- “Booker, are you afraid of God?"
"No. But I'm afraid of you.” - ― Elizabeth and Booker DeWitt
Elizabeth is a nineteen-year-old woman who has been imprisoned in Columbia since she was an infant, the deuteragonist of BioShock Infinite and a protagonist of Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode 2. Booker DeWitt is sent to retrieve her from the city, and bring her to New York. She is guarded by Songbird, a monstrous, winged creature who was both her guard and only friend during childhood; she began to hate him as she grew up, seeing him as a warden prohibiting her freedom. Elizabeth has the power to manipulate Tears that exist in the fabric of time.[3]
When Booker frees her from her tower on Monument Island, the Founders, Zachary Comstock, and Songbird are all determined to recapture her at any cost. She is the last one alive who hasn't vanished from her existance along with her other Alternates.
History
Elizabeth, originally named Anna DeWitt, was born in 1893 to Booker DeWitt and an unknown mother, who died during childbirth. Booker, then a Pinkerton agent, was expelled from the agency after Anna's birth for his use of extreme brutality in fighting a workers' strike action. Booker then descended into depression, excessive drinking, and gambling, building up a large debt burden.
Later that year, Booker was contacted by Robert Lutece, a representative of Father Comstock, who offered to pay off all of Booker's debts in exchange for Anna. On October 8th, Booker gave Anna to Robert as instructed; however, feeling immediately regretful for his actions, he pursued Robert to retrieve her. He was able to catch Robert and struggled with Comstock to take Anna back. His efforts were in vain, and the two escaped with Anna through a Tear. As the portal closed, it severed Anna's pinkie finger when she reached out for her father, placing her simultaneously in two different realities.
Arriving in Columbia
A mural of Lady and Father Comstock with the miracle child.
Anna was taken to the floating city of Columbia, built in a parallel universe by Comstock, an alternate version of her father who was unable to have his own biological children. Seeing that Columbia would fall without an heir, he set Robert and Rosalind Lutece to retrieve Anna to ensure the city's continued prosperity.
The populace of the city was told that Anna, renamed Elizabeth, was a miracle child who grew in Lady Comstock's womb for only seven days before her birth. Elizabeth was to be upheld as the heir to Comstock's throne who would one day "cleanse the Sodom of the world below." However, Lady Comstock believed that Elizabeth was the bastard child of Rosalind and Comstock, and demanded that the child be removed from her home.
Around this time, Tears in reality began to appear in Columbia, confusing and terrifying the populace. These appearances were likely caused by Elizabeth's arrival in the city, as it was eventually determined that she had the ability to create Tears in space-time at will. Because of this ability and Lady Comstock's fervent rejection of her, Elizabeth was moved to Monument Island for containment and study. Songbird was created by Jeremiah Fink to guard her, and as Elizabeth grew she spent her time reading, appreciating art, learning a variety of skills (such as lock picking), and experimenting with Tears.
By the time Elizabeth reached puberty, she began to resent Songbird and wished to leave her tower. With her powers peaking during puberty, the Lutece twins constructed a device to control Elizabeth's use of her powers. They installed the Siphon in her tower to keep her from achieving her full potential.
BioShock Infinite
Escape from Monument Island
Elizabeth in her Apartment.
Elizabeth remained in her tower until July 6, 1912, the anniversary of Columbia's secession, when Booker DeWitt finally arrives in the city. Unaware that she is being observed, she uses her powers to open a Tear to Paris in the year 1984, shocking Booker.
While Elizabeth is on her balcony in the library, Booker accidentally falls through the ceiling; while she at first reacts aggressively and pummels him with several books, she realizes the significance of another human presence, and reacts to him with awe and disbelief.
Booker's intrusion alerts Songbird, and Elizabeth frantically instructs him to leave. However, when he offers her a key out of the apartment, she readily accepts it, fleeing the tower with her liberator and escaping via the Sky-Lines. Songbird's attempts to recapture Elizabeth destroy Monument Island, sending Booker and Elizabeth plummeting from the structure.
- “"I'm out. It's hard to believe, but it's true, isn't it?"”
- ― Elizabeth, reacting to her escape
Elizabeth showing off her new pendant.
The two land in the artificial ocean attached to Battleship Bay, where Elizabeth rescues Booker from the waters and gleefully enjoys her new-found freedom. Booker then spots the The First Lady and suggests that they use it to leave the city; Elizabeth agrees to follow him when he promises to take her to Paris. However, at the park's gondola station, Comstock's agents attempt to take her back. Elizabeth witnesses Booker kill the attackers and flees in horror, calling him a "monster." Booker justifies himself by saying that Elizabeth is a target, and that he has no choice but to draw first if they want to survive. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees to continue her journey with him.
The two then head to the Hall of Heroes in order to retrieve the Shock Jockey Vigor to power the gondola to the First Lady's Aerodrome. While trying to access the Hall of Heroes via an elevator, Elizabeth opens a Tear to get rid of a bee in the compartment. When Booker reacts with terror and awe, Elizabeth explains that she is able to see small breaks in the fabric of the universe which she can widen, opening up a path to new realities. She also claims that when she was young, she was able to "create" Tears between universes rather than simply open them, but that ability was lost to her as she grew up.
Elizabeth showing Booker a Tear.
After Elizabeth and Booker confront Booker's old war comrade Cornelius Slate in the Hall of Heroes (during which Elizabeth learns about Booker's involvement with the Wounded Knee Massacre), the two enter the memorial to Lady Comstock. There Elizabeth finds an inscription about the "Seed of the Prophet;" Booker and Elizabeth realize that the Comstocks are her parents, and Zachary Comstock wishes to turn her into a new prophet. Having no knowledge of this information previously, Elizabeth reacts with anger, saying she wants nothing to do with Comstock.
After dealing with Slate, Elizabeth and Booker travel to the aerodrome to retrieve The First Lady. Boarding the aircraft, Booker sets a course, but Elizabeth immediately recognizes the coordinates as being for New York rather than Paris. Not willing to be Booker's prisoner, Elizabeth knocks him out with a wrench and tries to fly the airship herself. However, while Booker is unconscious the ship is surrounded by Vox Populi vessels near Finkton. Landing The First Lady on the Finkton docks, Elizabeth runs away, leaving Booker to his own devices.
Revolution in Finkton
Elizabeth at Fink Manufacturing.
Booker later finds Elizabeth at Finkton, but she flees, using Tears to hamper his pursuit. During her effort to escape him, she is captured by Founder agents, but quickly gets away as Booker arrives and opens fire on them. In the ensuing chaos, Booker nearly falls from Columbia. Despite her feelings of anger and betrayal, Elizabeth brings a small blimp into existence to catch him. Elizabeth begrudgingly agrees to accompany Booker in an effort to reclaim The First Lady, on the condition that he take her to Paris.
To get the ship back from Daisy Fitzroy, leader of the Vox Populi, Booker and Elizabeth must retrieve munitions for the resistance from a gunsmith named Chen Lin. While Booker takes on the task out of necessity, Elizabeth comes to admire the Vox Populi, believing them to be freedom fighters akin to those who ignited the French Revolution. She also becomes more trusting of Booker as the mission progresses, noting that he protected her from the Founders at his own peril.
While sneaking into the depths of Fink's Factory, Elizabeth finds a locker with Slate's name on it, and searches through its contents. Inside, she finds Lady Comstock's diary, and in reading it discovers that Lady Comstock is not actually her mother—Lady Comstock writes that she will not allow her husband's "bastard" to live under their roof, and Elizabeth realizes with astonishment and rage that it was Lady Comstock that had her locked in the tower.
Elizabeth finding Chen Lin.
After fighting their way through Fink's Factory, the two find Chen Lin dead, but also discover a Tear near his body. Understanding that Elizabeth's powers are not strong enough to allow them reverse passage, they enter a reality where Chen Lin is still alive and married to the sister of Fink's Head of Security, which saved him from the fate he experienced in the other reality. They find this Chen Lin to be disoriented, a side effect of his death in the opposite reality, and decide that retrieving his tools might help.
Booker and Elizabeth travel to a Shantytown beneath the factory, where the tools have been taken. While there, Elizabeth notes the suffering Fink's greed has caused his workers (many of whom cannot eat, and are sleeping on the streets), and begins to more vocally support the Vox Populi, believing they can change things for the better.
After fighting their way to the police station and finding the tools, the two realize that there are too many supplies to carry them back to Lin's shop. Elizabeth finds another Tear nearby and opens it, taking them to a world where the Vox Populi's revolution is fully underway and the revolutionaries are laying siege to Fink's factories.
Returning to the gun shop, Elizabeth and Booker find Chen Lin and his wife dead, which deeply upsets Elizabeth. She blames herself for their deaths, due to her initial faith in the Vox Populi and her opening of the Tear into this new reality. She also suggests she may have accidentally "created" this new reality out of her desire to see their mission accomplished, leveling more responsibility on herself. Although Booker comforts her, her regret still lingers as they leave the shop.
As the Vox Populi already have the weapons they were instructed to supply, Booker and Elizabeth go to retrieve The First Lady. However, their initial deal is complicated by events unique to this new reality: in it, Booker is a martyr of the Vox cause, and seeing him alive causes Daisy Fitzroy to send her forces after him, as he "complicate[s] the narrative." After battling through squadrons of both Founder and Vox forces, Booker and Elizabeth arrive at the docks in time to see Fitzroy murder Jeremiah Fink.
Elizabeth after killing Fitzroy.
When Fitzroy turns her weapon on a Founder's child, Elizabeth frantically instructs Booker to boost her into the vents and then distract Fitzroy. As Daisy justifies her reason for killing the child, Elizabeth stabs her in the back with a pair of scissors, getting covered in her blood in the process. Elizabeth reacts with horror as Fitzroy dies in front of her before she flees for the airship. Though Booker tries to console her, Elizabeth locks herself in a room on the ship until after take-off; when she emerges, she is in a new, clean outfit and has cut her hair. She asks Booker how one can forget the things they have done, to which Booker responds that it isn't possible. Just as they are about to leave Columbia, Songbird appears and forces their ship to crash in Emporia.
Emporia and Confrontation with Lady Comstock
- “If you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to your mother!”
- ― Zachary Comstock, resurrecting Lady Comstock as the Siren
Elizabeth at Emporia.
Realizing that they will not be able to leave the city as long as Songbird is pursuing them, Elizabeth and Booker travel to Comstock House to uncover the secret of how he is controlled. However, the gate to Comstock House is locked and requires visual recognition and a fingerprint match to access. While the lock initially recognizes Elizabeth as Lady Comstock, it rejects her fingerprints; Elizabeth then realizes that Lady Comstock's remains are preserved in the nearby Memorial Gardens, and she leads Booker there to procure Lady Comstock's hand.
Though Booker tries to talk Elizabeth out of it, her determination to leave the city and loathing for Lady Comstock drive her forward. When Booker goes to unlock the casket, Zachary Comstock springs a booby-trap, unveiling a series of minor siphons around the tomb. Castigating Elizabeth for her actions as he drains away her power, he uses the energy to bring Lady Comstock back as the Siren—a mixture of her late self and a living version of her created through Elizabeth's hatred toward her.
Though the Siren does fight the duo, resurrecting the dead to send after them, she also reveals critical information to them. Following her ghostly footprints through Emporia's Financial District, the Market District, and Victory Square, Elizabeth and Booker uncover several Tears which reveal critical past events—Lady Comstock confronting Rosalind Lutece about Elizabeth's origins, Zachary Comstock making an arrangement with Fink to murder the Luteces, and the Luteces visiting the photo studio where their own funeral photos were taken. This information, along with several voxophones left in the Tears' wake, reveal that Elizabeth is not Comstock's daughter, and he had Lady Comstock and the Luteces murdered to keep the secret.
Now truly understanding Lady Comstock's unfortunate circumstances, Elizabeth confronts her ghostly image in Victory Square, saying that they must both let go of their pain and resentment toward each other—that it is Comstock, who wronged them both, who must be their true target. Soothed by Elizabeth's words, Lady Comstock destroys the Comstock House gate, wishing Elizabeth and Booker well before vanishing. Elizabeth then sincerely thanks Booker for his help before the two head through the gate.
Comstock House
- “You frighten them."
"Good.” - ― Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth, the former referring to Comstock and the Founders
As Booker and Elizabeth begin to make their way to Comstock House, Songbird appears from below, grabbing Booker and throwing him through a nearby building. When the creature attempts to kill him, Elizabeth gives up her freedom to save his life, surrendering to Songbird and telling him to take her back to her tower. However, Songbird instead brings her to Comstock House, where Comstock's scientists subject her to torture, experimentation, and mental conditioning. When their efforts were unsuccessful after half a year (as evidenced in the voxophone Pavlov's Bell) they chose to instead fit her with a device to force her to behave.
A complex interaction between time and reality occurs as Booker navigates Comstock House—when he first arrives, he notes with confusion that there is snow on the building in July, implying that he had passed through a Tear. In the short time he is there, Booker finds voxophones from Elizabeth and several Tears suggesting that a much greater amount of time has passed.
The elder Elizabeth and the destruction of New York.
When Booker does finally encounter Elizabeth, she is significantly older (from a billboard advertising a 1984 model car, and scrolling news feed showing the date as December 31, 1983, it can be deduced that she is 92), and claims that in her time at Comstock House, she was eventually molded into the very harbinger of destruction Comstock wished. This alternate version of Elizabeth is the one responsible for the attack on New York featured in Booker's dreams. However, she expresses great regret over what she has become, and gives Booker a coded note to deliver to her younger self before sending him through a Tear to rescue her.
Booker arrives just as Elizabeth is being operated on to fit her with her "leash," a collar meant to release an intense shock when she is disobedient.[4] As Booker moves about the facility to shut down the siphons restraining her powers, the scientists note that the process is taking place without anesthesia or sedatives, on Comstock's orders.
When the siphons are switched off, Elizabeth opens a Tear into an American Midwest beset by a tornado, killing the scientists before closing it. After Booker unhooks her from the restraints and spinal tap holding her in place, Elizabeth calmly resolves that she is going to kill Comstock. When Booker refuses to let her, she reopens the Tear to the tornado-ravaged landscape to show the extent of her will and power; she relents, however, when Booker claims that he will kill Comstock himself.
The Hand of the Prophet and Songbird
Elizabeth and Booker confront Comstock on his airship The Hand of the Prophet. While there, Comstock attempts to bring Elizabeth to his side by suggesting that Booker knows more than he is telling, and demanding that Booker say what happened to Elizabeth's finger which has been deformed since she was a child. A struggle ensues between Comstock and Elizabeth and Booker intervenes, ranting as he grabs Comstock and drowns him in a baptismal font. In doing so, Booker reveals some innate knowledge of what happened to Elizabeth's finger, information he immediately claims not to understand.
Elizabeth giving Booker the whistler.
As they navigate The Hand of the Prophet, Elizabeth pieces together that the tower on Monument Island is itself the Siphon, and has harnessed and limited her powers for years. To escape Columbia, the two direct the airship toward Monument Island, but are cut off by Vox Populi ships. At that moment, Elizabeth cracks the code left to her by her alternate self—a drawing of a cage is meant to represent the musical notes C, A, G, and E, the tone used to control Songbird. Destroying a nearby musical statue, she retrieves the whistler inside and gives it to Booker, who uses it to send Songbird after the Vox Populi ships. Upon reaching Monument Island, the two give Songbird one final order: destroy the tower, and the Siphon.
Revelation
- “[They are] all different, yet similar. […] Constants, and variables.”
- ― Elizabeth, explaining the differences in each reality to Booker.
Following the destruction of the Siphon, a tremendous power surge unlocks the full extent of Elizabeth's powers—she is able to create, open, and see into an infinite number of Tears. In the process, the instrument used to control Songbird is dropped, and the creature comes after them; Elizabeth opens a Tear into 1960's Rapture, placing herself and Booker inside the Bathysphere Station and causing Songbird to be crushed by ocean pressure.
Elizabeth, now able to see every reality and possibility, has become virtually omniscient. She leads Booker to a realm between realities, each displayed as one of many lighthouses that all represent the "beginning" of Booker's journey, at the same time paying homage to Jack's expedition. Elizabeth explains that the worlds behind each door are the same and different in specific ways, all somehow connected.
Anna DeWitt.
During this traversing of realities, Elizabeth reveals that Booker's memory of events is flawed—he never agreed to retrieve her from Columbia in exchange for eliminating his debts. Rather, Booker gave his infant daughter, Anna, to Robert Lutece for that same purpose. Booker then realizes that Elizabeth is really his daughter, and losing her finger is what gave her the power to create Tears in dimensional time and space when her body became a part of two separate dimensions.
Shaken by this revelation, Booker blames Comstock for everything, and says that he and Elizabeth can go on with their lives now that he is dead. Elizabeth angrily states that Comstock is alive in "a million, million worlds," and Booker responds that they need to "smother the son of a bitch in his crib."
The Elizabeths/Annas.
Elizabeth asks if that is truly what he wishes to do before transporting Booker to one final location: the site of the baptism from which he fled. Here, Elizabeths from several different realities emerge to reveal that Booker and Comstock are the same man from different realities, one in which he was baptized after the Battle at Wounded Knee, and one in which he was not. In the reality where he accepts the baptism, that event acts as Zachary Hale Comstock's "birth." Booker then allows the parallel universe Elizabeths to drown him, preventing his choice from ever being made and stopping Comstock from ever existing. One by one, the alternate versions of Elizabeth begin to disappear, until only the original remains, and the screen cuts to black. Players are left to decide Elizabeth's fate for themselves.
Epilogue
After the credits roll, Booker is shown waking up in his room on October 8th, 1893, the day he lost Anna. He calls her name before opening her door and looking in at her crib as the screen cuts to black. Whether or not Anna is in the crib is left up to player speculation.
Burial at Sea - Part 1
An unspecified period of time after Booker was drowned, Elizabeth appears in Rapture with her appearance significantly changed: her hair is darker and longer, she wears darker eye make up and deep red lipstick. Her new wardrobe is appropriate for Rapture but she still wears the pendant that was given to her by Booker. It is heavily implied through her dialogue that Elizabeth aged a few years after she and her counter-parts drowned Booker before he could reject or accept the baptism.
After the version of Booker in Rapture has a nightmare Elizabeth walks into his dark office with an offer of work, addressing him only as Mr. Dewitt. She shows him a picture of a young girl named Sally and Booker informs her that she's dead. Elizabeth disagrees, leaving his office confident in the knowledge that Booker will follow.
Booker does and she leads him towards her source, who knows where Sally is. On their way Elizabeth surprises Booker with her knowledge of Sally's case; she knows where she was lost and the fact that she is somehow connected to Booker. However, she is unaware of certain facets of life in Rapture, such as the Little Sisters. When Booker questions her about her interest in Sally or lack of knowledge she bluntly tells him to mind his own business, wishing to maintain a professional distance.
Elizabeth takes Booker to Sander Cohen's show but they are unable to enter without an invitation mask. They then search three stores and Elizabeth provides the distraction. In one store she distracts the owner by flirting, in another she accuses the owner of stealing her dead relatives ring and knocks him to the ground when he grabs her. In a third she feigns ignorant fascination with the gallery's art. Eventually they find the invitation mask and enter Cohen's.
While there, Booker speaks to Cohen to get the information he wants, however the deranged artist remains cryptic and states that artists see more than most, pointedly telling Elizabeth she is more than she appears to be. In exchange for the information, Booker and Elizabeth must dance for Cohen while he paints them. Their dancing however is satisfactory to Cohen and he has them electrocuted, knocking them unconscious.
Cohen deposits them in a bathysphere headed for Fontaine's department store, where he says they will find Sally after Elizabeth wakes Booker. She tells Booker that he was saying his daughter's name in his sleep, but is surprised that he denies Sally is his. After disembarking, Booker asks Elizabeth to call him by his first name, as opposed to Mr. Dewitt, to which Elizabeth coldly refuses. She also confuses Booker with her referring to the Air Grabber as a "Sky-Hook" and her ability to open tears, which she tells him is a plasmid. The two eventually find Sally stuck in a vent because of splicers and she only retreats deeper into the vents when they deal with them. After seeing schematics of the store Elizabeth formulates a plan. By closing all vents but one and turn up the heating, Sally would head to the only escape route and they would be waiting.
Once the vents are closed Booker refuses to turn on the heating because it will hurt Sally. Losing patience Elizabeth does it herself. Their plan works and they find Sally, who has been turned into a Little Sister. While trying to get her out of the vent Booker is attacked by Sally's Big Daddy. Once he is defeated, Booker tries to pull Sally out of the vents forcefully. The parallels between this event and his past trigger Booker's memories.
This Booker recalls that he is actually another version of Comstock. Like his counterparts in most of the Columbia universes, he had the Luteces take Anna from an alternate Booker through a tear. Elizabeth is seen trying to stop this Comstock taking Anna. This Comstock's past diverged from the others when the abduction went horribly wrong. He could not pull Anna all the way through, and instead of losing only part of her pinky, this baby Anna lost her head when the tear closed.
Horrified and guilt ridden, Comstock tattooed the initials AD on his hand and had the Luteces send him to Rapture. He lost his memory of life before Rapture and began a new one as a private investigator, shaving his beard and taking the name Booker Dewitt again.
In the present, Comstock falls to his knees, deeply shaken by the revelation and filled with renewed horror and regret. Elizabeth angrily calls him Comstock and says that the Anna that was killed in the accident and Elizabeth herself were not his to take. The Luteces appear beside her remarking that Comstock always runs away from his problems and steals someone else's life. Comstock tries to apologise to Elizabeth, addressing her as 'child', but she refuses to accept his apology, stating that he is not sorry, but is about to be. Elizabeth scowls as Comstock is impaled by a Big Daddy's drill, splattering her with his blood. Comstock looks at Elizabeth's face as he loses consciousness and dies.
Alternate Elizabeths
There are many versions of Elizabeth in alternate dimensions. Few of them are explored in detail in the game, but those involved were all abducted from their respective fathers by a version of Comstock to become his heir. Several such alternates appeared to help drown Booker before he made the choice to accept or reject the baptism.
Columbia's Heir
With at least one version of Elizabeth, Comstock succeeded and Booker was unable to rescue her. Worn down by months of brainwashing and Booker's failure to save her, Elizabeth succumbed and became the heir Comstock wanted her to be. Elizabeth eventually attacked the surface world in fulfillment of his prophecy, culminating in an attack on New York in 1983 when Elizabeth was 92. However, the aged Elizabeth began to regret her actions and resist her brainwashing. She broke the Siphon and used its power to bring Booker from the past just before he could assault Comstock house.
She explained that he could not defeat Songbird and gave him a message for her alternate younger self so they could control the creature before sending him back through a tear inside the house. This version of Elizabeth assured him it was too late to save her, but he might still save his Elizabeth.
Personality
Elizabeth inviting Booker to dance with her in Battleship Bay.
Despite years of isolation, Elizabeth has a free-willed, almost childlike spirit, demonstrated by her dancing on the beach in Battleship Bay and in her interaction with her surroundings. She is also somewhat mischievous, helping Booker to pick locks and liberate goods if the proper resources are available. She has a biting wit and sarcastic humor, calling Booker out of his missteps without hesitation. At the same time, she possesses an immense amount of reserve and determination, as she is able to focus on her goals and move past stressful situations relatively quickly, though they are still shown to affect her deeply. As the story progresses, however, she matures and starts to become more serious and determined to stop Comstock.
Because the only thing to keep her company in her prison was books, Elizabeth is a fountain of information, ranging from lock-picking to medical treatment. She quotes the King James Bible in Soldier's Field, in reference to the area's true purpose ("Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it") and references the works of Victor Hugo.
Despite her immense intellect, her determination and lack of life experience have made her somewhat reckless, and she does not always think her plans through. For instance, she opens up a Tear to avoid a bee, which nearly results in her and Booker being attacked by Songbird. Furthermore, her frantic and obvious flight from Booker's company in Finkton causes her to be captured by Founder forces, which a more stealthy escape could have avoided. She is also very naive, once she sees the consequences of her actions, however, she matures and regrets her intervention in the Vox's revolution.
Elizabeth greatly dislikes killing, running away from Booker and calling him a monster when he kills the Founder agents that assault them in Battleship Bay. Such is also obvious when she kills Daisy Fitzroy, as she reacts with horror at what she has done before fleeing and locking herself in a room on The First Lady. Throughout the narrative, if Booker executes an enemy near Elizabeth she may groan or exclaim, "Oh my God," at the sight of Booker's gruesome Sky-Hook kills. She may also voice similar revulsion if Booker happens to shoot or melee an enemy in the head (although only if it is a critical hit and their head explodes). However, when released from torture in Comstock House, Elizabeth summons a tornado to kill her tormentors and experiences no guilt or regret at their death. She subsequently decides that she will kill Comstock for what he has done to her, suggesting the harm visited upon her has drastically changed this predisposition.
Once Elizabeth gains full access of her powers she fully matures, as she finally knows the truth behind her origins and Booker's actions. Though deeply saddened by these events, she is driven by the necessity to show Booker the truth for the greater good. Once Booker realizes the true results of his actions, she and other versions of her muster the courage to drown him, ending the existence of Zachary Comstock across time.
In an alternate timeline, one in which Elizabeth succumbed to torture, she is in almost every way identical in personality to Comstock: ruthless, fanatical and jingoistic, she has no qualms with brainwashing children into servitude and using her powers to turn them into weapons. True to Comstock's prophecy, she leads the Founders' attack on New York, bringing down upon it the entirety of Columbia's massive firepower. However, during this time she also repents of her actions, regretting her obedience to Comstock when she realizes it is too late to stop the destruction of the world below.
By the events of Burial at Sea, Elizabeth's personality has matured greatly, probably due to her having aged a few years, as well as her knowledge that the Booker she is helping is actually Comstock. Elizabeth here seems to be motivated mostly, if not soley, on revenge against Comstock. Unlike in Infinite, where she can be heard reacting with horror to Booker's executions with the Sky-Hook, she remains silent, as if acknowledging them despite their brutality. By the end of the episode, it is clear she had been planning to cause Comstock's death, helping him realize his true identity, and allowing him to get impaled by a Big Daddy. The shot the players get at the end of the episode is Comstock's blood on her face, with her showing no reaction: this is a strong contrast to her reaction to killing Daisy Fitzroy.
Powers and Abilities
Elizabeth is gifted with the ability to manipulate Tears, contingencies within the space-time continuum that show possible scenarios which, if tampered with, can enact themselves within Columbia or any universe in particular. Elizabeth is the only person known to be capable of controlling these Tears naturally, and can exploit them to summon objects such as weapons, ammunition or parts of the scenery, as well as living beings. She can also use these Tears to modify time and space, and is able to transport herself and Booker to other timelines and realities. However, her control over her powers is limited by a long distance restraining device called the Siphon, preventing her from transporting herself out of Columbia. Upon the destruction of the Siphon, however, her immense powers reveal themselves: she can view every event across all of the infinite timelines simultaneously, and effortlessly open doorways to them.
For the majority of the game, the source of Elizabeth's powers are a mystery, though Rosalind Lutece speculates in a Voxophone that it may be tied to the loss of her little finger. When Booker relives his memories, it is revealed that when pulling Anna Dewitt through to Comstock's world, the Tear the Luteces engineered closed on her pinkie finger, severing it. With her physical form split across multiple timelines, Anna gained the ability to manipulate the Tears between realities.
Alongside her Tear-manipulating powers, Elizabeth is able to pick almost any lock Booker directs her to, provided she has enough lockpicks to do so. Additionally, she is a talented codebreaker, artist, and singer. By finding Code Books, Elizabeth can crack any message written in the Vox Cipher. She also has a keen eye, and can supply Booker with critical resources in the middle of combat.
Voxophones
Gallery
In-Game Images
Early Images
![An extremely early "mute" prototype for Elizabeth ("Gibson Girl") [5].](/wiki/File:Proto.PNG "Proto.PNG (489 KB)")
.png "Elizabeth (Time 0 07 17;20).png (276 KB)")
Concept and Promotional Art
Behind the Scenes
- When Elizabeth gives Booker an item, such as a health pack or Salts, the player is completely immune to damage while she throws it over. This can be used to strategically dodge instances of high damage, such as the explosion from a Fireman's incendiary grenade.
- Wanted posters, which name her only as "Miss Elizabeth," list some of her specific features.
- Although Elizabeth's right little finger[6] is missing a phalanx bone, in the original trailers and gameplay videos, her little finger is seen intact.
- When Booker first comes face-to-face with Elizabeth in the Library of the Columbia statue the book she is holding is the Odyssey by Homer.
- She was modeled with Autodesk SoftImage (Softimage|XSI)[7] and Zbrush.[8] Her texture was made in Adobe Photoshop.[9]
- Russian cosplayer Anna Moleva was hired as a model for Elizabeth in late 2012 by Irrational Games for her spot-on portrayal of the character.[10]
- After Elizabeth's shirt is damaged enough, one can see that she's already wearing the corset from her late-game dress, which fits with a corset's period use as underwear. It also explains how she was able to change so quickly as she just had to replace her blouse, skirt, and boots. It would have taken her far longer to lace a corset.
- When Booker and Elizabeth first board The First Lady airship, Elizabeth knocks Booker out with a red wrench at the controls of the airship. This is a reference to the melee weapon used by Jack in the first BioShock.
- The original incarnation of Elizabeth from the first gameplay footage (Beta model) makes an appearance at the end, standing to the far left among the multiple Elizabeths/Annas. This may imply that the versions of Columbia and Elizabeth seen in the original trailers could be another full parallel reality.
- Elizabeth will flinch when Booker fires a weapon whilst standing next to her.
- If the player executes an enemy next to Elizabeth she will audibly groan or exclaim in nausea and disgust.
- When Booker ingests alcohol and becomes "drunk," Elizabeth will comment on his state, sometimes questioning his ability to shoot straight while under its influence.
- The epilogue suggests that it takes place in an alternate universe where Booker never went to the baptism, and he raises Anna. Since Comstock is erased from existence, he could never have taken her away from Booker.
- It can also be suggested that this is the Booker DeWitt seen in Burial at Sea's climax, as it is shown that (at least in one case) there was a rogue Comstock, whom Elizabeth had attempted to stop from seizing Anna personally.
- The scene at the first lighthouse after leaving Rapture when Elizabeth exclaims "It's always been there. I just… I just couldn't see it." after the lighthouse key appears is a behind-the-scenes nod to the computer modelling technique where items that a character is holding is actually a part of the model itself, albeit with a transparency of 100%. This is done to avoid problems with movement, planes and textures where the item and the character can clip into each other and generally look unnatural. Here is a video of a developer describing the same technique used in HL2 Episode One between a crowbar, the item, and Barney, the character.
- In BioShock Infinite DLC Burial at Sea - Episode 2, she is the first female playable character in the series.
- According to Shawn Robertson, an Animation Director for Irrational Games, Elizabeth's designs were derived from some of the female leads from Disney animated feature films.
References
- ↑ Hall of Heroes timeline
- ↑ "See the voices of Booker and Elizabeth at PAX" article at IrrationalGames.com
- ↑ "BioShock Infinite" from GameInformer article
- ↑ A Leash
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Little finger on Wikipedia.org
- ↑ Autodesk Softimage on Wikipedia
- ↑ ZBrush on Wikipedia
- ↑ Adobe Photoshop on Wikipedia
- ↑ We love our BioShock cosplayers so much we hired one! article at IrrationalGames.com
| Playable characters in the BioShock series | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jack · Subject Delta (Little Sister · Subject Sigma · Charles Milton Porter · BioShock 2 Multiplayer Characters) · Booker DeWitt (Zachary Hale Comstock · Elizabeth) | ||