- For the character in There's Something in the Sea, see Jeremiah Lynch.
- “What is the most admirable creature on God's green Earth? Why, it's the bee! Have you ever seen a bee on vacation? Have you ever seen a bee take a sick day? Well, my friends, the answer is no! So I say, be… the bee! Be the bee!”
- ― Fink's personal creed[src]
Jeremiah Fink is one of the richest and most powerful men in Columbia. He is the founder, president, and principal 'inventor' of the Fink Manufacturing conglomerate. He is also the host of the annual Columbia Independence Day event known as "The Raffle."
History
Fink is the man in the hat.
Jeremiah Fink is an unscrupulous businessman with a manufacturing monopoly within Columbia. Through his sponsorship of the work of others using persuasive monopolization, such as R.J. Pickwick's Sky-Hook invention, and his close support of Zachary Hale Comstock, Fink has become one of the wealthiest industrialists in Columbia. Fink became a powerful member of the Founders party, able to pay off the police and militia when needed. At some point, he became a father to a son.
On August 12, 1894, Fink became even more powerful when he learned of the Tears occurring throughout Columbia from his brother, Albert. Jeremiah was skeptical of the Tears until he realized the profits that could be produced when Albert made a fortune by plagiarizing the music emitted from the Tears and selling them as his own. Fink took the opportunity to obtain advanced technology and science observed through the Tears to expand his company's inventions. Many of the technologies Fink obtained came from the underwater city of Rapture, which existed in a different timeline. He briefly collaborated with Dr. Yi Suchong of Rapture, trading technology between Tears. Fink ordered "underwater expeditions" to Rapture's location, to obtain ADAM for Columbia's Vigors. Fink's and Suchong's collaboration created additional devices and technologies, such as the Big Daddies and the Songbird.
Fink was later approached by Comstock and hired to kill Robert and Rosalind Lutece by sabotaging the device they used to travel between realities. As a reward, following their elimination, Fink was given ownership of the Luteces' patents.[1] The Luteces did not cease to exist due to his interference but became capable of existing across multiple dimensions.
BioShock Infinite
- Main article: BioShock Infinite
When Booker DeWitt first encounters Fink, he is hosting the 1912 Columbian Secession Day Raffle. During the Raffle, as Booker is to throw a baseball at an interracial couple on stage (or at Fink, depending on the player's choice), Fink and the Police notice the "AD" brand on Booker's hand and identify him as the prophesied "False Shepherd."
When Booker and Elizabeth travel to Finkton to get weapons for the Vox Populi, Fink is waiting for them, having already taken gunsmith Chen Lin to the Good Time Club for interrogation. Jeremiah offers Booker a job as head of his security and sends several waves of enemies to attack Booker as a way of "evaluating" his skills for the job. Booker rejects his offer, which angers Fink. Just before the start of the “test”, Fink mentions that he knows Booker had been a Pinkerton Agent at one time.
Fink's death at the hands of Fitzroy.
Through the use of Tears, Booker and Elizabeth travel to a reality where the Vox Populi have received large numbers of weapons and are revolting against Fink, resulting in a battle at his Factory. The Vox Populi overwhelm Fink Manufacturing, and Fink himself is cornered by Daisy Fitzroy. Booker and Elizabeth arrive in time to witness Fitzroy shooting Fink in the head, executing him in front of his own son. The child is then held hostage with Daisy fully intent on killing him. Booker and Elizabeth manage to save the boy and kill Daisy in the process. After being killed, Fink was scalped by the Vox Populi and the scalp was transported to the Port Prosperity Station, where it was nailed to a board with other Founder scalps.
Burial at Sea - Episode 1
- Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 1
Jeremiah Fink doesn't actually make an appearance in Episode One of Burial at Sea, but is mentioned. In Yi Suchong's audio diary Observation 33, Suchong says he has caught Fink in the act, stealing and turning Suchong's Plasmids into Columbia's Vigors. Suchong decides in turn to use Fink's idea of adding an oxidizing agent to make ADAM products drinkable and presents it to Andrew Ryan and Rapture society, as an alternative for those who can't handle being injected with needles.
Burial at Sea - Episode 2
- Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 2
Fink and his son held hostage by Daisy.
Fink returns in Episode Two of Burial at Sea, this time seen captured by Daisy Fitzroy. Fitzroy is seen talking to the Luteces about how she would pretend to threaten Fink's son, sacrificing herself to meet the ends of the Luteces. It is apparent from Fink's laboratories that he collaborated heavily with Yi Suchong, trading technology and ideas through Tears. Fink and Suchong both worked together to create the Big Daddies and the Songbird. After discovering how to achieve the bonding process between a child and their protector, Fink decided to cut ties with the Rapture doctor believing he could accomplish more working on his own than he could working with Suchong.[2]
Personality
A different view of the giant Fink statue.
Fink is the typical turn-of-the-century capitalist: Vain, cunning, and opportunistic, he owns nearly every successful business in Columbia and is possibly the richest man in the city. He is also very manipulative, using exploitative business practices upon his employees' work hours and pay. Instead of paying his workers in Silver Eagles, he pays in Fink Tokens, only valid at the Fink Company store. Many of his workers are homeless and starving, living in a Shantytown below the main factory.
Fink himself is a very charismatic man, hosting the annual Raffle and is seemingly popular among the upper-class people. This extends only to supporters of the Founders — the Vox Populi and its supporters see Fink as an enemy and a target of their anger.
The voxophone A Product Like Any Other reveals that Fink does not care for Comstock's prophecies, but more of how he can benefit from using the prophecy. Fink cares little for the well-being of his employees, so much that his own variation on Social Darwinism views industry as an organization similar to nature, made up of lions (leaders), cattle (workers) and hyenas (tricksters who only seek to "rile up the cattle"). Fink likewise labels himself and Booker as lions, his workers as cattle, and Daisy Fitzroy and the Vox Populi as hyenas.
The Private Quarters of Jeremiah Fink must be accessed in Episode 2 of the downloadable content Burial at Sea. Fink's living spaces reflect his obsessive compulsive tendencies as well as a drinking problem. According to his Voxophone, No Profit for the Prophets, Fink is an atheist, claiming he's seen more "evidence to the contrary than in support" of the existence of God. His relationship with Comstock could be explained as a simple deception to further his greed, as suggested in his Voxophone in the main game A Product Like Any Other. That Voxophone also suggests that Comstock is reliant on Fink for goods, which could be an explanation why Comstock would keep close ties to a faithless person. The Voxophone Solution to Your Problems also suggests that Comstock is at least somewhat aware he is deceiving his followers and collaborates with Fink to further his own agenda.
Voxophones
BioShock Infinite
Burial at Sea - Episode 2
Video
Gallery
Concept Art and Models
In-Game Images
Behind the Scenes
- Fink is portrayed by voice actor Bill Lobley, who also voices Stanley Poole in BioShock 2 and Lonnie in Burial at Sea - Episode 2.
- Fink's use of Fink Tokens to pay his employees corresponds to similar practices common in early 20th century America, brought on by the Industrial Revolution.
- He seems to be based on early American industrialists, such as George Pullman, who also paid his workers in tokens worthless outside the company town, and Henry Frick, who hired Pinkerton agents to quell their worker strikes — this is paralleled by Fink trying to hire Booker, an ex-Pinkerton agent, as his head of security.
- Fink strongly resembles Bill "the Butcher" Cutting, a character inspired by William Poole, portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in the movie Gangs of New York[3] Aside from his appearance, Bill shares a similar utter lack of mercy towards foreigners, his persuasion as a businessman, and influential leader of his Ultra-Nationalist party. More notably, Fink's Top hat and Bill's belt feature the exact styled patriotic stripes.
- Fink's statues in Finkton do not resemble the character's face, which appears to be a much older man with a rounder face and large sideburns. This might have been an earlier model of Fink revised as his statue.
- On the board of scalps in Port Prosperity in Emporia, it can be seen that Fink supposedly has gray/white patches of hair. Strangely, these areas are never visible. It is possible that the scalp used was from an older version of Fink before a revision (much like the model used for the gold statues).
- The type of hat that Fink is seen wearing is called a "Top Hat" and is also called a "Stovepipe" Hat. This style of hat was common with diplomats, politicians, bankers and the rich from the middle of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th.
- Fink's portrait appears to be directly inspired by a photograph of an unknown Edwardian gentleman. The slight modifications include the direction of the eyes, the addition of sideburns, a bushier mustache, and a different shirt collar.
- The July 6th Raffle poster was not only inspired by James Montgomery Flagg's famous poster of Uncle Sam, but it also reuses the actual arm.
References
- ↑ Based on the following exchange:
Fink: "And if I do this, this uh… sabotage… all their patents…?"
Mansfield: "All of them, Mister Fink."
BioShock Infinite Walkthrough - Part 24: Lutece Labs / Bank of the Prophet *SPOILERS* on YouTube - ↑ Table Scraps
- ↑ Gangs of New York on Wikipedia