User blog:Jester of chaos/Pure Evil Proposal: Sofia Lamb

This is a character who when I was first proposed I was unsure but they were still worth a talk. Rethinking I feel she's distinct enough especially given her goal is uniquely horrific.


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Who is she?
Sofia Lamb is the main antagonist of BioShock 2 and leader of a cult known as the Rapture Family.

What does sh do?
Sofia is first shown at the opening prologue where she arranges to have her own daughter, Eleanor Lamb, captured by Splicers and brought to her so she can conduct experiments to make her a "Utopian", an entity who will be created through large doses of ADAM (basically a drug that can contain memories of others and grants incredible powers by rearranging your DNA but addictive, often disfigures and drives the user insane/homicidal) but this entity will lack any personality of it's own or sense of identity. In the opening Sofia is aware her daughter is connected to a Big Daddy (protective golem) by the name of Subject Delta and has a Splicer hit him with a hypnotism Plasmid before stepping out of the shadows at which point she forces him to kill himself with her gun. Eventually Eleanor sets it up so Delta will be revived and save her but it takes about ten years and once Sofia learns this she tries to have him killed. Now within these ten years she has experimented on Eleanor, had some little girls captured from the surface and experimented on. Later we see her first attempt at a "Utopian" as Gilbert "Alex the Great" Alexander who she abandoned upon deeming him failure due to being transformed into a giant and insane monster. The man was in love with Sofia and she seemingly was well aware of this so she asked him to be the first attempt at a "Utopian", a process that take a lot of ADAM and in his opinion upon failure worse than death but unable to outright kill himself leading him to make a way for others yet aware his newer personality would kill and have a strong desire to live forcing him to leave audio diaries to assist.

Later Sofia non-fatally suffocates Eleanor to fatally wound Delta due to their bond but orders him not killed due to knowing he'd be revived through a Vita-Chamber, instead she wants him merely restrained until he does die due to the interrupted bond. Unfortunately for Sofia, Eleanor is able to free Delta and the two work together to stop her. Eventually feed up with the fight Sofia points out to the duo she's forcibly transformed one of their allies, Sinclair, into a Big Daddy to kill Delta while she escapes to the surface and had explosives placed around Rapture to destroy it and Delta permanently. In this announcement Sofia claims she loves Eleanor and that while Delta will not be allowed to live she'd allow her daughter on but only if she accepts her destiny. Eventually the duo approach the escape pod and set off the final explosive before she can escape, depending on the player choice Eleanor either saves Sofia or purposely drowns her. In a DLC set before the main game it's revealed she that one of the female children experiment on and became a Little Sisters had their father try to save him only for him to find to his horror what became of her, Lamb then offered/forced to become a Big Daddy to "be with her" the alternative is to be killed immediately. To add to the horror Little Sisters become Big Sisters as they age but rendered insane and extremely violent which you must fight or even kill to just beat the main game.

Redeeming Features / Migrating Factors
Sofia does seem to believe she is destined to make the world better but her motive is to basically destroy individuality and free will. This is not just for Eleanor but she wants to eventually convert humanity into "Utopians" as well. Based on all her actions I'd not count her a Well-Intentioned Extremist but just a delusional sociopath with a borderline messiah complex.

Now Sofia claims to love all humanity equally but is show to be a hypocrite that is willing to kill anyone if it benefits her shown with how she constantly sends minions to die, trying to kill Delta merely because he was bonded to Eleanor and even has outed Stanley Poole when he tried to hide info from Sofia at which point she leaves him defenseless and tell Delta he could kill him for all she cares. Sofia also constantly talks negative of humanity saying they are selfish and cruel. Even if Delta chooses to spare everyone possible Sofia calls it an act and states only her work can produce a selfless entity.

Caring for the Rapture Family? No, she sees them as useful pawns and plans to extract all their ADAM to infuse in Eleanor. She convinces them this is a good thing as they'll gain "immortality" and "salvation" by fusing their minds with Eleanor. Even realizing her defeat Sofia is more than willing to destroy Rapture while she escapes Rapture with possibly Eleanor if she's going to comply. This means even though she can't harvest their ADAM she willing condoned the death of potentially thousands solely to save herself despite most being part of her cult.

Love for Eleanor? Honestly I'd say no genuine love. Throughout the game she treats Eleanor as a guinea pig for her experiments and tool for her legacy. Despite Sofia's claim to love her daughter she was more than willing to harm her and suffocate her to achieve her own goals. As for offering to allow Eleanor join her in the escape pod that's due to her being needed to achieve her goals and was only willing if Eleanor accepted her role in Sofia's plan. In one audio diary she does indeed get emotional when she realized she might need to kill Eleanor BUT the problems with this are she continually treated her more as an object/property or pet vs an actual daughter and she constantly states she loves everyone the same so frankly I feel that if anything confirmed she's willing to do anything to her she did to others. Honestly her "love" comes across more across as seeing her as a reflection of her own massive ego and tool to secure her own legacy.

Sympathy for Delta? Ultimately hollow as despite claiming she felt bad for Delta when he's revived and she realized he had sentience, Sofia forcibly converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy under her control, Sinclair asks Delta to kill him and apologies for attacking him despite not being in control. Keep in mind Big Daddies aren't in control and can't talk usually so this is seen as a "Fate Worse Than Death" for Sinclair which he makes abundantly clear since she makes it where he can only talk.

Remorse? Sofia only asks Eleanor to forgive her right before attempting to suffocate her. Honestly can't say I feel it's sincere especially since she never treats her more than a tool and planned to ultimately make Eleanor a creature with no free will but sentience. Sofia always blames others for ruining her vision vs taking responsibility or accepting her theory of people being only selfish as wrong. If Delta shows mercy to all NPC(s) possible including the Little Sisters then Eleanor saves Sofia out of her own belief no one is beyond redemption thus everyone deserves mercy. That comes across as more Eleanor being optimistic especially when Sofia never shows doubt in her beliefs, the only other way for her to live is by the "Neutral" ending where Eleanor spares Sofia as a "cruel mercy" in that while she'll live, Sofia will have to live with knowing Eleanor will never join her and that her experiments where ultimately for nothing.

Feelings about Stanley's actions? She claimed Dionysus Park was her family and it was ruined due to his actions but I say it's basically the same with the Rapture Family as she constantly also referred to it as such. She even admitted to knowing Stanley killed them all and did nothing to him until he helped Delta go forward because it was putting her plans at risk. We don't see any real interaction and given all this I frankly feel not an issue.

== Heinous Standard==

I won't lie it's a very dark series so I'll start giving the main villains.

Alright I'll give the major villains:

Andrew Ryan: He's not Pure Evil but still worth mentioning that he was the one who created Rapture (the main setting of the first two games) and was a openly selfish and cruel man that had his opponents executed and was willing to blow the city up if he lost control. Ryan spared the protagonist, Jack, who he eventually realized was his son and even had it to where the city could be saved if Jack chooses. Instead Ryan only coldly informs Jack he's being manipulated by Frank Fontaine as he forces Jack to kill him with a golf club. Thing is Sofia also has people killed through her cult and planned to eventually sacrifice her cult to get Eleanor to "ascend" into a "Utopian" so Sofia can usher in a new era. His goal was essentially to just maintain control vs Sofia's which is basically one that logically would cost countless lives to repeat the process once finished with Eleanor to humanity as a whole.

Frank Fontaine: Now here is the first easy Pure Evil of the franchise and arguably the worst of any of them. Fontaine was a con artist that would rise to power as a powerful crime lord in Rapture by selling ADAM and trying to take control of the city through civil wars, arranging vile experiments on orphans to become Little Sisters, creating ADAM infused addicts. To gain trust he builds areas for the lower class citizen and orphanages but secretly experiments on them and making them addicts. Fontaine wanted to gain control of Rapture and later planned to introduce ADAM to the surface world presumably to gain even more power over the world before possibly trying to conquer it. Now Fontaine does manipulate Jack most the game and claims to of lost his family but later admits he never had one before offhandedly contemplating on maybe eventually starting one. Jack is the illegitimate son of Ryan who Fontaine has mentally conditioned and had the aging process temporarily increased to make him an adult prematurely to be the ideal pawn and in a sense his father figure. Thing is I feel Sofia is unique enough to probably not outdo him but stand out enough to count since while Fontaine's end goal would indeed cost a lot of lives hers would be a very large body count and the survivors being essentially driven insane and unable to do anything unless it was for "the greater good". Also keep in mind Fontaine is a bit more sadistic so he's willing to get more hands on while Sofia is more just a manipulative leader who tries to keep hands off whenever possible because she's indifferent towards causing pain.

Zachary Hale Comstock: This character apparently comes from the next game and the second one listed as Pure Evil for this franchise. I haven't played this game at all personally but he apparently gained the ability to travel to other dimensions, oppressed basically all those who weren't white, committed or ordered mass murder, kidnapped at least one individual (his daughter from another dimension). His ultimate goal seems to be to make a floating city and destroy most the world / civilizations below so he can achieve his version of paradise. Honestly of them these two are comparable in a lot of ways but also stand out enough especially given the difference in methods.

Now for the lesser ones that are arguably the worst of their tiers:

Yi Suchong - A cruel scientist who created the process for Big Daddies and Little Sisters, conducted cruel experiments on the children partly out of hatred and was the one who mentally conditioned Jack. Lamb has more resources and used his research to replicate most of it for tools to achieve her goal so ultimately not an issue IMO given she used it and produced it more all to further her plans.

J.S. Steinman - An insane doctor who conducted a lot of medical experiments to achieve "perfect beauty" especially if the novels are taken into account. Very low tier and Lamb definitely stands out far more given resources and plans even if she doesn't personally kill with her own hands instead relying on her cult.

Stanley Poole - A reporter who originally got Lamb arrested, got Delta turned into what he is today, had Eleanor sold to become a Little Sister before ultimately destroying Dionysus Park to cover his own ass. Lamb plans are far more reaching, far larger body count attempted and has the resources necessary vs Stanley who has next to nothing so no issue with no goal other than survive.

Conclusion
The first time I was less confident as I was a little less familiar with the standard and only stressed the daughter aspect but now I'm more confident especially since her end goal is more unique, basically she's a deluded woman who plans to put humanity into a "Fate Worse Than Death" by conducting experiments involving a lot of ADAM to make humanity intelligent but without free will. Personally I give a yes.