Simon Wales

"Today, Delta, you meet a man who has no fear of death. And for Eleanor, he would burn with a smile."

- Sofia Lamb

Father Simon Wales is a prominent character in BioShock 2, particularly in Siren Alley. As co-governor of Siren Alley and a powerful lieutenant in service of Sofia Lamb, Wales altered Sofia's beliefs and spun them into a simple religion that the Splicers could comprehend, called The Rapture Family. Sofia uses this new belief as a means to recruit more people.

History
Simon Wales and his brother, Daniel Wales, were architects who designed cathedrals in Ireland. Their firm, Wales & Wales, was well known enough that Andrew Ryan commissioned them to design his city, Rapture. After the city was completed the Wales brothers took up residence in the area which would later be known as Siren Alley.

Wales & Wales continued to operate, but the onset of the economic depression in Rapture ruined their business, making it impossible for them to find contracts. Simon was beset by guilt over the leaking in Rapture, convinced that it was somehow the fault of their designs. He sought counseling with Sofia Lamb and experienced a drastic change as a result of her philosophies. He adopted the name "Father Wales" and began to hold services in Siren Alley, preaching Sofia Lamb's collectivist ideals. His adoption of religion caused him to become estranged from his brother, but he still tried to reach out to Daniel to convert him to the Rapture Family.

As time went on Father Wales became more radical in his preaching. He mixed mythology and Christian terms equally into his sermons to the Family, but he became less tolerant of other faiths, eventually persecuting them far worse than Ryan ever had. After the death of Ryan at the hands of Jack, Father Wales adopted those events into his myths, depicting Jack as an incarnation of God who punished smugglers, murderers, worshipers of false gods and the pretensions of those who believed in the "Great Chain".

BioShock 2
During BioShock 2 Subject Delta encounters Father Wales in Siren Alley, and is forced to confront him to get the key to the pump access station which will allow him to travel to Dionysus Park. Wales is first seen in Little Eden Plaza, muttering over a sealed case of cult relics. As Delta approaches he leaps away, showing the typical movements of a Spider Splicer. He easily escapes and remains hostile to Delta, seeing him as an enemy of the Rapture Family who seeks to take Eleanor away from them. Wales becomes enraged after Delta kills his brother, Daniel, in The Pink Pearl and he sends waves of his Splicer allies in attempts to kill him. Finally he is encountered in his sanctuary of the Lamb and defeated. When Lamb floods Siren Alley his corpse is flooded with it.

Strategy
Father Wales is fought towards the end of Siren Alley, inside the Cathedral of the Rapture Family. He takes the form of a Crawler-like Spider Splicer, wearing a black suit and hat and having a melted, deformed face. Wales has an incredibly high amount of health (about on par with a Big Daddy's) and is also assisted by his congregation; consisting of several Spider Splicers, a Brute Splicer, and a couple of Leadhead Splicers armed with Machine Guns. Wales also is accompanied by a Security Bot which follows him closely.

Wales does not show until all other enemies are killed, and although it is possible to do some damage to him when the player first sees him, he flees as soon as he sees the player, thus it is difficult to do any significant damage.

A useful strategy for the player on harder difficulties is to hide in Lamb's Hideout outside of the Cathedral - specifically in the southeast corner of the second room, behind a bookcase adjacent to the entrance. Enemies can not damage the player at all from this position, but it grants the player a great view on the doorway, allowing them to plant Trap Rivets on the doorframe and presenting a close-quarters area where the player can fight Simon Wales and his congregation on the player's own terms. It is also possible that the Brute Splicer may become stuck between the desk and bookcase in the first room. The only problem with this strategy is that the enemies will need to be lured into the room as they do not always follow the player there.

Audio Diaries

 * Siren Alley
 * A Silent God
 * Lamb's Salvation
 * Guidance of Lamb
 * The Creed of the Faithful
 * Removed Audio Diaries (On the Cult of Rapture website)
 * Before the Lamb I
 * Before the Lamb II
 * Before the Lamb III
 * Before the Lamb IV
 * Before the Lamb V
 * Path of the Lamb

Bugs/Glitches

 * During the player's confrontation with Simon Wales there is a glitch where, if the player is killed whilst Simon is in the corridor leading up to his church dwelling, it causes the player to re-spawn at the Vita-Chamber inside the church. However, this locks Simon and whatever Splicers remain with him outside, making the player unable to continue the game without restarting from a previous save.
 * Another rare glitch is for Simon to follow a player-friendly Security Bot to the top floor of the cathedral and get stuck up there, so the player can't get the key from him.

Behind the Scenes

 * The "Demiurge" Simon Wales speaks of in his "Before the Lamb" Audio Diaries is the imperfect creator God in Gnosticism. It is evident that Father Wales preaches a form of Gnosticism to the Splicers in Rapture: he equates the Demiurge with the ADAM-making Sea Slug, from which the citizens "take its dread power in our blood". Wales blames the Demiurge for tempting Ryan below the waves and then destroying the people of Rapture.
 * Father Wales pre-spliced appearance also bears a resemblance to Grigori Rasputin, a Russian cult leader who greatly influenced the royal family through his charisma and supposed religious miracles.
 * It's possible to befriend Simon Wales using Hypnotize 2. It does not grant any advantage though, as the player cannot leave the church until he is defeated, and the only enemies to fight until he is dead are randomly spawning Leadhead Splicers.
 * Upon Wales' death, any Leadhead Splicers remaining inside the Cathedral will become non-hostile and flee from the player.