WMG / BioShock Infinite

Pre-release theories

• These are theories made before the release of the game.

There will be a Light Is Not Good theme going on

Weird red and green lights, evil songbird-things...

The concept gone mad in BioShock Infinite will be Patriotism.

• The flags, 'You're a grand ol' flag,' the flags, one of the signs says that it's your holy duty to support Columbia, and the FLAGS EVERYWHERE. Not exactly subtle, but it wouldn't be a proper theme if it wasn't.
  • It's technically more nationalism but I'm willing to call this confirmed.

By the end of BioShock Infinite, Columbia will have (possibly literally) gone down in flames.

Seriously, Project Icarus? The guys who worked on Columbia were just begging for it to meet a messy end, weren't they?

• The fate of Columbia will continue BioShock's tradition of having multiple endings, one choice during the game will directly or indirectly decide weather Columbia physically survives at the climax of the story.
• If the recent Columbia: A Modern Day Icarus? trailers are anything to go by, it might be decades before that happens, with the game possibly starting off around March 1981...around the same time a piece of the city falls somewhere in the Alps.
• Sure, if in flames you mean descending onto New York with balls of fires shot down. Also if you mean a Columbia.
• Sort of Confirmed. By the end of the game the Vox Populi revolution pretty much devastates the entire city.

Elizabeth is the one keeping Columbia aloft.

Liz was born telekinetic, and is the original source of the superscience on Columbia, like the sea slug was for Rapture. Plasmids (or whatever they're called now) are manufactured from her blood, which are then used to keep the city flying. The hot air balloons and propellers are just there for show, as Columbia's engineers could scarcely admit to the world that they couldn't build a flying city with American ingenuity alone.

• I definitely believe this one, with one reservation. There's plenty of supporting evidence for it as well. The propellers and balloons aren't just for show. Consider this: the propellers and hot air balloons are far, far too small to lift the city. Period. They wouldn't fool anyone, anyway. There's no arguing that. But what we do see them used for is keeping the whole thing relatively stable, and making minor alterations to the altitude. Furthermore, if you look at things that are decidedly not attached to the city, such as the Vox Poluli and Founder hybrid airplane/airships, or Zepplanes, or whatever you want to call them, their gasbags are much bigger and more realistic relative to their payloads, even though hydrogen has 3 times the lift of hot air.
• I don't think so, because Columbia was built for the World's Fair. However, one of the trailers seems to imply Liz is the "specimen" of Monument Island, and energy or electricity is being siphoned from her.
• As it turns out, this is kind of Jossed. However, Columbia is kept aloft by quantum freezing of air particles.
  • The whole theory is bunk, as it is spawned from a misconception - Elizabeth is the result of the super science that keeps Columbia afloat, not the fountain from which it springs.

The plot of BioShock Infinite is eventually revealed to be an hallucination brought about by Soviet brainwashing presumably for the purpose of inducing anti-American sentiment

In the gameplay demo if you look closely at Saltonstall's badge once he turns hostile, it clearly shows the communist hammer and sickle, which didn't exist as a symbol until 1918. The game is sent in 1912. Game Informer also points out that the lyrics of the song playing in the bar closely resembles Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", which came out in 1985, when the Cold War was still going on.

• Adding to this theory, Destructoid recently played a demo and mentions A movie theater that is advertising Return of the Jedi, which was released in 1983.
• One problem: while the Hammer and Sickle only really became OFFICIAL in 1918, they are almost as old as Socialism is (in varrying forms, of course, and they only really started to come of age when they moved out of the industrial West and into rural Eastern Europe). It's not impossible that somebody (likely in Vox Populi) might have tossed something together and come close to the insignea adopted by the Soviets in 1918. That,, and why would a Soviet brainwashing experiment have an enemy that wears their insignea?
• this troper has no idea what the meaning of having an old timey cover of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" could be, but it kinda creeps me out for some reason
  • The new Tear gameplay mechanic seems to imply time travel too, as seen by the Revenge of the Jedi sign in the horse ressurection video.

The end of BioShock Infinite will have Elizabeth bringing Columbia down in flames..

If we assume that the debut trailer - the one where DeWitt is caught by Elizabeth's Telekinesis at the end - is set before the longer gameplay trailer, then her powers seem to have increased. Possibly this will mean that Elizabeth, who is having her powers boosted by whoever commands HIM, will scale in power with the player, as the latter finds new and more powerful Vigors. In the end, after HIM pulls a Heel–Face Turn and dies taking out whatever Big Bad controls him to help Elizabeth escape, her powers are so increased that she destroys Columbia. As for the method in which this is done, well, Project Icarus should be a hint. A literal Mythology Gag, kind of.

• Don't take the debut trailer (The one with Booker dying) as canonical. BioShock had a similar trailer, with Jack getting gored by a Big Daddy.
• Sort of Confirmed. Elizabeth uses her powers to make sure Columbia will never exist in the first place.

The "Vigors" in BioShock Infinite change your brain and make you psychic as opposed to Plasmids changing your genetic code in BioShock

While some of the Plasmids made you psychic, this troper is predicting that the "Vigors" in Infinite don't change your genetic code or physical body, but instead change your brain giving you psychic powers (such as controlling the crows) at the cost of making you 100% batshit insane over time (not unlike Plasmids, but without the addiction aspect) and the source of all this is none other than Elizabeth herself

• My thoughts exactly, only they don't just cause insanity. These psychic powers also can alter sensory perception. That sudden shift in appearance with Saltonstall, that's him projecting a different appearance on Booker's minds. The same thing with the suble change in that banner on the road and the picture at that bar and those guys chasing you sounding like Indian braves. The thing is that this is not an entirely conscious process. The more you use vigors and nostrums, the more you automatically change the perception of everyone around you. It just happens as your mood changes until you're completely unable to control it. So the cost isn't just insanity, it's also projecting your craziness on others. Why does Saltonstall's badge shift to a Hammer and Sickle? Because that symbolizes a philosophy that he fears and loathes. He's trying to intimidate you, so he unconsciously shows what intimidates him.
  • Jossed. Vigor's are plasmids, reverse engineered through multi-universe peeping.

Soviet or American Time Travelers will turn out to be the main antagonists of BioShock Infinite.

The hammer and sickle badge, the song in the bar, and the the changing of portraits have become side effects of these time-travellers' meddling.

• Jossed.

The inhabitants of Columbia are using Elizabeth's psychic ability to power their weapon of mass destruction.

Not only is Elizabeth a powerful psychic, she could even manipulate time if pushed far enough. The people of Columbia hope to harness this ability in order to literally unmake entire civilizations!

• Actually, Elizabeth herself is the weapon.

Assuming there's a sequel to Infinite, it will either be a deconstruction of hard left politics or democracy.

From what indication the game gives, Vox Populi is a collection of various groups opposed to the Saltonstall's hard right regime. Once his party (and Columbia) falls into chaos, Vox Populi will rise to power. Vox Populi will either have so much infighting among the tenuously linked ideologies that they descend into mob rule or will become a hard left party that fails to help the downtrodden people and groups they intended to protect.

• Jossed. Recent videos show that the Vox Populi have already descended into fanaticism. Apparently both (extreme) ends of the political spectrum are being hit with both barrels this time around.

Elizabeth and Booker will have some sort of romantic relationship, UST, or platonic at very least.

Her relation with Songbird sounds similar to King Kong and Ann Darrow with Booker as Jack or ICO(a young boy save princess while being chased by evil witch). Think of it, Elizabeth is a young, innocent girl around twenties who never sees the world while Booker doesn't seems to be more than mid thirties. They have been chasing by Yandere Implacable Man monster who chasing them like it was cheated. It's a classic romance plot in videogame!!

• Word of God says Elizabeth's interactions with Songbird are meant to give the impression of an unhealthy relationship, with a needy and co-dependent girlfriend and a jealous, abusive boyfriend.
  • Jossed She's his daughter.

At one point Elizabeth will open a tear into Rapture

Oh come on, this is pretty much inevitable. If not an "accidental teleport" like the 1980's street at least they'll have some tear send a Big Daddy to fight your enemies or something. I just wanted to post that, it would be a real treat!

• Confirmed. It happens at the very end.

When Columbia first disappeared, people could start seeing the tears

Assume Columbia "disappeared" during an anomaly with the time-space continuum. Elizabeth was only a little girl at the time, brought to Columbia by her parents (Not kidnapped as previously believed) Her powers awoke during this anomaly, and she managed to save the city from total annihilation. One of the Founders (Let's call him Mr. Jefferson for now) Realized Elizabeth was the only thing keeping them all from being warped into alternate dimensions, so he kidnaped her and brought her to the Founder's stronghold. There, The Founders decided to Keep her Isolated and keep Columbia afloat and in a mostly-stable timeline. Because She was still young, and her powers were still shaky, she wasn't able to keep the city in perfect condition. People started seeing things from Alternate realities, but could do nothing to manipulate them.

• Jossed. The Founders could already manipulate tears thanks to Letuce technology. Elizabeth is the only person who can manipulate tears naturally.

There will be multiple endings, dependent on how the player interacts with Elizabeth and the Tears.

I can see Irrational going two ways with this: Idealistically, where the player recieves a good/bad ending depending on whether they pushed Elizabeth to manipulate as many tears as possible (bad) or had her manipulate as few as possible (good). A more pragmatic scenario could be that Elizabeth has to use her power to manipulate a massive Tear near the end of the game. If Booker encouraged her to use her ability often throughout the game, she's experienced enough to pull it off, but otherwise has a much harder time of it, leading to a worse ending.

• Expect a Guide Dang It! for those players who tried to keep Elizabeth from straining herself.
• Jossed. There is one ending to the game. Although one could make the case that this is a Defied Trope on Booker and Elizabeth's part, as in the end, they try to remove all the myriad endings that could happen and distill it down to one.

The Songbird will make a Heroic Sacrifice for Elizabeth by the end of the game.

And it will be the game's biggest Tear Jerker.

• Jossed. It was a Mercy Kill. The Songbird was too Yandere to be left to roam free, so Elizabeth used a tear to get them all to Rapture, where Songbird is destroyed by the water pressure. That said, it's still pretty sad, considering you'd just finished a sequence where you commanded Songbird to tear the Vox a new one.

Booker and Elizabeth will become stranded in either the future or past.

At least for a section of gameplay. Ending up in front of the theater showing "Revenge of the Jedi" will only be one of their trips through time with some of the tears closing around them to leave them in another period. One will be set in a modern day city with posters for BioShock in front of a game store and Elizabeth marveling at modern clothing and technology, especially cell phones and television. It would be especially weird (yet really cool) to see her playing a game demo display in the store with the system changing depending on what version of the game is being played.

• Confirmed. Booker temporarily ends up in a Bad Future where Elizabeth followed in Comstock's footsteps and used her powers to torture all of humanity.

Not only Rapture will be featured as a "Tear" universe, but so will other Irrational Games and 2K games properties, as well as expy versions of other video games

• Not only will the Rapture setting be a tear, but so will the System Shock universe and the Freedom Force universe (both done by Irrational). Some 2K games, such as the upcoming XCOM reboot and the Borderlands games, will also appear as universes that the "tears" can access.
• There will also be expy versions of other video games. One tear might drop in a Italian-American who then uses a vigor that gives him great leaping abilities and pyrokinesis. He'll then help you out for a short time, before he dies, stops briefly in mid-air, then falls down while a funny special effect plays.
  • And then a Dinosaur with a froglike tongue comes for you to ride on. Mama-mia!
• Jossed. The only recognizable alternate universe that shows up is Rapture.
  • Actually this may not be jossed, the 80s world that Elizabeth visited was based after a cancelled Irrational Games project...and I also remember that Freedom Force III was supposed to take place around the same general time...and even if it is jossed, I can just hope this happens in the sequel.

By the end of the game, you'll have your hand around Elizabeth's neck again.

That bit from the trailer feels like Foreshadowing. It probably won't be the end of her, and Booker may not even be in control of himself at the time... but we'll see that moment again.

• Partially Jossed. Booker was adamant about not killing her Didn't stop him from giving her up to wipe away his debt, though. It is foreshadowing though, with roles reversed. Elizabeth ended up with her hands around Dewitt's neck.
• Taking the Burial at Sea into account - partially Jossed in another fashion. One of the alternate universes results in what happened to her finger, happening to Elizabeth's neck. Due of course, to Booker/Comstock.

The Big Bad will turn out to be an Eldritch Abomination

What with all the tears in space/time, I'd bet money that it's going to turn out that someone or something beyond human understanding is going to be pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

• Jossed. The Big Bad is an alternate version of Booker himself, and ultimately the one pulling all the strings is Elizabeth.

Daisy Fitzroy is Comstock's daughter.

The Vox Populi will be revealed eventually to have been created merely by Daisy having a temper tantrium to punish, or show up, her father. it's possible it is instead a way to take control from him, or prove to him that she is capable of leadership. Yes, the entire events happen because of a Father/daughter squabble. Not necessarily "Well Done, Son" Guy, but it works.

• Considering that Daisy is black, the fact that she may possibly be a mixed-race bastard of Comstock might add some special tension to the whole situation.
  • Jossed. Comstock is sterile.

We will never meet or see Daisy Fitzroy in person, just her face on a TV screens, banners, etc

...for the same reason we don't see ever Big Brother in Nineteen Eighty-Four in person. Her nature, existence and manner will remain unknown to the player (Unless BioShock 4 goes back to Columbia).

• Jossed. We see her in person in the "False Shepherd" trailer. Also in a couple of scenes during the game. She's quite real.

The whole game will turn out to be a time loop.

At the climax of the game, Booker and Elizabeth are placed in a completely winnable situation. Booker is badly wounded by Songbird (who Booker killed after an epic battle), the Founders and Vox Populi are warring openly, and the city is falling down around them. Desperate to save the one friend she has left, Elizabeth opens a tear back in time and sends Booker through it. This act results in Elizabeth dying from the overuse of her powers and Booker is helpless to do anything about it. Now a younger Columbia, just before the fall, Booker desperately tries to reach Elizabeth, but is stopped by Comstock (or some other semi-villainous major player in Columbia). This major player offers to save Booker and reunite him with Elizabeth, but on one condition... that Booker make sure nothing bad ever happens to her. Booker agrees, is given a Super Prototype iron lung/flying machine, and takes up the job of Elizabeth's mysterious guardian: Songbird. Remember the song: "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" Yeah. They're bastards like that.

• Or, for the good ending, the Time Tear causes the both of them to escape into the safety of the past, and Booker becomes the person that hires himself to locate Elizabeth in the first place, in order to create a Stable Time Loop.
• The bizarre dialogue between the two people (one of which has recently been revealed to be Rosalind Lutece, the scientist quoted in the intro about dimensional travel creating false memories) ferrying Booker to the lighthouse seems to suggest that time loops are in play...
  Man: One goes into an experiment knowing that one could fail.
  Rosalind: But one does not undertake an experiment knowing one has failed. [Suggesting that this has all happened before?]
  Man: Can we get back to the rowing?
  Rosalind: I suggest you do! Otherwise we're never going to get there.
  Man: No, I mean I'd greatly appreciate it if you would assist!
  Rosalind: Perhaps you should ask him. I imagine he has a greater interest in getting there than I do.
  Man: I suppose he does, but there's no point in asking.
  Rosalind: Why not?
  Man: Because he doesn't row.
  Rosalind: He doesn't row?!
  Man: No — he doesn't row. [As in: "He hasn't rowed any of the previous times; clearly he's not supposed to, and we can't risk throwing the pattern off."]
  Rosalind: Ah, I see what you mean.
• Not only that, but the note on the door says "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. This is your last chance." Last chance, which may imply that he tried to rescue Elizabeth before, but failed.
• Confirmed...sort of. The circumstances are different, and the circle is broken in the end.

The Big Bad will turn out to be Andrew Ryan.

He decried the ideology of both The Founders and Vox Populi in one of his PA speeches in the first game. If he was in Columbia, it would only make him stronger in his beliefs, seeing "The Parasites" wreck their own creation. With the Tear mechanic, anything can happen. This would be the perfect time to him to gloat about Objectivism as he tries to remake Columbia to his views.

• Jossed, if you don't factor the Alternate Universe theory that theorizes that Comstock and Ryan are just two sides of different universes.

Songbird will undergo a Heel–Face Turn.

His primary instructions are to protect Elizabeth from "kidnappers" at all costs. At some point, he may be led to realize that as long as she remains in Columbia, she cannot be truly safe.

• Somewhat confirmed. It's clear that Songbird is not truly sentient or in control of himself, and in the end, Elizabeth has to Mercy Kill him to rid herself of him. That said, you DO get control of Songbird in the last big fight of the game.

BioShock Infinite will attack moderates as well

They're too indecisive to do anything and let the extremes take over.

• This may be slightly confirmed, as when you go into Comstock House for the first time, you'll see a laundry list of "enemies of the state" on peg boards. Alongside "heretics", "anarchists" and "fornicators", you have "pacifists". Those that do nothing are viewed as just as evil.
  • Being considered an enemy of The Founders is practically a compliment, though.

The signature BioShock Tomato in the Mirror sequence will occur to Elizabeth, rather than the player character for a change

Since the developers thought that trope was getting too old, they would decide to twist it up a bit to still affect the player in some way. Through this, Booker will simply become a First-Person Peripheral Narrator in the whole storyline.

• Jossed. The ending of the game reveals, in rapid succession, that Elizabeth is Booker's daughter and that Comstock in an alternate version of Booker. The only reason that this doesn't apply to Elizabeth as well is because she's already a Physical God at this point in the story and she's the one that revealed it to Booker.

Elizabeth's ability to open tears will improve with time

Think of it. At the start of the game, she can hardly open a tear without it causing pain to her. It is very much possible that, perhaps, that ability is like a muscle, and that she has to try the ability first on smaller tears to later do so in larger tears. There might also be a mechanic by which, in certain situations, you are forced to choose between different tears, and that the small tear can be less efficient for your needs, but then the larger tear can cause a setback in Elizabeth's ability. That also ties well with the "Multiple Endings" WMG seen above, turning every choice you make a potential recipe for both a good and a bad outcome.

• Confirmed. Elizabeth's abilities are being suppressed thanks to a giant Siphon Comstock constructed in the middle of the Columbia. Once it is destroyed, Elizabeth becomes a literal Physical God.

Whatever Booker did to get kicked out of the Pinkertons is related to why he is asked to go save Elizabeth from Columbia.

Since we don't know what he did, it might be actually something important.

• It's never directly addressed. Gambling, drinking, single-father situation— who knows.

The Mysterious Stranger that asks Booker to get Elizabeth was the leader of the Vox Populi before Daisy Fitzroy took over and things went to hell.

He was one of the guys that genuinely wanted Columbia to be open to everyone, so when Fitzroy arrived and convinced everyone to become more radical, he chose to hide away to avoid getting killed. When he heard about the importance of Elizabeth for both sides, he got out in a balloon or plane or whatever and he looked for someone to get Elizabeth out.

• Jossed. It was the Luteces trying to fix the ruin Comstock made of things using their devices.

The Mysterious Stranger is Elizabeth's father.

He just managed to get away from Columbia before either the Founders or the Vox Populi found him (both of which would be interested in using him to force Elizabeth to help them) and looked for someone willing to get his daughter out of that flying hell. Then he heard of this guy that was kicked out of the Pinkertons and decides he is the only one ruthless enough to get up there and bring her daughter without having a problem with killing any that gets on the way.

• Jossed, see immediately above.

The main "moral" of the game will be of courage vs. cowardice

.The few "decisions" that have been revealed so far have involved either rescuing civilians from lynch mobs of the Founders and Vox Populi, or leaving them to die. The latter keeps you alive from "unnecessary fights" with the factions, but allows innocents to be brutally executed. The former naturally puts you at higher risk, but gives higher rewards, both from the loot of the dead Founders and Vox, and possibly gifts from the civilians, (i.e. the dentist who yanks the gold teeth out of some Vox Mooks, and gives them to you). It may even be revealed the reason Booker was kicked out of the Pinkertons was because he ran off on them, and let his team get killed. Assuming all the major decisions are like this, the good ending will have Booker charging in to save someone (likely Elizabeth), even if he kills himself in the process, or he pulls a last-minute escape that leaves the same person to die. This shows that, in times of political extremism, keeping your head down and out of trouble makes things worse. Thus, you need to stand up to the injustice, no matter to your own life

• Oh, as an aside, the Word of God confirming that "something is going on with all the" Apathetic Citizens also lends credence to the fact, as they're doing nothing while their whole world, quite literally, is falling apart on them.

Elizabeth will be given a more modest outfit before the game's release

She's already been redesigned to give her smaller eyes. Ken Levine has expressed disappointment with people focusing on her plunging neckline instead of her eyes, and she does have a less revealing alternate outfit◊ that appeared in a trailer.

• Possibly confirmed by this preview image◊ from All Games Beta.
  • Jossed by Ken Levine, who tweeted after questions over her outfit, that Elizabeth goes through multiple outfits in the game, her more "modest" outfit is how she appears early in the game.

The mere existence and maintenance of Columbia is completely dependent upon blind faith

Columbia is some sort of reverse Tower of Babel. Unlike their biblical counterpart, Columbia wasn't constructed to mock God, but built upon quintessential trust in the Lord. Thus, everything you encounter there is literally powered by faith - or, if you wish, make-believe. Look at the vigors, for example; while BioShock was presenting its superpowers as the result of some fancy Magic Genetics, here you have what amounts to patent medicine, as sold by your typical western-cliché Snake Oil Salesman. Their passive-skill counterparts are even called nostrums (EDIT: Nix that, they've been replaced by "gear". Anyway, the concept still stands.) All that stuff works on belief, which would also explain why Booker is suffering from side effects when knocking back a magic potion: He's a sceptic and as such does not have complete confidence, which causes his powers to malfunction in the beginning. He's not an atheist, though, and thus they still wash with him. The Vox Populi seem to be more grounded in "reality" than the Founders, which would explain why they are using more realistically proportioned Steampunk technology (i.e. their huge dirigible), and probably don't even use vigor powers at all, but that remains to be seen.

The Main Character is not Booker DeWitt.

I mean, come on. You are handed a box labelled 'Property of Booker DeWitt' as the very first action. The people rowing you never refer to you by name. I'm sure there was a Booker DeWitt, of the 7th Calvary, who fought at the 'battle' of Wounded Knee. But why do you have to be him when his name is just as good?

• Technically, you aren't actually the REAL Booker DeWitt. MC!DeWitt is transported from his "normal" universe to the Columbia universe, where his alternate universe counterpart is actually Comstock.

The Tears will link to some What Might Have Been ideas that got Dummied Out of Bio Shock 1 and 2

• Like proto-BioShock 1's Bugmen-infested Nazi research compound and proto-BioShock 2's USSR-occupied Rapture.
• Jossed. You only get to see Rapture briefly at the end of the game.

Just as BioShock deconstructed the concept of gameplay objectives, Infinite will deconstruct the concept of infinite lives

• It's all there in that opening cutscene: the "The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist..." quote, the bizarrely aloof people who take you to Columbia and the fact that Booker temporarily shows up in his office whenever he dies. Every time the player dies a new Booker is created, plucked from an alternate universe and gaining the memories of the previous one.
  • Confirmed. There have been more than a hundred attempts to get a Booker to solve things. Every single time, he doesn't row, and he always picks heads...

The game will alternatively / also deconstruct the concept of multiple endings / canon.

BioShock games are notable for their multiple endings depending on your actions throughout the game, with 'better' endings resulting from making certain decisions and 'worse' endings resulting from making others, and many of the WMGs on this page use the very concept. However, this game also hinges on the idea of alternative realities, that Elizabeth can pull things into this reality from others or can transport herself and Booker into other times and realities. Which begs the question — if every reality exists, and you can cross over into alternative realities, then doesn't the idea that your decisions can only result in one possible outcome become a little bit questionable? If you don't like the ending you've been faced with, can't you just find yourself another, better one — and in fact, isn't that essentially what a gamer who's finished the game with an ending they don't like essentially does? It would therefore seem likely that that a game that features multiple endings and alternative realities would address this in some fashion.

One of the questions that a multiple-ending game inevitably gives rise to as well is the question of 'canon' — which of the endings was the 'proper' one? Similarly, though, can a game which features alternative realities by definition have a 'proper' ending? What's to stop any of them from being equally valid?

• Confirmed, in a sense, even in regards to the definition of "canon." First, Infinite has only one ending, despite the "choices" you are presented with throughout the game. In fact, one of your first interactions with the Luteces in the coin flip sequence only shows how certain choices always lead to the same result - heads, heads, heads. The destruction of multiple endings is the resolution to the game: you erase all possibilities of Comstock existing through the creation of a constant in DeWitt's drowning during the baptism. This also ties into the idea of one canon - the only way for a canon to exist with a proper chain of events is if you make it so that there is only one possible outcome through the destruction of all other outcomes, which is exactly what Elizabeth and Booker do in their ending. The ending of BioShock Infinite is the solidification of a canon timeline.

Either Comstock or Daisy will be Dead All Along, just to hammer in how pointless the conflict is.

According to some journalists who have already played the game, Comstock shows up in person less than three hours in; this, of course, proves nothing — that particular Comstock may be an actor, a robot, or anything but the real deal. It's still unknown whether "Daisy Fitzroy" is a real person, let alone whether Booker ever gets to meet her.

• Jossed. Both characters are very much alive when you meet them.

At the end of the game, Columbia will return home.

Let's look at the facts. Columbia is a city which is famous throughout the world for its power and influence. Columbia is being torn apart by internal strife between extreme political factions. Columbia was founded as a shining example of all things "America." ...Hey, you know what other city is iconic, politically-charged, and was founded to be the centerpiece of America? Washington, D.C. My theory is thus: Columbia, being the mobile locale that it is, could conceivably find itself anywhere in the world by the end of the game, and given the angle the game seems to be playing with regards to political philosophy, D.C. would be the perfect place to host the finale. Sure, it might be a little ham-fisted, but the symbolism just seems too good to pass up. And you have to admit, it would certainly add a layer of dramatic spectacle onto what is already sure to be an emotionally-charged conclusion.

• Not impossible. Given the map we briefly glimpsed in the opening, Columbia's original flight path involved either coming up the Eastern Seaboard to Maine and then heading west, or coming out of the west to Maine and then moving down the coast toward New York and Washington.
• Sort of Jossed in that Columbia doesn't head to D.C. Rather, it ends up in New York City, circa 1984. Then compeltely Jossed when it vanishes from existence.

"Booker DeWitt" is not the protagonist's real name.

Think about it. Why do we assume his name is "Booker DeWitt" at all? It is telling that in the opening sequence, he is handed a box with that name on it, and he hesitates slightly when speaking it for the first time. It could very well be that the character whose body we inhabit during the game is just as his name suggests: a white book, a tome filled with blank pages. Recall the words from the opening: "The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist..." This could perfectly describe what the protagonist, and we, the player, will do over the course of the game: construct a past for this role we're playing, whether any of it is true or not.

• Jossed. You are indeed Booker DeWitt, and you do the exact opposite: You don't build a past, you completely destroy it.

Elizabeth will get a set of wings

Columbia is personified by a dark haired woman with angel wings. Elizabeth is a dark haired woman, and is said to keep the city afloat. Therefore Elizabeth is the personification of Columbia and she will get wings later on.

• Jossed.

Columbia will "vanish" one way or another at the end of the game.

The "Columbia: A Modern Day Icarus?" series of trailers are setup as a documentary from sometime mid to late 80s. It plays up things recovered from a Columbian building that crashed in the Alps discovered in March 1981. The series make it sound like Columbia hadn't been seen since 1912 despite even back then there being rough videos of it, at least Song Bird. Either Booker causes the city to crash into a location even more remote than the Alps (ocean maybe?) or Elizabeth transports the entire city into another time line.

• Maybe she dumps the whole city into a certain city under the sea in another universe, where Songbird falls in combat with multiple Big Daddies...
  • Confirmed by way of a cosmic Retcon and closing a Stable Time Loop, erasing both Columbia and the events of the game from the timeline.

Comstock has some ability to see through Tears, but can't manipulate them like Elizabeth can.

It's not likely that anyone could come up with the materials to build a floating city in the late 19th century without some serious help from elsewhere. A young Zachary Comstock could have seen through the tears, just enough to see some super-science schematics that would have let him build anti-gravity materials to support Columbia's buildings with. It also might explain why he styles himself a prophet: he can see visions! Of other timelines, but still.

• Confirmed. He uses technology developed by Rosalind Letuce to manipulate tears.

Elizabeth will turn evil, and it will make you cry.

I'm calling it: over the course of the game, Booker will discover with Elizabeth that the tears could cause the total breakdown of reality itself. But Elizabeth doesn't care. She'll do whatever she has to in order to escape the nightmare of Columbia. In the end, Booker has to decide whether he should kill her and save the world, or if he should let her live and see if the world can survive.

• Why? Because the players are supposed to want to protect her, given her appearance and tragic situation. This would be a great opportunity to deconstruct the whole "Moe" trope. Also, this is BioShock. A twist of some kind is mandatory.
• Alternatively, this will be one of the possible "branches" of the game depending on the player's behavior. If they're ruthless and driven only by the need to save Elizabeth, they'll get this ending. If they show compassion to everyone instead, they'll get something better.
• Don't forget how much this franchise loves twist endings, too. Especially of the Evil All Along variety.
  • Confirmed, sort of: in an alternate universe where you don't rescue Elizabeth the second time, she gets brainwashed by Comstock into becoming an apathetic version of him and ends up attacking New York in the 1980s.

Related to the above, Booker's Mysterious Benefactor will be Evil All Along

One of the trailer's had them repeating the words "Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt," while Booker says "The deal's off. You hear me? The deal's off!". It's likely they have an Evil Plan for Elizabeth (either they want to make her evil, or want to kill her (possibly to prevent the above from happening)). Also, this plan may involve "Wiping away Booker's debt" by wiping HIM away!

• Jossed. They're actually atoning, just like he is.

Elizabeth is an illegitimate child of both Comstock and Fitzroy.

• Another reason each faction wants to restore her to the correct parent.
  • Considering the Lamb of Columbia trailer called Elizabeth "the seed of the Prophet", we can assume that Comstock was her father, at the very least.
    • Also Fitzroy was the house servant for Comstock and his wife.
• Half Confirmed. Elizabeth is not actually Comstock's daughter, but DeWitt's. However, Comstock is an alternate reality version of DeWitt.

Daisy Fitzroy didn't kill Comstock's wife.

Comstock did it, or ordered it, and framed the house girl, as everyone in Columbia could believe that a 'lesser race' could commit such an act.

• Confirmed.

Daisy Fitzroy did kill Comstock's wife. By her own request.

• Lady Comstock discovered what was happening/going to happen to Elizabeth, and couldn't take it. Suicide is an unforgivable sin, so she told Daisy to do it for her. Daisy sympathized with her, being the only person in Columbia she didn't loathe, and did so.
• Jossed. Lady Comstock was killed by Comstock to prevent her from telling anybody about Elizabeth's true nature.

At one point, Elizabeth and Booker will use the Tears to travel to a alternate universe with modern day technology and in which their adventures in Columbia were just a game, and Booker will have to play a copy of that world's equivalent of BioShock Infinite in order to solve a puzzle in the version he exists in.

Bonus points if the device he plays it on changes depending on what device you are playing the game on.

• Jossed. Nothing like this happens in the game.

There will be a twist involving Daisy Fitzroy's actual participation in the game.

• Given that the game is going to show how even revolutions fought for the right reasons can degenerate into vicious, pointless violence, wouldn't it be fitting that when Booker and Elizabeth finally meet Daisy, she's left the position as leader of the Vox Populi, having already crossed her Despair Event Horizon watching her revolution become just as bad as the people she's fought against. Bonus points if we learn that she started the whole thing just to prove Comstock and the Founders wrong about their racist beliefs.
  • Or worse: What if she's already been forcibly deposed or even killed by the other leaders of the revolution, for not being ruthless enough for their liking?
    • Jossed: "False Shepard" trailer shows she's alive and well, and pretty gung-ho about the cause if the "Which side you on?" quote is any indication.

The Battle of Wounded Knee will have some significance in the game.

• Given that both Booker and Comstock both have participated in the battle, it would have some significance in the story. It may explain the reason why some of the enemies tend to make Indian noises when attacking Booker.
  • In a sense, confirmed. Both Booker and Comstock participated in the battle because both are Booker — just of different timelines. One had a baptism after Wounded Knee, and became Comstock, the other rejected it and remained Booker.

The girl rowing the boat (Lutece) at the start of the game is actually Elizabeth

Hey, we don't see her face, so it's possible.

• Jossed. See below.

There's something going on in (a) 1983.

In the trailers so far, several of Elizabeth's really big attempts to alter reality have either shown or had the characters physically arrive in an alternative 1983, as evidenced by cinema marquees that display Revenge of the Jedi banners. The "Truth From Legend" trailers also have a noticeably early-1980s feel to them as well. It would therefore seem reasonable to assume that there's some connection at least between the events taking place in 1912 and something which is occurring in this alternate 1983, if not the actual 1983.

• In one timeline Columbia destroys New York City in 12/31/1983.

The couple who hired Booker are Elizabeth's parents

They known the location of the tower and when Columbia would pass over it. Then they are seen on the city itself, meaning they know another way in. They don't directly talk to Booker, but sometimes offer advice or items. Now think about Elizabeth - the fact she is under such strict protection would make sense if she was not only vital to Comstock's plans, but also because she was stolen from her parents. And those people must be very powerful if the Founders needed to create a bodyguard such as the Songbird to 'protect' her. Taking those two elements into account I suspect the mysterious couple are indeed Elizabeth's parents looking to get their daughter back, for personal reasons or otherwise.

• Jossed. Booker's employers are actually Rosalind and Robert Lutece, a pair of identical twins and quantum physicists responsible for much of the technology in Columbia. As the story progresses, it's heavily implied that they aren't siblings, but actually alternate universe versions of each other. The pair are also responsible for creating the technology that's created the Tears across Columbia, and thanks to one of their machines being sabotaged they've been "scattered" across space and time, making them exist in all points in The Multiverse at once. This accounts for their rather detached, aloof behavior and their ability to seemingly appear and disappear at will.

The last section of the game will take place in New York City

The card that carries Booker's instructions says to bring her to New York City unharmed. Perhaps that is where the final level will take place.

• Mostly correct. The post-credits scene has Booker back in his office in New York in a new timeline.

The dead man with a bag over his head in the opening is another version of Booker

This is neither confirmed nor denied during the course of the game.

Zachary Hale Comstock is another version of Booker

Confirmed

The phrase "Would you kindly?" will show up in the game.

It'll either be a simple Mythology Gag, or it'll have far greater significance. Either way, it'll hit the player hard.

• It only appeared in the credits where each dev got to put in a sentence. One said something like, "Would you kindly?... No seriously, please?"

Comstock was wounded at the Battle of Wounded Knee.

That scar on the side of his head is the result of a tomahawk strike. It's also the source of his "visions;" he has hallucinations due to the cerebral trauma.

• Unless the "battle" of Wounded Knee happened very differently in BioShock Infinite's version of history, it's doubtful that he got hurt there by a tomahawk.

The sequel will be about dealing with the effects of breaking a Stable Time Loop

.Perhaps shattering the timeline of several alternate universes, creating one where neither Columbia nor Rapture existed, will spread artifacts from themselves across the new timeline, changed into powerful semi-mystic items by becoming devoid of normal causality. They will be found by the new Big Bad, who decides to use them to create his own vision of Utopia, perhaps one based on an extreme variant of democracy (as in, very close to anarchy). Naturally, it all goes horribly wrong, and the player is tasked by the Letuces or the new timeline's version of Andrew Ryan to investigate what the hell happened. Bonus points if, should the employer be Ryan, he finds out what his alternate self did, and is floored by the revelation of how easily he became a hypocritical parasite.

Elizabeth's father is Comstock

"The Seed of the Prophet shall sit the throne, and drown in flame the mountains of man."Comstock prophesied that his child would bring about the destruction of Columbia, so he locked her up in that Statue of Liberty Expy trying to prevent it.But fulfilling it anyway.

• This is confirmed by the float showing the "miraculous child" with four fingers and dark hair.
• Technically, this was Jossed, but only in an Alternate Universe sense, Comstock being an alternate Booker, but sterile, ends up stealing his child from himself in another universe, so he's only her father insofar as another version of him is her father.

Booker was kicked out of the Pinkertons...

For not doing something horrible. The Pinkertons were pretty basically thugs for hire, but Booker had his fill of that at Wounded Knee and ran from Baptism knowing that some things are unforgivable. When they asked him to do one of the things the Pinkertons are now infamous for, he said no and got fired.

• This is kind of missing the point of Booker's character. He's supposed to be a person who has done horrible things in his life and suffered terrible guilt for everything he's done. At no point does he indicate that he would have been any different from the other Pinkerton agents. Columbia is supposed to be his last chance of redeeming himself, and that would be seriously undermined if he was actually a Defector from Decadence.

BioShock related theories

• These are theories linking the game to the original BioShock (but not necessarily to Burial at Sea)

Elizabeth and Jack are the same person

First, the precedent of there being a female counterpart to a male counterpart has already been demonstrated by the Lutece 'twins'. As the multiverse is 'Infinite' and it has already been demonstrated as canon for there to be male and female versions of the same person, it is mathematically possible for Elizabeth and Jack to be the same person - they're just alternate universe counterparts.

Second, the first weapon acquired by Jack in BioShock was the wrench. When Elizabeth knocked out Booker, she used a wrench. This, alone, would normally not be enough to qualify for the theory. However, it should be noted that the wrench Elizabeth used was in virtually every way identical to the wrench used by Jack.

Third, both Jack and Elizabeth are children of the respective founders of their cities. Just as Jack is the child of Andrew Ryan, Elizabeth is the child of Comstock. At the same time, they are not the direct children of their respective fathers. Neither Comstock nor Ryan were directly responsible for Elizabeth or Jack. Jack was cloned from material acquired by Fontaine from Ryan while Elizabeth was brought from another world into Columbia by the Luteces. Which brings us to the fourth point.

Fourth, scientists who worked to bring Jack and Elizabeth into the world died and/or ended up directly acting against the respective founders and those who directly caused their fall at the benefit of the characters in question. While Fontaine did acquire the genetic material necessary for Jack to exist in the first place, it was Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong who worked to bring Jack into the world. Suchong was dead at the beginning of BioShock, which left Tenenbaum to help Jack combat Ryan. With Ryan's death, Tenenbaum helped Jack fight against Fontaine. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was brought over into the world by the Lutece 'twins'. The Luteces later 'died' and were, in fact, 'dead' at the beginning of Infinite. The twins then ended up helping Elizabeth combat Comstock. Comstock, like Andrew, was killed with minimal fanfare (going as far as making the deliberate choice to die), leaving Elizabeth to end up fighting against the Vox Populi.

• Some problems with this theory: While people in different universes are shown living very different lives, even being different genders as you say, they all live at the same time and Elizabeth was 20 in 1912, Jack was at most in his late twenties in 1960. Andrew Ryan is definately not any version of Comstock by any stretch of imagination. Elizabeth may have a strange backstory but she is a naturaly born child while Jack was a test tube baby. While Elizabeth and Jack's circumstances may mirror each other somewhat for them to be alternate versions of each other their origins would have to be roughly the same.
• As of the ending for Burial at Sea: Part 2, this is pretty much Jossed.

• Even if they're not directly alt universe versions of each other, they could be considered alternate versions of each other in a meta/thematic sense (always a lighthouse, always a city, always a child fighting their parent?).

Andrew Ryan is Jeremiah Fink's Son

His experiences during the fall of Columbia is where he gets both his hate of religion and socialism, and eventually his idea to create Rapture. He builds Rapture because he knew the Adam slugs where there all along, because it's where his father got the material he needed to make the vigors. His claims that he came from Russia are either Blatant Lies to cover up his ture origin, or he did go to Russia for a brief time before again having to flee due to another Socialist revolution.

• Except Ryan should have actually have been closer to Elizabeth's age if he were around during the events of the game.

DeWitt is Subject Delta, the protagonist from BioShock 2.

You heard it here first, people.

• DeWitt would've been 70 years old by the time Rapture was even founded (He's 38 in 1912, Rapture was founded in 1946). Subject Delta is mentioned to have accidentally found Rapture sometime after that while diving. If DeWitt was even alive by the 1950s, he'd probably be too unfit to go on a deep sea diving trip. That said, the names Delta and DeWitt do sound kinda similar.
• With all the time rifts, alternate realities, and such from Elizabeth and Columbia in general, it might not quite be jossed....
  • Not entirely jossed. Actually, in a way, confirmed by the game's ending. In Elizabeth's words, there is always a city, and always a man, and always a rescue. Rapture and Columbia are, in many ways, the same city, built in different ways in different timelines. By the same token, Elizabeth is, in many ways, the same person as Eleanor Lamb, held prisoner by her parent for different reasons in different ways in different timelines - and Booker DeWitt is the same person as Subject Delta, Eleanorbeth's "real" father come to save her.

Columbia is Rapture in some form.

• Either it crashes into the sea somehow, is discovered by Andrew Ryan, and gets retooled/spruced up with new technology, or it's the direct inspiration for Rapture (which seems most likely).
• Columbia is the polar opposite of Rapture. Rapture is underwater, while Columbia is up in the sky. Rapture was founded by Andrew Ryan who made it to a city free from law, government, and God. While Columbia was made by Zachary Hale Comstock and commissioned by the US government, who made into a very ultranationalistic, bible thumping society.
• As above, actually sort of confirmed by the game's ending. Columbia and Rapture are largely the same city, built in different timelines, with differences as appropriate for the specific timeline. Columbia just got Comstock instead of Ryan.

Andrew Ryan is related to someone who made/had something to do with Columbia

Very strongly suggested by the bathyspheres. Ryan keyed them to only function for his genetic code, yet Booker is able to use them. This hints that Ryan is a genetic descendant of Booker.

• It's possible they arrived after Ryan's death, when the genetic lockdown is negated after control of Rapture transferred over to Fontaine.

The man conducting near a phonograph in the trailer is Sander Cohen's father

No doubt Sander would be only a small child in the events of BioShock Infinite. Could match up since music was involved and little was known of Cohen's past except that he lived in New York and was presumably converted to Ryanist ideologies by his colleagues. The man near the phonograph does dress posh as did Sander in the first BioShock (though the latter is kind of ruffled since he became a splicer). One difference though: Sander has a love for classical music/art (thus having you fight to 'Waltz of the Flowers') and the song on the phonograph is a patriotic song (specifically 'You're a Grand Old Flag')

• Considering the time travel and alternate universe themes in the game, that man might be an alternate version of Cohen.

Columbia inspired Andrew Ryan to create Rapture

From what we know so far of Columbia it was a planned utopia built to showcase America's sheer nationalisitic fervor which eventually fell into ruin, it's denizens becoming xenophobic and paranoid. Andrew Ryan, who despised everything that Columbia stood for, wanted to make a counterpoint to Columbia, a utopia free of government and religious control, and unlike Columbia, would actually succeed. All this in his attempt to prove that his anti-authoritarian doctrine was true.

• It has been mentioned Columbia has toured Eastern Europe, where Ryan would later emigrate from.
  • Jossed. Technically Columbia is Rapture, or at least an alternate version of it in terms of parallels between worlds.

Columbia inspired the Wizard of Oz in the Rapture timeline

Looking at the trailer, we see we're high above flat farmland, possibly Kansas, the mechanical creature that attacks is similar to the Tin Man (he wants a heart), and might be closer to the original story, in which the Tin Man is actually a cyborg, one who had body parts replaced as he lost them in accidents. By this estimate, Elizabeth might be Dorothy, and the twister which takes her to Oz might refer to the propellors keeping Columbia aloft, or perhaps her telekinetic abilities. If this is true, the 'wizard' might be the creator of Columbia, similar to Andrew Ryan.

Columbia is Rapture

Columbia will go crash into the ocean by the end Infinite and be forgotten about. Years later Andrew Ryan -after having enough of The Man In The Whitehorse- will seek out it's exact location to built his Utopia out of the broken remains of the American ideal the ultimate Take That! to the US government.

• Jossed. BioShock 2's museum shows that Andrew Ryan founded Rapture by first loading up a 'base' and dropping it into the ocean, then using divers to ground this on the edge of an undersea cliff (which would eventually become Persephone), then built the city around this. Not to mention that Word of God says Columbia and Rapture are two separate timelines of events and thus, unrelated.
• Then again, the game does involve alternate timelines as a gameplay mechanic...
• As mentioned above, actually sort of confirmed, as Rapture and Columbia are alternate-reality versions of one another.

Columbia is the cause of ADAM.

According to Word of God, the glowing light you see in the trench under Persephone is what mutates the slugs into ADAM-factories. The trench is where Columbia eventually crashes down, and the light is some sort of wacky science left over. There would be a certain irony in the ruins of Columbia bringing about the advent of ADAM (able to alter people as they wish) and Plasmids (much more efficient and reliable than Vigors) in Rapture, the city specifically built to escape the things Columbia celebrates.

• Going with the WMG above where Rapture was built on Columbia's crash site, the "Glowing Light" is a corruption of geothermal vents caused by a massive release of whatever Vigors and Nostrums are made of (which the next WMG deals with). Ryan built Rapture on the crash site to take advantage of the technology Columbia's wreckage contained and ADAM was an unexpected discovery. And the fact that Word of God says Rapture and Columbia takes place in different time-lines may not mean anything since the "tears" in Infinite connect to other realities; the end of the game may see all of Columbia falling through a gigantic tear to crash in the Northern Atlantic of the original game.
• Jossed. Columbia and Rapture are actually parallels of each other, as they are both the "city" in the overarching narrative.

Rapture is set in the Batman: TAS universe, or a AU of it.

Was watching Batman: TAS, in season 3 we have Deep Cold which is about a underwater city for the world's elite. Batman:TAS already uses retro 60's tech. And at the end Batman blows the place to Kingdom come, And then it hit me. Rapture is set in the Batman:TAS universe. After all Batman is just a Badass Normal so Rapture could be a Alternate Universe.

• Well, there IS a man. And a city. And a Batsignal, which is a light on a big building.

Elizabeth is the origin of ADAM.

Working with the WMG above. We know very little about Liz at this point, including why she is locked in a tower in Columbia, but her powers and their similarities to the Vigors shown in the trailer can't be a coincidence. Elizabeth was either brought to Columbia because of her power or was the result of an experiment in the floating city that led to the creation of the Vigors and Nostrums, the forerunners of Plasmids and Tonics. However her powers are distilled into bottles (literally), the supply of the raw material was dumped into the ocean next to a rock that would be perfect to build a lighthouse on. And Songbird? The diving suits of Rapture (and be extension the Big Daddies) were reverse-engineered from his remains.

• Jossed. Elizabeth's powers stem from existing in two different alternate realities at the same time due to her pinky getting cut off by a closing tear. It's also revealed that most of Columbia's technology is stolen or reverse engineered from other timelines thanks to the tears.

Eleanor and Elisabeth have a connection.

Short of Author Appeal, isn't it odd that two main characters are black-haired girls with powers? Considering the time frame of the two games it wouldn't be a stretch to have Elly be Liz's granddaughter. Or considering the latest news about Infinite, her doppelganger from another timeline.

• Perhaps Liz escapes Columbia and moves to England. There, She meets a Mr. Lamb, they marry, have a daughter and Liz dies in childbirth. This daughter is of course Sophia, and Sophia gives birth to Eleanor in Rapture many years later.
  • Confirmed, in a way. During the ending Elizabeth mentions that there are parallels between worlds. There is always a man, a city, a girl and a rescue. This means that both Elizabeth and Eleanor fill the same roles in their respective games/worlds.

Jack is Booker DeWitt

I checked their voices and noticed that they sound almost exactly alike.

• Confirmed by Elizabeth at the end of the game. They are alternate versions of each other from different timelines.
  • Not really. If anything Booker is an alternate version of Subject Delta from BioShock 2. The paralells are a lot cleaner this way. A father figure (Booker/Delta) searches the city (Columbia/Rapture) to rescue a girl (Elizabeth/Eleanor) being used and imprisioned by an abusive parent (Comstock/Sophia Lamb).
  • Doesn't start with a lighthouse. Jack is an alternate version of DeWitt (memory issues, father figure, skin markings, etc), and the little sisters are an alternate version of Elizabeth (kidnapped, powers, etc). Also, Ken Levine said he never wanted anything to do with BioShock 2, so the authorial intent was at least BioShock to Infinite.
    • Jack and DeWitt have parallel journeys to some extent but are not alternate versions of each other. Jack is a young man in 1960, Dewitt fought at Wounded Knee. The timeline doesn't match.

Columbia's version of Sander Cohen is Songbird.

• After all, he was considered Rapture's songbird.

The timeline established in the stinger is the one in which BioShock took place.

Booker and Anna live at least reasonably happy lives in the new timeline Elizabeth created for them and Columbia is never built. But there must always be a man, a lighthouse and a city so the universe conspires to fill the void by leading to Ryan's creation of Rapture some decades later, causing Jack to fill the role Elizabeth spared Booker from.

Burial at Sea theories

• These theories revolve around Burial at Sea

Clash In The Clouds!Booker DeWitt is the version who appeared at the end of the flashback of Burial At Sea Episode One

His version of Anna is killed by tear decapitation when Comstock tried to take her away, the sight of his decapitated infant daughter turned him into a violent Blood Knight who just wants to kill, and Elizabeth takes pity on her would have been father and lets him rampage in a version of Columbia, until he eventually is killed for real. Then she goes on to take revenge on Comstock in Rapture

"Drinkable Plasmids" and "Drinkable Eve" are just Vigors and Salts (respectively) with different labeling

Rapture's Drinkable Plasmids have the same names as well as bottle design of their Columbian Vigor counterparts. Also, in Episode Two you use a Tear to briefly return to 1912 Columbia, where in it you can find the only Vigor in the game, Ironsides. Ironsides can be refilled using Drinkable Eve, which shouldnt work since its a Vigor and thus should only be compatible with Salts, unless Drinkable Eve and Salts are the same thing. Suchong has simply been using Fink's modified and stolen formula and renaming Salts as Drinkable Eve and Vigors as Drinkable Plasmids.

The DLC will not follow Booker and Elizabeth.

After the events of the ending Booker and Elizabeth's story arc is pretty neatly tied up. Since there is no logical way to continue their story after the end, and since dropping new content mid-campaign and expecting players to get reinvested is unlikely, Irrational is probably going to take the Hero of Another Story approach. Similar to what Half-Life did with Opposing Force and Blue Shift, the DLC will be from the perspectives of other characters, following stories that are either completely removed from the main game or are running in parallel to it.

• Preston B. Downes is a character who seems ripe for this kind of treatment. He never appears on-screen and has his own story arc, complete with a Heel–Face Turn and a Morality Pet.
• Cornelius Slate is another, possibly showing how he fell in with Daisy Fitzroy and the Vox and ended up in the Hall of Heroes.
  • Sadly, Jossed (never thought I'd have to Joss my own theory). The story DLC will be called Burial at Sea, which is a standalone story released in two parts that revolves around alternate versions of Booker and Elizabeth. The story will take place in Rapture on December 31st, 1954, prior to the Fall of Rapture, effectively making the DLC a Prequel.

The DLC will feature a visit to Rapture (provided by the Lutece twins) and a playable story as Songbird detailing him protecting Elizabeth

The Luteces and their fancy tear machine discover the world of Rapture and send someone in to gather things for research, causing you, as a 'volunteer', to get embroiled in a battle amongst the Splicers while using your Vigors and their weapons to survive. As for the other DLC, it will feature you playing as Songbird in a seperate style to the normal game and taking place early into the 'Bad Future', fighting off Vox Populi and eventually rescuing Elizabeth after she is sedated and kidnapped.

• Confirmed on the first part, at least as far as it taking place in Rapture. Not the rest.

Alternate!Daisy Fitzroy will show up as a follower of Atlas in one of the "Burial At Sea" episodes.

It stands to reason that Booker and Elizabeth probably won't be the only Infinite characters to get transposed to Rapture in the new DLC, and it makes perfect sense for Daisy to fall in with that kind of crowd. Also, it might be a roundabout kind of way to fulfill the desire of many players to see more of Fitzroy in action in the DLC.

• It's confirmed that she will appear in episode two, but that's all we know.
  • Jossed. Elizabeth and Booker in Burial At Sea are in Rapture for unique reasons, no-one else from Columbia is present.

The Elizabeth in the "Burial at Sea" trailer is a fake

Jossed.

The Elizabeth from "Burial at Sea" isn't an alternate one, but the one from the primary game's timeline grown up

Confirmed.

Burial At Sea!Booker is an alternate version of Andrew Ryan instead of Zachary Comstock.

Jossed. He actualy is Comstock, a version thereof anyway.

Burial At Sea is, or contains, Songbird's origin story

It's stated Songbird was made via Rapture technology, and he/she died in Rapture. Therefore...Confirmed.

Burial At Sea will have an Easter Egg appearance by Subject Delta and Eleanor Lamb.

Assuming, of course, that the events of BioShock 2 are not subject to Canon Discontinuity by Irrational. The date given in the trailer— 31 December, 1958— is the same time when Delta and Eleanor were attacked by Lamb's Splicers and separated. However, since the DLC is obviously going to be more concerned with its own story, they may simply be a cameo— eg, a familiar-looking Alpha series and his Little Sister skulking around near the Kashmir Restaurant or something.

The Elizabeth who dies at the end of Burial at Sea is not God!Elizabeth.

She's an alternate version that was created by God!Elizabeth (intentionally or not) in her attempt to save Sally. This version of her did not have any powers due to her being already dead in that timeline and was sent to the exact point where Sally was abandoned. Her gaining back memories of the timelines is the result of her reforming her connection to the original as she comes closer to her moment of death. When she dies she returns to God!Elizabeth completely, and due to this she sees all the possible timelines (including the first ''BioShock's ending) just before death. Meanwhile, God!Elizabeth is still walking the universe somewhere.

Elizabeth woke up in the crib as Anna.

• After dying in Rapture at the end of Burial at Sea. Whether you want to attribute it to Divine intervention, the Luteces, or the universe returning to its most stable form or whatever, she and Booker finally got what they wanted most. A normal life, off the wheel, with each other.

The Burial at Sea version of Booker will be transformed into Songbird.

Jossed. He's Comstock.

At some point at Burial At Sea, a tear will open into Columbia.

And Booker will say "A city in the sky? Impossible."Confirmed but not the joke. Apart from anything else it's Elizabeth that goes through said tear, not Booker, since he's Comstock and dies before the return to Columbia.

Booker will die at the end of Burial At Sea Episode One.

This is the reason you will play as Elizabeth in Episode Two.

• Confirmed

The Elizabeth seen in Burial At Sea is the same Elizabeth who drowned Booker

From the five minute preview, Elizabeth does not appear to be familiar with some of the more prominent things in Rapture, like the Little Sisters (to the point that Booker even comments on it). Perhaps this is god mode Elizabeth, having updated her look to fit the times (And apparently gained a little more social awareness), universe jumping either in an attempt to find *her* Booker, the one who escaped the loop and was *possibly* able to raise Anna, and helping out every alternate Booker with their daughter issues along the way, or maybe she's simply hopping to each alternate Booker to help with their individual daughter issues on purpose so none of her alt. universe sisters/selves suffer the same fate she did. The reason she isn't replacing those alternate selves is a side effect of her God Moding - she can choose whether or not to replace a self.

If BAS Elizabeth *is* Infinite's Elizabeth, then her destruction of the Comstock loop weakened her powers

Destroying the very thing that gave her powers in the first place would likely have an effect on them, even if it just made her out of sync with every universe she visits (bypassing the need to replace an alternate self and explaining why she doesn't gain the alt. selfs memories).

By Burial at Sea's logic, Jack will appear in a Columbian-based DLC

He does appear at the end of Burial at Sea, but still in Rapture's universe.

In Burial at Sea, Elizabeth will take Booker to visit Fontaine.

In the first 5 minutes trailer, a Big Daddy is seen firing his drill and swinging away. He's seen later in the view from the elevator, repairing a sign advertising Fontaine's Little Sister "orphanage", which has been closed by Ryan. As the lift passes the sign, Elizabeth says this:

This nation values children, not childhood. There's a profit to be made and men who make it. And I'm taking you to one of them.

• Jossed: It was Sander Cohen.

The Anna and Booker

seen in the flashback at the end of Burial at Sea Episode 1 are not just ANY version of themselves, but...They're the ones from the end of Infinite proper. Literally minutes after Booker Prime settles into his happy new life with Anna, Comstock 2 shows up and tries to take Anna by force, resulting in her tragic decapitation-by-Tear. Booker Prime is left distraught and childless in his own timeline, and a guilt-stricken Comstock 2 has the Luteces send him to Rapture to forget. Elizabeth Prime set out not only to rub out the last remaining Comstock from the multiverse, but to bring Sally back to Booker Prime's universe so he can have a daughter again. What makes her attempt to do so different from Comstock stealing her is that Sally's already an orphan, thus Elizabeth Prime can safely take her without her being missed.

• Ain't you a cheery sort... Snarkyness aside this theory doesn't quite work. The whole point of the end of the main game was that all versions of DeWitt-as-Comstock were removed from any chance of existance. Thus there isn't a Comstock in existance that could show up and steal Booker's kid. Two reasons why this Comstock could still exist in Rapture, both based on other theories lower on this page: First, the theory below that Burial At Sea takes place in one of the many universes in which Booker failed to save Elizabeth. Second, if as another theory (mine, I admit) has it, Rapture is part of the universe after Booker and Elizabeth reboot their own timelines than a Comstock from another universe survives there because even though he's from a now non-existant reality he traveled to the one that still exists.

In chapter one of Burial At Sea, Elizabeth was testing Comstock

.Why bother playing along with his false memories instead of tossing him through a tear into the ocean or something? Because she wasn't sure he was irredeemable. Yes, he'd done something horrible, but Booker has done plenty of horrible things; the difference between Booker and Comstock is that Booker felt remorse. This version of Comstock might have been closer to Booker than to the Prophet. Notice that even though Elizabeth is the one who suggests turning on the furnace to drive Sally out, she sounds shocked when Comstock orders her to turn up the heat. She's testing whether he would be willing to torture a child and endanger her life rather than let her leave him, and when he does it, she's satisfied that his nature is more Comstock than Booker.

The "Alternate Booker" who saw baby Anna die will appear as the final boss of episode 2

.Let's face it, "Prime Booker" was already driven pretty damn crazy by Anna's abduction, so the Booker left clutching his baby daughter's decapitated head is guaranteed to have gone beyond insanity to full on tragic villainy. Since him not appearing would be a fairly significant plot thread forgotten I'm guessing he will have found his way to Rapture somehow (hell, maybe using the aforementioned dead baby head to open a tear in his reality for added nightmare fuel) in order to get revenge on everyone he saw through the portal (i.e. Comstock, Elizabeth, the Lutreces) and my bets he will end up as some kind of "super splicer" stalking Elizabeth through episode 2 and only revealing his identity in the end.

• Or he'll return as Elizabeth's ally. The dev team did say that as Elizabeth, one of your tasks is to assist Booker.
• The main theory above is Jossed-but the theory below that one has been confirmed, although he only offers advice.

In Burial at Sea, Part 2, Elizabeth will be at the Kashmir Restaurant on New Year's Eve...

...And we'll get to see the riots from her point of view.

• Jossed. We only see the restaurant and a few other buildings blow up and fall over in the ending, including the Kashmir. But no, she doesn't go in there.

Elizabeth will die at the end of Burial at Sea Part 2

It seems that no protagonist ever survives their game in Infinite. Unless Ken Levine reads this.

• Confirmed. Looks like he did read this.

Rapture!Comstock is still alive

Not because of luck, because Elizabeth wants him to suffer, she has seen his cruelty in a million universes and now she has only but one, one to deliver penance on. Elizabeth has snapped from the travel, my evidence? That smile, that little devious grin that says "You will suffer" at the end of Part 1, Elizabeth has changed, she used to be shocked at the sight of people being gored alive, she was shocked at how Booker brutally killed Comstock, but now, she smiles before the big daddy gets him, she wants to see him suffer, for a long time. Killing him would be too easy, and nowhere near what Comstock deserves.

• Jossed, he doesn't get back up again.

Burial At Sea Episode Two will see Comstock resurrected

Elizabeth, as the main character, escorts Sally through a Rapture just as civil war breaks out, and she is forced to bring another world through a tear to save Sally's life. The unintended consequence is bringing back Comstock, obviously in a dead/alive flux like the Founders encountered in Finkton. Robert Lutece gets a guilty conscience (again) and guides Comstock through therapy, and Elizabeth is forced back to the Toy store, where upon a resurrected Big Daddy attacks her to claim Sally back, Comstock saves her and spends the rest of the episode annoying her about it. At the end of the episode she doesn't forgive him but accepts his apology.

• Jossed.

Burial At Sea takes place before Booker's 122nd/123rd existence to save Elizabeth/Anna, not after the end of Infinite

So, this may get confusing: If it takes place during all those attempts, it means that every universe of Booker being at home with/without Anna (the epilogue) wiped out the existence of Comstock/Booker in Rapture, making this theory a lot more sensible. If it takes place after, it would be impossible as Comstock/Booker baptism leading to him becoming Comstock, would result in death, elimenating any chance of a Comstock coming into creation. This also means that the Elizabeth in BAS is not possibly Prime!Elizabeth from the ending. Whoever the Elizabeth is, she may or may not be the Prime!Elizabeth, since Comstock in any universe would have been killed during the baptism in the end, but she knows about Columbia's signature themes (Skyhook/Air Grabber), leading to that the BAS!Elizabeth may have been an alternate one that knows about the other multiverses, and uses this to hunt down any Comstock variation of Booker for revenge, again supporting the whole "Before the end" theory.

• Jossed, it's after the end.

In Burial At Sea, Atlas will be a good guy

So far this series has been all about misdirection on the true motivations of the characters, the second Atlas shows up the creators are expecting us to be wary of him, thus setting up a great opportunity to pull the rug out from under us by making him on the level.

• Jossed. The game makes no secret that Atlas is Frank Fontaine, and that he's out to protect his own interests.

The Ghost Booker

seen in the trailer for Burial at Sea Part 2 is......the Booker who saw Anna's head get chopped off.Based on a Youtube comment, this Booker may have gotten a small part of his fingers chopped off when trying to grab his daughter back from Comstock, so he can now travel through the multiverse, like the Luteces.

• While, like a lot of things in this game, it's open to interpretation the evidence rather supports the idea that he's part of Elizabeth's own (rather fractured) mind. That's what he says he is anyway.

In Burial at Sea Part 2, Fitzroy got to Rapture the same way Comstock did.

She may have witnessed Comstock's departure, and asked all about it. Since she received good scores from a (biased) intelligence test, she'd ask the Luteces if she can go to a place where she can take advantage of her potential. Rapture.

• Jossed. Daisy is never in Rapture, but Elizabeth instead briefly revisits Columbia, at the same time her past self and Booker are attempting to get the First Lady back from Daisy.

Carrying on from the above Burial At Sea was more than just revenge.

The Elizabeth in Burial At Sea is the one from the main game, still in existance due to her Physical God status even though her reality no longer exists. Something similar for the twins, who after all exist in all realities anyway. The Comstock from BAS is clearly from a universe we didn't see in the game proper but one that could easily have happened. His reality is gone too but he's still around simply because the reality he travelled to is the only one that still exists. Elizabeth came for him not simply out of a desire for vengance but because his presnce was disrupting the sequence of events in the Rapture universe and she wanted to clean up the last bits of the mess she and Booker created. She just chose a rather poetic way of doing so, since she does still hate the ol'bastard.

In Burial at Sea Episode 2, the Luteces that convince Fitzroy to threaten to kill Fink's son represent the writing staff.

Think about it: The Luteces only appear in-person once in the episode, to deliver the retcon. Given the unlikelihood of that element being a plan from the start, little to no previous indication the Luteces were at all involved with Fitzroy, and how it really doesn't affect anything in the long run, their presence is basically the writers admitting that the reason Fitzroy did that was exactly why the Luteces said Fitzroy needed to: For the sake of the story, Elizabeth needs to kill Fitzroy, so that she can toughen up and take down Comstock for good. Remove the Luteces, add in Ken Levine, and aside from it sounding a bit less crazy... how much of what was said would change?

The Booker seen playing the guitar is not the same as the radio Booker

It's possible that the Guitar Booker is not a hallucination at all, but an alternate version of Booker. He has some knowledge of Rapture that Elizabeth doesn't have, so there is no way he can be a figment of her imagination. The Radio Booker later says that he doesn't remember telling Elizabeth anything about Suchong, so he is clearly not the same as the Guitar Booker. As for why no one sees the Guitar Booker but Elizabeth, it's entirely possible that this Booker has tear power instead of Anna. If one Comstock can avoid erasure, it's possible for one Columbian Booker (to distinguish him from the Bookers from universes where Columbia never exists) to do so as well.

Elizabeth phased everyone on Jack's flight to a different reality before it crashed

Otherwise, why would killing hundreds of un-spliced bystanders, some of whom could also have been children, be considered a necessary sacrifice to save two dozen (or even less) Little Sisters? Elizabeth still had her powers at the time and Jack was conveniently brainwashed to keep him from remembering the strange girl in blue who summoned a magic portal made of TV static. This might be the only explanation as to why you never confirm a single corpse from the flight, only empty seats.

Suchong based the Big Daddies on the Handymen

In Burial at Sea we learn that songbird was inspired by Fink observing Big Daddies in Rapture, but one might also notice that the "Handymen" actually resemble crude precursors to the Big Daddies we'd become accustomed to in Rapture.

Like Big Daddies,Handymen are made from humans that are genetically altered and permanently encased in a suit, possibly against their will. This suit also leads to them being frequently used as a form of slave labor, for mundane tasks around Columbia as well as a tool for combat (similar to how Big Daddies were originally designed to perform maintenance).

We also know that Suchong and Fink were observing each other's work, and alternately collaborating and plagiarizing each other. Suchong probably observed Handymen being used in Columbia and used that as the basis for designing Big Daddies, which he modified for an underwater environment.

---

Other Theories Part 1

• These are all the remaining theories about various other topics.

The plot of the game was originally a dark mirror of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Comstock is clearly channeling the Wizard, with Columbia is the apotheosis of the same era the books were written in (since Oz was intended to be a series of all-American fairy tales it's doubly appropriate). Booker meets, in order, a pack of fierce crows crying out for a Scarecrow, a guy who rants about "Tin Men", and a cowardly industrialist who compares himself to a lion. Trailers even show Elizabeth being lynched, as though the Columbians had mistaken her for some kind of witch (and since she later summons a tornado...)

The Gear is made from the Life Fibers from Kill la Kill

The fibers are used to create outfits which enhance the wearer's abilities. That sums up the gear pretty well, and makes for a logical explanation.

There are universes(or pairs of them, whatever) where Booker lost a finger, instead

Burial at Sea reveals that it's not always a finger that gets cut off by the portal. It's possible that it's not always a part of the baby.

The song at the entrance to Soldier's Field is intentionally an Ear Worm

I'm talking about this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_8I6_DGqQk It's the super-racist song about racism, xenophobia, and eugenics that plays as soon as you enter Soldier's Field, the Children's amusement park meant to brainwash the children of Columbia into the Founder's beliefs. It is also extremely catchy, this is great for the Founders, since they now have hundreds if not thousands of Columbians walking around with their propaganda-feed going through their noggins.

• It's the National Anthem of the Confederacy, The Bonnie Blue Flag. It is about the order of state secession and the reasoning behind it. It was a simplified, catchy version of the values of most southerners.
  • Actually, the song playing in Soldier's Field was made specifically for the game, titled "The Readiness Is All." The Bonnie Blue Flag is heard playing outside the Hall of Heroes.

Preacher Whitting (the man who baptises Booker when he enters Columbia)is an Angel or God

Whitting plays a very big part in Booker's story as he's the one that offers Booker the baptism and causes the two realities. Aware of Booker's deep guilt,he offers Booker salvation, even though he is aware of the choices Booker will take if accepts. He still wants to give Booker the choice, though, as he is also aware of what will happen if Booker doesn't choose the baptism or isn't offered it at all, not to mention the immense pain his shame is causing him. In one universe, Booker accepts it and becomes Comstock. It's likely that Booker misunderstood how his forgiveness worked, allowing his deep seated racism and self-hate to fester.

God-Whitting, knowing that Booker still seeks redemption for his actions, allows him into the city via baptism so that way he may truly find solace for his wrongdoings. He, along with the Letueces, intervenes regularly to make sure Booker doesn't fail and that events lead him to the point where he is redeemed (i.e. making the tear in Finkton available, allowing him to survive the fall from Monument Island, and others). This way, the Comstock universe is destroyed along with Booker refusing the baptism, saving countless people suffering.

Assuming Elizabeth still exists, this would require Booker to exist too in at least one reality. This reality may be where Booker accepts the Baptism and is redeemed by God but doesn't become Comstock. Or, he still refuses the Baptism but doesn't become a drunk.Or, if Booker dies in every reality, the baptism finally works, and Booker dies forgiven and at peace. Which means that Booker's entire life up until that point was part of that baptism.

• At least one version of Booker still exists, but we don't know what happened with his baptism, only that he's not a Comstock because they were all destroyed.

Comstock was helped by Values Dissonance, and really wasn't that much more extreme than the actual United States of the time.

All the things that instantly mark Comstock as a dangerous mad man, and Columbia as a dystopia from the 21st century perspective of the player (Extreme nationalism, racism, religious fanaticism, abusive work practices, even eugenics) where all considered acceptable, even good by Real Life late 19th century and early 20th century standards. True Comstock took it to insane extremes, but listening in to the common people on the street (particularly in battleship bay) we see that nobody raises an eyebrow. Why? Because they likely already had these beliefs before coming to Columbia. It was just the culture of the time. All 20 years under Comstock did was re-enforce what was already there. In this way the game is at it's heart a Deconstruction of Steampunk, showing the dark side of the late 19th and early 20th century society that the genre idealises.

The signs in the Lighthouse in the beginning are actually symbolic of Booker's journey throughout the game.

"Of thy Sins I shall Wash thee" By rescuing Elizabeth he is atoning for his past sin of selling her to Comstock."From Sodom I shall deliver you." Sodom is symbolic of a city that has fallen into evil and is beyond redemption, in the end he delivers the universe from the Sodom that is Columbia by preventing it from ever existing."To thy own land I shall lead you." Booker is Comstock from another dimension. Columbia is literally "his own land" because he built it."In new Eden soil I shall plant you." Eden represents a time before sin. In the end, by removing Comstock from the timeline, all that's left is Booker and his daughter, in a time before the sin he's been trying to atone for.

Time travel is impossible because someone, at some point in time, inevitably uses it to Retcon itself out of existence.

The game shows us one set of such universes where dimensional travel is invented. By the end, a Time Paradox occurs and they are gone completely in favor of ordinary reality where no dimensional travel has ever occured.

Columbia is actually a vivid hallucination of Booker DeWitt

The main character of BioShock Infinite is actually a splicer who is imagining the entire "city in the sky" setting while actually still being in Rapture. It is possible that DeWitt was an American who grew up in the early 1900s, moved to Rapture only to grow disillusioned along with many others and managed to survive the civil war but is a deranged splicer like most of the city's inhabitants. Yearning for both the "good old days" as well as escape from the underwater city, he crafted a personal delusion that mixed both his wishes: a place with the trappings of his childhood and as far away from the ocean floor as possible, which is why Columbia appears as oozing with Americana and is located in the sky. However, elements of reality still sink in, such as the big daddy figurine, the big daddy-esque mechanical creature, and the fact that DeWitt and Elizabeth apparently seem to possess plasmid-like abilities.

Alternate!Fitzroy had a crush on Alternate!Booker

The way she says "But my Booker DeWitt died for the Vox Populi", combined with the fact that he's the only martyr we see supporting, plus the fact that she's demanding that someone she thinks is impersonating Booker be killed despite not being that bad in Episode 2 leads me to believe there was something going on between then, even if it was unrequited.

Columbia has traveled to the future.

A few factual errors were found with music and the hammer and sickle symbol when those shouldn't have even existed yet. Columbia has gone rogue and disappeared. There's apparently an incredible difficulty in getting there. These things could be the results of Columbia traveling a few yearsDECADES into the future, with or without them even noticing it.

• Pretty much confirmed by the new trailer. Elizabeth uses her powers to try and resurrect a horse by pushing back reality itself and warping to a pasture, but fails. At the end, she pushes back reality even farther than before, and the portal stays open. The only problem is that it is now a different reality, an '80s-esque street with a theater advertising Return of the Jedi behind her.
  • Actually it's "Revenge of the Jedi".
    • George Lucas reportedly changed the title from Revenge to Return at the last minute when he realized that revenge was a very un-Jedi-like concept.
    • You misunderstand, the universe Liz tears a hole into has a theater which is advertising Revenge. Apparently it's a universe in which Mr. Lucas didn't make that change.
• Sort of Confirmed. The Founders use the tears to steal ideas and technology from the future and pass them off as their inventions.

As a variation on the above theory, Columbia only exists thanks to time travel.

Come on, a flying city in 1912? There's no way they could have built it with their technology ! And that's the point : they couldn't. The men who would later build Columbia somehow managed to build a time machine, if they didn't flat out steal H G Wells' time machine, and used it for traveling to the future and retrieve some technology from that time that they adapted to their level. This also explains why Elizabeth is so important for them, and why she has her powers : she's from that future they visited where mankind naturally developed psychic powers. Not only is she the only one who understands the technology that allows Columbia to exist, but by studying her, they found a way to artificially grant similar powers to them and developed the Vigors, but didn't take into account the fact that they're still not biologically fit for harnessing this kind of power, which contributed to their insanity. All those shifts we can see in the trailers are caused by reality reacting VERY badly to the presence of technologies and persons from another time, and trying to adjust.

• Confirmed. Columbia was only possible thanks to the quantum technology the Letuce twins developed.

The word 'Infinite' in the title refers to the nature of the multiverse and Elizabeth's true potential.

There are infinite universes, infinite alternate realities that sometimes 'bleed' into each other, and sometimes they can ignore even the sequential order of time. If Elizabeth's powers are fully developed she will be able to pull in an infinite amount of anything from ALL other alternate timelines, whether in the past, present or future. She has the potential to give everyone in her universe limitless food, water, air, energy, et cetera, as well as the power to remove anything by transporting it into one of the countless other dimensions, if she is allowed to grow in power and learn to control it further. Elizabeth represents the very concept of 'infinity', the key to limitless resources through exploiting the fact that there are infinite realities.

• Confirmed. By destroying the tower she was held in during the events of the ending, Elizabeth becomes an omnipotent Physical God.

All the changes made to the game during the development process are just Alternate Universes of the Columbia we'll experience in the finished product.

That means there's an alternate Columbia where Booker sounds like Garrett, an alternate Columbia where The Songbird makes Big Daddy noises, an alternate Columbia where the architecture is inspired by Art Nouveau... The list goes on, really.

• Confirmed. The last scene has multiple different Elizabeths, each from a different timeline. One, to the left, is the Raven haired, slightly bustier Elizabeth we saw in early trailers. It can be assumed that every trailer we have seen could actually be an alternate universe, like the Gamestop trailer where Elizabeth is being hung and Booker saves her.

Columbia is actually a virtual reality.

Various objects seem to be glitching, and the people's erratic behavior is due to an error in the code. Furthermore, Elizabeth's powers are not actually an ability to warp dimensions, but rather she can directly affect Columbia's source code. The Songbird is thus some sort of antiviral softwear.

• It's not just a virtual reality, it's the Genetic Memory of a subject seen through an Animus-esque device. The subject (and therefore the player) lives in the near future and is trying to figure out what happened to Columbia by exploring the memories of Booker to prevent a cataclysm caused by the events of game.
  • Jossed.

This all has something to do with Faction Paradox.

Because seriously. Period dress? Check. Tears in the fabric of space-time allowing for the weaponized manipulation of timelines? Check. Giant crows and other gothic images? Check. A city full of people from all over the multiverse, all of them each a very special kind of insane? Check. At this rate, Elizabeth transpiring to be a rogue Timeship and the Songbird turning out to have been an Unkindness all along wouldn't be surprising in the least. Not to mention squee-inducing.

Columbia is a literary reference to the flying island of Laputa

In Gulliver's Travels, Laputa was also used as the seat of an empire, full of scientific wonders but run by impotent madmen and Know-Nothing Know-It-All people. The comparisons are startling; this is just a more modern Laputa. What do you guys think?

Daisy Fitzroy is the illegitimate child of one of the Founders

Despite the "purity" credo that is essential to the Founders' beliefs, one Mr. Fitzroy decided to get some tail of a different color. Daisy's mother was most likely a South American immigrant, and gave her daughter the name of her father because she had deluded herself into thinking Mr. Fitzroy actually loved her. Daisy however grew to HATE her father and everything he stood for. Fortunately, she inherited his statesman's silver tongue, and Daisy quickly amassed followers to her socialist faction.

• Other relevant facts worth considering: Despite her dark skin, Daisy's surname is Anglo-Celtic; there are a number of families in Scotland and Ireland with names like Fitzroy, Fitzgerald, or Fitzpatrick. It wasn't until after the turn of the twentieth century that the Irish ceased being victims of open racism in the US; as late as the Twenties you could still find businesses hanging window signs saying things like NOW HIRING (no negroes nor irish need apply). It would not be unreasonable, however, for a rich WASP in Columbia to have had a torrid affair with a mixed-race lover (and one with an Irish-sounding name, to boot), and then attempt to hide the results of their forbidden love lest it destroy his or her reputation.
• Also keep in mind that "Fitzroy" is a name usually given to the illegitimate children of royalty.

The third BioShock Universe (after Rapture and Columbia) will take place UNDERGROUND.

Levine has already done under the ocean (Rapture), in the air (Columbia) and space (System Shock's sequel). What is left? A GIANT SERIES OF CAVERNS. Or is that too much like the Vaults from the Fallout Series?

• To be fair, the Vaults were more-or-less devised as a way to live and thrive safely in an emergency response to nuclear attack. Not as an idealized utopian metropolis.
  • The vaults were never meant to save anyone. But that's for another page.

Alternately, it'll take place in Tree Top Town

With genetically altered trees. And tree-people. And people-trees. And it'll feature bamboo technology. It'll deconstruct eco-terrorism or destroying the environment. Possibly both.

The next game will take place on the Moon.

Early in the game, you can overhear a conversation between Columbians about eventually being able to settle on the Moon.

BioShock Infinite will cause a shitstorm amongst American conservatives.

Conservatives have an affinity for the Gilded Age and unashamed patriotism, and nothing seems to gall them more than a story that deliberately depicts Eagleland, type 1, as the moral equivalent of type 2. The depictions of Columbia's Founders will not endear this game to them at all, and the fact that the game is due to debut close to the 2012 elections will only make things worse.

• Happened already. Well, a shitstorm in a teacup, but still: Some neo-Nazi idiots indeed have already claimed this game to be an anti-American, anti-White hate sermon by a Greedy Jew... which makes the skepticism of other conservatives seem almost rational by comparison. (At least they aren't making repulsive remarks about Ken Levine's Jewish ancestry. Yet.)

Alternatively, BioShock Infinite will cause a shitstorm amongst American liberals.

So here we have the Vox Populi. A morally upright La Résistance group that, in their struggle for equality, has turned first into Well Intentioned Extremists, then into a bloodthirsty gang of Knight Templar types — have-nots blinded by the sheer intensity of their righteous hatred for the haves — who see no problem with terrorizing, brutalizing, and murdering the objects of their hate and calling it a well-deserved revenge. And what research did Ken Levine do to understand the mindset of these ideology-driven thugs? He started attending Occupy Wall Street protests. I don't imagine anyone will be flattered in the least by the comparison.

• He attended Occupy Protests 5 months before Occupy Wall Street.

Alternatively alternatively, BioShock Infinite will cause a shitstorm amongst American conservatives and American liberals.

Neither side seems to be coming out of this one particularly well, and both sides have members who like to start shouting in outrage at even the mildest whiff of something offensive without stopping to consider whether the other side might be getting one of the barrels as well (or whether the criticism they're getting worked up by might have a point).

The events of BioShock Infinite will somehow, however directly, result in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

I mean, come on! They both take place in exactly the same year, and no definite data has been set for the game as of yet. Presuming Columbia eventually is destroyed and falls from the sky, either one of the pieces strikes the Titanic or acts as the 'iceberg' that causes the sinking, with the help of a ruptured Winter Blast-esque Vigor.

• Not impossible. The opening sequence involves the main character accessing Columbia from a point off the coast of Maine. When she hit the iceberg, the Titanic was about 300 miles south of Newfoundland, and only a few hundred miles away from the coast of Maine. Something could easily drop down into the Atlantic at an unfortunate point in the ship's path...
  • Ye gods, the motorized patriots Booker dropped destroyed the Titanic! Man, Cameron ought to reboot the film with the premise.
    • A movie where an animatronic George Washington smashes into a ship and then starts shooting everyone would be a movie everyone should see. It'd be much more satisfying than the original anyway. And more in line with Terminator.

Borderlands is where Elizabeth is really from

Seriously, Elizabeth has dimension based powers just like the Sirens...could it really be much of a stretch for Elizabeth to be one of them as well?

• Elizabeth would have the distinctive blue Siren tattoos on her chest and down her left side if this was the case.
• Original Poster: Good point, maybe she's the source of power all the Sirens get their abilities from.

Booker actually falls from Columbia (and dies) and unidentified number of times.

Trying to make Booker fall from the floating city makes him fall, then simply not having fallen. That's because the first one actually died, and the game changed to a version of Columbia where he didn't jump.]]

Songbird is an alternate universe version of DeWitt.

We don't know what Songbird is, but it has human arms. It's very defensive of Elizabeth, and made from Big Daddy technology. And we know Comstock's messed around with alternate Bookers before. And the Songbird dies of drowning.

Booker has a very meaningful name.

"Booker DeWitt." The origins of his name could have serious ramifications for his character arc. Breaking it down, "DeWitt" has connotations with "white;" a bit of quick research shows its literal meaning is "the white one." "Booker" obviously has its roots in an occupation: book-making. Part of making books involves bleaching the paper so that it is a nice white color. See where I'm going with this? We've been told Booker has a lot to atone for; we heard in the trailer about "wiping away the debt." His name could refer to sponging away his past, literally blanking out the pages of his history. Or alternatively...

• The blanking out pages of his history is right, or at least the pages of Comstock's history, since they are the same person.

There are multiple Elizabeths and Bookers running around Columbia.

Given the existence of the tears, anything's possible. (It might also explain why Irrational saw fit to create a detailed model of the player character, something that FPSes with no cutscenes don't usually do.)

• It's not only possible, its confirmed. Unfortunately, one of the Booker's is dead at the time, so only one is active at a time in any particular Columbia. A detailed model of Booker is made for the ending, where you see hundreds of Elizebeths and Bookers running around the Multiverses 'nexus' point
• Also confirmed for Booker as Comstock.

The BioShock Infinite universe is shared with every single universe in fiction ever and Booker, Elizabeth and Comstock are living archetypes.

By the game's ending is made clear that Columbia and Rapture are alternate equivalents of the same place, as Booker and Subject Delta are (possibly)counterparts of each other. There is always a Prison, always a Girl, and a Man who rescues her from her Captor. What if every single tale based on this archetypal canvas is actually always the same story, in another time and another place? Every time, in fiction, a Girl, secluded in a prison, is in need of rescue, that girl is Elizabeth. Locked in a tower with only her books most of her life, Elizabeth could have begun suspecting that her world was, in fact, just another retelling of the story she read so many times in different contexts; from there come her reality bending powers, she realizes at least partially, that she is a fictional character. In the final sequence, She fully acknowledges her status, becoming an ubiquitous Physical God who is every Damsel in Distress ever in any tale in any time. Booker on the other hand, is a bit more complex, as he is both the Rescuer of the Girl, and her Captor, in this case Comstock. The more Booker is close to Elizabeth and experiences warps in reality, the more he also experiences this duplicity and associated cognitive dissonance, but instead of consciously accepting it(and gaining the same powers as result), he violently rejects it, thus the nosebleeds. In the ending sequence, wanting to eradicate Comstock forever, Booker finds out he and Comstock are the same person, and so he kills himself. With this final act, common in much of fiction, the Rescuer killing the Captor, Booker too finally accepts his dual, eternal role, heroic and villainous at the same time, becoming an omnipresent divine being just like Elizabeth.

This makes a great deal of sense if you come at this from a Feminist Critique of female archetypes. The damsel in distress is just as trapped by the hero as she is from the villain. The villain is the one that traps her, but relying on the hero to save her is what keeps her trapped in the role of damsel in distress, as opposed to being an heroine and saving herself. Having both the hero and the villain be the same purpose underscores this.

The whole game was an Excrucian plot to remove the existence of Columbia from the universe.

It worked, though given how horrible Columbia and Rapture were, it's just as much because no Noble or Imperator cared enough to stop them.

The System Shock universe is a result of the ending

The ending of the game didn't really destroy all versions of Columbia

, and even if it did, something still remains.This explains the existence of the "Truth From Legend" documentaries and the Columbian artefacts recovered from the Alps: even though Columbia technically ceased to exist throughout most of the Multiverse, at least one universe ended up with memories and historical records of the city existing, along with a few pieces of the city itself. This may or not be the same universe where Booker and Elizabeth/Anna continue to exist.

• I also think that there are still universes with a Columbia in it. The difference though is that tears don't exist and Elizabeth doesn't exist. The Columbia that had tears was more or less "self aware" that it is but one of the infinitely many "Columbias". That is probably the reason why it, or rather all variants of the "self aware" Columbia, had to be erased. Also who to say that only Booker/Comstock could've founded Columbia?
• You could also assume that the videos from 'documentaries' would be just another alternate universe and the moment that it's being seen from is simply in the future. I say you have to assume that all of the trailers, pre release videos and other videos released about the game can be included in the 'alternate universe' idea, each one is a different Universe. In one universe the people try and hang Elizabeth and Booker saves her, in another universe, Columbia is around long enough for the 'documentary' to be made. The difficult part with all of the alternate universes at play is when the timeline is junctioned back and the killing of Booker at the baptism makes the one cannon timeline occur. I would have to say that the 'documentary' could exist simply because the 'event' of Booker's drowning simply hadn't occurred yet. Elizabeth opens a tear that show a 1980's Paris, and you later see a 1980's New York... it can then just be assume that the moment in time that this specific alternate Universe where the 'documentary' comes from exists before the 'event' occurred... or at least the perception of the time. It's rather confusing.

One of the 3 DLC packs will explain the Songbird

• Semi-confirmed. A voxophone in Clash in the Clouds all-but-outright confirms that the Songbird was constructed through methods similar to the Big Daddy, including behavioral imprinting.
  • Now completely confirmed. Burial At Sea gives the backstory of how that played out.

Elizabeth is a Time Lord

Probably not, though she was exposed to the Time Vortex, making her a version of Bad Wolf. The Luteces, though...Perhaps they are both the Gemini?

• I've always wanted to say this to one of these theories, but Jossed. In a voxophone recording in the Monument Island Tower Rosalind Lutece theorizes that Elizabeth's abilities come from being simultaneously in two different universes at once (i.e. she's in Columbia while most of her pinky finger is in a different universe thanks to the Portal Cut that happened during her abduction). So along with her having these abilities sans-TARDIS she's also confirmed to have at least one human parent in the form of her father, Booker. So she's human, just an extraordinary one.

Elizabeth is a TARDIS

What is Elizabeth's power set again? And what can a TARDIS do? Notice an overlap there?

• Elizabeth's power set is to manipulate tears between dimensions, not travel through space and time. Besides everything else that is wrong with this theory (which is all in jest, I know), the 10th Doctor states in "Rise of the Cybermen" that travel between parallel worlds should be impossible post Time War. The only reason that the TARDIS ends up in Pete's World is a malfunction that, so far in the series, has not been replicated since. So Elizabeth's abilities running off of Time Lord science is more-or-less Jossed. On top of that, we see Elizabeth as a one-year old in flashbacks near the end of the game, and combined with the fact that Idris never exhibits any abilities to travel through space in time a scenario similar to "The Doctor's Wife" isn't likely, either.

The Luteces are Time Lords

No TARDIS. Just ditching the rules and Big Bang Two-ing their way through the entire game.

The Luteces will show up again

The pair no longer have anything to do with Booker after he's drowned in the baptism, thus mostly erasing him and Comstock from the timelines. But they still exist as quantum physicists even before Comstock builds Columbia, which sets in motion the events that cause them to exist throughout all space-time simultaneously. This (and the alternate universe theories) would make it easy to put them into virtually any setting. Not to mention that it's always possible that Columbia was still built in another timeline and their machine damaged by someone else, thus making them still exist in all of space-time even after Comstock is erased....

• It's certainly possible. While closing the Stable Time Loop at the end is implied to wipe all existence of Columbia and the events contained within it from the timeline (even Elizabeth as we know her in the game), Rosalind Lutece theorizes that that both she and her "brother" Robert are scattered across time, meaning that they exist across all of time and space in all realities. Technically for this "scattering" to take place Rosalind needs to build her machine in Columbia and then Fink needs to sabotage it under orders from Comstock. By this logic these events never happened post ending, but it's unclear how much the Timey-Wimey Ball is in effect here or if the Luteces have actually ''transcended'' the laws of time themselves.
  • This makes a metric fuckton of sense actually. Considering they are outside of the loop, is their commentary meta on both Booker's actions and the player's actions?
    • Eh, possibly. Between things like their coin flip experiment at the raffle and the "he doesn't row" conversation leading up to the lighthouse it's strongly implied that the Luteces have witnessed the events of the story on multiple occasions. Whether or not in-universe they're observing events as part of a continuous loop or are simply observing the same event chain across multiple parallel worlds isn't really made clear. Still, they're making observations based on past version of events and are even testing for variations (like their brooch test at Battleship Bay or what side of the coin Booker chooses). While this is all commentary on Booker's actions, it can certainly be applied to the player, especially when bringing multiple playthroughs into account.
• Confirmed - they're in the DLC

The Luteces will make cameos in future Irrational games

• See above for the reason why

Elizabeth is Haruhi Suzumiya.

• She might create whole new worlds based on her desires.

The direct sequel to Infinite will focus on the mysterious "archangel".

There's much to indicate that Comstock is simply a conman when it comes to prophecy-business, using the Luteces' device for his "visions". However, several times he mentions an "archangel" who inspired him to build Columbia and he takes this entity's word so seriously that he's willing to steal a child from his alternate self because the angel claimed that Columbia would only last as long as his bloodline continued. We never discover what this entity could be, but if it isn't completely a product of Comstock's delusions, then it must have some special interest in the DeWitt bloodline. Going with this, maybe we'll get a grown-up Anna DeWitt as the next game's protagonist?

The "archangel" in question is SHODAN

• An alternate universe incarnation of her that was never killed by the Soldier, thus succeeding in using the Von Braun's warp drive to become a literal god of sorts, has been manipulating things behind the scenes the whole time by communicating with Comstock through a tear.
  • And it makes sense in terms of modus operandi. She has a VERY noticeable god-complex, so of course she'd proclaim herself as a deity/archangel to Comstock. And given her intimidatingly surreal appearance (and god knows how much that's evolved thanks to the aforementioned FTL drive), Comstock could've easily been led to believe it. She absolutely loathes humanity, their only value to her being raw materials to create her own "improved" race that totally worships her. So given the Bad Future that Booker sees where human civilization itself is being destroyed by Columbia (with further implication that humanity across all other universes would get the same treatment), this could very well have been her goal from the get-go.

Columbia will be revisited in the Sequel/DLC because...

Nowhere is it said that Comstock built Columbia, he just lead the people to this new Eden... Archangel created Columbia, and just told Comstock the location.

• Comstock conceived the idea of Columbia, and had it built with the blessing of the United States Government. Lutece had a hand in it as well. As far as where Comstock got the idea from, well...
  • Confirmed but not for that reason Burial At Sea has a section in which Elizabeth revisits Columbia through a tear but it's a Columbia from the main game.

Other Theories Part 2

BioShock 4 will feature a man, a lighthouse, and a city, but where?

I see many possibilities, feel free to add your own.

• On the moon. This was mentioned in civilian chatter, so it could be foreshadowed.
• Underground. (D'ni?)
• Miniaturized. Seriously a bad idea without some sort of impenetrable shield, but it's a sci-fi cliche and this is WMG, so why not?
• Space station.
  • About that... No lighthouse, though.
    • Actually cut material from BioShock Infinite imply that Citadel Station◊ IS the lighthouse of System Shock.
• (As mentioned above) a Tree based city (with environmentalism being the belief getting the ax), along with a mountain city (like a dark Shangra-la), an island and Antarctica.
  • Underground city under Antarctica, with alien tech from a fallen UFO as the magic/psi component.
    • And with Neo-Nazis trying to steal the alien technology as the villains— Conspiracy Theories: The Game.
    • In an city built in a system of caves under Antartica by the Nazis. And the player character is a Israeli Nazi hunter.
• In the middle of a jungle (Amazon, India, Africa etc.).
• In a space station orbiting the sun. And one of the characters is a lost cosmonaut.
• Moon Nazis. It's popular, it attacks a system, and it's foreshadowed with the moon comments.
• The Middle East. Yeah, unlikely due to the fact that they don't want to get murdered like Charlie Hebdo, but it would make sense, since belief system + oasis lighthouse + some sort of desert utopia city.
• On Mars. Why not?
• THE FUTURE!!!!!! To elaborate, 2050s or so, with the city being founded on Transhumanism and Singularity ideas, with those getting the critique. Local plasmid stand-in? Early on, you get an arm lopped off, and your new robot arm can do them, and you find programs to get new powers.
• On the ocean, with the idea being a city of moderates. Of course, innovation, progress and creation stagnate, because moderates are useless for advancing anything. Thus, the city falls apart not due to revolution, but decay. All the moderates built a giant city that floats to escape extremism, only for absolutely nothing to get done. It'd also be a good visual metaphor, because of the super-religious and anti-religion cities being in the air and under the sea.
• The Afterlife, with it being during the Christian endtimes. Rather than the racism of the past coming into play, the religion getting attacked is modern anti-science fundamentalism, and the forces of Hell are the good guys.
• A vegan city. Honestly, just to have a game where all of your enemies are homicidal vegans. It'd be the best selling game of all time.
• A city with a Zeerust aesthetic.

BioShock 4 will feature a man, a lighthouse, and a city, but the player character will be a woman.

Elizabeth never said the man was the protagonist. She says, "There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city..."

Maybe the antagonist is the man she speaks of (Andrew Ryan to Rapture, Comstock to Columbia), allowing the protagonist of later games to be whatever we want.

Surprisingly Realistic Outcome Happens after The Stinger

While we all would like to see Booker live an ordinary, happy life with his daughter, the fact is that he is still a deeply depressed widower with a gambling and drinking problem, emotional baggage from the massacre of Wounded Knee and is badly in debt to dangerous people, to boot. Unfortunately in all likelihood he will either be killed over his debts in the near future, or else ends up on a life of crime, himself. Either way, the future doesn't look terribly rosy for young Anna.

• Now, to be fair, we don't know how much of the "debt" was engineered as part of the plot to take Anna. That aside, they still have two World Wars and the Great Depression to live through, so good times all round!
• Stinger!Booker seems suprised to find Anna in her room. (or wonders whether she's there, depending on how you interpret the stinger) Either way, it shows that he knows she's not supposed to be there. That indicates that he retains at least some of Booker Prime's memories of Elizabeth/Columbia/the events of the game. If that's the case, he should realize just how incredibly lucky he is and have a ton of motivation to get his shit together and be the best dad ever.

The ending caused Crisis on Infinite Earths

The drowning of Booker and subseqeunt collapse of serveral universes could be what weakened the Multiverse enough for the Anti-Monitor to begin his feast...however by Infinite Crisis the Multiverse returned and was based on a form other than choice so Columbia probably still exists.

If there's a third Freedom Force game, Booker would be in it as an ersatz Cable

Energy X would cause him to survive Retgone and fall into the 1980s, even though an analogue of him exists here. Same would go for Elizabeth who could end up being a superheroine as well (by rule of awesome) but unfortunatly Comstock came back from the dead and became a Joker esque figure. As a final touch, Frank Fontaine would be the real villain.

Elizabeth's powers are actually derived from Spiral Energy.

Because of the awesomeness.

The events of Dishonored is an alternative universe of this game.

• This actually sounds somewhat plausible, given that it operates under the same theme of "Man going to lighthouse, girl being held captive, magnificent but corrupt city" common to the Multiverse of BioShock 1, 2 and Infinite. In this case, Dunwall is the city; the girl is Emily; there's even a lighthouse that has to be visited at the end of the game.
  • This is pure grade Fanfic Fuel. I don't care if this is natter—this needs to happen. Preferably in multiple fanfics.
    • The Outsider is what it looks like when someone - quite possibly Robert Lutece - gets Elizabeth's powers and completely masters them. He's ceased aging, and he has infinite doors to wander through for his amusement. Piero invented another version of the Salts; Sokolov invented another version of EVE.

Lutece Laboratory eventually become Aperture Science.

C'mon.

• Caroline is Rosalind's AU version in the Portal universe.

Every Song Columbia Stole, the original Song Writers will eventually steal them back

Yes, as we all know, Tears in space and Time have allowed Comstock to steal and sell music from the future, specifically, "God Only Knows", "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", and "Fortunate Son", albeit in their own format. As time passes and Columbia falls, however, the pieces of Music they originally have will somehow be displaced, and end up in the hands of their original composers, who will then edit the music to fit their style. Those songs will become hits, and Comstock will see how successful these songs will be and will steal them and use them in Columbia for them to eventually be stolen, etc. etc.

• That breaks one of the laws of time - travel; If these writers stole their songs from Columbia who stole them from the writers, where did they originally come from? It's a paradox.

Songbird is Yet another Booker from another AU

Booker, realizing that his daughter is Elizabeth, makes a deal with Comstock to be able to watch over her. Little did he know the extent of what would need to happen. He is a Papa Wolf towards Elizabeth, and he drowns at the end of the game.

Booker always dies of drowning

Especially taking the above into account. Could be one of the "constants" of the multiverse (like the coin flip that always lands on heads.

• Jossed in Burial at Sea, Booker dies a different way.

The lighthouse is the The Dark Tower.

You know how the Dark Tower has different manifestations in different worlds? Well Elizabeth can tap into all universe where it's a Lighthouse!.

Silent Hill is another AU of BioShock Infinite

A father searching through a city to save his daughter from her other 'parent' who is a religious zealot intent on using her powers to cause mass destruction.

• Let's expound on this. There is always a man (Harry, James, Henry, Travis, Alex, Murphy). There is always a town with a dark secret (Silent Hill, South Ashford, Shepherd's Glen). There is always a girl (Cheryl, Mary, Heather, Elaine, Alessa, Elle, Anne). There is always a lighthouse (or a sufficiently tower-shaped structure).

BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite are more imaginary worlds in the head of Cheryl Mason.

As a twist to the above WMG; BioShock 2 was Cheryl imagining herself trapped by her evil mother and waiting for her father to rescue her. In BioShock Infinite, she's started to let go of her resentment towards Dahlia, hence the scene with Elizabeth reconciling with Lady Comstock, and has begun to accept that Harry isn't the perfect knight in shining armour she thought he was. But she still believes that he's coming to rescue her and so imagines her father as two different people, one good and one bad; Booker and Comstock.

Andrew Ryan will return in a DLC as Columbia's new ruler.

Even given that Comstock is wiped out from the multiverse, it's not guaranteed that that would necessarily stop Columbia from appearing in at least one universe such as the one Booker and Elizabeth spend the early parts of the game in. So what are the odds that Ryan, or some alternate version of him takes the reins and begins transforming the city into an aerial version of Rapture?

The Lucetes aren't siblings at all.

One of the kinetoscopes show's Rosalind Lucete's brother arriving and expresses surprise that he existed unknown up until then. What if the surprise is justified because it's a lie?

Rosalind and her brother are actually the same person from two different realities where the only divergent trait is that Lucete's mother had a child of a different gender. Since they were otherwise identical in terms of personality and reality, they would have discovered tear-manipulation at the exact same point and come in contact with each other. At that point, the male Lucete crossed over into the female's reality (he makes a remark during Booker's flashback about how unpleasant being stranded in a reality is and says he knows from personal experience). Rationally valuing a second equal genius, they worked together and produced more advanced technology as a team. It's possible that one Lucete-worth of genius gives you tear-manipulation, two gives you a the kind of time/space-travelling impunity they demonstrate.

They love to bicker because they share the same sort-of jerk personality. They finish each other's sentences because quite often they're thinking the same thing.

• Not so much WMG so much as confirmed facts, with the possible exception of the time/space travel being due to their genius: it's actually a result of Comstock having them assassinated via sabotage; instead of being killed, the two were smeared across all of time and space.
• An Audio Diary says that they both changed the same atom in each universe at the same time, by turning it back and forth they could communicate using Morse Code. Eventually Robert crossed into Rosalind's world to continue their research together.

The game (and the BioShock series as a whole) takes place in the same universe as John Ajvide Lindqvist's Novel Harbour (Swedish original title: Människohamn).

In said novel, a man loses his little daughter on a trip to the Swedish seaside, when she vanishes near a lighthouse. Years later, having become an alcoholic wreck, he starts to encounter strange signs that indicate his kid's presence. Lots of shit happens, too extensive to put it here. Eventually, the story concludes with him swallowing a creature that looks a lot like an ADAM slug and allows him to see through and control water, entering a parallel dimension below the surface of the sea, where time seems to stand still and where he finds his daugter, unaged, and takes her back to the land of the living.

The Twins pay off Booker's debt in The Stinger.

...because dammit, I want a happy ending.

• Since the ending makes everything relating the trans-dimensional Ret-Gone however, wouldn't that ensure there is only one Lutece that would have no idea what has happened elsewhere?
  • As of Burial At Sea, we know that isn't the case. Presumably by virtue of being outside reality proper the Luteces (and the main games Elizabeth) still exist even afterwards.

The Elizabeth you know still exists, even though Columbia is prevented from ever existing.

While it looks like Elizabeth was erased from existence along with Columbia, it's possible she still exists in some form. The Luteces being killed by Comstock seems to be a constant, but they continue existing scattered through time and space because of their understanding of physics. When the siphon is destroyed and Elizabeth turns into a God in human form, that version of her might be able to survive even if the reality that created her is wiped out.

It actually makes more sense that way. Destroying Elizabeth completely would create a Grandfather Paradox. She drowns the Booker who accepted the baptism, and erases every universe that Columbia exists in. But if that erases her as well, then she can't have prevented Comstock from existing, and then he would end up buying Anna and creating her, so she WOULD exist, etc. etc.

• Confimed in Burial At Sea. While it's possible that the Elizabeth in that storyline is a different incarnation of herself, she shares the memories and experiences that Elizabeth-prime did.

The Luteces are alternate reality versions of Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen

Both/all three are genius physicists who die due to a piece of science equipment, but manage to come back into existence thanks to everything they know about quantum mechanics, and behave in a manner that seems aloof and uncaring to everyone else because they have a completely different perspective on time.

• Runs into the problem of time; to be an alternate version they'd have to be born to the same parents with the same egg/sperm combonation. And Jon Osterman was born decades after the Luteces.

Columbia killed troops from the 8 nation Alliance

In addition to destroying the capital of China, Columbia's actions resulted in the murder of the international coalition sent to quell the Boxer rebellion. Killing soldiers from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Japan and potentially American troops would be guaranteed to result in the United States being forced to get rid of Columbia as what happened. Of course Comstock sees it as the US Government giving in to foreign pressure and an act of betrayal. Columbia then elects to pretend the Boxer rebellion was a purely American-Chinese incident.

The Lutece Twins are relatives of the G-Man.

They seem to posses the same ability as the G-Man where they can appear at any place they choose and they constantly follow the player around as the game progresses.

Food is regularly thrown in the garbage because everyone has perpetual air sickness.

I got air sickness just by looking at the floating buildings.

Gear was originally planned to be dispensed by vending machines.

You run across a couple of broken automatic tailor machines in the game- one relatively early, (in the Order of the Ravens HQ, I think) and a vandalized one in Shantytown, with anti-Jewish slurs painted on it. They just scream Dummied Out to me. What does Booker use that might come from a tailor vending machine? Gear. This might explain why Gear does such crazy things- maybe the tailor who maintains them had inspiration from tears, just like the Fink brothers did.

• Confirmed, apparently, by this dialogue found in the game's files. It seems they would have spoken Yiddish as a Second Language.

Lady Comstock and the late Mrs. DeWitt are the same person in different realities

So, genetically, Elizabeth was her and Comstock's daughter, even though she didn't give birth to her.

• Confirmed... more or less. When Elizabeth attempts to enter Comstock's house, the AI at the door mistakes her for her mother, even making the comment "You are looking unusually healthy, considering you have been dead for seventeen years!" The door scan is implied to react to Lady Comstock's genetic code, which means that Elizabeth is genetically close to Lady Comstock. At the very least, she is genetically close enough to look like Lady Comstock.
  • Not exactly. The door seems to operate on fingerprints and visuals. Elizabeth thinks that the door mistakes her due to her dress, which seems a good enough theory. Also, Lady Comstock appears to come from quite a wealthy background, which makes a romance with Booker less likely.
  • Just because Lady Comstock was from money doesn't mean her alternate self in Booker!Prime's timeline was as well.
  • There's also the possibility that Lady Comstock not coming from money might be the very thing that caused the Booker/Comstock split. Booker mentions that his baptism was "twenty years ago" during the ending, so it would have happened right around the time that Anna was conceived. What if Booker was already in a relationship with a non-wealthy Lady Comstock before the baptism, and having a baby on the way was one of the factors that influenced Booker to not go through with it? Meanwhile, a wealthy Lady Comstock wasn't in a relationship with Booker, giving him one less reason to refuse the baptism, so he didn't meet her until he'd already been baptized. This would mean that Lady Comstock did redeem her husband in another universe like she wanted, at the cost of dying in childbirth as a result of it.

• Confirmed, as it turns out, via Wordof God.

Saltonstall's behaviour in the gameplay trailer is indirectly tied to the events of the actual game

Specifically, he's suffering from Tear Sickness induced by discovering that, in another reality, the Vox Populi killed and scalped him. For good measure, the Booker of that reality was an icon for the Vox, so it's no surprise that Saltonstall freaked out upon seeing Booker holding a rifle.

Booker is afraid of heights

No particular reason, except for his justifiable freak out when he enters the city via rocket chair, but I just find the idea humorous.

There is a reason why so few people use Vigors.

This guess lies somewhere between WMG and Fridge Brilliance, but for the sake of caution, I put this here. Consider who are the only people who use Vigors besides Booker. The Firemen and the Zealots of the Lady. Now, what they have in common? Penance. The Firemen can be heard screaming in pain from the use of their own power from time to time, and at times make comments that seem to indicate that their condition is either voluntary penance or outright punishment for something. The Zealots serve voluntary penance for failing to protect Lady Comstock. Now, nearly all Vigors seem to cause intense physical pain and disturbing, albeit temporary(?) deformities on their users (both Firemen and the Zealots wear masks for some reason). Keeping this in mind, even though Fink tries to market the Vigors as everyday solution to ordinary problems, most people of Columbia would probably not be terribly interested in being in terrible pain potentially idenfinitely for the sake of effects that are not really that useful outside narrow combat applications. Even most soldiers save for the most fanatic penitent would balk at the cost of such enhancements. This is also why the Vox Populi aren't seen using them; they are afraid of these side-effects, as well as being branded as Comstock's penitents. The only reason why Booker keeps slurping the Vigors down one after another is that he carries some enormous baggage of guilt and self-loathing on his shoulders, and feels like he should suffer in the name of protecting Elizabeth, even though he doesn't quite understand why.

In short, Fink's campaign for marketing the Vigors does not reflect their true place in the Columbian society in the slightest, it's simply a failed robber baron's ploy to make quick, unethical cash that has failed for the most part after people saw the side-effects.

• It's an interesting idea. However, you do see Firemen and Zealots among Slate's troops and Fitzroy's Vox Populi, don't forget; and the unmasked "Crows" working for Slate don't appear particularly disfigured. Plus, there is some Mundane Utility to the Vigors: Possession, Shock Jockey and- at a stretch- Bucking Bronco- do have applications outside of combat, and judging by what the Zealot's can do, a fully-upgraded Murder of Crows vigor can allow some very useful teleportation power. That said, it's true that most of the people who do use Vigors tend to be fanatics of some stripe- noteably, Cornelius Slate; he doesn't appear to show any signs of Shock Jockey-induced crystal growth (probably because he's wearing gloves) but it's clear that he didn't collapse because Booker injured him- perhaps his use of the vigor was beginning to wear him down.
  • There's a Gear that lets you Cast from Hit Points if you run out of Salts. Perhaps he was using that.
  • Thanks for the corrections, but the core of my WMG is that Fink attempts to market the Vigors like he saw done with Plasmids in Rapture through a Tear, but failed to take into account the cultural differences. The people of Columbia refused to be permanently marked with such powers, negative side-effects or not, save for the most fanatic and/or penitent individuals.
    • Another reason might be the lack of ADAM; in Burial At Sea we find out that Fink is having to finance underwater trips to get the ADAM sea slugs, being presumably unwilling or unable (the later being more likely) to create some version of Little Sisters. As such Vigors are probably quite expensive to make and thus to buy.

The successor to the game will subvert that already established.

It will be about a woman (not a man) abducting (not rescuring) a boy (not a girl)... and instead of arriving after the conflict or in the middle of it, it be about starting it.

• And instead of having a lighthouse (a tower that emits light), you'll go down a deep and dark chasm.

Constance Field is Songbird

From this theory.

• ...go on.

The Lutece's were the ones to put Booker into debt

They needed a way to take Anna/Elizabeth and Booker wasn't just going to give his daughter up without a reason. However they knew that Booker had an addictive personality (probably an insight from Comstock) and therefore tilted the odds of probability against Booker with Columbian technology so that every time he gambled he lost. Thus he was forced into a position where he would be willing to give up his daughter.

• If this is true, that means that the Booker!Prime we see at the end of the game could maybe not be in debt because there's no Comstock bugging the Luteces to get him an alt reality version of his child so they never pushed him into being in debt.

Elizabeth's mother is the Songbird

See this forum post. Also, guess what the Zealots of the Lady use as weaponry...crows. Birds.

Booker and Elizabeth are alternate universe counterparts to the Big Daddies and Little Sisters

While accepting that Booker=Jack, there are some notable comparisons to the Big Daddy/Little Sister pairings. Both the Little Sisters and Elizabeth cannot die, find helpful items for their guardian, and both Booker and the Big Daddies act as Papa Wolf to them.

The DLC would delve into different alternative Columbias

With an infinite multiverse, you could delve into all kinds of possible twists on the story. How about a communistic Columbia ruled by Daisy Fitzroy with a fundamentalist rebellion lead by Comstock? How about a Columbia from a dimension where the British kept control of America, obsessed with William the Conqueror instead of George Washington? How about a Columbia where Jeremiah Fink tries to usurp Comstock?

• Not quite. You revisit Columbia in Burial At Sea, but it's the Vox Populi version that was seen in the main game.

The heavy "Racial Superiority" thing was Lady Comstock's Idea

Though Comstock is racist, His wife was extremely so. It could be that Lady Comstock was able to socially condition her racism into the populace of Columbia by her lofty position. Most of the Expy-KKK members seem to worship her as a "Holy Mother" figure, and they consecrate their symbols to her. Comstock Himself allowed this, as he was only concerned with keeping Columbia under his control. In the Universe where she is Mrs. De Witt, She is still horribly racist and blames "the lesser races" for her husband's gambling problem. Even on her deathbed she refused to accept that Booker himself was responsible for his actions.

• Then what of Daisy Fitzroy? She said that Lady Comstock was the only one who ever paid her a kind word. True, but Lady Comstock only did this because she viewed Daisy as being in "her rightful place" as a servant to white masters. Daisy was simply unable to detect the condescending tone for whatever reason.
• This is highly improbable. It's heavily implied that Lady Comstock was kind to the servants because she came from humble beginnings, herself, and didn't feel naturally superior to people of different class or colour. The Order of the Raven blames Daisy Fitzroy for her death, hence the extreme racism on their part.

We actually DO return to the Columbia we started out in

Or rather, the closest we can get. After Future Liz sends you back, you're in a reality where Songbird has a cracked eye and Comstock knows you rescued Elizabeth, despite the fact that the Columbia you were dragged out of by Future Liz, Booker died as a martyr to the Vox Populi and Comstock moved Liz to Comstock House early, however, Elizabeth wouldn't remember those events, having been navigating tears with you the entire time, so surely by jumping you through another tear (which are known to correspond to her wishes to an extent) Future Liz would send you back to 1912 Columbia as she remembers it. Namely, you rescued her from the tower, which ticked off Songbird and Comstock, then somehow provided armaments for the Vox Populi and set them into full revolution mode and Daisy Fitzroy was killed. Alternatively...

Comstock's exposure to so many tears has rendered him utterly unaffected by changes made when Liz opens them

Which is why he seems to remember the events of Columbia-1. Same deal with Songbird, it's been exposed to Liz and any possible tears she's opened up over the years, so it's eye is cracked despite the fact there's no real reason for it to be in the 3rd Columbia.

Elizabeth is getting the silver dollars she gives to Booker out of tears she makes into the moneyverse.

Yes, the moneyverse, where everything is made out of the currency of Columbia. While silver dollar DeWitt with silver dollar Elizabeth fight silver dollar Comstock, our Elizabeth slips in and absconds with, for interests sake, a silver dollar child. When introduced to this strange non-silver dollar world the child's mind rends itself till it concludes that it was never alive and is simply currency used in this universe to buy salts and weapon upgrades. Elizabeth is also getting the salts, health kits, and ammo from their respective universes.

• Elizabeth: callous serial killer who absconds with innocent children and throws the superfluous ones into rubbish bins.
• Ironically enough she has somehow been locked out of the lockpick universe.

Even if the succeed in their revolution, the Vox Populi are doomed to fail.

After Vox Populi kicks off their revolution, the fighting pretty much demolishes most if not all of Columbia. At night, you can see every single floating island burning. Even if Vox Populi wins, it will be a Pyrrhic Victory at best. The city is pretty much destroyed and since Vox Populi mainly consists of Columbia's lower class and unskilled labor, with anybody that knew how to operate the technology that runs the city executed, Columbia is doomed to eventually crash back to the Earth when Vox Populi fails to repair the catastrophic damage they caused.

• Vox does consist of the people who actually keep the city running while the upper class folks just lounge around and do desk jobs, or at best play at being soldiers. They have fairly good chances of keeping the city running as long as they have effective leadership. After Daisy Fitzroy's death they are pretty much doomed, however.

Who wants a disturbingly meta yet justifiable within the game's own logic Vox vs. Comstock's forces multiplayer DLC?

Each match is in fact the same battle taking place in a different parallel universe. TDM Infinite!

The gameplay demos are canon.....sort of.

One of the Elizabeths in the ending is the beta model used in the first demo. With the infinite number of Columbias, all of the early demos and Dummied Out content like Saltonstall could be alternate universe versions of Columbia where Booker and Elizabeth took a different path.

Robert Lutece came from the Rapture Timeline

If the Luteces had the same abilities, and they could make Columbia, why isn't Robert credited for any famous work, but Rosalind is? Is because Robert suddenly "dissapeared" from his timeline, before he could do any sort of relevant research. In the Rapture timeline,Robert dissapeared, being one of the people Andrew Ryan thought was not appreciated enough. We know that he would have supported a female scientist, based on his treatment of Tenenbaum. Since in that dimension, Columbia was never created, Rapture ended up being created later. It also would make sense that Robert wouldn't need to do as much work to be taken seriously as a scientist, because he was a man. Meanwhile, Rosalind created Columbia, and still was taken lightly, meaning that she had to work harder on her research.

The late Mrs. DeWitt was Sioux

Think about it. For starters, we know that Booker, at least from one timeline, knows Sioux, and it helps explain why he decided to support the Vox. Booker was expelled from the Pinkerton's, and they never said one. Is always assumed that it was because he did something very awful, considering he seems sorry about it and regrets Wounded Knee, it could be possible that he fell in love with a Sioux woman. Based on the racial predjuces, he would have been expelled and became a social pariah because of that. It also would make sense for him to avoid the baptism. He doesn't need Christian faith to forgive him, because he knows it won't change anything, he is atoning by actually changing who he was and making a family. It could also explain why Mrs. DeWitt died at birth, a white doctor wouldn't have wanted to attend it, and is most likely Mrs. DeWitt had to stop living with the Sioux community support in order to stay with Booker. If Lady Comstock is supposed to be an alternate version of Mrs. DeWitt, why didn't Booker recognize her? Cause, he still remembers he had a wife. Is because is wife wasn't white, and didn't look anything like Lady Comstock. Based on Mrs. Lin case, we know this might be possible.

The song "Girls just wanna have fun" helped to end (most) Sexism in Columbia

When taking songs from the future, you also collect future ideas. The Lyrics of said song are quite feminist and when the people of Columbia first heard it, they were shocked. Fortunately, the Prophet liked the song and he decreed that it did not violate any of his teachings. After all, their best brain was female, why couldn't other females do something other than be wives and mothers? As the people became more accustomed to the lyrics, they slowly began to accept the notion of an independent woman. A few years later, Columbia welcomed it's first female police officers and soldiers. Sure, there are those who still think women belong in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, but they are a minority.

• Doubt. Is not about feminism, is about usefulness. Rosalind was the one who put Columbia in the sky, but they also discredit their theories as "female intuition". Vivian Moore was accepted because of her status and because she was recommended. They only accepted the song, because they played it without lyrics.

Elizabeth is an alternate universe Eleanor Lamb and an alternate universe Emily Kaldwin

Makes sense, doesn't it? All three are dark-haired young women, locked up for a long time by the villains and are central to the main storylines. Also, all three games feature a man (Booker/Delta/Corvo) a lighthouse (The lighthouse that brings you to Columbia/Rapture/The one on Kingsparrow Isle where the final confrontation takes place) and a girl (Elizabeth/Eleanor/Emily) just like the Luteces said.

R.Lutence is of Irish descent

Considering they helped build the city, it would add a nice touch of irony. Not to mention they're redheaded.

• The name sounds more Italian to me.
  • It is, Lutèce is the French form of Lutetia, the Roman city where Paris now stands.

"There is always a man, a lighthouse and a city" doesn't mean what you think it does.

The "man" doesn't refer to the protagonist of the games, but always the founder of the city who screws everything up. And yeah, I'm pretty much paving way for a female protagonist in a BioShock game.

By the end of the game, Elizabeth is aware of the fourth wall.

She just didn't bring it up because there were more important things going on.

Everyone is Booker

Booker is not only Comstock. He's also Elizabeth. And Slate. And Fitzroy. And both Luteces. And that random Vox Populi gunner at the left. The events of the whole game are an extremely complicated Timey-Wimey Ball he inflicted on himself to teach himself... uhhh... something.

• Well duh, infinite universes, infinite possibilities, infinite Bookers being everyone.

The Luteces have witnessed every possible playthrough of the game.

The "he doesn't row" conversation in the beginning and the "heads vs tails" experiment establish constants in the timeline of every Booker who visits Columbia. Namely, a Booker enlisted to retrieve Elizabeth never rows and always tosses heads. Why? Because these two events happen in cutscenes. They are constant between every possible playthrough — the game doesn't allow you to do anything else — and thus are shared by every possible Booker who goes through the events of the game.

The Elizabeth you meet at the end of the game is not the same Elizabeth Booker saved.

Before you enter the final Door, the Elizabeth you have been adventuring with is not the same Elizabeth as Booker points out "Who are you?" She is not sporting any bruises or the Pendant on her choker. It is because this Elizabeth is a Omniscient God who sent the Real Elizabeth back to the events of the Stinger.

The Stinger implies the ending is a Downer Ending

Booker now is in a universe with his child, if you choose to accept that Anna is in the crib, however, the man is a broken, guilty, drunken, gambling mess of a man. Do you believe that Anna DeWitt will grow up to be the loveable Elizabeth we all knew and grew to love?

• Well, it may be for him, but the rest of the planet is fine with the only timeline being one where it isn't destroyed, thank you. It can't be a Downer Ending from the perspective of Earth, because it removed a psychotic flying city and its insane rulers from eternity.

The Songbird is another alternate version of Booker

There's a voxophone just before you kill Daisy Fitzroy in which Fink describes seeing man and machine being merged through a tear, and discovering how to do it himself. He's obviously referencing Big Daddies, and one might think this is the origin of the Handymen, but if you look at the chalkboard above where the voxophone is found, there's a drawing of the Songbird. This heavily implies that the Songbird was once human. Now, if Comstock wanted to create a monster he knew would be psychotically protective of Elizabeth, and he had access to alternate universe versions of himself, who better than another version of Elizabeth's father?

• Also, both end up being drowned by Elisabeth.

Booker didn't sell Elizabeth to pay off gambling debts. He gave her up as a sacrifice.

The germ of this theory is the Wham Line Robert Lutece utters when Booker give him the baby Anna/Elizabeth: “The debt's paid. Mr. Comstock washes you of all your sins.” This is, to put it very mildly, an odd thing to say to a man who has just sold his daughter to cover gambling debts. However, it makes good sense if Booker sees it as a sacrifice in a strictly religious sense. As Booker informs Elizabeth, he comes from a place with no gardens, so he can hardly offer the first fruits of his harvest... but he can offer the first fruits of his seed.

The next question, then, is why he feels the need for such a sacrifice. Booker is the Comstock who refused the easier path of baptism, realizing that, as he put it in the scene prior to this, “a dunk in the river [isn't] gonna change the things [he's] done.” He needs to make a genuine sacrifice to wash away his sins, and he needs to do so through a genuine man of God. How did Comstock (or, more likely, the Luteces acting as his agents) convince Booker that he was a genuine man of God? The answer is implicit in the previous paragraph: since Booker is Comstock, few people would be better positioned to make him believe Comstock's claptrap.

The only question remaining, then, is why Booker believes he's Trapped by Gambling Debts. Presumably, he reaches this conclusion the same way most players reach it: he remembers (or reads) the Arc Words, “Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt,” sees the bottles and cards scattered around his office, and, putting the pieces together with what he can remember of his sordid history, concludes that the debt is a literal, monetary one, incurred by gambling, rather than a spiritual one.

Finally, a minor semantic point (and in this game, minor semantic points can easily become major plot points): gambling debts are usually referred to in the plural, as in the trope name above, perhaps because people who run them up tend to do so in staggering amounts. However, both the Arc Words and the previously cited line of Lutece's refer to “debt” in the singular, as though it were something that could be wiped away by a single, singular act – such as a great sacrifice.

The Tornado Tear Elizabeth summons at one point is the same twister from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

How could a tornado have dimension traveling properties? My personal idea as to how this happeed was that creating a gateway to Oz was merely a side effect of the Tear. When the tornado left, it headed straight for the house Dorothy was in, only now altered enough to throw her into Oz.

BioShock Infinite and the Perpetual Testing Initiative Portal 2 DLC exist in the same universe.

No, wait, universe isn't the right word. They both deal with infinite variable universes. Umm, they're both narratively compatible with each other. Both are already crossed-over. Somewhere in testing through all those Aperture Sciences you probably hit the one where Cave Johnson built Aperture Science in Columbia/is Comstock.We can never do crossover WMGs with Portal 2 and BioShock Infinite can we, since they're all technically true.

The ending of the game was what the Luteces always wanted to happen.

To be specific, they wanted to kill themselves - by wiping out all timelines in which they were murdered, thereby nullifying the limbo effect wherein they were trapped, neither alive nor dead, in every universe at once. It's fairly understandable - I mean, would you want to be trapped half-alive and half-dead in every universe at once?

• If so they failed. Burial At Sea shows their nature keeps them around anyway. However it also has comments and recordings suggesting they're actualy quite happy as they are, so no big.

The Boys of Silence have no heads under their helmets.

Someone on the Fridge Logic page pointed out this nasty possibility— the Boys clearly have some power over Tears, given how they're able to keep their minions half-phased through time/space before summoning them to fight Booker. And as we know from Elizabeth, she got her own Tear powers by dint of her finger being trapped in one universe and the rest of her in another. Taking this into account, look closely at the pictures of them with their "mouths" open— there's nothing but darkness inside. Somehow, evil!Elizabeth managed to trap their entire heads in another dimension, giving them their powers. It may also go some way toward explaining the light that emanates from inside their helmets— is it a Tear that they scream through?

Elizabeth is a dark take on the Disney Princess

She is the daughter of the ruler of the city who has lived in a gilded cage for most of her life and dreams of seeing the outside world. She is shown new horizons by a dashing rogue who helps her escape her confines. She has an anthropomorphized animal companion that keeps her company in captivity. She is more educated than the rogue, but is less street smart then he is but still is excited to see the outside world.

• At the same time you aren't shooting too far from the traits of Miranda in The Tempest or even one or two Bond girls.

Anna is going to end up a genius baby.

Perhaps ALL possible Elizabeth memories that end up getting retgonned, are going to end up in baby Anna's head.

• Assuming the baby's brain/mind survives that, its going to be decades of life experience basically spent reading in a tower multiplied by the (infinite?) number of possible varriation Elizabeths across the tears, given to a baby. Who will hopefully, be able to forget most of it.

Elizabeth's Tears and the Lutece Tears work slightly differently.

Elizabeth's Tears always have you replace the alternate version of you, while becoming aware of what you did in that version, while the Lutece Tears just rip you out of your own reality and make you a new person in that world, so your brain creates new memories to compensate. This is also why Rosalind/Robert and Booker/Comstock can exist at the same time, they're separate as a result of the Lutece tears. Maybe because Lutece tears are ripping a new, less stable hole between realities while Elizabeth can simply open up doors that are already there or something

Michael Bluth and George Bluth Sr., are alternate universe versions of BioShock's Andrew Ryan and Zachary Comstock

Michael comes up with the idea to build a city out at sea (making him an alternate timeline version of Andrew Ryan who built Rapture). George Sr. says he "had that same basic idea years ago" only his idea was to have a city in the air held up by airships (making him an alternate timeline version of Zachary Comstock who built Columbia)

Guesses for DLC Vigors (feel free to add)

• A new version of Telekinesis, similar to the one seen in the early trailers. Tap to simply push objects around, hold to suspend a single object in front of you, and release to throw. Possible name: "Mind Over Matter"
• A Winter Blast-like Vigor; tap to freeze an enemy, who can then be shattered, hold to throw a projectile that freezes the ground and makes enemies slip and fall! They take damage if they fall far enough, and obvious die if they slip and fly over the edge of the city. Possible names: "Old Man Winter" (thanks to this great piece of fan art), "Jack's Frost"
• A plant-based Vigor; press to unleash vines from the ground that grabs and restrains an enemy while causing gradual damage, hold and release to throw a seed bomb that explodes and entangles multiple foes, draining their health into you Leech Seed-style. Possible name: "Green Thumb"

The Bad Future actually won't turn out to be so bad for the rest of the world

Is it bad for Elizabeth? Yes? She's turned into a monster and a hollow shell that is forced to wage war upon the world. But is it bad for the rest of the world? Nope. The Bad Future implies that they were still using steampunk technology and airships, but could they really win against tanks and fighter jets as well as have to deal with two very powerful superpowers, both with nukes armed to the teeth after years and years of Cold War?

• Not guaranteed: remember, they still have the Lutece's dimension-shifting tech, along with everything the Vigors afforded them - and, judging by the presence of the Boys of Silence, the ability to teleport at will. Plus, nobody's been able to find Columbia well into the 1980s, even with the proliferation of aeroplanes and radar, so bringing down the city might not be as easy as just launching a nuke in their direction and breaking out the victory champagne. Furthermore, even if Columbia does lose, there are still hundreds of other variations of the city spread across the multiverse, some where the apparent technological stagnation didn't take place; given Bad Future!Elizabeth's goal of moving on to the other dimensions once the job of "bringing the Sodom below to righteousness" was done, the world and the mutliverse at large isn't safe as long as Columbia still exists. Hence the reason why Comstock had to be Retgonned. See the Headscratchers section for further discussion on this subject.

Salts are actually "vital salts," and are used to counteract damage done by tears.

Comstock was prematurely aged and rendered sterile by exposure to tears; other workers suffered hideous deaths and maladies including stomach cancer. This is because use of tears drains the body's "vital salts" as a catalyst, and deficiencies in essential nutrients leads to degeneration and assorted maladies. As vigors are single-function, drinkable tears, salts dispensers are being installed throughout Columbia and vital salts introduced into the food supply in an effort to prepare its people to regularly use vigors without long-term damage.

Elizabeth is BioShock Infinite's version of Eleanor Lamb

Let's list the similarities here.

• Both have special powers due to Applied Phlebotinum.
• Both are worshiped by a cult, and are to be the sacrifice for said cult, to lead them to the surface's destruction.
• They're both locked away from the general populace since childhood, to make sure the ordinary citizens don't taint their minds with other ideas, and grew up feeling lonely. Both have been given extraordinary education in science.
• They both look◊ kind of similar◊, sharing the same eye colors.
• Their fathers are both player characters, who get killed by the end.
• They both support the player in combat, though Eleanor is much more direct in this.
• They're influenced by their father figures, and can potentially turn evil, though Eleanor's turn to evil depends much more on the player.
• They both have antagonistic, extremist parents.
• Both of their stories involve an African-American woman who sympathizes with, and rallies, downtrodden rebels against the greedy upper-class that wronged them in the first place, and oppose their father figures out of their extremism. Depending on Delta's actions, both can die, albeit in Grace Holloway's case, it's more of a choice than Daisy's.
• Both stories involve a megalomaniacal capitalist running a company for the main villain who is eccentric, scrawls "FIRED"/"SACKED" on the corpses of those who failed them, and attempt to kill you via the use of "product demonstration" (read: fighting a Big Daddy/Motorized Patriot).
• Both potentially have their fathers in their head, per the Evil/Good ending of BioShock 2 and Burial at Sea 2's possibly imaginary Booker.

The Possession Vendor was working for the Luteces.

First of all, there's the logical problem of handing out free samples of a substance that can allow people to rip off vending machines and ticket collectors, which is a bit out of character for one of Fink's employees; Fink is undoubtedly dumb enough to allow something like that onto the open market (after all, he sold Skyhooks to the Vox), but he would wouldn't have just given it out for free. Secondly, another Vigor is already being provided for sampling at the Fair, but it wears off as soon as the minigame's over, while the Possession vigor is permament - clearly not something that could be classified as a "sample." Thirdly, if you hang around the vendor long enough, she actually suggests using Possession on the ticket machine guarding the exit - behind which, the Luteces are waiting to study Booker's coin-toss. Finally, it's made clear that the Luteces can appear at almost any time and any possible location, so stealing a bunch of Possession vigors and hiring a girl to pose as a vendor would have been relatively easy.

The Booker in the early gameplay trailers from 2010 and 2011 is really Cornelius Slate.

Booker died at Wounded Knee, and Slate, a glory hound then - and seeking redemption and an escape from his sins later - takes his identity. Years later, in New York, a gentleman by the name of "Lutece" asks him why he sounds and looks so... old.

The Lutece research was aided by "Twin telepathy".

Suppose that Mama Lutece has two twins in her womb. When the birth day comes, only the female twin survives. Meanwhile, in another universe, only the male twin survives. The Stillborn infant is buried, but it's surviving sibling is told their entire life that she/he was supposed to have a twin and they also have the gut feeling that their twin is still alive... somewhere. The survivor tries to contact the dead one through spiritualism, and when that fails, they go try actual science. Their sibling connection defies universal boundaries and each is motivated solely by the desire to see their brother/sister. Back in their own universes, Robert has a decent job as a Harvard Physicist, but Rosalind is having trouble funding her research, as few people think a woman can handle such intense science. Comstock funds Rosalind's work, she discovers "the Luctece Field" , helps build Columbia, and finally gets to meet her brother face to face.

• Twins that are identical except for their genders isn't actually a thing, though. Unless the "same" child survived in both timelines.

Little Constance Fields was dead the entire time

Look in the graveyard. There's a monument topped with a statue of a little girl. Granted, that could be any little girl, but Constance is the only one we've "met". It could be that she tried to contact Elizabeth personally, and even when she was turned away, she tried her best to sneak into monument Isle. Her young body was twice as susceptible to the dangerous side-effects of the tear energy, and she soon developed cancer and died.

Elizabeth is also her own mother/Lady Comstock.

One of the previous/alternate Elizabeths, either unaware (yet) of the loop, not having completely broken out of it, or thinking it'd shatter the loop, and having fallen in love with Booker, either is shoved/goes through a tear to just after Booker's not-baptism when the attempt to destroy the Siphon fails for whatever reason. In either case, she settles down with Booker. Since Booker's memories are still timefucked by the loop not being broken, Booker doesn't find out the truth about her pinky, or who she really is. And neither does Elizabeth - or, if she does, thinks it's the only way to keep propagating the loop until a Booker or a variant of him finally destroys the Siphon.

The inevitable happens and she dies in childbirth, and the resulting baby retains her powers, and propagates the loop until one version (or many) finally destroy the Siphon for good.

Lady Comstock might be an Elizabeth suffering premature aging, as did Zachary, and thanks to the loop, had her memories of her upbringing completely lopped off. All manner of Zacharies knew this and possibly exploited the dichotomy to make Sirens and have a steady supply of babies to kidnap for each universe.

• So...Elizabeth had a baby with her father?
  • Yup. It's one of the oldest time-travel tropes in the book, or at least a variant of it: The Grandfather Paradox.

The reason the Possession 'sample' ends up permanent is because Vigors are actually Plasmids.

Not 'they're the same kind of thing', but they literally are Plasmids. Fink used the tears and the power drained off of Elizabeth by the Siphon to make Vigors - which are temporal photocopies of plasmids from the various Raptures. When you drink a Vigor, you aren't being given strange powers, you're getting a copy of a Plasmid that an alternate you from Rapture has spliced up with. Most people in Columbia don't have another self in a Rapture due to the time difference, therefore the Vigor's effect is usually temporary if it even works at all. This is why you keep finding the same Vigors all over the city.

Booker, on the other hand? He's the 'man' in 'a man, a lighthouse, a city' and therefore always has another self in Rapture. Every Vigor he takes is permanent, whether it's meant to be a sample or not. Luckily, the whole 'temporal photocopy' process dodges the need for ADAM, so Columbians can take Vigors all the time without worrying about the dangerous side effects of over-splicing.

Ideas for DLC weapons.

• A Steampunk Gauss/rail gun (following off the example of the Ion Laser from Minerva's Den, the idea being that the DLC would include some kind of "futuristic" weapon).
• A full-auto rifle, resembling the BAR or Benet-Mercie machine gun, with high stopping power but hard-to-control recoil.
• A Vox-modified Hand Cannon— such a weapon appears in concept art, but never made it to the finished game.
• A Vox Sniper Rifle. Again, there's concept art for one, but it never actually appeared in game.

Elizabeth is Infinite's version of Yukari Yakumo

Elizabeth's Tears work a little bit like Yukari's Gaps. Also, she is in fact, manipulating boundaries of various kinds.

• Alternatively, Elizabeth IS Yukari, because Elizabeth was, as mentioned above, the one pulling the strings the entire time.
  • Perhaps, then, Yukari was bored and inserted herself into BioShock's universe(s).

The Jetsons takes place in a future version of BioShock Infinite

• There is a version of Columbia where they actually did manage to survive, defeat the Vox Populi and burn the "Sodom Below". But in doing so, they ended up destroying their own religion. Their whole religion is based on hating the surface world and exterminating those on it. And with the loss of a surface world to rail against and the eventual death of their Lamb, their religion lost most of its central Tenets. The remaining Columbians keep many of the cultural beliefs that they developed over the decades (living in the sky, lack of labour rights, racial segregation...) but lose their religious ones. That is why you only rarely see earth in The Jetsons. It's also why you never see any non-White people in the series.

Booker can use vigors for the same reason Elizabeth can

• One of the questions that's often asked is that "If vigors and Salts are so plentiful in Columbia, then why do so few people seem to use it?" The only people who use Salts are either minibosses (crows, firemen, possibly Handymen). Slate drinks a whole room full of Shock Jockey to throw just a few shock traps that leave him exhausted. You can do the same with just one bottle of the stuff with no ill-effects. Why is that?

Well, listen to Lutece's theory about Elizabeth's powers: that she has the powers because part of her remains in another universe. Maybe it's the same for Booker? He must have left some parts of him in the universe he came from: hair, dead skin, blood, saliva... All of these should still be in Booker's Original universe. It might not be as powerful as a whole finger, but it could be enough to strengthen the effects of the vigors. For most people, the vigors' effects are too weak to have much use in combat. They Only use them for mundane things. (lighting cigarettes, starting generators etc.). Most people need to either wear special, highly-dangerous equipment to strengthens the effects (the fireman suit, the crows' coffin) or need to drink massive amounts of the same vigor to get the same effect that Booker gets (Slate).

The Daisy that offers you the airship for the guns isn't the same Daisy that Elizabeth stabs.

That last Daisy has been corrupted by the war and by a thousand different experiences that haven't happened yet. The Daisy we saw in the airship was still an essentially idealistic revolutionary, but on her way to becoming the vicious and jaded Daisy of the mid-revolution universe. Something happened to Daisy between the two worlds that had the same negative effect that Booker's baptism had on him (maybe it was Revolutionary Booker's death, maybe it was something else). In other words, Airship Daisy is to Blood-War-Paint Daisy what Booker DeWitt is to Comstock or Elizabeth is to Seed-of the-Prophet Elizabeth in the alternative future.

It was all just a daydream.

Booker DeWitt is a depressed widower who tries to raise his daughter in a sparse Manhattan apartment. Dissatisfied with the sins of his past and his unhappy life, he spends his days drinking and imagining a fantastic world where he travels to a city in the sky

The Luteces are CYOA characters.

Think about it: they're living out countless possible variations of the same general story, popping in and out of time with no rhyme or reason. They're actually CYOA characters that got "unstuck" and are now attempting to "read the book" in linear order.

Someone on the BioShock Infinite design team is a Something Awful goon.

Doesn't the premise of the game seem a lot like Zybourne Clock?

Songbird can create tears using Lutece technology.

Since his job is to keep Elizabeth imprisoned, he would need a way to pursue her if she tried to escape by dimension-hopping. It would also explain why it seems to be the same Songbird pursuing you in every universe (his eye is cracked, even in the universe where Elizabeth never escaped). When he captures her at the end of the game, he takes her back to the first Columbia, which is why Comstock remembers that universe and why the statue on Monument Island is still broken. The Vox found some other way to get their weapons while Booker and Elizabeth were gone, which is why they're still in rebellion.

BioShock Infinite was inspired by Inception

Like youtuber a1rzf0rc3 pointed out in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WDQ4FhslSk , the debut trailer PERFECTLY fits Inception trailer music. It you think more about it, the themes of both works match too: changing alternate realities vs. changing dreams (which are sort of alternate realities), girl who can manipulate those, main characters wanting to wipe away the debt which has "taken away" their child/children and wiping the debt also meant reunite with them also the ending of both where we see ambivalent scene of presumably rejoining with the child/children, but it's so vauge we can't tell it for sure.

BioShock Infinite is a steampunk retelling of The Odyssey.

Booker has to go on a journey through unknown lands, fight in conflicts that aren't his, and fight strange monsters. One of the minor antagonists is even a cyclops. This is further solidified by the fact that Elizabeth is reading that book when DeWitt falls through the ceiling.

• They do kind of beat you over the head with it.

The absence of Columbia is what leads to the creation of Rapture

Without Comstock acting as a wealthy patron, Rosalind's research progressed far more slowly in the universes with Booker. However, in time, she did manage to create a technology similar to her quantum suspensions. Rather than using quantum mechanics to make objects fly, this technology was used to make almost unbreakable materials. With funding from Andrew Ryan, this technology was used to first build the Persephone, and later Rapture itself.

Saltonstall and other cut parts of the game will return as DLC

Likely Jossed, but another character, Lonnie, has his mutton-chops.

There is an additional aspect that will show up in every BioShock game outside of A Man, A City, And a Girl. The Protagonist always dies at the end

.BioShock: Jack is last seen on his deathbed surrounded by the girls he saved.BioShock 2: Delta either is absorbed mentally and ceases to be an indiependent entity, or chooses to simply die.BioShock Infinite: Booker is drowned in the river and dies, disregarding the possible limbo/heaven/alternate reality post-credits scene. Burial at Sea: Alternate Booker (Comstock) is stabbed through the gut at the end of Episode 1 and Elizabeth dies by Atlas' hand at the end of Episode 2.

• The only one that doesn't follow this is Minerva's Den, though it follows the basic Man/City/Girl thread.

Elizabeth is a young counterpart of The Narrator

The Stanley Parable is set in the far future of the BioShock universe, when all BioShock universes have been discovered and explored completely. Elizabeth became so powerful that she eventually lost her corporeal form and can rewrite the BioShock multiverse without the usual BioShock restrictions. For example, there is no lighthouse, but there is a plot point with choice and alternate timelines. She could not; however, erase the role of the player, for the story would no longer have meaning; in other words, Booker/Jack continue to live in the Stanley Parable as Stanley. The backup narrator that appears in the Futile ending is presumably yet another version of Elizabeth. As the Narrator says in the Countdown ending, all other characters have been erased in the current iteration of the story. In fact, the objective line in BioShock Infinite returns as the Stanley Parable Adventure Line™; Elizabeth utilizes it in the Confusion Ending because of its usefulness to Booker. Therefore, BioShock Infinite is essentially the Narrator learning how to make a new game.

A flying city may eventually be made, just not Columbia.

Booker's story is undone after being drowned at the baptism, but Rosalind Lutece isn't Ret-Gone as she wasn't a Columbian to begin with. She still becomes a physicist but how well she fares depends on which governments are willing to fund her - she may or may not discover tears, may or may not manipulate quantum particles to defy gravity and may or may not discover her male counterpart.

Andrew Ryan is just another version of Comstock

As Elizabeth coined it:

Elizabeth: There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

So if this is true, Ryan is another version of Comstock.So, if there will be another BioShock game, there's a large chance that this will be another central theme, once more. Refer to the theory below.

• Seems unlikely. Unless Ryan is much younger than he looks he would be a teenager in 1912.

Every BioShock has the same central themes and any future ones will contain them aswell

This entry is spoiler heavy, so beware!Since each BioShock, from 1 to 2 to Infinite, they've all had the theme, listed below:

• There's always the Lighthouse leading to the City and the City itself.
• The Big Bad is always in control of the City (or at least part of it) or had some origin to it, who is an idealist of sorts.^note Andrew Ryan created Rapture, Sofia took care of it after Andrew's death and Jack's departure, Reed Wahl controlled Minerva's Den's center of operations, Comstock created Columbia after his baptism
• The main character is linked to the City, through the Big Bad.^note Jack is the son of Andrew, Eleanor is both the daughter of Delta and Sofia, Sigma/Porter was the former colleague of Wahl, and Elizabeth is the duaghter of Booker and "adoptive daughter" of Comstock, while Booker/Comstock is the same person, but with two different origins. BAS!Comstock escaped to Rapture after the botched attempt at stealing Anna, and according to the theory above, Ryan and BAS!Comstock is the same.
• The "Girls": The Little Sisters which Jack adopts in the Good/Canon Ending, Eleanor whom is the daughter of both Delta and Sofia Lamb, Pearl, Porter's late wife, and Elizabeth/Anna who is Booker's biological daughter and Comstock's "adoptive daughter". Sally counts as BAS!Comstock's "daughter" since he loses her the same way Prime!Booker supposedly lost Anna: Gambling.
• The Protectors: The Big Daddy's of 1 & 2, Delta and Sigma in 2 and Songbird in Infinite. Sally's Big Daddy in BAS counts aswell.
• Every BioShock protagonist has died in each of the games' canonical endings.^note Jack dies after living his life with the Little Sisters he saved from Rapture, Delta dies after escaping to the surface with Eleanor, and Elizabeth kills Booker at the baptism. Comstock!Booker in Burial At Sea is drilled to death. Elizabeth gets wrenched by Atlas when she gives him what he wants in Burial at Sea. Only Sigma has survived no matter what, though Porter will likely pass away peacefully like Jack in the good ending.

The Firemen are weaponized version of people who drank a faulty Demon's Kiss

This means that while the Vigors were tested, some of the victims of trying out the faulty ones may have died or worse. Since Columbia is pretty practical about everything, they may have weaponized the victims of faulty Vigors. Same goes for the Zealots Of The Ladies, whom may have volunteered themselves to test the Vigor in the name of The Lady, Lady A. Comstock. Slate may count as well, since he steals and drinks almost every single Shock Jockey Vigors in Hall Of Heroes, some of which may have been faulty, aside from the one he gives you. This means that a major amount of the Vigors in the game might be just as faulty as the Plasmids, and that Booker might be just lucky enough to get the "correct" ones, so one of his versions of himselves that managed to fail, may have died from a faulty Vigor. As a man mentions in the early parts of Infinite:

Man: I'll wait with buying one of the vigors until they've bumped out all the faults.

The main plot of BioShock Infinite is not about Booker DeWitt, Zachary Comstock, or Elizabeth, but about the Lutece twins.

As you play through the game the Luteces just seem to be quirky supporting characters, but as the entire story unfolds and the lore is understood, it turns out that DeWitt and Elizabeth are simply means to their ends. They manipulated everything from the start with the end being revenge against Comstock and Fink for attempting to kill them. Yup, you and Lizzie are just heroes of a subplot. or the lesser Dueteragonists of the story. You just happen to be seeing that sub-plot through their perspective rather than the real anti-heroes, the Luteces.

Booker is really Corwin, Prince of Amber

That would make Elizabeth a scion of Amber, and her ability to create tears, and travel through Shadow is because her ability to manipulate the Pattern was triggered by a tiny bit of her being cut off between worlds. Think of the way her powers work. She isn't "walking" through a tear through another world. She's opening a tear, and merging that world with the previous. That also makes Comstock Booker/Corwin's shadow, and explains why it's so important he be destroyed at his crux point. Even a Shadow-Prince is not something the multiverse wants to mess with.

Vigours work off quantum physics manipulation

If you can quantum-physics-bullshit a flying city, you can probably QPBS superpowers.

• Nope. Their Plasmids ripped off via Tears.
• By which was meant "how they replicate Plasmids without access to ADAM/EVE."

Elizabeth as a Christ Figure

This is an interpretation of Burial at Sea - Part 2 by a nonreligious person who dabbles in Christian theology, so it is to be taken with a grain of salt. Spoilers ahead.

There are several recognizable motifs that liken Elizabeth's role in BaS Pt.2 to Jesus' in the Gospels, specifically during the Passion. It does not mean that Elizabeth is Jesus in Rapture, but the motifs are too overt not to be intentional.

• To start with the obvious, Elizabeth is referred as "the Lamb" as early as BSI.
• She arrives to Rapture on a Mission from God!Elizabeth, who is an omniscient transcendent being that is ostensibly the same as and yet distinct from the flesh-and-bone/human Rapture!Elizabeth (cf. Christian concepts of the Trinity and hypostasis). The New Testament's God (the Father) incarnated as a human (the Son) out of mercy to save mankind. God!Elizabeth "collapsed" her quantum states into a single Rapture!Elizabeth to save Sally.
• Parental abandonment of the Christ figure: through most of the story, Elizabeth is guided by a vision of her father (most likely a remnant of her larger, godlike self) but it/he suddenly disappears just before the endgame, much to her distress (cf. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). There is also that brief dialogue between her and the vision where she reveals how much she misses Booker.
• Rapture!Elizabeth's doubts about her mission and almost panic-like fear of death are countered by Vision!Booker's insistence on trusting in the vision that God!Elizabeth had of the ultimate result of the actions she would take once she becomes human and can no longer see the future. In a way, God!Elizabeth and the vision of Booker merge into a single "God the Father figure", to whom Rapture!Elizabeth confides her fears and receives emotional support to "take a leap of faith". This is a reflection of the Biblical motif of Agony in the Garden.
• Finally, once she accepts her mission and her impending death, i.e. her immutable role in the grand scheme of the universe, she walks straight to her personal Mount Calvary—Atlas—and acts out her own sacrifice to the letter without resisting (e.g. instead of giving the Ace to Atlas and decoding it for him, she could just remain silent and die, but she didn't). She puts faith in her godlike self's vision that her death will lead to ultimate salvation for Sally and other Little Sisters.

Then again, Elizabeth (most likely) wasn't resurrected three days after her death, missing the quintessential part of the dying-and-rising god archetype.

Booker got kicked out of the Pinkerton's because...

He was trying to provide for Anna. Possibly under the impression that the better/more ruthless he is at his job, the more he'll get paid. Once he got kicked out, he turned to private investigation and eventually gambling in the hopes of having enough money to be able to feed and clothe Anna. Ironically putting himself in the kind of debt and depression that would lead him to sell her to Comstock in the first place.

2K Marin will release a game set in Columbia, following the adventures of two native Columbians.

Much like BioShock 2, it'll follow similar elements of BioShock Infinite. A sort of tribute, but not anything completely mind-blowing. And perhaps in its DLC, the heroes will visit Rapture and influence the events of BioShock 2''. Meeting Sinclair and Alexander could be a possibility. And Columbia will still exist since Elizabeth revisits Columbia in Burial at Sea despite making a paradox that causes most Comstocks to disappear.

The Clash In The Clouds DLC is actually a training arena for Bookers, made by the Luteces.

To make sure that the various Bookers they recruited were suitable for the task, the Luteces transported them to a special area of Columbia in another universe where they could fight waves of enemies and have the Elizabeths in those universes help them. The museum helps the Bookers familiarize with the things they are going to see in Columbia and the challenges help them familiarize with the situations they are going to face, along with the weapons and Vigors they use. Then they do a special memory wipe where the Booker they are going to transport doesn't remember his time in the training arena, but remembers faintly how to Skyhook, take down Heavy Hitters, use Vigors and use Columbian weapons. This explains why Booker can pick up Columbian firearms and use them to attack people without any difficulty-he's familiar with them, even if he doesn't remember using them at the time.

"Elizabeth" is actually her middle name.

Let's say that one of the "constants" is that Booker always liked the name Elizabeth. His wife really wanted to name their daughter "Anna" though, so Booker settled for making Elizabeth her middle name, instead. Comstock, meanwhile, didn't consider else's opinion when renaming his "lamb," and so went with the name that he'd wanted all along.

Comstock created the "Dimwit and Duke" shows to indoctrinate Elizabeth against Booker.

He knew that the "false shepherd" was coming, the shows are blatant propaganda, and Elizabeth mentions seeing them when she was younger despite being locked in her tower. "Dimwit" sounds almost like "DeWitt" and he has dark brown hair like Booker, contrast to the "Duke" who is light-haired, so clearly, Dimwit is Comstock's Take That! against Booker. The three shows that appear in-game emphasize the lessons of respecting one's father (i.e. Comstock), distrusting suspicious characters (Booker), and extreme patriotism, all values that Comstock wants to impress on Elizabeth. It's only afterwards that he realized they could be used on Columbia's children, as well.

Comstock is the Antichrist

...Perhaps if one invokes death of the Author a little bit, anyways. Comstock works for "the Archangel Columbia". If one interprets the Archangel as being Satan (it's very much in Satan's nature to pretend to be an "Angel of Light"), then this theory comes together. There's very little mention of the actual worship of Jesus in Columbia, who appears to be overshadowed by their false messiah, Comstock. Meanwhile, the city of Columbia itself is a sort of faux heaven; the kind of thing Satan would love to create. Throw in the siphon which itself is a grab at nigh-omnipotence, and the pieces start to come together that Columbia might be a ploy by Satan to attempt to supplant God.

The BioShock Infinite Crossover Dartboard

Besides Silent Hill (see above), any story that involves a Man, a Woman/Girl, a City/Town, a Lighthouse/Tower and a Rescue could be one of the alternate worlds where Elizabeth and Booker's story plays out differently.

Here's a short list:

• The Dark Tower
• Dishonored
• Eversion
• Halo
• The Legend of Zelda
• Marathon
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• Revolutionary Girl Utena
• Super Mario Bros.

There are alternate universes where Booker really is a deformed mulatto dwarf or a Frenchman with one eye.

Elizabeth providing the "Ace in the Hole" to Atlas was a Batman Gambit on her part.

• More specifically, she was able to squeeze just enough of her remaining omnipotence to make that a "constant" within The Multiverse concerning Rapture - No matter what, Atlas always gets the "Ace in the Hole" in each Rapture timeline and is always brought down by Jack. So, even though she had collapsed herself down to one person in the multiverse, she still possibly managed to make sure that Atlas will always lose across all realities and the Golden Ending to BioShock 1 is canon.

There is a version of Booker who is like Elizabeth.

He doesn't talk to the Luteces or Omnipotent Elizabeth so his presence goes unnoticed but every Booker who had the poor luck to lose his hands ti the sudden turn off of the portal ultimately ended up in the same quantum superstate as Elizabeth once she killed off every version of him that went to the baptism. The only time he intervened was guiding Elizabeth through her adventure in Rapture hoping to essentially her suffering under the guide of a hallucination. His reasoning is that knowing all the suffering he had ever or could ever inflict revenge no longer held snt interest for him so he had no interest on the Lutece plotting nor in helping all powerful Elizabeth. Going around adjusting things only ever caused pain in his experience so he watches in silence

The Boys of Silence are Elizabeth's sons

When you take into account how dimensional tears can affect the sanity of those subject to prolonged exposure, such as Comstock, it would make sense that if Elizabeth did have children in the [1], they would not be capable of controlling their powers, so they would end up mutilated wrecks, and Elizabeth becomes more withdrawn due to their fate.

Booker and Comstock were never the same person.

• Booker takes Elizabeth's word that an alternate him became Comstock awfully fast, on absolutely zero hard evidence. Apart from the fact that it's just a convenient story, why would she tell him if it weren't true? Maybe because she's witnessed him carving a bloody path through Columbia, and capable of giving away his only child for money, and privately concluded that he's a rabid dog that needs to be put down?
  • The fact that in the ending, alternate versions of her suddenly appear and drown Booker, then disappear, is not affected by this theory. The Elizabeth we know couldn't go through with the murder but *could* convince other versions of herself to do so by telling them he was Comstock. And in killing him, they merely created a succession of alternate universes where they died without him there to protect them.
  • And what about Burial At Sea? Just because that version of Comstock was willing to adopt Booker's identity in Rapture doesn't make them the same person. What better identity to use than that of the man whose life you ruined? The one person he'd never come looking for?

There is a version of Elizabeth that embraced her Ascendedtoa Higher Planeof Existence and joins the American pantheon

Columbia as a floating city with so many statues of Elizabeth as a goddess is so typical and pseudo-standard for any American settlement when it has to spend their belief energy on. While we can make our own guesses on what divine politics is like, it's just the same thing; Louisiana has Forest Spirits and Shamans, New York venerates the Statue of Liberty as a Greek Goddess reincarnate, Washington D.C. has Ancestor Veneration for the Presidents, Alaska is still scared of Snow Demons, even when they're mundane malfunctions on machinery. Clapyour Handsif You Belive is still a thing in that franchise.

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