Ryan is still Alive

* See also Ryan
* See also BioShock_SOLO_Game_Redos
* See also Central_Control - With Ryan's Bunker
* See also Ryan_Industries
* Other Reveals : THOSE_CORPSES_ARENT_DEAD
Ryan LIVES !!! ... Scrawls seen on Walls
A MMORPG answer to the strange unexplainable happenings shown in BioShock ...
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== A FAR MORE EPIC TWIST ==
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== WARNING - SPOILER FOR THE MMORPG == 
== --- SO DONT LOOK AT THIS --- == 
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Ryan Did NOT Die **SPOILER ALERT** :
With Ryan knowing of Fontaine's WYK plot ( the one about 'Jack' ) from Suchong ( who was saving his own neck and staged his own 'dying' act to fool Fontaine ).
This becomes much more likely after it is shown ( in the BaSx DLC ) that Fontaine/Atlas had NOT even bothered acquiring Jack's WYK 'Control Phrase' ( which was a rather NON-clever/moronic thing ). 
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ATTENTION : The **ILLOGICAL ALTERNATE INFINITE UNIVERSE** is NOT in effect in the MMORPG. ( That bad fantasy story material is NOT 'Canon' for Sci-Fi Rapture. )
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The Big Charade :
In BS1 you go through sections of Rapture which Fontaine seems to have some control of ( and easily walks about in it himself ).
Only LATER you find out (in the game) that Fontaine was the cause of most of the Ruination you see. Atlas first tells you how Ryan caused it all, but it is 'revealed' about halfway thru game that HE is a liar and a murderous power hungry thug who does not care how many people die to achieve his goals.
Lotsa Splicers attack YOU ( which seems to work against Fontaine's goals, but they really aren't that effective - ARE THEY ??? ) Once that Pheromone Control thing was started, "Atlas" really should not have much control of THEM any more. ( NOTE - You may be in an area in which Ryan's Pheromone Control might not be working all that well ). 
'Kill the outsider' seems to be stuck in the Splicers' skulls - That being with a 1000 ADAM Bounty put on you (Jack) by Ryan. Ryan at first did not know who YOU are, and you seem to be stirring up trouble and appear to be assisting Atlas ...
You fight your way through hundreds of Splicers, but why is your path so Easy if it IS NOT being arranged ? If Ryan was in control, shouldn't there be a 1000 or 10000 ADAM Bounty on Atlas ????? ( AND all those Splicers being more interested in 'gunning for' Atlas ? )
You are presented with Corpses from many 'evil Ryan' scenes, which are awfully fresh ( Rats would have eaten them if it was from years before - Is it more likely Atlas/Fontaine's work ? ) Atlas Manipulates you with a faked Submarine Family incident. 
Ryan, sifting his evidence on the WYK Wall ( SEE PIX BELOW ), eventually WANTS to confront Jack, in order to straighten things out.
You apparently kill Ryan in a rather strange scene. And then Fontaine Reveals himself.
Fontaine then acts to dispose of his Tool (You), but you escape, etc ...
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NOW The Big REVEAL - You DID NOT Kill Ryan. Ryan was Faking His Own Death - using it to get Fontaine to expose himself so he can be hunted down and eliminated.
(( With THAT, I out-Twist the gamewriters, who shoulda thought of that themselves )).
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MY Theory : Ryan Knew All Along of Fontaine's Plot and Set up his Own 'Sting' / 'Twist' .... :
WYK - Ryan had the evidence, and pieced it together ( But then he was created as a one-dimensional character, to set a situation for a blast-fest game. )
Planes don't just land (crash) right next to the Lighthouse ( especially right after some unauthorized person had just turned the lights on ).
You don't think that was the only Vita-Chamber near where Ryan died, did you, seriously ?
You don't think that Ryan would have 'given up', when he was actually winning ? Abandon HIS city to it's Parasite enemy, which he WAS at that point ready to finally eliminate ?
"A Man chooses, a Slave obeys" ... And someone under mental control obeys despite the writers alleging free-will ( So that 'disappointed' crap about Jack was just plain Writer BS ).
Yes, indeed a 'Lesson' to his son, who is being forcibly controlled/compelled by his enemy. Yes, Ryan giving up and committing suicide definitely teaches a 'lesson'. To 'coin a phrase' : 'NOT MOFOS!!!' 
Developers/writers apparently not quite as 'twisty' as they thought they are. Any hack/third-rate mystery-novel/shortstory runs circles around what the Plot 'Twist' was shown to be in the BioShock BS1 story.
????? A 'final' Twist (somewhat delayed) : When you (in the MMORPG) reach the rank of 'High-Counselor' in New Rapture, and learn the 'Great Secret' ... 
( SO NO, it is NOT 'Lamb WAS Ryan' ... or other Fan Fiction along those lines ).
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== OOPS, A EPIC TWIST THE WRITERS COMPLETELY MISSED ==
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Free Will Still - Survival/Recovery Possible :
There was Pheromone Control to keep the insanity/damage under control ( Only affects Splicers who are only PART of the population ) - It eliminated Atlas's army of terrorists and destroyers. Ryan had control of most of the ADAM to prevent/limit further use, has some remaining scientists and technicians to develop a Cure ( possibly an offshoot of the Vita-Chamber ). The City itself wasn't falling apart that much (witness it ~7 years later in BS2 still intact/livable). More than a few Citizen still are left ( We can't blame the Sane ones for running away from the vicinity of Jack/Delta who are shooting up things everywhere they go ). Rapture was far from being a 'done deal', and what Atlas destroyed then Ryan could rebuild.
Fontaine has Ryan murdered. ( Or thinks he has. )
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Secret Subplot (Shhhhh) You Learn In The MMORPG :
Ryan didn't die. He was getting help from the surface ( where half his old industrial empire still exists ) and trying to find a cure for the ADAM disease to try to 'fix'/'Save' HIS City. This has been going on for the intervening years, with various difficulties and complications ( like fixing Hephaestus first so the whole city didn't die ). You learn much of Rapture was never under Sofia Lamb's control ( really not possible that so many could be that gullible ). And since the Splicers are still wandering the Streets, crazy as ever, and the Pheromone Controls either don't work as well, or largely no longer work, most of the City is still chaotic and dangerous. His agents tried to catch Tenenbaum when she went back to The Surface ( in the Minerva's Den events ), but she got away ( and she eventually returned to Rapture ). Learning of New Rapture with its 'Cure' process, he is pulling strings in the background to make sure that it will succeed and putting more effort into blocking the Surface from finding his City ( Which by 1970 is becoming harder and harder since satellites can see its lighthouse from space(?), and American Navy submarines can hear the City's machinery from 100 miles away. )
Of course the problem with this 'Secret' is that the first person to discover it in the game will post it in on the Internet and then it WONT be a secret 2 seconds later. A gimmick might be that every 'fact' in the story has half a dozen variations (many conflicting), and the many 'facts' are randomly strung-together and told to each Player ( by some rather disreputable NPC ). Resulting in rumor/story combinatorics equal to about 16 million different combinations.
The real mechanism that thwarts Internet 'cheats', would be the Mission/Quest mechanism randomizes where quests take place ( and each Server's city grows differently ) and adapts/customizes/randomizes the Quest's details ( even the Quest-giver isn't the same NPC or at the same location ). Different Quest-sets match a Player's skills and ability level. Thus there is so much variation that posting info about them on the Internet does very little good to the postings readers except generally suggest solutions to problems the Quests pose to the Players ( Players can relate/talk about THEIR stories still ). Most Missions/Quests are not repeatable on Failure ( You CAN do the 'Try try again' bit within the Quest's timelimit, but if you then still fail then that's it, and maybe a second quest gives you another chance with a different approach (or not).
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The WYK Room in Rapture Central Control - Proof that Ryan Knew What Was Going On for Quite Some Time :
The Board in the Anteroom to Ryan's Office - Showing the whole WYK plot was pieced together.
Atlas was lying to you the whole time, but Ryan too could have put on his own charade ( as in setting you up to fake his own death ), to steer Jack into revealing Fontaine, who could then be hunted down and destroyed as his last card was spent ( ie- Fontaine's desperate over-Splicing of himself when finally trapped ). Jack 'going after' Fontaine would be a good diversion, while Ryan's forces converged on Fontaine, who would give his location away by using a fake 'genetic' command key. Jack is unconscious when Atlas is killed by Ryan's men ( Little Sisters there trying to 'gather' Fontaine's ADAM, when he wouldn't stay still ??? Please Mr B ... )
Why does Fontaine yammer on at Jack, when Jack has the mentality of a 4 year old ?? Jack isn't even a real a man (( This : 'Levine's backhanded commentary on the Player ????' )). Jack is more a delusional puppet with specific very-limited memories and conditioned programming. Furthermore, Jack is also made insane/unstable from all that ADAM pushed into his body, and is stuck in his own Little Sister Dollhouse delusion. Jack probably doesn't understand much of what Fontaine is even talking about. Jack is likely waiting for his 'Pile of Candy Reward', which he was promised before being put on that plane. But then : Fontaine is a Sociopath, and is busy self-congratulating himself for what he thinks he has pulled off. Soon HE will realize how HE has 'been played' ( And Ryan in the MMORPG, Before the End, will tell that to him in a Flashback ).
What Ryan then Says to Fontaine would have been the real meat of a good story. Ryan will 'tell off' Fontaine ( very philosophically ) while Fontaine is being Finally and Justly dispatched Perhaps eaten by rabid rats in a nicely Poetic Scene..
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The original Solo Game gamewriters could not really deliver story much more than what's in your typical Short Story -- Something a few pages long. They have to compromise ( These were 'Shooter Games' after all ), no matter how much the visual and audio elements might add, over simple written text.
The unfortunate thing is : The game company sold it ( with their endless online spiels ) like it was something more It being lionized for its "storytelling" shows how 'low the bar' is in the Computer Game Industry in general..
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Lots of Reasons For Ryan to Live Thru His 'Death' :
Few for him NOT TO.
Devs say so ? - Later Developers on 'follow up' games often change their minds ( and even correct earlier 'stupid things' ) ...
Ryan turning the tables on Fontaine/Atlas and faking HIS own death SHOULD have been the Epic 'Twist', but the BS1 devs/designers completely missed it. 
Ryan had already figured out WYK and Fontaine's little assassination plot could be foiled. Ryan was winning the 'civil war', Atlas was on the run, being hunted by Splicers Ryan now controlled. Why the hell would Ryan decide 'all was lost', and so to commit suicide (thus 'surrender') -- When he spent his entire life doing the opposite, AND Rapture ( Ryan's dream ) now had a real chance to be fixed ?????
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Another potential reason for believing 'Ryan to still be alive' is the Vita-Chamber in his office. Given that all the Vita Chambers were 'tuned to his genetic Signature', it would be possible he had used it. Furthermore, we learn from Sofia Lamb in BioShock 2 that Subject Delta cannot 'die by trauma', otherwise he'll return to a Vita-Chamber ( after Eleanor tunes it to his genetic signature ) and must die from the Alpha Series' "self-destruct" mode when being separated from their 'bonded' Little Sister. Ryan, if that was really him, was most certainly killed by trauma ( the golf club strikes and being embedded in his head ).
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SO Ryan Simply 'Cannot Live' Knowing What A Failure His 'Son' Was ??? ( WHAT A LOAD OF BS ) :
How about seizing Jack - and Deprogramming him ? Then destroying Fontaine - Who was on his last legs at that point in the story --- One good 'Zerg Rush' of Pheromone controlled Splicers ... Or put out a 10000 ADAM Bounty on Atlas earlier, and it would have all been over pretty quick ( It just takes one Splicer to come up behind un-spliced Atlas and give him a clubbing or shotgun blast to the back of his head ).
No, Ryan illogically leaves Jack still under Fontaine's control, with Jack all ready (via WYK) to hand all of Rapture ( RYAN'S LIFE'S WORK ) to Atlas/Fontaine ( and also able to so easily stop that alleged Self-Destruct (yes, Faked too ) from happening with that easily available 'Control Key' ) ... It is Not-Too-Logical for Ryan to leave Rapture's destruction to chance -- by NOT HIMSELF properly 'seeing done' his "Burning The Forest To The Ground" ( ... that Ryan psychological 'history' tidbit they use to justify and setup for the whole story scene ).
It would be much simpler/logical if Ryan was to 'Fake His Own Death', so that he could launch Jack at Fontaine, and watch as Fontaine was taken down. OR if that failed, continue his goals/tactics to eradicate Fontaine/Atlas, and then RESTORE his City - Which would have been possible once the Sabotage, Disruptions and Murders perpetrated by Atlas were stopped. Ryan was, at this scene's point, winning. It IS Quite (writer) Idiotic for him to be 'Surrendering'/'Quitting' at that point.
The "A Slave Obeys" scene was 'All very Dramatic', but ultimately, story-wise, far less than it all could have been -- IF you could have had a "Ryan Is Alive" Reveal at the games end. 
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The WYK room in Rapture Central Control shows that Ryan has worked out what was happening, and all the resistance that Jack runs into seems just a ploy ( consider if YOU ever could fight a 'Zerg RushFrom Space Marines/40K universe game Genre : https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/zerg-rush/' of 20 Fly-bots and/or 30 Splicers simultaneously ). 
The part the developers truly missed was : They COULD have had a EPIC Twist of Ryan Faking His Death (like Fontaine had) and then aiming Jack at Fontaine -- Even while at that point Ryan had just about won the 'civil war', and Atlas was on his last legs, and Ryan was 'Turning the Pawn'.
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So Ryan Knew ... (Evidence - Said to Jack in Rapture Central Control) :
Ryan USES "Would You Kindly" if you had not noticed (even WHEN the Player may not have).
Ryan ( in Rapture Central Control ) : "So far away from your family, from your friends, from everything you ever loved. But, for some reason you like it here. You feel something you can't quite put your finger on. Think about it for a second and maybe the word will come to you : Nostalgia."
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Reasons Why Ryan Would Still be Alive :
As Example to Jack ?? (His son - he might want as a successor... DO YOU abandon the child after their first mistake ??) :
Some people/Players say that Ryan wanted to die 'as an example to Jack', when it was made clear that Ryan KNEW Jack at that time DID NOT have a 'Will of his Own' via the 'Would You Kindly' conditioning done by Ryan's enemy. ( Ryan KNEW the effects of ADAM/Splicing to orchestrate mental control upon humans. ) So Ryan dying doesn't make much sense. Thwarting Fontaine (Epic-ally) would have made MUCH more sense. *WINNING* would have been a much better lesson for his 'son'.
Ryan - "the best electrical engineer of our generation" ... (from Audio in Hephaestus) :
Sounds like he would be capable of doing whatever hacks/fixes necessary to 'fix' his Vita-Chamber to run thru whatever 'hoops' needed to fool Fontaine/Atlas into thinking HE was dead. His 'Vita-Chamber' was allegedly turned off ?? Not the one hidden in the closet (Why leave him in one where Jack could get to him and fulfill his last 'would you kindly' order ??). That 'Genetic Control Key' to Rapture ? No problem giving Fontaine control of virtually nothing via a FAKE key that would more serve to trace where Fontaine was hiding so he could be eliminated.
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SO Ryan Just Gives Up ? Seriously ?? :
Why should Ryan give up when he was at the point of WINNING against 'Atlas' ??? Why when HIS city needed saving ? He would overcome this ADAM problem somehow and rebuild his City. "It wasn't Impossible for Ryan to Save Rapture, It was Impossible for him NOT to Save Rapture." 
If Ryan already knew that Jack was Atlas'/Fontaine's pawn, then simply overpower Jack (and later deprogram him if still alive) and then proceed to finish Atlas/Fontaine off for good. Swarms of Splicers and Security Flybots would make short work of killing Atlas, no matter how much ADAM he swilled.
Simply put - Ryan was not a 'Surrender Monkey' -- His entire life proved that. Leave Rapture to Fontaine?? ( give him a real control key after having his slave easily stop any self-destruct ???? ) - makes me laugh that the plot went this way.
But, but, but ... Jack was 'his biggest disappointment' - What ??? After seeing what ADAM could do to make people insane and do things against their will ( and fall under the sway of parasites like Fontaine )?? How chemicals could then be used to control all the Splicers ( something Ryan just employed himself ) ??? Kind of obvious that "Will" ( especially in an artificial being like Jack ) could be manipulated so easily/completely. So be it. Ryan would destroy/banish all the ADAM/chemical control research and then fix all the Rapture people it had damaged.
But Ryan 'give up' ? Sorry, NO.
'The developers have stated that Ryan is "definitely dead." ' :
They also said Infinite would be out in October 2012. Next ...
"MAKE A BETTER CON ..." - Andrew Ryan ( paraphrasing his philosophy about 'products' )
( Pronouncements like that might stand until later, when a profit making game Sequel requires otherwise ... )
Motive, Ability, Opportunity
It might take time for Ryan to recover ( not clear how long a Vita Chamber took to work -- and with a head wound ... ). Do we really know how long it takes ( You ARE allegedly dead, or at least unconscious when YOU get revived to SEE what really happens to you ) ? OR who has to drag the corpse into the machine ( another unseen factor -- the 'FlyBot Ambulance Units' ) -- I never bought that Faux-Science 'quantum' magic : 'Detects you are dead and Teleports you' Vita-Chamber stuffThe Quantum BS starts in BS1 - lazily mangling plausibility in the story just so they can have insert a Game Auto-Saving Contrivance. Then it goes far into Derpland with Infinite BS pinky goddom-laced story and a barrage of misused sciencey buzzwords. . Reconstituting Delta is a whole 'nuther ball of contrivance for later ( probably that was more a long messy project for Eleanor ). 
"Dead Ryan" could easily have been an animatronics dummy ( like the ones in 'Journey to the Surface' - or rather Better ). Ryan wasn't exactly seen doing back-flips while he was giving his little speech to ADAM-Addled Jack.
Of course if Ryan was still alive, what would he be doing all that time until the BS2 period ( when we show up again ... and then even after that, when Sofia Lamb implodes ). BTW - Sofia Lamb did not necessarily control any large fraction of Rapture. Perhaps Ryan was off in secret trying to organize a 'Cure' for the ADAM that poisoned HIS City ?
* Making a new computer superior to 'The Thinker' to assist his task.
* Trying to get the Vita-Chamber to be the solution/method of fixing the ADAM problem ( or at least to mitigate it while a permanent solution was found ).
* Setting some of his remaining Surface Organization on the task ( He still had huge resources there ).
* Spending some time pulling strings 'from the shadows' to retain control of his parts of Rapture.
* Would his new secret identity personal (like 'Atlas') be 'Zeus' ??
* Move to 'the bunker' to be able to safely 'get to work' ( Minervas Den after all was able to cut itself off for years ).
* 'The Bunker' probably would not be his old 'Mansion', but some other location he had prepared during the so=called 'civil war'.
* Ryan is only something like 60 years old at the time of the MMORPG (~1970) and he does have the Vita-Chambers which might do more than a little to keep him 'active'.
There is probably no basis for the rumor that Ryan (being alive) went back to The Surface World to work on his new Moonbase project, with the other half of his fortune ...
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Two Can Play That Game :
If Ryan was still alive after the little incident in Rapture Central Control with Jack in BS1 ( Faking his own Death -- Which would have been a REAL EPIC 'Twist' the game developers missed completely ) what would he have then done ?
Fontaine/Atlas was eliminated, but Rapture was still very much alive. Even Sofia Lamb's little tyranny was only a 'Side Show' down in the old Southern edge of the City. 
Rapture's critical resource was the Power System. That was Ryan's area of expertise. If that shut down, Rapture was finished. By the time of the MMORPG, a few years past BS2, Ryan's Faction of followers still controlled Hephaestus and were some of the first to join in on the idea of rebuilding the City. Ryan would want his City restored, and that (in the MMORPG) is now starting to happen.
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You Only Live Twice : ( Dead ISN'T Dead - This is Rapture, REMEMBER ??? )
It is Much More Plausible and Logical to have Ryan 'Playing'(Scamming/Conning) Fontaine/Atlas, as Jack makes his way to Ryan.
Unlikely ? Remember that Ryan had been keeping an eye on Fontaine for a long time, and knew many of the devious things Fontaine was upto. So Ryan might easily have been ready to have a 'trick' of his own to use against this 'Atlas' threat to his City.
All the preposterous things and coincidences that happen in BS1 :
* OH Yes, Sure. There was a poison 'bomb' in Langford's office just ready for Ryan to execute her "at need". Dramatic, but utterly stupid. YOU ( the Player as Jack ) walk-in seconds later, and YOU are fine ?? Why should Ryan kill a Key person needed for his rebuilding/preserving of Rapture, over such a minor thing the story portrays (a Contract dispute) ?
* Ryan's Splicers suddenly are right there at that Smugglers Hideout escape Sub, and who could have simply killed Atlas ( who is not a Splicer and is armed with a mere pistol ) ?? Its more likely that Ryan wants to find out what Atlas/Fontaine is up to ?? ( Ryan could have killed Fontaine right there, but maybe just wanted to 'string him along' for the big 'Sting' ).
* Ryan seemingly surrenders ( Rapture Central Control death scene ), when he hasn't surrendered in his entire life ... Yeah, NO. And getting himself killed BEFORE he destroys Rapture, so that Atlas/Fontaine has a chance to get control of it when Ryan is gone ?? I dont think so. "Exterminate the Parasite in a Blaze of Glory to Make Sure" would have been more "Ryan-style" than what the game writers came up with ( for their little 'twist' plot ).
* The WYK board ( in Rapture Central Control ) basically shows that Ryan knows pretty well whats going on with Jack (YOU). Giving plenty of time for Ryan to come up with a 'Twist' of his own.
YOU are sent to find and GET Atlas ( when Atlas thinks he has control of Rapture Now ? ) Sounds like part of someone's plan.
Somehow Ryan 'convincing' Jack that "a Man Decides, while a Slave Obeys" ??? Mere words when Ryan's entire life was ACTIONS ??? Jack is a 4-year-old mutant pawn brainwashed into serving Fontaine. WHY should Ryan go to such lengths to try to convince such a pseudo-person of any Philosophy ?? ( Might as well try to convince 'Atlas' ... )
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Ryan IS STILL ALIVE, SO THEN :
Genetic Key (( cant be too simple except to simpleton writers ))
There would be Codes used WITH such a 'Control' Key - Punched in to an Access Console
Ryan's Access System would have required these Codes, or anyone who simply stole the key would be able to do alot of very bad things. (( Some Imbeciles using the Internet these days even understand such concepts ))
The Codes DIED with Ryan (Or would have). SO the intended fake'd use of the key (withothenuse telling Ryan exactly where Atlas was, so Ryan could have Atlas finally eliminated from Rapture ).
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It IS Fully Possible That Ryan Survived :
ACTUALLY MORE LOGICAL THAN THE BS1 PLOT HAS IT :
* It is quite possible that Ryan survived BS1 ( The 'faked' death caused by Jack and some Vita-Chamber's subsequent 'secret' resuscitation ), and that he went into hiding in his 'Bunker' complex. He would have then continued into the Lamb-Era, where he continued to coordinate his forces and minimized Lamb's influence over the majority of Rapture. By the 1969 timeframe, Ryan would still have only been around 60 years old ( and potentially 'renewed' by the Vita Chambers which HE would have had the Best versions of ).
* Ryan was a multi-multi millionaire and sold off alot of his holdings to build Rapture. He had a large organization to carry out that process and to handle all the people destined for Rapture. For years after the Founding, additional equipment and goods and people could have been sent down. Ryan still had a substantial surface organization even after he largely closed off Rapture from 'The Surface'. Ryan continued to communicate with and use this organization all the way to the time of his 'death' ( and thus afterwards ).
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Rejuvenation :
Started with Vita-Chamber systems ( also as a mechanism to fix Citizens damaged by ADAM side-effects - which became VERY popular as ADAM use increased ).
Ryan is back for the MMORPG (though not as himself ... this mysterious 'Zeus' character maybe ??)
Rumors of this happening in the MMORPG storyline can be detected ( things for the Players to discover, though that is usually ruined by 'Posting/Reading it on Internetz' ).
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BS2 Where's Ryan ? :
It is ~8 tears after BS1 when Ryan faked HIS death ( the MMORPG story continuation ).
Ryan has decided to 'Work from the Shadows' ( still pulling strings ) to help Rapture recover ( Ryan wasn't the Surrender MonkeyLet Fontaine win/"Example for Jack" BS/Let Rapture die - in BS1 the writers illogically made him ). His survival was known to only a few. Rapture's Cure ( rejecting the parasites ) had took longer than expected, with destructive problems like Sofia Lamb to deal with ( It is easier for Parasites to destroy than to build things back ). Ryan's potential death had made him think what would be needed for Rapture's long term survival, once he was gone.
* His loyal men/Faction controlled Hephaestus, and he had them maintain the Power Systems and kept the heat and lights on in Rapture so to keep the City alive.
* Ryan was maintaining Rapture's secrecy and security - from the Cold War infected Surface. That secrecy still impaired efficiency of action.
* Ryan then put alot of effort stabilizing the City with maintenance, and brought in critical resources via his Surface Organization.
* It is only a rumor that Ryan was involved in the Kennedy Assassination ( it didn't have any significant impact ). 
* His 'Behind the Curtain' assistance was important to New Rapture's start.
* The Vita-Chambers, though less capable than the BS vaguely-attributed quantumz stuff ( that : Bring You Back From The Dead AND WITH HANDY TELEPORT feature ... ) were attributed with keeping more people alive ( and alleviating many ADAM side-effects ).
* During The Chaos, a figure called 'Zeus' was heard from across Rapture
* This 'Zeus' facilitated the isolation of Sofia Lamb's delusional project by allying the many Factions opposing her goals.
* Ryan instigated the Sigma assault on Minervas Den to get access to The Thinker for The Cure that Tenenbaum said was possible.
* Ryan was important in bringing Tenenbaum back to Rapture ( after her 'Porter' Project failed ) 
During the MMORPG Time ( ?? a year from the final events of BS2 ) :
* Some people have figure it out ( that someone was bringing assistance ) but it was still unconfirmed who. It was Safer for Ryan to stay in shadows.
* The Cure was finally developed which would be Rapture's salvation. but it would require concerted effort of the people of New Rapture - proving the validity of Ryan's Philosophy.
* Overt material assistance from the Surface continue to be blocked by the required secrecy.
* Surface actions by Ryan's Organization continued to prevent foreign incursions and the leaking of Rapture's existence.
Lesson Learned : Some Links of The Great Chain are 'made of Clay', but that the 'Pull Forward' can overcome that weakness - the bad links removed and the rest reforged and made stronger ( not just eliminate (kill) them - as would be the way of Commies and Deluded Fools like Sofia Lamb ).
Ryan Influences :
* Assisted Jack to kill Fontaine ( What happens to Jack ? Ages dies ? Treated ? )
* Delta returns and Removes Sofia Lamb
* Sigma Takes out Wahl freeing Minervas Den (Tenenbaum and Sigma/Porter leave)
* Tenenbaum returns to create The Cure
* Johnny (Delta 2.0) links up to start New Rapture
* New Rapture exists through coalition of Factions
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IF Ryan can Be Back, Then Others Too ... :
* Sander Cohen 'Dracula always comes back'
* Sinclair Un-Daddified ... ( new quips about that experience ... )
* Uh oh, Sullivan ( an important Ryan Lieutenant ) tried to shoot himself (in BS1), but perhaps a Vita Chamber saved him. Maybe he became a Splicer ( The Novel implies he had become a drunk ), or a 'Boss' ?
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If Ryan Never Died ( There be Proofs !!), Then What Happened To Jack ? :
Jack was a fabricated person with incomplete memories/shaped thinking processes, subjected to weird mind control, and unless you played through 'dry' also a major-league ADAM user. So what we think we saw throughout the game doesn't have to be much the truth ( It was all seen via YOUR ADAM-Addled brain ).
So what would Ryan do with Jack after he sent him bird-dogging after Atlas ( followed by Ryan's remaining loyal Security men and a flotilla of Elite Flybots ), and then the subsequent demise of Atlas/Fontaine ?
Bad ending ?? Easy enough that Jack simply dies of something ( a Childhood disease maybe ?? ) before he was able to do much - to The Surface or Rapture. BTW - No SLBMSubmarine Launched Ballistic Missile submarine (Boomer) would EVER be sent to investigate a plane crash like that (Cold war still on, numerous surface ships are for that, etc ... ) So sorry, no nukes for 'Evil' (bad) Jack.
Get him outta the Big Daddy suit which he really isn't quite conditioned for ( BTW, I didn't see him get administered the 'Brute' Tonics he would need to operate in that very encumbering Big Daddy suit that weighs several hundred pounds. )
How to reshape Jack's mind (by Ryan) - actually a chance to remake Jack into an Objectivist posterchild.
All of Jack's ADAM changes can't be undone, but could be stabilized and harnessed for Rapture's good.
Attempts to fix the negative ADAM side-effects, which would afflict Jack with the amounts he had taken over such a short time.
Probably growing back his vocal cords would be good. Various surgery repairs were possible using ADAM, and we only got a subset of all the treatments that existed ( like which ones did Steinman use in his work ? ) If you can grow a flamethrower arm you could rebuilt a voice box ( might not sound exactly the same ... ). Tenenbaum could have applied something like that to regenerate the needed tissue (and other things) before de-Tonicing/de-Plasmidizing ( or whatever else she did to get Jack closer back to normalcy and to avoid all the genetic turbulence which twisted Splicers who had done only a fraction of the Splicing Jack had done ).
To match the later BS2 Canon, this largely would be done in secret by Ryan, perhaps with Jack being instrumental in saving 3/4 of the City from Sofia Lamb's Insane Murderous Grasp ( and you don't ever hear her mention her utter defeats there -- Collectivists never like to admit failure, because the unfortunates under their power will "smell blood". )
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A Memento :
1969 BS3 'Still Alive' Ryan had Atlas/Fontaine's Splice-distorted skull on his desk, and kept paperclips in it ... Plans for a small "Museum of the Parasites" to be built in New Rapture with the skull as one exhibit. To include a 'Wall of "Have You Seen Me"', with all those photographs of people which Atlas and his thugs murdered.
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Ryan Reborn To Rapture :
Ryan, Using his Revitalization Product the Vita-Chamber ( the last experimental advancements made before the 'civil war' - before the Jack/Fontaine incident ended that Project ) - He continued to use the machine and began his shadow presence as 'Zeus'. The true test of the Citizens of Rapture would now be to manage themselves without blaming someone else for everything that went wrong. Ryan could still assist and steer things from the shadows.
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Was Ryan Linked to the Philadelphia Experiment ? :
The real experiment during WW2 was intended to make a ship 'invisible' to Radar ( none of that interdimensional stuff from that Movie ).
His knowledge of high power electrics and his desire to end wasteful wars ( Preferably to be won by the side that allowed people Freedom and Capitalism and his Industrial possessions ).
It may be a reason the Lighthouse was allowed to stand, as it might be contrived to 'disappear' (yet still stand as a symbol). Jammed compasses/radio/radar (and sonar ?) were mentioned in the whole Something In The Sea story. ( Which might help Rapture remain unfound into the late 1960s and very early 1970s of the MMORPG, even while military technology made great leaps in capabilities ).
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Post-BS2 Rapture - Who Might We Know Who is Still There ??? :
* Grace might still be in [Paupers_Drop|[Pauper's Drop]] by the time of the MMORPG - That is IF after Lamb's demise Grace really had any influence, other than handing out goodies that Lamb provided ( the supply of which now either dried up or someone else has control of and likely would dispense with Grace Holloway's services ). Where the food comes from - would require connecting/cooperating with other remaining minions of Lamb's little fiefdom to continue the flow of supplies. Apparently, if the 'evil' Jack decided to 'let her have it', then he only 'winged her' ....
* Whether Jack let 'Stanley Poole' off, he was later found with a crushed head (apparently Sofia Lamb didn't exactly 'forgive him' for ruining Dionysus, as she supposedly said she did for helping turning Eleanor into a little ghoul).
* Sander Cohen ?? Too crazy to live ? Died after a little too much Absinthe and then encasing himself in a smothering coating of plaster just before passing out ???? ( But you killed him ?? Who knows what weird combination of Plasmids/tonics Sander Cohen had in place of blood that might have made him a bit harder to actually kill ?? You didn't stick around to make sure he was dead, did you ? ) Appropriate pose for his 'death scene' ???? May have to have a contest for the Player Creators to produce some statues and have them voted on for 'the best' pose ( and runner-ups can be placed in a new 'Art of the Insane' exhibit -- a City reminder of the degradation of spirit of the 'Splicers' disease ). Rumors are that Cohen staged a 'Viking Funeral' for himself as he sealed himself and his great work off in Fort Frolic ( will be fun to go back there and see ... )
Who else ??? - "Faked Deaths" All Round : 
Suchong : With that Fontaine association - HE Knew Atlas's identity ( a loose end ...;) In BS1 we only saw the scene of a body on table drilled - Elizabeth was an ADAM-Addled Splicer who had 'Voices talking to her' ( discount the BaSx DLC hallucination as well as it happening way too early )
Sinclair - maybe the only way out of his Sofia Lamb induced Big-Daddy-dom was to 'die' and be Vita-Chambered ( One in his waiting Lifeboat would be perfect for his future Surface business plans ).
Gilbert Alexander - The Mummy Returns ... Now swimming 'Free' in the Ocean ??? For all he being filled with ADAM, he didn't himself seem to have much in the way of Plasmid powers. ( Who says - even when YOU thought you killed him ??? )
Ryan (already explained elsewhere) - "Ryan Lives !!" ( Shhhhhhh ) ....
Fontaine - Jack (or Tenenbaum) probably made sure he was fishfood ( who knows, Ryan may have brought him back just to tell Fontaine to his face "How Fontaine 'in the end' was Conned ").
Sofia Lamb comes back ?? ( Escapee from a Surface Lunatic Asylum -- there as a patient ... The Electro-shock Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments didn't agree with her ... ) Just to be stepped on by a Big Daddy.
Eleanor - The Surface might have been a disappointment ( or too many governments being 'after her' ).
The Wales Brothers? ( Including the little known third brother 'Shemp' ... )
Schrodinger's Cat -- Was frozen, not dead after all. A good 'Cure' process test subject.
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Dr Suchong I Presume ... :
Suchong is found (in the MMORPG) hiding in an enclave in a remote part of Rapture
Doctoring Survivors, and having taken up Bonsai as a hobby.
Healthiest bunch of refugees seen in this (the MMORPG's) time
He's Alive ? Remember Suchong's background shows he was a Survivor, and 'Faking ones Death' seems to have been a commonplace event.
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So You Thought You Kill Gil Alexander ? :
With ADAMs regenerative abilities ( ie- in Little Sisters ) are you sure even when you selected "Fry Him" that he actually stayed dead (Hmm, imaging Gil appearing in the nearest Vita-Chamber ...)
Sofia Lamb likely tried to 'do away with him' - If only to Harvest that big pot of ADAM - and had to give up. So do you expect that YOU could kill him ?
Did you only really Only see his big cloud of RED Squid Ink there in that chamber ???
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I REJECT THAT, SO I CAME TO RAPTURE REBORN :
* Ryan's Rapture a Utopia ? Really how far different was it from the World in it's Era (before the Plasmids and Atlas Players lock on to what they see ( 'Ruined' Rapture ) and hear ( Atlas's Lies ) and might be too distracted with the Shooter Aspect to relate to history - IF they even know anything about that Era, or any more than a few public school history buzzword the writers employ. ) ? From America BEFORE the big government socialism set in ? It is Different from the much more chronically socialism-infused World NOW, Yes. The writers 'thinking' seems stuck in their own (current) time, as Rapture's Societal Philosophy was far closer to America at the time right at the end of WW2 ( and before ).
* If Ryan wanted to destroy Rapture, he definitely went about it very badly ( IF he had really intended it, would he have not 'made sure' ? He would have definitely 'make sure' Fontaine/Atlas could not stop it's Destruction, and thus never get control of Rapture ).
* But then, the gamewriters wanted/needed someone like that 'poor old bungling' crazy Ryan, who was stupid enough to think that Individual Rights and Freedoms are somehow better than Collectivist Suppression/Restriction/Oppression/Regulation -- avoiding the Collectivist's historic thuggish tyranny. Did they think that someone who thought like Ryan needed to be put 'in their place', and shown to be shown ( as of course ) inept/failing ? So says the plot, and apparently it reflects the thinking of the writers of this game.
* 'Jack the Disappointment' - Then fix it !!! Give the game a proper ending.
* Surrender Monkey - NO ! ( Contrary Ryan to his whole past Character )
* Twist missed Levine !! ( RYAN CONS THE CONMAN !!!! ) It is really So Sad they missed that EPIC TWIST.
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One Dim Thing - That 'Electric' Block To Ryan's Bunker Refuge
AND NO DEADLOCKS ON THE DOOR INSIDE ???
Ryan is inside in the Game. DEADBOLT : No need for External Power. A Safeguard even if the ludicrous plot has the power shut off. IT IS Just too Concocted... Ryan wasn't so Stupid. (( Seriously, External Powered AND with NO Battery Backup ??? ))
BUT If Jack is INTENDED TO BE LET IN ... Easy Entry for the Playacting to done by Ryan's Doppelganger. 
( Heh, That Power 'Core' didn't even need to be disrupted ... But Ryan was 'Playing along' so to set up Fontaine in his own 'Con'. Ryan did not want it 'To Look Too Easy'. )
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=="It Takes More Than A Simpleton Plot To Kill Me" - Andrew Ryan==
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