The One Who Knocks
Member
Wow, that's a pretty huge amount I'll try to answer it all in as much detail as possible so hopefully it becomes clearer:
1. They are the two versions of Lutece, one a male and one a female. They are the scientists that discovered, and managed to use/create, the tears. Similarly they discovered how to make the city float.
2. The debt was gambling debt. However, this debt was paid off once he sold his daughter, Anna, to Comstock; a deal he deeply regretted. The 'debt' he mentions in the game is just a false memory due to being brought through a tear by the Luteces who offered him a chance to save Anna.
3. To protect Anna/Elizabeth.
4. Jeremiah Fink created the bird by looking through a tear. Whether or not he looked into Rapture and utilised the technology used to create the Big Daddies or not is debatable but, ultimately, irrelevant since an infinite number of universes could possess such technology.
5. "What makes the girl different? I suspect it has less to do with what she is and more to do with what she's not. A small part of her remains from where she came. It would seem the universe does not like its peas with its porridge." If this isn't clear, it means that the ability to create tears is generated from her simultaneous existence in two universes by her little finger being cut off as she enters the other as a child.
6. He had no 'debt' during the playable course of the game in Columbia; the debt was a false memory due to having travelled through timelines with the assistance of the Luteces. If you mean his debt during the office time period, his debt was paid off by selling Anna. After that, he didn't have debt to pay off.
6.2. That wasn't a debt collector, that was Robert Lutece. Booker agreed to pay off his debt by selling his daughter, a decision he immediately regrets.
7. Booker lets Robert (the male) Lutece into his room? We see this quite early in the game during one of the flashbacks.
8. Again, Robert Lutece, the male Lutece. One of the two Luteces that discovered tears and how to make the city float.
9. He became the prophet between 1890 and 1893.
10. Columbia was founded in 1893.
11. The Luteces created the technology that led to the creation of Columbia.
12. Comstock saw in a tear that his seed would drown in flames the mountain of man. However, Comstock was rendered sterile by the use of the tear machine and thus needed some other way to obtain his daughter. He then decided to use the tear machine to take his daughter from an alternate universe, the universe where Booker rejects baptism and thus has a daughter, Anna.
13. Basically, Comstock marries her (she is also extremely devoted to him) and becomes sterile due to the machine. Comstock murders his political opposition and she realises it which makes her question Comstock's divinity. Comstock attempted to have a child with her to allow Columbia to survive but was unable to do so due to being rendered sterile; he never realised he was sterile and asked for an affair with the female Lutece who declined. He used the Lutece's machine to take Anna, his child from an alternative universe, whose mother died during childbirth, to him. Lady Comstock made the obvious assumption that Comstock had an affair with the female Lutece and, even after they explained the reality, she could barely accept it; she concludes that Comstock is a monster. Comstock begs her for her silence since she is able to shatter the entire facade that he has created but, being both highly religious and highly moral, she cannot promise him silence (which would not lead to attonement) but only forgiveness. This promise sets into motion almost the entire chain of events as it forces Comstock to murder both her and the Luteces (which Fink attempts to make look like an accident by sabotaging the machine and trapping them in the timeline). This murder then frames Daisy Fitzroy who then leads the Vox. Basically the catalyst for a significant amount of events, particularly those related to the Vox.
In addition:
This also seems to be a very logical conclusion and creates an even greater irony in the chain of events surrounding Lady Comstock.
13.2. I'm not really sure I understand this question, what do you mean? The motive for Comstock murdering her? If so, it's in the previous answer.
14. Elizabeth is Comstock's daughter from another universe. Lady Comstock is not Elizabeth's daughter. However, it is possible that Elizabeth's mother in both universes is the same woman.
14.2 See previous two/three answers.
15. If Booker accepts the baptism he takes the name Zachary Hale Comstock, meets the Luteces, becomes rich, gains followers, and founds Columbia.
16. Booker that accepts the baptism gains personal redemption for the crimes that he commits. This leads to him becoming religious (but he doesn't become a moral persoon). He sets up a personality cult and founds Columbia based upon what he saw in a tear; New York being burnt to the ground in 1983 by his daughter, Elizabeth/Anna.
17. The baptism is a constant, it always happens. The choice of the baptism, acception or redemption, is a variable. The baptism decides who Booker will become; if he will become the degenerate gambler that sells of his own daughter to repay his debt and later tries to save her or if he becomes Comstock who become sterile and buys his daughter from another universe.
18. Presumably it was such an important moment for Comstock, a moment that drastically changec his life, that he made it mandatory for every citizen of Columbia.
19. Anna is Booker's daughter from the set of universes where Booker rejects baptism. Elizabeth is what Comstock named her after buying her from Booker. Yes, they are the same person.
Honestly, a lot of these are made explicitly clear within the game. If you didn't get much of the Voxophones I would highly suggest doing so and perhaps a replay may be in order.
