Big Daddy

Big Daddies, or Protectors, are the gargantuan defenders of the Little Sisters. They are outfitted in enormous diving suits and carry a large drill or a rivet gun. They are extremely powerful, but will not attack the player unless provoked. They are called Mr. Bubbles and Mr. B by the Little Sisters.

Types


There are two types of Big Daddy; each variety must be photographed and researched individually. Each Big Daddy also appears as an "Elite" variety late in the game. Only one type of Big Daddy appears on each level. The order in which the different types appear is Bouncer, Rosie, Elite Bouncer, Elite Rosie.

Rosie
Rosies carry rivet guns, a reference to Rosie the Riveter, an icon of the 1940's. In addition to their powerful ranged attack, they occasionally throw proximity mines; as with all projectiles, these can be caught and thrown back with Telekinesis (once they deploy, they cannot be picked up and will remain until detonated). Likewise they can charge up to the player and hit him with their gun

Bouncer
The Bouncer is the iconic Big Daddy, with his many tiny portholed eyes and an oversized drill on on its right arm. They only have melee attacks, but can charge the player at high speed. They're shorter, but more powerful and aggressive than Rosies. The Bouncer's attacks are swinging at the player with its drill or fist, taking a lot of health off, charging at the player which can be dodged and the Big Daddy will attempt to stop and recover, buying you precious time, and it can slam its drill into the ground, sending you into disorientation, causing you to move slower for a few seconds. This attack could be deadly, as the bouncer can run right up to you before you're out of the effect.

Origins
Big Daddies are human beings who have had their skin and organs grafted into an enormous diving suit. The candidates also go through voice box modulation and pheromone application. This pheromone is what attracts the Little Sisters to the Big Daddies. They are then injected with a plasmid that effectively turns them into mindless drones with only one purpose: to protect the Little Sisters.

The Big Daddy was the brainchild of Dr. Suchong. Knowing that the Little Sisters would be at great risk if they were out on the streets gathering ADAM with no protection, Suchong sought to rectify the problem. Suchong presented his idea to Andrew Ryan, but with trepidation. Knowing that becoming a Big Daddy would be a "one way street" Suchong was worried about finding candidates. Andrew Ryan assured him that this would be no problem.

Big Daddies are outfitted with the gear they were designed and programmed to wear. A log declares that Ryan was so cheap, he told the scientists to re-use the Big Daddy suits even though it was impossible to remove the skin from the suits of expired Big Daddies (seeing as the suits are steam-sealed to the flesh, this is illogical from a scientific standpoint, but very plausible from a business view as, during the war, steel production was probably halted or severely limited).

Using various plasmids, the humans inside the suits were outfitted with strength and agility, but with no humanity (or sanity) to lose. They're able to lift heavy weights with ease, seeing as their suits are made mostly of steel and various other machinery to keep them alive during their duties - and to resist pressure six miles beneath the ocean. Bouncers are subjected to far more splicing than the Rosies, and as such their heads have deformed to the point of grotesqueness, while Rosies wear a somewhat normal dive helmet.

Big Daddies communicate by haunting sounds similar to that of a whale's call. For easier understanding, lights were added to the helmet to display what state the Big Daddy is in (most likely for the protection of civilians, as they could easily avoid Big Daddies with a yellow or red light on). Big Daddies have three known light colors, each for their current state. Green is completely passive and unalarmed; this is mostly for civilian cases, such as repairing. Yellow is the color most often seen in the game; it refers to the fact the Big Daddy is highly aware of his environment (looking out for danger, traps) and is on a mission to find a Little Sister to protect or because he is protecting one at that very moment. Red is only seen when the Big Daddy is after anything that attacked it ( directly or in directly, including the player. )

It is hinted that Big Daddies have a variety of equipment, including steam-powered cutting tools, detachable drills (seen in game, both attached and detached), rivet guns, proximity mines, and rock-grabbing fist attachments, but most of these are never seen in-game, only through concept art, pre-release pictures, demos, and the diaries left behind by the citizens. Given the various construction tools available to the big daddies, the cheapness of their development and the tendency for any available items in Rapture to be reused or turned into something else, the big daddy suits were probably modified from divers' equipment left over from when the city was first built. One big daddy visible inside a glass tunnel during Jack's initial descent to Rapture also appears to be working on repairs to the structure.

A diary in Apollo Square in Suchong's lab says that he was killed by a big daddy after smacking a little sister.