Carlson Fiddle

Carlson Fiddle
Died	c. 1959
Place of Death	Journey to the Surface, Ryan Amusements, Rapture
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Appearances
Appears in	BioShock 2 BioShock: Rapture

“I was hired to engineer a park the likes of which no man has seen, and now all I do is watch over it like a grizzled sheepdog.”

― Carlson Fiddle

Carlson Fiddle was a manufacturer of mechanical puppets hired by Andrew Ryan to build the Rapture theme park, Ryan Amusements. Carlson initially wanted to create a park that would simply please the children of the city, however, Ryan insisted that it be educational. During construction, Carlson gave some consultants of Ryan a backstage tour. Among them were several notables, like Sander Cohen and Sofia Lamb. The result of this planning was the Journey to the Surface ride, which was designed to scare children away from ever wanting to go to the surface.

Carlson was trapped in his park after the events of the 1958 New Year's Eve Riots. As supplies in the park grew scarce, he barricaded himself in the Ride Maintenance Garage and rationed his food, trying to keep it away from the young kids who had been chaperoned by Nina Carnegie. He had planned to repair the transport sub docked there and escape the city. However, he did not succeed in this and is found dead in his room. The player finds his formerly barricaded room left open from two sides, presumably by Rapture's citizens. His corpse is found next to his last Audio Diary in a maintenance area of the ride. He is one of the Corpses that Subject Delta's Little Sister extracts ADAM from in BioShock 2.

Audio Diaries

BioShock 2

• Ryan Amusements
  • The Old Sheepdog
  • Escape Plan
• Removed Audio Diaries
  • Journey to the Surface

Gallery

Fiddle's chariot to freedom continues to rust.

Behind the scenes

• In the novel, Carlson Fiddle explains that he got the idea for the park's "animated mannequins" by visiting the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Westinghouse Electric Corporation exhibit featured "Elektro the Moto-Man", a 7-ft tall robot that could talk, walk, smoke cigarettes, and distinguish colors. Following the 1940 World's Fair reopening, he appeared with his dog "Sparko" who could bark, sit, and beg.
  • The official theme of the 1939 New York World's Fair, "Dawn of the New Day" performed by Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, plays in the Puppet Workshop.