Highlights
- Borderlands features fascinating characters with depth, humor, and unique stories that players can connect with across the series.
- Female characters like Moze, Janey Springs, and Athena bring complexity, strength, and diverse backgrounds to the franchise.
- From battle-hardened gunners to powerful assassins, Borderlands offers a range of dynamic and compelling female characters for players to engage with.
Borderlands is an action-adventure looter shooter that takes part in an interesting sci-fi world that is home to the main setting of Pandora. It has been known for its great humor as well as its fascinating and in-depth characters that players have gotten to bond with across a variety of titles from the original Borderlands franchise to Tales From The Borderlands.
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This first-person shooter doesn't just give attention to the male characters of the franchise, as many of the women players have been able to play as or meet are just as intriguing. When it comes to those who have been frequent additions to the series especially, it would be awful to not discuss them further in a ranking of who the best female characters are in Borderlands.
Updated April 25, 2024, by Mara Cowley: Borderlands has no shortage of varied characters, from stoic and stalwart to zany and spontaneous, with plenty of female characters both fitting into the categories and standing out due to uniqueness. These strong, interesting, and individualistic women have become favorites for many, resulting in welcome surprises for when many return to reprise the role in a later game. Prior to this article's update, many excellent female characters from the Borderlands series were already featured, but there are plenty more that also deserve to be recognized. As such, this article has been updated to include more of the best female Borderlands characters that have become beloved parts of the franchise.
13 Moze
The Battle-Hardened Gunner Who Hides A Tragic History
Borderlands 3
- Platform(s)
- PC , Stadia , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PS4 , PS5 , Switch
- Released
- September 13, 2019
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
Borderlands 3 brought back previously playable characters in NPC roles with a brand-new squad of playable characters introduced, one of them being Moze. Moze is the gunner in this game, coming equipped with a penchant for filling enemies with lead and having a mech called Iron Bear that she can summon as part of her kit, with most of her abilities revolving around it.
The mech means a lot to Moze, as it was an instrumental part of her past when she was part of the army. Moze may seem like a no-nonsense grizzled veteran, but this is just a way of her coping with the guilt, manipulation, and loss she suffered when working for the army and her subsequent departure from the corp. All of her squad perished when Moze walked, saddling her with an enormous amount of guilt. No one could blame her for putting up those walls.
12 Janey Springs
A Heart Of Pure Gold
Introduced first in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, this bright and cheerful moon walker with an Australian accent helps the player get on their low-gravity feet for the first time when they finally land on the moon called Elpis.
As her introduction screen suggests, Janey has a heart of gold, which is the reason she decides to help the player in the first place, as well as write her own children's books, though she does need the aid of the player to help her get back her key to unlock the Moon Zoomy stations.
11 Athena
A Powerful Assassin With A Sad Origin
Borderlands
Gearbox Software's 2009 loot-shooter Borderlands kicked off a popular series, leading to spin-offs and a big-budget Hollywood movie. You play as one of four Vault Hunters looking for an ancient Vault on the planet Pandora.
- Released
- October 20, 2009
- Developer(s)
- Gearbox Software
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG , FPS
Fans of the franchise will remember Athena from as far back as the first Borderlands title, in which she debuted as part of The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. She later became a playable character in the Pre-Sequel and makes an appearance in Tales From The Borderlands, too.
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Raised to be an assassin, Athena is very powerful, though she does have a tragic backstory. In the midst of looking for her sister, she was ordered to gun down a town that turned out to have her sister in it. Since then, she vowed to get vengeance and ran to become a Vault Hunter.
10 Ellie
An Independent And Confident Woman
Although the daughter of Mad Moxxi, Ellie is a proud, independent woman in her own right whom the player first meets during Borderlands 2. Just like her brother Scooter, Ellie has a knack for all things mechanical and enjoys upgrading the vehicles the player relies on to get around Pandora.
Ellie is an idol for body positivity, as she is proud of her plus-size physique and even went as far as to escape her mother who insisted on her slimming down. She continues to provide side quests for the player in Borderlands 3 as well as taking over her brother's duty of Catch-A-Ride.
9 Sasha
A Light-Hearted And Positive Sister
Telltale's foray into the Borderlands universe resulted in the excellent Tales from the Borderlands game, introducing players to characters Rhys, Fiona, and Sasha. Though Sasha is not one of the playable characters, she spends a lot of time with Rhys and Fiona, so players get to know her well, and most enjoy her character.
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Sasha is plenty capable of handling herself in a fight and maintains a cheery, laid-back approach to most things in life. She does engage in banter, which makes her likable and strengthens the chemistry between her and other characters, particularly with Rhys, with whom she displays a romantic interest.
8 Amara
Bold, Brash, And Heroic
- First Appearance: Borderlands 3
Amara smashed her way into the series in Borderlands 3 as the playable Siren. Filling in shoes left by Lilith and Maya, she had her work cut out for her, but she quickly gained the hearts of fans before the game was even released. She was different from the past sirens, as her natural muscular build was incorporated heavily with her powers, which appealed to many fans looking for something new to go with the familiar.
But she is more than just her powers and strength. Amara is an interesting character with massive amounts of charisma and confidence. She can come off as somewhat arrogant, but it is part of her charm, and she has every right to be. She became a local hero at a very young age and is sure to cement her legacy with her hand (or rather hands) thanks to Borderlands 3.
7 Fiona
Fearless And Cunning
- First Appearance: Tales From The Borderlands
As one of the two protagonists in Tales From The Borderlands, Fiona is a highly skilled con artist whom players get to learn more about throughout the episodes of the title. Unlike other characters on the list, a lot of what Fiona becomes is determined by the player, but this doesn't spare them from a few of her common traits.
She's incredibly cunning as well as manipulative due to her adoptive father teaching her from a young age to steal from others. Apart from this, Fiona is also an incredibly fearless character with a witty and sarcastic tone that allows for some hilarious banter between herself and the other protagonist, Rhys.
6 Patricia Tannis
Mysterious And Intelligent, Tannis Hides Depth
- First Appearance: Borderlands
Tannis has been a crucial member of the Borderlands series for the three main games of the franchise. She is an incredibly intelligent character who has assisted many of the Vault Hunters' endeavors while having her own interests in the Eridian.
Like many scientist tropes, Tannis may appear a little unapproachable, and some of the things she says just don't make any sense, but that adds to her charm. Players were even happier to find out she was a Siren in Borderlands 3, which finally helped them put the pieces of her story together.
5 Angel
A Character Many Players Can Pity
- First Appearance: Borderlands
Another Siren with a tragic story, Angel's discovery of her Siren powers at a young age tormented her for the majority of her life. Her own father, Handsome Jack, used her abilities to help him further Hyperion's interests as well as his attempt to take over the planet of Pandora from Atlas.
In Borderlands 2, Angel finally gets her redemption arc as she attempts to help the player stop Jack even though she has betrayed them twice in two different games. Angel was never a bad person; she was being used the entire time, which many players pity her for.
4 Tiny Tina
Humorous And Endearing
- First Appearance: Borderlands 2
Meeting her for the first time at the age of thirteen during Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina may be one of the youngest characters in the franchise, but that doesn't stop her from being the greatest expert when it comes to explosives. She is crucial in helping explode the train that is carrying the Vault Key in this game.
Her story continues in Borderlands 3, where she can be seen all grown up. Some things never change, and Tiny Tina remains one of the funniest characters players will meet, maintaining her excitement for explosives, too.
3 Maya
A Powerful Siren Who Has Grown Throughout The Franchise
- First Appearance: Borderlands 2
Originally a playable character in Borderlands 2, Maya piqued the interest of players as the second Siren character they were allowed to control. Similar to Angel, when Maya's Siren powers revealed themselves at a young age, she was given to an order of Monks on her home planet.
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They revealed her to be their god, though this wasn't true, and Maya resented the lack of control she had over her own life. She later found out that she was being used by these same Monks to exploit the people of the planet, so she made her escape. Since then, Maya has grown as a character, and players meet again in Borderlands 3.
2 Mad Moxxi
Bound To Steal The Hearts Of All Gamers
- First Appearance: Borderlands
With a lust for violence and danger, Moxxi was known to be one for adventure in her younger days, though that is hard to believe with how compassionate and thoughtful she is to the Vault Hunter at times. Now running a variety of bars, this independent woman has stolen the hearts of many.
However, beneath the fancy clothing and extreme make-up, Moxxi is shown to be just like her children as revealed in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, where she can be found using her actual southern voice and working on some sort of a machine.
1 Lilith
An Accomplished Siren With Many Aliases
- First Appearance: Borderlands
Lilith has had a shining role in countless Borderlands titles. She is an incredibly powerful Siren who has gone by many titles, with some bandits calling her the Firehawk. Under this alias, she was able to keep these bandits at bay until she was needed again to help with the dangers of the vault.
In Borderlands 3, she is shown to become a true leader after the tragic events of Borderlands 2. In the end, many players have grown to respect Lilith as she is shown to still be a capable leader even after her powers are stolen.
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