Gearbox has officially revealed the Vault Hunters that we will be playing as in Borderlands 4. One thing that many are questioning, however, is how we can have another Siren in the game. On top of that, what powers could she possibly have? There’s a limited number of Sirens in the Borderlands franchise with seven being allowed to exist simultaneously. The powers of these Sirens get passed down to others whether by random or choice. So, let’s break down how we can have another Siren in Borderlands 4 and what her powers could be.
A breakdown of Siren lore
According to Handsome Jack, there are six Sirens in existence at one time in the universe. After Borderlands 3, however, this was changed, allowing there to be seven Sirens – the seventh being reportedly locked away. Sirens are all women with the one exception being Troy Calypso in Borderlands 3 since he was a parasitic twin of Tyreen with the power to leech Siren abilities.
There have been a multitude of Sirens seen and mentioned throughout the Borderlands series. To date, we have seen or heard about the following Sirens in the games:
- Lillith
- Angel
- Ava
- Commandant Steele
- Dido
- Tannis
- Troy Calypso
- Tyreen Calypso
- Nyriad
- Amara
- Unknown “seventh Siren”
While there have been multiple Sirens shown throughout the series, not all of them are currently alive. When a Siren dies, their powers manifest in a stranger somewhere in the universe unless a specific heir is chosen. An example of this can be seen in Borderlands 3 when Maya mentions that Ava will inherit her powers. Another example is when Angel passes her powers on to Tannis.
How can another Siren exist in Borderlands 4?
The simple answer to this question is that we have only seen the powers of five different Sirens and multiple Sirens are currently dead. Check out the table below for a breakdown of which Sirens are currently alive and dead in the Borderlands timeline.
| Siren | Current in-game status | Powers possessed |
|---|---|---|
| Lillith | Presumed to be alive after teleporting Elpis at the end of Borderlands 3 | Phasewalk |
| Tannis | Alive | Phaseshift – Inherited from Angel |
| Angel | Deceased | Phaseshift |
| Commandant Steele | Deceased | Unknown |
| Dido | Deceased | Unknown |
| Maya | Deceased | Phaselock |
| Tyreen Calypso | Deceased | Phaseleech / Phasewalk |
| Ava | Alive | Phaselock |
| Nyriad | Deceased | Phaseleech |
| Amara | Alive | Phasetrance |
| Troy Calypso | Deceased | Phaseleech / Phaselock |
As you can tell, there are plenty of dead Sirens out in the universe. Because of this, the new Siren can take the place of any number of those currently dead in the game series. If we count Lillith as being alive after she shifted Elpis, as well as account for the possible existence of the seventh unknown Siren, there are two slots to fill. If there can be seven Sirens and the “seventh Siren” is dead, then there are three slots to fill.
What powers can the Siren have in Borderlands 4?
Since it hasn’t been overtly stated in Borderlands lore, there is a set number of abilities the Sirens can possess. Currently, we only know of five of these abilities. They are:
- Phasewalk
- Phaseshift
- Phaseleech
- Phaselock
- Phasetrance
Of these powers, we know that four of them are currently being used by Sirens who are alive or presumed to be alive in the series. Because of this, the new Siren cannot have the Phasewalk, Phaseshift, Phaselock, or Phasetrance abilities as these are being used by Lillith, Ava, Amara, and Tannis. This leaves three abilities for the new Siren with two being unknown and one being Phaseleech.
It would be cool to have access to the Phaseleech powers that Tyreen possessed in Borderlands 3 and put them to good use. After all, vampiric, life-draining abilities would be fun to use on the battlefield. As a bonus, the tattoos of the new Siren seem to reflect this with them appearing purple instead of the standard blue. However, Tyreen was shown to have blue Siren tattoos, so unless Gearbox is planning on having the new Siren have color-changing tattoos like Amara, Phaseleech isn’t the answer.
This leaves the two unknown abilities. These abilities belong to the mysterious “seventh Siren” and Commandant Steele. First, I will mention the “seventh Siren.” I don’t believe Gearbox would make the new Siren the seventh. This is mostly because the “seventh Siren” feels very much like a story mechanic and not a character the devs would want to give a few throw-away voice lines to. I believe that if the “seventh Siren” appears in Borderlands 4, it will be a major story beat and something we will need to complete as part of the main campaign.
That leaves Commandant Steele’s powers. Commandant Steele played a major part in the original Borderlands game as she opened the Vault on Pandora, claiming that everything inside of it is the property of the Atlas corporation. Immediately after opening the first Vault, however, she is killed by The Destroyer. Because of this, we never got to know what powers she had. It is hypothesized that Commandant Steele had the ability to control animals using her Siren powers but that comes from a non-canon comic book. I believe that the new Siren will have Commandant Steele’s unknown powers as this is the most likely in my opinion. If the team does the route of animal control, I would like to see the new Siren being able to control swarms of insects.
