History Fridge / BioshockInfinite

* The fact there's an infinite number of alternate versions of people running around has a habit of causing {{Psychic Nosebleed}}s when through a paradox in time and space, they suddenly retain memories from a different version of themselves that they never actually lived through personally. This actually happens to Booker multiple times, but it's only pointed out after you get Elizabeth and it's fairly obvious what caused it. But wasn't there a moment where Booker got a nosebleed before he even got to Monument Island? Back when he was being confronted by Comstock in the form of a static image while he shouted down on him from the loud speakers. But why the nosebleed? Perhaps he remembered experiencing this moment before, only it was different...[[VideoGame/BioShock1 it was a different city, a different man shouting at him, and instead of calling his army off he was siccing it upon him]]. But surely it's just a ContinuityNod, like being dropped off at the lighthouse at the beginning, right? It couldn't be anything that intentional. [[GainaxEnding But then again, I seriously doubt it's anything so simple as mere fan service]].

** [[spoiler: Booker is able to save the world from Comstock only by being drowned in every universe where he's baptized. In other words, he saves the world by ''dying for our sins''. which religious figure did the same thing. Hint: the Preacher who baptizes Booker says his name]].

* It seems weird that women are so equal in Columbia when one would expect it to be a far more chauvinistic society. There is, however, some historical backing for this. One of the arguments for women's suffrage is that it would help keep white protestants in control. Considering how Comstock needs as much support he can get, he probably didn't need to hear any more.[[spoiler:When you consider how Comstock also selected his successor to be a woman and that having women active in society would help people get used to that, this was probably a no-brainer for him]].

* After Booker's initial dumbstruck reaction to first seeing Columbia, as well as his admission to Elizabeth that he had never heard of the city before taking on the job, the line "I don't keep up on current events" might seem a bit of an asspull from the writers in order to preserve the wonder of experiencing a new city firsthand...until you find out that Booker [[spoiler: is actually an alternate reality version of Comstock, the 'Prophet' of Columbia, and that in his reality the city never existed because he himself never founded it]].

* [[spoiler:If you think about it, Elizabeth has some elements of the Big Daddy/Little Sister relationship as well. She's acting like a normal person would behave if they were guarded by a Big Daddy, and not some's been brainwashed like a Little Sister. But a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent during Songbird's death is that of a Little Sister mourning the loss of her Big Daddy. So when songbird dies, how much of Elizabeth's reaction is due to StockholmSyndrome and how much is genuine]]?
* At the very start of the game, you're shown a quote about a mind struggling to fill in memories. You don't realize it at the time, but this is exactly what Booker is doing...and what ''the player'' is doing, trying to piece together Booker's backstory.

* From what we saw in the first of ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'', Booker is travelling in a boat along with a lighthouse-like structure to (supposedly), get to Columbia in the sky. Since the first game was set in an underwater world, the opening of the with each other. The first game started on a plane and then goes to the ocean, where Infinite starts in the water and goes into the sky.

** [[spoiler:All the [=DeWitts=] are arranged alphabetically in order of plot importance: '''A'''nna (Elizabeth, the MacGuffinGirl), '''B'''ooker (the PlayerCharacter), and '''C'''omstock (the BigBad)]]. [[spoiler:Incidentally, the player's Booker is the [=123rd=] iteration pulled in by the Luteces, judging by Robert's tally of the coin-flip]].

* Thematically and progression-wise, Bioshock Infinite is the exact opposite of the original game. The initial levels of Bioshock seem to be nothing more than just an exceptionally good sci-fi horror game, but as you get deeper, and start collecting more and more audio logs, the curtain peels back and the game becomes a fascinating and twisted study on scientific morality, the practical viability of objectivism, class inequality and how the exceptionalist attitude projected by most in the city would ultimately lead to their demise. Throughout the game, you are allowed to make morality choices that ultimately affect your ending, and while the decisions you are given seem very black or white, in the context of the story, there's a lot of room for grey. On the other hand, Infinite seems to be making very obvious but superficial negative commentaries on Columbia's social dissonance (i.e. racism is obviously bad, social inequality is obviously bad, etc.) and the choices in this game are much more cut and dry in terms of "right" and "wrong". However, as you move deeper into the game, the layers peel back and reveal the time travel and dimension-hopping elements of the game which become more important than the social commentary. The choices you make in this game ultimately don't affect your ending. Bioshock Infinite, at its core, is just an excetionally good sci-fi game that disguised its true nature by heaping on deliberately heavy handed morality early in the game.

** [[spoiler: In the end, it doesn't actually matter which brooch. Unlike the original BioShock, where player choices were important to determining the ending, the choices in BioShockInfinite are only there to give the ''illusion'' that player decisions impact the story, again playing with the idea of predestination, states of existence, and decision-based multiverses. Some players will put lots of symbolic consideration into a decision that will ultimately mean nothing more than a tiny cosmetic change for Elizabeth.]]

* As you first arrive on ''The Hand Of The Prophet,'' Comstock tells Elizabeth (over the PA system) that she clearly knows that there's something weird about Booker but "can't quite put your finger on it". Quite apart from the fact that it sounds like a cheeky hint as to [[spoiler: Booker being the cause of Elizabeth's missing finger]], this isn't the first time someone in the Bioshock series has used this particular turn of phrase: [[spoiler: Andrew Ryan in the first game, hinting at Jack's true origins]].

* A lot of criticism has been aimed at the fact that Elizabeth lets herself become mortal [[spoiler: and sacrifices herself]] just so she can save Sally and the rest of the Little Sisters. But was it really just about saving Sally? No; she did everything she did because [[spoiler: it lead to Jack eventually bringing down Fontaine. Remember Fontaine's admitted goals in the first ''Bioshock'': he eventually wanted to [[TakeOverTheWorld return to the surface with his new empire]]. At worst he would have subjugated the world with an army of jacked-up (if mentally unstable) super humans. At best, he would have put ADAM on the market and [[CrapsackWorld turned the surface into a copy of Rapture]]. Much like Booker saw a future where Columbia ended up destroying the surface, Elizabeth likely saw a future where Fontaine brought ADAM to the surface and caused a decline in society like what happened in Rapture]]. The parallels are even more obvious when you compare them to [[spoiler: the revelation that Daisy Fitzroy demonized and sacrificed herself to eventually bring Comstock's end]]: this was bigger than saving just the Little Sisters, [[spoiler: this was about ''[[SavingTheWorld saving the entire world]]]]''.

* Given that ''Literature/BioshockRapture'' makes a reference [[spoiler:to a Comstock mining empire]] existing in the Rapture timeline at some point in the early 1900s, it opens up the possibility that [[spoiler:not ''every'' Comstock was wiped from the multiverse. That there are universes where Comstock neither had the clout, influence nor support from the Luteces but nonetheless successful enough to run his own business.]] This could explain why Rapture still exists [[spoiler:even though Comstock is "erased."]]

* On the [[Headscratchers/BioshockInfinite headscratchers tab]].

* Hey, remember how, no matter how long you took to track her down, Daisy still hadn't killed Fink Jr.? Remember how she monologued at Booker, gesturing dramatically with her gun? She spends most of the game being extremely pragmatic, except for this one point. This is because she knows she has to be killed by Liz.

** Not just [[spoiler: like him, but sometimes ''even worse'': some in these theocratic movements also support restricting freedom of speech, outlawing/criminalizing all non-Christian religions, "corrective" therapy for gay people and "loose" women, and some even advocate ''reinstating segregation''. '''In the 21st century.''']]

* A sign near the beginning describes Comstock as the profit leading people to Eden, not Heaven. Eden is ultimately a place of ignorance, devoid of knowledge, and a fable metaphorically describing childhood. Becoming an adult means leaving ignorance behind, and the price is accepting death.

** The advertisement for the Possession vigor reads "Any stallion can be tamed." It initially seems to refer to the vigor's ability to possess machines (given Columbia's automaton horses), but when you realize that you can upgrade it to possess people, the phrase takes on a portentous double meaning. Booker only uses it to possess enemies to fight for him, but given the "love" imagery surrounding Possession, who's to say that civilians don't use it as a LovePotion to "tame" attractive people and bring them under their thrall? In fact, a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2vZBafoR-E kinetoscope]] in the ''Clash in the Clouds'' DLC cheerfully confirms its use a rape drug.

* Of the various events that allow you make a choice, some expire after a set period of time. Invariably, if you let the choice expire, you end up with a worse outcome than if you make the "wrong" choice. If you wait too long to either pelt the couple in the beginning, you lose out on a gear later in the game [[LostForever (and you can't get it by any other means.)]] If you wait to long to either draw on the ticket clerk in the Arcade or demand your ticket, you get stabbed in the hand for your trouble. That seems a strange feature, but if you think about it, it fits the a theme established in all of the games: the importance of choice. No matter what choice you make, the important thing is to choose. Regardless of the outcome, it's always better than agonizing over making the right choice.

* There are (at the moment) 4 [[BlingBlingBang Gold Weapon variants]] that were be acquirable by pre-ordering the game and the DLC. Comstock's China Broom, Comstock's Bird's Eye, Comstock's Broadsider, and Comstock's Triple R. But Comstock is never seen with them and Booker gets a damage buff while using them. [[spoiler: Booker is Comstock's Alternate universe self]].

* When Elizabeth bargains with the Songbird for Booker's life, why does is take her to Comstock house instead of Monument Island when she says that she'll let it take her home? Because you're still in the world where Elizabeth was moved to Comstock house and Booker was a martyr of the Vox Populi.

* Early in the game when going through the hall of heroes Elizabeth remarks that she has read about how Comstock fought at Wounded Knee. To which Slate angrily shouts "COMSTOCK WASN'T THERE!" It's more complicated than that, though: After the battle of Wounded Knee, [[spoiler:Booker turned to baptism to assuage himself of his guilt and PTSD, but whether he goes through with it or not is what creates Comstock. However, it is telling that if he does get baptized and is born anew without sin]], he goes on to create the Hall of Heroes which feature him as the glorified hero of those battles. And yet Booker, who [[spoiler:refused baptism and wasn't absolved of his guilt]], instead insists he's no hero for his deeds and doesn't even want to ''talk'' about his involvement in the Boxer Rebellion or Wounded Knee. Once again, however, Comstock did the exact ''opposite'' of repenting. By attempting to take credit for Wounded Knee and repeating his actions at Peking, he's shown he's utterly ''unrepentant'' for his actions. He's actively trying to turn his vices into virtues. [[spoiler: Booker, who genuinely repents of his deeds at Wounded Knee but can't see baptism washing away the sin, later drowns and is reborn in new life]].

* Why do the Negro Workmen in Battleship Bay have the same model? Daisy Fitzroy said in recordings that when she was on the run from Comstock she used her race to blend in, because to the guards, they all looked the same.

** R.E.M.'s "Shiny Happy People." A big-band version is played on a phonograph on a platform by the gondola to Port Prosperity. Fitting, as it was previously where the Lutece Twins (who are rather cheerful folks utilizing "shiny" quantum powers) were holding hands while dancing. Not to mention the original song by R.E.M. was inspired by a Chinese Propaganda poster.

** Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". Comes up a few times from a cameo, Elizabeth singing it, and a Fink record. Its fair to say that this could be considered representation of Comstock's desires to rain fire from the skies with Elizabeth. It could also be [[spoiler: interpreted that, at some point in space and time, everybody has a desire to rule or reign. Comstock is Booker, it's clear he wants to rule. Eventually Elizabeth gives in and follows up to Comstock's wishes, and Daisy went mad while ruling the Vox Populi and now wants to take over everything for herself]].

** "God Only Knows (What I'd Be Without You)". After all the time and space shenanigans, what would Booker be without Elizabeth? What would Elizabeth be without Booker? God only knows. We eventually find out what each would be without the other. Booker, after losing Elizabeth, falls into the bottle for years in an attempt to forget selling his daughter. Elizabeth, without Booker, becomes Comstock's heir who reigns death on the future New York.

* The comment that people brought back from other realities have conflicting memories about what happened in the other reality? That applies to YOU THE PLAYER. Every time you respawn you have memories of another reality where you got killed. From an ingame perspective, this would be identical to what those [=NPC=]s are feeling, there are memories where things went horribly wrong and you died, but then again, things didn't go that way , you survived.

* Initially, I was confused as to why the game is called [=BioShock=] "Infinite". Then I remembered Elizabeth and her powers. [[spoiler: "Infinite" refers to the infinite multiverse that [=BioShock=] takes place in]].

* Rosalind seems markedly less inclined to emotion or empathy than Robert is, more fatalistic, pessimistic, etc. She is also content to [[spoiler:exist forever outside of time and space as a bewildering demi-god, whilst Robert would evidently prefer to give up their powers in exchange for a normal life and the possibility of having children, according to one of the voxaphones.]] At first glance this looks like a simple case of playing against audience expectations, making the female the less empathetic, but on further consideration it does indeed make sense to have Rosalind be far more bitter and cynical than her male counterpart. This is a time period where a pair of women you pass by on the boardwalk are discussing how distasteful it is that their friend has a ''job''. Rosalind not only has a job, but has unlocked the secrets of an entire new subcategory of physics. And where Robert could expect to be praised for his work, Rosalind more likely often met with derision or even outright dismissal in regards to the very same scientific discoveries. Her indifferent attitude and self-centric goals are thus a logical result of the oppressive society in which she was raised, and not merely a set of arbitrary distaff traits meant to counter Robert's idealism.

* Rosalind seems markedly less inclined to emotion or empathy than Robert is, more fatalistic, pessimistic, etc. She is also content to [[spoiler:exist outside of time and space as a bewildering demi-god, whilst Robert would evidently prefer to give up their powers in exchange for a normal life and the possibility of having children, according to one of the voxophones.]] At first glance this looks like a simple case of playing against player expectations, making the female the less empathetic of the two, but on further consideration it does indeed make sense to have Rosalind be far more bitter and cynical than Robert. This is a time period where a pair of women you pass by on the boardwalk are discussing how distasteful it is that their friend has a ''job''. Rosalind, meanwhile, not only has a job, but has unlocked the secrets of an entire new subcategory of theoretical physics. And where Robert could expect to be amply praised for this sort of work, Rosalind likely often met derision or even outright dismissal when trying to present the very same discoveries to the very same scientific groups of her world. Her indifferent attitude and self-centric goals are thus a logical result of the society in which she was raised, and not merely a case of arbitrary distaff traits to counter Robert's idealism.

* Rosalind seems markedly less inclined to emotion or empathy than Robert is, more fatalistic, pessimistic, etc. She is also content to [[spoiler:exist outside of time and space as a bewildering demi-god, whilst Robert would evidently prefer to give up their powers in exchange for a normal life and the possibility of having children, according to one of the voxophones.]] At first glance this looks like a simple case of playing against player expectations, making the female the less empathetic of the two, but on further consideration it does indeed make sense to have Rosalind be far more bitter and cynical than Robert. This is a time period where a pair of women you pass by on the boardwalk are discussing how distasteful it is that their friend has a ''job''. Rosalind, meanwhile, not only has a job, but has unlocked the secrets of an entire new subcategory of theoretical physics. And where Robert could expect to be amply praised for this sort of work, Rosalind likely often met derision or even outright dismissal when trying to present the very same discoveries to the very same scientific groups of her world. Her indifferent attitude and self-centric goals are thus a logical result of the society in which she was raised, and not merely a case of arbitrary distaff traits to contrast Robert's idealism.