Question about the plot for Bioshock 1

[edw3rdwood]

Okay, so obviously this has **SPOILERS** for Bioshock 1 and also Burial at Sea DLC for Bioshock Infinite.

My question is.... what is the exact story behind why Jack crash lands and enters Rapture? From playing the game and also the Infinite DLC, it becomes revealed that Atlas/Fontaine "summoned" Jack there in order to be used as a tool by Fontaine to kill Ryan, making his takeover of Rapture all but assured.

However I'm playing Bio1 now and just heard a radio convo from Ryan saying something like "A man builds a city at the bottom of the ocean, that is a marvel. Now...a man crash lands at the entrance to that same city... that is a 'miracle'." (called Andrew Ryan- A Miracle in the audio files). So, he is teasing you as the player as if he knows the real reason. However wasn't he in the dark? Isn't it all Fontaine's doing and in fact he is coming to kill Ryan?

Anyone able to sort this out?

[edw3rdwood]

So I will expand on my own thread to make sure I have the details right.

Jasmine Jolene is Jack's mother. She had the child of Jack, illegitimate to Ryan since they were not married and Ryan had no desire for offspring. She sold the baby soon after birth...apparently this was to Frank Fontaine? Who then worked with Suchong to develop the boy to be guided by the W-Y-K phrase. Fontaine then sent the boy to the surface to live a supposed normal life, until he was needed. There was a rift caused between Suchong and Fontaine when, after Fontaine "died" in the firefight and his locations were raided, Suchong ended up siding with Ryan as he was the highest bidder for his services. The event of Burial at Sea episode 2 recount this moment as Fontaine is desperate to get his "ace in the hole" back from Suchong now that he needs it, namely the phrase needed to command Jack. So far everything makes sense and is accounted for.

Yet why does Ryan somehow catch wind of Jack's true purpose and presence in Rapture during the events of Bioshock 1? This is something I always had a problem with. He suddenly seems to become aware of it, when at the beginning he did not seem to be. By the time we come close to encountering Ryan, he is aware to the point of teasing us and leading us on, as said in my original post, and then when we actually encounter him, he is fully completely aware of everything behind Jack being there almost to the point of insinuating that he himself was involved.

...Yet, he still does not know that Atlas is in fact Frank Fontaine. Is this just a major plot hole in the base game Bioshock 1? How does Ryan switch from being oblivious to becoming aware?

[prosnax]

This is my understanding of this plot,

First of all as you mention prior to Jack coming to Rapture, Ryan has a battle with Fontain. In this battle Fontain is supposedly killed, but they never confirmed Fontain's death. I believe Ryan knew this. Now Fontain's whole operation is seized by Ryan and his security crew. Which might mean Andrew Ryan gets some knowledge of Fontain's plan with Jack, and Ryan has his own spies. Tenebaum even says she had her eyes and ears open watching Suchong, and knew a little something about Jack even though Fontain tried to keep it hidden.

Now fast forward to when you enter Ryan's office to kill him. Before you do you drop from a vent into a room. In this room there are two diaries, at least one is by Suchong. Suchong is recording his tests with the mental conditioning. Look around the desk. Painted in large red letters is the W-Y-K phrase. Take a good look at the pictures on his desk. (to do this you might have to get on his desk and crouch.) Some of these pictures look odly familiar yes? A farmhouse family. Pictures that were flashed in Jacks memory during the game. Also it appears with all the pictures Andrew Ryan has been observing and collecting evidence, along with the diaries he found he could easily put 2 and 2 together. This I think might also culminate to Ryan figuring out who Atlas really is. Especially since he has the knowledge that Fontain might still be alive.

I could be wrong about Ryan knowing Fontain was still around, but everything else makes sense. So even if he does not know who Atlas his he knows who you are. Remeber in a transmission he says to Jack you like it here but can't think of why? it seems familiar. I have a word nostalgia.

It is pretty close to that. After all Ryan has already deduced that you are not a government agent.

hope this helps, and I hope I am not totally off. If I assumed something, somebody please correct me.

[prosnax]

Also I just wanted to point out that at the point when Jack kills Ryan, Ryan has accepted his fate because you thwarted his last defenses and there is no where for him to run. I love this part because playing the game for first time you are gearing up for a big boss fight only to have a sudden twist in the story.

[edw3rdwood]

Well, it does make more sense realizing that the WYK room is in fact part of Ryan's offices, meaning that it was him piecing all of that together. I never thought of it this way and always thought of that room solely as a player-reveal moment without considering that story wise, a character within the story had to be doing all that search, namely Ryan.

[prosnax]

Well also remember in the game when you are escaping Port Neptune after the submarine blew up, Andrew Ryan reveals that he knows you are working with Atlas. I don't know that is just how I always thought of the game plot.

[clarkeveritas]

Ryan is researching you and your doings during the game- the room near where you encounter Andrew Ryan has all of his correlated research including the WYK phrase. He figures out what's up before the character does