Julie Langford

Julie Langford
Birthplace	United States
Died	1960
Place of Death	Langford Research Laboratories, Arcadia, Rapture
Affiliation	Ryan Industries
Physical Description
Gender	Female
Hair Color	Brunette
Eye Color	Brown
Appearances
Appears in	BioShock BioShock: Rapture
Voice Actor	Susanne Blakeslee

“Ryan's woman in Arcadia is an old betty named Langford. An okay sort, but not above doing a dirty job for a dollar.”

― Atlas

Professor Julie Langford, Ph.D., was the scientist responsible for creating and governing Arcadia, a garden and arboretum that supplied oxygen to Rapture. Unlike most residents of Rapture, she does not seem to be spliced or have an affliction from ADAM abuse, and seems relatively normal, despite her dangerous environment.

History

Before her descent to the underwater city, Langford was a renowned botanist and professor at the University of California Berkeley, where she had worked since the 1920s. Her research attracted both praise for its groundbreaking findings, and controversy for her "radical theories". For a time she worked for the United States government, offering assistance with various defoliation projects during the Second World War, including use against the Japanese on Iwo Jima.

Article mentioning Langford's disappearance in 1949.

Her disappearance after leaving for Rapture did not go unnoticed on the surface. A newspaper article from January 7, 1949 commented that she was still missing by that date, despite an “intensive investigation”.

Although truly loving the plants and her work on the garden of Arcadia, she eventually was forced into making it a commodity, available only to paying visitors. Andrew Ryan decided to charge citizens not only for taking a stroll in Arcadia, but also to sell the vital oxygen created by the arboretum. She accepted such decisions, as in a later audio diary she states that she would have complained, but then remembered who signed her paychecks.

As the use of Plasmids caused society in Rapture to deteriorate, Langford kept to her work. She was busy using the scientific advances of ADAM in her work. One project was the Lazarus Vector, a concoction that would be able to bring trees back from the dead. During this time, Langford had trouble with the Saturnine, a group of Splicers who stole many of her materials for use in their nature worship cult, frequent lockdowns also slowed down her progress. During the Rapture Civil War, when Ryan closed Arcadia for good, Langford continued to make trips to her office there as she was close to a breakthrough in her project. She even traveled to Arcadia the morning Ryan had ordered all Rapture citizens to hunt down the survivor of an unknown airplane crash.

BioShock

Main article: BioShock

When Andrew Ryan released a chemical into the atmosphere that threatened to destroy the plant life in Arcadia, Jack, spurred on by Atlas, sought out Langford to see if she could help. As Jack approaches the locked laboratory, Langford appears on several televisions outside the lab and is startled by what had happened to her trees. She accuses Jack for the death of them but quickly realizes that it was done by Ryan's hands and asks Jack to find her a sample of Rosa Gallica while she continues working. When Jack gives her the rose he is granted access to her lab but when he finally reached Langford, Andrew Ryan flooded her office with a toxic gas, while reminding her about how he holds property rights to Arcadia and the contract for the manufacture of the Lazarus Vector. Just before dying, Julie scrawls the combination to her safe on the window of her office. Within the safe, the player finds the formula for the Lazarus Vector, a concoction invented by Langford that promises to revive Arcadia's trees and other plant life.

BioShock 2 Multiplayer

Main article: BioShock 2 Multiplayer

One of Julie Langford's quotes is used for the multiplayer loading screen, commenting on the Saturnine. A redesigned version of her lab is located in the multiplayer version of Arcadia.

• "The Saturnine? Please… they dress up in leaves… drinking human blood… An aging bunch of frat boys…"

Audio Diaries

Julie Langford's final message.

BioShock

• Arcadia
  • Arcadia Closed
  • The Saturnine
  • Early Tests Promising
  • What Won't They Steal
  • Teaching an Old Hound
  • Lazarus Vector Formula
  • The Lazarus Vector
  • Arcadia and Oxygen

Behind the Scenes

• Julie Langford uses a variant of Lady Smith Splicer model. Her outfit is made to look like a teal dress worn under an open lab coat, though the fur shrug is unconvincingly incorporated. As listed above, they also share the same voice actress, Susanne Blakeslee.
• Langford was originally a male character named Holden Langford, but Ken Levine felt that they didn't have enough female characters in the game and so the change was made. A sign for her research lab still reads "Holden Langford" if one would look on it with the art subtitle on.
• In her audio diary The Lazarus Vector, a character named "Becky" is mentioned. It is unclear if this is Langford's daughter, a colleague, a significant other, or even her pet.