Frank Fontaine
From BioShock Wiki
Frank Fontaine, along with Ryan, is the antagonist of BioShock (although he is not immediately revealed), a criminal mastermind, the arch-enemy of Andrew Ryan and the leader of the opposition in the power struggle which led to Rapture's collapse. He speaks with a coarse, thick Bronx accent.
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[edit] Background
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Fontaine has apparently been around in Rapture for 12 years, making his arrival sometime in 1948. He was originally the owner of Fontaine Fisheries, which became the front for his smuggling operations. A successful businessman of modest beginnings he also engaged in charity and eventually became a player in high technology, establishing Fontaine Futuristics. He is known to regularly disguise himself as various people to accomplish criminal activities that he would not normally get away with. One of these is mentioned by Fontaine himself after revealing himself "Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months!".
His role as the Irish-accented guide Atlas extends far back from the setting of the game. Apparently, he was an opposition to Ryan and his tyrannical hold on Rapture.
Fontaine was the initial investor in Bridgette Tenenbaum and Dr. Suchong's research into ADAM. His fishermen were the first to discover the sea slugs which naturally produce the substance. Their research led to the establishment of Fontaine Futuristics, the epicenter of biotechnology in Rapture.
Andrew Ryan at first observed Fontaine's rise to power as master of Fontaine Futuristics with pride, as the opportunity for determined men to better themselves in this manner was exactly what he built Rapture to make possible. However, when he discovered the criminal arm of his enterprises (which imported contraband items such as the Christian Bible), he began to see Fontaine as a threat, as such activity might reveal the location of Rapture to surface-dwellers. However, others would say that this distrust was more due to Fontaine challenging Ryan's control of the city.
Facing growing pressure from Ryan, Fontaine engineered, as a back-up plan, an elaborate scheme to take control of Rapture. After acquiring Jack, the illegitimate son of Ryan himself, he instructed Suchong to brainwash, train, and artificially age the child, creating an obedient assassin whom he sent to the surface as a sleeper agent.
In 1958, Fontaine apparently died in a shootout with Ryan's men, sealing himself the status of a martyr to those who did not know his true nature. In reality he faked his death, hoping to stir up discontent among the lower masses and give Ryan the false hope that his nemesis was dead. Though not stated, it is implied Fontaine used ADAM to alter his appearance completely, modeling his new visage as a handsome, athletic Apollo-like figure known as Atlas, a fisherman, proletariat hero and family man. Only his original voice remained, which he covered for with a heavy Irish accent. He then charismatically charmed the lower masses as a humble freedom fighter, while setting the stage for the civil war which would tear Rapture apart. Originally hoping for victory in this genetic arms race, "Atlas" soon found himself trapped in Rapture, with Ryan in control of the splicers through his pheromone systems. With no other way out, "Atlas" activated his sleeper agent, Jack.
Later, as Jack's guide, "Atlas" uses the trigger phrase "would you kindly" to manipulate Jack into assassinating Ryan.
[edit] Game Role
After Ryan's death, Fontaine reveals that his ultimate goal is not simply to conquer Rapture, but to use it and the ADAM technology to extend his power to the surface and become an industry tycoon. He reveals himself to be a misanthropic con artist with no allegiance to the people of Rapture, who believed him to be an alternative to Ryan's hegemony, nor anything but sarcastic, feigned sympathy for Jack. He started splicing himself soon after, saying that he’s never tasted ADAM at all until now and soon he cannot get enough. His fast growing dependency on ADAM makes him strap himself into a machine that pumps all the ADAM (which the Little Sisters have collected) into himself. He starts taunting Jack, proclaiming that no one can stop him as he is too powerful. As the game's final boss, he splices himself into a hulking, statuesque monster with three different major plasmid elements, who is finally overcome and killed by a swarm of Little Sisters who stab Fontaine multiple times with their needles, draining him of all ADAM in his body.
In his death, Fontaine illustrated Bridgette Tenenbaum's realization that excessive ADAM use forces the body into dependency. The ambiguous expression "Keep back the tide" is shown to mean a not only mental but physical degeneration when the body's dependency is denied. Without ADAM, Fontaine's enhanced body simply cannot survive.
[edit] Influences
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Again, at the 2008 GDC, Ken Levine stated that Fontaine's name is not a reference to the Fountainhead.
Frank Fontaine, like several of the main characters, exhibits influences from Ayn Rand. The alias Atlas is clearly a reference to Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged. According to Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, the goal of a human being is rational self-interest: living for one's own happiness, success, and creativity, with as little interference as possible.
He came to Rapture with little or nothing, and built an empire by his own wits, a rags-to-riches story in the mold of Andrew Carnegie. Later on he himself gets corrupted in his strive for power. He also exposes Andrew Ryan to be, at his core, a tyrant: the very type of "God or King" which the red banner at Rapture's entrance claimed had no place there, winning considerable popular support by pointing out Ryan's hypocrisy. The flaws Ryan showed are however perhaps those that most collectivistic thinking humans would have to protect an establishment from what they perceive as a threat. This way Ryan becomes the tyrant of Rapture who in trying to get rid of Fontaine takes away all of the freedom of its inhabitants.
Ken Levine has stated that the character of Frank Fontaine was partly inspired by Keyser Soze from The Usual Suspects. In the film, Keyser Soze is a crime lord whom every criminal is afraid of and described as a "boogeyman" like Fontaine is in Rapture. The scene where the police officer looks at the bulletin board and figures out who Keyser Soze actually is, also inspired the "Would you kindly" board in Ryan's office[1].
Fontaine is manipulative, duping the public for his own gain and ultimately dooming them to mutation, insanity and death. These traits are contrary to Rand's ethos, and he casts doubt even upon Objectivism itself in his correct observation that not everyone in Rapture can become wealthy and famous. Fontaine's boss form is reminiscent of an Art Deco sculpture, such as Lee Lawrie's statue of Atlas or the many sculptures around Rapture.
The FreshHair commercial from the Public Address Announcements in Rapture seems to be a dig at Fontaine. The character complaining about being bald is called Frank, and he has a fear of splicing; Fontaine tells Jack he did not splice previously because he "figured it was bad to mix business with pleasure."
Frank Fontaine is voiced by Greg Baldwin.[1]
[edit] Bioshock 2
Even though Frank Fontaine is long since dead, his business Fontaine Futuristics will be a level in Bioshock 2. The player will be able to explore the areas like Adam making machines. It is also said a statue of Atlas will be shown in the game.
