Forum:Known Issues and Contradictions in Bioshock Infinite's Plot

With such a large and complex plot, such as the one in Bioshock Infinite, many narrative contradictions and issues in the plot can exist. This page is dedicated to listing and describing the known issues in the plot.

Contradictions in how trans-timeline travel is handled
As the majority of the game takes place in the Booker A (Comstock) timeline with the player controlling Booker B, the assumption must be made that one person can exist as two seperate entities inside of a singular universe  without any paradoxes forming (even though Comstock knows that Booker is himself from an alternate universe, which would, according to the modern definition of the multiverse, cause some issues regarding universal integrity; but this will be set aside as simply a function of the way the multiverse works in the game). This implies that it is the norm is for the B version of a person to exist alongside the A version. In other words: one version of a person that is brought into a universe with another version of the same person exists simply as a being seperate from their inter-universal counterpart, rather than taking thier place and slowly aquiring their memories as information is given to them (which would be the only other logical thing to happen when a person enters a universe where they already exist). This actively contradicts the last few minutes of the game where Booker enters the earlier version of his own timeline as a passive participant, but replacing the version of himself before he went to Booker A's dimension. This could be explained as him simply experiencing things that he already has, but with Elizabeth there as well. The final scene before the credits is where the real issue lies, as Booker B travels to Booker A's dimension, replaces him, and then dies in his place. This seemingly contradicts the way the rest of the game handles the same situation.

Issues in the plot that are not answered/adressed
After Booker B and Elizabeth A (the Elizabeth from Booker A's universe and the Elizabeth that you are with for most of the game) travel through the tear into the universe where the Vox Populi were winning the "war" between them and the Founders. It is learned that the Booker from this timeline (Booker C) died as a martyr to the Vox cause, it is discovered via a Voxophone that Elizabeth B (the Elizabeth from this universe) had been taken to Comstock House before Booker got a chance to rescue her from her Monument Island. This is never adressed in the story, and it carries the implication that for the remainder of the game there are two Elizabeths in existence in what becomes the primary universe in which the second half of the game is set. This further means that in the timeline where Booker doesn't rescue Elizabeth there are two versions of her existing for decades in the same universe, which would have severe phsical effects (eg. continued dimensional deterioration tears]).

Slate not realizing that Booker and Comstock are the same
During the events at the Hall of Heroes, Cornelius Slate often talks about the fact that Booker was at Wounded Knee. He gets angry at the fact that Comstock claims to have been at the battle. In one of the voxophones in the Hall of Heroes, Slate even says that he and his men refered to DeWitt as the "White Injun". This implies that Slate knew Booker on a personal, or at least professional, level during his time in the army. Where the issue lies in this is the fact, though Booker A (Baptized Comstock) changed his name, his physical appearance wasn't changed until he and the Luteces started working with multiverse travel. There would naturally be propaganda or statues around Columbia that were made before Comstock aged prematurely, and it would make sense that, as a member of the Founders, Slate would have seen these. It is strange that he doesn't recognize Comstock for DeWitt, just because he has a different name.