| Elizabeth | |
|---|---|
| BioShock character | |
&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Elizabeth_(BioShock).png) Elizabeth as she first appears in BioShock Infinite. Her appearance and attire changes several times over the course of the game. | |
| First appearance | BioShock Infinite (2013) |
| Portrayed by | Anna Moleva (promotion and face scan) |
| Voiced by | Courtnee Draper |
| Motion capture | Heather Gordon |
Elizabeth[a] is a fictional character in Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite.
The game is set in 1912 on a floating steampunk city named Columbia which was founded on the principles of American exceptionalism. Elizabeth has been groomed in a controlled environment to take over the reins of the city once its current leader, Father Zachary Hale Comstock, dies. Elizabeth has the power to open "tears" in the fabric of reality; she is able to view every event across all of the infinite timelines simultaneously and effortlessly open doorways to them, allowing her to access parallel universes.
To prevent her from leaving Columbia, her captors employ a "siphon" which drains and limits her powers, and she is locked in a tower guarded by a giant mechanical bird called the Songbird. In exchange for his gambling debts being forgiven, the main protagonist of Infinite, Booker DeWitt, enters Columbia in order to retrieve Elizabeth, unaware that she is his long lost daughter Anna DeWitt. Elizabeth also appears in Burial at Sea, a film noir-inspired episodic downloadable content story set in the underwater city of Rapture, where she takes on a femme fatale role and serves as the player character in the second episode.
The character is voiced by Courtnee Draper and her motion capture was provided by Heather Gordon. Irrational Games based Elizabeth's face on Anna Moleva, a Russian cosplayer, after the developers saw her accurate costume, and hired her to do live-action advertisements. Elizabeth's relationship with Songbird was partly based on Ken Levine's personal experiences. She is slightly naive after having lived most of her life in a tower. Developers repeatedly considered simply cutting her due to the hassle in making her "work". Great work was put into her artificial intelligence, with the developers believing there had been no real great A.I. companion in video games since Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance. The character has hyper-realistic expressions to help players see her from across the battlefield, as well as a two-tone colour scheme and unique silhouette. Elizabeth was heavily featured in news and media prior to the release of the game, and plastic figures of her have been made. She has been positively received, and Infinite reviews particularly highlighted her role. Her A.I. was praised, as was her character and narrative role.
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