12. Big Daddy (Bioshock)
Lurking beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean lay the city of Rapture. Inside said city resides frightening monsters in deformed diving suits. This is the Big Daddy.
Heavily spliced and physically grafted to their antique atmospheric armor, Big Daddies were once human, but whatever once made them human has been stripped from them. Their bodies changed in horrific ways, their vocal chords ripped so they can only emit a whale song-like noise and, of course, mentally conditioned to protect the ADAM harvesting Little Sister.
Rosies, Bouncers, Alpha series, all Big Daddies present a physical representation of the paradoxical morality of Rapture and Bioshock itself. Andrew Ryan's desire to free himself and others from the shackles of government and church oppression lead to the creation of the Big Daddies, humans which are mindlessly enslaved to assist Little Sisters(also programmed, to harvest from corpses) in the collection of ADAM.
Yet when playing as an Alpha series in Bioshock 2, pair-bonded to Eleanor Lamb, the Big Daddy-Little Sister relationship becomes almost simultaneously more alien and more human. Subject Delta needs Eleanor to live, that's how his body was conditioned. Suddenly, living as a Daddy, you understand why they did what they did. It's not just programming, it's caring. Sure, for Subject Delta it's a literal and metaphorical bonding to his Little Sister, the child he looks after, but the other Big Daddies don't have pair bonding. So why do they look after just one Little Sister? It's caring. Because it's still human.
Beneath the Atlantic Ocean is Rapture. Inside Rapture is the Big Daddy. And inside the Big Daddy, is a person.
Best moment: The shocking transformation you take near the end of Bioshock 1, where you explore the compound that creates the Big Daddy. And you become one yourself.
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