Maya was introduced as a naive but ruthless playable Vault Hunter in Borderlands 2, where she was the main Siren character. In the universe of Borderlands, Sirens are incredibly powerful individuals who possess strange and inexplicable abilities that could be mistaken for magic. They are typically identified by their extensive tattoos and the way they are drawn toward the dystopic planet Pandora at some point in their lives.
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Redditor angryraccoondraw created a gorgeous piece of digital fan art dedicated to Maya’s Borderlands 3 appearance, which replaced her blue bob haircut and Mass Effect-style yellow body armor with long blue hair, a dark hood, and a skintight black suit that makes her tattoos pop out. In the drawing, Maya is shown staring out at the viewer with a small smile, her eyes gleaming eerily in the shadow of her hood. However, the post is titled “We’ll survive this. Our enemies will not,” after a quote from Maya in Borderlands 2. This quote has become quite painful for fans of the character since the release of Borderlands 3, where Maya was killed off.
A significant majority of the comments under this post were mourning Maya or bitterly complaining that she had been lying when she said that. Fans weren’t the only ones affected by Maya’s loss - Krieg, one of the most memorable characters Borderlands has to offer, was absolutely devastated by her death, and a DLC was released to follow his struggle to cope. This isn’t the first time Borderlands killed off a previously-playable character, or the first time a DLC was dedicated to another character struggling to deal with their loss. Both Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep and Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck chronicled players helping the titular characters through the stages of grief.
As of writing, it appears that fans are deeply affected by this portrayal of Maya. While Maya was not playable in Borderlands 3, she appears to have been one of the most memorable individuals in the game - or perhaps fans were just that upset about her death. Several users specifically complained about Ava, whom Borderlands 3 set up as Maya’s successor as a Siren, surviving the incident that killed Maya. Other users stated that they mourned Maya because of the impact her demise had on the already-unstable fan favorite Krieg.
Borderlands 3 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5 Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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