Borderlands: 8 Most Evil Characters In The Franchise, Ranked

Highlights

• Eleanor Olmstead: Cult leader obsessed with bringing back her husband, using a cult for vessel possession.
• Katagawa Jr.: Power-hungry executive, killed siblings to inherit company, cooperated with Tyreen and Troy.
• Wilhelm: Battle-hardened mercenary, transformed into a machine, served as Handsome Jack’s enforcer.

Borderlands is one of Gearbox Software’s most popular video game franchises, being a looter shooter that combines FPS gameplay with role-playing elements. The games are known for their cavalier and crass humor, due to them often being set on off-world planets where lawlessness rules.

While many Borderlands characters wouldn’t exactly be paragons of kindness and charity, there are some characters who have done some truly evil things. Some characters are so awful that even the people of Pandora, mostly bandits and murderers, seem like normal people compared to them. Here are some of the most evil characters in Borderlands, ranked by how evil they were.

8 Eleanor Olmstead

A Cult Leader Led To Desperation By Love

• Featured In: Borderlands 3: Guns, Love, and Tentacles

Eleanor is the leader of the Bonded, the cult that serves as the main enemy of the Borderlands 3 DLC campaign, Guns, Love, and Tentacles. Initially the leader of a research team along with her husband Vincent, the discovery of the still-beating heart of a Vault Monster known as Gythian changed their fates forever.

While researching the monster’s corpse, Vincent would become enthralled by the heart, eventually being absorbed into it completely. Eleanor became obsessed with bringing back her husband, eventually creating rings that would allow Vincent to possess whoever wore them. The two would eventually begin their cult in order to draw in possible vessels for Vincent while spreading Gythian’s influence.

7 Katagawa Jr.

A Power-Hungry Product Of Nepotism

• Featured In:Borderlands 3

Katagawa Jr. is an executive of the Maliwan company and is in line to be the future head of the company. When he learned that he would be 12th in line to inherit the company, he killed all of his older siblings until he was the only one to inherit the great power of this corporation.

In Borderlands 3, Katagawa Jr. began a hostile takeover of Atlas, which brought him to cooperate with Tyreen and Troy as part of their various schemes. Though he was ultimately a minor obstacle to the Vault Hunters, his obsession with power and control made him quite dangerous, especially when not even family acts as a barrier to quell his desire.

6 Wilhelm

A Battle-Hardened Mercenary Who Transcended Humanity

• Featured In:Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Wilhelm was once but a man with cybernetic implants. At first, these implants were due to a rare disease. Then, they became an addiction to augment and boost his own body. He later became a mercenary and worked for a variety of corporations before eventually getting hired by Handsome Jack to become a Vault Hunter.

Though he was still largely human during the events of The Pre-Sequel, by the time of Borderlands 2, he is far more machine than man. In this capacity, he serves largely as Handsome Jack’s enforcer, killing whoever his boss deems a problem for Hyperion; even unarmed civilians.

5 Aurelia Hammerlock

A Cold-Hearted Bully Without A Single Bone Of Kindness

• Featured In: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Borderlands 3

Lady Aurelia Hammerlock is the older sister of Sir Alistair Hammerlock and one who made his life a living hell. Aurelia was one of several Vault Hunters who helped Handsome Jack in his rise to power, though her involvement in the story did not stop there.

Aurelia became a major obstacle during the events of Borderlands 3, where she worked with Tyreen and Troy Calypso to take over the Jakobs Corporation. Despite living selfishly and according to her own desires, her brother Alistair Hammerlock still tried to reason with her one last time.

4 Dr. Ned

An Ethically Bankrupt Doctor

• Featured In:Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

Dr. Ned is the main villain of the Borderlands DLC campaign, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. A self-proclaimed doctor, much like his supposed twin brother Dr. Zed; Dr. Ned worked in Jakobs Cove and provided medical care for the employees working there.

Dr. Ned became consumed by his twisted experiments, where he would reanimate dead bodies. It didn’t take long before Ned began creating violent, flesh-eating zombies. Dr. Ned quickly took this chance to secretly turn the rest of the Jakobs employees into zombies, and Jakobs Cove quickly became overrun with the undead, all whilst Ned furthered his own experiments to cheat death and gain power.

3 Nisha Kadam

The Sadistic Sheriff And A Puppy Killer

• Featured In:Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Nisha Kadam was a former Vault Hunter who was hired by Handsome Jack during the events of The Pre-Sequel. She later became his girlfriend, and he put her in control of Lynchwood, where she ruled the area with an iron fist.

Aside from oppressing the people of Lynchwood with laws that punished offenders with death, Nisha also tormented Brick by killing his puppy. A heartless sheriff with no sense of empathy or kindness, Nisha ultimately met her end at the hands of Brick and the Vault Hunters.

2 Tyreen & Troy Calypso

Twins Who Can Steal Siren Powers And Rule Pandora’s Bandits And Psychos

• Featured In:Borderlands 3

Tyreen & Troy Calypso are the main antagonists of Borderlands 3, leaders of the Children of the Vault, a faction made up of all the bandits and psychos in Pandora who refer to them as the “Twin Gods”. They first gained notoriety by broadcasting their senseless murders over all of Pandora.

With Tyreen’s siren powers that allowed her to drain the life out of another living being, the two easily took over most of Pandora, using their activities to drum up attention on social media. Despite seeming like obnoxious internet personalities, the twins committed plenty of atrocities over the course of the game, including killing one of Borderlands 2‘s protagonists, Maya the Siren, and stealing her powers.

1 Handsome Jack

The Wisecracking Manipulator Of Hyperion

• Featured In:Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Handsome Jack is the main antagonist of Borderlands 2 and one of the franchise’s most popular characters. Once an unassuming employee of Hyperion, Handsome Jack eventually usurped power and became its new CEO, leading to his eventual takeover of Pandora.

With the planet under his dominion, Handsome Jack violently oppressed the people of the planet, seeing them as nothing more than scum meant to be wiped out. His tyranny was eventually stopped by the efforts of the Vault Hunters, though he killed plenty of people before his eventual downfall.