The Lighthouse



"Lord help the lost ship that wanders into these waters unaware -- for suddenly, compasses spin awry and radios fill with static. Then the Phantom Lighthouse looms suddenly in the mist."

- Excerpt from Back to the Frozen Triangle, by Carleton Rede

The Lighthouse (simply named BioShock on its loading screen and The Crash Site on its save files) is the introduction level to BioShock and the world of Rapture. It is a navigational tower located at approximately 63° N, 32° W in the Atlantic Ocean, the only access to the underwater city of Rapture without a submarine and the only landmark to the city's position. It seems to employ some sort of defense systems to prevent the advance of unwanted boats and planes in close proximity, and thus may be the cause of many disappearances occurring in the nearby waters.

BioShock
Following the plane crash of Apollo Air Flight DF-0301 in the Atlantic Ocean at the beginning of the game, the player controls Jack, the only survivor. The player swims to the safety of a small, nearby island that serves as a foundation for the Lighthouse. Upon Jack's entering the tower, the various electronics (lights, music, etc.) seem to activate, as if responding to his presence. A hanging bust of Andrew Ryan, bearing a banner displaying the phrase "No gods or kings, only man", is visible. Down a flight of stairs is an area that houses a bathysphere which transports Jack to the underwater city of Rapture. During the travel, a speech from Andrew Ryan, the creator of the hidden city, is displayed to anyone entering it for the first time. As the speech ends, the player gets their first view of Rapture. A Rosie with a welding torch is seen doing work on a tunnel as the bathysphere descends between buildings. Upon approaching the buildings, the Service Radio in the vessel begins to transmit a strange conversation between two men, and then the bathysphere begins its ascension to the Welcome Center's Bathysphere Station.

There's Something in the Sea
The lighthouse was mentioned three times in Something in the Sea: in The Frozen Triangle by Carleton Rede (page 13), in The Spectral Sea by Jeremiah Lynch, and in Back to the Frozen Triangle by Carleton Rede. All three books state that sailors had given it the name "The Phantom Lighthouse" and this myth's origin is expounded upon in Back to the Frozen Triangle. The only known vessel that managed to reach the Phantom Lighthouse and return, sparking the creation of this myth, was the Hackness, an English fishing vessel that became lost in the North Atlantic during the Icelandic/English Cod Wars.

BioShock 2
A miniature recreation of the Lighthouse makes an appearance at the end of the Journey to the Surface theme park ride, representing the riders returning to Rapture from the surface. On the Siren Alley level a painting is seen on the wall depicting the plane crash at the lighthouse which occurred in the first game. The Lighthouse is also clearly seen in the background of the various endings of BioShock 2.

Behind the Scenes

 * The lighthouse is the only playable area in BioShock that is above sea level.
 * The music that plays in the Lighthouse in BioShock is an instrumental version of "La Mer", performed by Django Reinhardt and originally written by Charles Trenet and composed by Léo Chauliac. The English version of the song, Beyond the Sea, was featured in one of BioShock's first trailers.
 * The lighthouse tower bears a striking resemblance to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
 * During the opening sequence in the plane Jack is seen glancing at his wallet. Upon closer inspection, the player can see an Irrational Games business card in one of the pockets.
 * The person standing between the older man and woman in Jack's family photo at the top of the wallet is the Lead Designer at Irrational Games, Bill Gardner.
 * If the player swims through the flames after the plane has crashed, the event of the sinking plane tail won't be activated, and player can see the door of the plane.
 * According to Irrational Games Senior Artist Daniel Keating, the whale seen before arriving in Rapture was originally meant to be in the museum of the Proving Grounds, but when he applied the swim animation to the model, it was eventually used to improve the impact for the Bathysphere sequence.
 * Although the banner and Andrew Ryan bust were the first things the player sees inside the Lighthouse, in a developer commentary video, there was originally a unique bronze statue appearing to hold the existing Rapture emblem.
 * Rapture's emblem is seen above the Lighthouse doors and above the entrance to the docking station that leads to the Welcome Center complex. It depicts a geometric landscape and the phrase "Ad Idem," which is Latin for "to the same thing," or "in agreement." This suits Ryan's philosophy of a city moving in the same direction towards progress and success.
 * As said by Ken Levine in an interview, the lighthouse was intended to have a gunfight, but was cut from the final game.
 * Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth visit this area briefly during the events of BioShock Infinite, arriving via bathysphere from Rapture, in almost the exact inverse of the manner in which Jack goes to the city. They arrive on the steps of the lighthouse, rather than coming in through the descent tube inside.