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EpicNNG has broken a huge story for Borderlands 4 fans – at least, the ones who actually cared about the story.

He revealed this on Twitter (spoiler warning):
AVA WAS CUT FROM BORDERLANDS 4
There are numerous files related to her in the game, more specifically outlining that she was completely replaced by Amara late in development. This means yes, she was originally going to team up with Zane to help save Lilith
She was also going to be accompanied by Hermes, and be hanging out around Sanctuary 3 where it crash landed. There are also (unintentional?) hints to this being the case in the game, such as Amara’s abilities being very closely similar to Ava’s in 3
It would appear everything aside from references has been completely scrubbed including audio files, models & more.
Maybe she’ll return in a DLC? Perhaps not. From what I know, this decision is final, at least for the first content year of BL4.
Who Is Ava (For Those Who Don’t Know But Are Curious Now)?
Ava was introduced in Borderlands 3 as a pivotal character in the game and the franchise as a whole.
When Maya found Ava trying to steal at a book, she decided to take her in as a student. However, what Ava didn’t know was that she was set to inherit Maya’s powers as a Siren.
Maya hid this from her. But true enough, when Maya died in the events in the game, Ava is thrown into the role of being one of the Sirens.
Ava was not a popular character for various reasons. Of course, a lot of Borderlands fans loved Maya and resent that she took her spot.
But even if you were not a Maya fan, Ava’s story does not really endear her to the fans. But that was why some fans expected her in the game.
Some fans expected she would be the next playable Siren, to redeem her in the eyes of fans. But even if that didn’t happen, everyone thought they would try to fix her.
Who Is Amara And Why Did She Take Ava’s Spot?
Amara was the playable Siren in Borderlands 3. Nicknamed The Tiger of Partali, she is a street smart fighter who loves to throw hands.
Amara even uses her Siren powers to build six extra hands to throw. But as a playable character, she was already popular.
We won’t pretend to know what Gearbox was thinking. But it seems Borderlands 4’s story wasn’t written with character development in mind; we mainly got a playable action movie this time.
We know Gearbox didn’t try to squeeze in every fan favorite character to the main story this time. It was an easy choice to keep the few characters that did show up to be the popular ones.
If Ava fans make their voices heard, they could convince Gearbox to add Ava to Borderlands 4. Regardless if Gearbox was planning to or not, the community could compel them to do it, if they want to.
