Something I don't get about Bioshock Infinite's ending.

I just finished this game, and I've managed to tie together most of what the ending was trying to convey. I still don't understand one thing [SPOILER]: If Elizabeth kills the Booker you played the whole game as, then doesn't that mean that she kills a Booker who chose not to be baptised? If she kills a Booker who becomes the broke guy and not Comstock, doesn't that mean she isn't born at all? How does the theory that she kills every Comstock work when she really kills the unbaptised Booker?

Also, it's quite clear that the Elizabeth who drowns you isn't the one who you saved and the one who takes you into the Sea of Doors because she's missing that pendant and Booker clearly says "Wait, you're not..." or something similar. What happens to the nice Elizabeth we just saved and why does a random Elizabeth kill the player's Booker off?

Dude..... The reason Mr. Levine chose Quantum Physics and Time Traveling his so he can get away with all those plot holes..... And I couldve sworn Elizabeth always wore my pendant.

Here's another problem for you: why would killing Booker in *his* past have any effect on Comstock, when player-Booker and Comstock-Booker are from distinctly different universes?

The baptism didn't create two different universes/timelines/whatever. The two different universes existed long before Booker's choice - as evidenced by those scientist twins being different sexes.

So shouldn't Elizabeth be going off into Comstock's past and killing *that* alternate-universe-Booker instead of player-Booker? That's the only Booker that we ever see becoming Comstock!

Also, the popular "Elizabeth is closing the loop by killing Booker" doesn't really work for the same reason.

But hey, we could go on for hours about ways in which Infinite's plot conpletely falls apart...

@Planeforger

Yep..... And the gameplay issues are almost just as long.

She kills Booker at the fork in the road between baptism (Comstock) and going home and getting drunk (Booker). It doesn't matter which Elizabeth is killing which Booker, only that she's killing him at the point of divergence before he can make up his mind about the baptism. As he says, at that point in time, and only that point in time, he is neither Booker nor Comstock, but "both." Keep in mind that Elizabeth has become the Mommy of space and time by that point. You aren't dealing with Elizabeth and Booker from the game anymore, you're dealing with something closer to Platonic Forms of those characters, likely as soon as they end up in the Sea of Doors.

That being said, the post-credits scene removes any thread of consistency they had, because, as you said, Elizabeth should not have been born had the loop been closed--unless they failed to close the loop, which isn't any less detrimental to what they were going for.

Good explanation.

Or maybe, seeing as how broken off this Booker and Elizabeth had been from laws of time and space, I guess Elizabeth managed to keep herself alive somehow, and Booker got to keep his memories, and back in the past, on the day of the deal, he gets memories of everything that occurred on Columbia. That is why he runs so madly towards the crib, to see if he has absolved his mistake or not.

But that would still mean Elizabeth shouldn't be in the crib, because there is only one Elizabeth in existence, the one who broke off from time and space, and no other Elizabeth should be born. What the guys said above is right, the game tries to hold together a poorly wrought plot using things like alternate universes and space-time continuum even though we humans barely understand these things. They shouldn't take the benefit of the doubt because we don't even know whether multi-universes exist outside of comics.

I expect to see more crap like this in Quantum Break......

For all of you who finished Bioshock Infinite. The REAL ENDING (and the one that explain this plot holes) of the game its in the two dlc´s "Bioshock: Burial At Sea 1 & 2" Specially part 2.

OR go to the Bioshock Wiki and read about the DLC. But they are awesome, so go and play!

@syztem:

What you're saying only works if there actually was a fork which created both Booker and Comstock...but there isn't. The writers stuffed it up.

The game (accidentally) tells us that if you go back far enough into the past of Protagonist-Booker or the Antagonist-Comstock, the two timelines don't actually meet. This is because their timelines actually "branched" way earlier than the baptism - we know this since Booker's timeline has a male twin, and Comstock's timeline has a female twin.

So we know that their branching timelines go back at least as far as those twins have been alive, and we know that their branching timelines are independent of (and older than) the baptism scene.

In short...the loop would never be closed by simply drowning Booker before he gets baptised. It'd only cut off one branch of a much bigger tree.

@LordTrexGuy:

Some games have pulled off multi-universe and time travel stuff exceptionally well. Bioshock Infinite isn't one of them.

Eh? you seem to be misunderstanding Multi-verse theory quite a bit here.

Of course the baptism created a "earth" thats the whole idea behind the multiverse theory.

Multiverse is all that can exist does exist and thats also the biggest problem with Bioshock infinite´s plot,

It's funny how many of you guys are saying the game doesn't make sense because you can't understand what's going on. You think Ken Levine worked on his baby for years and years to create a story that doesn't make sense?

By the end of the game Booker and Elizabeth gained awareness of the way the universe works in the sea of lighthouses. That awareness lets you control/manipulate the situation like Bill Murray in groundhogs day or someone stuck in a timeloop. If you know what's happening, when no one else does, you can change the outcome. So Elizabeth killed the Booker that becomes all the Comstocks plus the Booker that goes on to birth Elizabeth. This effectively ends the Elizabeth we know (she ended herself in essence.) The Booker that splits into those other people is killed but that still leaves the original Booker with the knowledge of what has happened. That Booker goes on to give birth to another baby Elizabeth. Booker has to check the crib at the end partially for suspense, but partially because he doesn't really know what has happened to them and the timeline.

@firefox59

Ken Levine chose quantum physics because it allows to explain everything with Time Traveling Multiverse bullshit.

Its no different than those movies about Dreams, they pick a concept that allows them to get away with inconsistancies.

So to sum things up, You didn't actually understand Infinite so much as you merely just agreed with whatever was happening. The Multiverse doesn't have rules....... Every eventuality exists because they are an Infinite number of variables, so Ken Levine solves his problem by picking and choosing which eventualities require the least amount of explaining.

Just consider this: in that plot there are infinite upon infinite dimensions, where every possible variable takes place. Which means the idea of fixing something in one dimension to fix all the others is bullshit. You're not supposed to think about it, just roll with it. The game is completely forgettable aside from the first 30 minutes anyway.

Infinite universes and infinite Bookers and Elizibeths so there's no plot holes. Yep, it's a pretty stupid story for a very over rated game.

It was not only *his* past, it was both his and Booker. They're originally from the same universe.

Yes it did. Different choices creates different universes/timelines. And nope, they were born after the baptism.

Ehmmm, yes i think that Ken Levine cut a lot of corners to get the multiverse-theory to work with his game and took some shortcuts that are not possible.

Also you seem to be misinterpreting what happens even in bioshock infinite, and you actually prove it again when you mention Groundhog day, in that movie we have a guy who relives the same day over and over again, which is nothing like Bioshock Infinite or the multiverse theory or even time travel.

The biggest problem with Bioshock Infinite is that it takes the idea of time travel and combines it with the multiverse-theory, and never really decides what it want to be.

So if we were talking about Time Travel then Levine would have a decent idea but thats not what he did, even in game it mentions multiverse and when you do that you have to stick with it.

Spot on Black Knight.

Ken Levine takes the idea of multiple universes and mixes it up with the idea of time-travel and the notion that you can go back to a point where you would be able to alter that event.

And at no point is even remotely true to any one theory, so ya its best not to think about the plot holes and just roll with it.