It is not uncommon for games to have main villains introduced with the story plot and have them interact with players in the form of one or more significant encounters and some verbal interaction to set the mood for the game. Such is the case for games within the Borderlands franchise, with each game having the main antagonist to face and a lot of other big baddies to fight down the road. The most memorable villain is Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2. He is a funny, deranged sociopath who seems to enjoy threatening and killing people, while also repeatedly taunting and teasing the players.
However, Handsome Jack is a much more complex character than that, and he is very human in his flaws. Sometimes, he can be sympathized with, especially while playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. In this game, Jack is still somewhat mentally sane—as much as any person living in the Borderlands universe can be—and is portrayed as a wannabe hero of sorts. Much like in reality, the story told in the games can be left to interpretation based on the perspective it offers.
Borderlands 3 is the most recent addition to the Borderlands franchise, and it features vast improvements and quality of life features, while also showcasing much better graphics than its predecessors. Unfortunately, it also had the arduous task of living up to Handsome Jack's legacy when it came to its villains, the Calypso Twins. While they are not all bad, they didn't manage to hit that same high note.
Handsome Jack and the Reasons Why He is a Great Villain
Handsome Jack is a charmer. His voice is almost compelling players to listen to him, to laugh at his jokes, or even when he taunts gamers. He is simply a very present character, meaning that his presence is truly felt throughout the game without needing endless physical encounters with him or shootouts against him. He is a great character because he is given enough time to let players get to know him, not just as the evil antagonist of the story, but in each and every aspect of his personality.
Sure, he loves killing people for fun, so that should automatically make him despicable. However, the thing is, he is also shown to be a very human character. He loves and cares about his daughter, despite doing terrible things to her. He is often the abandoned one, as his relationships demonstrate, and he is also the betrayed one, for example, betrayed by Lilith, Roland, and Moxxi in the Pre-Sequel game. On a side mission, players also discover that he was brutally beaten and psychologically abused by his grandmother. In Borderlands 3, it is also discovered that it was Angel's powers that killed Jack's wife, and he had to both raise her alone and protect her from outsiders that could want to exploit her powers.
Jack is also shown multiple times to have the so-called "hero complex," especially in the Pre-Sequel. He is an anti-hero by nature, but he is also driven by just cause to try and make the borderlands a safer place. His intentions are often not even those of a selfish, heartless, banally evil character, but rather those of someone who deeply cares about his surroundings and tries to do what he can to make it better. His ways, however, are not those of a righteous person.
Handsome Jack is also a genius. He is cunning in a way that makes him somewhat authoritative. He somehow always wins until the end of Borderlands 2 anyway, and he does so because he uses all his power and all his will to do so. In the end, he dies right after waking The Warrior from his vault, and yet he succeeds in doing what he wanted. He even right out says that waking The Warrior is not something he does for power, but because he genuinely believes that doing so will rid Pandora of evil bandits and ferocious creatures, turning the planet into a paradise of sorts.
Does all this justify his actions? Of course not, but it makes it easier to understand why and how a person with such a difficult background could become the monster he is in the game. It makes it clearer because he is seen as powerful and powerless, intelligent and delusional. To each and every aspect of his persona, there is a counterweight that balances things out in terms of his humanity: Immensely flawed, but still human. That is probably why Handsome Jack remains relevant to this day.
The Case for and Against the Calypso Twins
The Calypso Twins are the main antagonists of Borderlands 3, and while they might not live up to Handsome Jack, they are not terrible characters. The two clearly have a dysfunctional relationship, with Tyreen being manipulative of Troy and feeling superior to him simply because she inherited a much greater power by naturally being born a Siren. Troy got part of his powers from hers, feeding on her, and as such, he ends up playing a submissive, more passive role in the unfolding of the events of Borderlands 3.
One of the aspects that played as a sort of a controversial element is that the Twins are often shown arguing, and Troy seems to desperately want to get revenge on his sister for always discrediting him. The thing is, he finally has the chance to, as he kills Maya - a former Vault Hunter from Borderlands 2, and a Siren - and absorbs her powers. Furthermore, by the end of Borderlands 3, he is leeching power from Tyreen and players are able to fight him while he does, and she is clearly in pain and begging him to stop. All the build-up seems to lead to him betraying his twin, but he never does. A lack of such a plot twist is not bad on its own, but having several situations in the game when this seems to be implied kind of ruins Troy's story arc for not actually doing it.
The Twins are also perfect characters for the dystopian world of Pandora, as they are influencers transmitting podcasts, broadcasting their killings, editing videos in a funny way to gain more followers. And their followers are not just any sort of followers, simply leaving a like and subscribing like in reality, but they are bandits. Their charisma is influencing all bandits on Pandora to just unite under a single, all-powerful clan - the Children of the Vault. This is something even Jack's charisma couldn't achieve, and it goes to show how smart and unscrupulous the Twins are in reality.
Lastly, they are not given as much screen time as Jack in their respective games, and this makes them feel somewhat lackluster despite their potential. They are not bad villains, but they probably were not as present as Jack was. Sure, Tyreen is oppressive, violent, and vengeful, while Troy would do pretty much anything for his sister and their cause. The Twins are somewhat portrayed as victims at the end of the story, with their father recounting the events that likely led them to be the way they are in the game. Still, it's too little and too late for it to be an effective technique, and it does not successfully highlight their human side.
Borderlands 3 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.