Return to Pride on Pandora: All the LGBTQ characters in Borderlands
The secret is out! Borderlands 4 was revealed last night at Gamescom Opening Night Live and set the internet alight with hype. The Borderlands franchise has grown rapidly over the last 15 years and is one of the most diverse games franchises out there with numerous LGBTQ characters authentically represented throughout the series.
Five years ago, just before Borderlands 3 was released, I wrote the article Pride on Pandora which looked at the line up of LGBTQ characters from the first four games (BL1, BL2, Pre-Sequel & Tales from the Borderlands). Fast forward and we’ve got three more games to add to the list with new LGBTQ characters and also development of existing characters to discuss.
Gearbox has proven to be one of the main studios leading the way on diversity and representation in its game cast, not only of LGBTQ people, but of people from all backgrounds. This cool blog from 2013 by Head Writer, Anthony Burch, is worth a read to understand Gearbox’s philosophy from the early days.
So, join me on our Return to Pride on Pandora for a look through all the LGBTQ characters across the Borderlands franchise:
Athena
First appearing as an NPC in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC for the original Borderlands, Athena is a trained assassin who became a vault hunter which we see in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel where she is a playable character.
After opening the vault in the Pre-Sequel, Athena moved to Hollow Point with her girlfriend Janey Springs.
We see more of their lives together in Tales from the Borderlands where she is show still living in Hollow Point with Janey, reportedly retired as a bounty hunter. Depending on player choices, Athena is working at a Skag Grill in Prosperity Junction when she is recruited to come out of retirement. If the player also chooses Janey and told her that Athena loved her, then the two will reveal they are getting married.
Axton
Axton is the playable Commando class character in Borderlands 2 who is bisexual. Axton spent ten years with the Dahl military force, reaching the rank of sergeant. After his pursuit of personal glory and disregard for orders led to numerous compromised missions, his wife and commanding officer Sarah simultaneously divorced him and discharged him from the military.
Axton wasn’t initially meant to be bisexual. There was a coding error whereby when Axton is reviving other injured characters, he says some very bi-curious dialogue. Character-specific revival dialogue was originally written so Axton would say to Maya “whoa – do you, uh, work out?”, however the developers never implemented the character specific code, so this meant that there was a chance that Axton would compliment a fallen male comrade on his physique.
Fans noticed this and liked it, so when the team was writing the Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC, they inserted more overt lines to confirm that Axton was definitely bisexual.
FL4K
FL4K is the playable Beastmaster class in Borderlands 3. They are a murder-obsessed robot with a set of pets including a Spiderant, Jabber and Skag who also identifies as non-binary.
FL4K refers to themselves by using they/them pronouns as well as stating that they are “neither man nor woman”. While it’s easy to read into this that they are an AI robot, therefore they wouldn’t define their gender, it’s worth noting that FL4K is on a journey of discovery which is an allegory for people finding their true identity. In addition, Sam Winkler, Borderlands 3’s co-writer, confirmed that FL4K uses they/them pronouns, and that the decision was intentional.
Janey Springs
Janey Springs is a supporting character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Tales from the Borderlands. She runs a junk dealing business on Elpis, called “Springs’ Emporium O Stuff”, located in the city of Concordia. She also writes children’s books in her free time, which are inspired by events happening around her.
Janey is established early on as a lesbian when she regularly tries to hit on Moxxi and Athena, with the latter eventually becoming her girlfriend. This is confirmed in a conversation where Athena implies that she “hit that” (referring to Janey) by giving a high five to Tiny Tina.
Lor
We first meet Lor on Promethea in Borderlands 3 where they are an NPC working at a coffee shop. This potty-mouthed coffee addict with a British accent went by the name of Lorelei and was voiced by trans actor Ciarán Strange. When the evil Maliwan launched its assault on the planet alongside the ongoing threat from the Children of the Vault, he joined up with Atlas in the battle to overcome them both – in doing so, he had to put off his plans of physically transitioning, but was still a proud trans man.
A year later, we meet up with him again in New Tales from the Borderlands. We get to see he has finally transitioned and is now going by the name “Lor”. Lor has returned to his first love, coffee, and has opened up his own coffee shop. Lor is once again voiced by Ciarán Strange and the character won Best LGBTQ Character at the 2023 Gayming Awards.
LeChance
LeChance is a boss from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. The skeletal pirate can be reached by progressing the main story towards the end of the quest Ballad of Bones. The questline reveals LeChance as gay and the story sees him search for, and later rescuing, his gay skeleton pirate boyfriend.
Mad Moxxi
Mad Moxxi has appeared throughout the whole Borderlands franchise and is an NPC mission provider along with exposition dumper. Moxxi pulls no punches when talking about her sex life and has little modesty! She reveals that she has had numerous sexual partners of both sexes.
We see Moxxi show interest in Lilith in the Underdome Riot DLC, calling her “delicious”; she claims that Maya gives her a “ladyboner”; and talked about dating Motor Momma before the cannibalism issue saw them (rightly) break up. She is also known for her many ex-husbands, including Handsome Jack and Marcus Kincaid.
Maya
Maya is a playable character from Borderlands 2 and is the Siren class for that game, she also reappears in Borderlands 3 as an NPC. Maya was raised by the Order of the Impending Storm after they determined that she was a Siren. Her Siren abilites were developed in secrecy until she was an adult and it was then that she began to express an interest in visiting Pandora.
In the games there are hints that Maya is asexual where she says she knows nothing about romance, and the primary writer of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Anthony Burch, confirmed this.
Mr. Torgue
Mr. Torgue High-Five Flexington is the eponymous NPC of ‘Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage’, the second DLC for Borderlands 2, and the founder of the weapon manufacturer Torgue.
Mr. Torgue features in his eponymous DLC in voice only but is also featured in the Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep DLC in person. It is during this DLC where he is confirmed to be bisexual.
Paladin Mike
Paladin Mike is an NPC from Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and is the head of the Diamond Guard, Queen Butt Stallion’s elite defenders. He’s a transmasc hero which matches his real life Borderlands character, Lor. Given the nature of the game, Borderlands characters play as new characters within this game and therefore Paladin Mike accurately matches his ‘real-world’ equivalent and is voiced again by Ciarán Strange.
Rose & Gabby
During the ‘Recruitment Drive’ mission in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a character named Rose from The Concordia People’s Front talks about her ex Gabby.
“Corporations are sooo out of control and should be taught a lesson! My ex, Gabby — I mentioned her before — wrote Atlas a letter once, complaining about the lack of responsibly sourced vegan food outlets in town, but she tore it up before she sent it… nerves.”
Sir Hammerlock
Sir Alistair Hammerlock is an NPC in Borderlands 2. He is a hunter who dresses in a ragged, futuristic version of a Victorian adventurer’s outfit. He becomes a central figure in the third campaign DLC, Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, where he guides the Vault Hunters through their adventures on the continent of Aegrus.
During a side quest in the main Borderlands 2 game that involves finding Sir Hammerlock’s ex-boyfriend Taggart’s audio logs on hunting for use in his almanac.
Sir Hammerlock returns in Borderlands 3 as a supporting character as the love interest of Wainwright Jakobs, heir to the Jakobs Firearms Corporation. The two characters then take centre stage in the DLC Guns, Love and Tentacles which focussed on their marriage. The DLC is one of the most authentic representations on same sex marriage in a game, showing vulnerability and true love for each other, while engaging in a variety of Borderlands-esque violent missions. The DLC was nominated for the Best LGBTQ Narrative and Best LGBTQ Character Awards at the 2021 Gayming Awards.
Timothy Lawrence
We meet Timothy Lawrence, aka Not Handsome Jack, in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, as Handsome Jack’s body double and lookalike. We later meet him in Handsome Jackpot, a Borderlands 3 DLC, where we learn he has been held captive at The Handsome Jackpot casino ever since Handsome Jack’s defeat. During the DLC we learn about his bisexuality when he discusses his crush on Moxxi while also talking about sleeping with Trent, a man at The Handsome Jackpot.
Tiny Tina
Tiny Tina is one of the most (in)famous NPCs in the Borderlands franchise. We first meet her as an unstable thirteen-year-old explosives expert whose parents were sold to Hyperion to become test subjects for Jack’s slag mutation experiments, an event which led to the deaths of her parents.
In Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina confesses that she likes Maya and asks if she likes her in turn. Head Writer, Anthony Burch, is quoted as saying that he “tried to make her sexuality [as a lesbian] more overt in the Torgue DLC but the higher ups made me delete the dialog concerning it.” He goes on to state that Gearbox’s CEO, Randy Pitchford, quickly regretted that decision.
This mistake was swiftly corrected in Borderlands 3 when we meet a mini-boss and member of the Children of the Vault, Sheega, who is revealed to be an ex-girlfriend of Tina’s.
Tiny Tina is voiced by Ashly Burch, the winner of the Gayming Icon Award from the 2023 Gayming Awards.
Zane Flynt
Zane Flynt is the playable Operative class character in Borderlands 3 who has been confirmed as being pansexual with hints of polyamory.
While Zane’s bisexuality is not explicitly addressed, there are hints and references throughout the game that suggest his openness to relationships with both men and women, as well as hints at polyamory. In various dialogues and interactions, Zane displays flirtatious behavior towards characters of different genders and discusses how he’s been married across several different star systems.
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