Guide Note

Andrew Ryan is the founder of the underwater city Rapture in the game BioShock. The character is inspired by the novelist Ayn Rand and shares many of the same beliefs.

Andrew Ryan was born in communist Russia, where his parents were murdered by government agents. He moved to America believing that he, as a great man, would have limitless opportunity to make the best of his talents. At first he quite successful, becoming very wealthy in the early part of the 20th Century. After the U.S. adopted social programs in the late 1920s Ryan's attitude towards the country changed and after the U.S. used a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima at the end of World War II he had enough. He used his entire savings to build the city Rapture at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

1. "My name is Andrew Ryan and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?"
2. "What is the difference between a man and a parasite? A man builds, a parasite asks 'Where's my share?' A man creates, a parasite says 'What will the neighbors think?' A man invents, a parasite says 'Watch out, or you might tread on the toes of God...'"
3. "It was not impossible to build Rapture at the bottom of the sea, it was impossible to build it anywhere else."
4. "A man chooses, a slave obeys."