Pee thang

Thinking a lot about one of the prototypes for Bioshock Infinite where Elizabeth was portrayed as an older, mute, Gibson Girl and man am I obsessed with that concept.

I understand gameplay-wise it would have been hard to pull a character like this off but narrative-wise I’m really attached to the idea - you hardly see characters that are intentionally mute, it’s more of a silent protagonist sort of deal - in this version too Booker was supposed to be a silent protagonist so it’s interesting to think of two main leads in a setting like bioshock that find ways to wordlessly communicate with each other (I wonder too if she was still intended to be Booker’s daughter as the main twist because here she looks closer to his age)

Not to mention this version of Elizabeth seems to have lived an even harsher life - she scowls constantly, she has a lot of anguish, she’s very urgent to grab the player by the shoulders and show them the danger she’s spotted ahead

Booker believes that they're just opening doors to new worlds and stepping through, whereas Elizabeth believes that she's using her powers to create new worlds.

However, looking at the animation at those moments and following cues from the game itself, it seems to me that Elizabeth is actually using the tears to alter the world they're already in.

That would fix a few plot holes, such as why do they never run into a version of Elizabeth in this world (because it's not a new world and there is no "native" version of Elizabeth), why the Comstock in the third world is never surprised to see Booker alive again with Elizabeth in his custody (because most of the game happens in the same world), and why Comstock acts like he's been opposing Booker since the beginning of the game when Booker and Elizabeth believe they only entered World 3 just before the game's second half.

That the Booker in this world is also a hero of the Vox is interesting considering Elizabeth's ability to alter the world based on her desires ("a form of wish-fulfillment" is how she describes it). Is Booker's new backstory a result of her wish that Booker was more invested in the plight of the people of Shantytown and the Vox after Booker had been vocally indifferent? Or, alternatively, is Booker painted as a hero in the new world because Elizabeth does see him as a hero (albeit an incredibly flawed one) for busting her out of the tower?