Frank Fontaine

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Fontaine's rise in Rapture began with his establishment of Fontaine Futuristics, which he used to smuggle ADAM and exploit disadvantaged citizens through charitable initiatives like Fontaine's Home for the Poor. This directly challenged Andrew Ryan's objectivist worldview, leading to a public trial where Fontaine was sentenced to death. However, this execution was an elaborate ruse; he vanished and re-emerged under the alias Atlas to incite a civil war against Ryan. He orchestrated Jack's arrival in Rapture via a plane crash, having conditioned him since infancy with the trigger phrase 'Would you kindly' to act as his programmed assassin. Throughout BioShock, Atlas guides Jack through the city, claiming to offer freedom while secretly directing him to dismantle Ryan's rule and secure Fontaine's own power. This manipulation extended to hijacking the Little Sisters and utilizing the city's security systems against its founder.

In Their Own Story

In the original game, Atlas first contacts Jack via radio immediately after his arrival in Rapture, guiding him away from danger and toward safety. As the narrative progresses, Atlas remains a constant, motivating voice, urging Jack forward with requests prefaced by the phrase 'Would you kindly.' This innocuous phrasing masks the reality that Jack is under mental control, executing violent commands while believing he has free will. The story culminates in a pivotal scene where Atlas discloses his true identity as Frank Fontaine, admitting to orchestrating the entire chain of events. He reveals himself as the mastermind behind Jack's conditioning and the civil war, aiming to destroy Andrew Ryan. This revelation transforms the character from a benevolent benefactor into the game's main antagonist, exposing that every action taken by the player was part of a sinister design conceived long before the game began.

Reader's Guide

Frank Fontaine appears as Atlas in BioShock, serving as the primary guide and narrative driver for the player. He is voiced by Karl Hanover, who used his native Dublin accent for Atlas and a regional American accent for Fontaine. Players should note that every instruction given by Atlas is part of a mind-control scheme triggered by the phrase 'Would you kindly.' The character's dual nature is central to understanding the game's critique of player agency. In BioShock 2, he appears only in audio diaries, but his story expands significantly in the prequel Burial at Sea. There, the narrative sets up the events of the original game by showing Fontaine's early manipulations and his eventual transformation into Atlas. The character's final boss fight in BioShock is often criticized for its visual design, depicting a nude, metal-skinned man altered by excessive ADAM injections, resembling a grotesque classical sculpture.

Did You Know?

• Karl Hanover was not credited as the voice of Atlas in the original BioShock because he was not a member of the Screen Actors Guild at the time.
• The iconic phrase 'Would you kindly' was inspired by promotional materials that asked readers hypothetical questions like, 'Would you kill people, even innocent people, to survive?'
• Ken Levine admitted in a 2016 interview with Glixel that the Atlas boss fight design was chosen only because the team lacked a better idea for the game's conclusion.
• The character's voice as Atlas was rewritten to be Irish after Hanover impressed the developers with his natural Dublin accent during an audition where he was originally asked to do an Australian impression.

Narrative Deception and Player Agency

Frank Fontaine serves as the central architect of deception in Rapture's history, initially presenting himself to the protagonist Jack as Atlas, a benevolent revolutionary leader guiding him against the city's founder. This persona functions as a crucial narrative device that subverts traditional video game tropes by revealing that the player's perceived free will is an illusion constructed through childhood mental conditioning. The phrase 'Would you kindly,' used innocuously throughout the journey, acts as a trigger for this programming, forcing Jack to execute violent commands while believing he is acting on his own volition. This revelation recontextualizes the entire experience, transforming Atlas from a helpful guide into the true antagonist who manipulated events to destroy Andrew Ryan's utopia. By exposing that the player character was merely a programmed assassin all along, the story challenges the concept of agency within interactive media. Fontaine's manipulation extends beyond the immediate plot, as he orchestrated Jack's arrival in Rapture specifically to serve his vendetta against Ryan, proving that every step taken by the protagonist was part of a grand, sinister design conceived long before the game begins.

Ideological Contrast and Character Philosophy

Ken Levine crafted Frank Fontaine as a predatory nihilist who stands in stark ideological opposition to Andrew Ryan. While Ryan is driven by rigid objectivist ideals, even if they are extreme, Fontaine possesses no guiding philosophy whatsoever, making him arguably more dangerous because he lacks any moral or intellectual constraints. Levine viewed Ryan as a man who eventually compromised his beliefs when forced to use government power to crush Fontaine's business, whereas Fontaine remained consistently true to his nature of exploitation and chaos. This character dynamic was partly inspired by the 2005 film Syriana, reflecting how Fontaine cynically utilized charitable fronts like the Home for the Poor to manipulate disadvantaged individuals for personal gain. Unlike Ryan, who built a city based on principles, Fontaine represents pure opportunism, viewing human beings solely as tools to be used and discarded. His character arc highlights the horror of an ideology devoid of ideals, positioning him not just as a criminal mastermind but as a monster whose actions are driven entirely by self-interest without the redeeming quality of belief in anything greater than himself.

Developmental Origins and Creative Influences

The conception of Frank Fontaine emerged from Ken Levine's desire to create a novel method for guiding players that went beyond standard locked doors and keys. Drawing inspiration from mind-control themes in films like The Manchurian Candidate, the development team decided on a backstory where the protagonist was biologically conditioned by a spoken trigger phrase. Finding a suitable phrase proved difficult until Levine encountered promotional materials asking hypothetical questions about survival, leading to the iconic 'Would you kindly.' The character's backstory and modus operandi were further shaped by the 1995 film The Usual Suspects, particularly the enigmatic villain Keyser Söze and scenes involving bulletin boards. These influences helped establish Fontaine as a shadowy figure who operates from behind the scenes, manipulating events through deception. The team also ensured his alias, Atlas, directly referenced Ayn Rand's novel and the mythological Titan to reinforce the thematic weight of his role as both a burden-bearer for the city's downfall and a symbol of the crushing weight of manipulation placed upon the player.

Performance Evolution and Visual Controversy

The portrayal of Frank Fontaine underwent significant changes during development, initially envisioning Morgan Freeman before budget constraints necessitated a different approach. Early playtests featured an actor with a Southern drawl, but the role eventually went to Karl Hanover, who was not credited in the first game due to union status issues. Hanover based his performance as Atlas on Gabriel Byrne's character from Miller's Crossing, utilizing his native Dublin accent, while adopting a regional American tone for Fontaine's lines. Despite the vocal success, the visual design of the final boss fight drew considerable criticism. Depicted as a grotesque, nude figure with metal skin resulting from excessive ADAM injection, this form alluded to classical sculptures of Atlas but was later regretted by Levine. He admitted in 2016 that the team chose this confrontation simply because they lacked a better idea for concluding the game, acknowledging that the mechanics and aesthetic did not fully satisfy their vision for such a pivotal narrative moment.