For the character in BioShock, see Samuel Lutz.

“Samuel, when the spells of anger come, I want you to play this recording and remember that I am the proudest woman in Columbia to have been your wife.” ― Hattie Gerst[src]

Samuel Gerst was a citizen of Columbia. In BioShock Infinite, he appears as a Handyman.





History Edit

Samuel came to Columbia with his wife Hattie. A deeply religious man with a gifted mind, his personal belief was that science was the slow revelation of God's blueprint. Around 1906, he started working in the labs in the tower on Monument Island studying Elizabeth's powers. At the time, it wasn't known that excessive exposure to the Siphons had caustic effects to the human body. After two years of exposure, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer, a death sentence at the time. Hattie prayed to Comstock for a cure to her husband's illness, and Jeremiah Fink provided a solution in the form of Betterman's Autobodies, better known as Handymen. Although seriously hesitant, Samuel submitted to the procedure in order to save his life and was therefore bound within a steel skeleton.[1]

After the transformation, Samuel quickly faced ridicule from other citizens of Columbia. He became enraged as they said his Handyman body made him more machine than man and left him without a soul. However, throughout it all, Hattie's love never wavered and her words soothed him when angry. However, tragedy struck soon again when she was diagnosed with a fatal illness and slowly passed away. Before dying, she left a recording of her undying devotion for Samuel to play when life got hard.[2] With nothing left to live for, he went to work for the Founders defending Columbia from the Vox Populi.

BioShock Infinite Edit

Main article: BioShock Infinite

When Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth enter a Tear to an alternate reality where they believe Chen Lin's tools are back at his gunsmith shop, they find themselves in a version of Shantytown where the Vox have orchestrated a successful revolt.

Upon investigating the rest of the area, they find a pair of Vox Populi agents in front of the Graveyard Shift bar, where they have just defeated a Handyman and are having their picture taken with his corpse. That Handyman was none other than Samuel, who died clutching Hattie's Voxophone close to his heart.