5. There Have Been 122 Bookers Before You
Which leads us to the revelation that the Booker we play is not the first Booker to have ever gone through this trial. Right at the beginning of the game, there is a very nifty little visual joke that actually explains this. Right after you gain the Possession vigor, the Lutece ask confront you asking if a coin flip will land heads or tails. Robert is seen wearing a chalk board with a tally. As the coin is flipped it always lands on heads. Rosalind marks the heads column and Robert then turns around to show lots of tallys for head and none for tails on his back. This is another example of a "constant" in a reality. The tally shows that this exact moment has happened multiple times before and the Luteces are keeping score. If you count them, there are 122 marking for heads, meaning that this Booker is the 123rd to attempt destroying Comstock. By opening tears to another reality, the twins have a near infinite supply of Bookers to bring into Comstock's reality. They believe that it is only a matter of time before enough variables line up and Booker finally destroys Comstock by allowing himself be killed by Elizabeth before he ever had the chance to be baptised. It just seems to happen on the 123rd time of asking.