In a world of bandits, psychos, evil all-powerful corporations, and destructive vault hunters, there are very few characters who can be described as 'selfless.' Characters rarely put themselves in danger, and the series-wide obsession with loot makes its way into plenty of the characters' personalities, making for a host of greedy survivors who often kill and with little remorse.

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However, a few characters put themselves in harm's way to protect their friends and allies, and some fan-favorite characters establish themselves as good people — a rarity on Pandora. Here are the six most selfless characters across the whole series.

Warning: Major spoilers for Borderlands, Tales From The Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands 3 included below!

6 Brick

The Slab King Himself

One of the playable classes in Borderlands, Brick — the berserker — quickly became a favorite for fans of the series and has gone on to feature in every mainline game in the series, along with Tales Of The Borderlands. Brick stole the show with his lovable idiot voice lines in his first appearance and his unique class skill that sees him holstering his weapons and instead throwing left hooks and right jabs into enemies. Brick appears scary, but his softer side is often on show and never more than in his treatment of Athena, revealed in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel.

In the process of capturing Athena, Brick was shot painfully in the foot. But after hearing her story and her justification for opening a vault with Handsome Jack, Brick decides that Athena should be spared and tells his friend that mercy is the best option. This appreciation for life is rarely seen from a Vault Hunter and makes Brick's good nature abundantly obvious.

5 Maya

The Sequel's Superb Siren

Another playable Vault Hunter, Maya is one of the few sirens across the Borderlands series. Fans are told that only six sirens exist at once, and Maya is an incredibly powerful example of these magical women. While her voice lines when the player controls her in Borderlands 2 are often angry and aggressive, the siren is revealed in Borderlands 3 to have a softer side. A young thief named Ava tries to steal one of her tomes, and instead of punishing the girl, Maya takes her in and trains her to be the next siren, who will inherit Maya's powers when she dies.

When the villain of the third game, Tyreen Calypso, captures Ava, Maya holds the other Calypso twin, Troy, hostage and offers to exchange his life for that of Ava. This restraint and genuine concern for her young apprentice is a level of care rarely seen across the series, and her desperate attempt to save Ava is made only more heartbreaking after Troy manages to kill her in this confrontation.

4 Scooter

Master Mechanic And Motorist

Scooter is the genius engineer behind the Catch-A-Ride machines and provides vehicles across Pandora. His country, red-neck persona quickly becomes a crutch of humor as the stories in the series get darker. Scooter appears in Borderlands and Borderlands 2, but meets his heroic end in Tales From The Borderlands. He agrees to fix a vehicle for free if protagonist Fiona will race with Catch-A-Ride as a sponsor to get him more business, and he later agrees to act as the engineer onboard a makeshift rocket for his new-found friends.

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Managing to push the rocket out of Pandora's gravitational pull, he and Fiona are forced to get outside the rocket to detach the thrusters from the ship before they detonate. Fiona succeeds but Scooter — in trying to save the passengers of the ship — gets his hand stuck and manages to help Fiona finish the emergency repairs before riding a rocket into oblivion, saying his final words: "Catch-A-Riiiide!" After his constant presence, his absence is definitely felt in Borderlands 3.

3 Roland

An Ex-Soldier With Renewed Purpose

Surprising no fans of the series, Roland — another Vault Hunter playable in the first installment — makes an appearance at the top end of this list. When players take control of Roland, he is an ex-member of the Crimson Lance, who are an elite team of soldiers paid by the Atlas arms corporation to collect technology from Pandora. When Atlas abandons the team after their losses in The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx, Roland gives the lost soldiers a new purpose by establishing the Crimson Raiders, who rebel against another corporation taking over the planet.

Setting aside the good that he did for these soldiers, he went on to provide protection for Sanctuary and a safe place for any who came there, before being killed when trying to stop Handsome Jack from opening a vault and becoming unstoppable. His shocking death was a somber moment, and the impact that his character had on the lives of all of those around him can be seen in a quest that has players telling the people of Sanctuary about their leader's death.

2 Helena Pierce

Protector Of New Haven

Helena Pierce features as New Haven's administrator and is quite standoffish with the Vault Hunters when they first arrive in Borderlands. When players help the people of New Haven, Helena becomes more friendly and directs the Vault Hunters to Tannis to continue their quest for the Vault.

Fans will notice that her people are her first priority, even over her own life. This is made clear in her tragic ending, which is revealed in the opening missions of Borderlands 2. The audio logs record her final moments as a Lieutenant in the Crimson Raiders. She commandeered a train to get her people to the safety of Sanctuary. When Handsome Jack boarded the train, he promised the safety of her and the people of New Haven if she shared the story of her scarring, but he went back on his word and immediately killed her.

1 Angel

The Ghost In The Machine

Angel is the daughter of Handsome Jack and another siren born with supernatural abilities. She oversees all Hyperion systems across multiple stars from a prison that tethers her to the network but retains her inherent ability to control technology across those systems. Her father trapped her and used her to locate the vault and its key on Pandora, but after Angel helps to save the Vault Hunters and protects them along her journey, she tasks them with getting to her to stop the key from being charged up.

Knowing that stopping the process will kill her, but determined to stop her father, she instructs the player how to destroy their guardian angel. Her persistent efforts to stop her tyrannical father from becoming untouchable, and her noble sacrifice, make her a shining example of selflessness in the Borderlands series.

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