Sofia Lamb

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"For every choice, there is an echo. With each act, we change the world. One man chose a city, free of law and God. But others chose corruption. And so the city fell. If the world were reborn in your image, would it be paradise, or perdition?"

- Sofia Lamb - BioShock 2 Launch Trailer

Dr. Sofia Lamb M.D, Ph.D, is a clinical psychiatrist and the primary antagonist of BioShock 2. She has taken over Andrew Ryan's position as the leader of Rapture, albeit with a completely different ideological view.

Life on the Surface
Sofia Lamb studied medicine at the University of Oxford and subsequently specialized in psychiatry. Whilst living in Japan during World War II, she worked as a missionary providing medical relief for the survivors of the Hiroshima bombing. Lamb was appalled when she saw the United States using her own altruistic ideal of "the greater good" to justify the bombing, and this convinced her that the world was doomed to destroy itself. When Andrew Ryan invited her down to his utopia to provide counseling for the populace she welcomed the opportunity.

Work in Rapture
Once she arrived in Rapture, Lamb began spreading her altruistic ideals, hoping to enlighten the citizens through ethical psychiatry and create a true utopia. Her unconventional techniques involved free therapy sessions for the poor citizens in Pauper's Drop, poker games in which she intentionally lost to spread wealth to those who needed it, and the creation of an artistic commune at her personal property in Dionysus Park. When she gave birth to her daughter, Eleanor Lamb, she made certain the Eleanor would be the perfect vessel to continue furthering her goals. She attempted to keep her daughter isolated from other children and privately tutored her, hoping to raise a genius-level intellect.

Andrew Ryan noticed Lamb's growing influence with the citizens of Rapture and began to regret bringing her in. Her ideology of altruism largely clashed with his own, and Ryan saw her as a corrupting influence in his paradise. He agreed to a series of public debates with her, hoping to defuse her support by showing how foolish her reasoning was. The topics of these debates ranged from religious rights to the very nature of reality. These debates did not have the intended effect, and only strengthened the faith of Lamb's followers. Lamb's followers even became bold enough to shape a religion around her ideals, referring to themselves as "The Rapture Family" and treating her philosophical book Unity and Metamorphosis as a religious document.

Eventually Lamb became so much of a threat to Ryan that he resorted to less ethical means to have her brought down. Augustus Sinclair's firm, Sinclair Solutions, was given the task of planting a spy in Sofia Lamb's inner circle to find any crime for which she could be jailed. The spy, Stanley Poole, eventually gathered enough evidence for Ryan to make his move, arresting Lamb and placing her in Persephone Penal Colony, along with many of her followers. However, before she was taken away Sofia entrusted her daughter Eleanor into the care of Grace Holloway. Once she was gone, Ryan erased all public record of her existence, making her disappear just as he had done for many other public dissidents. Most of the upper class sections of Rapture soon forgot about her, but in Pauper's Drop her following was still strong.

After Imprisonment
In Persephone, Sinclair put Lamb to work as a therapist for the other inmates, hoping to make them more docile. Lamb used this freedom to gain support among the other prisoners, and even from the prison staff, such as Nigel Weir. However, Sinclair soon began selling Sofia's supporters to Fontaine Futuristics as plasmid test subjects and Big Daddy candidates. This situation brutally tested Lamb's ideals as she was forced to select people from among her own supporters for Ryan's experiments. Lamb became so desperate that she eventually led an uprising within the prison, taking control from Sinclair and gaining her freedom.

However, Lamb did not immediately return to Rapture. On New Year's Eve, 1958, she journeyed to the Adonis Luxury Resort and orchestrated the abduction of her daughter, Eleanor, from Subject Delta during his normal rounds. During this event, a Splicer Hypnotized Delta, allowing Sofia to command Delta to kill himself through the use of a pistol to his head (achieved through removing his helmet, also by Sofia's command). After this, Lamb retreated back to Persephone, biding her time and avoiding the worst of the Civil War that raged throughout the city. Sightings of her throughout the city were rumored, but Ryan ignored them, focusing on his conflict with Atlas. However, Stanley Poole did not discount the rumors. Fearing that Lamb would seek revenge for his betrayal, he orchestrated the flooding of Dionysus Park, killing the remainder of Lamb's artistic followers there.

From 1959 to 1960, Lamb remained in Persephone, tinkering with plasmids and tonics on her willing test subjects, and making tactical excursions to capture Little Sisters or bring down more supporters from above. Her supporters saw Persephone as a bastion of hope from which they could eventually emerge to rebuild the city after the fighting was done. Sofia also made numerous visits to the nearly-abandoned Fontaine Futuristics building, where she met Gilbert Alexander and converted him to her altruistic beliefs, eventually persuading him to become her prime test subject in her quest to create the "first true utopian." With Gil Alexander's help she also succeeded in removing the Little Sister conditioning from Eleanor.

Return to Power
After the assassination of Andrew Ryan by Jack during the events of BioShock in 1960, Sofia could truly move throughout Rapture without fear. She learned about Frank Fontaine's program of genetic tampering that had created Jack's conditioning, and was inspired by it. She saw Jack's actions under the influence of WYK as examples of perfect altruism, acting to uphold the common good without any introspection or free will. Thus, Lamb began her attempts to create an intellect that would be completely selfless and unerringly good.

This plan involved giving Gilbert Alexander massive doses of ADAM. Sofia hoped to place all the genius of Rapture's citizens into Gilbert through the transfer of memories stored in ADAM. Unfortunately, the experiment began to go wrong as the ADAM distorted Gilbert's genetic structure, eventually driving him mad. Lamb realized that the only person who could contain all the ADAM of Rapture was one who had previously been a Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb, due to her physical adaptation to the substance. To further her plans, Sofia needed a large supply of ADAM. She had control over most of Rapture's populace through the influence of The Rapture Family, but the Little Sisters who could supply ADAM were becoming too old. Thus in 1967, Big Sisters were sent up to the surface to capture young girls to be converted to new Little Sisters.

BioShock 2
Lamb comes into conflict with Subject Delta when he finds himself revived by a Vita-Chamber, beginning his search for his original Little Sister: Eleanor Lamb. She serves great importance to The Rapture Family, prompting Sofia's actions against Delta.

Throughout most of the game, Lamb stays in frequent contact with Delta over his radio, often attempting to taunt or intimidate him from continuing further while also espousing her beliefs and philosophy; rather similar to Andrew Ryan's messages for Jack during the first half of the original game. Through various audio diaries and records, it becomes clear that Lamb has an iron grip over Rapture and murders all who attempt to flee. In addition, the audio-diaries also show that Lamb was obsessed with using ADAM and Rapture's splicing technology to transform Eleanor into a "Utopian" or "the People's Daughter" based on Fontaine's creation and indoctrination of Jack.

At the same time, Mark Meltzer is also making his way through the city, searching for his kidnapped daughter, Cindy. His journey brings him into conflict with Lamb as well, since she will not allow any of the Little Sisters to be tampered with.

Throughout the game, Lamb sends waves of Splicers to attack and kill Delta. When Delta finally reaches Brigid Tenenbaum in the ticket booth of The Atlantic Express, Lamb sends more Splicers, endangering Delta's, Tenenbaum's, and the little girl's lives. However, they escape and Delta continues on to partner up with Augustus Sinclair. Lamb is outraged by Delta's using the Little Sister's within the city for his own purposes, and whenever Delta gathers ADAM with a Little Sister, Lamb sends Splicers to kill Delta and to take back the Little Sister. If these attempts fail and when Delta 'deals' with the Little Sister, Lamb sends a Big Sister to hunt him down.

When Delta reaches Pauper's Drop, Sofia Lamb puts all of Rapture in city-wide lock down, trapping Delta in the level. Lamb hands over the duty of killing Delta to her ally, Grace Holloway. As Delta nears Grace's position to take the key, Lamb believes that he'll kill Grace and states that she does not deserve to be murdered by him. After Delta 'deals' with Grace, Lamb states her opinion of the matter.

After Delta overrides the lock-down, he is forced to enter Siren Alley, due to Simon Wales's, one of Lamb's most faithful followers, attempt to kill Delta. After Delta kills Simon Wales' brother, Daniel, she informs Simon of this, and causing him to send a wave of Splicers to attack him. Once Delta enters the chapel and kills Simon, Lamb becomes infuriated and floods the whole district, drowning the remaining inhabitants Siren Alley.

Delta escapes the flood and enters Dionysus Park to save Sinclair. Dionysus Park was Sofia Lamb's home, and she does not take kindly to Delta infiltrating of it. When Delta learns about the actions of Stanley Poole and has the option of punishing him, Delta is informed by Lamb that she knew all along what Stanley had done and had forgiven him. Regardless, she does not seem to care what Delta does with him.

At the same time that Delta is exploring Dionysus, Mark Meltzer arrives in the park and finally finds his daughter. Lamb sends a Big Sister to capture him, and both he and Cindy are taken to Fontaine Futuristics. There, Lamb gives Mark a choice: he can either die for his trespass of entering Rapture, or he can become a Big Daddy and guard his daughter for as long as he lives. Delta then enters Fontaine Futuristics and encounters the recordings of Gilbert Alexander, who urges Delta to kill what remains of himself after Lamb's experiment. Lamb herself seems to think Gilbert's death is a good thing, in service of the common good.

As Subject Delta drew closer to Persephone, Sofia Lamb became aware of her daughter's psychological connection to him. She became more desperate as she saw Eleanor draw away from her, becoming more resistant to her treatments as her bonded Big Daddy approached. Sofia knew that her plans for her daughter would be ruined if Delta survived, so she formed a last-ditch plan to sever the bond between them. When he finally arrives in Persephone, Lamb lays a trap for him, luring him to the decontamination chamber where her daughter sleeps and smothering (though not killing) Eleanor before his eyes, fatally disrupting their bond. Lamb knew that the slow degradation of the broken bond would eventually kill Delta, but she ordered her faithful splicers to restrain him and not harm him, since a violent, tramatic death would only resurrect him at a Vita-Chamber.

While Delta was imprisoned, Lamb's followers found and captured Augustus Sinclair, and she quickly converted him into an Alpha Series Big Daddy under her control. Eleanor managed to free Delta, and Sofia Lamb realized that her hopes for her daughter were completely ruined. She was in despair, but she decided that it was better that her daughter and all of her followers die than that they continue on in their flawed selfishness. Thus, she directed her followers to set explosive charges throughout Persephone, detonating them as Eleanor and Delta tried to find a way into Sinclair's emergency escape craft. She even sends Sinclair against his will to distract Delta and keep him from advancing.

At the conclusion of the game, the last charge detonates and all of Persephone crumbles into the deep ocean trench, but Sofia joins Eleanor and Delta in Sinclair's escape pod. Her ultimate fate depends upon the actions and choices of the player: if Delta has been benevolent towards the Little Sisters and spared the NPC(s), then Eleanor will be influenced to forgive her mother and save her from drowning; however if Delta chose to harvest/kill some or all of the NPC and Little Sisters, then Sofia will drown before reaching the surface, dragged under by her daughter.

Audio Diaries

 * Adonis Luxury Resort
 * To My Daughter


 * The Atlantic Express
 * Ryan vs Lamb: Reality
 * Know the Beast


 * Ryan Amusements
 * Eleanor's Progress
 * Truth is in the Body
 * Rapture is Deliverance


 * Pauper's Drop
 * Ryan vs Lamb: Religious Rights
 * Arrangements
 * Therapy with Grace 1


 * Siren Alley
 * The Requirements of Utopia
 * Shackled to the Great Chain
 * Therapy with Grace 2


 * Dionysus Park
 * The Voice of the Self
 * Learning Poker
 * A Spy


 * Fontaine Futuristics
 * Means of Control
 * A New Cognitive Model
 * Gil's Place in the Plan
 * Meltzer's Choice
 * The People's Daughter


 * Persephone
 * Withholding Visitation


 * Cult of Rapture
 * Ryan Amusements

Trivia

 * For a time, her name was believed to be Sophia Lamb. But, as later confirmed by 2K Games' Community Manager, Elizabeth Tobey, that version of the name was a misspelling made by the media. The correct spelling is Sofia Lamb.


 * In Episode Nine of the BioShock 2 Official Podcast, Jordan Thomas says that his inspiration for Sofia's character was that of Fenella Woolgar's role as Agatha Christie in the series Doctor Who.


 * Sofia Lamb's background is partially inspired by the life and philosophies of John Stuart Mill, a utilitarian and liberal English philosopher in the 1800s.


 * Lamb's phrase "Big Sister is always watching." is likely a reference George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, whose iconic phrase is "Big Brother is watching."


 * In the end, Sofia Lamb became what she despised, just as Andrew Ryan became what he despised. While Andrew Ryan was an advocate of reason and free will, he became one of the "Parasites" that he had Rapture built to escape from. Sofia Lamb on the other hand desired to destroy free will, replacing it with faith and sacrifice, in the end, she was fulfilling her own desires (e.g. wanting to force others to conform to her beliefs, choosing to lead them because she thinks that she is incorruptible and having others kill those who have a thought of their own) and would rather see all of them (Subject Delta, Eleanor and the splicers in Persephone) dead than have a thought of their own. She preached self-denial and self-sacrifice, but in the end, she didn't reject the self, becoming what she despised throughout her life.