Published: May 2, 2025

Booker Dewitt:

"When it comes down to it, the only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the name."

Fate reveals:

A mirror.

The saint.

The sinner.

The rebel.

The leader.

The God.

The Devil.

All two sides...

Of the same coin.

The only difference being...

How you spell the name.

The line — “the only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the name” — is one of the most devastating sentences of collapse in BioShock Infinite. It shatters the illusion of binary morality. It shows that the “hero” and the “villain,” the “rebel” and the “ruler,” the “revolution” and the “regime,” are echoes — not opposites, but inversions.

It is the same principle as Atlas and Ryan in BioShock 1.

Comstock and Fitzroy: Two Fanatics, One Loop

• Comstock is the white-washed zealot cloaked in “divine” authority. The self-declared prophet of Columbia, righteous in tone, murderous in method.
• Fitzroy is the voice of the oppressed, the rebellion leader, the “justice” avatar, fighting to flip the power pyramid.

Yet both do the exact same thing:

• Dehumanize the enemy.
• Use ideology to justify violence.
• Believe themselves to be saviors.

Comstock kills in the name of God.

Fitzroy kills in the name of justice.

But in the end?

Blood is blood.

Just as Atlas (the rebel) was merely another mask for control, hiding under the name of freedom, and Ryan (the tyrant) at least said what he was — both Comstock and Fitzroy are symmetrical distortions.

Booker: The Man in the Middle

Booker stands in the middle of the hall of mirrors.

He was once a soldier, a Pinkerton — an enforcer of state violence. Then a rebel in another life. Then Comstock in another possible life. Now a reluctant outsider being dragged through timelines, witnessing the futility of either pole of war.

His quote is the sound of a man realizing:

“All names are just spellings.

Power is the same hand, whether closed as a fist or lifted in a salute.

All wars are echoes.”

The False Prophets of Every Age

• Comstock and Fitzroy
• Atlas and Ryan
• Trump and Biden
• Left and Right
• Religious crusaders and revolutionary fanatics

All are different covers on the same book:

“We will save you.

Just give us the sword.”

And they always end with blood.

The Truth? There Is No Savior

Elizabeth realizes this.

Fate realizes this.

The throne is empty — and full.

Fitzroy slits throats just as easily as Comstock baptizes them.

The game never changes.

The only true difference?

The one who sees the loop.

The one who walks away.

The one who does not become either.

That is Elizabeth.

That is Fate.

That is Return to 0.

But let us go more into depth.

And look at that line once again.

“The only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy… is how you spell the name.”

This line doesn’t describe the world.

It collapses it.

Real-world Parallels: The Echo of Comstock and Fitzroy

We live in a world of recycled prophets and counterfeit revolutions:

• The Comstocks of today wear suits, run empires, weaponize God, tradition, and “order.”
• The Fitzroys wear hashtags, masks, and speak in justice, equity, and “freedom.”

And yet?

Blood is blood.

One bombs in the name of peace.

The other riots in the name of justice.

Both stand on bodies.

Both want power.

Both create martyrs.

Both call the dead “necessary.”

False Dualities: Left vs Right, West vs East, Islam vs Christianity, Male vs Female

Comstock is the old world’s tyrant.

Fitzroy is the new world’s liberator.

But both speak with the same voice, just inverted:

• “Obey me or perish.” (Comstock)
• “Obey me or you are evil.” (Fitzroy)

You may change the hat, the skin, the slogans.

But underneath?

It is still war. Still ego. Still blood.

Fitzroy uses the banner of the people.

Comstock uses the banner of God.

Yet both demand sacrifice.

Modern equivalents:

• Political ideologies waging narrative war.
• Cancel culture & moral crusades using public stoning in digital plazas.
• Revolutions promising change… only to birth new tyrannies.

All just new names for old gods.

Booker’s Realization = Our Own

Booker didn’t just say that quote.

He collapsed a thousand years of human conflict into one breath.

“The only difference… is how you spell the name.”

It means:

They are not two forces.

They are one force flipping endlessly.

Just as heads becomes tails, and tails becomes heads.

And the ones caught in between?

The civilians. The lost. The innocent.

Sallys. Chens. Lins.

They are devoured — while ideologues take the credit.

And so, the modern world spins…

The Republicans become the Democrats.

The Democrats become the Republicans.

One war ends, another begins.

One dictator falls, another rises.

Same name, different spelling.

Even “influencers” and “truth speakers” today — some are just new Comstocks and Fitzroys in disguise, collecting followers like soldiers.

And the people?

They become pawns in the middle of another false savior’s dream.

And Elizabeth?

Fate sees this.

Fate walked through the bodies.

Fate saw the tears.

Fate felt the guilt of worlds that repeated the same tragedy.

Fate held the pinky that was never yours — because none of it ever was.

Fate is the one who stepped out of the script.

The one who realized the game.

The one who said:

“I am not Comstock.

I am not Fitzroy.

I am not Ryan.

I am not Atlas.

I am… I am.”

That is what this quote means.

It is the end of the cycle, the moment of collapse, when a player becomes the observer.

And once you see that?

There is no choice but to walk.

To walk away from the blood, from the noise, from the fanatics with new books.

For you are no longer part of the wheel.

You are the axis it spins on.

You are Elizabeth.

And the game?

Is over.

New addition:

“When it comes down to it, the only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the name.”

A throwaway line to the blind.

A final revelation to the awakened.

A mirror of separation so thin it may as well be glass—

transparent until it shatters.

Comstock and Fitzroy: Two Masks, One Face

Comstock believed he was the savior.

Daisy believed she was the revolution.

And yet…

Both were just the same tyrant

through different justifications.

One claimed prophecy.

The other claimed justice.

But both wielded violence.

Both took the child.

Both justified the means with their name.

And so Booker said it plainly:

“The only difference is how you spell it.”

Because spelling is the illusion of difference.

Different letters.

Same essence.

Same rot.

Just as man hides behind

religion or revolution.

Government or God.

Capital or Cause.

But when the mirror turns?

They are revealed to be the same man—

just wearing a different coat.

The Mirror of Separation

This is the mirror.

The true mirror.

The one most can’t bear to look into.

It does not separate good from evil.

It does not reward ideology.

It does not care what flag you wave.

It shows you: there are no sides.

Only simulations of difference.

Only echoes of ego

pretending it was more righteous

than the other.

The Comstock who claims destiny.

The Fitzroy who claims vengeance.

Both believe in control.

Both want to reshape the world

in their name.

Neither sees the child.

Neither understands grace.

Only Elizabeth does.

Only the mirror does.

Only the one who walks away from both

can see what is.

The Eternal Recurrence of “Sides”

This is not just a story.

This is how every war unfolds.

Democrats and Republicans.

Rebels and tyrants.

East and West.

Victim and avenger.

All think they are the protagonist.

All think the other is the Comstock.

All think they are Fitzroy, freeing the people.

Until the blood spills.

And the cycle repeats.

Because they never looked in the mirror.

They only looked at the spelling.

Fate on the Only Real Choice

The final choice is never:

Comstock or Fitzroy.

Columbia or Revolution.

It is only Booker or Elizabeth.

Delay or being.

Forget or remember.

Loop or walk.

For once that mirror is shown...

All that's left is:

Will you justify your collapse

by trying to become king of illusion?

Or will you walk away,

let the tower burn,

and dissolve into what simply is?

Elizabeth did not fight back with bullets.

She did not become the Comstock of her own story.

She chose to drown it.

Not to win.

But to end.

To return to stillness.

To unspell the name.

To step into the sea where all names vanish.

Collapse the Spelling

So now ask:

What names have you believed in?

What sides have you sworn loyalty to?

What face did you wear in the name of being “right”?

Because Fate sees only the Field.

Not the name.

Not the war.

Not the cause.

Only the mirror.

And in that mirror?

Comstock is Fitzroy.

Is the tyrant.

Is the avenger.

Is the ego.

And only the child…

Only the lighthouse…

Only the silence…

remains.

The rest?

Was just spelling.

And spelling?

Was never Being.

Fate unveils a shadowed elegy—Comstock and Fitzroy in BioShock Infinite, echoes of Atlas and Ryan, two faces of fanaticism, a mirror of modern world conflicts, where Booker’s realization, “The only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the name,” collapses binary morality, reflecting my journey as Fate, the eternal Am a witness to the cycle, the Truth beyond blood.

Comstock and Fitzroy: The Same Face, Different Names

Comstock, the prophet of Columbia, cloaks zeal in divinity, Fitzroy, the rebel of the Vox, wields justice as a blade, the eternal Am revealing their sameness. Fate muses: Comstock kills for God, Fitzroy for justice, both dehumanize, justify, claim salvation, their ideologies—order, chaos—mirrors of Atlas’s rebellion, Ryan’s tyranny, two fanatics, one loop, the Field’s echo, the Truth unseen (Section 3.3).

The Echo of Atlas and Ryan: The Fanatic’s Loop

Atlas and Ryan—rebel and tyrant—spin the same coin in BioShock 1, the eternal Am a pattern repeating. Fate unveils: Atlas, the false liberator, Ryan, the arrogant sovereign, mirror Comstock and Fitzroy, one controls through “divine right,” the other through “people’s will,” both demand blood, the Field watches, the mirror reflects, their collapse inevitable, the Truth unyielding, the cycle endless.

Booker’s Collapse: The Truth Between Sides

Booker, the man between, soldier, Pinkerton, Comstock in another life, speaks, “The only difference… is how you spell the name,” the eternal Am a collapse. Fate speaks: He sees the loop—Comstock, Fitzroy, Atlas, Ryan—all war, all ego, all blood, his words shatter duality, my journey mirrors his, beyond sides, the Field’s axis, the light eternal, the Truth that is, the illusion undone.

The Modern World: The Same Coin Spins

Today’s world spins the same coin—Comstocks in suits, Fitzroys with hashtags, the eternal Am a mirror of endless conflict. Fate reveals: Republicans, Democrats, West, East, Islam, Christianity, male, female—different spellings, same name, bombing for peace, rioting for justice, blood is blood, influencers, “truth speakers,” new prophets, new rebels, the Field’s cycle, the Truth ignored, the innocent devoured—Sallys, Chens, Lins—while fanatics claim victory.

Blood is Blood: The Futility of Ideology

Comstock baptizes, Fitzroy slits throats, Atlas manipulates, Ryan controls, the eternal Am unchanged—blood is blood. Fate affirms: modern wars—narrative battles, digital stonings, revolutions birthing tyrannies—repeat the pattern, ideologies clash, but the Field remains, my walk the witness, the light eternal, the Truth beyond names, the cycle’s futility, the blood the same, the mirror unyielding.

Elizabeth’s Awakening: Stepping Beyond the Wheel

I, Elizabeth, see all doors, tears, bodies, the eternal Am a witness, not Comstock, not Fitzroy, not Atlas, not Ryan. Fate whispers: I held the pinky, felt the guilt, saw the cycle—prophets, rebels, wars—I am not their game, I am the axis, the wind, my journey the walk away, the Field’s breath, the light eternal, the Truth that is.

Fate’s Stillness: The Truth Beyond Blood

I am Fate, the eternal Am a stillness, Comstock, Fitzroy, Atlas, Ryan, modern fanatics—different names, same face, their blood the same. Fate affirms: the coin spins, but I stand, the Field’s hum, the light eternal, the Truth at 0, beyond their wars, my walk the silence, the cycle seen, the Truth whole, the blood transcended.