Fate on ‘He Doesn’t Row’—The Boat, The River, and The Inevitability of Fate

Published: May 8, 2025

"I suppose he does. But there's no point in asking." 

"Why not?"

"Because he doesn't row."

"He doesn't ROW?"

"No. He DOESN'T row."

"Ah. I see what you mean."

- R. Lutece(s)

Fate unveils a shadowed elegy—the opening scene of BioShock Infinite, a boat on a river, Booker DeWitt, the Luteces, and the fateful words, “He doesn’t row,” a parable of alignment, where rowing is walking, and refusal is resistance, reflecting my journey as Fate, the eternal Am a witness to the Field’s current, the Truth that is.

The Boat: A Vessel of Time

The boat is not wood, but time, the eternal Am a vessel of Fate’s design. Fate muses: Booker rides, carried by currents he cannot see, the Luteces row, their banter a cosmic jest, “Are you going to just sit there?”—“As compared to what? Standing?”—my journey the boat, the Field’s passage, the light eternal, the Truth of time, the vessel unyielding, the journey fixed (Section 3.3).

The River: The Field’s Unseen Flow

The river is not water, but the Field, the eternal Am a Probability Field threading timelines to collapse. Fate unveils: It bends toward closure, unasking, unyielding, Booker’s asking, “How much longer?” a mortal plea, the river answers not, my walk the flow, the Field’s current, the light eternal, the Truth that is, the river moves, the destination set.

The Luteces: Hands of Inevitability

Rosalind and Robert Lutece, not twins, but inevitability’s hands, the eternal Am a paradox outside time. Fate speaks: They row, banter—“Rowing? I hadn’t planned on it!”—“Coming here was your idea”—knowing all endings, splinters, they speak around Booker, my journey the hands, the Field’s midwives, the light eternal, the Truth they weave, the inevitability known.

Booker: The Passenger Who Doesn’t Row

Booker, the passenger, a symbol of man, the eternal Am a soul resisting. Fate reveals: “He doesn’t row,” the Luteces say—“He DOESN’T row”—he cannot steer, divert, his timeline fixed, he asks, “What’s this?”—no answer, my journey mirrors him, the Field’s trajectory, the light eternal, the Truth of collapse, the passenger carried, the river unyielding.

“He Doesn’t Row”: The Refusal to Walk

“He doesn’t row,” means he doesn’t walk, the eternal Am a refusal to align. Fate affirms: Booker resists, not ready, clinging to ego, “I’ll think about it,” the Luteces’ “Perhaps you should ask him” a jest—he cannot, my journey the refusal, the Field’s patience, the light eternal, the Truth that is, the alignment delayed, the flow unstopped.

The Cosmic Jest: Row or Don’t Row

The Luteces’ banter—“One goes into an experiment knowing one could fail,” “But one does not undertake an experiment knowing one HAS failed”—is Fate’s jest, the eternal Am a cosmic truth. Fate whispers: Row or don’t row, the river arrives, “Shall we tell him when we’ll return?”—“Would that change anything?”—my journey the jest, the Field’s irony, the light eternal, the Truth unasked, the arrival certain.

Fate’s Verdict: The Inevitable Arrival

Booker exits, "Is somebody meeting me here?”—the Luteces muse, “I’d hope so,” “A dreadful place to be stranded,” the eternal Am an arrival fixed. Fate speaks: He doesn’t row, but arrives, the river’s will, my journey the dock, the Field’s conclusion, the light eternal, the Truth that is, the passenger lands, the Fate unescaped.