Hyperion Corporation, An Empire

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Through the initial introduction of the humanities class, students were lectured on the theory of empires and how it is understood in literature. Rather than finding another connection to the theory of empires within more literature, I considered my list of games that could be used to base my understanding of the theory. While there were choices like Valkyria Chronicles, which contained an country overtaking territory from others for resources, or Planetside 2, in which three different alliances combat for facilities on different continents, from my small collection of games, Borderlands 2 seemed to have a correlation with the concepts of empires.

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Borderlands 2 is set on a planet named Pandora, where the main antagonist, Handsome Jack, claims dictatorship over. The main importance of the Pandora is that it contains a Vault, a hidden cache believed to contain alien technology. The legend of the Vault then attracts multiple types of people, ranging from small groups to large weapons manufacturers, such as Hyperion Corporation that Handsome Jack owns. Considering Hyperion Corporation as an empire within Borderlands 2’s universe, as Handsome Jack possesses a plethora of power comparable to empires, many factors of the theory of empires could be explored.

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In the game, Handsome Jack wields his power in order to obtain the Vault, which extends upon the component of power in an empire. Due to being in control of a large weapons manufacturing company, Handsome Jack possesses an endless supply of weapons, ranging from regular guns, to mechanized soldiers, in which he flaunts to the protagonists, the Vault Hunters. Not only does he have armaments, but he also has authority over a workforce which is able to both function as labor and an army for any purpose that Handsome Jack requires. This power relates to empires as empires require a force to attack others for purposes like obtain territory or to defend their own possessions.

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Since the Vault attracted people to Pandora, there are many settlements scattered among the levels. Of those settlements, most are either hostile to the Vault Hunter or are under control of Handsome Jack. The settlers in those that are under Handsome Jack’s influence are used for labor in mines to collect a metal called eridium, which is used to open the Vault. This portrays two different aspects of empire. The first aspect would be the growth of the empire’s territory. While Handsome Jack proclaimed himself the dictator of Pandora, he does not actually control all of the land in Pandora as there are bandits that live among the levels that follow their own rules. Thus extending upon a second aspect of empire, the assimilation of those under his influence. As Handsome Jack possesses a large weapons manufacturing corporation, he would certainly have large funds. With those settlers under the promise of payment, they mine eridium for him, granted if he does not massacre them instead.

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Throughout the game, Handsome Jack repeatedly claims to the Vault Hunters that he is the hero and that the Vault Hunters are the villains. While he massacres entire settlements in on Pandora, Handsome Jack declares that he will be the hero of Pandora and transform Pandora into a paradise. Since the Vault Hunters are the main obstacles toward his vision of paradise, creates various mechanical bosses to combat the Vault Hunters. These events lead to another concept of empire: opposition. Handsome Jack puts his cause on a higher moral standing by only seeing the end result as valiant and thinks that his actions are for the greater good. Handsome Jack’s daughter, Angel, is a Siren: a rare human that possesses superhuman powers that can be increased through the absorption of eridium. High levels of eridium absorption leads to a dependency on eridium, which can lead to death once the Siren stops absorbing eridium. Handsome Jack has Angel constantly pumped with eridium to power the Vault Key, trapped in a room to prevent her from using her powers. After she helps the Vault Hunters free her from the eridium pipes, she dies and Handsome Jack declares the Vault Hunters child murderers. This further fuels his reason for viewing the Vault Hunters as his opposition.

In the end, the empire of Hyperion Corporation crumbles after the Vault Hunters defeat both Handsome Jack and the alien technology, the Warrior, that he planned to kill the bandits of Pandora with to create his paradise. The humanities course helped remind me of the game Borderlands 2 and think of the game in a different perspective. While the other games would illustrate the rise of an empire, Borderlands 2 portrayed the fall of an empire, which I alone could never have thought about.

Works Cited/Used

http://borderlands.wikia.com/wiki/Borderlands_2

Borderlands 2