Editing Reference:RAWA/1998 Lyst posts (section)

== Re: Plot errors in MYST game? ==
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 1998

J.C.T. wrote:
<blockquote>Conclusions (please tell me if I've got it right! :-)

1. The Descriptive Book creates the link. You can link to an Age via its Descriptive Book. Even an "identical" copy of a Descriptive Book is likely to link to a _different_ age than the original.

2. Customarily, after the first time an Age is linked to, A (at least one) Linking Book is written in that Age, and is returned to D'ni for use in linking to that Age in the future. The Descriptive Book is not thereafter used for linking.

3. Function of a Linking Book: The Linking Book will function such that, when it is used, it will take you to the Age and place in which it was written. No phrases are needed in the Linking Book from any Descriptive Book in order for the Linking Book to work.</blockquote>

These are all correct. :)

<blockquote>QUESTION: If a Descriptive Book is destroyed, do the Linking books which were written in the Described Age cease to function?</blockquote>

The D'ni histories don't describe exactly how this works, but if the Descriptive Book is changed, the Linking Book associated with that Book are changed as well. It would also appear that if the Descriptive Book were destroyed, that its Linking Books will cease to function.

<blockquote>At the end of the MYST game, Atrus is relying on you, the player, to return to him the missing page from his MYST Linking Book, so that he (and later, you) can return to MYST Island from D'ni. This, as was said, was the spare MYST Linking Book Atrus carried with him when he went to D'ni to find Catherine. This seems to imply that neither Atrus, Catherine, nor Anna had returned to D'ni from MYST in the time between MYST:BoA and Atrus' sabotaged trip to D'ni to find Catherine (if they had gone back to D'ni and back to MYST at some other time, then Atrus would find a Linking Book back to MYST in D'ni, one which worked). It's just an interesting plot point I think I've arrived at - every one was content to stay away from D'ni for all those years, which isn't at all unreasonable. It does make one wonder what sparked Atrus to finally return and try to restore D'ni at the end, though (BoD).</blockquote>

You are correct. Atrus wanted the link between D'ni and Myst to remain completely severed. Catherine was the first to use the green book leading back to D'ni since Gehn had been trapped on Riven.

Shorah,

RAWA