* All the ''TPS'' Vault Hunters get a good look at how Handsome Jack [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves rewards traitors]] while [[BadBoss considering the people underneath him]] [[WeHaveReserves expendable]]. ''All of them'' betray Jack by helping Tassiter gather information about his activities. It makes you wonder how much Jack knew since he ends up betraying half of them in the end. Becomes a KarmicDeath for Wilhelm given his betrayal of Felicity, with Claptrap getting equally stomped on. Nisha dies for reasons not directly related to Jack. Lady Aurelia bit the dust in the end, [[VideoGame/Borderlands3 but it took longer]]. As for Athena, she gets away without consequence; appropriately, this is because she was the only one whose betrayal of Jack by helping Tassiter wasn't for selfish reasons but to protect her remaining family. Finally, Timothy simply had no choice.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', why was Hyperion so desperate to get the WaveMotionGun that TK Baha designed? The Eye of Helios turned out to be a WMG controlled by the Eye of the Destroyer, which was soon destroyed by Moxxi, Roland and Lilith. That gun is the best shot for recreating a weapon on par with the Eye, this time without needing an EldritchAbomination's eye.
* Jack seems to have a limited supply of Constructors available throughout ''Borderlands 2''. He only ever throws a couple at a time at the Vault Hunters when several dozen such units working in unison might overwhelm the Vault Hunters. This game actually gives a hint as to why; because it takes a couple of days to fully copy the AI that runs each Constructor, which are in effect a stripped-down Felicity. This forces a bottleneck on how many Constructors Jack can actually have active at any time, exacerbated by the fact that the Vault Hunters keep blowing them up.

* Given that Hammerlock was the one that introduced the Threshers to Pandora during the events of this game, this means that Terramorphous the Invincible is actually only about 5 years old due to the timeskip between ''Borderlands 1'' and ''2'' being roughly 5 years.

* One of the first things Jack does upon becoming Hyperion's CEO is set every [=CL4P-TP=] unit to self-destruct, followed by shooting the [=FR4G-TP=] himself. Fast-forward to ''Borderlands 2'', where we're told Jack sacked New Haven with hardly any effort at all, leaving the Vault Hunters and their allies from ''Borderlands 1'' scrambling to evacuate to Sanctuary. Go back and play ''Borderlands 1''. What do you see maintaining and operating the gates and serving as lookouts around all civilized areas? [=CL4P-TP=] units. They may have been buggy, quirky, and annoying, but Claptraps were an essential part of the security systems for anyone trying to maintain civilization on Pandora. Without them, there's no security or advance warning of threats.

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands2 Borderlands 2]]'' - '''''Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!''''' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TinyTinasWonderlands Tiny Tina's Wonderlands]]''-]]]]]

* Moxxi threatens to have you killed if you tell anyone else she used to be a Hodunk after you stumble upon her in her mechanic outfit and not talking in her usual accent. While this [[DisproportionateRetribution seems pretty excessive at first]], keep in mind basically everyone hates bandits (including the Hodunks), and considers them AcceptableTargets. If they find out she used to be a bandit they could well have her executed.

* One sidequest in Crisis Scar, "The Empty Billabong", seems like run-of-the-mill Borderlands insanity, until you finish the game. Jolly Swagman's ECHO describes a "giant empty billabong, with purple lights shooting out of it, and the silent prayers of an ancient people ringing in its depths", one can just attribute this to his usual crazy self as described by Peepot, seeing as it makes absolutely no sense. That is until you get to Tycho's Ribs and its deepest level, Eleseer. It's ''exactly'' as Jolly Swagman described it; giant empty location with purple lights and the silent prayers of an ancient people ringing within. Clever foreshadowing hidden in drunken shenanigans and humour, typical ''Borderlands''.

* In one sidequest on Helios, Jack has you collect ECHO's regarding you and the other Vault Hunters, saying that he doesn't want the Lost Legion to find them and take vengeance on you once this is all over. But when you listen to them, there's nothing really incriminating in them besides your names, which the Legion probably already knew. The ''real'' reason he needed them was because Angel's in them, and he was trying to keep her secret.
* Notice how Moxxi doesn't use any sexual innuendos when she's manipulating Jack and his team into destroying the Eye of Helios. The only time she drops those is when she's being deadly serious and needs to focus.

** Claptrap was convinced that Jack was planning to destroy him in ''2'', when he was really just targeting the Vault Hunters on Pandora. Since Claptrap is a former Vault Hunter and Jack already tried to kill him once (as seen in the credits of ''The Pre-Sequel!''), it makes sense that Claptrap would think Jack would want to finish the job and that he's a target along with the other Vault Hunters. ''Claptastic Voyage'' takes it even further with how far Jack went to use the H-Source to destroy all Claptraps. He even personally gunned down Claptrap once his use finally ran out... the same treatment that all Vault Hunters get in ''2'' (i.e. the train being a trap for Vault Hunters, as seen in the intro for ''2'').

** His [=VAULTHUNTER.EXE=] ability is able to near-perfectly mimic the action skills of all the second-generation Vault Hunters (his version of [=Zer0=]'s [=Decepti0n=] is even superior to the original in that attacking doesn't cause him to uncloak)... except Maya the Siren's. Claptrap can't Phaselock, so he instead imitates Maya's Blight Phoenix kill-skill. This is in keeping with Sirens being absolutely unique in the ''Borderlands'' universe. As amazing as the technology built into Claptrap is, it can't mimic a Siren's primary ability because absolutely nothing in-universe can do so.

* Back in the second game, Handsome Jack screaming at Angel that "All the bandits I've killed, all the people I've manipulated, all of it was to protect you!" comes off as a desperate father trying to convince his daughter to not commit suicide... but as ''The Pre-Sequel'' shows, no, that's ''all'' one big lie. Everything he's done over the course of ''Borderlands 2'' was just to get revenge on Lilith, Roland, and Moxxi for trying to stop him in the first place. He's just a desperate, lying bastard during the course of the whole game.

* Why did the Hyperion Board of Directors choose to make Handsome Jack their CEO and sign over their shares? ''Borderlands 2'' leaves that inexplicable, implying possible threats. Here, however, Jack saves Helios Station/Elpis and personally defeats an army with almost no resources. [[{{Irony}} He must look like a big hero.]] Tassiter is the only one who knows how much of that was luck, the Vault Hunters in Jack's employ, and criminal behavior, and by the end of ''TPS'' he gets killed by Jack.
* Jack's character development now makes a great deal more sense with his AbusiveParents and FreudianExcuse working well with his later behavior. Jack was tortured by his grandmother growing up. Later Jack becomes devoted to having power and the approval he was denied. It also explains why betrayal stings him so bad as he overcompensates for his lack of early good relationships. Not to mention how he treats his ''own'' child.

* The Guardian Sentinel is sort of a strange final boss to the game, not having much to do with the main plot which was resolved after the death of Colonel Zarpedon. It's also an emotionless, mechanical, and un-characterized creature with no personal connection to the players. Then, after you finish, you realize the main villain of the game is Jack and you just helped him come into existence.

** And like Jack, Chef hires your character to do all the work, mowing down locals while he mostly stands there and provides commentary, then takes all the credit for himself.

* Wilhelm, Athena, Nisha, and Claptrap all get a good look at how Handsome Jack rewards traitors while considering the people underneath him expendable. ''All of them'' betray Jack by helping Tassiter gather information about his activities. It makes you wonder how much Jack knew since he ends up betraying half of them in the end. Becomes a KarmicDeath for Wilhelm given his betrayal of Felicity, with Claptrap getting equally stomped on. While Nisha dies for reasons not directly related to Jack, Athena gets away without consequence; appropriately, this is because she was the only one whose betrayal of Jack by helping Tassiter wasn't for selfish reasons but to protect her remaining family.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', why was Hyperion so desperate to get the WaveMotionGun that TK Baha designed? The Eye of Helios turned out to be a WMG controlled by the Eye of the Destroyer, which was soon destroyed by Moxxi, Roland and Lilith. That gun is the best shot for recreating a weapon on par with the Eye, this time without needing an eldritch abomination's eye.

** According to Moxxi, the real Jack, beneath his veneer of heroism and selflessness, is a complete psychopath. The course of the game is the gradual descent of Jack, showing how he reacts when presented with dark choices and ugly decisions. We see his willingness to kill and deface the memory of his enemies after they die, his willingness to sacrifice his own loyal employees because of a vague threat to himself, and his overwhelming greed, which comes to dominate him as you get closer and closer to the Vault (and incidentally, made him completely disregard Zarpedon's warnings about the Vaults). And at the very end, after Lilith scars him, we finally see the real man underneath it all. It's rather ironic that at the very moment we see the ''real'' Handsome Jack, previously hidden beneath the metaphorical mask of heroism, he's put on his physical mask to hide his scars.
** It's also rather telling that Nisha is completely uninterested in Jack while he's acting like a hero. She has no interest in the mask. But as his facade is torn away piece by piece, she becomes gradually more attracted to him, until she fully falls for the psychopath underneath it all. It's the point where Jack puts on his physical mask and completely discards all shreds of his heroic tendencies that she truly loves him and helps him in his rise to power (although she doesn't share his grand vision.)

* Is it any wonder that Claptrap / Fragtrap is the undisputed master of [[LameComeback low-effort comebacks]] through [[ComebackMechanic Second Winds?]]

** Alternately, for added horrible, the contents of the raided camp include a teddy bear and a small camp bed, rather implying, as does the Lindsey Chamberlain reference, that the person killed was actually Janey's daughter. Try not to think of how an attractive lesbian living in a remote area surrounded by bandits might wind up pregnant... So yeah, added horrible.

* The various Claptraps we meet: Hal Claptrap, Dalek Claptrap, Shodan Claptrap, Police Claptrap, the Claptrap who opens Jack's office, R2-D2 Claptrap, and all the others are all destroyed by Handsome Jack upon his rise to power. This is especially egregious as many of them assist him in his rise to power. Jack's reasons for doing so? He can't stand their quirky personalities, and one or two of them ''mildly'' inconvenienced him a couple times. Not only that, but all of the Vault Hunters in ''The Pre-Sequel!'' (including Claptrap the [=FR4G-TP=]) were directly responsible for Jack being able to wipe out the Claptraps by retrieving the H-Source. Athena herself is utterly and completely disgusted by this revelation.
* By the end of the adventure, you realize Roland, Moxxi, and Lilith's failure to kill Jack followed by a second subsequent attempt resulted in the CEO of Hyperion becoming obsessed with destroying them. They managed to destroy the Eye of Helios and keep most of the Eridian's knowledge out of his head, but still ended up helping him become the most powerful man on Pandora. They may not be responsible for turning him into a monster since Moxxi implies he always was one but they were responsible for turning his wrath toward Pandora itself.