The Entire Borderlands Story Explained

Before the series even properly begins, there are several mysteries to address. The Borderlands series has given us some clues as to the dealings of the ancient alien race known as the Eridians, though little is known about their culture or even really what they may have looked like. In the early days of the planet Pandora, the Eridians mastered using ancient ore (dubbed Eridium by the scientists of future generations) to construct incredible buildings and power fascinating technology. They also created the Vaults, giant tombs that eventually gave birth to legends of untold riches and immeasurable power.

No one knows exactly what led to the death of the Eridian people, but they left behind Guardians, techno-organic creations that were possibly modeled after their own appearance, to guard the Vaults from intruders. Some of their technology was eventually found and reverse-engineered by the Atlas corporation, who made weapons from Eridian tech and eventually became a major commercial superpower in the galaxy. Though the Eridians are long gone, their influence is still felt. Over the years, the myths of the Vaults led to the rise of fortune seekers known as Vault Hunters.

After finally securing the scattered pieces of the Vault Key, the Vault Hunters still had to fight their way through the bloodthirsty forces of Atlas, who also wanted to get their hands on the Vault and its secrets. Along the way, the Vault Hunters also ran afoul of the Guardians of the Vault. Clearly, the Eridians never wanted this particular Vault to be disturbed.

Upon finally opening it, our heroes were very dismayed to find that it contained not riches or an energy source, but rather a Lovecraftian beast called the Destroyer. Following a grueling battle, the Destroyer fell and the Vault was resealed. Following this violent confrontation, the Guardian Angel reveals that she knew about the Destroyer's existence all along, which put her motives more in question than ever before. 

While this monstrous battle brought the first Borderlands to a close and would be enough of a shock to put anyone off of seeking out the rest of the Vaults, it only emboldened some other, more nefarious parties. Soon, Pandora would know the name of Handsome Jack.

Through the combined efforts of the whole team, Jack managed to mass produce an army of robots and wrestle control of Helios away from the Lost Legion. However, there was little time for celebration. Fearing that Jack was beginning to go mad with power, Lilith and her friends found and destroyed Jack's secret weapon, a cannon created from the remains of the Destroyer called the Eye of Helios. 

This did little to deter Jack from his main goal, however. Upon entering the Vault on Elpis, Jack and his mercenaries were attacked by a being called the Sentinel. Following the death of the Sentinel, Jack found a relic that showed him a vision of an even greater power: the Vault of the Warrior. At that moment, Lilith appeared and destroyed the relic, an act that left Jack disfigured.

Now almost completely out of his mind, wearing a mask and calling himself Handsome Jack, he murdered the CEO of Hyperion and took over the company. With a renewed and darker sense of purpose, Jack began a misinformation campaign that branded Lilith and her allies as criminals, even taking credit for killing the Destroyer.

After Jack showed how ruthless he really was by killing multiple innocents in his attack on Sanctuary and the Crimson Raiders, Angel decided she could no longer aid him in his schemes. She led the Vault Hunters to the facility where she was being held, where they discovered that Angel was a Siren. Not only that, but Jack had been using her powers to charge the Vault Key with enough energy to open the new Vault, a process that put Angel through constant, excruciating pain. 

After a prolonged battle against Jack's security systems, Angel was freed from the machine that Jack had kept her in. She then begged the Vault Hunters to kill her and free her from Jack's control. The Vault Hunters reluctantly put Angel out of her misery. This prompted Handsome Jack to teleport into the facility and murder Roland in retaliation. Declaring that he'd charge his Vault Key one way or another, Jack kidnapped Lilith. Following this heavy loss, the Vault Hunters retreated to Sanctuary to regroup and plan one last attack on Jack and his forces.

Following the death of Handsome Jack, Hyperion attempted to resume business as usual. This is where the story picked up in Tales from the Borderlands, where players were introduced to a lowly Hyperion worker with delusions of grandeur (sound familiar?) named Rhys, who uses his cybernetic implants to see through treacherous situations. After getting passed over for a promotion that was rightfully his, Rhys formulates a plan to use Hyperion assets to purchase a rumored Vault Key on Pandora. 

Unfortunately for Rhys and his friend Vaughn, the Vault Key was a phony; the whole thing was a con orchestrated by two criminals, Fiona and her sister Sasha. The double-cross got even more complicated when a group of bandits busted the deal up and made off with Rhys' money, prompting Rhys and Fiona to team up in order to get it back. While uploading a program to his neural network that he hoped would help him find the lost money, Rhys was shocked to discover that he had, in fact, uploaded an AI copy of Handsome Jack right into his own brain. Not his finest plan.

The epilogue of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel brought us back to the days following Jack's defeat and Rhys' disappearance. After the destruction of Helios and the fall of the Warrior and the Traveler, the Crimson Raiders managed to capture Athena, who had returned to her life as a bounty hunter in the badlands. Athena told them her side of the story and explained her involvement with Handsome Jack's rise to power, revealing that Jack seemingly began his quest with good intentions, but that he ultimately went mad with power. Lilith, still reeling from the death of Roland, ordered her men to execute Athena, much to the shock of her fellow Vault Hunters, who begged her to reconsider.

Though the Crimson Raiders opened fire on Athena, she was saved at the last moment by the mysterious Watcher, who appeared to be an advanced form of the Guardians and has been theorized to be the last living Eridian. The Watcher explained to them that they shouldn't be fighting amongst themselves. Instead, it warned that they needed to gather all of the help they could get their hands on, because "war is coming."

Borderlands 3 introduces us to four Vault Hunters who seek adventure: Amara, Moze, Zane, and FL4K. They answer Lilith's call to join the Crimson Raiders, which still hunts for the Pandora Vault Key. Meanwhile, bad guys Troy and Tyreen Calypso want to open what's called the Great Vault so they can absorb its guardian and become the most powerful beings in the universe. This motivation comes from grand stories their father would tell them about the various powerful Vaults around the galaxy. Before leaving Pandora, Tyreen takes Lilith's Siren abilities, rendering the Firehawk powerless.

Tyreen's plan includes sucking the energy from various Vault Guardians, so she heads to Promethea, the home planet of Atlas corporation. The Vault Hunters rendezvous with the new Atlas CEO, Rhys from Tales from the Borderlands, and aim to open the Vault before Tyreen. Along the way, they make a detour to pick up Maya and the Vault Key.

Our heroes open Promethea's Vault first, and they slay the Vault Guardian. However, the Calypso twins ambush them, and Tyreen still takes the power of the fallen beast. At the same time, Troy steals Maya's Siren powers, killing her in the process.

The Vault Hunters kill Troy, but it's too late. The Destroyer, the Great Vault's guardian, has been awakened. Turns out, Pandora itself is the Great Vault, with its moon, Elpis, being the Key. With Pandora opening, Typhon DeLeon, the first Vault Hunter, contacts the Crimson Raiders, telling them to come to Nekrotafeyo.

Home to the mysterious Eridians, Nekrotafeyo houses a machine that can seal Pandora. As our heroes gather the pieces to activate it, Typhon reveals he's the father of the Calypso twins, but he sees they've grown into monsters. With the help of Typhon and Tannis, the Vault Hunters almost activate the machine, but Tyreen foils their plan at the last minute. As the cherry on top, she murders her own father.

She returns to Pandora and fuses with The Destroyer, achieving the godhood she craved. However, the Crimson Raiders band together to defeat her, at which point Lilith regains her Siren powers. Unfortunately, they find that Elpis is on a crash course to Pandora. As her final action, Lilith sacrifices herself to keep Elpis in place. The moon becomes emblazoned with her crest, lighting the way for future Vault Hunters.