Borderlands movie ending explained: Lilith’s powers, the Vault, and your biggest questions answered

Warning: Major spoilers for Borderlands below!

The long-awaited live-action Borderlands movie is quite the action-packed doozy – and you might be a little confused about everything that went down. Lucky for you, that’s where we come in. 

The film centers on Lilith (Cate Blanchett) who learns that her destiny lies within her home planet of Pandora, whether she likes it or not. We’ve broken down the ending of Borderlands, and have answered your burning questions. If you’ve already seen the film, or are eager to skip right to the final act, scroll on below to read through our guide.

What happens at the end of Borderlands?

(Image credit: Lionsgate)

When Tina, Tannis, and Krieg finally reach the Vault, they immediately insert the first two keys – which immediately light up. Tina steps on the entrance, expecting the Vault to open. When it doesn’t, the team realizes that Tina is not the Daughter of Eridia after all. Atlas and his soldiers suddenly appear, having witnessed the entire thing. Roland appears, guns ablazing. Deeming Tina useless, Atlas orders Knoxx to kill Tina and commands his soldiers to attack. Knoxx has a change of heart and tells the soldiers to stand down, but Atlas immediately vaporizes her. 

Just before the violence commences, Lilith appears and threatens Atlas – but not before revealing herself to be the Daughter of Eridia. Tannis suddenly remembers that Lilith’s mother sent her away so she would never have to open the vault – which will ultimately kill her. Lilith takes her place at the entrance of the Vault and it immediately activates, and the rocks start to form an archway. Lilith is lifted into the air and her body begins to burn up – but she doesn’t die. Instead, we learn that not only is Lilith the Daughter of Eridia, but the Firehawk – the Eridian goddess who is meant to protect the planet Pandora. She sprouts some pretty cool wings made of fire and is able to fly. 

During the commotion, Tina is thrown into the vault but Lilith uses her newfound powers to quickly retrieve her and cloaks everyone in a protective fire aura. As it turns out, Atlas has his own protective aura of sorts that he made himself, and is able to take Lilith down. Luckily, she gets back up and creates a fire forcefield to combat the blasts from Atlas’s ship and successfully makes it explode. Atlas takes Tina hostage and demands Lilith take him into the Vault. A portal suddenly appears under the archway, and the three walk on through.

Inside the Vault, Atlas tells Lilth and Tina that they are surrounded by the treasures from those who once ruled the galaxy, and that the power is overwhelming. Lilith sneaks up behind him and steals the device that creates his protective forcefield and activates his weapons. After Tina breaks free, a tentacle monster crawls out from beyond the deep and pulls Atlas down with it.

We cut to the group standing on a rooftop and watching fireworks as the whole planet celebrates. When they’re alone, Tina asks Lilith to turn into the Fire Hawk and blaze through the sky, becoming a spectacle amongst the fireworks.

Instead of a Borderlands post-credits scene, we get Claptrap dancing and telling the audience to ‘Do the Claptrap’ before being swept away by the oncoming credits.

What does Lilith turn into?

(Image credit: Lionsgate)

Lilith is the Daughter of Eridia. Much like her video game counterpart, she is also the goddess known as the Fire Hawk. The Fire Hawk is the Eridian goddess whose purpose is to protect the planet of Pandora.

When Lilith first touches down on Pandora, Claptrap appears and tells her he was tasked to help her. We later learn that Claptrap was sent by Lilith’s deceased mother, who appears via previously recorded video message to tell her about her ‘destiny’ – and Lilith finds a childhood drawing of the Fire Hawk. Lilith found the second vault key with ease, teleported the crew to safety, and opened the vault with no problem – all pointing to her true destiny and identity.

What’s in the Vault?

(Image credit: Lionsgate)

The Vault is filled with rock formations that are swirling with bright blue energy. Atlas tells Lilith and Tina that they are surrounded by the treasures from those who once ruled the galaxy, though we don’t receive more detail than that. There are also monsters lurking deep inside the Vault, as evidenced by the tentacles that pull Atlas down into the murky depths. We suspect that’s The Destroyer, as seen in the original Borderlands game, an all-powerful alien locked away on Pandora.

Does the ending set up a sequel?

(Image credit: Lionsgate)

At the end of the movie, Lilith, Roland, Tannis, Tina, Krieg, and Claptrap are seen watching the fireworks as the planet celebrates finally being able to have peace. Roland, Tannis, Kireg, and Claptrap go to join the party, but Lilith and Tina stay behind. The film ends with Lilith setting herself ablaze and flying through the sky. It’s possible that another adventure is on the horizon for the crew now that they seem to officially be sticking together, but it’s also possible that Gearbox’s planned Borderlands Cinematic Universe will consist of movies that each tell a different story. The mid-credits scene does not set up or imply a sequel, and instead features Claptrap dancing before the credits roll up and throw him off screen.

Borderlands is in theaters now. For more, check out our chat with Ariana Greenblatt and Florian Munteanu about prepping for their roles, or Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford about the Borderlands Cinematic Universe.