Ermmmm huiiii just a thought but what if you... Talked about Mary Caede moreee :) (hides the suspiciously bouquet of flowers looking bouquet of flowers behind my back)
TEEHEEEE HI MANTIS !!!!!! YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT !!!! I should talk about Mary. Here I go !!
- Maria is a funny woman. She’s unremarkable by many people– just another person trying to get by in the crazy wastelands without getting shot at a million times, making a living by selling whatever produce doesn’t die in the harsh climate– yet she’s very valued by the people of her community. Maria has always been kind despite there being little place for that in a planet like Pandora, and it’s because of that kindness that she slipped out of many life threatening situations before. Some people would argue that it’s just a front she puts on so she has some chance of survival, but she’d say that it’s more so just cause and effect: The nicer you are to people, the less likely they are to impale you and display your body gruesomely. Besides, most appreciate a break from the near constant mayhem.
- When she was a youngster, this was the exact same reason why she wanted to leave her clan and study medicine. Which she couldn’t technically do, due to there being No Real Schools in Pandora and much less Actual Doctors, but when you’re bleeding out and far away from the nearest safe-spot, there’s no complaining to be done when someone comes patch you up. She was basically a field medic, except she didn’t really know what she was doing and had to guess a lot of the time, but hey, it’s not like *too* many people died ! She did give up eventually due to how depressing the entire thing was, but not before a certain someone happened to find her with a group of injured men who needed taking care of. And wouldn’t you know, that someone was Lucifer Lucio Caede and his devils. That oughta end pretty good for them !
- Maria’s clan, The Farmhouse, disbanded a few years after she left. It just wasn’t the same without her around, and even though they still loved the brutality… there was nothing to offset it, no one to dispute it, nobody to lead or to at least give *some* direction of what to do when the oven sets itself on fire after you try to bake something. It was a real mess, not the fun kind, but they were all fine afterwards I’m sure, minimal casualties. She played a major role but her time of leading bandits and organizing big crimes against the intergalactic rules were over. Better things to do, don’t you know !
- Can’t actually shoot for the life of her, which would usually mean a death sentence, but really means that she has experience finding Other Ways to kill people should the necessity to do so rise. Most of her repertoire with weapons includes blunt force, like hitting someone with a big bat until they stop moving, or outside forces, like running someone over with a car until they stop moving. It’s only ever in self defense though, because Maria ABHORRES blood. It used to make her nauseous as a teen and even as an adult it’s still enough to make her head spin. Living in the Death Murder planet, you’d think it’d give *some* immunity or at least indifference to it, but nope. Well, should some bodies be made, they’ll be great for fertilizer anyway, so it’s not a huge deal. Hopefully.
“Jack’s spent years pumping me full of Eridium, using me to charge his Key and manipulate his enemies. Destroying the Eridium injectors that keep me… alive… will stop the Key from charging. And it will end a lifetime of servitude.”
ahhh my beloved The Stranger Jakobsfamilyvalues, what a profoundly Strange little man thats definitely not stuffed to the gills w more symbolism than the average borderlands fan can really handle
Thinking about Vaughn as always and I sort of dislike that he’s so cool with the Crimson Raiders after the way they just kinda took his shit in Commander Lilith! He doesn’t have to hate them cause sure, they effectively sheltered him (in his own pre-established space that they barged into) while undoing the whole plant shit whatever, but ermmmm… where’s your fucking rage.
They threatened to kill him when he tried to assert that the Backburner was his, and his first instinct is to get all chummy with them? But he’s fine getting snippy with literally anyone else but the Raiders? (Mostly referencing Tales because the way he’s written during/after Commander Lilith is shaky at best in my opinion..)
A big kind of blanket issue I have is with the way the Raiders are portrayed as definite and infallible “good guys” (specifically in 3) which- correct me if I’m wrong- kind of defeats the whole purpose of the characters that the group is built around. This is a whole other can of worms though. Not about Vaughn.
TLDR: I just want Vaughn to be allowed to be a little mean because I miss the teeny tiny amount of mean Vaughn that we got. He’s everything to me. As always.
I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s a bit telling and/or weird that there’s never been an actual full-on redemption/atonement arc in Borderlands. You’d expect such a long runner to have one, but no, apparently not.
I know that Bounty of Blood has Juno going through a redemption but that’s not what I mean here. By the time the Vault Hunters arrive on Gehenna, Juno’s already practically halfway through her redemption, she just has to prove herself. Any other villain gets no such chance.
Think about it. There’s been multiple times where a “friendly” NPC turns evil and becomes a boss you have to fight. Freddie, Aurelia, the list goes on. Meanwhile the reverse happens never.
The player is never allowed to forgive, the enemy is never allowed to feel remorse or atone.
if i could just lay my head down and rest if there was nothing to fight or protect maybe then i could finally be free maybe death is like falling asleep