Atlas

"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. These people will liberate themselves."

- Atlas

BioShock
Atlas is a citizen of Rapture, who speaks with a thick Irish accent. He is trying to escape the city and finds out Jack survived a plane crash. He helps Jack by giving him advice via a shortwave radio, in hopes that he will help rescue his wife, Moira, and infant son, Patrick, who are both lost in Rapture. Atlas states that he had come to Rapture in search of a better life for them, but now feels as if God is punishing him for bringing them down to Rapture.

Atlas serves as Jack's guide for the first two thirds of the events in BioShock, proving to be a useful ally in the otherwise totally alien city of Rapture. He introduces Jack to Rapture, ADAM, and the events which occurred after New Year's Eve 1959. Initially Atlas informs Jack that his goal is simply to escape the city with his family, and he helps Jack on the condition that he aids him in this goal. However, as the game progresses, Atlas' name crops up more and more in the audio diaries and even on posters, leaving Jack to wonder at Atlas' own past and possible hidden agenda.

At the end of the game's first act, after Atlas attempts to reach his family, sealed in their submarine, they are killed when Andrew Ryan has the sub blown up. After this, Atlas' goal becomes revenge — the assassination of Andrew Ryan, to which end he enlists Jack's help. Eventually, it is revealed that "Atlas" is actually an alias for Frank Fontaine, a smuggler and mobster who rose to become powerful enough in Rapture's society to challenge Andrew Ryan's claim as ruler of the city, mostly through his control of the supply of ADAM.

Atlas was a name first undertaken when Frank Fontaine was listed as dead in 1958, supposedly killed in a shootout at Fontaine Fisheries with Security Chief Sullivan's security force. Fontaine refers to Atlas as "the longest con," assuming the title as a working class hero to the people for over two years. As Atlas, Fontaine lead the rebellion in Rapture, and became the greatest enemy of Andrew Ryan. Among the soldiers in Atlas' force were Diane McClintock, Ryan's former mistress, who later discovered Atlas was Fontaine and was killed for it, and a man named Johnny, whom Jack sees being killed by a Spider Splicer, named Rose, immediately after arriving.

Fontaine has been secretly mind controlling the player using the pre-programmed trigger phrase "Would you kindly..." Due to Fontaine's conditioning, Jack must obey any request made of him using the phrase. As Ryan explains his situation, Jack realizes that the seemingly benign Atlas has been using the phrase throughout the game as an imperative command. Fontaine later reveals that he was also manipulating Jack to kill Ryan by pretending that he had a wife and son (Moira and Patrick), and leading Jack to believe that Ryan killed them. It is only with the help of Brigid Tenenbaum and the antidote previously made by Dr. Suchong that Jack overcomes the hold Fontaine has over him, finally allowing Jack the ability to confront and defeat him.

BioShock 2
The player will be able to explore Fontaine's office at Fontaine Futuristics, where they can find an audio diary by Fontaine which depicts him sliding into his Atlas persona for the first time. There is also a picture of a man who looks like Fontaine next to a small boy and a woman, although unknown who they both are. The picture is entitled "The Fontaine Family" so it is possible that the picture is that of a young Frank Fontaine and his parents. Another audio diary of Fontaine's can be found in the game where he is setting up the events of the first game, having stated that he gave the orders to Jack and how he should be boarding his flight soon. In this diary, he has developed his persona and speaks in a strong accent.

BioShock 2 Multiplayer
In Multiplayer, Team Atlas is one of the two factions fighting the civil war (The other being Andrew Ryan's). Also, several of the loading screen quotes either reference Atlas or are spoken by him.

Video
thumb|left|300px|Atlas loses his family

Trivia

 * The name "Atlas" is, like Andrew Ryan, inspired by the works of Ayn Rand, a Russian-American philosopher whose 'Objectivism' is similar to the philosophy on which Ryan founded Rapture. Rand's last book was entitled, Atlas Shrugged , a reference to the Greek myth of a Titan condemned to support the heavens on his shoulders for eternity.


 * The posters inscribed, "Who is Atlas?" is a reference to the line, "Who is John Galt?" from Ayn Rand's novel, 'Atlas Shrugged'.


 * The player may find a poster in Fort Frolic advertising the play "Patrick and Moira", a story of love after death. This was probably the source of Fontaine's inspiration for the names of his fictional family.


 * It is interesting to notice that despite the vast array of references to him, there are never any audio diaries of Atlas (with the exception of The Longest Con, and even that is of Fontaine).

Fontaine and Atlas's pictures, compared side by side.
 * Occasionally throughout the game, Fontaine gets out of character of being Atlas and he does not have his story straight. While posing as Atlas, Fontaine tells Jack that he brought his wife, Moira, and son, Patrick down from the surface to Rapture. However, when Jack enters The Fighting McDonagh's Tavern, he says that he took Moira there for their first date. He also uses distinctly American phrases, like when commenting that Nitro Splicers are "sounding off like it's the 4th of July," Cohen being a "Section 8" kind of crazy, and an American football allusion: "Every time we get a yard ahead, Ryan goes and moves the goal line down to the other side of the field!"
 * If one compares his photo to Fontaine's, it is easy to notice that Atlas's face is clearly Fontaine, only with hair, without mustache, and a more noticeable cleft chin. It wasn't so hard for Fontaine to disguise himself as Atlas: only the basic change of appearance and a different way of speaking.


 * Inside Fontaine's apartment in Olympus Heights, a phonograph can be heard playing "Danny Boy" by Mario Lanza, a famous Irish song. Perhaps this was inspiration for Atlas, or was left by Fontaine to taunt Jack.


 * Greg Baldwin, the voice actor of Frank Fontaine, has stated in an interview that he was originally asked to speak the part of Atlas as well, and would have done them in an American southern accent. However, the developers chose to switch to an Irish voice for Atlas, and hired a separate voice actor.


 * Even though Atlas is a major character, he does not have a uniquely designed model (unlike Andrew Ryan and Sander Cohen). Instead his model is a re-skinned Waders Splicer. This is because Atlas is never encountered up close until the final boss encounter.