Elizabeth Comstock

Elizabeth is the deuteragonist of BioShock Infinite, Burial at Sea - Episode 1, and the protagonist of Burial at Sea - Episode 2. She is a 19 to 20 year old woman who has been imprisoned in the flying city of Columbia since she was an infant and who Booker DeWitt is sent to retrieve and bring to New York City unharmed. She is guarded by Songbird, a monstrous, winged creature who was both her keeper and only friend during childhood. However, 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. When Booker frees her from her tower on Monument Island, the Founders, Zachary Hale Comstock, and Songbird are all determined to recapture her at any cost. Across BioShock Infinite and Burial at Sea Elizabeth has three primary outfits, all of which become more torn and worn as the story progresses. 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 interactions 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 on 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 were 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 also 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 violence, especially killing. Being sequestered in her tower for so long, she has no precedent regarding such real-world ordeals. She runs away from Booker calling him a monster when he kills the Founder agents that ambush them in Battleship Bay. Throughout the narrative, Elizabeth will flinch when Booker fires a weapon whilst standing next to her. If he 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). When she kills Daisy Fitzroy, she reacts in stunned horror at what she has done before fleeing and locking herself in a room on The First Lady. However, when released from torture in Comstock House, Elizabeth summons a tornado to kill her captors and shows no guilt or regret for their deaths. 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 people into servitude and using her powers to turn them into monsters, as is the case with the Boys of Silence. True to Comstock's prophecy, she leads the Founders' attack on New York City, bringing down upon it the entirety of Columbia's massive firepower. However, during this time she also repents her actions, regretting her obedience to Comstock when she realizes it is too late to stop the destruction of the world below. Elizabeth's relationship with Booker is complex. Initially suspicious of his motives, Elizabeth grows to trust him, although this trust is shaken several times, such as after seeing Booker kill for the first time, and later when she realizes his promise of taking her to Paris was a lie. In Burial at Sea - Episode 1, Elizabeth's personality has matured greatly. Her attitude has grown much colder with little regard for being very polite, and she is motivated solely on executing 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 at her partner's killings, as if acknowledging them despite their brutality. She is also bitter towards the world of Rapture, judging it no different than Columbia in its violence and abuse of innocent people. Elizabeth is noticeably more ruthless; helping Comstock remember his past while also leading him to his death and bearing little remorse for doing so. In Burial at Sea Episode 2, Elizabeth had felt guilty for her actions putting Sally in danger, causing her to return to Rapture to undo her mistakes. Without her powers, she becomes more worried and insecure. While she does not express remorse regarding Comstock's fate, her mind creates a companion in Booker - an idealised version of the man she remembers from their first meeting in Columbia; she later refers to him as having been her only friend. Elizabeth seemed to care little for her life; this is especially noticeable when she accepts her lobotomy from Atlas with indifference and - during their final confrontation - openly encourages Atlas to end her life. Elizabeth is shown to care a great deal about Sally; sacrificing her Tear-manipulating powers, putting her life in danger, and eventually accepting her death in order to save the girl. In the end, Elizabeth dies content, knowing that Sally and the other Little Sisters will eventually be saved by Jack.