The Lighthouse (BioShock Infinite)



"DeWitt- Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt. This is your last chance!"

- The Luteces (Note on Lighthouse Door)

Much like the entrance to Rapture in Bioshock, travel to Columbia in Bioshock Infinite also happens to be facilitated via a lighthouse. This lighthouse is located off the coast of Maine.

In Bioshock Infinite
The Lightouse is first seen in the opening scene of Bioshock Infinite. It is only accessable by water, and as the games opens Booker DeWitt is traveling there in a rowboat with Robert and Rosalind Lutece. The lighthouse is physically similar to the average lighthouse when viewed externally. It has three floors, excluding the roof, each of which with a quote from Comstock (embroidered onto a frame with white fabric) as well as several searchable crates and interactable objects. On the third floor, there is a dead body with a sack over his head, which has been shot. Who this person is and who killed them is unknown, but the Luteces are most likely the killers. On the fourth and top floor of the Lightouse, there is a locked gate with a three bell security system. The three bells, which correspond with the Founding Fathers (as seen by the citizens of Columbia), are [from left to right]: The Scroll, The Key, and The Sword. To open the gate, Booker needs to ring the Scroll bell once, and the other two bells twice each, as indicated on the card the Luteces gave to him. The Lighthouse then sends out a series of lights and tones, and receives tones back (from Columbia). This is the means by which the Lighthouse and Columbia communicate to ensure the location of the city is proper for the launch. The gate unlocks and a red chair is exposed to Booker. As there is nowhere else to go, Booker sits in this red chair, but is unexpectedly strapped in. The chair flips upside down to reveal an incinerator, and Booker loses his Broadsider pistol in it. The chair turns back around and the pod launches into Columbia.

Other Lighthouses/Methods of travel to Columbia
As can be observed in a map on the first floor of the lighthouse, there are several other lighthouses and buildings that serve as passage to Columbia across the United States.

Lighthouses in the Multiverse
In the last chapter of the game, after Elizabeth acquires her full powers and takes herself and Booker to the hub of the multiverse, she explains to Booker that lighthouses serve as doors to other universes. The then proceeds to further explain the significance of "A Lighthouse" as one of the three Constants of the multiverse (the other two being "A Man" and "A City").