Perhaps the singular question of most Western Philosophy is if free will exists or not.  Is there Providence in the fall of a sparrow?  On a more personal level this often manifests itself in if we can ever truly escape our parent’s influence.  Are we what they made us?  Did they ruin us?  Did they shape us?  Do we want to be different?  Can you ever truly be your own person or is even your desire to do so based on how they raised you?  Is everything you do either how your father programed you or a rebellion to what he tried to do?  I feel like these are the heady questions that Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea asks and tries to answer.  There be spoilers ahead just so you know.  I finally played this DLC, I don’t know why I waited so long given Bioshock is one of my video game loves.  The real true star of it, and frankly the true star of all of Bioshock Infinite is Elizabeth.  The ending can be seen as very depressing but ti does come across the questions of free will.  Or at least can we escape our upbringing.  What makes Elizabeth such a wonderful character is she is a very human person but she ends up with the powers of a God.  Omniscience and Omnipotence are not really a thing she wants but it seems to be her only option.  The game gave a lot to think about but with a day away from finishing it I am finding the most interesting questions have little to do with alternate reality, instead the it is the same fascinating question of the first game, is Free Will an illusion.  Is Elizabeth doomed to repeat her father’s mistakes?  Will she use people to achieve her ends?  Even with all her power, or maybe because of it, will she fail to see the humanity in the least among us and simply make them pawns?  As she died at the end of the game I felt great sadness.  It was a death she knew was going to happen and yet she still walked forward towards it but with some distance my sadness is lessened.  She chose this because she knew while the outcome for her was death it meant a brighter future for another.  More importantly it meant she broke the cycle of violence that plagued her family.  Her trip to Rapture was never about escaping Rapture.  She could see the future, she knew the consequences going in.  Her trip to rapture was about breaking a cycle of violence and asserting that she could be the person she wanted.  She was not a puppet to how she was raised or the blood that moves through her veins.  She was her own woman.  It is still sad but it was also beautiful.  It is what makes her one of the better video game characters in recent memory and why I adore her.  Why I adore the game.  Today I want to fuck Elizabeth from Bioshock.