Because of her presence, Tears began appearing throughout the city, which drew the attention of several key scientists, including Yi Suchong. Elizabeth eventually learned of DeWitt's location, as well as his occupation, status, and relationship with Sally.
With this information in hand, Elizabeth began her plot of revenge. Elizabeth remains rather cagey about her intentions and motives, and insists on meeting Cohen, whom she knows has the location of Sally.
DeWitt takes the job gratis as an attempt to find Sally. Booker grows rather suspicious of Elizabeth and her lack of knowledge of Rapture, especially when it comes to the Little Sisters. Elizabeth rebuts his suspicions and interrogates Booker on what happened between him and Sally, hearing that he lost her while gambling at the Sir Prize casino. All the while, DeWitt begins to suffer from flashbacks, confusion, and starts hemorrhaging from his nose, all side effects of crossing over into another dimension.
With Booker at her side, Elizabeth leads him to her source. Elizabeth then brings DeWitt to the Garden of the Muses , a night club owned by Sander Cohen, who is revealed to be the path to Sally's location. Elizabeth and DeWitt are denied entry due to lack of invitation by masquerade mask.
Elizabeth deduces that the artistic sponsors of the event: Rapture Records , The Artist's Struggle , and The Golden Rule have received invitational masks. While attempting to steal said mask from one of these establishments, Elizabeth reveals that she came to Rapture for a man, a man who owes a debt, and that she is there to collect.
She plays her part and distracts the store owners while DeWitt searches for the mask. After obtaining it, she reveals she got her acting abilities from her father, who was "comfortable in a variety of roles. Elizabeth and DeWitt return to Cohen's with the masks in hand and attend his artistic event. As they approach Cohen, he electrocutes two dance performers for ruining his creative vision. Elizabeth questions Cohen about Sally and he knowingly tells Elizabeth she is more than she seems.
Cohen acknowledges that he knows the whereabouts of Sally and offers to reveal them in exchange for performing a dance. Elizabeth and DeWitt dance for Cohen as they discuss Sally's condition, that she may be in danger because of the men of Rapture, and that DeWitt had interrogated Suchong for hours about Sally. Cohen is dissatisfied with their dancing and electrocutes them. Cohen then sends the two to Fontaine's Department Store , which had been sunken to the sea floor below Rapture after Ryan "killed" Frank Fontaine and captured his followers.
Cohen communicates that Sally is in the Housewares Department , a neighboring building. Elizabeth and DeWitt fight their way through Splicers in the store, and realize they must take the tram to reach the Housewares department. Elizabeth further questions DeWitt on his life. Suffering from memory flashes, Booker confuses the year he arrived in Rapture. He reveals that he took Sally in after the Little Sister Orphanages shut down and cared for her after that.
He later took her to Sir Prize and lost track of her while he was gambling, his tone serious and his guilt of losing her evident. Elizabeth and DeWitt manage to reach the tram, but the walkway to the station collapsed into an abyss and now is bridged only with gushing water.
The two navigate the Department store to find a Splicer they encountered earlier, who has obtained a plasmid with the ability to freeze any object.
Elizabeth opens a Tear to reveal one last bottle for Booker to take, lying to DeWitt that the inter-dimensional ability came from a new plasmid called "Tear. They return to the tram to freeze the water, cross the frozen bridge, and reach the Housewares Department. As they arrive, they witness Sally fleeing into the ventilation system. Elizabeth suggests that they close off all the other vents except one and turn up the vent heating to drive her out to them.
Booker is disturbed by the idea, as it would hurt Sally, but reluctantly agrees. After closing the rest of the vents in Housewares, they go to one in the Toys Section, where Elizabeth raises the temperature, burning Sally and concerning Booker. Booker attempts to pull Sally from the vent, but releases her when he sees that she has become a Little Sister. Booker then fights her Big Daddy and seems to defeat it. DeWitt returns to Sally and attempts to pull her out. In the struggle, Elizabeth demands that he lets go.
DeWitt remembers the event which caused him to come to Rapture, when he was Comstock after attempting to steal Anna, resulting in her decapitation. Elizabeth and the Lutece Twins reveal the truth: that he reverted back to his original identity and escaped to Rapture, running away from his guilt and claiming a life that wasn't his own.
Comstock apologizes to Elizabeth, seemingly sincere, and reaches out to her, but she doesn't accept or believe him. She says he will soon be sorry as she witnesses the Big Daddy return, coldly informs him of such, and soon the Daddy impales him with its drill. Unexpectedly, the Big Daddy then attacks Elizabeth and smashes her into the wall, impaling her on a piece of rebar which kills her. Elizabeth then finds herself in Paris, an illusion of what she perceives Paris to be - in the recesses of her mind, full of anachronisms such as the painter Seurat, Elizabeth requesting a book that hasn't been printed yet in a book store and the entire street singing along with Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose", even a bird that lands on Elizabeth's finger and chirps along with the tune.
Walking along the streets, she discovers Sally and pursues her through the streets of Paris, which becomes dilapidated, dark, and nightmarish, featuring a billboard for lobotomies and a weeping statue of the Angel of Columbia, which of course is still stylized in Elizabeth's image, and finally the door for Booker's detective service.
Attempting to leave she is confronted with the Little Sister form of Sally. The illusion comes to an end as Elizabeth sees Sally as a Little Sister being burned alive - her regrets for harming Sally and leaving her to an uncertain fate in Rapture.
The Luteces begrudgingly come to Elizabeth's aid and explain that when she died, she remained in existence because of her quantum-superposition, but she could not return to Rapture without collapsing her unique quantum state and becoming a normal person - a result of returning to the dimension in which she first died.
Thus when Elizabeth returned to Rapture, she lost her ability to manipulate Tears and became effectively trapped there. All she would have left was her knowledge and fragments of memory of what she saw behind the doors - all that Elizabeth has to do is to rescue Sally and survive. Elizabeth awakens to witness Atlas and his Splicers capturing Sally. Before they can kill Elizabeth, a vision of Booker appears, which no one else can see, and he tells her to claim she can get Atlas back to Rapture through the help of Suchong.
Claiming to be Suchong's lab assistant, Elizabeth convinces Atlas in her ability to carry this out. In exchange, for freedom, Atlas will give her Sally. Elizabeth is left alone with a radio to fulfill her end of the bargain, but finds herself experiencing amnesia. She remembered that she came to Rapture previously to make Comstock pay, but she doesn't recall coming back to Rapture, just that she was just in Paris. Booker reveals that the Paris she remembers was just an illusion, as is Booker himself.
Elizabeth stumbles upon her body and recalls her death at the hands of the Big Daddy. Elizabeth realizes that Booker is simply a manifestation of her own subconscious memories of what she had seen through the doors.
Surviving against the Splicers, Elizabeth is aided by the voice of Booker. She begins to have visions, claiming that the doors are cracking open. Her memory of what she saw behind the doors is returning, and she sees flashes of the future. She does not know, however, whose future she is observing. By observing key objects, she has visions of a crashed plane near the lighthouse, the grand city of Rapture, a Little Sister in hand with a Big Daddy, Andrew Ryan, rescued Little Sisters in Dr.
Elizabeth ventures to Suchong's impromptu lab in the Silver Fin Restaurant and there discovers that Suchong has been observing the Tears in Rapture which lead to Columbia. Suchong's lab also has recreated a Lutece Device but it has been sabotaged.
Suchong contacts Elizabeth and threatens to eliminate her, but Elizabeth offers to help him fix the device. Elizabeth remembers that the Lutece Particle was a part of the Lutece Field, and is responsible for Columbia floating, as well as the flight of aircraft like The First Lady. By repairing the machine, she can open a Tear to Columbia, retrieve the Lutece Particle, return to Rapture, and, by applying the particle to Department Store's top floor ceiling, lift the Department Store back up to Rapture and return them to the city.
Elizabeth then looks to find the equipment necessary to repair the machine, and in doing so comes across Atlas' overall plan. Through telegrams and plans in the hideout, she discovers that Atlas is planning to attack Rapture upon his escape with the forces he's amassed.
Meanwhile, he is looking for his " Ace in the Hole " held by Suchong to help him achieve his goals. Elizabeth soon discovers that business tycoon Frank Fontaine had faked his death and created the Atlas identity.
Knowing that either Atlas will kill her or she will kill Atlas in the end, Elizabeth then completes the device and opens the Tear to Columbia.
After obtaining the Lutece Particle, Suchong closes the Tear and agrees to open it in exchange for Elizabeth to bring him a sample of hair from a subject in Fink's laboratory. Elizabeth accepts and goes into the factory where she then discovers Daisy Fitzroy conversing with the Luteces.
It's then revealed that Daisy, while wanting to kill Fink, had no intention of killing or even threatening his son: the child that Daisy attempted to kill before Elizabeth killed her. The Luteces concur that while Daisy will die in the process, her threatening the boy and being killed by Elizabeth will further her cause — indicating that the Luteces had arranged the events in reality for Elizabeth to mature from killing Daisy and develop the mindset needed to kill Comstock.
Elizabeth reaches the inside of the factory labs, after coming across past-Booker and Elizabeth prior to killing Daisy , and searches for the subject. Elizabeth discovers that Rapture scientist Yi Suchong, through observing the Tears leading to Columbia, allowed him to see Jeremiah Fink stealing the production of Plasmids while also making them consumable.
Suchong then chose to collaborate with Fink on each other's products, working on Plasmid and Vigor enhancements as well as collaborating on Protectors.
Fink acquired the construction plans of a Big Daddy to create the Songbird, but neither one could have their Protectors imprint on their charges. Elizabeth discovers though that she pair-bonded with Songbird by saving its life through reattaching its oxygen tube.
With this, she retrieves her own hair and returns back to Rapture. Elizabeth returns to Rapture and gives her hair sample to Suchong, so he can further his research on pair-bonding. Andrew Ryan, seeing Elizabeth assist Atlas, contacts her and offers her the choice to join his side or be with Atlas.
His forces have already invaded the Department Store and are fighting Atlas' men. Elizabeth claims to be on no side, and only wishes to reunite with Sally. Displeased with her, Ryan sends his forces after Elizabeth as she heads to the office of Frank Fontaine with the Lutece Particle. After applying the particle to the ceiling of the Department Store, the building begins to float up towards Rapture.
Elizabeth is found by Atlas' men, who betray her and render her unconscious with chloroform. When Elizabeth reawakens the following day, she is interrogated by Atlas's henchmen Lonnie in an undisclosed room. He asks Elizabeth, since she claimed to be Suchong's lab assistant, for the location of the "ace in the hole", which Suchong never gave to Fontaine.
After injecting her with truth serum, she is rendered unconscious again. In her twilight state, Elizabeth sees herself in a mirror, as her form changes from who she was when Booker met her to who she is now, saying that " this world values children, not childhood, there is a profit to be made, and men who make it.
After coming in and out of consciousness for two weeks, Elizabeth reawakens to a war-torn Rapture with Atlas forcefully asking for the whereabouts of the "ace in the hole;" threatening her with a trans-orbital lobotomy.
Elizabeth sardonically accepts, informing Atlas that the procedure would take away her memories and allow her to live without care or worry. Angered, Atlas has Sally brought in, and threatens to lobotomize the girl instead. Before he can do so, Elizabeth, overcome with panic, sees Booker appear. He makes her remember a vision from behind the doors, and reminds her she didn't come back without a reason. Booker tells Elizabeth to make a leap of faith, that the answer is in Suchong's Clinic.
Elizabeth tells Atlas of the location of the "ace in the hole", and agrees to retrieve it for him. Atlas sends Elizabeth to Artemis Suites and Suchong's Clinic in turn, so that he can avoid the security systems. After entering Suchong's lab, Elizabeth soon finds a wounded Protector blocking her path, near two Little Sisters frightened of the behemoth.
Attempting to find a way to move the Big Daddy, she looks through Suchong's notes and discovers that even with the hair sample he has been unable to pair-bond the Big Daddies with the Little Sisters; through further investigation, it is revealed that the Big Daddies need the ADAM of their Little Sister to survive. Elizabeth comes across the quarters of one of Suchong's test subjects , and finally to Suchong himself.
Elizabeth witnesses his death as the scientist strikes one of the Little Sisters, unaware of their recent successful bond, causing the Big Daddy to drill his body into a desk.
Elizabeth retrieves "the ace in the hole", another encoded message of chemical compounds, and pictures of the subject and his location at a farm. Elizabeth returns to Atlas — accepting her fate — and hands him the "ace in the hole". Atlas responds by bludgeoning Elizabeth with a wrench, causing her to be facing that mirror again, and once more in the bathroom of an airplane.
Making her way down the aisle of the plane, she sees the subject, Jack , take a gun and hijack the plane. Atlas reads the "ace in the hole", but doesn't understand the coded message, and demands a half-conscious Elizabeth explain what it says. As Elizabeth approaches, the letter given to Jack in the future and the encoded message by Suchong both read "Would you Kindly.
Having what he was after, Atlas strikes Elizabeth with a fatal blow to the head, sealing both of their fates. Elizabeth sees the future events to come in Rapture — Jack hijacking and crashing the plane, arriving in Rapture, the protector bond, the death of Andrew Ryan, the rescue of Little Sisters, and finally the fall of Fontaine.
Elizabeth sees one last door, which reveals Jack after his journey in Rapture, returning to the surface at the Lighthouse with Sally and adopting her as his own. Elizabeth realizes that the flashes of the future she was having before were of Jack, and her return to Rapture was to set in motion events that lead to Sally's rescue — thereby ending her cycle of violence and saving Sally from this fate and death. There are many versions of Elizabeth in alternate dimensions.
Few of them are explored in detail in the game, but those involved were all abducted and in one case, a failed abduction from their respective fathers by a version of Comstock to become his heir. At least eight of these alternate Elizabeth appear at the end of BioShock Infinite to help drown Booker before he makes the choice to either accept or reject his baptism. A number of these alternates appear similar to how Elizabeth appeared at earlier points in the game.
Other alternates have physical differences from the main Elizabeth in the game. The most obvious one of these is the Elizabeth on the far left who sports a different haircut, possesses a more curvaceous figure, and appears very similar to the one seen in the BioShock Infinite Premiere Trailer and BioShock Infinite Early Gameplay Demonstration.
Two other Elizabeths are seen wearing a white dress with dark brown trim. These two Elizabeths are not missing a little finger as all the others are. The last two Elizabeths that appear on each side of Booker just before drowning him are noticeably taller than the others. The attitude of some of the Elizabeths indicates that they had not met Booker before and only think of him as Comstock. Anna DeWitt was Elizabeth's previous identity, before she was sold to Comstock as an infant.
The events of BioShock Infinite erased Columbia from existence, which means that Anna was never abducted and so there exist several universes where Anna never became Elizabeth and she lived her life in the same universe as her father, Booker DeWitt. This is supported by the early voxophone titled "Source of Her Power" where Rosalind states: "I suspect it has less to do with what she is, and rather more with what she is not. A small part of her remains from where she came. It would seem the universe does not like its peas mixed with its porridge.
If you managed to stick around after the game's credits rolled by, you would have found yourself back in Booker DeWitt's PI room. Turning toward the right and entering Anna's nursery, he calls out for her, and the game ends before you find out if she was in her crib. One theory is that through Comstock's death at the baptism, the only universe which remained was that in which Booker declined the baptism, and never attempted to sell his daughter.
In this final universe, Booker and Anna are assumed to live happily ever after. LOL", Ken Levine writer and creative director of the game replied with "--Did you read about the cat? One conclusion of the Copenhagen Interpretation of stated that a particle could exist in a infinite amount of states before being observed—a quantum superposition. In order to ridicule this, Erwin Schrodinger asked his colleagues to imagine a cat in a box with a vial of poison set to break at any time. Before opening the box, one cannot know if the cat is alive or dead.
Does this really mean that the cat is both alive and dead at the same time? Neils Bohr et al. Having just read about the cat, we can assume that as the game cuts out before we are able to observe the crib, Anna is both in and gone from the crib. Because there's always more than one way to explain something, especially when that something happens to be the ending of BioShock Infinite.
Elizabeth's fate is still rather up in the air. It is possible she exists within the probability space like the Luteces. The first sea of lighthouses you encounter, with all the "stars" which are really tears represents the Bioshock multiverse. You enter a final light house where you're drowned by parallel universe Elizabeths.
But Prime Elizabeth never enters that lighthouse with you. Booker even says "wait, you're not, who are you? So Elizabeth is still outside, hanging out in the Columbia megaverse. If drowning Booker eliminates the Comstock timelines, this could be visualized as all the lighthouses universes containing Comstock popping out of existence in that sea of lighthouses.
The question is, what's she doing now? Sitting around in that endless sea of lighthouses? Knowing the constants and variables of each one? Can she visit Booker, and would she even want to? The ending tangentially opens new questions, infinitely, so to speak. By the end of the game, the Elizabeth with whom we traveled was omniscient and quasi-omnipotent.
It seems reasonable to conclude that she was able to remove herself from the Comstock timeline, to survive the erasure of the Columbia universe. One can also make the case for Elizabeth transferring her consciousness. Booker wakes up in the post-credits scene and clearly, on some level, remembers the events of Infinite. If Booker remembers the events of the game, then it is possible that he will not go on to repeat his mistakes i.
Also, if he remembers, he can instill within his child the same sense of intellectual curiosity, love of life, etc. And finally, if he remembers, it is possible that baby Anna will also come to acquire memories of the events that transpired within the game and, for all intents and purposes, become the Elizabeth that we knew in the game.
Even if one wishes to argue that "prime" Elizabeth the person with whom Booker travels during the events of the game enters the final lighthouse, her fate is still unclear. We do not actually witness the disappearance of the "final" Elizabeth.
Some have contended that the final piano chime symbolizes her disappearance as well, but that is conjecture. One could make the counter-argument that if Ken Levine wanted us to know that the "final" Elizabeth disappears, he would have shown it. To quote Andy Kelly at CVG, "The sudden cut to the credits is obviously intended to make this ambiguous, leaving players to decide her fate for themselves.
Booker's death at the baptism would have brought an end to Elizabeth's existence. Resulting in Booker not having the opportunity to be drowned. Comstock and any Booker that interacted with Comstock would have to die.
Booker's death at the baptism prevented the birth of Comstock, and therefore the creation of Columbia. The interactive cutscene that plays after the credits have rolled is an entirely different story that suggests there is a universe in which Booker and Anna don't confront Comstock or a debt, as explained in the previous section.
However, this is unlikely because Booker's death at the Baptism would prevent every possible scenario of Anna's birth from ever coming into being. Anna's birth requires Booker's denial of the Baptism although Booker's denial of the baptism may not necessarily lead to Anna's birth.
Even if Anna was born before the Baptism, Booker's dying still prevents him with living with her in any universe. If you view Elizabeth for what she is however, and how her ability is beyond that of any machine created by the Luteces, you can see where her acts near the end of the game can avoid following most logic.
Her goal when drowning Booker was to end Comstock's existence, not Booker's. By drowning Booker, she prevented the creation of Comstock in any universes, and thus eliminated any universes with Comstock in them. This allows for the cutscene at the end in which Booker still has Anna in his possession. Now if only he could get some therapy for his gambling addiction. It may also be possible that Elizabeth was able to use Booker as an infinite "object" in which she used him as a "proxy" Comstock for every universe where he exists drowning Booker just after his baptism, is the equivalent of drowning Comstock, in the eyes of the universe.
This is why multiple Elizabeths appear, and why there are no longer any people at the baptism with Booker. The Elizabeths have merged this moment together with all universes, and at the same time have separated it from time.
This way they conduct it as a "play", Booker plays Comstock and is killed in his place. In other words Booker is drowned which is then used as the universal ending, for any universe where Booker accepts the baptism as he cannot be drowned by refusing the baptism. Rendering the image shown at the end as a universe where Booker refused the baptism now the only feasible one, as any Booker who accepts is drowned to death. Anna is a child when Booker awakens as this is the day as shown by the calender on Booker's desk that Anna was sold, thus he returns to this day where his universe is starting anew.
An idea left in the air is whether Booker remembers his ordeal, and if Anna exists here or not. Booker awakens startled in his chair hinting at waking up from a nightmare and immediately calls out Anna's name implying that he's afraid it hasn't worked before cutting to black we see a crib in the corner of the room implying we exist in a universe with Anna.
Otherwise Booker's just a creep with a nursery and no child. A majority of the content within this theory is incorrect, and the explanation which eliminates the need for this theory has already been given above. Elizabeth never states that she must kill Booker before he becomes Comstock.
In fact, Comstock is killed in the end of the game, as Booker becomes Comstock while beneath the water. The only change here is that any Booker who accepts the baptism is drowned and never resurfaces. However, this can be explained with a paradox and the theory that nature will always correct a paradox. If Booker always refused the baptism, he would continue to live and have Anna and would never have to give her up to Comstock.
But being that this choice is a variable, Booker choosing to refuse it means there are always universes in which he accepts the baptism and becomes Comstock, resulting in some version of the events of the game. This includes Elizabeth becoming omnipotent and drowning Booker before the baptism.
However, the act of drowning Booker before the baptism means that Elizabeth would no longer have ever existed, and would therefore not have been able to drown him after all. When Booker accepts the baptism, it leads to the series of events that results in Elizabeth becoming all-powerful and drowning him before he even makes the decision.
Because of this fact, the choice to accept the baptism creates a paradox, meaning it is not a possibility. This means that the only possibility allowed by nature is to refuse the baptism, making the refusal no longer a variable, but a constant. Thanks to Elizabeth, no branching universes are created at this point and Booker goes on to raise Anna without her being taken away by an alternate version of himself.
The problem with the Paradox Theory listed here is that if there are infinite universes, i. In other words, alternate universes are branching off constantly and at all variable points, instead of the single arbitrary point of whether or not Booker chooses to be baptized. Only this constant branching could provide infinite post-baptism-refusal Bookers to the Luteces, since universes would need to be branching off constantly based even on Booker's minor decisions. But if Booker's minor decisions after the baptism decision result in the creation of new universes, so do his minor decisions before the baptism.
This means that there are an infinite number of Bookers in different universes all go to the river and have a chance to make the baptism decision. Drowning Booker before he is baptized in one of these, as happens in the ending then eliminates the infinite number of worlds in which that Booker becomes Comstock and in which fire rains from the sky, etc. Similarly, Elizabeth asks Booker how he deals with all the things he's done shortly after he rescues her and he replies that he just learned to live with them.
One of the central themes, then, is whether or not a man can truly leave his sins behind him by participating in a ceremony. Despite being baptised, washed of his sins and born again, Comstock goes on to commit further atrocities despite Wounded Knee "burnt the teepees with the squaws inside" , possibly because he believes himself to be truly another person following the baptism.
However, he remains the same ruthless, cruel man internally. In this sense, then, the drowning death of Booker at the end of the game could be viewed, not as a physical death, but as a metaphysical one where Booker relinquishes the concept that his sins can be washed away solely by the act of baptism without an internal change.
Does this Booker have any knowledge of the events in the game, like a bad dream? I think so. Elizabeth asks Booker near the end if he is afraid of God and he answers in the negative.
I'd like to think that Booker has been shown Divine Grace. This idea is purely theoretical and has little or no basis in the facts as presented by the game. It does however reconcile many of the paradoxical issues that other theories are plagued with. The thought is that the final baptism sequence is a place wholly of Elizabeth's creation and not an actual place within any of the timelines - a place outside of all universes. This is reinforced by the fact that the people that would have been present for the baptism do not appear in the final sequence.
In essence, the final scene is symbolic in nature and not literal. Elizabeth has created a place where drowning one Booker can stand in for killing however many Bookers as is necessary in order to stop the creation of Comstock in all universes.
You could also say that one sacrificial lamb cleanses away the sins Comstocks of all Bookers in all universes. Thus it could then be theorized that only the Bookers who accept the baptism die who's to say how this symbolic drowning would manifest?
They may die soon after or even before the baptism leaving all the Bookers who refuse the baptism to live on - giving us the final scene after the end credits. Bioshock as a series has always been about ideology. Digging below the surface of the first two games reveals distinct references to and discussions about the philosophies of Ayn Rand. Bioshock Infinite takes this idea an entire step further by tackling numerous ideas and philosophies.
Namely, Bioshock Infinite includes themes about American Exceptionalism, Absolutism, Objectivism, and the concept of redemption among others. Booker's first few moments in Columbia are potentially meant to present some overly optimistic caricature of the American dream and one view of the American past.
Very, very quickly the game takes a darker turn and soon we see a different side of Columbia. This time Columbia is a much more pessimistic view of the American dream and the American past, which includes a moment where characters dressed in a way that heavily resembles the Ku Klux Klan shooting "Crows" at Booker.
However, both of these views are essentially caricature, and neither of them are entirely true or false, from a certain point of view. They are both two sides of the same coin. BioShock Infinite, then, reveals itself to be about perception and self image, and uses other thematic elements as a framing reference to approach this central theme.
Initially, the game looks at war and heroism. Booker's assault on Comstock examines how we might might dress up or distort our own pasts to cope with our misdeeds or failures.
The motorized patriots are a symbol for the false effigies of past idols we create and use to justify our actions and beliefs. Infinite goes on to frame it's discussion on perception using themes of class warfare, first exaggerating the atrocities perpetuated on the working class, and then revealing their hypocracies.
At no point does the game exempt Booker, and therefore the player, from anything he or she sees. Because Booker worked for the Pinkertons, he is, in a way, guilty of creating the state of places like Finkton. Because, in one reality, Booker is a hero to the Vox Populi, he is guilty of their crimes as well. Because Booker, in one reality, is also Comstock, he also bears his crimes. BioShock places the burden of responsibility for the entire state of the world on its players and then, in its ending, it explains why this is.
Elizabeth and the Luteces explain that reality isn't objective at all, as Rand so strongly asserted. According to BioShock Infinite, there are countless perspectives and views of the same thing and each one is just as real to it's own believer or creator. Booker was a divided man. He wrestled with the guilt of his past and pondered whether he could ever be cleansed of his sins. The Booker that became Comstock believed that, indeed, we can all be forgiven for what we have done, and forget what came before us.
The Booker that fought Comstock rejected that notion, believing that we have to live with our sins for the rest our lives. Then in the final moments of the game, Booker ends his life drowning in waters in Baptism, finding the space between redemption and damnation.
Maybe, the game is asking us to look at both sides of every coin. When Booker DeWitt enters the tear offered by the Luteces, he suffers from a significant trauma - damaging his memory of past events the preceding 20 years of misery, seeing Comstock take his daughter, seeing the Luteces through the unstable rift, etc. Within a few minutes of this event, Booker's mind has re-aligned to become the 'blank' action hero we need him to be to build our player narrative on top of.
Further rift travel effects the mind less and less - possibly the damage is done. We know how the next part plays out - but one thing may have escaped your notice. Without fail. If Booker is pushed beneath the surface, events conspire to kill him.
When you are baptised on first arrival in Columbia, the priest sees you for who you are and drowns you. Another iteration of Booker avoids that, and we pick up where we left off. When you are escaping from Songbird for the first time and fall into the bay, you die. Again, a new iteration of Booker takes up the story. After the battle, Booker, fraught with guilt, attended a river baptism led by Preacher Witting to be reborn as a new man and be absolved of his past actions.
At the last second, Booker rejected his baptism, thinking that his sins could not be washed away by a "dunk in the river. While working as a Pinkerton, Booker garnered a reputation for ending labor strikes using extreme violence.
Around this time, he married a woman named Annabelle Watson , who became pregnant shortly after. She died while giving birth to a daughter, Anna. This sent him into a depression. He turned to alcohol and gambling, which drove him far into debt.
Booker later became a private investigator, but his debts persisted. Comstock offered to wipe out of all of Booker's debt in exchange for Anna. Desperate, DeWitt sold her to Lutece and Comstock. Wrought with guilt, he immediately pursued the men to retrieve Anna. Booker arrived as the three were about to enter a Tear to another dimension with Rosalind Lutece.
Comstock succeeded in pulling her through the Tear but as the Tear closed, the tip of Anna's pinky finger was severed. Booker fell further into depression and later branded his right hand with Anna's initials, "A. He agreed and they opened a Tear for Booker to enter. As he entered, he suffered the effects of "transfusing" into another dimension. Robert Lutece theorized that this effect was Booker's mind creating new memories from old ones.
Booker confused the sale of his daughter twenty years previous with the task at hand, " Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. While traveling to the lighthouse, Booker is tasked by the Lutece Twins to enter the city of Columbia, reach Monument Tower , retrieve a girl named Elizabeth, and bring her to New York City unharmed in order to clear his debts.
Upon arriving at the lighthouse with information and supplies given by Rosalind, DeWitt enters the Pilgrim's Rocket and ascends to Columbia through the Welcome Center. During his venture, he learns of the city's leader Zachary Comstock, but, because of the effects of Tear-jumping, he does not recognize him despite making the deal twenty years prior. Comstock refers to his stolen child as the "Seed of the Prophet" who is destined to take his throne and destroy the "Sodom Below.
Before gaining access to the city, Booker is required to receive a baptism by Preacher Witting, but nearly drowns from it and passes out. In his unconscious state, Booker dreams of his office in New York and witnesses Columbia attacking New York — in the future.
Booker, tasked with finding Monument Island , awakens and enters Columbia in the middle of its annual Independence Day Raffle and Fair. Despite earlier warnings from the Lutece Twins, he attends the annual lottery held by Jeremiah Fink and wins the prize. He wins the first throw at stoning an interracial couple. Before Booker can react, the Columbia Police discover the brand on his hand which is referred to as the mark of the "False Shepherd" who is prophesied by Father Comstock to lead "his lamb astray.
Booker enters Monument Island to discover a vast laboratory with an apartment at its center, where the girl has been imprisoned and observed there all her life. Through an observation room window, he sees Elizabeth tear through her painting of the Eiffel Tower onto an actual Paris street, circa Booker then accidentally falls through Elizabeth's ceiling into her library.
She at first acts hostile and attacks him, but is then relieved by his presence, likely due to the fact that she has never seen another human up close.
Booker then helps Elizabeth escape her tower, but not before they are chased and attacked by a giant bird creature. With Elizabeth intent on enjoying her freedom, Booker convinces her to come with him by saying that he will take her on The First Lady airship to Paris; his actual plan is to take her to New York and complete his job. Along the way, Elizabeth explains her ability to manipulate Tears , saying they are windows to other realities. While Booker is initially shocked and somewhat fearful of the Tears, he becomes more comfortable with them when it is revealed they can be used to his and Elizabeth's benefit in combat.
Elizabeth is also inquisitive about Booker's life, asking him in Soldier's Field if "there [is] a woman in [his] life. Upon reaching the rail line to the Aerodrome , Booker and Elizabeth find that it is closed down, and they will need to power it using some other electrical source. Traveling to the Hall of Heroes to find the Shock Jockey vigor, they come upon Booker's old war comrade, Cornelius Slate; disillusioned by Comstock's lies about his presence at Wounded Knee and his undercutting of true soldiers' efforts, Slate has taken over the Hall, and Booker and Elizabeth must fight their way inside to retrieve the Shock Jockey.
Not wanting to remember or find glory in his regrettable past, Booker attempts to distance himself from Slate's comments, assuring Elizabeth that nothing Slate praises are truly good. They then battle their way through the Hall exhibits on Wounded Knee and the Boxer Rebellion , with Slate sending teams of his soldiers after Booker so that they may "die a soldier's death.
When Booker finally confronts Slate, who himself holds the Shock Jockey vigor, the man asks that Booker kill him. If Booker chooses to spare Slate, the man raises against him, claiming Booker is nothing more than one of Comstock's "tin men. This comment leaves Booker shaken, which Elizabeth notices and comments on.
Unsure what to do, Booker goes to comfort her, only to have her strike him with a wrench, knocking him unconscious. Fitzroy offers to return control of the ship to Booker if he procures munitions from Finkton for their cause. Booker finds Elizabeth on the docks at Finkton getting caught attempting to stow away on a cargo barge , only to have her flee, opening Tears behind her to impede his advance.
Her efforts draw the attention of Founder forces, whom Booker fights in order to rescue her. In the struggle, Booker is thrown from a building dock by a Handyman and nearly falls to his death. However, he is saved when Elizabeth opens a Tear, creating a cargo Zeppelin to catch him. Booker immediately suggests a partnership, which Elizabeth initially rejects, calling him a "liar… and a thug.
As they venture through Finkton, Booker and Elizabeth realize that their task cannot be completed in their present reality, due to insurmountable obstacles — the death of the gunsmith who was set to make the Vox munitions. However, they find they can enter different realities, through the use of the Tears, in which these obstacles do not exist. Their travels through the Tears eventually lead them to a universe where the Vox Populi have begun their revolution, and Booker is a martyr of the Vox cause.
Fitzroy, confused by Booker's presence, sends Vox soldiers after him, claiming that he is an impostor. Booker and Elizabeth make it to Fitzroy just as she murders Jeremiah Fink , then turns on Fink's son. At her insistence, Booker boosts Elizabeth into a nearby vent, then distracts Fitzroy by criticizing her violent methods. As Fitzroy fanatically responds, saying that the children of the Founders must die for any gains to be made, Elizabeth stabs her in the back. When Elizabeth, struck with horror at what she has done, flees to The First Lady , Booker attempts to comfort her before going to the ship controls.
When Elizabeth emerges, in a new dress and with her hair cut, she notes that they have a choice to make: New York or Paris. However, before a decision can be made, Songbird appears and takes down their ship. After the ship's crash landing, Elizabeth and Booker emerge to find the Lutece twins, who reveal that a special flute can control Songbird.
Booker and Elizabeth then set a course for Comstock House. Along the way, Booker discovers a signpost decorated with the scalps of various Founder figures. The Booker of this universe did not show remorse for his actions at Wounded Knee and was just as violent.
After exiting Grand Central Depot , Booker and his companion are nearly intercepted by Songbird, and just manage to hide. Afterward, Elizabeth makes a request of Booker: taking his hand and putting it on her neck, she asks him to promise that, "if it comes to it, you will not let him take me back.
She doesn't say what will happen if Songbird takes her back, only noting that it is a fate akin to death. Upon reaching Comstock House, the two discover that the gate can only be opened by someone with the appropriate fingerprints.
Realizing that Lady Comstock is preserved in the nearby Memorial Gardens , Elizabeth takes off to procure her hand with Booker in pursuit. Booker at first tries to talk Elizabeth down, attempting to draw on any familial love that Elizabeth might have for Lady Comstock. Elizabeth, however, feels only rage and betrayal, particularly after finding a diary by Lady Comstock which suggests she had Elizabeth locked in the tower.
Booker eventually relents, saying that he will cut off Lady Comstock's hand to keep Elizabeth from having to do so. However, when he attempts to open the casket, Comstock springs a trap, siphoning away some of Elizabeth's power and using it to revive a foul and ghostly version of Lady Comstock called the Siren. Booker and Elizabeth then follow the Siren around Emporia , to various Tears that she wishes them to see. Through the Tears, Booker and Elizabeth discover that Elizabeth is not the child of the Comstocks, but rather a child stolen from another reality.
Years ago, Rosalind and Robert Lutece made a machine to open Tears to other worlds, which Comstock utilized to become a true Prophet through the use of science. However, the machine caused him to age and become sterile. It is revealed that Elizabeth was simply taken from another universe to serve as Comstock's heir. Lady Comstock rejected this notion, hating the child and believing her to be the bastard daughter of her husband and Rosalind Lutece.
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