Borderlands ending explained: Who is the daughter of Eridia?

Sadly, that message hasn't yet filtered through to the big screen. Borderlands – which is now showing in UK cinemas – is yet another dud in the manner of recent flicks like Uncharted, Mortal Kombat and Five Nights at Freddy's, once again failing to translate a successful gaming franchise into a compelling cinematic prospect.

Indeed, reviews for Eli Roth's admittedly star-studded film are so poor that it currently sits on just 4 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes – hardly an enticing score for potential cinemagoers unsure whether to make the trip for this one.

But if you are one of those who hasn't been put off by that negative reception and need a little help unpacking the final scenes, read on to have the Borderlands ending explained. And, of course, beware: there are major spoilers from this point onwards.

Borderlands ending explained: Who is the daughter of Eridia?

First, let's recap events up to the grand finale. At the start of the film, outlaw Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is hired by the menacing Atlas (Edgar Ramirez) to track down his daughter Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt) – which kicks off a chaotic journey that sees the formation of a rag-tag team desperate to take Atlas down.

That team consists of Lilith, Tina, reformed mercenary Roland (Kevin Hart), muscular protector Krieg (Florian Munteanu), eccentric scientist Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and extremely irritating robot Claptrap (Jack Black), who must overcome a number of obstacles on their way to reach a mysterious Vault that can only be opened by the 'Daughter of Eridia'.

All along, the team had thought that Tiny Tina was this vital daughter, but when she attempts to open the Vault, she is unable to – proving that theory wrong.

Even worse, Atlas and his crew soon show up and reveal that she had been created using Eridium blood simply to give him a key to the Vault. Given this clearly hasn't worked, she is now completely worthless to him - and must die.

Thankfully, Lilith – who has been away retrieving a secret message from her late mum – is on hand to save the day.

It turns out that Lilith is the Daughter of Eridia, and so she moves into place to open the Vault, which immediately gives way. She also appears to catch aflame before suddenly sprouting some impressive fiery wings.

You see, in a twist that will not be a surprise to anyone who has played the games, it is revealed that not only is she the Daughter of Eridia, but she's also a goddess known as the Firehawk, whose mission is to protect Pandora.

Her first job is to retrieve Tina, who has been thrown into the Vault, and to explode Atlas's ship – a task that she accomplishes easily. Oh, the things you can do when you have wings made of fire!

But things aren't actually quite so simple. Atlas is protected by some sort of protective aura and is able to take Tina hostage, before he demands that Lilith take them all down to the Vault so he can access its extremely powerful weapons that once belonged to the rulers of the galaxy.

Down in the Vault, however, Atlas is no match for Lilith. She disables his protection and leaves him trapped before escaping with Tina. Cut to wild scenes of celebration complete with an impressive firework display and some pretty nifty tricks performed by Lilith using her new fire powers.

All that's left is for a brief mid-credits scene that sees Claptrap showing off his dance moves, and that's it. Pandora is saved!

Borderlands is now showing in UK cinemas.

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