Rosalind Lutece

"When I was a girl, I dreamt of standing in a room looking at a girl who was and was not myself, who stood looking at another girl, who also was and was not myself. My mother took this for a nightmare. I saw it as the beginning of a career in physics."

- Rosalind Lutece

Rosalind Lutece is a quantum physicist in BioShock Infinite, who wrote books about scientific studies on alternate universes. She guides Booker DeWitt through his adventures in Columbia to retrieve Elizabeth along with her "twin brother," Robert.

History
From a young age, Rosalind was curious about the possibility of multiple realities, and decided she wanted to be a physicist. Many years later, in the course of experimentation with atoms, she was able to indefinitely suspend an atom in midair--her colleagues referred to the process as "quantum levitation," while Rosalind herself dubbed it the "Lutece Field." She began to wonder about the possibility of suspending larger objects, up to and including a city.

At an indeterminate time, Rosalind met Zachary Hale Comstock, then a prominent U.S. politician who took great interest in her work. Comstock agreed to fund continued research into the Lutece Field in return for her help constructing a floating city he had seen in a premonition.

Continued experimentation with the Lutece Field led to Rosalind's first interaction with Robert Lutece, a male version of herself from an alternate reality. By manipulating a pair of quantumly entangled atoms, the two were able to communicate across space-time barriers through Morse code. When she reported this information to Comstock, he instructed her to find a way of accessing such alternate realities, which he believed would act as windows into prophecy. On October 15th, 1893, Rosalind successfully opened a Tear for the first time, bringing Robert through it into her universe. The two then created a contraption that allowed them to enter other realities via the Tears.

Comstock used the device extensively to see other realities and predict future happenings. He also provided access to the Fink brothers, who used the Tears to advance technology and music in Columbia by decades. However, the device had an adverse affect on Comstock, aging him rapidly and rendering him sterile.



Believing Columbia would only prosper if one of his bloodline sat the throne, Comstock approached Rosalind and Robert for a solution. The Luteces then sought out Booker DeWitt, and convinced him that they would wipe away his extensive gambling debts in exchange for his infant daughter, Anna. While the effort nearly ended in their separation, they were able to assist Comstock in procuring his daughter, Elizabeth.

As Elizabeth grew older, it was discovered that she had the power to open Tears; Rosalind hypothesized this was due to her finger remaining in her home universe, as it was cut off when the Tear they brought her through closed too soon. Robert and Rosalind then discovered that, through the use of her powers, Elizabeth would fulfill Comstock's prophecy, leading to the destruction of New York City in 1983. Robert, wishing to undo their mistake, issued Rosalind an ultimatum: join him in sending Elizabeth back to her original universe, or he would part ways with her. Unwilling to separate from her "brother," Rosalind agreed to assist him, though she was not optimistic about their chances for success.

Discovering this plan, Comstock ordered Jeremiah Fink to sabotage the machine they used to access Tears. The deed was carried out, and they were declared dead on October 31st, 1909. However, they were not truly killed; instead, they were scattered across time and space, able to appear wherever and whenever they wanted. While Rosalind was satisfied with this state, as she would be able to remain with her brother indefinitely, Robert was dissatisfied with the way they left matters in Columbia. Therefore, they continued their plan in this state, and went on to find Booker DeWitt once again.

BioShock Infinite
At the outset of Infinite, the Luteces pull Booker into their universe, letting him piece together a false memory as they take him to a Lighthouse off the coast of Maine. They leave him with a box of his belongings, a pistol, and other possessions to help him on his mission.

Shortly after Booker enters the city, he receives a telegram from Rosalind, warning him not to pick #77 at the raffle. Later on, he meets Rosalind and Robert at the Columbia Raffle and Fair, where they ask him to call a coin toss (which always results in heads). They continue to guide Booker through his adventure in Columbia, offering advice, suggestions, and supplies as they are able. They also set up several experiments for Booker and Elizabeth, to gauge their results and determine variability between universes.

Rosalind's books also feature in parts of Columbia, some of which are found in Elizabeth's room.

Publications

 * The Principles of Quantum Mechanics - This book is found in Elizabeth's apartments, and is one of the books she attacks Booker with.
 * Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel - A quote from this text is shown at the start of the game, and credited to R. Lutece. It was published in 1889.

Voxophones

 * Monument Island
 * The Source of her Power


 * Soldier's Field
 * Viewing the Infinite


 * Emporia
 * Whispers Through the Walls
 * A Window
 * One and the Same


 * Downtown Emporia
 * A City, Suspended
 * Child of Science
 * On the Entropy of Genes
 * A Theory On Our "Death"


 * Hand of the Prophet
 * An Ultimatum
 * What's Done is Done
 * The Prophet is Dying


 * Clash in the Clouds
 * The Constrancy Of Music
 * Playing Prophet
 * Unde Vigores?
 * No Cell Will Hold Them
 * A Better Father

Trivia

 * The Lutece siblings share similarities with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, characters from "Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There" (the prequel to "Alice in Wonderland").
 * Shooting either of the twins in The Blue Ribbon restaurant will result in Rosalind saying "You missed," several times before ultimately stating, "We can afford to do this all day, but the question is, can you?"
 * Her character possesses several interesting ties to the field of quantum mechanics. Her knowledge of the field, which would not be entirely formalized until the late 1930s, is itself an anachronism (a fact made more confusing when considering that her study of the field, which led directly to her discovery of Tears, is both the source and explanation of the anachronisms present in the rest of the game). Specifically, she makes many references to the "Many-Worlds Interpretation" of quantum mechanics, a subject which governs how the many universes traversed within the game are connected. This theory was not put forward until 1957.
 * If Booker stays near the Luteces after the coin flipping scene, Rosalind will tell him to leave several times, before saying, "If you don't go, I'll be forced to start repeating myself;" after which she does so. This is a prod at a common game mechanic wherein NPCs are given only a limited amount of recorded lines, which they must repeat after a while.
 * "Lutèce" is the French word for Lutetia, the name of an ancient Roman city that stood where modern day Paris stands now. Paris is mentioned several times in Bioshock Infinite, as the city that Elizabeth desperately wishes to go to after escaping Columbia.
 * Robert and Rosalind regularly make reference to Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a play which deals with the themes of inescapable determinism, the passage of time and the nature of existence. The early coin-flipping scene featuring the 'twins' is a homage to the opening of Stoppard's play, where the character Roasencrantz has flipped a coin and shown heads such a great number of times that he and his companion begin to debate the nature of fate and probability. It is also a recurring theme throughout the game that no character can truly say with certainty if Robert and Rosalind are dead, a theme also explored in the play.