Boy of Silence

Boy of Silence
Location	BioShock Infinite: Comstock House

“NO SIN EVADES HIS GAZE”

― Warning sign displayed in Comstock House

The Boys of Silence are enthralled young men fitted with sense-enhancing helmets who are forced to act as watchmen of Comstock House. Booker DeWitt encounters them in Columbia during the course of BioShock Infinite.

“	Experimented upon since youth and sealed away from sight behind masks of copper, the Boys of Silence rank among the most bizarre and fearsome inhabitants of Columbia. Uniquely sensitive to both sound and motion, the Boys of Silence are capable of detecting all but the stealthiest of intruders. How will you fare when one is near?	”
—Inscription on the replica

Characteristics

“My children are without blame, without fault -- and without choice.”

― Elizabeth

Boys of Silence are outfitted in blue suits that are reminiscent of a school uniform. Their most noticeable feature is their large metal helmets, which amplifies their hearing but obscures their face. These helmets have been fitted onto leather shoulder straps, fastened on by metal clamps, and padlocked shut. Apparently fitted with their uniforms early in life (and have since outgrown them), their blazer sleeves are too short for their arms and their trousers have torn, despite being called "Boys", their hands show apparent deterioration of advanced age.

Referred to as "Elizabeth's children", they are in fact men brainwashed from childhood and forced into total subservience for decades. Because of Elizabeth's intervention, they also have limited control over Tears. This allows them to partially control the Lunatics of Comstock House, and to teleport out of existence after raising the alarm or being attacked.

Lunatics

The Boys of Silence do not actually engage in combat. Their primary purpose is to keep watch over the facility, and of the similarly brainwashed men in George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson masks, who are referred to as the Lunatics. Rather than fight Booker directly, Boys of Silence summon the men to fight for them. When summoned, the Lunatics charge head-on and will not hesitate to land devastating blows with cudgels like Thuggish Splicers.

The Lunatics are the inmates of Comstock House. Once ordinary citizens of Columbia, these individuals did not fall in line with Elizabeth's totalitarian rule and were brought to the asylum to be reconditioned. In order to be "purified," they were exposed, via Tears, to every version of themselves across time and space. This traumatic experience shattered the mind leaving them as broken, will-less husks who shuffle aimlessly around the facility. The event also instilled in them minor Tear-like characteristics such as intangibility, and thus they cannot be harmed unless awakened by a Boy of Silence. They can be seen saluting the Boys of Silence occasionally.

BioShock Infinite

Main article: BioShock Infinite

“Watch where you step! Don't say a word! You'll be in trou-ble if the Boys have heard!”

― Excerpt from Columbian nursery rhyme

The Boys of Silence are encountered in an alternate-timeline version of Comstock House, and act as stationary sentries. A beam of white light from their mouths indicates their line of "sight," and Booker must maneuver around them to avoid notice.

If Booker enters a Boy of Silence's line of sight it will stand still and focus on him. If he stays for too long, gets too close to the Boy, or attacks it, the Boy of Silence will let out a piercing scream and teleport away. Though the scream deals only minor damage at close range, it pulls every nearby minion through to the current reality, allowing them to attack Booker and rendering them mortal. The minions themselves only wield wooden clubs, but come in great numbers and are tougher than most enemies.

Attacking a Boy of Silence serves no purpose, as they are impervious to damage and will immediately sound the alarm. However, they can be completely bypassed: they can only see whatever their masks illuminate and so walking outside of their range of vision won't attract their ire. If they do happen to spot Booker, they will momentarily stand still. If the player retreats out of their line of sight in time, they will resume scanning the area, otherwise they will eventually sound the alarm.

One of the more notable Boys of Silence is encountered in the Warden's Office just after unlocking the gate to reach Elizabeth in the torture chamber. Once the switch to deactivate the lock is pulled, the player turns around and finds themselves face to face with a Boy of Silence who immediately sounds the alarm.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 2

In Burial at Sea - Episode 2, a Boy of Silence helmet can be found in the Surgical Suite in Fink MFG Research Laboratories of Jeremiah Fink's Factory. This could imply that Fink himself created the Boy of Silence idea, long before Elizabeth attacked New York in 1983.

Lunatic Quotes

"The slugs alone could not provide enough ADAM for serious work. But combined with the host... now we have something." - Brigid Tenenbaum This article, or section of an article, is a stub. It is too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject. Would you kindly help this wiki by expanding it?

Idle

• "Billy… hold up… my head."
• "What's inside… should be on the outside!"
• [Screams] "This life seems so unhealthy!"
• "These thoughts… they will consume…"
• "Close to me!"
• "Used to all make sense to me."
• "Left hand is war, the right hand is… peace?"

Attacking the Player

• "Cracked mirror! Cracked mirror! Cracked mirror!"
• "My skin disappears sometimes!"
• "See the error of your ways!"
• "You're no angel!"

Videos

Heavy Hitters Part 3 Boys of Silence

The team at Irrational Games explains the concept behind the Boys of Silence.

Bioshock Infinite Boys of Silence Quotes

Gallery

Concept Art and Promotional Images

Concept art for Boys of Silence.

Concept for the mouth opened.

Boy of Silence concept art.

Concept art.

More concept art.

Concept art mood piece.

Boy of Silence sculpt.

The Boy of Silence seen in a demo.

Front of NECA Boy of Silence toy.

Back of Boy of Silence toy box.

Boy of Silence as a chocolate treat.

Figure of Boy of Silence.

The Boys of Silence Steam Trading Card.

Boy of Silence

The Boy of Silence searching.

The Boy of Silence detecting.

The Boy of Silence ready to scream.

The Boy of Silence screaming.

The Boy of Silence teleporting and enraging Lunatics.

Boy of Silence helmet found in the Surgical Suite.

Lunatic

The Benjamin Franklin Lunatic.

The George Washington Lunatic.

The Thomas Jefferson Lunatic.

The Tear's effect on the Lunatics (GIF).

Behind the Scenes

• At Pax East 2012, Ken Levine and Nate Wells mentioned that the Boy of Silence originally had a different purpose, which was to wait and attack the player after it collected every sound from them, such as gunshots and footsteps, and that it was meant to compel the player to choose more silent weapons. They found that this became too problematic, both from a gameplay aspect as most players wouldn't understand what was happening, and the technical aspect of removing ambient sounds from the environment, since this enemy would collect those as well.
• Balthrop, one of the sound team members, mentioned that the Boys of Silence went through months of different sound changes. One of these sounds was from female death metal singer, Mallika Sundaramurthy of Abnormality, to rasp out the harshest and roughest screams, to later be blended by the sound team with machine sounds that were described as a rev of a factory belt starting after years of disuse. The sound file was even played at PAX East 2012, where the audience was visibly affected by it. As grating as it was, both Balthrop and Levine felt it sounded like a "wet" noise that wouldn't come out of the Boys of Silence, and changed it to a more boot-up noise, and adds in the scream with the grinding ting-tings of metal gears and power.
• On the back of the NECA figurine of the Boy of Silence is the following nursery rhyme: "Watch where you step! Don't say a word! You'll be in trou-ble if the Boys have heard!"
• Boys of Silence were originally going to have a much larger role in the game, and would try to hunt down Booker across entire levels before calling for reinforcements. Ken Levine compared them to the Security Cameras of BioShock, except with the ability to move and consciously track down the player. IGN commented on their Rewind Theater that the Boy of Silence seems to be "Draining the color from the room" while demonstrating his ability as a fog-like wave surrounds the environment, while a bright aura surrounds him.
• Boys of Silence are the only Heavy Hitters not to be included in the Clash in the Clouds DLC.
• A Figure very similar to the Boys of Silence can be seen on the German WW2 propaganda poster called "Kultur Terror".
• Interestingly, the Boy of Silence's in Game 3D Model has no facial rigging on it (such as mouth and eyes), unlike other characters, even ones with helmets which include Firemen and Crows who have facial rigging but have no shown face.
  • To add to this, even when no-clipping through a Boy's helmet, it is empty inside—probably of lack of reason for a face or head to be underneath the helmet. This is unlike Beasts, who do have a face with rigging under their helmet.