Frank Fontaine

"This Fontaine fellow is somebody to watch. Once, he was just a menace, to be convicted and hung. But he always manages to be where the evidence isn't. He's the most dangerous type of hoodlum... the kind with vision."

- Andrew Ryan

Frank Fontaine is one of the primary antagonists in BioShock. He is a criminal mastermind, the arch-enemy of Andrew Ryan, and the leader of the opposition in the power struggle which led to Rapture's collapse. He speaks with a coarse, thick Bronx accent.

History
Fontaine arrived in Rapture sometime in 1948. He was originally the owner of Fontaine Fisheries, but he soon expanded his income by creating a smuggling ring to bring high demand, contraband items into Rapture. Fontaine was a conman who loved nothing more than the power of a good grift. He was known to regularly disguise himself as various people to accomplish criminal activities that he would not normally get away with. One of these is mentioned by Fontaine himself after revealing himself "Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months!". Fontaine also partook in other illegal pastimes, and at one point he was a user of cocaine and heroin.

Fontaine's smugglers were the first to discover the sea slugs which naturally produce ADAM. When Brigid Tenenbaum witnessed the slug's properties during a chance encounter with a dockworker in Port Neptune, she came to Fontaine with a proposal that he fund her genetic research regarding this substance. Fontaine quickly saw the business possibilities in the endeavor. Fontaine soon set up his business monopoly, Fontaine Futuristics, employing Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong to research and develop Plasmids and Gene Tonics. When Tenenbaum informed him that they would need little girls in order to mass produce ADAM, Fontaine created the Little Sister's Orphanage, pretending it was charity out of the goodness of his heart. In reality it was just a front to get parents to willingly give up their children to be turned into Little Sisters. Taking inspiration from Sofia Lamb's appeal to the lower class, Fontaine also created the Fontaine's Home for the Poor, which provided for the increasing number of destitute citizens who were victims of Ryan's free market policy. Fontaine mainly used these charity angles to boost his own public image in opposition to Ryan's.

Andrew Ryan at first observed Fontaine's rise to power with pride, as the opportunity for determined men to better themselves in this manner was exactly what he built Rapture to ensure. However, when he discovered the criminal arm of Fontaine's enterprises, the smuggling operations, he began to see Fontaine as a threat, as such activity might reveal the location of Rapture to surface-dwellers. Ryan also began to fear the greater power that Fontaine was gaining over the city of Rapture, as Fontaine's monopoly competed with his own. Ryan instructed Security Chief Sullivan to crack down on the smuggling ring, employing increasingly severe measures to find a connection to Frank Fontaine.

Facing growing pressure from Ryan, Fontaine engineered, as a back-up plan, an elaborate scheme to take control of Rapture. After acquiring Jack, the illegitimate son of Ryan himself, he instructed Suchong to brainwash, train, and artificially age the child, creating an obedient assassin whom he sent to the surface as a sleeper agent.

On September 12th 1958, Fontaine apparently died in a shootout with Ryan's men, sealing himself the status of a martyr to those who did not know his true nature. In reality he faked his death, hoping to stir up discontent among the lower classes and give Ryan the false hope that his nemesis was dead. He reemerged as Atlas, a fisherman, proletariat hero and family man. His original voice remained, covered for with a heavy Irish accent. He then charismatically charmed the mob as a humble freedom fighter, while setting the stage for the Civil War which would tear Rapture apart. Originally hoping for victory in this genetic arms race, "Atlas" soon found himself trapped in Rapture, with Ryan in control of the bathyspheres and the Splicers through his pheromone systems. With no other way out, "Atlas" activated his sleeper agent, Jack.

BioShock
While posing as Atlas, Fontaine never allowed Jack to see him, except for the brief moment during Atlas' "family" execution. After Andrew Ryan's death, he finally revealed his true persona. Fontaine reveals that his ultimate goal was not simply to conquer Rapture, but to use it and the ADAM technology to extend his power to the surface and become an industry tycoon.

After Jack frees himself from the effects of the mind control, he finally comes face-to-face with Fontaine in Point Prometheus, where he is already spliced up, displaying inhuman strength by hurling a massive iron girder. Fontaine hesitates to fight Jack, fearing that Jack would defeat him, so he barricades himself in Point Prometheus and starts splicing himself soon after, saying that he had never tasted ADAM before then, but now he cannot get enough. He straps himself into a machine that pumps all the ADAM (which the Little Sisters have collected) into him. He starts taunting Jack, proclaiming that no one can stop him, as he is too powerful.

When Jack finally reaches Fontaine, he has already spliced himself into a hulking, statuesque monster with three different major Plasmid elements. During the battle, Jack extracts the ADAM out of him with a Little Sister's needle until finally, he is weakened enough that he is ambushed and killed by a swarm of Little Sisters who stab Fontaine multiple times with their needles, draining him of the remaining ADAM in his body.

In his death, Fontaine illustrates Brigid Tenenbaum's realization that excessive ADAM use forces the body into dependency. The ambiguous expression "Keep back the tide" is shown to mean a not only mental but physical degeneration when the body's dependency is denied. Without ADAM, Fontaine's enhanced body simply could not survive.

Battle Strategy
During the final battle, Fontaine will take one of three forms, and will switch to the next once Jack stabs him with the ADAM needle the Little Sister gave him:

Form One: Fire
This is the first form Fontaine takes during the fight. While in Fire form, he will be immune to the effects of heat-based attacks and will throw giant fireballs which, unlike the ones cast by Houdini Splicers, cannot be caught or deflected with Telekinesis or Sonic Boom. Occasionally, he will pause to slam the ground with his fists, sending a flaming shockwave in the player's direction.

Form Two: Ice
After defeating Frank Fontaine's Fire form, he will then switch to ice-based attacks. In this form, he is immune to ice-based attacks and throws orbs of ice at the player which, again, cannot be stopped in any way. He will also call Security Bots down on the player in this form. He is also capable of sending ice shockwaves at the player in this form.

Form Three: Lightning
This is Fontaine's final and most powerful form. In Lightning form, he is immune to all electrical attacks, and fires electrical orbs and lightning shockwaves at the player at a much faster rate than before. He will also send a wave of assorted Splicers after the player.

Preparing for the Fight

 * 1) While still in the Proving Grounds, grab the needle from the Little Sister to the right of elevator. Do so before attempting anything else, as exiting the level may cause a glitch, in which the Little Sister won't be holding the needle anymore.
 * 2) Before saving, make sure all weapons are fully stocked up on ammunition. If low on ammo and cash, farm it from the Splicers and Big Daddies in the previous levels.
 * 3) Select the following Plasmids: Security Bullseye, Target Dummy, Incinerate!, Winter Blast (if purchased) and Telekinesis.
 * 4) Select antipersonnel ammunition for the Pistol and the Machine Gun, Electric Buck for the Shotgun, Proximity Mines for the Grenade Launcher, Electric Gel for the Chemical Thrower and Trap Bolts for the Crossbow.
 * 5) Select Walking Inferno, Electric Flesh, Electric Flesh 2 and both Frozen Field tonics. Replace everything else with combat-oriented Gene Tonics (Scrounger and Natural Camouflage, for example, won't be of any use whereas the Armored Shell Tonics will help much more).
 * 6) Save before entering the elevator and go inside.
 * 7) Set traps while Fontaine's stuck in the ADAM Inducer Device and hack the Health Station. He'll only get out of it once the player sticks him with the needle, which gives one ample time to prepare the arena.

Traps

 * Pressure gas tanks.
 * Steel drums.
 * Gasoline on the floor in random places.
 * Proximity Mines.
 * Trap Bolts.
 * Water pool at the back wall (with Electric Buck)

Placement

 * When Fontaine knocks Jack down and jumps to the floor, place Proximity Mines and pressure tanks right at the bottom of the stairs in front of Fontaine.
 * Set Proximity Mines and gas cans near any gasoline, and take care to avoid those areas when fighting Fontaine afterwards.
 * Set Trap Bolts at the sides of the arena to stop any incoming Splicers.

Fighting Fontaine

 * 1) After setting the traps, switch from Proximity Mines to Heat-Seeking RPGs and use Incendiary Bolts for the Crossbow.
 * 2) Go and stick Fontaine with the needle. He'll get out and knock Jack back to the elevator. If the player has set their traps correctly, he'll lose all of his health after jumping down the stairs.
 * 3) If he's still alive, hit him with Electric Buck from the Shotgun and RPG's from the Grenade Launcher. Dodge his charges but don't mind his elemental attacks (unless one hasn't equipped Walking Inferno).
 * 4) Once he's down, heal if necessary and stick him again. The moment one hears incoming Security Bots, cast Security Bullseye on Fontaine. Afterwards, switch to Incinerate! and set him on fire.
 * 5) Use all of the Chemical Thrower's Electric Gel on him if necessary. If out of ammo (which shouldn't be the case), finish him off with Incendiary Bolts from the Crossbow. Little Sisters will drop ammo next to their Little Sister Vents, which can be picked up safely.
 * 6) Heal again and stick him one last time with the ADAM needle. Once more Bots start coming in, cast Security Bullseye on him again.
 * 7) Use the Grenade Launcher and the Crossbow against him. Freeze him with Winter Blast if one finds him hard to hit. If one has Electric Flesh 2, his electrical attacks won't deal any damage but his charges will.
 * 8) Decoy is a useful ability to distract Fontaine from attacking you.
 * 9) Enjoy the final cutscene.

BioShock 2


Even though Frank Fontaine is dead, his business Fontaine Futuristics remains as a level in BioShock 2, and he features in several Audio Diaries that Subject Delta finds throughout Rapture. The player is able to explore Fontaine's office, where there is an Audio Diary named "Goodbye to Fontaine" which reveals his planning to adopt his Atlas persona.

In the office there is also a large portrait on the wall of a man who resembles Fontaine standing next to a woman and a small boy. The picture is entitled "The Fontaine Family," but it is unclear who the people depicted in it might be, since Fontaine told Jack that he never had a wife or child.

Audio Diaries
{|width=60%
 * -valign=top

BioShock

 * Smuggler's Hideout
 * Kraut Scientist


 * Olympus Heights
 * Sad Saps


 * Apollo Square
 * The Longest Con

BioShock 2

 * Siren Alley
 * An Empty Niche


 * Dionysus Park
 * Falling Into Place


 * Fontaine Futuristics
 * Goodbye to Fontaine
 * }

Video
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Trivia

 * Ken Levine stated at the 2008 GDC that Fontaine's name is not a reference to the Fountainhead.


 * Fontaine, like several of the main characters, exhibits influences from Ayn Rand . The alias Atlas is clearly a reference to Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged . According to Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, the goal of a human being is rational self-interest: living for one's own happiness, success, and creativity, with as little interference as possible. However, Fontaine is manipulative, duping the public for his own gain and ultimately dooming them to mutation, insanity and death. These traits are contrary to Rand's ethos, and he casts doubt even upon Objectivism itself in his correct observation that not everyone in Rapture can become wealthy and famous (in one Audio Diary, where he pointed out the flaw of filling Rapture with what Andrew Ryan considered to be the best examples of humanity - even in such as society "someone had to scrub the toilets").


 * Fontaine's boss form is reminiscent of an Art Deco sculpture, such as Lee Lawrie's statue of Atlas at the Rockefeller Center This form also makes him resemble the being on the cover of Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged.


 * Frank Fontaine came to Rapture with little or nothing, and built an empire by his own wits, a rags-to-riches story in the mold of Andrew Carnegie . Later on he becomes corrupted in his struggle for power. He also exposes Andrew Ryan to be, at his core, a tyrant: the very type of "God or King" which the red banner at Rapture's entrance claimed had no place there, winning considerable popular support by pointing out Ryan's hypocrisy.


 * Ken Levine has stated that the character of Frank Fontaine was partly inspired by Keyser Söze from the film "The Usual Suspects" . In the film, Keyser Söze is a crime lord whom every criminal is afraid of and described as a "boogeyman" like Fontaine is in Rapture. The scene where the police officer looks at the bulletin board and figures out who Keyser Söze actually is, also inspired the "Would You Kindly" board in Ryan's office.


 * Greg Baldwin was initially hired to be the voice actor of Frank Fontaine. He stated in an interview that he was originally asked to speak the part of Atlas as well, and would have done it in an American southern accent. However, the developers chose to switch to an Irish voice for Atlas, and they hired a separate voice actor (Karl Hanover) to record the lines for both Fontaine and Atlas.


 * Fontaine uses a recycled Splicer model in BioShock before his change in the final level, so he shows ADAM-induced deformities even though he tells Jack that he has never spliced before. The player never sees Atlas/Fontaine up close, so this distortion is meant to go unnoticed.


 * The FreshHair commercial from the public address announcements in Rapture seems to be a dig at Fontaine. The character complaining about being bald is called Frank, and he has a fear of splicing; Fontaine tells Jack in a radio message that he had not spliced previously because he "figured it was bad to mix business with pleasure."


 * Frank Fontaine is the only character whose Audio Diary portrait is not changed from BioShock to BioShock 2.
 * Given the dramatic change between the voice of Atlas and Fontaine, it's quite possible that Fontaine made a Gene Tonic that would allow him to easily change his voice, as he was one of the first to work with Adam, and as such a tonic would make his Aliases easier to keep up.