Subject Delta

Subject Delta (a.k.a. the First Big Daddy or Prototype Big Daddy) is the protagonist of BioShock 2. Delta was the first successful Big Daddy subject bonded to a Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb. He is revived by Eleanor in the Adonis Luxury Resort, and manages to make brief radio contact with Dr. Tenenbaum. After this, he is given support by Augustus Sinclair. The presence of flashback sequences over the course of the game will inform the player on Delta's past and his relations with the other main characters in the game. Sofia Lamb can tell Subject Delta from all of the other Alpha Series because his glove bears the greek symbol for Delta; his name and, most likely, his position on the production line (Fourth).

Features


Delta is shown to have many features of a production Big Daddy, such as the vocal cord modulator surgery they must all go through. However, he retains a large degree of free will, in which he is not forced into a protection bond with the Little Sisters. Nevertheless, in order to obtain ADAM, Little Sisters are still the key. To do this, he must kill his Big Daddy brethren, at which point he is given the option to either "harvest" or "adopt" the Little Sister that the Big Daddy was protecting. Harvesting functions the same as it did in BioShock, whereas with the new "adopt" option, Delta puts the Little Sister on his shoulders, forming a temporary bond with the girl. He protects her as she extracts ADAM, and the Little Sister will give him some of the ADAM she harvests from Splicer corpses as a reward. After she has finished, Delta can send her to a Little Sister Vent, where he will be given his final choice of saving or harvesting the Little Sister.

As a prototype, Delta is granted use of the Bouncer's Drill (which is detachable and goes over the hand), in addition to other weapons, such as the Rosie's Rivet Gun, and a Hack Tool that allows him to remotely hack from a distance. He also has the ability to use plasmids, and can wield them simultaneously with his weapons. Being less bulky than the production models gives Delta greater speed and agility than other Big Daddies, at the sacrifice of some of the raw strength and endurance they possess. Also, judging from the concept art (see right), First Aid Kits and EVE are fed intravenously to Delta, meaning he can continue fighting while replenishing his EVE reserves.

History
The true Identity of Subject Delta is still unknown. However, Jordan Thomas stated that Delta was "Sort of a pre-Meltzer figure of sorts." Adding, "deep background on the character is that he used a saturation chamber ahead of his time, to reach those depths - and that he was investigating the string of ship and submarine disappearances known to have occurred in the area. Originally we planned to have Meltzer tracking the player's investigative trail, realizing he was a kindred spirit, but it got convoluted so we kept it more open." and about whether he was looking to scavenge or rescue, or merely to inform, Thomas said "we leave up to the player."

Delta's investigations led him to find Rapture, before the 1959 New Year's Eve Riots and the eventual downfall of the city. upon his arrival, people got excited and soon he was known as "Johnny Topside" -- a name given to him by people of Rapture to define his "urban legend." Less is known what his name was on the surface, "because it'd be a throwaway detail which adds just that much more separation from you, the player," said Jordan Thomas, adding that "one of the hardest (and most debatable) choices we made was to honor the 'Shock tradition of not foisting a particular identity onto the player. Even "Jack" was arguably just a meaningless alias. While we know some people crave more information about who they are, what their backstory was, etc - we came down on the side of trying to reflect you, the individual, rather than telling you you're Nathan Drake, lovable rogue, you had a wife on the surface you'll never see, a dog named Parasite, and you prefer this particular brand of snuff."

His fame spread across Rapture, and a crook named Stanley Poole got Andrew Ryan paranoid who had Delta quickly locked up, likely in Persephone, accusing him of being a CIA spook. Some point after this he was likely transferred to Fontaine Futuristics to be a test subject for various plasmids, he was made to perform in the plasmid theatre at Fontaine Futuristics. Delta shortly after underwent the transformation into an Alpha Series Big Daddy, Subject Delta, and was the first working experiment for bonding with a Little Sister, at the expense of Dr. Yi Suchong's life (see Protection Bond). Delta was bonded to Eleanor Lamb, the daughter of antagonist Sofia Lamb.

At some point during New Years Eve of 1958, Eleanor and Delta started their normal rounds and passed through a New Years party. Eleanor was attacked by three splicers, and as he fought to protect her, one of the splicers used a mind-control plasmid on him. The splicers were Sofia Lambs agents, and she used control of the plasmid to force Delta to kill himself in front of Eleanor, via a point-blank shot to the head with a Luger P08 pistol she gives to him in order to do so..

Delta was revived (using DNA which was stored in a small doll resembling him, his bodysuit, and plasmids from Eleanor) in a Vita-Chamber in Adonis Luxury Resort. Having no recollection of the previous 11 years, Delta was unaware of his surroundings and had no knowledge of the downfall of Rapture. He then begins his quest to find Eleanor stopping at nothing and letting none get in his way.

Delta finally finds Eleanor in the Persephone Detention facility. In an effort to kill him once and for all, Sofia Lamb suffocates Eleanor to stop her heart just long enough to break Delta's bond with her and begin his own death. Sofia's ploy succeeds, But she then decides to detonate various charges around rapture, dropping the city into a trench below, but Delta is able to survive long enough to escape Rapture with Eleanor (now donned in a Big Sister suit) in Augustus Sinclair's escape pod. However, Delta's wounds and shattered bond with Eleanor become too great a burden for him, and he dies shortly afterward.

Depending on the players actions, 1 of 4 endings will play:

Good: Eleanor is in the completely water filled escape pod with her mother, but places a breathing apparatus upon her face,sparing her life. Upon reaching the surface, Delta will be lying on the top of SInclair's escape pod, dying of his injuries from the bombing and having his bond with Eleanor broken. Eleanor then Drains him of his ADAM, thus accepting his memories and thoughts into her mind. She will then walk off and stare into the ocean and smile, when the litttle sisters she rescued come and stand next to her, giving her the doll of Delta seen at the beginning of the game, which was used to bring delta back to life. Eleanor then drops it in to the ocean, and stares at a setting sun behind the lighthouse leading to Rapture.

Before the 3 bad endings, instead of Eleanor sparing her mother, the escape pod will have some air at the top which Sofia deasprately swims for, but Eleanor grabs her leg and forces her to drown.

Bad Ending 1: It will be a dark, stormy night. Delta will then have his ADAM drained by Eleanor, which will then provoke her to stare into the ocean, when various corpses will rise from rapture, with Eleanor leaving the player with the final line "They will never see me coming", suggesting that she will go on a killing spree on the surface, using her father's massive amounts of ADAM.

Bad Ending 2: Same as Bad Ending 1, except Delta will try in vain to save himself when Eleanor drains his ADAM.

Bad Ending 3: Eleanor will attempt to drain Delta's ADAM, but he will beat the needle away. she will then tell him about how he would rather die than have his memories accepted into her. she will then drag him to the edge of the boat and sit with him in his dying moments, with a crying and saddened Eleanor stating she will miss him.

Trivia

 * Delta is the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, following the letters Alpha, Beta and Gamma. This could mean that Delta was the fourth (and the first successful) attempt at creating the Big Daddy.


 * There is a camera on top of Subject Delta's helmet that allows Tenenbaum (and possibly others) to watch through his sight.


 * In a recently leaked video of the level Siren Alley, Father Wales refers to Delta as "The Beast of Ryan."


 * In an early beta of Bioshock 2, when it first shows Delta awakening to Brigid Tenenbaum's voice, Subject Delta's concept was that of a Rosie shown in this video. In this video he is shown in his final concept: Alpha Series Big Daddy.


 * There is the Greek letter for "Delta" imprinted on his glove.


 * Throughout the game, Delta can consume food, drinks, and smoke cigarettes while not (apparently) removing his helmet. Considering that many mechanics of the Alpha Series suits has not been explicitly designated, it may be possible that there is a way for him to get food into his suit without removing his helmet. It is also possible that they simply did not want to give a controversial explanation for it, since eating was one of the central forms of quick health recovering.
 * In mathematics, Delta represents change.
 * Because of modifications by Eleanor, Delta is now the only person capable of using any Vita Chamber after traumatic death as opposed to before when Ryan and his son could.
 * His suit was designed specificly to allow the efficient use of plasmids. His gloves have openings on his fingertips and palms to accomodate the necessary contact with the environment projectile plasmids need, his sleeves have IV ports for ADAM injection and a tube for transporting eve from his tank straight to his wrists to allow swift replenishment even during combat.
 * He is the only Big Daddy to have ever been seen with the ability to take off his helmet (although the player is unable to see his face). While this may be common to all Alpha Series, none other have been seen doing so to date. Production model Big Daddies require their organs grafted into the suit, making helmet removal seemingly impossible.
 * Although Vita-Chambers are only supposed to revive organic matter, Delta's armor/suit is also regenerated as seen in the scene where Lamb describes how Delta was revived.