Murphy

Murphy is a genetically modified anthropoid skag and native of the harsh, lawless planet of Pandora. Though he began life as a completely ordinary skag pup, he was captured in the wild and brought to the Hyperion Corporation's Wildlife Exploitation Preserve at only two weeks old, where he spent the next couple years of his life as one of many of the laboratory's test subjects. Murphy belonged to an ongoing series of experiments, headed by Dr. Declan Tasker, attempting to blend the ferocity and hardiness of the local wildlife with the intelligence and tactical cognizance of human beings via gene-splicing/controlled slag injection, creating idealized "beast soldiers" for use in combat. He was the first known (at the time, anyway) true success and Tasker's pride and joy, the fruit of his long and arduous project labors that up until that point had been in imminent danger of being defunded. Eventually, however, Hyperion's CEO, Handsome Jack, decided that Tasker wasn't pushing his experimentation far enough, and demanded he begin subjecting Murphy to more intense, inhumane procedures. Tasker, a compassionate man who had become emotionally attached to the skag, refused, and like several other unfortunate souls who'd gone against Jack's orders was punished by becoming a test subject himself, leaving Murphy at the mercy of the other scientists' cruel and often agonizing experiments for years afterward. This kindled a loathing in his heart for Hyperion, and for Jack, that would burn even after he managed a violent and chaotic jailbreak from the Preserve alongside several other surviving test subjects, and as he struck out into the Pandoran wilds for the first time after spending his entire life behind those walls he swore an oath of vengeance against them for what they'd done to Tasker, his best friend and paternal figure.

These days, Murphy is out to prove that even a skag can be a Vault Hunter (and God help you if you try to tell him otherwise). His interactions with strangers, especially since most people aren't accustomed to seeing a talking skag wearing blue jeans, often become heated quickly as he can't stand being talked down to and will become confrontational if he believes you are. Don't mistake this for his general personality, however - once you get to know him you'll soon realize he's actually a good-hearted fellow, if a little rough around the edges. His weapons of choice are modified rocket launchers and shotguns, as well as grenades he likes to hide in his belly to hork up when a situation goes sour. He also loves food, as evidenced by his ample gut (spending most of your life on a strictly-controlled diet and then suddenly being given the freedom to eat whatever you want will do that to you), and fancies himself a good cook - unfortunately failing to realize he's pretty terrible at it and most everything he makes is inedible to everything but, well... a skag. At the very least, he's much handier in a fight, and a surprisingly resourceful tinkerer when it comes to weaponry.

When he's not out bashing in bandit skulls or collecting loot, you can often find him in the company of fellow experiment Valkyrie, an anthropoid stalker and former Hyperion assassin/spy he's quite fascinated by (having thought he was the only one of his "kind" his entire life) and very obviously smitten with.