Sander Cohen

Sander Cohen
BioShock character
Sander Cohen, 1960
First appearance	BioShock
Created by	Ken Levine
Voiced by	T. Ryder Smith

Sander Cohen is a fictional character in BioShock video game series, developed by Irrational Games (then under the monniker 2K Boston/2K Australia). Cohen lived among the most famous individuals in Rapture. As one of Rapture's more respected musicians, playwrights and poets, Cohen resided in a lavish apartment in Mercury Suites, along with other Rapture celebrities such as Frank Fontaine, Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong. Following Rapture's civil war and the chaotic months that followed it, Cohen slowly grew extremely paranoid. Cohen was given jurisdiction over an area of the city known as Fort Frolic by Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture. The splicers under his domination are often the subject of Cohen's newfound sadistic enjoyment in the death and suffering of others. All around Fort Frolic, examples of Cohen's "art" can be found. These are in fact Splicers encased in plaster.

Role in BioShock

Sander Cohen was invited personally by Andrew Ryan to reside in Rapture, due to their possible prior friendship, and Cohen's artistic talents. Before Rapture's descent into anarchy, Cohen was a prominent playwright, artist and composer in Fort Frolic. Cohen held a hatred towards rival performer Anna Culpepper, who referred to Cohen as "Ryan's Songbird". Sharing a close relation to Andrew Ryan, Cohen had Chief of security Sullivan murder her. With the competition gone, Cohen experienced a rare era of extravagance before the Rapture Civil War forced him to close Fort Frolic.

Shortly before the Rapture civil war, Cohen was given dominance over Fort Frolic by Andrew Ryan, who locked the area down to prevent its inhabitants from escaping. Similar to Dr. Steinman, Cohen was soon driven insane, mainly due to overuse of plasmids and the frustration generated by lack of appreciation for his work. An audio diary found in Fort Frolic shows that Cohen regrets his decision to move to Rapture.

Before Jack's arrival in Rapture in 1960, Cohen apparently had four major followers (his disciples); Silas Cobb, Martin Finnegan, Hector Rodriguez, and Kyle Fitzpatrick. All of them either betrayed or displeased Cohen at some point.

During the events of BioShock, Jack is required to pass through Fort Frolic in order to proceed to Hephaestus. Just as Jack approaches the bathysphere, Cohen blocks Jack's radio contact with Atlas and submerges the Bathysphere, trapping the player in the level. Cohen will not let Jack proceed until he takes photographs of four of Cohen's former disciples' corpses, three of which must be killed. Once taken, the player is ordered to place the photographs in a piece of Cohen's art (located in the center of Fort Frolic), which he refers to as his "Masterpiece" - a tetraptych called the Quadtych. After the completion of this mission, Cohen reveals himself and allows Jack to proceed to Hephaestus, at this point the player has the choice to kill Cohen. If the player chooses to spare Cohen, he can be seen later in the game, in his luxury apartment in Mercury Suites. He will welcome the player into his home, and invite him to look around. Cohen can be killed at this point after a pair of dancing Splicers are dealt with.

Cohen's sexuality is also referenced. Silas Cobb and Martin Finnegan both refer to Cohen as an "old fruit" and Cohen himself refers to Andrew Ryan as "the man I once loved."

Concept and creation

The Sander Cohen character was based on several real-world figures. Cohen's last name was influenced by real life entertainer George M. Cohan, who was a notable playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer and dancer. His physical appearance, however, was based on the surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.^[1] Cohen was described as a "horrible songwriter" by Ken Levine in an interview for CVG.^[2]

Promotion and reception

Employees for 2K Boston were each given a 6-inch scale model of Cohen by the studio's creative designer Ken Levine. The sculptures were designed by Irrational Games artist Robb Waters.^[3]

IGN listed Cohen as the 89th best video game villain, stating that his needs are more concrete than the two primary antagonists of BioShock. They added that he is, as are the other antagonists, only a few shades away from sanity, making him seem more realistic and relatable as a character.^[4] WhatCulture! ranked him sixtieth on its "100 Greatest Video Game Villains Of All Time" list.^[5] GamesRadar named him the 3rd in their top 7 list of "mentally damaged characters we love" in video games, noting that while almost every other character in the game was worthy of the list, he was the "one screwy, crazy son of a bitch that stood out".^[6] They further named him one of the best characters ever conceived in gaming, calling him their favorite "mad bastard" in the game and adding that in comparison to other major characters in the game, "Cohen’s relentless theatrics in the face of desolation bowled us over".^[7] 1UP.com stated that his presence made the "Fort Frolic" area of BioShock one of the most fondly remembered, and further stated that his character "expertly balanced both geniality and maliciousness in one disturbing package".^[8] In 2008, PC Zone ranked him as PC gaming's fourth best character^[9] while GamesTM listed him among the greatest ever game characters in 2010, commenting that "Sander Cohen becomes BioShock’s quintessential character", and it "is impossible to imagine the game without him."^[10]

See also

• List of BioShock characters

References