When Borderlands 3 first came out back in 2019, to some players it was lacking in terms of story and left them disappointed. Others more into the lore of Borderlands had to begrudgingly acknowledge that the Watcher's war from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was sadly not included in Borderlands 3. It's not a bad thing, because what Borderlands 3 excels at is expanding the universe of the Borderlands series much further than Pandora and Elpis. Not only that, but it also manages to expand the lore of the whole series with new worldbuilding elements. The game has a special focus on Sirens, their origins and purpose, and how they break causality.
Borderlands 3 is not a perfect game, but it brings to the table a series of much-needed improvements to how the game is played, and its story speaks to players more intensely than all other games have ever done. With the focus on the Sirens, Borderlands 3 introduced another character that players didn't get a chance to meet in person, and that is the Siren Nyriad. She was the reason why the Eridians are dead and the Destroyer was imprisoned on Pandora, and players discover these details via logs. And there's a specific log that probably is the key to new games from the series.
The Powers Of The Leech: Nyriad's Logs
Nyriad's logs are in truth written on slab stones in Eridian language, showing how ancient they are. These stones describe Nyriad's story, and they show to be very relevant to the story based on the content of each message, varying from the origins of the Guardians, to the fate of the Eridians and the Destroyer. Nyriad's tale is not one of a power-hungry Siren, one of the most potent beings in the universe taking advantage of her gift. Rather, it is the story of how this gift can be a curse and a burden, to the point that Nyriad wishes for herself what the Eridians asked her to do to them, be it as punishment or out of despair.
The words from Nyriad are those of an involuntary witness to the unfolding of the events. In a sense, she is not too dissimilar from the Watcher, passively observing events and only acting to preserve a form of causality it seems to care about. However, Nyriad's fate is much worse, as she has to be an active participant even if what she must do destroys her internally.
Players feel for Nyriad, especially when she is set on giving up her powers by locking herself in the Vault on Nekrotafeyo only to die alone and not pass her "braid" onto someone else. Nyriad knows the universe will be a better place without a leech, but her wish remains unfulfilled when Typhon DeLeon and his wife open the vault on Nekrotafeyo and they conceive Tyreen and Troy there, with the former inheriting the powers of Nyriad.
Nyriad's Legacy And The "Rule Of Six"
Nyriad goes out of her way to tell her story so that the wisdom and knowledge she acquired over time do not go to waste. This is why she describes so many things regarding the Guardians and their creators, the Destroyer and the possibility of there being a creator, and her sisterhood. She states how, even though they are powerful beings, the Sirens are mortal when it comes to knowing their own origins and purpose.
In her last message, Nyriad warns the ones who are listening, the players, about the danger that is finding the Seventh. Nyriad doesn't specifically state that she is talking about the Seventh Siren. With Borderlands lore mentioning the so-called "Rule of Six," this last message feels a lot like a cliffhanger for the future of the franchise, a Chekov's Gun of sorts that future Borderlands games will eventually build upon.
The Rule of Six is simple, as Handsome Jack revealed: it states that the universe can be populated by six Sirens at any given time, and six Sirens alone. There can't be more and there can't be less. However, Nyriad's messages prove that this is wrong in two ways: first, she states how her sisters gave her a parting gift consisting of them revealing to her that she could die in a Vault, and her powers would be sealed in there with her. This is the reason why Nyriad thought that she was going to be the last leech. The second reason is her warning about the Seventh.
Nyriad's Last Warning: The Seventh
Nyriad never says anything about the Rule of Six, and thus the Seventh Siren may or may not be the last one. Her final message begs whoever is listening to her not to find the Seventh, but in a previous log she mentions how the Sirens always find their way to their sisters, and this the sisterhood is born. If this is the case, then it is likely that the Seventh is either imprisoned or in a sort of stasis. Otherwise, she would manage to find her sisters and be with them.
Why is Nyriad so afraid of the Seventh? She has dealt with the Destroyer, and she speaks a lot about how evil it is, and how its endless mechanical consumption of living beings brings death to the universe. She says that the Destroyer is extremely intelligent, and it knows the secrets of the people and cultures it devours, and how curiosity towards it is a trap designed by the Eridians to feed their prisoner. Even the Eridians do not know who created the Sirens or the Destroyer, yet Nyriad is worried about the Seventh more than anything else.
Is this because of the Seventh's powers? Are they so incredible that her sisters should fear her, and others should not seek her? Or is it because the Seventh is in a place that should not be found? Unfortunately, only time will tell, be it with new DLCs or new games entirely. Still, considering Nyriad's familiarity with prisons and how to build inescapable ones, it's not unlikely that she imprisoned her own sister in fear of what could happen if she didn't.
Borderlands 3 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.