Major spoilers in this question, so beware if you have yet to finish the game!
The question isn't so much about what happens to him since the ending is pretty unambiguous in that respect, but rather, what happened to...
his face. Throughout the game you can see the metal clips around his face, which is even a different colour to the skin on his forehead and neck. At the end, after he dies, the mask comes off and you see his real face, with one eye burned and all horrible. Most intriguing is the massive Vault symbol scar, as it looks more like a strip of metal embedded in his skin rather than a scar. You can see his face here.
Is there any reference as to what happened here? Is some past event mentioned or anything? I don't remember hearing anything about it as I was a bit surprised when I found out about it towards the end.
55 Answers
This wiki entry on Handsome Jack point out that:
He was wearing the mask even before he took control of Hyperion
Which implies to me that whatever the explanation for his face, it would have to do with something about his past that is unrelated to current borderlands events.
Following that line of thinking, the article also offers 3 possible hypotheses:
His daughter Angel did that to him by accident before she could control her powers.
He was branded by a Vault Guardian or Bandit during his search for the vault (before he leaves it to the vault hunters)
His grandmother (who is known to be a Psycho) did that to him when he was younger.
I personally like (3) because of the part in the article and the game when you find out that Jack had his grandmother killed because of some sort of trauma that he underwent at her hands.
The complete article is here.
In addition, I found this video which is an interview by Anthony Burch and Paul Hellquist which says that there is an NPC in Sanctuary who talks about what is under Handsome Jack's mask. Although, they do say that those are just the fan theories that were bandied about on the forums.
Hope this helped a little at least.
1If you notice the cutscene before the warrior,You can already see that he is bleeding and stuff.Perhaps his face looks that way because of the earlier fight. It will explain the blood and the 'missing' eye,But It wouldnt explain the vault symbol. Just a possibility.
Spoiler Alert scroll down to the bottom to find out!
The story all lies in Borderlands The Pre-Sequel.
The game is about hunting a vault. At the end, you have to defeat a boss called "The Sentinal". After you defeat it you will be provided with loot. A lot.... I mean a lot a lot...
Then Jack says
Wow this thing is small, is this what I came for?
he touches the vault relic. He gets levitated and a throne builds. Jack is seated. He sees his future. He sees "The Warrior". He says
I understand now.
as he laughs. Then Lilith the Firehawk punches the vault relic into Jack's face. forming a vault shape permanently on it. He gets angry and says.........................
He hadn't got it at the start of the pre-sequel(currently playing it). He did mention his abusive grand mother in the pre-sequel and that is after 1.in borderlands 2 he says he hooked her(angel) up after an accident I.E. before borderlands 1 because she was hooked up and appeared to be an A.I., so it can't be 3 or 1. So I think it is 2(might be reviled at the end of the pre-sequel).
on the wiki it says he was branded by his abusive grandmother or by a bandit
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