Editing Reference:RAWA/1998 Lyst posts (section)

== Monday, July 20, 1998 ==

<blockquote>My understanding, from the story, is that there was one MYST Descriptive Book. That Book was used to link TO Myst Island.</blockquote>

Yes, that Book was written by Catherine and Anna, and first used to link to Myst island. (After the initial link, it was customary to write Linking Books in the Age which from then on are used to link to the Age, and not use the Descriptive Book for linking thereafter. (FYI - Atrus doesn't have another Linking Book to Riven, so you do link through the Riven Descriptive Book at the beginning of Riven.) ) 

<blockquote>That Book was LOST by Atrus when he fell into the fissure. It was LOST to the player of the MYST game when he/she linked to MYST (because the player, of course knew nothing of Writing and had on Linking Book to get back home).</blockquote>

No, Atrus lost a Myst Linking Book in the fissure, not the Descriptive Book for Myst.

pg 279 BoA 
Turning to Atrus, Catherine freed her hand, then took the knapsack from her back and opened it. 

"Here," she said, handing him a Book. 

Atrus stared, dumbfounded. It was the Myst Book. 

Catherine smiled then; opening the Linking Book, she placed her hand against it. 

<blockquote>Where did that book come from? In order for it to be a Linking Book which returns you to Myst Island from D'ni, it has to be a Linking Book written somewhere on Myst and must contain phrases from the Book of D'ni! Right?</blockquote>

No, a Linking Book to Myst only requires having been on Myst to write it. He needs no knowledge of the Book of D'ni. (And despite David Wingrove's<ref>David Wingrove is the co-author of the Myst novels</ref> statements to the contrary, he doesn't even need knowledge of the Myst Book for that matter.) 

<blockquote>But Atrus does NOT have the Descriptive Book of D'ni, and so CANNOT write a Linking Book which takes him FROM D'ni to any other Age. To write a Linking Book, one must have the Descriptive Book for the Age you want to LEAVE via that Linking Book, and one must write that Linking Book from the Age/location one wants to link TO via that Linking Book.</blockquote>

No. Linking Books are in no way connected to the Age you are leaving, only to the Age they were written in. You can write a Linking Book in Myst, then take it to any Age, and it will always lead back to Myst. 

<blockquote>I suppose it is possible that one could COPY a Descriptive Book like MYST, </blockquote>

This Copy would very likely not link to the same Myst Island. It would be a similar Age, but because of randomness in how the Descriptive Book initially link to their respective Ages, it is very unlikely to link to the same Age twice.

<blockquote>and then you would have two Descriptive Books which link to the same Age, but it is not recorded that Anna wrote two MYST Descriptive Books that were exact duplicates but I suppose she must have, and I suppose that one of those somehow got to D'ni where, later, a page was removed by Sirrus or Achenar and hidden on Myst island - and that appears to be a contradiction in itself? By removing a page from the book, how would Sirrus or Achenar get the page TO Myst Island to hide it? </blockquote>

Here's the scenario:

Over the years, Atrus wrote many Linking Book back to the Library (the Linking Book you find at the beginning of Myst was written at the Dock, long before the Library was even built, which is why it's the only time you don't arrive in the Library when you link to Myst Island.)

These Linking Books were placed in their "places of protection" on each of Atrus' Ages, so he could get back to Myst whenever he wanted. He was also in the habit of carrying a spare Linking Book with him... just in case (as were most D'ni who travelled in Ages).

The boys told Atrus that Catherine had used the green Book (which led to D'ni, though they'd never been there or used the Book themselves). While he was preparing to go to D'ni, they sabotaged the spare Book he normally carried with him. Hence Sirrus' message to Achenar in the imager in Channelwood:

"I hope I pushed the right button. Very interesting device, dear brother. I'm not erasing anything important, am I? He [Atrus] is preparing. Remember, take only one page."

That is the page you eventually take to Atrus, so that he can return to Myst Island.

Hope that helps,

RAWA