The Elizabeths have merged this moment together with all universes, and at the same time have separated it from time. This way they conduct it as a "play", Booker plays Comstock and is killed in his place. In other words Booker is drowned which is then used as the universal ending, for any universe where Booker accepts the baptism as he cannot be drowned by refusing the baptism.
Rendering the image shown at the end as a universe where Booker refused the baptism now the only feasible one, as any Booker who accepts is drowned to death. Anna is a child when Booker awakens as this is the day as shown by the calender on Booker's desk that Anna was sold, thus he returns to this day where his universe is starting anew. An idea left in the air is whether Booker remembers his ordeal, and if Anna exists here or not.
Booker awakens startled in his chair hinting at waking up from a nightmare and immediately calls out Anna's name implying that he's afraid it hasn't worked before cutting to black we see a crib in the corner of the room implying we exist in a universe with Anna.
Otherwise Booker's just a creep with a nursery and no child. A majority of the content within this theory is incorrect, and the explanation which eliminates the need for this theory has already been given above. Elizabeth never states that she must kill Booker before he becomes Comstock. In fact, Comstock is killed in the end of the game, as Booker becomes Comstock while beneath the water. The only change here is that any Booker who accepts the baptism is drowned and never resurfaces.
However, this can be explained with a paradox and the theory that nature will always correct a paradox. If Booker always refused the baptism, he would continue to live and have Anna and would never have to give her up to Comstock. But being that this choice is a variable, Booker choosing to refuse it means there are always universes in which he accepts the baptism and becomes Comstock, resulting in some version of the events of the game.
This includes Elizabeth becoming omnipotent and drowning Booker before the baptism. However, the act of drowning Booker before the baptism means that Elizabeth would no longer have ever existed, and would therefore not have been able to drown him after all. When Booker accepts the baptism, it leads to the series of events that results in Elizabeth becoming all-powerful and drowning him before he even makes the decision. Because of this fact, the choice to accept the baptism creates a paradox, meaning it is not a possibility.
This means that the only possibility allowed by nature is to refuse the baptism, making the refusal no longer a variable, but a constant. Thanks to Elizabeth, no branching universes are created at this point and Booker goes on to raise Anna without her being taken away by an alternate version of himself. The problem with the Paradox Theory listed here is that if there are infinite universes, i. In other words, alternate universes are branching off constantly and at all variable points, instead of the single arbitrary point of whether or not Booker chooses to be baptized.
Only this constant branching could provide infinite post-baptism-refusal Bookers to the Luteces, since universes would need to be branching off constantly based even on Booker's minor decisions. But if Booker's minor decisions after the baptism decision result in the creation of new universes, so do his minor decisions before the baptism. This means that there are an infinite number of Bookers in different universes all go to the river and have a chance to make the baptism decision.
Drowning Booker before he is baptized in one of these, as happens in the ending then eliminates the infinite number of worlds in which that Booker becomes Comstock and in which fire rains from the sky, etc.
Similarly, Elizabeth asks Booker how he deals with all the things he's done shortly after he rescues her and he replies that he just learned to live with them. One of the central themes, then, is whether or not a man can truly leave his sins behind him by participating in a ceremony. Despite being baptised, washed of his sins and born again, Comstock goes on to commit further atrocities despite Wounded Knee "burnt the teepees with the squaws inside" , possibly because he believes himself to be truly another person following the baptism.
However, he remains the same ruthless, cruel man internally. In this sense, then, the drowning death of Booker at the end of the game could be viewed, not as a physical death, but as a metaphysical one where Booker relinquishes the concept that his sins can be washed away solely by the act of baptism without an internal change. Does this Booker have any knowledge of the events in the game, like a bad dream? I think so. Elizabeth asks Booker near the end if he is afraid of God and he answers in the negative.
I'd like to think that Booker has been shown Divine Grace. This idea is purely theoretical and has little or no basis in the facts as presented by the game.
It does however reconcile many of the paradoxical issues that other theories are plagued with. The thought is that the final baptism sequence is a place wholly of Elizabeth's creation and not an actual place within any of the timelines - a place outside of all universes.
This is reinforced by the fact that the people that would have been present for the baptism do not appear in the final sequence. In essence, the final scene is symbolic in nature and not literal. Elizabeth has created a place where drowning one Booker can stand in for killing however many Bookers as is necessary in order to stop the creation of Comstock in all universes.
You could also say that one sacrificial lamb cleanses away the sins Comstocks of all Bookers in all universes. Thus it could then be theorized that only the Bookers who accept the baptism die who's to say how this symbolic drowning would manifest?
They may die soon after or even before the baptism leaving all the Bookers who refuse the baptism to live on - giving us the final scene after the end credits. Bioshock as a series has always been about ideology. Digging below the surface of the first two games reveals distinct references to and discussions about the philosophies of Ayn Rand. Bioshock Infinite takes this idea an entire step further by tackling numerous ideas and philosophies. Namely, Bioshock Infinite includes themes about American Exceptionalism, Absolutism, Objectivism, and the concept of redemption among others.
Booker's first few moments in Columbia are potentially meant to present some overly optimistic caricature of the American dream and one view of the American past. Very, very quickly the game takes a darker turn and soon we see a different side of Columbia.
This time Columbia is a much more pessimistic view of the American dream and the American past, which includes a moment where characters dressed in a way that heavily resembles the Ku Klux Klan shooting "Crows" at Booker. However, both of these views are essentially caricature, and neither of them are entirely true or false, from a certain point of view. They are both two sides of the same coin.
BioShock Infinite, then, reveals itself to be about perception and self image, and uses other thematic elements as a framing reference to approach this central theme.
Initially, the game looks at war and heroism. Booker's assault on Comstock examines how we might might dress up or distort our own pasts to cope with our misdeeds or failures.
The motorized patriots are a symbol for the false effigies of past idols we create and use to justify our actions and beliefs. Infinite goes on to frame it's discussion on perception using themes of class warfare, first exaggerating the atrocities perpetuated on the working class, and then revealing their hypocracies. At no point does the game exempt Booker, and therefore the player, from anything he or she sees. Because Booker worked for the Pinkertons, he is, in a way, guilty of creating the state of places like Finkton.
Because, in one reality, Booker is a hero to the Vox Populi, he is guilty of their crimes as well. Because Booker, in one reality, is also Comstock, he also bears his crimes. BioShock places the burden of responsibility for the entire state of the world on its players and then, in its ending, it explains why this is. Elizabeth and the Luteces explain that reality isn't objective at all, as Rand so strongly asserted. According to BioShock Infinite, there are countless perspectives and views of the same thing and each one is just as real to it's own believer or creator.
Booker was a divided man. He wrestled with the guilt of his past and pondered whether he could ever be cleansed of his sins. The Booker that became Comstock believed that, indeed, we can all be forgiven for what we have done, and forget what came before us.
The Booker that fought Comstock rejected that notion, believing that we have to live with our sins for the rest our lives. Then in the final moments of the game, Booker ends his life drowning in waters in Baptism, finding the space between redemption and damnation. Maybe, the game is asking us to look at both sides of every coin. When Booker DeWitt enters the tear offered by the Luteces, he suffers from a significant trauma - damaging his memory of past events the preceding 20 years of misery, seeing Comstock take his daughter, seeing the Luteces through the unstable rift, etc.
Within a few minutes of this event, Booker's mind has re-aligned to become the 'blank' action hero we need him to be to build our player narrative on top of. Further rift travel effects the mind less and less - possibly the damage is done.
We know how the next part plays out - but one thing may have escaped your notice. Without fail. If Booker is pushed beneath the surface, events conspire to kill him. When you are baptised on first arrival in Columbia, the priest sees you for who you are and drowns you.
Another iteration of Booker avoids that, and we pick up where we left off. When you are escaping from Songbird for the first time and fall into the bay, you die. Again, a new iteration of Booker takes up the story. When we push Comstock's head into the font on his ship, dead. Somewhere, another Comstock doesn't get drowned there - we never see that story, but I wouldn't fall asleep in the bath if I were that guy. What she can do is reflexively move to the nearest, living Booker to continue her at this point unconscious mission.
In the final scenes, where the Annas come together to drown the successful DeWitt, I see two possible resolutions. Either this represents a group of deities trying to explain to a monotemporal being what they are doing - all the DeWitts who enter the waters will die; or that is where all the successful DeWitts go when their mission is complete.
Comstock must be eliminated, and any DeWitt who has crossed path with Comstock must sadly perish; this would indicate that there are considerably fewer Comstock actors than DeWitt actors - considering the vast amount of effort, chance and energy required to engineer the Comstock future this seems likely.
The DeWitt we see at the end is the DeWitt the Annas have been working towards - in his life, he did not get baptised. None of the Comstock universes ever invaded his to steal his Anna remember, considerably fewer Comstock universes and he was not required to complete the Comstock elimination event chain. No Rapture, no Columbia. They happened.
Killing the Booker who lives in an alternate universe 20 years after the baptism won't do a thing to the Comstock would-be at the baptism. But since all almost all?
Some effect did take place. This idea also gives reason to Booker waking up at the end of credit. Another question that bugged me was: "What happened when Booker crossed the tear for the first time when the Luteces came to pick him up in their raincoats? Back to topic, when Booker first crossed a tear for the "first time", he fainted and fell down on the floor I personally cannot determine whether he did cross the tear.
But that is again off-topic. To make some sense of this we have to answer one more question. He opens the door and back into the game he goes. Booker accepts the baptism and is ' born again ' as Comstock. The crucial split occurs here. Comstock and Booker both reflect on their actions at Wounded Knee though nobody remembers Comstock being there since he assumed a new identity, Comstock reflects on his time at Wounded Knee in one of his Voxophone voice records.
Source: "My detailed ending explanation. The idea behind the multiverse is the idea that for every decision that is made, an infinite number of universes will come into existence that explores every possible outcome of that decision. In this game, that crucial decision is the point where Booker decides to meet Father Witting to be baptized of his sins in the war. Here, Booker decides to either refuse the baptism, upon which he remains Booker DeWitt, or accepts it, upon which he becomes Zachary Hale Comstock.
Now, while it is clear that there are two distinct characters that emerge from this event, what about the Booker right before the choice is made?
This Booker can be considered to be simultaneously Booker and Comstock until his decision is made. This idea stems from the principle of the Shrodinger's Cat thought experiment. Booker, right at this moment, is about to make the decision on whether to continue on with the baptism or not.
The decision is right before him, and there are two possible outcomes: one in which he refuses the baptism and remains Booker DeWitt, and the other in which he accepts the baptism and becomes Zachary Hale Comstock. To the best of my reckoning, Alishock has it perfectly correct. User Info: SenseOffender.
SenseOffender, you arent the brightest knife in the crayon box More topics from this board How do I switch vigors? Side Quest 2 Answers Can any one list the chapters in order? Main Quest 2 Answers How many silver eagles can your wallet hold? Build 4 Answers Where can i find the season pass items? Side Quest 3 Answers What are the 8 Vigor combinations?
Build 3 Answers. Ask A Question. Browse More Questions. Keep me logged in on this device. Forgot your username or password? User Info: spikethedevil spikethedevil 7 years ago 1 Die in the ending? In the end when your at the place where you earlier refused the baptism and moved on, you have a conversation with Elizabeth I'm not going into detail on what they are talking about. After the conversation More Elizabeths start to apear. They then grab your hands and drown you.
The devs knew it was a time paradox and that's why it's called infinite. As soon as you end the game and have "killed" Comstock it creates another parallel universe.
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Learn more. How does the ending fix anything? Ask Question. Asked 8 years, 7 months ago. Active 3 years, 7 months ago. Viewed 39k times. I don't understand the final "baptism" scene. How can it have any effect on how the story ends? Improve this question. BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Not to mention the inconsistencies between Booker and Comstock. Booker saw what happened in Columbia, and that by treating the "Negroes" badly, it will uninevitably lead to Columbia's downfall.
Had Comstock walked the same path, he would've abused them only for as long as necessary and thus avoided the catastrophy altogether. I therefore have difficulties believing that Booker's death was necessary as well. I didn't even know Infinite had an ending. Thanks for spoiling that for me. Related: I don't understand the ending of Bioshock: Infinite!
Show 9 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. Note: This answer contains spoilers. Before you make that choice, you're "PreBaptismBooker" When you back out of the baptism, you follow path '0' and becomes NoBaptismBooker0.
Improve this answer. Shaun Shaun Great answer, the visual aid helps too. But now I've read "Booker" so many times it's lost all meaning. Words are weird. Alex " Words are weird. I just finished the game. This is by far the best answer I could find anywhere. Incredible explanation.
Allowing Elizabeth to kill him is itself a decision, is it not? And, thus, there would be a branch there, creating a slightly different infinite tree of "Comstock universes"? KevinMills just don't think too hard.
Add a comment. At the end of BS:I there are at least 3 parallel Bookers Booker who accepted the baptism, blacked out his past, ended up as racist nutjob Comstock. Player Booker who arrives in Columbia in time to save Elizabeth.
Keith Keith 5, 12 12 gold badges 48 48 silver badges 70 70 bronze badges. But the Booker we played was the one that was drowned Lutece So, throughout the game, we see instances of Booker's memories getting rewritten, as well as some other people.
Community Bot 1. I believe this is because: Comstock-Booker obviously changed his name after the baptism, from Booker which was his name when he was at these battles to Comstock. Adam Adam 4 4 bronze badges. Actually Comstock gets Fink to sabotage the Lutece device and kill both Robert and Rosalind at the same time, but it fails and they become "scattered" across all universes at once. What you're thinking of is when Robert comes across from Booker's universe to Comstock's and the disorientation and hemorrhaging he experiences because of it I believe the first time he came across physically was during the scene where baby Anna loses her finger.
Jacob Soden Jacob Soden 1 1 1 bronze badge. Keeping in mind, the game is based around both alternate realities AND time travel. The reason that drowning Booker then is relevant is because of the timings. Michael Hothersall Michael Hothersall 1 1 1 bronze badge. Booker 1 accepts the baptism and becomes Commstock.
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