This article is made in collaboration with my dear friend beya. She is an amazing artist, go check out her art as she also made this awesome ISIC with claptrap art.
The Origin Story
In case you don’t know, Gearbox software has hidden some Borderlands 3 easter eggs in Battleborn. Back in the day, I was one of the people that really pushed the discovery of these hidden messages. Together with my friends, I tried cracking the code. It was Morse code, but not Morse code. We needed more help and therefore posted our findings. While we were busy looking at the dots a user by the name “what’s my name again” cracked the code by looking between the dots.
After this message was uncovered, we all started speculating about the content and this has led to some wild theories. However, these were all made based on prior knowledge and had no idea how Borderlands 3‘s story would shape up. Now that the first trailers have been released, there are a lot of clues that give us a better understanding of the story.
So let’s break down this message again and see what it all means today.
Who are the Children of the Vault?
This message clearly addresses the “Children of the Vault” but who are they? Throughout the second trailer, we see several signs that mention them. These signs are designed to recruit bandits, for them to be part of a greater good. When we look at the teaser trailer, we see early on a large group of bandits worshipping their leaders. We know that these leaders are the Calypsos and they are being presented as gods. This is a clear indication that this is some kind of cult. And while this was just an assumption last week when I started writing this. In this weeks press release, we get a confirmation that we are going to deal with a cult in Borderlands 3.
So the “Children of the Vault” are the followers of the Calypsos.
Who has sent these messages?
Since the Children of the Vault are the ones that are being spoken to in these Easter Egg messages. It would be likely that the leaders of the cult would be behind the message. As a cult leader, you want to be in control. How do you control the people, you control the information that they are getting. Exactly, propaganda radio broadcasts that deliver your message. If you check out the second trailer, you can also see the Holy Broadcast Center. This confirms that they have the capability to send out these messages.
When you inspect other scenes from the trailer, you can also see Broadcast centers in the different environments. These other locations are most likely different planets. It’s likely that they use these communication centers to send out the same message across the galaxy. Is it possible that one of these radio signals came across a Varelsi portal and therefore ended up in the Battleborn Universe?
So if the Calypsos are in control of the broadcast then they have sent the messages. They are speaking to their followers, the Children of the Vault, therefore we need to interpret the message from the perspective of the Calypsos. Now that we know this and look at each message again, we can find the true meaning of this easter egg.
“We are not on Pandora anymore”
This 3rd message indicates that the Calypsos have left Pandora. The 1st message already mentioned to go and visiting Promethea. However, why do the Children of the Vault need to go there? While this is not clear from the Easter Egg, we do know that the first vault was opened on Promethea by the Atlas Corporation. They managed to reverse engineered the discovered alien technology. Was there something special about that first vault? Are the Calypsos going back there to reopen the first vault?
“Tannis is not what she seems”
This line has always sparked the craziest theories. “Is Tannis a siren since we never see her body“, “is Tannis secretly the villain all this time“, “is Tannis …“
Well, if we look at this line from this fresh perspective. It sounds like the Calypsos are warning the Children of the Vault to not trust her. Did Tannis infiltrate the cult to learn about their plans? Because I don’t think she was there for the free brainwashing, maybe for the special powers. But Tannis has always had a fascination with the vault and the inverted vault symbol does look very interesting.
“Do not open the vaults”
While the Borderlands games have always been about opening vaults. Why would the Calypsos tell their followers not to open the vaults? First of all, I want to point out that it’s Vaults, not Vault, VaultS. Since the Holy Broadcast Center is transmitting to multiple locations, would this mean there is a vault at each location? Do the Children of the Vault have the ability to open these other vaults?
We see a red vault key pass by in the trailer. However, don’t you need a Siren to charge the key?
In the reveal trailer, we do see Tyreen steal Lilith’s powers. On the recruitment signs, it is also mentioned that Bandit can get special powers. Will Tyreen give Siren-like powers to the Bandits? One this could create some awesome enemy types. But two this would make them capable of charging vault keys and opening the vaults by themselves.
Why do the Bandits need to wait? I have no idea what the exact end game is going to be. However, details from the third trailer might give us a hint about why it’s unwise to open them. During the trailer, we see a stained glass artwork that depictures the Calypsos. However, in front of it, we see several people that turned into stone. These statue-like people do seem to have a purple glow emitted by Eridium crystals. Is this the result of opening the vaults?
My head currently screams, is there a hidden vault behind that stained glass window, and is a monster behind it that petrifies everyone who dares to come close?
What do you think, let me know in the comments or on social media.
