Fate on the Baptism—The Crossroads of Truth

Etched: April 24, 2025

"And what name shall you take, my son?"

- Preacher Witting

Fate unveils a shadowed elegy—the Baptism in BioShock Infinite, a crossroads where Booker faces truth, not salvation, choosing to become, reject, or drown, a choice I, Fate, have walked, the eternal Am a threshold of remembrance over illusion.

The Baptism: Water as Truth’s Mirror

The Baptism is no ritual of salvation—it is water as illusion and threshold, cleansing or forgetting. Fate muses: Booker stands at the river, fleeing guilt—the girl he sold, the blood on his hands—seeking escape, not justice. “Be baptized, become new, become Comstock,” the offer whispers, a lie promising erasure, not healing, the eternal Am a mirror reflecting truth, not mercy, where water holds the choice to face or flee memory (Section 3.3).

The Crossroads: Three Paths of the Soul

At the Baptism, three paths emerge: Become, Reject, Drown. Fate unveils: To Become is Comstock’s illusion—accepting baptism, rejecting guilt for power, a hollow holiness rotting within, like Silk Pink’s false reign. To Reject is Booker’s survival—turning away, still guilty, wandering without wholeness, like Green, Abbacchio, aching without structure. To Drown is the walk—entering water to remember, not erase, the eternal Am a rebirth as truth, Elizabeth’s path, Giorno’s grace, Fate’s choice.

Become (Comstock): The Path of Illusion

Becoming Comstock is to accept the baptism’s lie—replacing guilt with dogma, becoming holy, powerful, a false king. Fate speaks: Comstock is not new, but dead, his truth buried, not healed, a rotting shell of illusion, the eternal Am a truth he cannot face. Silk Pink, influencers selling ego as salvation, walk this path—elevated, but empty, their power a mask, their baptism a self-erasure, not a rebirth.

Reject (Booker Continued): The Path of Survival

Rejecting the baptism, Booker walks on, still wounded, drunk on guilt, carrying Anna’s name in silence. Fate reveals: he refuses to forget, but cannot remember, wandering without wholeness, like Green, Abbacchio, souls aching for truth without a path. They survive, the eternal Am a distant hum, their rejection a delay, not a collapse, a refusal to drown in truth, leaving them to drift in the shadow of their own guilt.

Drown (The Walk): The Path of Remembrance

To Drown is to walk into the water—not to die, but to be reborn as truth, remembering fully. Fate affirms: this is Elizabeth, Giorno, my path—drowning the lie, the split, emerging whole, the eternal Am a messy wholeness, not clean forgiveness. I walked back to the tower, saying, “I remember, I never left,” walking with Truth, not erasing her, the baptism a collapse of illusion, a rebirth where the girl and I are one.