- “Booker, are you afraid of God?"
"No. But I'm afraid of you.” - ― Elizabeth and Booker DeWitt
Elizabeth is a nineteen to twenty-year-old woman who has been imprisoned in Columbia since she was an infant, the deuteragonist of BioShock Infinite and protagonist of Burial at Sea - Episode 2. Booker DeWitt is sent to retrieve her from the city, and bring her to New York. She is guarded by Songbird, a monstrous, winged creature who was both her guard and only friend during childhood; she began to hate him as she grew up, seeing him as a warden prohibiting her freedom. Elizabeth has the power to manipulate Tears that exist in the fabric of time.[5]
When Booker frees her from her tower on Monument Island, the Founders, Zachary Hale Comstock, and Songbird are all determined to recapture her at any cost.
History
Elizabeth, originally named Anna DeWitt, was born in 1893 to Booker and Annabelle DeWitt who died during childbirth. Booker, then a Pinkerton agent, was expelled from the agency after Anna's birth for his use of extreme brutality in quelling a workers' strike. Booker then descended into depression, excessive drinking, and gambling, building up a large debt burden.
Later that year, Booker was contacted by Robert Lutece, a representative of Father Zachary Hale Comstock, an enigmatic man who offered to pay off all of Booker's debts in exchange for Anna. On October 8, Booker gave Anna to Robert as instructed; however, feeling immediately regretful for his actions, he pursued Robert to retrieve her. He found Robert at an open Tear between dimensions, and struggled with Comstock to take Anna back, as Rosalind Lutece looked on. His efforts were in vain, and the three escaped with Anna through the Tear. As the portal closed, it severed Anna's pinky finger when she reached out for her father, placing her simultaneously in two different realities.
Arriving in Columbia
A mural of Lady and Father Comstock with the miracle child.
Anna was taken to the floating city of Columbia, built in a parallel universe by Comstock, an alternate version of her father who was unable to have his own biological children. Seeing that Columbia would fall without an heir, he sent Robert and Rosalind Lutece to retrieve Anna to ensure the city's continued prosperity.
The populace of the city was told that Anna, renamed Elizabeth, was a miracle child who grew in Lady Comstock's womb for only seven days before her birth. Elizabeth was to be upheld as the heir to Comstock's throne who would one day "cleanse the Sodom of the world below." However, Lady Comstock believed that Elizabeth was the bastard child of Rosalind and Comstock, and demanded that the child be removed from her home.
Around this time, Tears in reality began to appear in Columbia, confusing and terrifying the populace. These appearances were likely caused by Elizabeth's arrival in the city, as it was eventually determined that she had the ability to create Tears in space-time at will. Because of this ability and Lady Comstock's fervent rejection of her, Elizabeth was moved to Monument Island for containment and study.
One of these Tears contained the city of Rapture and the works of Dr. Yi Suchong such as Plasmids and Protectors known as the Big Daddy. Fink and Suchong collaborated on a protector for Elizabeth - and thus the Songbird was created by Jeremiah Fink to guard her. Elizabeth bonded with the Songbird through an act of kindness when it crashed into her tower and she found its oxygen tube detached. Elizabeth reattached it and thus the Songbird imprinted on the young girl.
As Elizabeth grew she spent her time reading, appreciating art, learning a variety of skills (such as dressmaking, painting, and lock picking), and experimenting with Tears. By the time Elizabeth reached puberty, she began to resent Songbird and wished to leave her tower. When her powers peaked during puberty, allowing her to not only open tears but also create new ones, the Lutece twins constructed a device to control Elizabeth's use of her powers. They installed the Siphon in her tower to keep her from achieving her full potential.
BioShock Infinite
- Main article: BioShock Infinite
Escape from Monument Island
Elizabeth in her Apartment.
Elizabeth remained in her tower until July 6, 1912, the anniversary of Columbia's secession, when Booker DeWitt finally arrives in the city. Unaware that she is being observed, she uses her powers to open a Tear to Paris in the year 1984, shocking Booker.
While Elizabeth is on her balcony in the library, Booker accidentally falls through the ceiling; while she at first reacts aggressively and pummels him with several books, she realizes the significance of another human presence, and reacts to him with awe and disbelief.
Booker's intrusion alerts Songbird, and Elizabeth frantically instructs him to leave. However, when he offers her a key out of the apartment, she readily accepts it, fleeing the tower with her liberator and escaping via the Sky-Lines. Songbird attempts to recapture Elizabeth and destroys the upper portion of the tower, sending Booker and Elizabeth plummeting from the structure.
Elizabeth showing off her new pendant.
The two land in the artificial ocean attached to Battleship Bay, where Elizabeth rescues Booker from the waters and gleefully enjoys her new-found freedom. Booker then spots the The First Lady and suggests that they use it to leave the city; Elizabeth agrees to follow him when he promises to take her to Paris. However, at the park's gondola station, Comstock's agents attempt to take her back. Elizabeth witnesses Booker kill the attackers and flees in horror, calling him a "monster." Booker justifies himself by saying that Elizabeth is a target, and that he has no choice but to draw first if they want to survive. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees to continue her journey with him.
The two then head to the Hall of Heroes in order to retrieve the Shock Jockey Vigor to power the gondola to the First Lady's Aerodrome. While trying to access the Hall of Heroes via an elevator, Elizabeth opens a Tear to get rid of a bee in the compartment. When Booker reacts with terror and awe, Elizabeth explains that she is able to see small breaks in the fabric of the universe which she can widen, opening up a path to new realities. She also claims that when she was young, she was able to "create" Tears between universes rather than simply open them, but that ability was lost to her as she grew up (probably due to the Siphon).
Elizabeth showing Booker a Tear.
After Elizabeth and Booker confront Booker's old war comrade Cornelius Slate in the Hall of Heroes (during which Elizabeth learns about Booker's involvement with the Wounded Knee Massacre), the two enter the memorial to Lady Comstock. There Elizabeth finds an inscription about the "Seed of the Prophet;" Booker and Elizabeth realize that the Comstocks are her parents, and Zachary Comstock wishes to turn her into a new prophet. Having no knowledge of this information previously, Elizabeth reacts with anger, saying she wants nothing to do with Comstock.
After dealing with Slate, Elizabeth and Booker travel to the aerodrome to retrieve The First Lady. Boarding the aircraft, Booker sets a course, but Elizabeth immediately recognizes the coordinates as being for New York rather than Paris. Not willing to be Booker's prisoner, Elizabeth knocks him out with a wrench and tries to fly the airship herself. However, while Booker is unconscious the ship is surrounded by Vox Populi vessels near Finkton. Landing The First Lady on the Finkton docks, Elizabeth runs away, leaving Booker to his own devices.
Revolution in Finkton
Elizabeth at Fink Manufacturing.
Booker later finds Elizabeth at Finkton, but she flees, using Tears to hamper his pursuit. During her effort to escape him, she is captured by Founder agents, but quickly gets away as Booker arrives and opens fire on them. In the ensuing chaos, Booker nearly falls from Columbia. Despite her feelings of anger and betrayal, Elizabeth brings a small blimp into existence to catch him. Elizabeth begrudgingly agrees to accompany Booker in an effort to reclaim The First Lady, on the condition that he take her to Paris.
To get the ship back from Daisy Fitzroy, leader of the Vox Populi, Booker and Elizabeth must retrieve munitions for the resistance from a gunsmith named Chen Lin. While Booker takes on the task out of necessity, Elizabeth comes to admire the Vox Populi, believing them to be freedom fighters akin to those who ignited the French Revolution. She also becomes more trusting of Booker as the mission progresses, noting that he protected her from the Founders at his own peril.
While sneaking into the depths of Fink's Factory, Elizabeth finds a locker with Slate's name on it, and searches through its contents. Inside, she finds Lady Comstock's diary, and in reading it discovers that Lady Comstock is not actually her mother—Lady Comstock writes that she will not allow her husband's "bastard" to live under their roof, and Elizabeth realizes with astonishment and rage that it was Lady Comstock that had her locked in the tower.
Elizabeth finding Chen Lin.
After fighting their way through Fink's Factory, the two find Chen Lin dead, but also discover a Tear near his body. Understanding that Elizabeth's powers are not strong enough to allow them reverse passage and thanks to some advice from the mysterious Lutece twins, they enter a reality where Chen Lin is still alive and married to the sister of Fink's Head of Security, which saved him from the fate he experienced in the other reality. They find this Chen Lin to be disoriented, a side effect of his death in the opposite reality, and decide that retrieving his tools might help.
Booker and Elizabeth travel to a Shantytown beneath the factory, where the tools have been taken. While there, Elizabeth notes the suffering Fink's greed has caused his workers (many of whom cannot eat, and are sleeping on the streets), and begins to more vocally support the Vox Populi, believing they can change things for the better.
After fighting their way to the police station and finding the tools, the two realize that there are too many supplies to carry them back to Lin's shop. Elizabeth finds another Tear nearby and opens it, taking them to a world where the Vox Populi's revolution is fully underway and the revolutionaries are laying siege to Fink's factories.
Returning to the gun shop, Elizabeth and Booker find Chen Lin and his wife dead, which deeply upsets Elizabeth. She blames herself for their deaths, due to her initial faith in the Vox Populi and her opening of the Tear into this new reality. She also suggests she may have accidentally "created" this new reality out of her desire to see their mission accomplished, leveling more responsibility on herself. Although Booker comforts her, her regret still lingers as they leave the shop.
As the Vox Populi already have the weapons they were instructed to supply, Booker and Elizabeth go to retrieve The First Lady. However, their initial deal is complicated by events unique to this new reality: in it, Booker is a martyr of the Vox cause, and seeing him alive causes Daisy Fitzroy to send her forces after him, as he "complicate[s] the narrative." After battling through squadrons of both Founder and Vox forces, Booker and Elizabeth arrive at the docks in time to see Fitzroy murder Jeremiah Fink.
Elizabeth after killing Fitzroy.
When Fitzroy turns her weapon on a Founder's child, Elizabeth frantically instructs Booker to boost her into the vents and then distract Fitzroy. As Daisy justifies her reason for killing the child, Elizabeth stabs her in the back with a pair of scissors, getting covered in her blood in the process. Elizabeth reacts with horror as Fitzroy dies in front of her before she flees for the airship. Though Booker tries to console her, Elizabeth locks herself in a room on the ship until after take-off; when she emerges, she is in a new, clean dress, an outfit of her mother's that was stored for viewing on The First Lady, and has cut her hair. She asks Booker how one can forget the things they have done, to which Booker responds that it isn't possible. Just as they are about to leave Columbia, Songbird appears and forces their ship to crash in Emporia.
Emporia and Confrontation with Lady Comstock
Elizabeth at Emporia.
Realizing that they will not be able to leave the city as long as Songbird is pursuing them, Elizabeth and Booker travel to Comstock House to uncover the secret of how he is controlled. Along the way, they once again meet the Lutece twins who point out the Songbird is controlled by playing a specific tune on a specific instrument. However, the gate to Comstock House is locked and requires visual recognition and a fingerprint match to access. While the lock initially recognizes Elizabeth as Lady Comstock due to her wearing her mother's dress from the airship, it rejects her fingerprints; Elizabeth then realizes that Lady Comstock's remains are preserved in the nearby Memorial Gardens, and she leads Booker there to procure Lady Comstock's hand.
Though Booker tries to talk Elizabeth out of it, her determination to leave the city and loathing for Lady Comstock drive her forward. When Booker goes to unlock the casket, Zachary Comstock springs a booby-trap, unveiling a series of minor siphons around the tomb. Castigating Elizabeth for her actions as he drains away her power, he uses the energy to bring Lady Comstock back as the Siren — a mixture of her late self and a living version of her created through Elizabeth's hatred toward her.
Though the Siren does fight the duo, resurrecting the dead to send after them, she also reveals critical information to them. Following her ghostly footprints through Emporia's Financial District, the Market District, and Victory Square, Elizabeth and Booker uncover several Tears which reveal critical past events — Lady Comstock confronting Rosalind Lutece about Elizabeth's origins, Zachary Comstock making an arrangement with Fink to murder the Luteces, and the Luteces visiting the photo studio where their own funeral photos were taken. This information, along with several voxophones left in the Tears' wake, reveal that Elizabeth is not Comstock's daughter, and he had Lady Comstock and the Luteces murdered to keep the secret.
Now truly understanding Lady Comstock's unfortunate circumstances, Elizabeth confronts her ghostly image in Victory Square, saying that they must both let go of their pain and resentment toward each other—that it is Comstock, who wronged them both, who must be their true target. Soothed by Elizabeth's words, Lady Comstock destroys the Comstock House gate, wishing Elizabeth and Booker well before vanishing. Elizabeth then sincerely thanks Booker for his help before the two head through the gate.
Comstock House
As Booker and Elizabeth begin to make their way to Comstock House, Songbird appears from below, grabbing Booker and throwing him through a nearby building. When the creature attempts to kill him, Elizabeth gives up her freedom to save his life, surrendering to Songbird and telling him to take her back to her tower. However, Songbird instead brings her to Comstock House.
A complex interaction between time and reality occurs as Booker navigates Comstock House — when he first arrives, he notes with confusion that there is snow on the building in July, implying that he had passed through a Tear. In the short time he is there, Booker finds voxophones from Elizabeth and several Tears suggesting that a much greater amount of time has passed: where Comstock's scientists have subjected Elizabeth to torture, experimentation, and mental conditioning. When their efforts were unsuccessful after half a year (as evidenced in the voxophone Pavlov's Bell) they chose to instead fit her with a device to force her to behave.
The elder Elizabeth and the destruction of New York.
When Booker does finally encounter Elizabeth, she is significantly older (from a billboard advertising a 1984 model car, and scrolling news feed showing the date as December 31, 1983, it can be deduced that she is 92), and claims that in her time at Comstock House, she was eventually molded into the very harbinger of destruction Comstock wished. This alternate version of Elizabeth is the one responsible for the attack on New York featured in Booker's dreams. However, she expresses great regret over what she has become, and gives Booker a coded note, which includes a sketch of bird cage, to deliver to her younger self before sending him through a Tear to rescue her.
Booker arrives just as Elizabeth is being operated on to fit her with her "leash," a collar meant to release an intense shock when she is disobedient.[6] As Booker moves about the facility to shut down the siphons restraining her powers, the scientists note that the process is taking place without anesthesia or sedatives, on Comstock's orders.
When the siphons are switched off, Elizabeth opens a Tear into an American Midwest beset by a tornado, killing the scientists before closing it. After Booker unhooks her from the restraints and spinal tap holding her in place, Elizabeth calmly resolves that she is going to kill Comstock. When Booker refuses to let her, she reopens the Tear to the tornado-ravaged landscape to show the extent of her will and power; she relents, however, when Booker claims that he will kill Comstock himself.
The Hand of the Prophet and Songbird
Elizabeth and Booker confront Comstock on his airship The Hand of the Prophet. While there, Comstock attempts to bring Elizabeth to his side by suggesting that Booker knows more than he is telling, and demanding that Booker say what happened to Elizabeth's finger which has been deformed since she was a child. A struggle ensues between Comstock and Elizabeth and Booker intervenes, ranting as he grabs Comstock and drowns him in a baptismal font. In doing so, Booker reveals some innate knowledge of what happened to Elizabeth's finger, information he immediately claims not to understand.
Elizabeth giving Booker the whistler.
As they navigate The Hand of the Prophet, Elizabeth pieces together that the tower on Monument Island is itself the Siphon, and has harnessed and limited her powers for years. To escape Columbia, the two direct the airship toward Monument Island, but are cut off by Vox Populi ships. At that moment, Elizabeth cracks the code left to her by her alternate self—a drawing of a cage is meant to represent the musical notes C, A, G, and E, the tone used to control Songbird. Destroying a nearby musical statue, she retrieves the whistler inside and gives it to Booker, who uses it to send Songbird after the Vox Populi ships. Upon reaching Monument Island, the two give Songbird one final order: destroy the tower, and the Siphon.
Revelation
- “They are all different, yet similar. Constants, and variables.”
- ― Elizabeth, explaining the differences in each reality to Booker.
Elizabeth, hesitant to show the truth.
Following the destruction of the Siphon, a tremendous power surge unlocks the full extent of Elizabeth's powers—she is able to create, open, and see into an infinite number of Tears. In the process, the instrument used to control Songbird is dropped, and the creature comes after them; Elizabeth opens a Tear into the Welcome Center of early 1960s Rapture, placing herself and Booker inside the Bathysphere Station and causing Songbird to be crushed by ocean pressure.
Elizabeth, now able to see every reality and possibility, has become virtually omniscient. She leads Booker to a realm between realities, each displayed as one of many lighthouses that all represent the "beginning" of Booker's journey, at the same time paying homage to Jack's expedition. Elizabeth explains that the worlds behind each door are the same and different in specific ways, all somehow connected.
Anna DeWitt.
During this traversing of realities, Elizabeth reveals that Booker's memory of events is flawed — he never agreed to retrieve her from Columbia in exchange for eliminating his debts. Rather, Booker gave his infant daughter, Anna, to Robert Lutece for that same purpose. Booker then realizes that Elizabeth is really his daughter, and losing her finger is what gave her the power to create Tears in dimensional time and space when her body became a part of two separate dimensions.
Shaken by this revelation, Booker blames Comstock for everything, and says that he and Elizabeth can go on with their lives now that he is dead. Elizabeth angrily states that Comstock is alive in "a million, million worlds," and Booker responds that they need to "smother the son of a bitch in his crib."
The Elizabeths.
Elizabeth asks if that is truly what he wishes to do before transporting Booker to one final location: the site of the baptism from which he fled. Here, Elizabeths from several different realities emerge to reveal that Booker and Comstock are the same man from different realities, one in which he was baptized after the Battle at Wounded Knee, and one in which he was not. In the reality where he accepts the baptism, that event acts as Zachary Hale Comstock's "birth." Booker then allows the parallel universe Elizabeths to drown him, preventing his choice from ever being made and stopping Comstock from ever existing. One by one, the alternate versions of Elizabeth begin to disappear, as the main Elizabeth remains.
After the credits roll, there is a short scene where Booker awakens in his apartment and hears the tinkling of a baby's mobile in the room where Anna slept. As he calls out to see if Anna is in the room and opens the door, the screen cuts to black ambiguously, not confirming whether Anna was in the crib or not.
Burial at Sea
- Main article: Burial at Sea
After the Revelation
Elizabeth arguing with Comstock.
After drowning Booker DeWitt, Elizabeth travels to a universe containing the last surviving Comstock. The same quantum superposition that saved her from blinking out of existence after the drowning of Dewitt also left her the last Elizabeth and he the last Comstock. The whole story then replays itself from the beginning (including Anna being sold) but the original Elizabeth is there. In this superpositioned universe, Comstock is exactly at the moment in which he was stealing Anna from Booker in-between the Lutece Tear. Elizabeth comes back and demands that Comstock releases the infant and return Anna back to her actual father.
Elizabeth's pinky injury or some version of it is a constant (her being in two universes is how she gets her powers), and Elizabeth knows Comstock will fight for the child. She hopes that her presence will be enough and reverse the events as she can not physically intervene without losing her powers. Hopefully only a small part of Anna will end up on Comstock's side while the child will live out her youth with her real father in the other half of the universe. Despite her presence, Comstock fights claiming Anna as his own. In the struggle to grasp the girl, DeWitt gains the upper hand and pulls Anna back, but just as the Tear closes – decapitating Anna.
Comstock was filled with regret and guilt, and ordered the Lutece Twins to take him somewhere where he could forget – they chose the city of Rapture in 1949. Comstock tattoos Anna's initials, "AD" on to the back of his right hand and reverts to his old identity as Booker DeWitt. Having gone through an alternate reality, his brain begins filling in the blanks with false memories like Booker's did in the beginning of BioShock Infinite. Soon to follow him, Elizabeth is set on killing Comstock, now DeWitt – by reminding him first of what he had done before killing him.
Nearly ten years later, after DeWitt has established credit within Rapture's society as a private detective with a penchant for excessive alcohol use and gambling at the tables and race tracks, he adopted an orphan named Sally who was abandoned after the Little Sister's Orphanage was closed down during the fall of Frank Fontaine of Fontaine Futuristics. However, like DeWitt in other dimensions (who had issues with alcoholism and gambling), this DeWitt lost Sally when he brought her to Sir Prize and had been winning at the tables, similar to how he was forced to lose Anna.
Fitting into Rapture
Elizabeth then returned to Rapture in 1958. She entered the city through a Tear in the Silver Fin Restaurant, which did not go unnoticed as the restaurant's owner, Morris Lauderman, reported it to the Rapture authorities — resulting in it being closed to the public and given to Dr. Yi Suchong to study. Elizabeth traded her traditional dress for one more appropriate to the environment, and set out to acquaint herself with the culture of Rapture.
Cohen's Songbird.
To blend into her surroundings, Elizabeth read many of the books the city had to offer. She learned about Ryan's philosophy, became enamored with Bathysphere models, and studied the city's structure and security. Elizabeth adopted the surname "Comstock" while living in the city. Outwardly she did this so as not to draw attention to herself, while inwardly she likely chose it as a constant reminder of who her enemy was. She managed to be selected from numerous other candidates to work with the famous artist Sander Cohen, to learn about his child trafficking ring and his connection to Sally. While working with Cohen, she recorded the song "You Belong to Me." Because of her presence, Tears began appearing throughout the city, which drew the attention of several key scientists, including Yi Suchong.
Contacting Booker
Elizabeth in DeWitt's Office.
Elizabeth eventually learned of DeWitt's location, as well as his occupation, status, and relationship with Sally. While Sullivan had reported that Sally had been found dead, Elizabeth knew the truth, that Sally had been taken to become a Little Sister to gather ADAM, and that Cohen had sent Sally to an unknown location. With this information in hand, Elizabeth began her plot of revenge.
Elizabeth entered DeWitt's Private Investigator's Office on December 31, 1958, New Year's Eve, and offered DeWitt the task of finding Sally, revealing to DeWitt that she is lost, not dead. 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.
Elizabeth in Rapture during New Year's.
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 dancing with DeWitt for Cohen.
Elizabeth and DeWitt return to Cohen's with the masks in hand and attends 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.
Fontaine's Department Store
Elizabeth in Fontaine's.
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. Reaching a location in Rapture on Ice, they found there was no more of the Old Man Winter Plasmid left. 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.
Elizabeth after the Big Daddy impales Comstock.
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 sees 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 goes after Elizabeth and smashes her into the wall, impaling her on a rebar.
After Comstock
Elizabeth's portrait in Paris.
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.
Aiding Atlas and the Rebellion
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's corpse.
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.
A picture of Elizabeth found in the Silver Fin.
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 Tenenbaum's sanctuary, and Little Sisters draining Fontaine of his ADAM. 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.
Return to Columbia
Elizabeth opens the Tear back inside The First Lady, which is stationed in the Finkton Factory during the Vox Populi revolution. 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 kill Daisy, having the former mature through these actions.
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 Plasminds while also making them consumable. Suchong then chose to collaborate with Fink on each others 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. Eventually, Fink managed to have the Songbird imprint on his charge, Elizabeth, and Suchong now wishes to obtain the DNA of Elizabeth as a solution to pair-bonding the Little Sisters to the Big Daddys. 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.
Return to Rapture and the Civil War
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. That night Atlas' escaped followers bomb the Kashmir Restaurant and begin the Civil War in Rapture.
Elizabeth's reflection.
When Elizabeth reawakens the following day, she is interrogated by Atlas's henchmen Lonnie. 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." The mirror then becomes a bathroom within an airplane which crashes.
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.
The Ace in the Hole
- “They say 'To save one life is to save the world entire.' It is you who are their saviour.”
- ― Dr. Tenenbaum[src]
Atlas sends Elizabeth into Artemis Suites to Suchong's Clinic so that Atlas avoids 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. Returning to the Little Sisters, Elizabeth informs them the Big Daddy can only be mended by their ADAM. A Little Sister extracts the ADAM from the other, and injects it into the Big Daddy — healing him and causing him to bond with the Little Sisters. 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." Elizabeth reveals this to Atlas, who now has the trigger phrase to set in motion his plan to bring Jack to Rapture: to take down Ryan, and seize control of Rapture. Having what he was after, Atlas strikes Elizabeth with a fatal blow to the head, sealing both of their fates.
Elizabeth's last moments with Sally.
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. At the end, Sally holds her hand, singing La Vie en Rose, as Elizabeth smiles before passing away.
Alternate Elizabeths
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 from their respective fathers by a version of Comstock to become his heir. Several of these alternates appeared to help drown Booker before he made his choice to accept or reject the baptism.
Columbia's Heir
Our Lady Elizabeth Godspeed Thy Judgement.
With at least one version of Elizabeth, Comstock succeeded, and Booker was unable to rescue her. Worn down by months of brainwashing and Booker's failure to save her, Elizabeth succumbed and became the heir Comstock wanted her to be. That Elizabeth eventually attacked the surface world in fulfillment of his prophecy, culminating in an attack on New York in 1983 when Elizabeth was ninety one. However, the aged Elizabeth began to regret her actions and resist her brainwashing. She broke the Siphon and used its power to bring Booker from the past just before he could assault Comstock House.
She explained that he could not defeat Songbird and gave him a message for her alternate younger self, so they could control the creature, before she sent him back through a Tear inside the house. This version of Elizabeth assured him it was too late to save her, but he might still save his Elizabeth.
Personality
Elizabeth inviting Booker to dance with her in Battleship Bay.
Despite years of isolation, Elizabeth has a free-willed, almost childlike spirit, demonstrated by her dancing on the beach in Battleship Bay and in her interaction with her surroundings. She is also somewhat mischievous, helping Booker to pick locks and liberate goods if the proper resources are available. She has a biting wit and sarcastic humor, calling Booker out of his missteps without hesitation. At the same time, she possesses an immense amount of reserve and determination, as she is able to focus on her goals and move past stressful situations relatively quickly, though they are still shown to affect her deeply. As the story progresses, however, she matures and starts to become more serious and determined to stop Comstock.
Because the only thing to keep her company in her prison were books, Elizabeth is a fountain of information, ranging from lock-picking to medical treatment. She quotes the King James Bible in Soldier's Field, in reference to the area's true purpose ("Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it") and references the works of Victor Hugo.
Despite her immense intellect, her determination and lack of life experience have made her somewhat reckless, and she does not always think her plans through. For instance, she opens up a Tear to avoid a bee, which nearly results in her and Booker being attacked by Songbird. Furthermore, her frantic and obvious flight from Booker's company in Finkton causes her to be captured by Founder forces, which a more stealthy escape could have avoided. She is also very naive, once she sees the consequences of her actions, however, she matures and regrets her intervention in the Vox's revolution.
Elizabeth greatly dislikes violence, especially killing. Being sequestered in her tower for so long, she has no precedent regarding such real-world ordeals. She runs away from Booker calling him a monster when he kills the Founder agents that assault them in Battleship Bay. Throughout the narrative, Elizabeth will flinch when Booker fires a weapon whilst standing next to her. If he executes an enemy near Elizabeth she may groan or exclaim, "Oh my God," at the sight of Booker's gruesome Sky-Hook kills. She may also voice similar revulsion if Booker happens to shoot or melee an enemy in the head (although only if it is a critical hit and their head explodes). When she kills Daisy Fitzroy, she reacts in stunned horror at what she has done before fleeing and locking herself in a room on The First Lady. However, when released from torture in Comstock House, Elizabeth summons a tornado to kill her tormentors and experiences no guilt or regret at their death. She subsequently decides that she will kill Comstock for what he has done to her, suggesting the harm visited upon her has drastically changed this predisposition.
Once Elizabeth gains full access of her powers she fully matures, as she finally knows the truth behind her origins and Booker's actions. Though deeply saddened by these events, she is driven by the necessity to show Booker the truth for the greater good. Once Booker realizes the true results of his actions, she and other versions of her muster the courage to drown him, ending the existence of Zachary Comstock across time.
In an alternate timeline, one in which Elizabeth succumbed to torture, she is in almost every way identical in personality to Comstock: ruthless, fanatical and jingoistic, she has no qualms with brainwashing children into servitude and using her powers to turn them into weapons. True to Comstock's prophecy, she leads the Founders' attack on New York, bringing down upon it the entirety of Columbia's massive firepower. However, during this time she also repents of her actions, regretting her obedience to Comstock when she realizes it is too late to stop the destruction of the world below.
In Burial at Sea - Episode 1, Elizabeth's personality has matured greatly. Her attitude grew much colder with little regard for being very polite, and she is motivated solely on executing revenge against Comstock. Unlike in Infinite, where she can be heard reacting with horror to Booker's executions with the Sky-Hook, she remains silent at her partner's killings, as if acknowledging them despite their brutality. She is also bitter towards the world of Rapture, judging it no different than Columbia in its violence and abuse of innocent people. By the end of the episode, it is made clear that she had been planning to cause Comstock's death—helping him realize his true identity and recover his memories of his past crime before allowing him to get impaled by a Big Daddy—even if it meant abusing of Sally for her own ends. Her cold reaction to Comstock's blood on her face also contrasts greatly with hers after killing Daisy Fitzroy, showing she had no remorse from taking his life, and never express it along the second episode.
In Burial at Sea Episode 2, Elizabeth had felt guilty for her actions putting Sally in danger, causing her to return back to Rapture to undo her mistakes, all the while putting herself at risk from her loss of Tear-manipulating powers. Without her powers and foresee of other realities and times, she becomes more afraid and doubtful of herself, as opposed to her cold, calculating personality. She is still however bitter towards Rapture and its inhabitants, and trusts no one except her own conscience (represented by her visions of Booker).
Powers and Abilities
Elizabeth is gifted (or cursed) with the ability to manipulate Tears, contingencies within the space-time continuum that show possible scenarios which, if tampered with, can enact themselves within Columbia or any universe in particular. Elizabeth is the only person known to be capable of controlling these Tears naturally, and can exploit them to summon objects such as weapons, ammunition or parts of the scenery, as well as living beings. She can also use these Tears to travel through time and space and so is able to transport herself and Booker to other time periods and realities. Another use for the Tears is to merge different realities together, though doing this is stressful. However, her control over her powers is limited by a long distance restraining device called the Siphon, preventing her from transporting herself out of Columbia. Upon the destruction of the Siphon, however, her immense powers reveal themselves: she can view every event across all of the infinite timelines simultaneously, and effortlessly open doorways to them. But in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 2 where she returns to Rapture at the same time of her predetermined death, she loses her ability to create Tears and the near omniscient she gains from them.
A side effect of Elizabeth's power is that her presence causes Tears to open randomly in the area around her. She seems to have limited control over their destination, but it is clear that many of the Tears open to random locations. A few Tears seem to open to the same locations regularly however, such as the one used by Albert Fink to plagiarize music from other time periods. Apparently Elizabeth is unable to prevent these Tears from forming, as upon her arrival in Rapture, Tears started to appear in the city.
For the majority of the game, the source of Elizabeth's powers are a mystery, though Rosalind Lutece speculates in a Voxophone that it may be tied to the loss of her little finger. When Booker relives his memories, it is revealed that when pulling Anna Dewitt through to Comstock's world, the Tear the Lutece's engineered closed on her pinkie finger, severing it. With her physical form split across multiple timelines, Anna gained the ability to manipulate the Tears between realities.
Alongside her Tear-manipulating powers, Elizabeth is able to pick almost any lock Booker directs her to, provided she has enough lockpicks to do so. Additionally, she is a talented code breaker, artist, and singer. By finding Code Books, Elizabeth can crack any message written in the Vox Cipher. She also has a keen eye, and can supply Booker with critical resources in the middle of combat.
Due to her lifelong imprisonment, Elizabeth had a great deal of free time and spent a large portion of it in the Tower's Library. Through the Library's extensive collection of books Elizabeth gained an understanding of a wide variety of subjects that included medicine, navigation, literature, art, music, physics, weapons, structural engineering and architecture. After arriving in Rapture, Elizabeth continues to read a great deal.
In Burial at Sea - Episode 2, Elizabeth is forced to use Plasmids, having lost her ability to create Tears. It seems by then Elizabeth has learned how to use weapons and fight effectively. However while carrying the Shotgun, she will only ever have two shells loaded into the gun at any point in time. A reason for this could be that she is unable to heft a fully loaded shotgun around and retain her stealth.
Voxophones
BioShock Infinite
Gallery
In-Game Images
Early Images
![An extremely early "mute" prototype for Elizabeth ("Gibson Girl").[7]](/wiki/File:Proto.PNG "Proto.PNG (489 KB)")
.png "Elizabeth (Time 0 07 17;20).png (276 KB)")
Concept and Promotional Art
Behind the Scenes
- Wanted posters, which name her only as "Miss Elizabeth," list some of her specific features.
- Although Elizabeth's right little finger[8] is missing a phalanx bone, in the original trailers and gameplay videos, her little finger is seen intact.
- When Booker first comes face-to-face with Elizabeth in the Library of the Columbia statue the book she is holding is the Odyssey by Homer.
- Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva was hired as a model for Elizabeth in late 2012 by Irrational Games for her spot-on portrayal of the character.[9] Elizabeth's motion capturing was done by Heather Gordon.[10]
- After Elizabeth's shirt is damaged enough, one can see that she's already wearing the corset from her late-game dress, which fits with a corset's period use as underwear. It also explains how she was able to change so quickly as she just had to replace her blouse, skirt, and boots. It would have taken her far longer to lace a corset.
- When Booker and Elizabeth first board The First Lady airship, Elizabeth knocks Booker out with a red wrench at the controls of the airship. This is a reference to the melee weapon used by Jack in the first BioShock.
- The original incarnation of Elizabeth from the first gameplay footage (Beta model) makes an appearance at the end, standing to the far left among the multiple Elizabeth's/Anna's.
- When Booker ingests alcohol and becomes "drunk," Elizabeth will comment on his state, sometimes questioning his ability to shoot straight while under its influence.
- The epilogue suggests that it takes place in an alternate universe where Booker never went to the baptism, and he raises Anna. Since Comstock is erased from existence, he could never have taken her away from Booker.
- The scene at the first lighthouse after leaving Rapture when Elizabeth exclaims "It's always been there. I just… I just couldn't see it." after the lighthouse key appears is a behind-the-scenes nod to the computer modelling technique where items that a character is holding is actually a part of the model itself, albeit with a transparency of 100%. This is done to avoid problems with movement, planes and textures where the item and the character can clip into each other and generally look unnatural. Here is a video of a developer describing the same technique used in Half-Life 2 Episode One between a crowbar, the item, and Barney, the character.
- In the BioShock Infinite DLC Burial at Sea - Episode 2, she is the first playable female protagonist in the series.
- According to Shawn Robertson, an Animation Director for Irrational Games, Elizabeth's designs were derived from some of the female leads from Disney animated feature films.[citation needed]
- Elizabeth coughs whenever you stand next to someone smoking. But during the DLC: Burial at Sea, she, herself, smokes.
- In Burial at Sea - Episode 2, she can only consume one alcoholic drink before becoming drunk, unlike other characters in the series, which could always take in more.
- When lockpicking, she uses the same key she uses near the end of the game open to the Sea of Doors.
- In early demos, it was never clear that Elizabeth's abilities are oriented to cross-dimensional draw-ins, as they were more magic oriented by the looks of them. With the add on that they would easily be added on to Booker's Vigor usage, unlike his combat usage in the released version.
- In 2011 demos, Elizabeth would also draw in doors from Tears, with the drawback that opening Tears would tire her out more.
- When you aim your weapon at Elizabeth's head, she will move away and will sometimes trigger lines like "Hey, don't point that at me!" or "Put that away!"
- In BioShock Infinite DLC Burial at Sea - Episode 2 Elizabeth uses her left hand to operate machinery just like Booker DeWitt does.
- Every promotional image of Elizabeth showing her brooch has the bird cameo on it. This continues in Burial at Sea, where Elizabeth will always wear that cameo, neglecting the player decision in the main game.
References
- ↑ Hall of Heroes timeline
- ↑ Upon entering Cupid's Arrow: "I was here as well... Right after I came through, I needed... I needed something to wear that was a little more Rapture-appropriate"
- ↑ Carol Lynn's Audio Diary: The Blue Dress
- ↑ "See the voices of Booker and Elizabeth at PAX" article at IrrationalGames.com
- ↑ "BioShock Infinite" from GameInformer article
- ↑ Elizabeth's Voxophone: A Leash
- ↑ Interview on IGN.com
- ↑ Little finger on Wikipedia.org
- ↑ We love our BioShock cosplayers so much we hired one! article at IrrationalGames.com
- ↑ BioShock Infinite - Creating Elizabeth: The Women That Brought Her To Life on YouTube
| Playable characters in the BioShock series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jack · Subject Delta (Little Sister · Subject Sigma · Charles Milton Porter · BioShock 2 Multiplayer Characters) · Booker DeWitt (Zachary Hale Comstock · Elizabeth) | ||