TheBorderlandsfranchise has a wide and varied cast of characters, accumulated across four mainline games and several DLCs and spinoffs. Many, like the Vault Hunters of each title, have fleshed out backstories, in-depth quest lines, and plenty of screen time. Of course, not every character gets the same level of attention, since it would be impossible to give every one of the hundreds of personalities that appear in the series a full story.
Still, some characters appear only briefly in theBorderlandsgames,showing up as a mere blip on screen but leaving a lasting impression in their wake.These characters deserve much more attention and love from the games, and should have had more screen time or more developed quests. These are the characters who we’ve fallen in love with, who deserved far more care from the story than they got.
10Bossanova The Musician Bandit
Appeared In Tales from the Borderlands
Bandits play an important role inBorderlands,serving as a way to push the story forward and giving players smaller boss enemies to face along their adventures. The Vault Hunters have taken down many bandits over the course of their multi-game journey, butone of the most memorable ones only appeared brieflyin the Telltale Games spinoff,Tales from the Borderlands.
Bossanova shows up inTalesbriefly, but his musical inclinations make him extremely memorable. The Bandit appears locked in combat withBL2Vault Hunter Zer0, and isalways accompanied by a thumping soundtrack by EDM artist Excision. His actual voice, it turns out later, is weak and wimpy, but he cranks up the booming bass on his voice through speakers to make him sound much more menacing. It’s a fun setup that would have been fun as a cameo in a mainlineBorderlandsgame.
9Spatula Khan, The Greatest (Ex-)Chef On Pandora
Appeared In Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC From Borderlands 2
Spatula Khan, as described by himself when he’s encountered by the Vault Hunters, is a"destroyer of men, and pleaser of tastebuds!“The ridiculous NPC shows up as a hidden character in theTiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon KeepDLC forBorderlands 2,and has a backstory befitting of a Tiny Tina tale.
The mighty Spatula Khan was once the greatest chef on Pandora, until the Weenie Emperor rose to power and took over the title with “his army of brown mustard and deceit.“Khan regales players with his tales of culinary conquests,from bringing down entire armies with a single soufflé to inventing the Mega-Sandwich. His spatula of war may be retired now, but there are so many more possibilities for this hilarious character’s story arc that it’s a shame he likely won’t show up again in the series, even if he wasn’t entirely canon to begin with.
8Nurse Nina Will Mend You Good
Appeared In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Since Vault Hunters face a lot of danger and potential harm on their missions, they need to know they have a reputable, excellent doctor at their backs to patch them up when the going gets tough. What they actually get is Dr. Zed. Thedubious no-longer-doctor Dr. Zed is a recurring characterwho first appeared in the originalBorderlandsand continued to grace the series with his presence through his medical vending machines scattered throughout Pandora.
InBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel,Dr. Zed is replaced by the much more personable Nurse Nina, who might even have an actual medical license. The gruff but lovable nurse isnever seen again afterThe Pre-Sequel, despite being a fan favorite for hertough-love approach to medicine and accented broken English,which makes her all the more charming when she says things like “You skin very nice. Smooth. Leave to me in will.”
7Fiona Needs To Make It Into A Main BL Game
Appeared In Tales From The Borderlands
Fiona is a notorious con artist and one of the main protagonists inTales from the Borderlands,traveling alongside Rhys and being the tough companion the soft businessman needs.Fiona became a thief and grifter out of necessity,to get by and protect her sister, Sasha.
Fiona is apopular character for her quick thinking and strong (but realistic) personality,so although she was a protagonist in a game, she still deserves more screen time. The character would do well if she were thrown into the middle of the mayhem of a mainlineBorderlandsgame. It wouldn’t be unprecedented, either, since both Rhys and Vaughn from theTales fromseries make an appearance inBorderlands 3.
6Clay Is A Loyal And Intelligent Companion
Appears In Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3often receives criticism from fans who feel that a lot of the game’s characters weren’t very believable or well-written. Clayton is an ex-smuggler who works for the gun-manufacturing Jakobs corporation after the company took him under their wing. Regardless of how you feel about the game’s writing,Clay stands out as well-written and interesting,and would make a great returning character in the series.
The character is joked to be “dumber than Dirt” by his own mother, but is actually quite astute, and he’swilling to put his own life on the line to defend the people he cares about. Despite being a fairly serious character, he’s not without humor, like his mention that he learns something new from every person he kills. The result is a well-rounded and nuanced character who should get more screen time in the franchise.
5T.K. Baha Needs To Come Back To Life (Again)
Appeared In Borderlands And Borderlands 2
When Vault Hunters first meet T.K. Baha in the firstBorderlands,he’s living in a small shack near Fyrestone. Theblind, one-legged weapons inventordoesn’t make it through to the end of the first game as his house is (spoiler alert) raided by bandits and he’s killed. T.K.’s warm and friendly personality made him a fun addition, and his demise was a genuinely sad end to the character’s too-brief story arc.
Luckily,death is just a minor inconvenience for zombie T.K. Baha, who seems none the worse for wear when he reappears in a brand new location in the second game, even if he’s a little obsessed with brains the second time around. It would be a hilarious Easter egg to have the character pop up once again on a completely new planet inBorderlands 4,with no explanation for how he got there.
4Face McShooty Is One Of The Most Memorable Characters
Appeared In Borderlands 2
Many enemies and quests inBorderlandstake effort, skill, and a bit of luck to go up against. Face McShooty required none of those. All the Vault Hunters had to do when they encountered him was, well,shoot him in the face.He has no other requests or desires, no backstory, and he won’t accept being shot anywhere other than his face. Once you fulfill his request, Face McShooty thanks you, and the quest is complete. Easy.
I admit, I have no idea how Gearbox would go about bringing Face McShooty back into the game. But the character was so funny and memorablethat it would be a delight to find him again somewhere down the line in the franchise. He was taken from us too soon, but he left a long-lasting impression in our hearts (and on the ground behind him).
3Athena The Gladiator Should Have Been Brought Back For BL3
Appeared In The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC From Borderlands, And Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Athena the Gladiator may seem like she got a lot of screen time inBorderlands.The trained assassin made her debut inThe Secret Armory of General KnoxxDLCof the firstBorderlandsgame, then reappeared as one of the Vault Hunters inBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The character even made an appearance in bothTalesandNew Tales from the Borderlands,so you might think that theBorderlandsfandom has had enough of her.
However, the beloved character deserved even more time in the forefront of the games, or she should have at least made a comeback inBorderlands 3.At the end ofThe Pre-Sequel,it seems like Athena was meant to play a larger role in the franchise,so she was sorely missed whenBL3released, and she was nowhere to be found. Some fans hold out hope for Athenareappearing in the upcomingBorderlands 4,especially since the game seems to be revisiting characters and events from the very first game, but there’s no telling yet if she’ll ever be seen in the series again.
2Mal The Loader Bot Who Just Wants To Be A Real Boy
Loader Bots are robotic enemies primarily used by the Hyperion Corporation as the main soldiers in the company’s army. InBorderlands 2,loaders had no conscience and were easy and quick to manufactureby Handsome Jack, making them the ideal war tools for the megalomaniacal leader of Pandora.
One bot was the exception to the rule. InBL2,the Vault Hunters come across a bot named Mal, whoappears to have gained sentience. The character wants so badly to become a real human, going so far as to wear a bandit’s face and limbs and to make very human observations, such as:
“Hi! I’m human! I eat food, and desire things! I’m in credit card debt and have a wife for whom I feel nothing!”
The robot is a fun character who’s gone too soon when the Vault Hunters are forced to kill him because of his astute observation that in order to become a human, one must kill other humans.
1Grandma Flexington, Aka Torgue’s Grandmother
Appeared In The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler DLC For Borderlands 2
The incredible (and incredibly fit) Grandma Flexington is the instantly lovable grandmother of the explosive, mustachioed Torgue—full name Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington. WhileTorgue has become a staple of the franchise, showing up topeddle his powerful gunswhile speaking in all-caps and playing an air guitar solo throughout the games.
His grandmother, though, only pops up once in the Thanksgiving-themedBorderlands 2Headhunters DLC,The Horrible Hunger of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler. Grandma still has many stories to tell, and is incredibly quotable, cranking out gems like “So I let the whale go after giving it a punch in the eyeball so he’ll remember me” and “You’re even more attractive than Mister Torgue said you were.” S
he’s also awholesome part of Torgue’s background story,taking in little Mister Torgue after his parents' deaths. The fact that Grandma Flexington only shows up briefly in an add-on pack for aBorderlandsgame that isn’t even a full DLC is downright criminal.
