My Stranger Theory! Spoiler Warning
So, I have been working on this theory for a while and I know we all have our own personal theories as to who the stranger is, whether it be Athena, Vaughn, Felix, etc, but for me personally, I think it is none other than Handsome Jack. You might be thinking, "he's dead, got shot in the head lol" or "lilith blew his face off, literally," but what if that is not the case? What if, instead, it was a certain body double that was killed?
*as a quick note, it was confirmed that Timothy was not the body double killed at Opportunity, just getting that out of the way.
Honestly, from a writing standpoint it is quite possible for Handsome Jack to be alive and in the flesh, all because of Timothy. We don't know Timothy's whereabouts in BL2, and we don't know in TftBL either. Obviously, there is a reason why in BL2(he wasn't thought up of yet), but why has there been absolutely no mention of him so far, considering he is part of the universe? Other characters have been mentioned, not all, but a good amount. Rhys being Hyperion would know something, I'd imagine. It could be he is in hiding or maybe the stranger himself, but what if it's because he died in Handsome Jack's place at hero's pass? Between Borderlands the Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2 is a five year gap, roughly. And as stated, there has been a three year war. Enough time for Handsome Jack,who has gone off the deep end, to brainwash a guy that looks exactly like him physically to think he is Handsome Jack, especially since on paper Timothy is dead. Why? Because at the vault of knowledge there is a very real possibility that Handsome Jack caught a fleeting glimpse of himself, or someone that looks like him, either dead or dying. Why would he risk dying if he saw himself dead or close to it? He does see himself as the hero, and a hero doesn't die. Handsome Jack is a tactician, smart, cunning, and most of all manipulative. After all, he sacrificed Wilhelm, his body guard.
Now, it is one thing to speculate, but one thing gaming companies are good at, it's throwing in minor hints, even when they aren't sure what they want to do. When it was announced that telltale was making Tales from the Borderlands, it was also announced that it would tie in with the the Pre-Sequel. So far, all that has really been done to those regards is how Athena was captured by Brick and Mordecai. That isn't a whole lot of a tie in, really. What would be a good tie in? What happened to Timothy. He's loved enough to have people questioning what happened after the Pre-Sequel. Still seems like a jump to assume he's dead? In the Pre-Sequel, there is a paticular phrase that the doppelganger says every so often that goes along the lines of "just five more years of this!" As in, five more years of being a body double. But the issue with this statement is at the beginning of the Pre-Sequel, Timothy is starting up a 20 year contract. This could be a reference to Handsome Jack's demise at the end of BL2, but why would the other characters not give a reference to their own demise? Nisha and Wilhelm both die as well, isn't it just a little odd how only one character gives a death reference? And another interesting detail is the doppelganger's action skill, which is two digi-jacks. For those who do not know, when you fight Handsome Jack at the end of BL2, he has digital clones that pop up, and for me, it's typically two at a time. Either they swapped before or midway through the fight. After all, Handsome Jack could go invisible, who says Timothy couldn't either later on? It could be just the game designers utilizing the digi-jacks so players could use a cool skill, but it just seems too parallel to ignore.
So what points to the stranger being Handsome Jack, how does he even seem like him? There is three things for sure that could point to Handsome Jack. First, and pretty obvious, the shot gun Conference Call. While it does appear telltale isn't being too interested in keeping guns from the universe as they are or defining who should and should not have a legendary class gun, they have clearly defined that the Conference Call is the Conference Call in episode 4 with Jack's trophy case. And, who just so happens to be sporting one? The stranger. Next point, the stranger has lost someone. Who else has? Handsome Jack. It is true that pleanty of other characters have as well, but coupling this with the Conference Call and the next point, it's hard to say otherwise. While it is true that plenty of people by the time the story is being told to the stranger could know about gortys, it seems rather odd the stranger not only knows of it, but also knows where the parts are. As shown on Jack's trophy case, he owns Atlas. So, who would have the technology to track the gortys parts at his fingertips? Handsome Jack. Who's trophy case had one of the parts to boot? Handsome Jack's. But, this isn't all of it. The stranger has let some sarcasm slip, as minor as it is. And to get a vault, Jack could keep his cool, as long as he got to blow off some steam, aka being a jerk and killing the occational bandit. He can act and, yet again, is a manipulator. The stranger was willing to gamble with Fiona, which Handsome Jack would gamble on occation, as long as the odds were in his favor. That, and we all know Fiona wouldn't answer any questions for Handsome Jack, and so would he.
Now, why would he be dragging Fiona and Rhys around, why be so mean to Rhys, and where does the AI Jack tie in? Short answer to the last two questions, Nakayama. For those unfamiliar with Dr. Nakayama, he is a TOTAL screw up. The guy is the only boss in the borderverse to die by falling down a set of stairs. You do nothing! He just kinda dies. But, he was intelligent and obsessed with Handsome Jack. Rhys just happens to come across his body on display (creepily). The AI is a Nakayama screw up from the grave. Why? Because if Handsome Jack did have a digital copy of himself made in the event of his death, why would Nakayama have it? We know he did make the AI, since you can scan the digital Handsome Jack and it shows Nakayama as the creator. And, as demonstrated in the quest Handsome AI in the Pre-Sequel, an AI of Jack wouldn't listen to Jack, why would this AI be different? Which would explain why the stranger really doesn't seem to like Rhys at all. He uploaded essentially an AI Jack virus to Helios, which Handsome Jack prides himself with owning and uses to spy on Pandora with. And, if he was currently hiding away up on Helios while trying to find the next super weapon, he would be quite angry, indeed. Kicked out of Helios or losing control of Helios, he would want answers. Knowing about the hunt for gortys, he would also want it. The best way to get info out of both? To hide who you are. That, and he might want them to fix what they caused on Helios(maybe even need help, as we have no idea how much control this AI now has) and finish up gortys for him. It would explain why he didn't bother asking Fiona her story first (pandoran). While it does seem kinda far fetched still, there is a very real possibility. That, and Handsome Jack is a fan favorite. Of coarse a gaming company would bring back a character if they could that is this popular.
So... thoughts? Maybe an input or two? And please post your own theories on here, I would love to see them! ^_^ Text wall it up!
Comments
Jack is very dead, the scar under his face once you kill him kinda confirms it was the "real" Jack.
If I had to chose who I think the Stranger is, Id probably say Lilith due to how the stranger treats Rhys, saying how they lost someone important to them, her name is always mentioned at the end of ep 3, and can be mentioned again in ep 4, and in episode 3's start the Stranger can say he is just starting to get how being around Rhys and Fiona can drive people insane, which makes me think that we never met the Stranger or if we did very briefly
They could've performed more plastic surgery on Timothy. He is a body double, and that would mean every detail, unfortunately for Timothy.
Timothy looks at Handsome Jack, in horror, "Oh, you have to be kidding me." Handsome Jack looks at him and says, "Sucks for you, kiddo."
As far as Lilith being the stranger, I don't think she is. She is all that is protecting Sanctuary right now, if you think about it. Yeah, there is Maya, but Lilith is way more powerful. Even if she could just phase there, it would be too dangerous. I would imagine that was why she had Athena brought to her. I could see Lilith being the reason why the stranger kidnapped Rhys and Fiona, though.
Lilith isn't the stranger, the owner of the wikia confirmed that it was a troll editing that he didn't noticed...
NOPE, NOPE, NOPE TIMOTHY IS ALIVE LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING...
But it would explain why TT haven't #Save(ed)Timothy...
It sucks, because I absolutely love Timothy, really I do! I would love to play as him in borderlands 3 and hear more funny comments about heights, but I have had a bad feeling about his wherabouts since the end of tps. Basically, what I think is if Timothy is alive, the original Handsome Jack is definitely dead, but if the original is alive, more than likely Timothy is dead.
Really? I thought that they put the stranger's voice actor under Lilith just for placement until the stranger is revealed. It's happened in a couple of animes I've watched with a mystery person before.
I'm honestly thinking that the stranger is a former Atlas employee that worked on the Gortys project, and wants to know how they got to this point, and how things were with Gortys etc. Which in the teaser trailer, they refer to as "the truth."
There's a theory that the stranger is general pollux that is aparently very convincing. I haven't seen it yet, but it is a huge possibility. My whole thing is it has to be someone that would be associated with Atlas, since they know where the parts are. That's why I don't see it being a vault hunter. How would they be tracking the parts?
Although I do believe it's someone who's associated with Atlas, I don't think it's general Pollux. Last we saw of him, he was in suspended animation and didn't really have two functioning eyes. And judging by the way he spoke in the video messages, it doesn't seem like the stranger's voice at all.
Well, that is true. Awful hard to see with .... no eyes. That would be a crazy plot twist, though! Imagine Rhys and Fiona's reaction to knowing the guy with the gun couldn't even see!
Come to think of it,plenty of people know about Gortys.Moxxi and Zer0 knew about it's existence somehow,and and when Jack appears at the end of EP1 he says:
"This,ladies and gentlemen,is the Gortys Project,and it's gonna lead us to a vault.And then I'll probably kill you."
It seems like the Handsome AI knows plenty about Gortys and it seems like it's his goal to get to that vault,but in the later episodes it's never put that way again.
I'm pretty certain the stranger is Cassius.
Although the only issue I have with this theory is why he would want to find the vault.
I'd really like it to be Timothy though...
They might know about it because of Athena. My whole thing is the stranger is tracking the parts, it seems like. Why would you go through the trouble of finding the parts and leave them where they are?
They knew about it in the past section of EP1,before Athena was captured,when she was still presumably doing nothing in Hollow Point.
There was talk about the Stranger locating the parts in a previous Stranger thread.What caught my eye is that the energy chasis was in some rocky canyon area,but they were somewhere in the Eridium Blight in EP4.I have recently found a bit in the Next time on Tales from the Borderlands... part in EP1 which shows a strange Hyperion building in an area which looks like the Eridium Blight.My guess is that's where the next part is.
I completely forgot they didn't have her yet lol. Yeah, I kinda remember that. That, and on episode 4, when you can choose to run or stay put with Rhys and the meteor shower starts, it looked like a space ship or something was what they dodged under. My husband thought it might've been the bunker that you fight in BL2, but neither one of us was sure. We couldn't remember at the time of it would've been there. You talking about the Hyperion building reminded me of that lol.
I've been trying to think why Cassius, and it occured to me that he might want to study it, or he knows what is really inside the vault of the traveler and want it. It is a possibility!
It's obviously not Timothy, Timothy hated Jack by the end of the Pre-Sequel and while he looks and sounds like Jack, he doesn't act like Jack.
The Jack that Lilith or the Player kills is Handsome Jack, so no Jack is not the stranger. This theory is ridiculous.
You also seem to forget that HoloJack wouldn't exist if Jack wasn't dead and the only Jack that has met Fiona and Rhys is HoloJack. The original Jack would obviously not know of either of them or how to find them
This theory is ridiculous and doesn't fit with established canon.
It looked a bit too big to be the Bunker to me,and the Bunker should be crashed at the uh...Bunker.But that ship is interesting.It looked kinda like a cargo ship to me.Might've been an eridium transport ship.
Yeah, going back and playing that part, not only is the bunker not big enough but it shouldn't be there. It could be a cargo ship. Man, I wish they would give us a hint! I know it might ruin the surprise, but I wanna guess it so bad lol.
Well, that is why it is called a theory, not Canon, not What is Going to Happen, not What the Writers are Writing, or The Truth. I said theory, because it is fun to theorize, like what the whole community is doing. No one knows who the stranger is yet because the story is not complete, we will know on the 20th, possibly. What is ridiculous is coming on a thread and being just plain rude. I really don't think it is a couple of different people that has been mentioned by other users, but I am not rude when I disagree. I say why I don't think so in a polite manner and give my reasoning. And I almost feel like you didn't read the whole post, because then you would know what the theory is for the Handsome Jack AI (holojack) in my theory. If you don't like the theory, cool because it probably isn't what is going to happen, but that is why it is a theory.