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Ava is a supporting character in Borderlands 3.

Quick Answers

What tragic event led to Ava's separation from her family in Borderlands 3? toggle section
In Borderlands 3, Ava's family was tragically killed, causing her separation from them. She started a journal to chronicle her life after this event. Ava later joined the Crimson Raiders, forming a new family. After the death of Troy, she inherited Maya's powers, marking a pivotal moment in her journey.
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How does Ava survive after her family's death in Borderlands 3? toggle section
Ava, a character in Borderlands 3, copes with her family's demise by journaling her experiences. She joins the Crimson Raiders and acquires Maya's powers following Troy's defeat by the Vault Hunters. Ava uses these powers to generate a protective force field around herself and her allies, Lilith and Tannis. She eventually takes over the leadership of the Crimson Raiders, persisting in their battle against Hyperion.
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What metaphor does Ava use to describe her pain in Borderlands 3? toggle section
Ava, in Borderlands 3, describes her pain as a knife slowly penetrating her sternum, producing a symphony of emotions. This metaphor serves to portray her physical distress and emotional upheaval.
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How does Ava's journal in Borderlands 3 shed light on her life after her family's death? toggle section
In Borderlands 3, Ava's journal reveals her struggle and resilience after her family's demise. She described her grief as akin to clutching barbed wire on day 3. By day 11, she was living in an alley, using a sewer's pressure release valve for heat. On day 443, she joined a shipping crew and survived by stealing and selling the captain's vac suit.
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Background

As a young teenager, Ava was separated from her family after they were killed and began a journal detailing her life after these events. On day 3, she commented that she deeply missed her family, comparing the pain to holding onto barbed wire that she was afraid of letting go lest she have nothing left. On day 11, Ava found an alley to live in, using a nearby pressure release valve from an adjacent sewer to keep herself warm enough to survive the nights.

Just over a year later on day 443 of her logs, Ava joined a shipping crew, using the opportunity to steal and sell the captain's vac suit for food money. By day 939 over another year later, Ava arrived on Athenas through a merchant ship, complaining about the monks and a constant stench of cheese she smelt. She noted that she saw a blue-haired chick in the market with a cool Maliwan gun, suggesting to herself that she steal something from her as a bargaining chip for the gun. Ava's attempt however led her to being caught by Maya, the blue-haired woman, after she found Ava trying to steal her book.

Rather than throwing Ava off a cliff however, Maya decided to take Ava in as an apprentice as a way of teaching her how to survive; in truth however, Maya came to realize that Ava would one day be her successor as a Siren and sought to train her to become one when that day came. During her training, Ava was often tasked with mundane things such as meditation or cleaning much to her ire, though she always remained interested whenever Maya told Ava of her adventures as a Vault Hunter, which Ava aspired to become herself.

Involvement

Borderlands 3

Ava is first mentioned by Maya when the Vault Hunters visit Athenas to reclaim the Promethean Vault Key. Maya assigned her to guard a library, but fearing her death, she sends the Vault Hunters to check on Ava. They find her looting dead Maliwan riot troopers, and searched various tombs for the eridium required by Maya while holding off Maliwan units and ratches. With Captain Traunt slain and Athenas saved, Maya takes her aboard Sanctuary III.

Despite her demands to accompany Maya and the Vault Hunters to The Forgotten Basilica, Maya ordered her to stay with Lilith, of which she begrudgingly agrees. However, as they enter the Vault, Lilith reports Ava missing, only for their ECHO call to quickly cut off. With The Rampager defeated, Ava unexpectedly shows up, leading to Maya scolding her. Troy and Tyreen Calypso appear after the Vault was looted and take Ava hostage. Maya attempts to bargain for Ava using Troy, but Troy leeches her, killing Maya. After the Calypsos leave, Tannis instructs the Vault Hunters to take Ava aboard Sanctuary III. Angered by Lilith's decision to keep hunting for the Vaults instead of going directly after the Calypsos, she blames her for getting Maya involved in the war before rushing into her bunk and crying. Optionally, the Vault Hunters can follow and comfort her, for which she thanks them by giving them the Cloud Kill before asking to be left alone for a while. She continues to be bitter towards Lilith until Tannis points out that Troy is ultimately to blame for Maya's death and urges her to accept the Crimson Raiders as her new family.

During The Great Vault, Ava along with several Atlas soldiers storm the COV Cathedral and raid the vault hidden behind it. The Vault Hunters slay Troy, causing Maya's powers to pass onto Ava as a result. She then instinctively projects a force field around herself, Lilith and Tannis when Tyreen attempts to crush them under a pile of rocks. She appears in The Pyre of Stars along with Tannis and Lilith while they try to activate The Machine before Tyreen foils their plans. She last appears on Destroyer's Rift after the Vault Hunters kill Tyreen and is named the new commander of the Crimson Raiders by Lilith, who then seemingly sacrifices herself to save Pandora and Elpis.

Director's Cut

Ava realized she didn't have any friends besides Hermes and that she needed to open up to people, so she started the Mysteriouslier podcast about "inexplicable crimes which were definitely committed by ghosts." The subject of her first case was the death of Lorelai's undercover agent on Promethea, and she invited the Vault Hunter to join her to solve it as co-hosts.

Ava observed as the Vault Hunter and Lorelai investigated the agent's murder. Ava offered up supernatural explanations whenever she could, while Lorelai countered with more grounded theories. The Vault Hunter and Lorelai caught up with the murderer, who was wearing Atlas armor, but they were hit by a train while trying to escape. This was enough for Lorelai, but Ava was left unsatisfied as some clues of the case, such as chanting being heard by witnesses, were unresolved.

On Eden-6, Clay's friend Hizzen Mays went missing and Ava invited the Vault Hunter to be her co-host again. Clay played Hizzen's last known message, in which he mentioned having made a pact and that he was in trouble, which excited Ava for the supernatural implications. They found Hizzen had been kidnapped by someone with an "inhuman" voice, which Ava said could be a demon, and as they followed the trail they caught up just as Hizzen was shot. Using keys they found on Hizzen's body, they entered his safe room and discovered Hizzen had joined the Children of the Vault in order to keep them away from the crashed Jakobs' battleship, the Family Jewel. Clay proclaimed that Hizzen hadn't been kidnapped and the voice they heard was Hizzen talking to himself before he ultimately took his own life, while Ava was again left unsatisfied as it was unclear how Hizzen knew about the Family Jewel.

Ava broke into Lilith's email account and sent out a request for all Crimson Raiders to report anything "spooky," and Private Francis reported that he had been hearing voices at night. Ava recruited the Vault Hunter to be her co-host to investigate on Pandora, and told them that the podcast had gained its first subscriber, which turned out to be Claptrap. Claptrap traveled to Pandora to help with the podcast, and they found that Private Francis had been killed and his body was consumed by Skags. Ava correctly deduced that Francis had been killed in a Dahl factory and his body was dumped at the site, and she researched Francis' assignment, which was to monitor a bandit chief named Beef Plissken. Ava tasked the Vault Hunter with locating Francis' head, which would have had a recording device attached.

Plissken turned out to be rather amicable for a bandit and he was almost their second subscriber until Claptrap provoked him. As the Vault Hunter cut a swathe through Plissken's forces, Ava accepted a sponsorship deal with Fattress. Plissken himself entered the fray and quickly surrendered, offering the head for his life. A mysterious force possessed Plissken and told the Vault Hunter to drop their investigation, then forced Plissken to kill himself in a grinder. Claptrap inadvertently found Francis' head, and the recording revealed that someone had him bring people to a Vault, and, like Plissken, had possessed Francis and silenced him via death by skags. Ava became excited as this seemed to match the previous cases and it indicated it could actually be a supernatural murder spree, which caused Claptrap to unsubscribe.

Ava believed the murders were linked to Eridian technology, and asked the Crimson Raider patrols to be on the lookout for the symbols they had seen at each crime scene. Ensign Verbal on Nekrotafayo reported that he had seen something, and Ava accompanied the Vault Hunter to Scryer's Crypt because she felt she needed to show the Crimson Raiders she could "lead from the front" if she was to fill in for Lilith. The Vault Hunter and Ava found Verbal had been cut in half, with his lower half strung up as a warning. The Vault Hunter tried to dissuade Ava, but Ava was committed to investigating the crypt, which she felt looked like it was "rotting" from within.

Ava used her Siren powers to force open the locked entrance to the crypt, and inside both she and the Vault Hunter were overwhelmed by The Seer, who warned them to leave. Ava used her powers again to free herself and the Vault Hunter, and decided to continue further into the crypt. Throughout the crypt they found glyphs which Ava could interact with using her powers, and the glyphs showed that the Seer had used the murder victims to advance her agenda, seemingly helping them on Promethea and Eden-6 by having the victims interfere with the Children of the Vault, while Francis had been used to guide the Calypsos to the Vault of the Architect so they'd get there first. Ava was confused as the Seer was both helping and hurting them, and now she really wanted to get to the bottom of things as if the Seer was behind the scenes the whole time then the Seer had the answers Ava needed, namely why Maya had to die and why Lilith was gone.

Ava and the Vault Hunter eventually arrived at the Chronoptic Centrum, and the glyph revealed that while the Calypsos had been dealt with, the Seer was now concerned with Lilith's actions regarding Elpis, which the Seer said had ruined all of the work she had done. After Ava snapped that the Seer deserved to have her plans thwarted for trying to control people, the Seer agreed that acausals couldn't be controlled due to being chaos incarnate, so the only solution was to remove them. The Vault Hunter and Ava were able to overpower the Seer and gunned her down.

Ava was ecstatic as this meant that Mysteriouslier was now a "true-crime success story" after solving the mystery, and thus it would have sponsors for life. Inside a chest they discovered a mysterious amulet, and as the Vault Hunter examined it Ava told them that since the Seer had said she would find what she was seeking, it must mean that Lilith is still alive somewhere, and Ava was committed to finding her.

Borderlands 4

A few months prior to the new Vault Hunters' arrival on Kairos, Ava asked Amara to pet-sit Hermes for her and left her at least seven pages of instructions for how to take care of her pet.

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