“Hey! Spoilers!”
Below is information that may adversely affect the reader's enjoyment of the article's subject.
|
Angel, known to the Vault Hunters as the Guardian Angel, is a Siren with the ability known as Phaseshifting, which grants her technopathy that allows her to initially (and credibly) pass herself off as an AI. She is a woman with pale skin, black hair, and piercing blue eyes.
Background
Angel is the daughter of Hyperion programmer Handsome Jack (then known simply as 'Jack'), and an unnamed woman. During her early childhood, Angel's Siren tattoos manifested on her arm, much to the surprise of Jack. Angel also demonstrated her newfound powers by using Phaseshift to fix a broken vending machine.
At some point after her powers manifested, a bandit named Grogmouth captured Angel, intending to sell her due to her status as a Siren. While Jack pleaded with the bandit to release her, a frightened Angel used her Phaseshift ability to take control of Grogmouth's turrets. Though she was successful in killing Grogmouth, Angel's mother was also unintentionally killed in the process, much to the horror of Angel and Jack.
Following this, Jack chose to sequester Angel by tethering her to a chair connected to the Hyperion network, including every Hyperion satellite in the galaxy. This would grant Angel a near-omniscient view of multiple star-systems simultaneously, with her Siren powers allowing her to control any technology located within them. Angel would spend the next several years acting under the direction of Jack to further Hyperion's interests. Shortly after the Dahl withdrawal from Pandora, Jack began orchestrating a plan to seize the planet from Atlas. Seeing an opportunity, Jack ordered Angel to recruit four newly arrived Vault Hunters, leading to the events of Borderlands.
Involvement
Borderlands
Angel watches over the Vault hunters via the ECHOnet. This connection is later revealed to be Angel's 'eyes and ears' monitoring the movements of the Vault hunters when the ECHOnet is shut down, and her messages at this point indicate her loss of awareness about the course of events.
The final cinematic reveals that Angel is operating from, or through, a Hyperion Satellite in orbit around Pandora.
While her ulterior motivations are unclear, Angel is primarily interested in the Vault hunters obtaining all of the fragments of the Vault key and being present at the Vault when it is eventually unsealed. Later in the story, it becomes clear that she wished to prevent The Destroyer, imprisoned within, from escaping the confinement of the Vault. This goal is ultimately carried out by Angel's (and, by proxy, Hyperion's) deceit, something she expresses regret about having to do, but insists that it was the only way to ensure that events unfolded appropriately. This turns out to be a lie as well, as the ultimate goal for the Vault's opening was the supply of Eridium that Handsome Jack wished to exploit for his own gain.
Borderlands 2
With a steady supply of Eridium and the Vault key stolen from Patricia Tannis, Angel's father used her as a catalyst to charge it, so he can awaken the Warrior. However, this leaves Angel dependent on a constant supply of the element, as disconnecting her from that supply will kill her.
She assists the new Vault Hunters in stopping Handsome Jack, similarly to her role in Borderlands. It is also revealed that Angel betrayed the first Vault Hunters at some point, nearly resulting in their deaths during an attack on New Haven. She betrays the new Vault Hunters as well, deactivating Sanctuary's shields, and rendering the city vulnerable to Hyperion mortar strikes, which almost demolishes the city. After said events, however, she expresses regret for doing so, and turns on Handsome Jack, and continues to assist the Vault Hunters.
She later reveals that the Vault Key is with her, but there are three obstacles between her and the Vault Hunters. The first is a 'Death Wall' that only Hyperion robots can pass, the second is a heavily armed bunker, and a door that only Handsome Jack himself may open. She suggests going to Opportunity, a massive city Jack is building, to kill one of Jack's body doubles to obtain a biosignature, as well as a voice modulator. Jack discovers her deceit, and tells her to "say goodbye." She replies with, "See you soon." Roland, Brick, and a group of allied Slab bandits then assist the Vault Hunters in reaching Angel with an all-out assault on Handsome Jack's tower.
Once the Vault Hunters pass the three obstacles, she reveals her true form as a Siren, and her involvement in Jack's plan. She asks the Vault Hunters to destroy the Eridium Injectors. However, destroying the Injectors would result in Angel's death. She accepts this, saying it's "ending a life of servitude." Once the final injector is destroyed, Angel falls to the ground. Jack pleads with her, saying, "It's not too late to make things right." Angel, with her dying breath, calls her father an asshole.
When Tina involved Angel as an enemy in Assault on Dragon Keep, Lilith tried to explain that Angel wasn't a bad person, suggesting that Lilith may have forgiven Angel for her role in the course of events that led to Roland's death.
Later, during the Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary side mission Sirentology, a prototype chamber for Angel is discovered in Helios Fallen.
Tales from the Borderlands
In Tales from the Borderlands, a photograph of Angel as a child is seen on Handsome Jack's desk. Rhys picks it up and inquires about her, to which Jack says he would like to check up on her after their adventure has concluded.
When using Rhys' eye scanner while looking around Jack's office, if Angel's photograph is scanned, the "Jack-apedia" entry reads:
Angel
Look at something else.
Not kidding.
Borderlands 3
In Borderlands 3, Angel's powers (Phaseshifting) is definitively clarified to be technopathy, or the ability to interface with and control technology.
Angel's powers ended up manifesting themselves in Patricia Tannis after her death. Tannis uses them to great effect when the Vault Hunters attempt to rescue her from Pain and Terror inside Carnivora by helping to finish off The Agonizer 9000. It revealed later in a sidequest that Tannis set about recovering objects that played a part in Angel's childhood in the time between Borderlands 2 and 3, which the player can then interact with as part of the sidequest to learn about Angel's childhood (and fix a broken water purifier on the side). These objects were imbued with memories of milestones in Angel's life, such as when Jack first became aware of her powers, and when they caused the death of her mother.
Notes
- The final cutscene of Borderlands shows a satellite orbiting Pandora with the weapon manufacturer Hyperion printed on it as well as The Guardian Angel's face. In the final cutscene, the following serial number can be seen printed on the side of the satellite: 4N631 - The word "Angel" in 1337speak. The logo of the Vault, surrounded by what look like wings, is also printed on the satellite.
- Lore provided during the Borderlands 3 mission Childhood's End retcons those in Get to Know Jack from Borderlands 2. The latter depicts Angel as unwilling to be connected to the Hyperion network while the former shows Angel as merely reluctant. Additionally, Borderlands 2 depicts Angel as ignorant of her mother's fate, while Borderlands 3 reveals Angel witnessed and unintentionally caused her mother's death.
Trivia
- Angel is watching over the Vault hunters by way of an orbiting Hyperion satellite. The name "Hyperion" means "Watcher from Above". This satellite is later recovered by Tannis, and now rests in a laboratory below an abandoned Dahl mining facility.
- Angel appears in the Borderlands 2 artbook as "Angel". The page includes mostly concept art and what appears to be an in game model. The concept art shows her with the tattoos of a Siren.
- At the beginning of Borderlands 2, while Angel is hacking a door she says "executing phaseshift." Since Siren abilities are known as "Phase-" (Lilith's Phasewalk and Maya's Phaselock), this appears to be what she calls her Siren power.
- In the concept art book that came with the Collector's Edition of Borderlands 2, it is stated that Brittani Johnson was cast as the Guardian Angel before the character was designed, which lead the designers to base the CG version off her real appearance.
- An allegory of Angel appears in Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep in the form of an NPC called the Sorcerer's Daughter.
- In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a framed picture of young Angel is placed on Jack's desk. After the completion of the main storyline, however, the picture will be overturned.
Template:Borderlands characters Template:Borderlands 2 characters