**Spoiler
Alert - In this article I will be talking about the full BioShock Sage so far
and specific story point. Anyone who has not completed this series of games
should not read on any further**
A
few weeks ago marked the return of the Burial at Sea DLC, for BioShock Infinite,
in the form of a trailer specifically set created for Episode 2. Episode one
featured the relationship of Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth again but - in a
contrasting environment to the sky city of Columbia – the underwater dystopia
of Rapture.
The
trailer shows what most imagine will be the opening three minutes of the game
and brings back characters of old. In true Irrational style the trailer adds
more questions than answers as a ‘downed’ Elizabeth interacts with the scheming
Atlas. Or, to be more specific, I’m assuming its Frank Fontaine posing as
Atlas.
The
gameplay will take a different turn to the ‘shoot-everything’ style of the main
game (and Episode 1) in the fact that you will take over the role of the weaker
Elizabeth. Her story will be driven by stealth; although we still haven’t seen
this in action.
When
watching the trailer, the questions arise almost immediately when a ‘ghost’ of
Booker – similar to that of Caprica Six only seen by Gaius Baltar in the more
recent rendition of Battlestar Galactica – guides Elizabeth through a series of
hairy verbal exchanges. Almost certainly saving her from death.
The
story appears as though it will, at least, begin with Elizabeth helping Frank
Fontaine (“ATLAS”) return to Rapture. Atlas, posing as Fontaine, was banished
from the city by Andrew Ryan, some time before the beginning of Episode 1, in
exchange for the safety of Sally (the Little Sister that provided the focal
point for the last instalment).
Although
details of the upcoming episode are minor, (however we now know the release
date should be 25th March) we can expect to get some explanations
into what’s going on while also seeing the whole content play into the
strength, and lore, of the BioShock franchise.
I
fully expect the story to tie into the original BioShock and in particular to
the fall of Rapture itself. If Elizabeth succeeds in helping Fontaine return to
the main part of the city then this could lead us into an interesting circle –
especially as the fall of Rapture begins on 31st December 1958 and
this is the date shown on Bookers calendar within his office at the start of
Part 1.
At
the end of the first episode Booker discovers Sally, the missing child, and as
he attempts to extricate her from one of the Little Sister vents he has a flashback.
It quickly becomes apparent that Booker is actually an alternate universe
version of Comstock, but his attempts to kidnap baby Anna ended in a very
different fashion. Instead of a finger the dimensional window closed around her
neck – decapitating her – killing her instantly.
As
Booker starts to understand what has happened the Lutece twins and Elizabeth
explain that he asked them, Robert and Rosalind, to help him escape into
Rapture so he could forget these terrible actions at which point he is killed.
This
obviously leaves several strange questions for us to ponder:
- How did this version of Comstock survive the culling that occurred at the end of BioShock: Infinite?
- Why was Elizabeth present at the kidnapping of Anna that we see at the end of Part 1?
- Are we confident that the Elizabeth, the key companion in Part 1, is the same one from Infinite?
- If so, why has she suddenly gotten so vengeful and gone so ‘dark’?
- How long has Comstock been in Rapture and where did he come from?
The
second part of this content is obviously due to answer some of these questions
but it’s starting to become a confusing mess again….
The
biggest question we have to deal with is how Comstock “escaped” from the
culling at the baptism. The end of Infinite ‘Prime’ confirmed that Booker’s
self-sacrifice at the baptism was designed to cut off the timelines for any
further Bookers who managed to reach the same point in their own timelines.
Meaning all of the subsequent ‘Bookers’ would drown at this constant point in
time…..
Therefore…
never becoming Comstock, so, as Booker doesn’t live this also means Anna is
never born.
At
the end of BioShock Infinites main story we see the different Elizabeth’s fade
from existence, Back to the Future style, while Booker dies. Except we then see
the troublesome scene after the credits where we are back in Booker’s office
and he goes to get Anna from the other room. How could this happen if Anna has
been erased from all timelines?
So
my ‘theory’ is that the “Burial” Elizabeth, and potentially this
Booker/Comstock, has followed a completely “exceptional” path. Potentially at
the kidnapping this version of Anna did not suffer any physical harm during her
encounter with the ‘tear’. Perhaps she really does become the Seed of the
Prophet that attacks New York. Perhaps during this fight she realises the error
of her ways (or never really wanted to go through with it anyway) and tries to
stop the events – only to find that it is too late anyway. Obviously this is
all speculation.
It
would then stand to reason (if you could go that far) to say that the Lutece
twins had always been attempting to find an “Exceptional” Booker to finish the
mission set during Infinite Prime. In fact they may have failed to find one of
these Bookers during the first 122 attempts. It’s not until they manage to get
back to the original dimension Anna came from (potentially by complete change)
that they find the “Exceptional” Booker they require. This would be the Booker,
we control during Infinite, whose innate connection to “Prime” Elizabeth allows
him to succeed in the mission. And in the process of doing so, he drowns his “Exceptional”
Comstock, and then sacrifices himself, closing the loop and leaving nothing
left over.
But
now we know that it wasn’t true. There are other sets of “Exceptional” Bookers
and Comstocks, one of which we find has absconded to Rapture in Burial at Sea.
In fact the links are there when you look over them…. when Comstock moves over
to Rapture through the tear, his memories are wiped in the same fashion that the
“Exceptional” Booker’s are when he moves into the Infinite Prime timeline (as we
see this happen during the final sequence of the main game). Hence he has no
sense of who he really is until the very end, where his attempts to pull Sally
out of the heating vent and his memories flood back to him.
Elizabeth needs to make sure he dies to finally close the loop. And therefore she needs to make sure she is there to see it and make sure that nothing stops him from dying.
ROBERT: You turned to us to solve your problem
ROSALIND: To provide a place to go where you
might forget
ROBERT: Where there never was an Anna in the
first place
ROSALIND: Comstock was never one to own up to
his errors, was he brother?
ROBERT: Never comfortable with the choices he
made
ROSALIND: Always seeking someone else’s life
to claim as his own
We
shall see. There’s still the second half of Burial at Sea to be played (where
we’ll be taking control of Prime Elizabeth herself, which should be a rare
treat),
Sadly,
any I’m sure we’ll find out soon, if I am right there could be many
“Exceptional” versions of Booker and it may even suggest the ‘Jack’ from the
original game is actually a ‘Booker’ too…. Oh god by head hurts.
Have you got any theories on the BioShock universe, specifically those on
Burial at Sea? If so please let us know in the comments below.
