Analyzing Evil: Andrew Ryan From Bioshock
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- Опубліковано 8 бер 2022
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Welcome everyone and welcome to the seventy-first episode of Analyzing Evil! Our feature villain for this video is Andrew Ryan from the Bioshock series. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for watching. If you have any feedback or questions feel free to let me know below!
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#Bioshock #AndrewRyan #Rapture - Розваги
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Bill Sykes from Oliver musical 1968. please 😊
Trevor phillips from GTA
Sofia Lamb would be a interesting video or Zachary Hale Comstock
johan liebert from "Monster", I'm dying to see your analysis of this character.
Could you do Clu from tron legacy??
"These poor chumps. They think they're gonna be captains of industry, but they forget: someone's gotta clean the toilets." - Frank Fontaine.
Yup, a tower always has a base, even if the tower is made of pure gold and silver you still have to stick something in the ground to build it in the first place.
Or as the saying goes, someone always has to be at the bottom of the totem pole.
I clean toilets; proverbially.
Last words Frank Fontaine's earthly form heard was Little Sister screaming "KILL HIM" and last thing he saw ADAM-syringe's sharp end approaching his eye.
He deserved worse.
Most do. In fact, in some professions, you're still "cleaning toilets" despite being the top of your game.
Ancaps in a nutshell.
Bioshock is an amazing game about the story of a man commited to do ANYTHING to avoid taxes.
Bro really could have just saved so much money and trouble if he just hired an accountant
Yeah but who HASN'T created a utopian underwater city because they don't wanna pay taxes? We've all been there, ammaright?
Lmao libertarian brain rot to the extreme, Andrew Ryan is just a satirical parody of Ayn Rand-like ideology and modern neoliberalism
@@Tommcginnwe can all dream, but unfortunately the taxes taken mean we can’t afford the underwater cities, and our government can’t afford to fix potholes but can afford to shove lots of money into the pockets of those running it.
@@quickdrawmcgraw3567how can it be a mockery with such extreme range as to fit Ayn Rand with today’s neo-liberalism and Marxist infestation?
“A city that’s begun to decay under the weight of his own ambitions.”
Are you equating Ryan’s ambitions to the ocean?
*wow that’s deep*
Like the ocean
Hehe I see what all of you did there... hol' up!
That theory holds water
I sea what you did there
@@brainrich1358 water you doing with these puns?
The scene of Andrew telling you to kill him is probably one of the most powerful scenes in gaming I've ever seen.
*would you kindly*
A man chooses...a slave obeys.
He failed himself and his beliefs
@@johnnydeerfist3727 Not entirely. He made a choice at the end, still having the freedom of choice he thought would be taken away by the outside world. He chose to die instead of having some puppet kill him from the shadows. It's why his last quote is so powerful, "A man chooses, a slave obeys". He as a man chose his own way of death instead of it being taken by a slave.
@@grizzakaful yes
"A man chooses, a slave obeys"
The most iconic lines that makes Andrew Ryan an well written and interesting villain
The phrase alone succinctly describes the evil of Andrew Ryan.
@@meligoth without context, yes
Not really. It would be more profound if the game acknowledged its own idea, instead of just being the exact same game but with Tannenbaum being the one telling you what exactly to do instead of Atlas. You don’t even have a choice of how to defeat Fontaine, you have to take the exact steps laid out to you. The only choice the game lets you make is to either rescue or slaughter little girls, a choice so cartoonishly one-sided that almost nobody actually chooses the harvest option unless they don’t know what they’re doing or they do it on accident. Besides, what about the toilet scrubbers and the homeless of Rapture? What choice did they have? Conform or die isn’t a choice, it’s a shutdown button. Overall a poorly implemented line in a fairly mediocre game that didn’t age well at all.
Men do choose, people who blindly follow with no question, in any context(job, politics, life, etc.) are weak and want a simplistic life by allowing the idea of individualism to die and allow government to intrude on daily life.
He was not a villain
The great irony of Ryan's downfall is that Fontaine is the embodiment of his philosophy.
In the beginning yes, but the moment Fontaine started using physical violence heft left Andrews philosophy.
@@TravistheGREAT03 I’d say he left Ryan’s philosophy by ensuring other businesses couldn’t compete. Ryan tells the other business owners to offer a better product to compete with Fontaine, who knows he can’t let that happen and completely corners the market through any means necessary
@@dr.k8610 Take for example the example with the grocer and the garbage collector. Ryan refused to intervene then, and obviously he didn't feel the need to outlaw what Fontaine was doing either.
Fontaine is the embodiment of self interest. He refuses to invest in making Adam safer because having it be addictive makes him more money. He can corner the market, so why should he not? Would his competitors given the advantage he has not exploit it to its fullest extent? He invests in more businesses with his profits ands starts an empire to compete with Ryans and does so with no organized opposition. Fontaine has no ideals besides self interest and it manifests in greed. Capitalism naturally trends towards authoritarianism as those with an advantage press it and gain control of the market.
@@henrykanning245 you’re missing one major fact in regards to Fontaine and Adam. Adam was only discovered in Fontaine’s fisheries in the bodies of sea slugs native to the area rapture is in. Some other fishing company could have discovered it but the reason Fontaine was able to corner ADAM. Was because most of the labs weren’t interested in Brigid Tennenbaums research or in funding it. Fontaine funded her researched and provided means to capture sea slugs not just because of the fishery but also because Fontaine was involved in the only illegal trade rapture. smuggling.
“…a concept we’re all familiar with: the greater good”
*”The Greater Good”*
“Shut it!”
Too many crusty jugglers….
Looking at hot fuzz with Frank and the NWA it was clear Frank was just a sad old man who needed help as it was clear he was trying to honour his wife death but fail to realize that killing people would never bring her back or make his village great as flaws are everywhere and not everything has to be perfect as sometimes being to perfect can lead to problems
*The Tau Empire would like to know your location "
*"A GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD!"*
"You just used one"
"Did i?"
"Yea IT is a pronoun"
"What is?"
"IT"
"Is it?"
"Christ!"
Best line was “We all make choices but in the end our choices make us”. Hands down the best game of all time.
For a videogame? It's written alright and goddamn did the first line of dialogue hit me in the gut after my first playthrough when I was 13-14. The atmosphere? Almost second to none.
"They told me; "Son, you're special, you were born to do great things." You know what? They were right." *screams to an airplane crashing into the ocean*
Eh about 79 best lines now would you kindly go learn them.
All the games seem to echo a theme about choices.
First game) your choices make up who you are.
Second game) your choices effect other and how they act.
Third game) you choices won't change everything.
any games that are as good as bioschock?
@@person152 fallout new vegas!! the actual gameplay is pretty dated and clunky, but if you're playing for a well-written story and worldbuilding comparative to BioShock, please give this game a shot. the entire game was made in 18 months which is the reason the gameplay is so clunky. the writing is absolutely god-tier however.
other great games are; the witcher 3, both read dead redemptions, all the mass effect games, portal 1 and 2, uncharted seiries, horizon zero dawn, god of war, yakuza 0 (the only game to ever make me cry), dishonored is pretty cool too, and skyrim obviously lol, oblivion is fire as well.
note that i value a good story muuuuuuch more than i do gameplay, so some of these might not be your style. and if you haven't played bioshock infinite yet, you're fucking up lol, get on that now
*"It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the sea. It was impossible to build it anywhere else."*
Andrew's vision was skewed by his ego and jaded view of society and government. It inevitably led to Rapture's downfall, as well as his own.
It is always funny that capitalists hate big governments. The government's job is to save capitalism from itself. The government knows the dirty poors are many, so you have to be willing to compromise. The alternative would be revolt, which means losing resources, I mean people. People are more important than profits.
@@undeadblizzard
I would argue that it makes sense for capitalists to hate BIG governments. As, if the government becomes too big, and begins its own enterprises, the inherent power vested in it supercedes the will of any company, entrepreneur, or group that opposes them for any reason. That said, I think your analysis holds true for capitalists who hate government period.
What destroyed Rapture was the restrictions. There is a point in which someone created plasma without side effects, so competition could be maintained. As for government vs capitalist the reality is a balancing act. Too much government business dies and innovation dies. Examples of to much governments is cities like Detroit, Saint Louis, and countries like Greece. A better approach would be Taiwan or before the communist scum bags took over is Hong Kong. Organized labor like unions are another death blow to capitalism. If the city of Rapture became public knowledge and was ran more openly it could have been a massive economic hub. Would the US or other counties attack rapture? Sure and that would be one reason Rapture would need it’s own military. I believe any new nation that emerges would need at least a nuclear warhead to survive. A few years ago a few people designed a small floating city, and a new by coast guard of another country began to attack the installation. The moral of the story is if you are going to start your own country you need weapons. A nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it are critical.
@Dr. Van Hellsing A lot. First 1985 isn't a critique of communism. It is a critique of totalitarian governments. Communism is a Stateless Moneyless Classless Society where the means of production is controlled by the people. How can you have Government if there is no state ? Basically prioritiing People over Profit. Capitalism can not exist without the State. The role of Government is save capitalism from itself. Capitalism is highly unstable. It creates poverty, not lift people out of it.
@The Key and the Gate The Founding Fathers didn't have a beef with government. They wanted to be the government so they could make the laws and pay less in taxes. FDR said his job was to save capitalism look it up.
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat upon his brow? 'No,' says the man in Washington, 'it belongs to the poor.' 'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'it belongs to God.' 'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'it belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...Rapture! A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be restrained by petty morality, where the weak would not restrain the strong. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."
Still one of my favorite opening monologues to a game.
Thanks my friend for saying my quote when my son Jack enters my city I do say that and with the sweat of your brow rapture can become your city as well.
@@andrewryan7310 I hope I did right by you, Mr. Ryan
@@traviscummings9178 you did
The writing in this game set the bar so high for me. It’s hard to play games that aren’t on this level 😫
So this means employers have to give exactly what an employer contributes as wages.
Businesses have to run as co-ops w/profit sharing and ownership sharing.
Otherwise the business owner who owns the equipment and place of work, is stealing the sweat on the brows of his workers.
Hes just as bad as the man in russia or the man in Washington.
Right?
Maybe a bit nitpicky, but one thing that could also have been discussed is how Ryan authorized the use of the pheromone plasmid, which essentially functions as mind control of people, in his civil war against Fontaine.
There's an audio diary in the first game I believe, where Ryan tries to justify to himself how taking away free will from individuals by utilizing the pheromone plasmid is somehow the right thing to do in order to maintain his vision of Rapture.
So Ryan didn't merely resort to regular dictatorship methods by constructing turrets and cameras and armed police to quash dissidents. He even went so far as to manipulate people's minds biochemically to maintain control of Rapture.
choice he regreted later
I think his specific rationale was that Atlas would do the same action with the plasmid and steal individual choice. Ryan then could delude himself that him doing it was somehow less worse
@@TheAxel999 atlas already had done it, Ryan just stooped to his level, which condemned Ryan
Ryan- Government control is a detriment to a person's free will.
Also Ryan- People need me to take away their free will.
@@nathanhall2012 That's the thing about Bioshock. It's a critique of Objectivism and throws various problems at it that can't be solved within the framework of it.
But at the same time, they did the same thing to the polar opposite of objectivism in Bioshock 2, where Sophia Lamb represented socialim/communism.
Who else still gets chills from Ryan’s opening monologue on the bathosphere ride to Rapture? Still one of the best game intros ever
Still the best part in all of gaming. That and the end of The Last of Us.
Armin Shimmerman is amazing.
And the reveal of rapture and the music that plays immediately just adds to it.
“My name is Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question…”
I also like Bioshock Infinity's ascension to Columbia .. the rising above the clouds timed with the "hallelujah" just when you see the city for the first time .. gives me chills even when I think about it. Bioshock series one of my two all-time favorite series (the other is Mass Effect minus Andromeda).
“There are two ways to deal with a mystery: uncover it… or eliminate it.”
That’s my favorite Andrew Ryan quote simply because he makes it sound so badass.
That's an interesting quote. I wonder what the difference is
@@antiheroine3611one learns, the other doesn’t have to. One destroys, the other might not have to.
The ultimate betrayal of his own philosophy came when he decided mind control was acceptable.
He was always a hypocrite, capitalists always are, they think they are entitled to sweat of their workers brows
he already betrayed his idea when he ban trading with the surface. If he allows that all the problem with economic and Fontaine would not be a big deal at the first place
@@donnguyen3795 True free trade is honestly impossible unless you paradoxically becoming a global authoritarian and force every nation to play by the same rules, because if you allow an unfree rigged market to interact with a free one it will be subverted. It's a self defeating hypocritical position where embargos against other unfree markets that don't hold the same values and rules is ironically the lesser evil and get closer to the ideal in practice than on paper true free trade which is really just monopoly by whatever country decides to cheat the supposedly free market the hardest in practice. With Rapture in particular Ryan (correctly) assumes that if the world at large knows about it they will come knocking demanding "their share" too so there's that to consider.
There was also the fact he murdered a singer that was making fun of him, despite him saying the artist was safe from the censor in Rapture.
Ryan's the biggest hypocrite because overall he wanted to be seen as the one, a person to be adored than followed.
The irony and almost tragedy of Andrew Ryan is that he made the perfect world for someone like him to come to being, but he didn’t foresee how heartless they would be. Fontaine is the embodiment of everything Andrew preached and I think he realized this by the end. And it killed him.
He wouldn’t have learned though, if he lived. He’s think some new whim was the true utopia, and he’d never realize that the claim he makes against morality is exactly why he is destined never to see any utopia, he was never worthy of the freedom he pretended to care about, he took it from others the exact moment his whims changed because he never really believed in the moral objective of protecting human freedom, he just thought it was neat until it wasn’t going his way, then he hated it like he hated everything else that didn’t go his way. Just because he accidentally hated bad things like communism, government overreach, and so on doesn’t mean he is good, it means he wasn’t winning in those evil games, and wanted a game he’d win.
"Just because you can justify something, doesn't mean that justification is enough reason to allow these things to occur in our society."
Hit the nail on the head.
Just for fun, I decided to do a full Dark Side run in KOTOR, infamous for having extremely cheesy, over-the-top Dark Side choices that are beyond obvious and petty. However, there was a twist: I'd put my debating skills to the test, and only commit that Dark Side act once I'd formed a sound justification for the action to take place. I ended up getting much, much further in the game than I thought I would.
What I've come to find is that, with the right words, anything can be justified. Especially if you squint a bit. For that reason, justification alone should never be enough to decide whether or not something is right.
Well yeah, that's because the Dark Side can rationally be justified. It leads to more power; simple. So you'll get very far in the Dark Side if you simply think rationally. It's when morals and other such fairy tales come into play that the justification becomes muddy; but looking at it from a purely rational perspective of furthering your own self-interest as an individual organism, the Dark Side is without a doubt the best path.
just like forgivenes
Just curious, where you couldn't come up with justification?
@@KevinJohnson-cv2no Andrew Ryan, that you?
My darker impulses take the from of a Sexy Cyclops Sorceress with a cake like Betty Crocker. What makes the dark side bad is because it's a short cut. Vengeance and Mayhem are fun.
Andrew Ryan's downfall was wanting to stick it to the societies he hated. If creating paradise for the people was all he wanted, then that should have been enough for him. But no. Every chance he get's he always discusses his hatred for parasites, slaves and just whatever isn't a 'true man'. Ryan really seems like the victim of his own hatred.
Andrew Ryan- The kind of villain that will kill himself not for some noble ideal, not to for the purpose of making name for himself, or for a loved one...but to prove a point. Such sort of villains are, in my opinion, among the most dangerous.
to me Andrew ryan fatal flaw was forcing his views and ideals without realizing the downside of those things as you need to offer to help people in baby steps and show theme a better path without making it your own views and ideals but show something better than something you want
But if the point was noble?
@@comicbookreviewer4856he made it well known that living in rapture must hold his views. But in the end despite agreeing to it and moving there they corrupted the entire city
@@truelies9187That the thing the people living in Rapture thought it was going to be a god send but the fatal flaw was with Andrew ryan was that people living down there was not like him and not realizing If his views and ideas would've made any real difference as wanting to help people you need to see and think if forcing things onto people will really accomplish anything as you can do more harm than good if something goes wrong
Andrew Ryan going "yeah a lot of people died, but all of mankind's big achievements costed a few deaths" is quite literally an example of the "greater good" this guy supposedly hates so much.
I would love to see your analysis on Father Comstock if we could stay in the same “shock” universe
I second that! It'll be awesome!
Also Shodan from System Shock as well
Honestly Comstock wasted his potential. The point of a cult is to trick Barely Legal South East Asian Women and Men into a bit of Ole Hows your Father's. Honestly, all shapes and flavors are welcome.
This ^^
Infinite succcccked
"A man chooses, a slave obeys...". One of the best quotes from one of my favorite antagonists in gaming!
A slave chooses to obey.
So who was sent to kill a slave… or a man
Ayn Rand using her philosophy of Objectivism to be Pro Genocide of the Native Americans ua-cam.com/video/GPC7lCSI5Cg/v-deo.html
Edit:
TheVileEye is incorrect in his assessment that the problem in the game is that Objectivism gets mixed with the philosophy of Nietzsche. We can clearly hear Rand as provided in said clip link make such vile and evil claims of pro-genocide and land theft using nothing but Objectivism. It gets even worse when you look up her unapologetic pro-rape stances which she makes using Objectivism.
Modern day Objectivist will tell you there are key tenants of Objectivism that don't sound so bad at a glance. What they will not do is tell you about the tenants of Objectivism that most people will clearly reject.
Modern day civilizations understand that a mix of Capitalism and Socialism works better than just Capitalism. Public; Fire Departments, Police Departments, street repair, your average Western Military are all socialist institutions that all people benefit from regardless if they pay taxes or not. The west already tried private police, private fire departments, private militaries, etc. The West learned that these private Objectivist institutions suck ass.
Because lets say you have a private Fire Department that you have to pay out of pocket for and there is no public Fire Department. A house in your neighborhood catches fire. Only you have Private Fire Department service because no one else could afford it. The Fire Department saves your house and lets the rest of the neighborhood burn to the ground. Sure your house is saved but now you live on a hideous burned out block with toxic fragrances wafting heavily in the air for weeks from all the plastic and chemicals that were lit up from the fires.
The problem with Objectivism is its naive outlook upon life which assumes that things will just work out for itself via tools like a free market. History has shown us that if given the opportunity to pollute drinking water to save money that industries and corporations will do so, that if constructing buildings by cutting corners for home owners is allowed then construction companies will do so and buildings will collapse and kill people, etc,etc.
We known that an unregulated market and an unregulated society creates nightmare scenarios. The answer to curing said problems is a not so Objectivist selfish socoety but instead a regulated society with socialized solutions. A balancing act of capitalism and socialism.
TLDR: Fuck Ayn Rand and Fuck Objectivism. There is a reason why philosophy and economic academics treat Objectivism like a bad joke.
Ryan wasn't technically the antagonist since the game's "protagonist" was a sleeper assassin for Fontaine (aka Atlas), the ACTUAL antagonist. I mean, come on!
@@animeAJproductions The game can have more than one antagonist
The most interesting thing you can see in fiction, I feel, is when you have a pure idealist have their ideals collide with reality. This is because any idealized system tends to crumble when even the smallest bit of realism is introduced. Sometimes, the character breaks, unable to accept that their ideals in their purest form were simply unworkable. However, sometimes you get someone like Ryan who ends up becoming the antithesis of his own ideals, as the cruelty of reality twists him into a monster.
Ryan is an Ancap/Anarcho Capitalist where there are no governments but just Corporations and the will of the Market as with all extreme Political and Economic models they often eat themselves to death.
The Soviet Union collapse because it can't maintain its economy, an Ancap society will likely break because there are technically no rules only the Companies that provide service which includes Law enforcement, the military ect., imagine the levels of Corporate corruption in an Ancap society. (because Laws are provided by the Companies who is stopping said companies to commit horrible acts to the Consumers and the Workers/Employees because the Market demands it)
@@forickgrimaldus8301 The thing is, it was less a matter of Rapture's economy eating itself, and more a problem that all idealized systems tend to have: They are built on the idea that people won't behave like people.
Just as one example, Communism tends to fail because it is built on the idea that people will work their hardest to support the system without any immediate, tangible gains for themselves. Some peole will, sure, but more people won't. Instead, they'll sponge off of the system because there's no incentive within the system to put in the maximum amount of effort. When there's no personal incentive to work hard (No raises, promotions, etc.) people just won't.
Ryan's system, however, has a deeper flaw: It's built without any safeguards to protect it from the people who would exploit it, like Sinclair from Bioshock 2, or Fontaine from 1.
The thing is, while Sinclair primarily exploited the system solely for wealth, Fontaine exploited it for the sake of power. As such, Sinclair could continue to exist within the system in perpetuity, a "Parasite" that Ryan's system did not recognize as such. He was a man who would exploit the hard work of others to line his own pockets. A benign tumor that would just grow and grow and grow, not a threat to the system because of anything it did, but simply because of what it was.
Fontaine, on the other hand, would inevitably seek to overthrow the system. His hunger for power, not just within Rapture, but for the power that Rapture could represent on a global scale, would be too enticing for a man like him to ignore. As such, he would work to make that power his, even if his actions would destroy Rapture in the process. He was a man who would exploit others so he could become the most powerful man in Rapture, and then the world. A malignant cancer that would destroy the system from within, even if it meant that he might destroy himself in the process.
However, both of these people represent human drives that we see in humanity: The desire to acquire wealth or power, even at the expense of the happiness and safety of others. Both of them exploit a flawed system that has no real defense against them, because the person who designed the system didn't really understand people and could not envision people like them. The true enemy of Rapture was never the "Parasites" that Ryan recognized, but the ones he could not. They weren't parasites, but Cancers that formed within the system which the "Body Politick" of Rapture had no mechanism to expel.
@@FirstLast-cg2nk yup but again extreme political views often view people that way.
Andrew Ryan, living out the proverb, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
It depends if you don't necessary agree with libertarianism or objectivism.
Andrew Ryan is somewhat tragic, a idealistic man of principle who wanted to achieve a individualistic utopia, not realizing that someone like the opportunistic Frank Fontaine would fall into that society as well.
HE was selfish at heart.No good intentions just the urge to do what he wanted.
@@thisismyboat That's not entirely true. If Ryan was simply out for himself, he would've been like a frontier homesteader. But he wanted to build a community of like-minded individuals. I don't necessarily agree with his philosophy, his means to achieve his ends, or his administrative approach. But there is no doubt that, at least in his mind, he was setting out to create an ideal society.
@@enzoofelba to me Andrew Ryan is the opposite extreme of communism.
@@christianweibrecht6555 out of curiosity what kind of extreme communism?
Cuz to me that would be anarcho communism
A stateless classless egalitarian society, collectively owned and democratically operated.(preferably through a confederation of municipalities mutually working together)
Where the means of production is owned by those who toil collectively and democratically.(through union or worker co-ops,
From each too Their ability to each their own need.(mutual aid, mutual benefit.)
Intersectional (there is no race but the human race, however rich and powerful people like to devide and conquer,
Housing and food being a human right (and preferably through housing co-ops.)
Also trains.(choo choo mothafuckas!)
I’d love to see a deep dive on the Bioshock 2 antagonist as well. The first experience of being in Rapture isn’t there of course, but it’s still a good game. Kind of underrated.
Bioshock 2 would be championed as one of the best games of all time if it wasn’t for just how incredible Bioshock 1
"A man chooses, a slave obeys."
- Andrew Ryan.
Andrew Ryan really is a staple villain in the entire video game industry. Not because he's a hard fight (the opposite infact - he doesn't fight you at all), and not because he's so overtly evil, but rather because he's a rare example of an antagonist that you feel multiple feelings about at the same time despite barely spending any time one-on-one with him.
At first you may idolize him with the glorious and beautiful presentation of Raptures scenery and ideals, then u may change to fear him with the various times he nearly traps and kills you (if it werent for Tenenbaum), and by the end of the game you may feel such hatred for him that you can't wait to smash his head in...until you finally do it...against your will... and everything changes one last time to...uncertainty and confusion. Because the kill was at your hands but not your own volition, it feels wrong, even though we understand he was an arrogant, classist, and corrupt man. But was he really corrupt... or just someone desperate to uphold the stability and ideals of his isolsted city of individualist dreams in the midst of powerhungry and greedy civilians? Ryan knew how to instill these feelings in people and if he was going to do anything before dying, it would be to make someone question their entire predisposed purpose in life and their moral compass, as he does brilliantly with Jack (the player) in his death scene.
He sets the groundwork for a perfect red herring, one that for any new or even returning player, is nearly impossible to not focus on as the main antagonist. Then, once he's revealed to be just a king toppled by another king, it hits like a train.
Fontaine though was a bastard.
You put everything I feel into words, I love Andrew Ryan
An interesting character for this would be Dracula from Netflix's Castlevania, also lots of other solid "Evil's" to pick from there.
Oh yeah, Carmilla, the Bishop, and "Varney" come to mind. One thing I love about the Netflix Castlevania is how three-dimensional the characters are. They somehow managed to get nearly every class of hero and villain in the show. Dracula and the main characters being particular standouts. Graham MacTavish, Richard Armitage, James Callis, and Alejandra Reynoso made that show.
I’d also like a comparison to the games’ Dracula. Lament of Innocence’ Mathias is underrated and plays a huge part of why Castlevania’s (Netflix and Game) is the way he is.
@@wesleygriffiths8748 that's an excellent point I hadn't put together.
I personally think Carmilla would be more interesting character to analyze. Dracula appears quite static and during his active contribution to story he is not in right in the head. There is no arc or development in his character while Carmilla does develop.
hardly, dracula goes on to wipe humanity because his wife was killed, despite the fact that the ones directly responsable for her death were already death, there is nothing to discuss there, he was evil by that fact alone.
Having just recently beat this game this couldn’t have come at a better time. Thank you sir
Andrew Ryan's story is one of the best examples that the Road to Hell is paved with "Good" Intentions.
the beast example of good intentions that came with a Price is Magneto in the x-men movie as he wanted to make the world better for human only to realize the horrors of his actions or Kyle mom in south park as she means well but never thinks of her actions or Superman in injustice as he wanted to do the right thing but become a monster but people using him as Good intentions always come with a deadly Price
Yo Armin Shimerman did his voice.
Amazing talent. Watched DS9 and did not detect any bit of Quark in his voice
Apparently the lowered the pitch of his original voice for Ryan, I can't remember the reason why though. But yeah you'd never think it was Quark as Andrew Ryan 😂
Quark would have loved Rapture before things went bad.
Fun fact: Odo (Rene Auberjonois) voiced Robert Edwin House from Fallout: New Vegas.
DS9 had two actors who both voiced characters based off of Howard Hughes.
@@bigdgray98 In Ryan public speech in Public service anoucment he soud like Quark
Armin Shimerman was also Principal Snyder from Buffy and he certainly has a lot of Ryan in him especially when he sees Buffy Summers as the ultimate parasite similar to how Ryan saw Fontaine and Atlas
As someone who is critical of Rand, it’s very interesting to hear how words are translated into actions. Hearing the main ideals of the Atlas truly make objectivism sound utopic. However it only takes human imperfections, desires, or actions to see the ugliness unfold. Masterful game and character.
Yup, when there are no rules there isn't much stopping you from just killing the people who have the things you want except your own morality, and Ryan wanted to crush the morality out of the people who came to rapture.
All 3 games are clearly criticisms of authoritarianism. Bioshock 1 was Corporate authoritarianism, 2 was cult/communist authoritarianism, and infinite was religious/nationalistic authoritarianism.
Well of course when she wants you to believe it would be a utopia she makes it one.
@@Altmetalpunk 1 is about objectivism. 2 is about collectivism. 3 is (supposed to be) about American exceptionalism.
an objectivist would argue that it's considerably more utopian to believe that you can consolidate all the power that comes with a monopoly on violence into one small group of individuals with all their imperfections and desires and expect them to be concerned with the general welfare more than the pursuit of accumulating more power for themselves
Yay this was one of my requested ones. Crossing fingers for GlaDOS and Handsome Jack in the future.
Oh now handsome Jack would be a really really interesting one
Glados and handsome jack both would be fascinating videos. Jack is easily my favorite antagonist in any piece of media I’d love to see a video on him
Handsome Jack would be fucking fascinating.
Andrew Ryan, one of the best, most memorable and evil villains in all of gaming history, so glad to see a video on him!
I don’t honestly know if I’d argue the most evil. He was a bad guy and became corrupted by the end but he was truly fighting for what he thought was a better world, a perfect society. This is no excuse for his actions but the horrible things he does still aren’t near the level of atrocity of other game villains I feel
@@dr.k8610 Yeah I said one of the most evil, I can definitely think of like twenty game villains who are objectively more ‘evil’ than him. But he’s definitely up there and one of the best. He’s like the Darth Vader of game villains in terms of impact and memorability for me.
@@dr.k8610 Ryan was unsympathetic, he may not have gone out of his way to gleefully torture people for his own amusement like some of the other Rapture residents like Cohen but he was willfully ignorant to the plights of others and cared not for the system he imposed upon them because he believed everything was their choice regardless of context. He caused much more harm to everyone in Rapture than any single individual did, no matter how cruel. The likes of Suchong may have been abusive towards the Little Sisters but Ryan was the one giving the man his paycheck to do it.
He might be The best Evil Villain in gaming history
Please do Officer Tenpenny from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, he’s literally the video game counterpart of Alonso Harris, a man of the street working for the law, outsourcing his job to other criminals, charming yet terrifying etc.
There are a dozen evil characters in GTA.
@@CT-Irodion Yeah, and so many of them are better than Tenpenny lmao. Mike Toreno is a way more interesting villain from the same game, and like OP said Tenpenny is basically just Alonso anyway.
I’m hoping he does Handsome Jack from the Borderlands series. Insanely psychotic
Trevor from V would be a cool episode.
@@thekeyandthegate4093 The three protagonists. Mike, an interesting take on the classic Goodfellas / Sopranos type mid life crisis gangster. Franklin, the talented young gangsta Mike takes under his wing. And Trevor, what can't be said about Trevor? A chaotic, incessantly raging storm of a man; fueled by a limitless hunger for sex, money, meth and violence yet, incredibly skilled and (at times) shockingly charismatic.
The best games I have ever played. The story and lore was just so awesome. The twist that you were being brainwashed the whole time before you kills him was just mindblowing.
You should do a video on Fontaine too. Daud and the Lord Regent from Dishonored are also pretty interesting when you take their journal’s into consideration.
There's a lot of interesting evil characters from this series you could analyse, I hope you make some more videos for the others as well because this series is really fun.
Hell yeah. One of my favorite video game characters. 'We all make choices. But in the end, our choices make us.' - Andrew Ryan
I just wish to say, Vile Eye, that I love and adore your UA-cam channel. Your videos are so atmospheric and deep when describing the background and psyche of these villains, and I wish you the best of luck in continuing to make these videos. As a writer, your videos are good research material for forming deep, dark, and complex characters that often at times transcend far beyond the benchmark of mere villainy. And that is because your insight and your in-depth analysis make these characters out to be more than just simple evildoers.
Hopefully we can get a Fontaine video? He's just the kind of man Andrew Ryan should have never let into Rapture.
ironic part is, Ryan and Fontaine are two side of the same coin
@@seliamila1005 o very much so. I think in Andrew Ryan's mind his world is still pure to his ideal.
In Frank Fontaine's mind there are no ideals only results.
Also that Karen Sofia Lamb
@@Mandalore_ultimate all of the rapture 'bright and brightest' are messed up lol
@@seliamila1005 Sofia Lamb is the worst one of all in my opinion
Seeing this REALLY brings me hope to see Big Boss from the Metal Gear Solid Series be in an video of Analyzing Evil.
@BaronOfPlagues lol don’t want people catching you say that. The hate that MGS5 gets is absurd where any mention is just an insult to haters.
@BaronOfPlagues mgs5 has the most disappointing story as it doesn't seem like it goes anywhere and alot of it seems like filler in the series but it also has plenty of positives to it all as well like art direction, graphics, some level of humor, and easily the best stealth action gameplay in the series.
It’s narrative is massively flawed but damn there’s still a lot to be obtained from it.
I can understand why people don't like it though.
@BaronOfPlagues Big Boss is a villain in some case but Anti-villain or Anti hero in another. I wouldn't call him evil tho especially with the world of MGS so fuck up, also he helped to defeated the patriot AI
Fucking YES
@@Gadget-Walkmen my biggest complaint is how the missions are set up it's just weird
Your work is impeccable Vile. The story of this game really was special.. now I'm gonna have to play through it again. Great stuff dude!
The interesting part of Bioshock is that there is never a "pure evil," most everyone has a compelling motive and reasoning that conflicts with others, as well as morality.
I dunno man, what about Suchong?
He's about as immoral as it gets imo.
@@kevinmabryii3091 A scientist blinded by progress.
Evil compelling motivs so pure evil yeah all day. You could say they weren't all corrupt and that the road to their salvation was not in their favor but as we learn spoilers obviously, Tannenbaum separated herself from the problem so did Jack so the rest let go completely. Hell they thought by the end of it everything they did was just.
Frank fontaine is a pure, unadultarated, greed ridden piece garbage, that's why he's a perfect foil to ryan. He's the perfeect specimen of the kind of man ryan's utopia allowed to rise to almost absolute power, a bastard with no conscience that doesn't believe in anything, proving to ryan that his ideals were never going to lead any other way but to the self cannibalization of rapture. "No gods, nor kings, only Man" yeah, that kind of man though
"Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"
Andrew Ryan
I would love to hear your thoughts on these characters...
Percy Wetmore and Wild Bill from "The Green Mile"
Blanche and Jane Hudson from "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? "
Randall Flagg from "The Stand"
Greg Stillson from "The Dead Zone"
Mrs. Camody from "The Mist"
Alex Forrest from "Fatal Attraction"
Henry Bowers from "It"
Rhoda Penmark from "The Bad Seed"
Harry Powell from "Night of the Hunter"
Nino Brown from "New Jack City"
Nina Myers from "24"
Joan Crawford from "Mommie Dearest"
Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings"
Tyler Durden from "Fight Club"
King Edward I aka "Longshanks" from "Braveheart"
The Governor, Alpha, and Negan from "The Walking Dead"
Gus Fring and The Salamancas from "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul"
Kilgrave from "Jessica Jones"
Joe Goldberg from "You"
Keyser Soze from "The Usual Suspects"
Francie Brady from "The Butcher Boy"
Dwight Hansen from "This Boy's Life"
Betty Wendell from "THEM"
Delores Umbridge from "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
John Ryder from "The Hitcher"
Grandmother and Mother from "Flowers in the Attic"
Carl Stargher from "The Cell"
Barbara and Carol Denning from "OITNB"
"Nothing but crumpled porn and Ayn Rand"
Futurama surmising the value of objectivism
Objectivism isn't any worse than pure capitalism or communism. Just as unrealistic and unrealistic as each other
@@Captain_Insano_nomercy er...at least Altruism isn't considered evil in capitalism and communism...
@@Captain_Insano_nomercy JAJAJAJAJAJA no
Ryan didn't make Rapture for anyone but himself.
If we're looking at videogame evil, I'd recommend Handsome Jack from Borderlands, and all of Vault-Tec from Fallout.
How about the company of the 1st surge game?
Just played through the first 2 games again over the last couple of weeks, your timing could not be better. Great work!
One of the biggest annoyances of mine for Ryan isn't even the mind control. It's him placing a surcharge on Oxygen and Breathing in Rapture.
The man who hated taxes above all else... Placed a tax on LIVING in rapture. My dude, the heck.
Even worse is that his own father was arrested for refusing to pay taxes, and probably died in prison.
Loving these vids, Just started playing Bioshock too and got "Acquainted" with Ryan and his Ideals
so surprised and happy you did this video! I am not a big gamer but I absolutely love this series and couldnt get enough of it
This is seriously the channel that UA-cam doesn't deserve. Thank you for the consistent quality and for giving me something to look forward to and revisit with just as much pleasure.
Adore this channel and the content. I would feel guilty if I didn't throw out these ideas for future subjects:
1. Shang Tsung
2. Horus Lupercal
3. The Kingpin
Please keep doing what you're doing!!!
Excited for yet another masterpiece of a video. I hope you consider doing Senator Armstrong from Metal Gear as well, his ideological foundation is worth exploring & is very similar to Ryan's in many ways.
It's a facade. He sees a broken system, and he echoes it, trying to break it further. He wants to destroy America.
@@billlupin8345 Yeah, that's the point. In Armstrong's view, democracy's emphasis on equality undermines the strong; who are America's rightful rulers. He also sees it as undermining America's natural ideological root of individualism.
To Armstrong, America as we know it needs to be destroyed; in order for the path to be cleared for a new order.
@@KevinJohnson-cv2no Armstrong then is an anarchist. Ayn Rand wasn't. She believed the government should exist to protect the rights of the weak, so a barbarian doesn't just waltz in, take Hank Rearden's money, and shit on his desk because he's physically not strong enough to stop it.
@@billlupin8345 Yeah, that is correct. Armstrong's political ideology is what is known as Avaritionism, which is essentially Anarcho-Capitalism without the NAP. I should have noted in my original comment that there are also stark differences between their ideologies, but I thought it was implied and wanted to keep the comment short lol. I completely agree with the denouncement of Armstrong's anarchist leanings (though not for the reasons you may think).
Also, your definition of "The Strong" is severely lacking. It doesn't merely entail physical strength, in such a world one would use any/all means necessary to achieve the upper-hand over others; weaponized intelligence can be far more effective. Barbarians won't waltz right in if the office entrance is booby-trapped, or if the owner has secured the entrance with his own militia.
@@KevinJohnson-cv2no No, but another industrialist with a larger set of mercs would. Strength isn't just physical might, as you said.
I really appreciate your channel dude. Thank you for your works.
Beautifully researched and worded as always. Thank you so much for these.
Imagine Walt Disney taking control of Atlantica due to labor strikes during world war two and then continue to inviting all the villains of Disney films to compete for power
Bioshock is an iconic game. I know I have said this before, but I think making a video on Homelander from the Boys would be a great video
I'm surprised he hasn't done that yet
Me too but I think he should wait until the next season, because as we all know Homelander is geared up to lose his shit even more.
....This is levels of quality abouve whats usually done in this channel (barred an actual philosophical discourse in the rethorics). With the understanding of objectivisms real world implications, and at the same time giving an honest record of its intuitive tenets, through a slightly misguided game representation, I must say this is worthy of a lecture. Well done sir. This is youtube when its at its best.
I was thinking about Ryan! You finally did it! Thank you so much!
Don't ask, "what can I live with, but what can I die with?" We can craft a narrative to justify any action. But in death all the lies we tell ourselves are stripped away, and we stand defenseless against our decisions in life.
I believe that is why Napoleon is said to have begged forgiveness on his death bed. Who was he begging? People in the room? The world? God? No, I believe he was begging forgiveness from that inner voice who stripped him of the lies he told himself throughout life and condemned him.
24:52 "It isn't exactly as innocent as letting someone indulge in a drug that puts a little pep in their step."
I mean, that's one way to describe doing hard drugs.
I’d like to see this channel’s take on this dishonored series. There’s a multitude of different villains, always different/intersecting, goals, and ambitions, that I think would make it a very interesting video.
Ooh, yes
Great video!!! Bioshockbis my favorite game and Ryan is my fav charcter in it. I especially love how you showed how Ryan and Rands philosophy are similar but differ in several key ways. Not many do.
Bioshock is my favorite game ever!
Same I bought it at local grocery store when I was younger when they use to carry games
This is amazing! I just thought about this literally like a day ago. "Analysing evil should really do more video games, like Andrew ryan from bioshock and Caesar from Fallout New Vegas."
I’m never not excited to see the new episode. This was a brilliant installation
Always feel like I learn something new when I watch your videos, wheather its philosophy or history or something insightful thank you for your work on this video and being who you are
My respect to you sir, many many videos about bioshock fail to show that Rapture was not simply a mirror of Objectivism, instead, a mixture of Objectivism and a bunch of contradictions, which eventually led to it's downfall. Clearly you've done your research
Objectivism is rife with contradictions already.
I've played through Bioshock probably 6 times now? And I've taken an intro philosophy course in my day as a college student, and I'm failing to recognize how it's not just a very obvious send up of Objectivism and Libertarian ideology. 90% of the problems in Rapture would've been solved had they just a functional government. It was Ryan's obsessive ego (because every objectivist I've ever met has one) and adherence to the ideology that destroyed Rapture. There is no situation in which Rapture would've flourished
Objectivism is inherently contradictory
@@thenonartist4366 so is communism, pure capitalism, and essentially every other ideology. They all rely on utopian conditions
@@imeowmeowkat well Ken Levine literally says the game isn't just bashing objectivism. So that's kinda all there is to it
People like Ryan call it "objectism".
Sane people have other names for it, Entitlement, Selfishness, and Greed, and in some cases, Social Darwinism. Often with Arrogance and Egotism thrown in.
The character is definitely a critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy, objectivism
Sounds perfectly reasonable, collectivism has been disastrous for us, why wouldn't Alexander be entitled to his Empire?
Wow! I JUST started a new BioShock playthrough and was blown away by how well it holds up. Needed a video essay about it and this hits the spot.
Fantastic vid as always. Wouldn't mind seeing more video game villians.
One of my favorite villains in a game despite barely being onscreen, sorta like Armstrong.
You should put this series on Spotify. Whenever I listen I usually am doing other activities like working out and that would make it really convenient.
thanks a lot to whoever that patron is, I always wanted this vid since the beginning
Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat would make a great video.
I'd love to see Analyzing Evil: Sophia Lamb next, hell Suchong, Tenenbaum, Fontaine, Sinclair, Bioshock is a treasure trove for this channel lol.
As a teen I used to feel sorry for Ryan, believing he had a great vision and that his city was wrongfully taken from him. Then I got older.
Rapture itself was the evil, corrupted place that had to go. It was one corrupted person (Ryan) vs a Con Man on steroids (Fontaine). A society that upheld serial killers like Steinmann and Cohen as decent people.
He had a vision that would’ve been great we’re it not for the stripping of morality from it. Freedom is good, freedom from “God” has always lead to genocide and the complete lack of actual freedom, every single time.
@@feartheghus Well Andrew Ryan didn’t believe in God, personally. He had an ideal vision that people if free to pursue their aims, could prosper. Similarly, you don’t need to use God in the argument for natural rights. You just need to realize that in a society where you do not uphold rights to life and rights to property, you lose cohesion and discipline in that society.
@@feartheghusWell said!
...and realized you needed government taxation, bureaucracy, and cronyism to keep afloat...right? Yeah.....
awesome work my guy! Love this!
Tbh I don’t see how the scene from the book with the two business owners is against objectivist principles.
It wasn’t that Ryan was refusing to let the free market stop the trash collector business owner from being boycotted or blacklisted or whatever else, it’s that the victim was asking Ryan to use his position as member and nominal head of Rapture’s Government to instate regulations that would stop the trash collector from dumping garbage in front of his competitors store.
Ryan refused to do that since doing otherwise would go against objectivism, it would be the state interfering with the free market and business’ rights to operate as they see fit
Shep controlled the garbage picking in the entire area, he was demanding Gravenstein to pay 10 times for the garbage pickup, and he was letting the garbage pile up right next to Gravenstein's store, and most of said garbage wasn't even Gravenstein's. The first is ok, the second is somewhat morally shady and the third is downright petty.
All Gravenstein wanted was a public garbage picķup, but Andrew instantly saw this as a communist policy.
This was the first game series I played on my own at 13, to this day it’s my favorite series. So much so I’m making my BF who never played it play it and I’m watching him and cheerleading him on lol.
Nuking Japan was an awful decision to make, but it has to be made. Millions died, but billions were saved. One could argue that the sacrifice of the innocence was unjustifiable, but it's also unjustifiable to sit back and allow a genocide when you have the power to stop it. I think Andrew Ryan saw things this way. It was chemical and engineering talent that enabled the production of that bomb which saved so many. Others see a talent for destruction and want it treated, Ryan would want to utilize it for a better purpose. Weapons seem scary until you need one. Ryan makes mistakes in his desperate struggle for control, the capitalist should appreciate the economic victory of Fontaine, yet he's unable to accept defeat and became an example of the fascism thay once plauged his childhood.
Yes, thank you!!! I wanted you to go in depth about Andrew Ryan for some time!
I love this channel. When I saw Andrew Ryan I was beside myself bioshock is an awesome game and I'm happy you covered it. Keep up the great work 👍
I'd love to see the following someday:
Eric Cartman - South Park
Caesar (Edward Sallow) - Fallout New Vegas
The Prophet of Truth - Halo series
The Illusive Man - Mass Effect series
King Radovid the Stern - Witcher series
I hope you will analyze also frank Fontaine, a truly evil genius and in my personal opinion the best villain in bioshock
Frank Fontaine was smart enough to have long-term plan (take over Rapture) and too stupid to ask "and then what". Rapture was already breaking down (physically) from civil war he launched and in the end his reign was short moment on throne atop pile of rubble about to be buried by Atlantic. Andrew Ryan had made sure leaving was very difficult and his death most likely made it even more so.
The fact that two well-known actors who played Star Trek characters are also in this makes my inner trekkie happy (Armin shimerman and JG hertzler voiced both andrew ryan and Dr. Grossman respectively)
Nice touch with the ending and how whats her name points to different parts of the room. Very nice touch sir, good video I'd say. Being a huge fan of Bioshock I think you nailed Ryan well.
Do Lots-o-huggin bear from Toy Story 3. He is an amazing villain.
I find it ironic he literally became the kind of person him and his father fled from in the 1910's.
Great timing, I just started playing through Bioshock again.
I would love for you to dissect the absolutely unwavering, cold and calculating evil of Johan Liebert from Monster. That would be quite entertaining.
Ooh interesting character! Can’t wait to watch this one
Gaunter O'Dimm from The Witcher. Could let you cover a lot of parallel mythologies regarding the devil as well.
I second this.
I have the chain link tattoo jack has with the quote "A man Chooses A Slave obeys" tattooed on my wrist i love bioshock! Great vid!
YEAAAaaa This is what I’m talking about,Absolutely tremendous episode on of the best video game trilogy’s of all time imo
Ideas for future episodes:
Cell (Dragon Ball Z)
Armstrong (Metal Gear Rising)
Norman Osborne (Toby Maguire Spiderman 1)
Officer Tenpenny (GTA, San Andreas)
Zamasu (Dragon Ball Super)
Can next be Charles Kane from Citizen Kane?
STOP DUDE EVERY VIDEO YOU RELEASE IS SO DAMN GOOD BANGER AFTER BANGER