The COMPLETE Borderlands Timeline Explained

The Borderlands Timeline Explained

So, you want to hear another story, eh? One about treasure hunters, a corp-ling turned complete psychopath, and how it all turned into a blockbuster movie, spawning the next trillion-dollar cinematic universe for a tired IP! Well, that last part isn’t in this video. But if you are brand new to the “Borderlands” series and want to know what’s what before seeing the movie, well, have I got a story for you.

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Our story begins with the very first game in the “Borderlands” series, titled…erm, “Borderlands”, on the planet Pandora. A planet not too different from ours save for the bloodthirsty Psychos and vicious Skags running amok, the complete lack of government as it was overthrown by megacorporations, and everyone has a snarky and/or personality loaded with quips. While folks are living in shacks made of scrap or worn down buildings, the only aspect of life that has evolved and continued to thrive here are the guns. The big, beefy, badass guns! Pick your megacorporation to worship - Jakobs, DAHL, Torgue, Maliwan, Atlas, S&S Munitions, Eridian, Vladof, Tediore, or Hyperion, if you’re a high-roller. And every one of them produces some of the most powerful guns you can imagine. So long as you got a pepper sprayer from any of these guys, you should be okay wandering around Pandora…unless you’re a terrible shot, in which case, you may as well expose yourself in the middle of the Wasteland and let the Rakks eat you alive. It’ll save some bullets for whoever finds your carcass later.

But if you do have your wits about you, you may become another one of the legendary Vault Hunters, true badasses of the wasteland who hunt for Vault Keys. Where might these keys lead to? Well, Vaults, of course! And inside every Vault is a treasure trove of glorious guns capable of unimaginable powers and most importantly, a ton of cash! Okay, maybe it isn’t as magical as I’m making it sound, but when you stumble upon alien technology with no explanation as to how it works, the fairytale makes it sound better than “the Atlas corporation found the first one and word spread about Vaults on other planets”. Pandora’s Vault was the one everyone had their eye on first, yet none found any evidence of such a thing…because none of them have survived!

And that is where our heroes enter the fray. First, there’s Roland, a former soldier of the Crimson Lance, Atlas’s private military who will do absolutely anything to accomplish their mission (and I do mean anything). Then, we have the alluring Lilith, a resident of the planet Dionysus and one of the six mystical Sirens, women who wield untold abilities. We also have Mordecai, an expert sniper who can pop heads with even the shoddiest of rifles…with a little help from his trusty bird friend, Bloodwing, of course. And lastly, there’s Brick, a big, mean son of a gun who can solve almost any problem with a single punch. He isn’t opposed to using bullets, but his fists can get the job done just as quick. Guided by a mysterious woman known as “the Guardian Angel”, these four were destined to find Pandora’s long sought after, but long elusive Vault Key.

Mind you, this was no easy task even for a band such as this! Pandora has forever been home to the most vicious vermin you could encounter. Skags are no problem, but when you throw in freaks of nature like Rakks, Spiderants, and Bandits, well, Pandora clearly wants everyone dead. But after trudging through the Arid Badlands, Sledge, and Jaynistown, our heroes found what they were looking for: Pandora’s legendary Vault! What riches awaited them inside? Were they about to become as rich as Hyperion? Perhaps they’ll uncover a weapon so powerful it can destroy a planet? Or maybe some other harbinger of death?

Worse - it was a giant, tentacled beast! Upon defeating the Crimson Lance and attempting to unlock the Vault, our heroes had unknowingly unleashed a terrible monster known as “The Destroyer”! In the first years of the universe’s birth, an ancient race of beings called the Eridians discovered this monster and quickly learned it wielded enough power to decimate the universe. Before it could react, the Eridians imprisoned The Destroyer in a Vault the size of a planet, thus creating Pandora. The only way to open it was to get its Vault Key - that being its own moon, Elpis - to crash into Pandora. Other Vaults were created across the galaxy as well, some harboring other creatures while others hold rewards. For our Vault Hunters here, they had found the false Vault the Eridians created as a means to prevent others from freeing the true Destroyer. The fight was long and painful, but after suffering many slimy blows from its tentacles, The Destroyer was destroyed, and our heroes could finally claim their reward and put an end to Pandora’s myths. If only the journey had been worth the effort. How would you feel if you went to Hell and back just to find a blob of murderous tentacles and receive a pat on the back from your “Guardian Angel”? Our heroes disband, off to fulfill their own desires for the time being. But high above Pandora’s atmosphere, trouble brews within Hyperion, and the events that had just transpired were conducted by one man.

Meet Jack. Jack was a Hyperion executive who once had it all: fame within the company, a loving wife and daughter, and so much money he could buy anything he wanted simply on impulse. However, his daughter, Angel, was given a unique gift where she could take control of technology. While this power did reveal her as one of the six Sirens, it also painted a huge target on the family’s backs. One encounter with a group of bandits resulted in the death of Jack’s wife, which would cause Jack to harbor a deep resentment towards his own daughter. He had Angel encased in a Hyperion control core, allowing him to use her power to control communicators across Pandora. This included the communicators for Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick. Our heroes had indeed been tricked from the very beginning as Jack used Angel to get the Vault Hunters to unleash The Destroyer.

One would think the Destroyer’s defeat would mean Jack’s plan had come to an end, no? If only. No, this was all according to Jack’s plan. After our heroes left, Jack visited the site where the Destroyer died and took its eye back to Hyperion. With this, he could power up Hyperion’s weaponized satellite, The Eye of Helios, firing a blast so devastating it could wipe out entire cities. If there were no Bandits to worry about, who would be able to stop Jack from opening Pandora’s Vault himself?

To help him execute the rest of his plan, Jack hired four new Vault Hunters with their own sets of skills. He had Athena, a former Crimson Lance assassin who was formidable with a shield, Nisha, a notorious sharpshooter who defines the phrase “if looks could kill”, Wilhelm, a cybernetic super soldier who excels in robotics, and Claptrap, an annoying little robot who’s malware can either help or hinder his allies. An unlikely band of Vault Hunters, but a band nonetheless. Together, they would help Jack head to Pandora’s moon, Elpis, to take on the Lost Legion faction and retrieve the Destroyer’s Eye. Along the way, they would encounter a couple of familiar faces, Roland and Lilith, the same two Jack had tricked into opening the Destroyer’s Vault. So long as that information wasn’t exposed, all would be fine.

Alas, not everything goes according to plan. After hearing about Jack’s plan to destroy parts of Pandora, Roland and Lilith had the Destroyer’s eye crushed. Jack was left with no other option than to call for desperate measures. Turns out the Lost Legion were in possession of a Vault Key that could open Elpis’s Vault. After fighting their leader, the tyrannical Colonel Zarpedon, Jack and the Vault Hunters jumped at the chance to open the Vault. What they weren’t expecting was another titanic monster. The Vault Hunters spent every bullet they had fighting the Empyrean Sentinel, every elemental ability they had at their disposal to bring down the mystical entity. And at long last, the deed was done. Another target neutralized, another Vault raided, and another chance for Jack to activate The Eye of Helios using the Sentinel’s remains. However, Lilith quickly ambushed the team, destroyed the Sentinel’s remains, and scarred Jack in the process.

His wife long deceased, his daughter a living weapon, and his plans foiled twice, Jack snaps. He proceeds down a warpath where he conducts a hostile takeover of Hyperion by killing the President and attempting to scatter and erase the megacorporation’s technological secrets. Claptrap was shot and thrown into an arctic desert. Now begins a new reign within Hyperion, one led by the man now known as “Handsome Jack”. With Wilhelm’s assistance, Jack seized control over much of Pandora, taking down any and all who dared stand in his way. To keep tabs on all communicators, he began pumping Angel’s body with a substance dubbed “Eridium”, expanding her powers and giving Jack almost total surveillance over the planet. In other words, Handsome Jack was in almost complete control over Pandora. The only settlement left brave enough to stand up to Jack is the little town called Sanctuary, a home for rebels led by Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick.

The next step in Jack’s plan was born from his final moments on Elpis. While holding the artifact left behind by the Sentinel, Jack saw intense visions of another dormant entity waiting to escape its Vault, a creature named “The Warrior”. After the Destroyer’s imprisonment and the birth of the Vaults, the Eridians found themselves at odd’s ends with each other. Some believed the imprisonment was the best solution while other Eridians believed they should have killed it when they had the chance. To further prevent the Destroyer from breaking free, the Eridians created The Warrior, which would forever serve as a protective guardian for Pandora. But they didn’t anticipate a crazed egomaniac to exploit its power. Jack saw The Warrior as another opportunity to execute his plan, and he lured a new group of Vault Hunters to Pandora.

Taking the token soldier position was Axton, an ex-sergeant for DAHL’s military and always kept a deadly turret close to him. Then, there was Maya, the third of the six Sirens who could lock targets into stasis and even use their pain to heal herself and others. Next was Salvador, a local Pandorian who once served the Crimson Raiders before becoming a Vault Hunter, excited by the thrills of a good gunfight that could come from the job. And lastly, there was the mysterious Zero, an assassin who was much more about action than words and had mastered the ability to cloak himself in order to take out enemies without them ever knowing he was there.

With all the pieces in place, Jack could sit back and watch his master plan unfold before his eyes, that is until the people of Sanctuary entered the picture. Unsure of their ambitions, Roland and Lilith fought hard to win the new Vault Hunters to their side. Doing so not only meant more rebels, but another major step forward in bringing down Handsome Jack. Joining them would be Tiny Tina, a mischievous child with a love for explosives, and Patricia Tannis, an archaeologist who studies the effects Eridium has on subjects and uses the Vault Dwellers’ expeditions to further her research. In their efforts to stop Handsome Jack, casualties were suffered. Jack abducts Bloodwing, and subjects her to extreme slag mutation, forcing Mordecai and the Vault Hunters to kill her. During the assault on the Control Core imprisoning Angel, Roland sacrifices himself to buy the Vault Hunters time to destroy the core’s shields. Angel also succumbs to the core’s destruction.

After a few more trials and tribulations, the Vault Dwellers and Handsome Jack face off within the Warrior’s Vault. Surrounded by lava and taking on two separate enemies at the same time, the Vault Hunters exhausted every bullet until one party fell. It isn’t long until Hyperion’s leader was at death’s door. One lengthy monologue later, Handsome Jack was dead. Although, some monsters are hard to kill.

With Jack gone, Hyperion begins going through some…corporate restructure. One employee named Rhys has long dreamed of becoming a high-ranking officer within the megacorporation and be as big of a legend as Handsome Jack. Unfortunately, a possible promotion turns into an insulting demotion thanks to his jackass manager, Vasquez. Seeking revenge, Rhys infiltrates Vaughn’s computer, steals information on a high-value exchange involving a Vault Key, and heads to Pandora to do the deal posing as Vasquez. The deal almost expectedly goes awry as the dealers - August, Sasha, and Fiona - almost immediately deduce that Rhys is not the person they were planning to meet. One daring escape (and some more screw-ups later), Rhys discovers an ID drive and plugs it into his head. He soon finds out that the ID drive he has plugged into his brain is the same one holding the digitized conscience of the one and only, Handsome Jack.

During the events of Jack’s initial plans with the Destroyer’s eye, he had once tasked one of Hyperion’s top scientists, Professor Nakayama, to create a digital construct of himself in case he were to die. Nakayama seemed to have succeeded in preserving the psychopath in some form, even if only the ID drive’s user can see Jack.

With Hyperion’s former leader now in his head, Rhys and company soon uncover secrets surrounding some of Atlas’s highly confidential (and oftentimes, failed) experiments. Among these was something called the “Gortys Project”. This turns out to be an adorable little robot with the capability of turning into a colossal mech and the ability to locate hidden Vaults with holographic maps. This kind of information alone has made Gortys a high-priority target between bandits, Hyperion, and of course, Atlas. Thankfully, with the help of Fiona, Sasha, Vaughn, and a probably defective Loaderbot, Gortys made it out a-okay.

Meanwhile, Rhys is struggling to tolerate Handsome Jack messing with his head. The man he once revered as a hero has shown his true colors as an unpredictable, manipulative, psycho. Jack has been berating him for making moral decisions instead of backstabbing his friends for the sake of Hyperion. Ultimately, it takes Rhys to be on the verge of death to finally put an end to things. Jack begins infecting Rhys’s mind, forcing him to tear his own cybernetic parts off. Luckily, Rhys finds the will to take back control of his body and manages to tear out Jack’s ID drive from his head.

With Handsome Jack having pulled most of the strings (if not all) since the very first game, it’s hard to believe the story does not end there. And yet, we still got a game like “Borderlands 3” which…you can either take it or leave it. Regardless, we find ourselves in a setting where several years have passed since the events of “Borderlands 2” where Jack tried to unleash The Warrior and the events of “Tales From the Borderlands” where Rhys learns the unfortunate lesson in never meeting your heroes.

“Borderlands 3” is almost a completely new slate of characters. Lilith, who has lost her Siren powers, has now opened up a new legion of Crimson Raiders and recruited four new Vault Hunters to join her cause. Zane fills the “Mr. Call of Duty” role here and specializes in spawning drones and cloning himself. Moze is a reckless gunner who can summon a mech to spray the area with bullets. Amara is yet another Siren, but can spawn additional arms for increased melee damage. And then, you have FL4K, or “Flak”, a hunter who can cloak and call upon various wild animals to aid him in a fight. These four are given a new threat to face: a cult known as The Children of the Vault, and they are more annoying than you can possibly imagine.

The Children of the Vault was started after the events of “Borderlands 2” by a brother and sister known as The Calypso Twins. Together, Tyreen and Troy Calypso would go out and commit grisly acts across Pandora, streaming their dark deeds to every ECHOnet communicator on the planet. Their following grew to such an insane number that the twins managed to start their own weapon manufacturing under the cult’s name. Not only that, but both Troy and Tyreen boast Siren powers of their own. The two became so massive that it effectively drove the Crimson Raiders off of Pandora. What exactly do they promise that the bandits and vagabonds are seeing in them? “Eridium-tier memberships”? Live events?

No, they were simply using their influence to accelerate their plan to open The Great Vault, aka Pandora itself. By the time Lilith and the Vault Hunters infiltrated the Children of the Vault’s main base, it was too late. Troy had already initiated the Great Vault’s opening. Lilith and the Vault Hunters take him down as Tyreen makes her escape. It isn’t long until the group gets in contact with Typhon DeLeon, the very first Vault Hunter who ever lived, who warns them about the Destroyer’s power. Coincidentally, the Eridians left behind yet another backup plan in case the Destroyer was to break free: a machine that could be powered up by four Vault Keys. Tyreen soon gets in touch with the Vault Hunters and reveals that Typhon was her and Troy’s father, and she nearly kills him before escaping to Pandora, preparing for her final stand against the Vault Hunters. Despite their efforts and Lilith getting her powers back from a now-dead Tyreen, nothing has managed to stop Elpis from colliding with Pandora. Suddenly, Lilith has one idea, one final method in stopping the madness. Lilith uses her powers to fly towards Elpis, sacrificing herself while leaving a massive Firehawk sigil engraved across the moon. If you’ve been keeping track of who’s still alive, Brick and Mordecai are now the only surviving Vault Hunters from the original game.

And that is pretty much everything you need to know about the events of “Borderlands” from start to finish! Yes, there is “New Tales From the Borderlands”, but there hasn’t been any confirmation as to whether that game is canon or not. It was also such a dumpster fire of a game that much of the fanbase refuses to acknowledge its existence. Besides, consider this your primer for the “Borderlands” movie as well as “Borderlands 4” for whenever that decides to come out.

But which game in the franchise is your favorite? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!