Summary
Pandora, a barren wasteland of a planet, has been home to theBorderlandsseries ever since it first debuted back in 2009, except for a few titles, such asBorderlands:The Pre-Sequel,taking place on the planet’s sole moon, Elpis. The planet’s unique environments have given Gearbox a varied and unique world to set its cash cow in, but with a series with as many games as theBorderlandsfranchise, as well as a film, some may be wondering if it’s time to leave Pandora behind for greener pastures.
AlthoughBorderlandstends to gloss over the space-faring nature of its universe, many characters come from different planets to Pandora in search of treasure. The world may be a wasteland, filled withcomically violent Psychos, but it does house mysterious treasures in Vaults, which is where the Vault Hunters, numerous player characters with unique skill sets, come in. Without Pandora’s wasteland-like environment,Borderlandscould be vastly different, and it is unknown whether these changes would be for the better or worse.
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Should Borderlands Leave Pandora Behind?
Could Borderlands 4 Take Place On Another Planet?
Although it isn’t overt,theBorderlandsseries has established the existence of many other planets and space travel. In keeping with Pandora’s name, many of the planets have been named after figures from Ancient Greek mythology. For instance, Artemis, the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, and (sometimes) the Moon were used to name Mordecai’s home world. This is but one of many other planets, and it isn’t as though the series hasn’t hinted at traveling to them before.
After defeating the iconicHandsome Jackand the Warrior insideBorderlands 2’s Vault, a map of many Vault locations is revealed, dotted among several planets. The ending implies that the surviving Vault Hunters will venture off into new worlds to unlock these Vaults, butBorderlands 2was released in 2012, and the closest the series has come to leaving Pandora is using its moon, Elpis, forThe Pre-SequelandTiny Tina’s Wonderlands.
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Promethea is the planet where the first Eridian Vault was discovered, being found by the corporation Atlas.
It could be argued that staying on the planet for so long, especially when there are other planets to explore in the universe, isn’t helping the series stay fresh.Some Vault Hunters even left Pandora to explore other planets in the lore, with Axton and Gaige heading to a Vault on the planet of Epitah shortly before Athena’s interrogation at the start ofThe Pre-Sequel, so it isn’t as though anyone is stranded on Pandora. The Vault on Epitah is one that was shown in the final cutscene ofBorderlands 2, showing that Gearbox hasn’t completely forgotten about it.
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Still Has A Story To Tell
From what the series has told its players, there are a lot of Vaults on Pandora, although no one can agree on an exact number. There could be even more that are undiscovered, which wouldn’t be a surprise at this point since the ones visited inBorderlands 3could be from prior games that have been altered after terrain changes. Then again,with the ending ofThe Pre-Sequeland the looming coming war prophesied by The Watcher, the series might not even need a Vault to carry on.
The Watcher is an Eridian, an alien race that created the Vaults.
There are a few key features that make upBorderlands' identity as a series, one of which being its wacky comedy. This relies heavily on Pandora and the silly violence of its people, such as the many Psychos that roam the wasteland. If the series moves to another planet, it shouldn’t be the same kind of setting as Pandora. Yet, if it isn’t, thentheMad Max-like areas that are so important to the series' identity could be lost, and the franchise could suffer from becoming more generic.
Although many places have been explored on Pandora thus far, it isn’t as though every nook and cranny has been seen, and Gearbox could get creative at finding ways to make the planet feel fresh. Perhaps more space station environments could be explored, like Helios inThe Pre-SequelandTales From The Borderlandswith whatever new corporation decides to invade the planet for a sequel. There could still be a threat of a coming war, provided that The Watcher wasn’t talking about the divisive Calypso Twins and their Live Streaming bit.
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Could Borderlands 4 Have Pandora And Other Planets?
A Vault Hunting, Space-Fairing Adventure
It isn’t as though the series has to leave Pandora behind to explore other planets. In fact, starting areas could consist of Pandora to keep players in a familiar environment at the beginning, thenmove on to other planets to go after the Vaults revealed at the end ofBorderlands 2. Traveling in space seems quite common in the series, considering how many characters from the cast are actually from other worlds. If it is as common as it seems,Borderlands 4could be even bigger than ever.
Although not every Vault Hunter has a known planet of origin, all but one came to Pandora off-world. Salvador is the only Vault Hunter that is native to the planet.
With the ending ofBorderlands: The Pre-Sequel,it did feel as thoughBorderlands 3was going to be the biggest game in the series by far, with players able to interact or even play as Vault Hunters from the past, provided that they were still alive. Athena was saved by The Watcher because the Crimson Raiders would allegedly need all the help they could get for the coming war. That was also why Aurelia wasn’t killed by Axton and Gaige, yetBorderlands 3avoids using many of the prior cast, and those that are used are largely sidelined.
Pandora can still be a setting for theBorderlandsseries to keep its identity as the wacky,Mad Max-like shooter with literally billions of guns, but it doesn’t mean the next game can’t expand outward to be bigger than ever. If this coming war talked about by The Watcher is still a thing, then the next game will have to be massive to really sell its impact, and traveling from planet to planet could help in this regard. Having Vault Hunters return to their home worlds would also help from a world-building point of view and aid in adding depth to the lore.
