so the children of the vault use an inverted vault symbol, and the central figure of the calypso there is 100% a siren. she’s depicted very similarly to lilith, who literally sits smack dab in the middle of the whole thing with the same wing motif. (side note: i think the calypso are twins. make of that what you will.)

Has Maya returned to the Monastery?

Zane the Operative

The Operative class seems to be BL3 variation of the sniper / assassin class. He can utilize an array of tactical abilities to gain the upper hand in battle like his holo-decoy to draw fire away from himself. As a second ability he also seems to have a drone that he can call to aid him in battle.

In image 1 we can see Zane holding a device in his hand that creates a holo-decoy of himself, similar to that of Zer0 and Timothy (Jack’s Body Double).

Image 2 shows all four Vault Hunters, but I want to draw attention to the drone over Zane’s right shoulder (our left).

Image 3 is a bit of a stretch as it is likely just his clothing, but it almost looks as though the drone will be stored on his back. Again, this is the most speculative statement of my character breakdowns.

We also got a glimpse of Zane and his drone in action from the Mask of Mayhem trailer as seen below.

FL4K has more than just 3 pets!

(Sorry for picture quality on some of these, not a lot of frames to work with)

Hear me out on this one. In TWO different shots of FL4K running, the new “mutated Rakk” flies in front of them. In images 1 + 2 below this bullet we see the Vault Hunters and the new creature flying in front of them with a noticeable burning effect.

Here’s where it really comes together.

Image 1 below, we see FL4K with their palm out.

Image 2 below, as FL4K puts their hand down we see a small burst of a flame-vortex appearing in front of them...

Image 3 below, this shot begins moving very quickly towards the Vault Hunters, but from where the burst of flame was we see a trail of flame / embers and the tail of the “mutated Rakk” is just caught on camera before panning up.

Key Players Pt. 2: The Calypsos and the Children of the Vault

Some of the more talked about scenes from the new trailers were the reveals of our new antagonists Troy and Tyreen Calypso, one of which is very clearly a Siren! (we’ll talk Siren theory later and stick with just Tyreen as a Siren for now)

Image 1: Troy + Tyreen Calypso. Tyreen is very clearly a Siren, you can also see her using some form of her power in Image 4.

Image 2: In the opening sequence we see a Psycho mask laying on the ground and a Psycho walking towards what looks like the headquarters / compound for the Children of the Vault. The CoV headed by the Calypsos will very likely be the driving conflict in the game. It’s nice to see some bandits at the forefront of the conflict once again. Also notable is that it looks like the mask on the ground belongs to the Psycho / bandit walking up to the entrance of the CoV.

Image 3: The Holy Broadcast Center! Likely as not the Calypsos are polluting the radios with their “Let us save you” message. I’ll be getting into more of that further down the post.

Image 4: Tyreen Calypso flexing some Siren ability of hers.

Moving left to right, top to bottom we get a series of signs reading:

The Holy Broadcast.

Free brain wash. Bring friend. Come in. COV.

Witness. COV.

Answer Calypsos call Children of the Vault. Join today. Meet Calypso. Honor the Father. Tyreen. Troy.

Find purpose. Cleanse your skin. Rebirth. Gain special powers. Eat. Eat meat. (Those last two I read on another shot of the sign, had to zoom in a lot.) Children of the Vault. Give your flesh. Take your guns.

So the takeaways from all that? Troy + Tyreen Calypso are luring bandits to them, using the Holy Broadcast Center to Broadcast across the planet(s), with lots of different promises. Need guns? We got that. Food? Sure. Need special powers? Come on in we have a Siren. So to touch on a an “ask” I received, are the Calypsos uniting the Bandit clans? Well it sure sounds like it, and even if they’re showing up unsure it seems like there is some kind of brain-washing going on to turn those who aren’t buying what they’re selling. We can probably thank Tyreen and her ever growing scary list of possible Siren powers for that. All in all, CoV = cult. Cult = Army with a Siren (or two) at the head.

And now to touch on the images below:

Image 1: Just your typical Bandit taking inspiration from Daft Punk. Likely working for the Calypsos since they probably have an army.

Image 2 + 3: Psychos! More importantly, female Psychos! Yes, Dahl brought in prisoners as some of the first Pandora pioneers to use as a labor force for their mining, they pulled out after the creatures woke from hibernation and started killing everyone, leaving the prisoners behind. Before now all our bandits and psychos were male, but who’s to say there weren’t female prisoners? Or maybe we just had some average citizens go crazy. It happens. Look at Tannis...

Images 4 + 5: Back to Claptrap dancing and dodging rockets! The attention is largely drawn to Claptrap but the conflict behind him is interesting. There is obviously a fire fight, and it doesn’t seem to necessarily be focused on the Vault Hunters (who we don’t see) or Claptrap (who is likely there for trailer purposes). It does look like a Maliwan facility from the Key Players Maliwan post, but as you can see from Images 4 + 5 below, there are both male and female bandits here as well as the Maliwan soldiers and robots. The male looks to be a psycho who has abandoned the mask, similar to what we saw in the opening sequence. This leads me to believe this is a conflict between the Children of the Vault and Maliwan. Which we will probably join as Vault Hunters come time to play.

And that’s the end of this ramble! Pt. 3 will be the last of the “Key Players” sequence, and much shorter.

Key Players Pt. 1 : Maliwan

Key Players Pt. 3: Rhys, CEO of Atlas

I have already stated that I presume Maliwan to be the primary weapons company focus for Borderlands 3 (like Hyperion was for BL2), and I feel like it’s a pretty safe bet at this point in time. But we can’t forget about Atlas.

For those who haven’t played Tales From The Borderlands and intend to before the release of Borderlands 3, this is your warning: Spoilers ahead.

In Tales From the Borderlands Ep. 3: Atlas Mugged, Rhys and friends find a secret headquarters containing various weapons and technology from the Atlas Corp. that closed / went out of business sometime between the events of BL1 and BL2. The reason for only naming Rhys in all of this is because he decides to use the weapons, technology, and information found in this secret headquarters to re-open Atlas, and head it as CEO. At least those were the intentions, as stated by Rhys in the finale of Tales From the Borderlands as he and Fiona climb the steps to the Vault.

Fast forward to the release of the Borderlands 3 trailer, we get a glimpse of Rhys with a new and upgraded arm, as well as being flanked by Crimson Lance soldiers and the Vault Hunter Zer0 (Image 1 at the top of post). At first I thought that there was something wrong with Rhy’s new arm as the image of the Vault symbol he was projecting seemed distorted. After closer inspection of the Mask of Mayhem trailer, I believe he intentionally projects that image as I found multiple instances of it being used, see post linked (Rhys + Distorted Vault Symbol post). If this is another symbol for the Children of the Vault, likely Rhys is simply aware of their presence. The symbol for the CoV seems to be the Vault symbol upside down, but looking at the Mask Of Mayhem trailer again, it does seem to be the distorted Vault symbol, but upside down.

If this is the symbol for another Vault, that could mean Rhys is on the hunt for a Vault with his new army (the Crimson Lance) and the Vault Hunter Zer0 in tow.

This raises the question: Does this place Rhys as a potential ally to our new group of Vault Hunters? The void Hyperion left has likely been filled by Maliwan as Rhys is probably still securing his foothold in the weapons industry for the Atlas Corp. But if he IS hunting a Vault, does that mean he would work with the Vault Hunters to better his chances? Or would he want to strike out the competition in hopes to find the Vault with his own team to better his position in the weapons industry as the CEO of Atlas? He is the Company man after all...

Or the symbol Rhys projects is something else entirely and I haven’t a clue what it represents.

Key Players Pt. 1: Maliwan

Key Players Pt. 1: Maliwan Presence !

With each (numbered) Borderlands game there has been one prominent company in the games story. Borderlands 1 had Dahl and Borderlands 2 had Hyperion. Borderlands the Pre-Sequel has a bit of Hyperion - Dahl combination. For Borderlands 3 it seems to be Maliwan, the elemental technology weapons company.

Image 1: Looks like we’ve got a legion of Maliwan robots and soldiers to fight against.

Image 2: Soldier in a Maliwan mech suit using what looks like Cryo!

Image 3: Maybe a stretch, but a city with the Maliwan headquarters? Maliwan City?

Image 1 Below: In the Mask of Mayhem trailer, we also had this very large “M” further solidifying Maliwan will be a key player in BL3.

Image 2 Below: The scene with Claptrap dancing and dodging rockets seems to be in the same location as Image 1 above, Maliwan soldiers have “jet pack tech”.

There were certainly more Maliwan appearances in the trailer, but I decided to settle with these images.

Key Players Pt. 2: The Calypsos and the Children of the Vault

Key Players Thread for BL3

Below is a list of links to posts about the individuals and groups who I predict will be playing major roles in the Borderlands 3 conflict.

Maliwan

The Calypsos and the Children of the Vault