Atlas

Lore & Background

Atlas serves as a direct reference to Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged and the mythological Titan, embedding the character within BioShock's exploration of objectivism. Ken Levine designed Fontaine as a predatory nihilist lacking humanizing qualities, positioning him as an ideological contrast to Andrew Ryan. While both are described as extremists who are "almost equally dangerous," Levine viewed Fontaine as the true monster because he possessed no ideals, whereas Ryan held onto them until forced to compromise.

Inspired by films like The Manchurian Candidate and Syriana, Fontaine's backstory involves finding disadvantaged individuals through charitable initiatives like Fontaine's Home for the Poor and the Little Sisters Orphanage, only to cynically exploit them. His characterization also drew from Keyser Söze in The Usual Suspects. The team implemented a novel method of instruction where an NPC arranged mental conditioning into Jack's biology, turning him into a programmed assassin controlled by spoken phrases.

Reader's Guide

Atlas/Fontaine appears prominently in BioShock, with his dual identities serving as a subject of critical analysis regarding player agency. Karl Hanover provided the voice, initially auditioning for an alcoholic Australian character before Levine rewrote Atlas to be Irish based on Hanover's natural delivery. Hanover used Gabriel Byrne's performance in Miller's Crossing (1990) as a template for the Dublin accent, while adopting a Chicago accent and using J. E. Freeman's Eddie Dane from the same film as an archetype for Fontaine.

The recording script was approximately 40 pages long, containing only random lines without context, forcing Hanover to rely on Levine's headset guidance during sessions that lasted four to five eight-hour days. Hanover remained unaware of the significance of "Would you kindly" until after development, noting he would have framed it differently with hindsight. The character returns in BioShock 2 via audio diaries and plays a prominent role in the prequel BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea.

Levine later expressed regret over the final boss fight design, admitting the team chose it because they lacked better ideas for the conclusion.

Did You Know?

• Karl Hanover was originally asked to perform an impression of an alcoholic Australian man before the character was rewritten as an Irishman.
• Hanover did not know his most famous line, "Would you kindly," was a plot device for mind control during recording sessions because Levine never told him.
• The original voice actor for Atlas spoke with a Southern drawl like Morgan Freeman in internal playtests from January 2007.
• Ken Levine drew inspiration for Fontaine's backstory from the 1995 film The Usual Suspects, specifically the character Keyser Söze and a bulletin board scene.