Spoiler-Talk: Borderlands 2's death and dark humor

In Spoiler-Talk, we take a no-holds-barred look at some of the biggest games and discuss what the future holds for these franchises. Expect many, many spoilers. This time, we look at Borderlands 2.

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In Spoiler-Talk, we take a no-holds-barred look at some of the biggest games and discuss what the future holds for these franchises. Expect many, many spoilers.

The original Borderlands had a lot of things going for it, but plot wasn't one of them. Its sequel was almost universally praised for upping the ante in this respect, creating a richer world with clever writing. The dark humor was punctuated by real emotional stakes. We've already talked to lead writer Anthony Burch about how he used death to make the plot carry more weight. A look back at the game's story shows it had a pretty high body count that escalated, as if daring itself to go further with each one.

Bloodwing gets bloodied

It's a classic rule of blockbuster writing. You can kill the villain, the sidekick, even the hero if the story calls for it -- but you don't kill the family dog. Borderlands 2 promptly broke that rule when Mordecai's bird Bloodwing was captured and turned into a deadly beast by Handsome Jack, forcing you to kill it. Mordecai fortunately he saved his anger for Jack himself, and those who loved Bloodwing in the first game had the first gut-punch of an important character death. And yet, we still had plenty yet to come.

The Angel revealed (and subsequently killed)

Angel's betrayal was unsurprising, but her reasons became more complex as we learned about her sordid past. She was more than just an AI construct or figment of your imagination. She was a living person, a Siren, and Handsome Jack's daughter. The chief villain had taken his own child and locked her away from the rest of the world, using her Siren powers to his own ends.

Her actual appearance was far different from the impression that had been projected into the Vault Hunters' minds, creating an unsettling moment of revelation. When she finally met the Vault Hunters face-to-face, she wanted to make amends for causing so much trouble the only way she could: by requesting you kill her. It was the only way to assure Jack could no longer abuse her power. Amid the anguished screams of her father, the Vault Hunters killed the narrative device that had been guiding them through the last two games, and Jack turned from a darkly humorous bad guy to a father out for revenge.

Roland feels Jack's wrath

If Angel's death didn’t pack enough punch, the one that followed almost immediately after certainly did. Roland was the de facto leader of the first generation of Vault Hunters, and the new bunch by extension. That means we probably should have seen his death coming, but it still came as a surprise to those who played as the Soldier class in the first game. When attempting to retrieve the Vault Key after Angel died, Jack shot Roland dead. He was buried and mourned by the remaining Vault Hunters.

Six Sirens

One of the earliest reveals was so subtle you might have missed it, but it carries potential for the future of the franchise. Before you arrived, Handsome Jack was searching for a Siren, and killed anyone dumb enough to bring him cheap imitations. He made an offhanded remark that only six of them can exist in the universe at once. The game doesn’t give justification for this number, but it doesn't question it either. So far we know of three, each with different powers: Lillith, Maya, and Angel. As far as we know, Sirens are exclusively female.

Anthony Burch told us that Sirens are the Borderlands version of "magic," which gives them tools to use in the future. But it also raises questions. When Angel died, was another Siren born somewhere in the universe? What about the other three Sirens? Why can only six exist at a time? The game hasn't committed to exploring these ideas, but if Burch and his crew ever feel inclined to explore more mystical aspects of the Borderlands universe, the book has been left open.

The Other Vaults

A game like Borderlands has to leave room for a sequel, and Borderlands 2 ended on a tease so large it could facilitate several more. Several hundred more. Lillith's attempts to destroy the Vault Key at the end of the game inadvertently opened a map of the galaxy. And since the goal of every Borderlands game is to obtain loot, wouldn't you know that the map showed the location of hundreds of other vaults. The game ended on a cheeky "here we go again" note, implying that the next Borderlands might not take place on Pandora at all.

Face McShooty

Surely, everything rests on him now.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 6, 2013 12:15 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Spoiler-Talk: Borderlands 2's death and dark humor.

    In Spoiler-Talk, we take a no-holds-barred look at some of the biggest games and discuss what the future holds for these franchises. Expect many, many spoilers. This time, we look at Borderlands 2.

    • reply
      February 6, 2013 12:31 PM

      The Roland death was pretty much pointless/ineffective.

      Sure he's their leader, and I'd played as him in BL1, but it was just mehtastic. I think partially because of the disconnect between gameplay and cutscene that so many games fall into. You can survive bullets, explosions, fire and all sorts of crazy shit, but if you get shot in a cutscene you inexplicably die.

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        February 6, 2013 12:35 PM

        It's particularly egregious when there's an in-universe respawn mechanic. "Yeah, normally important people respawn at one of these convenient respawn stations. But not this time. Because of reasons."

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          February 6, 2013 3:30 PM

          I think the "in-universe respawn mechanic" serves more as a source of witty dialogue than an immersive device.

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          February 7, 2013 2:38 AM

          If I had to guess, Handsome Jack deleted the genetic info from that particular respawn station, meanwhile the others got to port to safety.

          Either that, or he used anti-spawn bullets. Yeah.

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        February 7, 2013 7:42 AM

        Heh. Head over to the BL2 subreddit. There's a whole write-up about how you can't use the respawners after you have children.

    • reply
      February 6, 2013 12:33 PM

      This is a really great idea for a column that surely will not get fucked up by the lack of front pagers ability to spoiler tag

    • reply
      February 6, 2013 12:36 PM

      when that ending happend my first thought was "Borderlands MMO"... i say yes please.

      constant vaults uncovered, raid beasts to hunt, new unique weapons to find, random events, PVP underdome, wave of enemy battles... the content could literally be done indefinate and since farming for new and rarer loot is the real point to borderlands i think they should do it...

      either way; i'm totally happy with the second installement and i'm not even anxiously awaiting 3, cuz i still have more shit to loot and a level cap coming... excellent.

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        February 6, 2013 12:40 PM

        [deleted]

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        February 6, 2013 1:46 PM

        My only worry is that if they do a Borderlands MMO it'll ruin it with all the lame MMO tropes that plague every single MMO to the point of being not fun.

        What I wouldn't mind is if they did a Guild Wars 1 formatted game (sort of MMOish), where anytime you go adventuring it's still instanced, but towns are full of players and different areas have different caps for group size.

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        February 7, 2013 2:40 AM

        Interesting point! With all of the lvl cap increase outrage people are already acting like it's an MMO.

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      February 6, 2013 12:39 PM

      There were some problems with the plot. Like...

      Why wasn't Roland resurrected? Since Hyperion controls the machines, if they are able to block someone from using them, then why didn't Jack shut if off for the player after successfully tricking them into compromising Santuary's Shield?

      Why didn't Angel also inform the players playing as Maya to stay out of her chamber, since she's a Siren too?

      Once Jack had captured Lilith, why didn't he destroy Sanctuary?

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        February 6, 2013 3:28 PM

        1. The respawners don't fit in the universe cleanly at all, its a gameplay caveat. No one anywhere ever mentions they exist or that they can use them, other than the taunting recorded messages directly to player.

        2. Gameplay/tech constraints. I can't think of a single instance the dialogue is any different based on your class.

        3. He didn't want to destroy it. He wanted to control it, and be worshipped by it's residents, and kill anyone who refused to do that.

        In short, though the story was fun and interesting, this isn't the kind of game you should pick apart for plausibility and consistency. Who's really gonna come with a backstory for Shooty McFace?

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          February 6, 2013 4:18 PM

          They could have cleaned up some of the holes with slightly different dialog. Like Jack saying that he was able to remove Roland from the respawners because he had managed to get a DNA sample or the paperwork finally went through and that he had started the process for the player, but it was probably going to take months due to bureaucracy.

          The Lilith/Maya thing could have just been Angel warning against any Siren entering her chamber.

          Jack tried to destroy Sanctuary... so I'm not sure where you got the control/worship thing from.

          I'm not going to nitpick over plausibility , but consistency should be achievable.

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            February 7, 2013 2:56 AM

            Angel made it so the protags were hard coded into the network; however, the original 4 were already out at that point.

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      February 6, 2013 9:52 PM

      We know of FOUR sirens.

      In Borderlands 1, there was Commandant Steele and Lilith. (Steele dead)
      In Borderlands 2, there's Angel, Maya, Lilith (Angel dead).

      So at the conclusion there's only two left of the original four. Does that mean there's only two more "adult" left?

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