so what was it like going through the Big Daddy program?
The pain, both mental and physical, is beyond description. The process of becoming a Big Daddy can be divided into the large sections of physical changes and mental changes, which can be further broken down.
Physically, the subject first has their vocal chords changed which --given the range of the Big Daddy’s “speech”-- probably involves vastly stretching and expanding them to allow larger vibrations. This is best described as having the inside of your throat disconnected from your neck (if that makes any sense) and then reattached somewhere further down. The inability to form words implies that Big Daddies may also have their tongues removed, or their oral cavities heavily modified. After this the Big Daddies have their muscles and organs grafted into their diving suit, and --if we’re following my other headcanons-- have unnecessary organs removed. It’s canonically mentioned somewhere that Ryan is very cheap in the production of Big Daddies and actually has new people grafted in on top of the bodies of already dead Big Daddies, so it’s very unlikely that they have any kind of anesthetic during the whole process. The grafting process specifically involves the subject being skinned and then permanently attached to the inside of the diving suit by some process involving steam. I don’t think the specifics are ever explicitly discussed in canon, but I assume it has something to do with the heat from the steam sort of melting the skin and fabric together. In essence the diving suit becomes the Big Daddies new skin, with muscle and organs directly connected to it. The last physical changes are the strength enhancements and pheromones. While these are obviously not comfortable due to the genetic rewriting of plasmids, they’re by far the least painful part of the process.
Mentally the first step is the repression of essentially all free will. This could probably be done either through plasmids or through direct modification of the brain. Plasmids fit the Bioshock world more accurately, but it’s also interesting to consider physical modifications too. The human brain has no nerve endings, so that method would probably be more or less painless, given that the skin and possibly bone surrounding the brain would already be gone. Included in “free will” here are desires, normal needs, memories of free will, etc. This process is basically the “de-humanization” of the Big Daddy, changing it from an independent being into a mass produced creature engineered for a purpose. The second mental change is the desire or need to protect the Little Sisters. This is possibly done through some form of induced extreme paternal instinct. This would almost certainly be done via plasmid use, as paternal instinct and such are learned behaviors. A part of the mental conditioning process (presumably the first portion) involves the repression of the ability to form coherent memories, as well as extreme suppression of already formed memories. The amount of pain endured during the transformation would cause anyone who could remember it to become for all intents and purposes incapable of functioning anymore due to acute severe PTSD, and the ability to recall life before becoming a Big Daddy would prove to cause complications in their duties.
Candidates for the Big Daddy program are given no information about any of these processes until they occur, and often don’t have any choice in the matter either. Many of the candidates were criminals, or splicers beyond help, or other lowlifes that had no say in what went on. Once selected they would go through a brief screening to determine whether their body could handle the changes, and if approved are sent through.
After the process is over the new Big Daddy is given a brief period for their body to recover, and then is promptly sent to the proving grounds. It’s lucky, in a way, that Big Daddies are tough enough to consistently pass through the proving grounds, or all that suffering would be in vain.
B-132 specifically successfully passed through the process until the mental modifications, where complications occurred. B-132 retains some very vague memories or places and things and feelings (though it can no longer experience said feelings), and is also capable of forming new memories and exercising free will. While B-132 doesn’t have the Little Sister attracting pheromones --and therefore often scares them away-- it does have the strong paternal instinct of other Big Daddies, and can become highly protective of people who do anything to land in its favor.
Long story short, you don’t want to become a Big Daddy.
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