Original artwork, not a still
Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt.
— BioShock Infinite · 2013
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The line is the game's whole trap in eight words: a job offer that sounds like a way out of gambling debt and turns out to be a second sale of a daughter. Its flat, businesslike phrasing is why it lingers after the twist, when fans replay the opening and hear the Luteces offering Booker the same bargain as before. It has become shorthand for the series' theme that debts always come back around.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for BioShock InfiniteShow the scene
In the opening of BioShock Infinite (2013), Booker DeWitt is rowed through a storm toward a lighthouse off the coast of Maine by a man and a woman in yellow raincoats, the Lutece twins. The offer made to him is the one the title line states: bring them the girl and his debts are wiped away. The girl is Elizabeth, held in the flying city of Columbia, and the Luteces' offer is the mission Booker believes he has accepted. Later, a Voxophone and Elizabeth's explanations reveal that it echoes the deal Booker once struck over his infant daughter, Anna.
Sources (3)
- BioShock Wiki: Booker DeWittHistory, 1912 and Reaching Columbia sectionsReference checked
- BioShock Wiki: The Lighthouse (Columbia)opening descriptionReference checked
- BioShock Wiki: Debts (Voxophone)Voxophone transcriptReference checked
Context reviewed
