[SPOILERS] Ten questions about the story in the original Bioshock Infinite

[takfar]

Hey!

I just finished the original campaign after slowly (and I do mean SLOWLY) making my way through since release, with months of gaps in between plays.

So... I'm here trying to make sense of the story, and there's quite a few gaps that I can't really get filled. I don't want to go and read some story description, because I fancy having my own interpretation, but there's some stuff which I couldn't find any clues to.

I'll list my questions, followed by my current interpretation of the storyline. Here we go:

Story gap #1 - How did Comstock become leader of Columbia? Why and how did the Lutece twins come to work for him?

Story gap #2 - Why is Comstock sterile and, we later find, ill and aging rapidly, while his alternate-reality self (player-controlled booker) is able to father Anna (aka Elizabeth)?

Story gap #3 - What is the nature of Booker's debts that make him hand out Anna (and later go seeking Elizabeth)?

Story gap #4 - Why does Anna have the powers she has? Was it the results of the Luteces's experiments, or were they experimenting on her BECAUSE she already displayed special powers?

Story gap #5 - What is Songbird? Is it, in any way, related to the Luteces's quantum magic?

Story gap #6 - What does Comstock do with the power he siphons from Elizabeth?

Story gap #7 - Why do the Luteces decide to summon the original Booker and get him to rescue Elizabeth? Did they disagree with Comstock and, having knowledge of the outcome of things, wanted to undo the entire history of Columbia? Or did they simply want Elizabeth to be free? Additionally, they themselves seem to have powers very similar to hers (except even more developed). Were they seeking a companion in their knowledge of the quantum realm?

Story gap #8 - How do the Vox Populi get weapons in the "revolution" timeline the player jumps to?

Story gap #9 - Why does Elizabeth lead Columbia's attack on New York City in 1984?

Story gap #10 - If, in the final timeline, Elizabeth was supposedly never born (since Booker, her father, drowns), why do all her projections fade, except one? Is it a projection from another reality that decided to linger there? Or was she actually already born (or in the womb) during the baptism scene? This last interpretation would probably be the happiest, since a version of her might get to live a life without Comstock, Columbia, the imprisonment, and quantum foolery. She would just be a regular orphan child (and her adult version would have to disappear from the baptism scene, anyway)


And here's my interpretation of the events so far:

In 1890, Booker DeWitt takes part of the Wounded Knee Massacre. He's haunted by his actions, and seeks confort in religion.

in TIMELINE A - Booker refuses to be baptized. He becomes a renegade haunted by his past, and fathers baby Anna.

in TIMELINE B - Booker gets baptized and is "born again". He renames himself Comstock, and somehow gets in touch with the Lutece twins who are researching quantum wizardry. He hires them and uses their research to build the flying city of Columbia, a religious-fundamentalist, white-supremacist, militaristic society which he rules as king (this is story gap #1). He gets it into his head that he must have an heir of his own blood to sit in the throne of Columbia, so he marries Lady Comstock, who fails to get pregnant. It turns out he himself is sterile (story gap #2), but he somehow finds out an alternate-reality version of himself (in TIMELINE A) who has a daughter. Through the Lutece twins, he gets in touch with this alternate-reality Booker who has some sort of debt (to Comstock? to his own conscience? story gap #3), and convinces him that giving out his baby daughter will repay his debt. After handing over the baby, Booker decides to go back on the deal, but it's too late and the baby (minus half a pinky) is transported into TIMELINE B.

The baby is found to have special powers that can open doors to parallel realities (maybe because of what she went through as a baby? story gap #4). She is raised in captivity to be the heir of Comstock, cared for by a giant monster bird thing (story gap #5), while her powers are siphoned by Comstock (story gap #6). The Luteces decide Comstock is going too far (story gap #7) and contact Booker in TIMELINE A to come and release Elizabeth. This "creates" TIMELINE C, which is the part we play through in the game.

in TIMELINE C - Booker manages to release Elizabeth from her prison, but needs transportation to leave Columbia. He gets in touch with the underground Vox Populi movement that want to overthrow Comstock's rule. He brokers a deal to get transportation off the city in exchange for giving the Vox Populi weapons. He does not have the resources to get the weapons to the Vox Populi, except Elizabeth visualizes an alternate reality in which he already has done it! They move into that reality, TIMELINE D

in TIMELINE D - Booker has managed to arm the Vox Populi (or they were already armed - story gap #8), has fought besides them and is now dead. The Booker from timeline C (which is the same Booker from Timeline A, btw) witnesses the abuses of the Vox Populi's "revolution", and decides to put an end to both the VP as well as Comstock's regime. After much fighting, he goes with Elizabeth to confront Comstock, but she ends up being captured. Booker fails to rescue Elizabeth, being thwarted by the Songbird each time. Elizabeth believes Booker has given up on her and she herself gives up on hope, as she ends up actually becoming the heir to Comstock's malignant rule. Decades pass by, and she eventually leads Columbia in an attack against New York City (story gap #9). She comes to a realization that Booker might not have abandoned her, tho, and she can still change this troubling outcome in a parallel reality. She uses her powers to summon Booker from TIMELINE C, shortly after she was captured by the Songbird, and gives him the key to controlling the monster (the CAGE song). This creates a divergent TIMELINE E.

in TIMELINE E - Unimpeded by the Songbird, Booker rescues Elizabeth before she becomes twisted by Comstock's indoctrination. He kills Comstock (whom we discover was already ill and aging rapidly) and uses the Songbird to destroy the Vox airship army and the Comstock's siphon tower. Wit her power finally unshackled, Elizabeth is able to fully grasp the nature of parallel realities, and transports herself and Booker to the moment when the timelines first diverged: Booker's baptism. Booker allows himself to be drowned rather than baptized. This creates a new TIMELINE F

in TIMELINE F - Booker died in his baptism, aided by several different versions of Elizabeth, neither becoming Comstock nor fathering Elizabeth. All separate versions of Elizabeth disappear from this timeline, except one (story gap #10). It's to be expected that, without Comstock's leadership, Columbia never did become a reality in this timeline.
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Oof. That ended up being quite long. I'll appreciate any discussions on any of the plot points I cited, or clarifications on my understanding of the timelines. I decided not to include points such as the weapon maker and Lady Comstock's ghost, because they were clear enough and didn't seem to affect the overall plot much. Thanks!

[Solarmech]

Gap 1: Comstock FOUNDED Columbia he was alwasy it's leader. Being a naturaly powerful speaker/leader he got the US Congress to build COlumbia for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago using the technology developed by Lutece. Later on after Columbia destroyed Peking he broke away from the US and became "President of Life".

Gap 2: Comstock is prematurely aged do to over exposure to Tears. Possibly being exposed to something from the Tears or the devices that create them. There is real life types of radiation LET (Linear energy transfer) radiation that has the same effects Comstock suffers from. (Even premature ageing).

Gap 3: Booker owed people (crime figures) money back in 1893. And in a moment of weakness sold Anna to pay them off. He then had an "Oh god what have I done moment" and tried to get her back. (Remember he is suffering from Post Tramatic Stress Disorder, lost his wife a few months before and is only 19 years old! It's not an excuse, but it makes it a little understandable) When he went to get Elizabeth he didn't ose anyone money. That was something his mind created as a result of going through the Tear. He DID feel he owed Anna/Elizabeth a moral debt because he sold her.

Gap 4: AnnaElizabeth's powers are a result of her finger being severed by the closing Portal/Tear. For a moment she is part of realities at once and it screws things up. Theory: also because she is so young, her mind is able to adapt and use these powers.

Gap 5: Songbird is a person (we think) that Fink turned into a super powered cyborg like the a Handyman. But much larger and much more powerful. The technology that created Songbird (and the Handymen) was stolen from other realities through the Tears. It's possible that the tech for turnging peopel into cyborgs was taken from teh System Shock reality.

Gap 6: The power Comstock syphons from Elizabeth to keep her under control is used to "bring back" Lady Comstock at one point, but we don;t have any info on what else he might have been doing with it. Maybe he didn't do anything with it.

Gap 7: Luetce brought Booker to Columbia to reunite him with Elizabeth and stop Comstock's plan to destroy the world (and millions of alternate reality Earth's as well). Or rather Robert wanted that Rosalind didn't really care that much. The Luteces powers are actually much weaker than Elizabeth's when the Syphon is destroyed. The Luteces really didn't care about having a "companion". They had each other.

Gap 8: The weapons the Vox had in the Vox Rebelion reality came from Chen Lin. In one reality the Columbian police didn't arrest him and he was able to fullfill the order Daisy made. Not that he lived long after that. Someone killed him but we don't know who.

Gap 9: Old Elizabeth wasn't leading the attack in 1983. After Booker never came to rescue her, she broke. She let her bitterness and hatred of being abondon overtake her and follow Comstock's plans for her. After some time passed she realized that what she was doing was wrong and treid to stop it, but it was WAY to late. The people of Columbia stopped listening to her long ago. So she started to look for a way to stop Columbia/Comstock. She managed to destroy the Syphon (Songdird?) and realize that SHE was the reason Booker never tried to resue her. She also saw that is Booker tried to rescue her he wold be killed. (It seems to be a Constant that Booker cannot beat Songbird). So she came up with a plan, brought Booker to 1983 to see what happened and then sent him back at the right time/place to bring down Comstock. Old Elizabeth could see all the Doors and What was behind them after teh Syphion had been destroyed.

Gap 10: I think you need to play Burial at Sea.

As a note, your gaps are not gaps. All but # 10 was explained in the game. You may not have found the info or forgot it since it took you so long to get through the game. sm

[takfar]

Awesome! Thanks for the reply, Solarmech! So I just spent the last weekend playing Burial at Sea, and it does shed some light on the events. Still, a lot is left open. I'll drop a few comments on your answers:

Gap 1: I still don't understand what led Booker, a guy who seems level-headed and apparently had a heavy conscience after Wounded Knee, to become a religious fundamentalist, white supremacist megalomaniac. Nothing that happens during the games hints at that kind of behavior lingering inside him, in fact it points to the opposite, what with his support of the Vox, even dying for the cause in one of the timelines. Is there any chronicle of Comstock's story from the moment of the baptism to his rise to power? Also, whoa, I didn't remember reading Columbia had destroyed Peking. That's what comes from taking three years to play through a game, I suppose.

Gap 2: Fair enough, that's what I figured.

Gap 3: OK, the second "debt" was the part I didn't understand. Turns out it makes sense that it was made up.

Gap 4: Again, it makes some sense.

Gap 5: Nice! Would be cool to have a link to System Shock. I need to get myself to play those games, in fact. Maybe a sequel set in the cold war era, with a moon base or something? We've already had space base/underwater city/floating city, I'm sure they can think up something cool.

Gap 6: Sounds underwhelming... One would guess that much power harvested over so long a time would be put to some better use.

Gap 7: What what...? Comstock wanted to destroy the world? I really missed that part. What a jerk.

Gap 8: OK, makes sense.

Gap 9: But she did run Columbia for a while, didn't she? The recordings show her as a new Comstock, tho it's hard to tell how much she actually believed in her own words. Any insight on who was running Columbia during the NY attack, then?

Gap 10: OK. I just played through and still not clear to me which Elizabeth (as in: from which timeline) survives Booker's death by drowning. Nor which Comstock managed to escape into Rapture (can't be the one that Booker drowned in the airship, had to be earlier than that).

What I do understand is Elizabeth found out about Comstock's escape and decided to go exact revenge on him, but ended up being killed by the same Big Daddy that killed Comstock... With her death, she collapsed from all quantum possibilities into a single being, devoid of powers. I understand the concept of being alive and dead at the same time (I think the Luteces are in that state, right?), was that the state she was in between the ending of BSI and BaS ep1? Also, she seems to regain some of her powers during BaS ep2... wonder if she manages to cheat death again after the ending..?

By the way, the gaps I pointed out were, in fact, gaps in my understanding, not necessarily in the storytelling itself. I did get all but a couple voxophones and kinetoscopes, but piecing stuff together over the years was a bit hard, and the ending really left me curious. There's still some murky stuff around points 1, 9 and 10 to me, but otherwise your summary was very enlightening. So thanks again!

[Solarmech]

Gap 1 One thing you have to remember about Comstock is that at some level he knows he is lying to himself. Take the "Go USA" attitude and compare it to his desk on the Hand of the Prophet. If you look at it there is a picture of the Efiel Tower and some paers written in French. Comstock was a closet Frankophile. Most everything Comstock does is actually an attempt to get rid of his guilt over Wounded Knee. He THINKS it was washed away by the baptism, but some part of him still feels it. So he goes to greater and greater lengths to bury that guilt or turn what happened at Wounded Knee into shome that he should not feel guilty for. Yeah, Comstock is a peice of work.

Gap 7. "The Seed of the Prophet shall sit the throne and drown in flame the Mountains of Man" Using the Tear Machine Comstock saw that Elizabeth would destroy the word and decided it was a vision from God. And he was going to fullfill that vision. And when they got done with their native Earth Columbia was going to use tears to destroy others. One of Elizabeth's speaches in Comstock House. "Once this world has been born again, a million others wait their turn."

Gap 9 No info on who was running Columbia in 1983 and it really does not matter much. To some extent Elizabeth never really ruled Columbia, she was a puppet for the Founders and those left by Comstock to control her and "make" the Prophcy of destroying the world come true.

Gap 10 The Elizabeth in BaS is called "Elizabeth Prime" by Lavine. She is "our" Elizabeth from the main game. The Comstock in Rapture was one we didn;t see in the main game. When he attempted to take Anna in 1893 he failed and got her killed. But as time went on, the guilt about killing Anna ate away at him and rather than accept responsibility for what he did he ran to Rapture.

Elizabeth was still in the superposition state between BaS episodes. She only would fall out o that state if she infused herself into a place she died (Rapture). Her location and that of the Dream Paris was likely the Sea of Doors. There is no evidence Elizabeth was able to cheat death at the end of BaS Pt 2. Rather she should have been returned to the place she should have been. In her crib in Booker's office in 1893 as Anna. sm

[takfar]

Gap 1 - Yea... the thing that bothers me is that none of that madness is reflected in the Booker that we do play. It's crazy to think that baptism could be such a pivotal moment that could turn a flawed but (for all we know) well-meaning individual into a genocidal maniac.

Gap 7 - I always read that as a prophecy of the invasion of NY, not necessarily the end of the world. It also doesn't make much sense that a floating city could declare war on the entire world using mostly-conventional weaponry (bombs and rockets are shown during the 1983 cutscene) and win... especially in a post-nuclear world. Now, if Comstock was using the Tear powers siphoned from Elizabeth to generate some other kind of apocalypse (eg. bringing in a meteor shower or reverting Earth to a super-hot pre-life state), that would be a plausible threat. Either way, the whole global armageddon thing sounds a bit videogamey and unnecessary... The destruction of NY was a good enough reason to try and stop Columbia, did we really need a "save the world" plot?

Gap 9 - OK. Still curious to see how that government would work and impose its rule, given that the Prophet's (and his family's) cult of personality was hammered on so hard during the BI campaign.

Gap 10 - Oh, so that's what the scene in which the portal closes around baby Anna's neck means. I thought it was just a crazy dream Booker had, but it's actually an alternate timeline. Very cool.

This also means the Booker in BaS was never baptized (given he didn't die after the events in BI), so he was never really a Comstock! Which means Elizabeth, in BaS, wasn't even getting revenge for Comstock's tyrannical and genocidal actions in Columbia, she was attacking the last remaining Booker, solely for the (botched) sale of Baby Anna. Even that sale makes little sense, however, considering the following point:

.................................

I'm also still a bit fuzzy on the Elizabeth "prime" surviving the BI ending and existing in BaS. Adhering to the idea that the death of Booker during the baptism does indeed change all parallel realities dependent on it (which seems to be the case, with the disappearing Elizabeths), I can think of a few ways for the events to unfold, but none of them fit the bill for there being a remaining Elizabeth (or for BaS Booker's story, for that matter).

Elizabeth depends on the presence of three things for herself to exist:

1) She needs to be born as baby Anna.
2) In one reality, Booker must sell Anna to Comstock so she will develop her powers and become Elizabeth.
3) In a parallel reality, Comstock must rise to power in Columbia so #2 can actually take place.


--->We now have to consider the timeline of the baptism and the sale of baby Anna.

Alternative A) If you consider Booker is baptized (and killed) BEFORE Anna's conception:

A1) Booker died before impregnating Anna's mother, so no baby Anna.
A2) Booker died in the baptism and Anna was never born, so there is no sale, so no Elizabeth.
A3) Booker died in the baptism, so there never was a Comstock. This is a dead end, pretty much.

Alternative B) If you consider the baptism takes place AFTER Anna's conception, but BEFORE the sale:

B1) Anna was either already born or at least conceived during the baptism scene.
B2) Booker dies during baptism, all Bookers and Comstocks (except BaS Booker, who did not try to get baptized) disappear. Booker never sells Anna and Anna is a regular orphan girl. She never gets her powers or name.
B3) Booker died in the baptism, so there never was a Comstock.

Alternative C) If you consider the baptism takes place AFTER the baptism and sale:

C1) Anna is born.
C2) Anna is sold to alternate-reality Comstock. Anna loses her finger.
C3) Booker is distressed by the situation and goes on to be baptized. Anna is still a baby in Columbia. All Bookers and Comstocks die in the baptism (except BaS Booker which never tried to be baptized, but instead went to Rapture decades later). In this situation, There never was a Comstock to buy Anna, so point C2 is invalid, and we get a failed time loop (and BaS Booker has no reason to go to Rapture). What happens then? Is Anna back in her crib as Booker drowns in the river?

See, the thing is, the very existence of Elizabeth is dependent on the existence of Comstock, the trade, and her being raised in that tower. If Booker dies in the baptism, and Comstock never appears, there can be an Anna (provided she was already born or conceived during the baptism scene), but there can't be an Elizabeth. So here is where I've either hit a wall in my understanding of the story, or a flaw in the story's logic.

BTW, it's been great fun discussing the game's plot. I started the thread with 10 questions of miscellaneous nature and now I have a single question I can discuss further. Pretty cool, if you ask me... Thanks, Solarmech!

[Solarmech]

Gap 1 Cosmtock is by no means mad, he is a cult leader. His "fanatism" is a means to an end, not an end to itself as it is with most religouse fanatics.

Gap 7 Did you know you can made some VERY nasty "conventional" weapons with Lutece Particles? Float a couple thousand tons of rock 50,000 feet in the air and then <b>drop it</b>. The effect would be similar to a nuke going off, but with no radiation. Now imagine that being done hundreds, thousands of times. Remember Colubia had been planing this for decades.

Also look down at the bottom left when we see NYC being attacked while Booker is in Comstock House. There is a massage saying (this is not exact but close) "Flying City of Columbia threatens New York City. EVACUATE!". This means that Columbia has already destroyed the US Military and is picking apart NYC because they want to do it the nasty way.

Also we don't know how much other tech Columbia stole through the Tears. I mean they had CYBORGS in 1912. It seems likely they could have picked up lasers, particle beams, stealth and other high tech weapon technologies but we just don't seem them being used. (It would be a fair amount of work for little pay off)

Gap 10. Your thinking of time wrong. Everything in the BioShock universe happens at once and there really is no time. So at the same time Booker is in Columbia he is also in New York at the Baptism and growing up someplace. When I speak of when something happens I am speaking about how "we percive it" (time in a liniar fashion) but it does not happen that way. https://youtu.be/vrqmMoI0wks The Comstock in Rapture had been baptised and was not a Booker. sm

[takfar]

Gap 1 - I do get the fanaticism is a means to an end, I just think you'd have to be mad to try to achieve such ends (genocide).. I don't see that being part of the Booker we play with.

Gap 7- Hm. Sure they could make terrible weapons... Except as I remember they were only using normal rockets and bombs against NY? Maybe their potential for destruction was not conveyed that well in that scene.

Gap 10 - See, that was exactly my interpretation of the way time worked in the Bioshock Universe... Everything was parallel and you couldn't change history, only create parallel events or transport yourself to one that already exists out of infinite possibilities.

That made sense until the original BI ending... which has Booker's death by baptism erasing Comstock from all realities by preventing him from ever being born (I think those are the words they used, aren't they), and multiple Elizabeths disappearing in that same moment. This suggested that the death by baptism was a transference of Booker's conscience to a crucial point in time which did change parallel realities. Which is why it doesn't make sense that BaS Comstock was baptized and survived...? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the original ending? Is that what it means, that the death of Booker in BI was for naught?

[Solarmech]

Gap 1 we don't see any of Comstock's fanatism in Booker because his guilt acts as a restraining bolt. He regret over Anna keeps him safe for the rest of the world. The only thing that starts to take the bolt off is Anna/Elizabeth. And look at what can happen when it does. You get someone that takes on a city and even if the City kills him, it gets hurt.

Gap 7 As I said making a whole bunch of new art assets for just that scene would be a very bad use of time. That fact that Columbia is bombarding NYC with total impunity leads to the logical deduction that we see on a very small part of what has happened.

Gap 10 Columbia no longer exists, but it existed at one time so it will always exist even though it no longer exists. This is what happens when there is time travel, you get paradoxes and the like. As I said the Comstock in Rapture surived because he was in Rapture and no longer part of the Columbia realities. Think of each reality like a house you live in. If you move out of the house to a new one and the old one burns a year later, does all the stuff you moved to the new house burn up as well? No, it does not. sm