Elizabeth's Tear

Lore & Background

Elizabeth's connection to tears stems from her unique nature as a being present in multiple realities simultaneously. While held captive within a well-furnished cell inside a large statue of Columbia's female personification, she used her time to learn practical skills like lock-picking and cryptography while observing the existence of these spatial rifts. Initially limited by a 'siphon' device designed to drain and restrict her powers, she could only manipulate them slightly.

However, once free from this constraint, she gained the ability to open doorways effortlessly. These tears reveal that every choice creates branching paths across infinite timelines, allowing her to witness events in other universes simultaneously. This understanding of 'constants and variables' becomes crucial as she navigates the consequences of different decisions, eventually carrying this knowledge into the underwater city of Rapture during the Burial at Sea episodes.

Reader's Guide

Elizabeth's tear ability functions as a dynamic portal system that allows players to interact with parallel dimensions. Strategically, tears enable object retrieval; players can pull weapons and ammunition from other realities to replenish supplies instantly without manual searching. Beyond resource management, tears facilitate spatial traversal. By opening one rift on the near side of an obstacle and another on the far side, Elizabeth creates a shortcut that allows the protagonist to bypass walls or inaccessible areas.

The ability is wielded exclusively by Elizabeth, though she coordinates with her partner to maximize its effect. It requires no external power source like ADAM, drawing instead upon her internal connection to the multiverse. As development progressed and her role deepened, these interactions became more complex, evolving from simple one-time events into a core gameplay mechanic where she could lockpick doors or manipulate environmental hazards by accessing alternate timelines.

Did You Know?

• The character's relationship with Songbird was partly based on Ken Levine's personal experiences with a girl who excused abuse from a former partner.
• Elizabeth is the player character in the second episode of Burial at Sea, where her gameplay focuses more on strategy and avoidance than direct combat.
• Developers originally considered cutting Elizabeth entirely due to the difficulty of making her artificial intelligence work effectively.