Myst Explained | Part One | The Book of Atrus

[@bobbressi5414]

To this day one of the best game series I have ever played.

[@melliehelen8650]

💯

[@Dachusblot]

Ah, I was just looking for some videos about Myst, and this is exactly what I wanted! Great job, looking forward to later videos! *puts on nerd glasses* A little more detail about what happened on Age 37, for anyone who is interested: Gehn altered the Age 37 book to get rid of the white mist, and then when his changes screwed up the world he basically just went back and deleted what he'd written. So when Atrus goes back to Age 37, it at first appears like everything is fine and Gehn really did fix the problem. But then Atrus runs into a friend there, and he realizes that the guy has no clue who he is and also no longer speaks D'ni; also, all the buildings that had been built specifically for Gehn are gone. What this means is that Atrus linked into a new parallel version of Age 37, one which he & Gehn had never visited before -- meaning that the "original" Age 37 with all the people they knew was still out there, still messed up, and there was no way to get back to it. Gehn's act of "deleting" something he'd written didn't fix the age, it only broke the original link and set up a new link to a different, almost identical universe. Basically, Gehn pulled a Rick & Morty, jumping to a parallel universe version of Age 37 once the original version became too messed up to fix. Though of course, unlike Rick, Gehn did this on accident because he doesn't know what he's doing. Anyway, this whole incident is important in the story because it finally confirms to Atrus that the books don't create worlds but rather link to pre-existing universes, which kinda pokes a big hole in his dad's whole "WE ARE GODS!!!" ideology. *takes off nerd glasses and flies off into the night*

[@necrovarius225]

This is an amazing explanation!!!

[@Mike14264]

Ah, so that's how you know that's what really happens! Ingenious! This series of games and books is pretty clever in its lore justification!

[@jimthesoundman8641]

And then the wormhole opens up and suddenly a million different Enterprises appear. A crazy Riker comes on the viewscreen screaming, "We won't go back, the Federation's gone, the Borg are everywhere!"

[@necrovarius225]

Wut?

[@D3V1LDR1V3R]

I'm shook

[@robbyboy03]

Myst would have to be the most intriguing series i have ever played. Such brilliant production.

[@rivendude5652]

Would love to see lore videos on individual Ages like Channelwood for instance explaining the background history and speculation theories etc. Also periods in D'ni history and various theories on the lore like the prophecies and the other Ages of the Ronay.

[@necrovarius225]

I hope to get that far into it, as of now I am constructing videos about the storyline of the games.

[@P2D_x]

Channelwood *shivers*

[@KororaPenguin]

I assume that Channelwood is currently under the jurisdiction of an extant branch of the Tree Dweller tribe (or if that was the tribe's only village, a closely related tribe)?

[@saltcitytarot]

The best, most well written, intricate games and books of all time.

[@thefightingknight]

Just found the video and I need to say, Thank you. I grew up reading the books and playing the games and just seeing this, makes me want to play the games again.

[@doctorwhat3683]

After all the interest you got on the great Myst subreddit, it’s brilliant to see your project come to fruition. Can’t wait to see what comes next, well done man!

[@bluechicken4866]

This was a great summary of the backstory for those who haven't read The Book of Atrus yet. This will be a handy resource, I'm sure! Thanks for sharing.

[@raymond_sycamore]

The fact that Atrus is the product of a single mom makes it all make sense now.

[@mattsmith8160]

@3:16 hmm, I've heard it explained a bit differently. The way I've heard it was that the Descriptive books (that create the world) and the linking books were two entirely different things. Changes to a word can not be made while inside the world and can only be made from outside by carefully writing them into the descriptive book. There is only one descriptive book for any given age and given their importance are generally kept somewhere safe. Linking books on the other hand don't have to describe the entire world as that part has already been done in the descriptive book so the Linking books only have to describe the local area that serves as the destination for the link. An age can have any number of linking books written for it and those are the books you generally find out in the open for the purposes of transportation to those other worlds or Ages as they're called. And since the linking book doesn't travel with you when you link you have to bring a linking book that links back to your world of origin with you otherwise you'd be stuck in that world you linked to with no way back if there isn't already a linking book there. For example. The red and blue books that Atrus destroyed at the end of Myst were just linking books not the descriptive books for those ages. That's why his sons didn't actually die. Destroying a linking book doesn't destroy the world it linked to. Tearing pages out was just a way of making sure no one else could accidently free them by linking in since those ages were written to only allow one occupant at a time to serve as a prison.

[@Atrain204]

One thing interesting about Catherine is that she challenged everything Atrus knew about writing. She was able to write books to worlds that could only be described as fantasy. “The Writer of Dreams”

[@nickoftime5759]

I read The Book of Atrus back in the day after playing Myst and Riven and loved it. This video is a great breakdown of the story and, most importantly, it’s ending and how it leads into the Myst games. I particularly appreciated the choice visuals from the games the video’s creator used to illustrate the story. Very well done!

[@pablodicosta]

I just started Myst 4 and it's great to find a so well explained lore video uploaded a day ago, for a 20 years old saga. Good job!

[@necrovarius225]

Each game will have its own video,as well as some flair.

[@pablodicosta]

@@necrovarius225 good to know!

[@KororaPenguin]

"Enter Spire" is one of the most gorgeous pieces in the history of Western music.

[@hammertimee777]

Thank you!!! I've played Myst literally many many years ago and I missed that entire series.

[@BrenEden1]

Oh this brings back memories. I loved playing these games. I really immersed myself in the experience 😊

[@BenDaresAll]

Thank you thank you for the explanation! I've been so curious about the series.

[@saltcitytarot]

It's hands down one of the best ever.

[@gregkrazanski]

by the way, i've been wanting a video like this forever, the worldbuilding is INCREDIBLE in this series, it needs a film series treatment

[@nickoftime5759]

In the right hands, an Atrus/Myst/Riven movie would be incredible, like Dune incredible. In the wrong hands though, well, it could terrible, like Jupiter Ascending terrible.

[@_baert]

Thanks for this recap. I read the Book of Atrus over a year ago and am just now starting Tiana, so I needed this to remember what happened!!

[@KororaPenguin]

From the depiction of the art, you can tell that their knowledge of programming is at the fore. Imagine writing a program with a line of code taken from Microsoft Excel, a line of code taken from Linux Multimedia Studio, a line of code taken from Cosmic Osmo, a line of code taken from My Little Pony Friendship Gardens (the G2 game), etc. That's how Gehn Writes.

[@necrovarius225]

@KororaPenguin Don't talk bad about My Little Pony Friendship Gardens!!! Lol

[@KororaPenguin]

@@necrovarius225 I wasn't talking bad about it; I was drawing an analogy from computer programming.

[@necrovarius225]

@KororaPenguin I know, just giving you a hard time! Lol. Thanks for watching!

[@KororaPenguin]

@@necrovarius225 It came to mind because I happen to be a brony.

[@maaariiia]

This is awesome! As someone who grew up playing riven and myst, I appreciate the time you took to go into the lore here. Shorah!

[@katiegordon8357]

I just started reading the book of Atrus...and I almost cried when his cat died :'( It's not even a key moment in the book...but it was like...Chapter 2, and I was almost in tears lol

[@rvbzero7]

stop leaving spoiler comments have some manners woman

[@saltcitytarot]

Same 🥲 cute lil flame 🔥 kitty. 🐾

[@ogioblue]

This is absolutely rad and you're doing a great job. Thank you and please don't stop.

[@Nasatai]

I wish The Book of Marrim will be completed one day...

[@johnryan8985]

Seeing these images.. I can hear my hard drive spinning up in my old gateway ...when mice use to click loudly

[@supersawyer358]

I loved Myst and Riven. Great times in high school.

[@rueben225]

When I saw the in-game cursor on the screen at around 8:07 I can't even pretend that I didn't click my mouse button. These games inhabit a large part of my brain.

[@danielp7394]

I think I was 7 or 8 when this came out. I was a heavy reader and it became an obsession until I gave up like 75% into it. This game gave me the foundation for my problem solving skills in life

[@NwaHp3]

This was beautifully read. thanks

[@YaBoyNiloc]

hey this is super good i can’t wait to see more

[@RichardP539]

"If I MYST anything" lololololol

[@MrBenMcLean]

A major problem with your description here is that you fail to distinguish between Linking Books and Descriptive Books. Linking Books can only link to Ages. They cannot make changes in the Age. Only Descriptive Books can change the Age. Every Age has one and only one Descriptive Book while it may have any number of Linking Books. In order for Atrus to be able to repair Riven on K'Veer, he must have Riven's Descriptive Book. (which probably says "Age 5 by Ghen" on the cover or something like that) One thing which still puzzles me about the Art is what exactly the limitations are on who can make Linking Books to where. It must be possible to make Linking Books to Ages without having direct access to the Descriptive Book of that Age because Ghen writes Linking Books back to Riven from Age 233 despite not having the Descriptive Book of Riven and Atrus writes Linking Books back to D'Ni despite not having the Descriptive Book of D'Ni. I guess a sufficiently advanced practitioner of The Art must somehow be able to write Linking Books back to their current location no matter where they are.

[@necrovarius225]

Return linking books, from what I understand are not hard to create. Ghen had multiple from Riven back to Dni. As far as an explanation between descriptive and linking, I havent gotten there yet. These videos are about the story of the games, other in depth vids may come later

[@Foxwolf9Tails]

I was thinking this exact thing, the Linking Books are written in the place in the Age that they link to, where-as the Descriptive Books are what can change the Age, and is what Catherine stole and altered with Ti'ana to cause the fissures in Riven. Also, the idea that writing a Descriptive Book was actually creating the Age was an idea that Ghen came up with, what with his God complex and all... The more likely explanation, and the one that Atrus realizes, is that the writing of the Descriptive Books was simply describing an Age which already existed, but if the words were too vague, the book would be describing too many possibilities at the same time. Other than that, I thought this was a good, short, explanation of that book and the immediate pre-history leading up to the original game.

[@hagron5702]

You have a good voice for storytelling.

[@necrovarius225]

Thank you!

[@GFunkEra1992]

i had to sub after finding this video, i didn't play them yet i watched a coupe of LT's because i just discovered this series. got me curious about the books since they are nowhere to find. this game has a great story

[@saltcitytarot]

The books are incredible as well. I grew up as a kid listening to the audio book, and they changed my life. They're so intricate and beautifully written.

[@Jambu96]

Thank you thank you thank you!! I know it has been a while but maybe, if you checked back on this, I would dare to ask you (or anyone who is watching this) for a piece of advice: Where could one find good looking, good running versions of the series for the RaspberryPie 4..? Hints would be highly cherished.

[@necrovarius225]

No clue, but appreciate the thanks

[@JacobPetrossian]

Great video! Thanks.

[@satanielgaming]

tried playing Myst (the one from 1993) but couldn't figure it out as a 15yr old, but I DID enjoy Book of Atrus (didn't read the others).

[@yoannhalle9765]

Awesome work, loved the video.

[@bjornwad]

Excellent

[@michaelmorton3144]

I think the only thing that could have been explained better was the true nature of "the Art." A pivotal moment in the book of Atrus is when he discovers that Gehn is wrong about the Art, that writers of linking books are not creators of worlds but merely forging links to one of infinitely many preexisting worlds (on other words, anything one *can* write *does* exist somewhere in time and space). Other than that, great explaination!

[@necrovarius225]

At the time of writing I was still on the side of "You write the world with the art" because of how Riven was made. But now I have since changed my understanding, which makes me kinda sad. Takes a way the magic

[@jdramirez77]

I am astonished I didn't realize riven was a prequel.

[@tobiasvl]

10:15 Catherine steals Riven's Descriptive Book, not Linking Book

[@necrovarius225]

My mistake.

[@zenithquasar9623]

Awesome stuff!

[@necrovarius225]

Glad you like it!

[@8polyglot]

I'm a huge Myst/Riven fan who has basic knowledge of the lore and characters, but the pace was a little too quick and hard to follow.

[@printisdead1983]

When it came out it was the first pcgame i had ever played AND HAD NO IDEA HOW TO PLAY IT LOL

[@veru6907]

14:10 I see what you did there...

[@rg7729]

Damn, someone beat me to it lol😂

[@aortaplatinum]

After playing through the game for a second time, the first being the OG and the second through the remake, I do still have one thing that confuses me- How is a Linking Book created? Can the book that describes an Age also act as a Linking Book, with a portal in the back or front? And one final, more abstract question, if the original book describing and creating the Age is copied verbatim, does it act as a failsafe for the Age in case the original book is destroyed by a couple of brothers who clearly weren't beaten enough as kids, or does it create a copy of the Age?

[@Elburion]

I guess you have to think of their language as computer code and it would have certain words you would put at the start or end of a linking book that instructs it to connect to another book, maybe you make a "password" in the main book and write that "password" in the linking book. Yes the main book that describes an age can also act as a linking book, but usually they are sealed away and protected. And finally no matter how much you would like, you will never get the same exact age twice even if you copy everything word for word, it will always be ever so slightly different, it might be something as minor as having a tree in a different spot or having a pile of rocks where there were none in the original age you copied, it's close enough to the original if you wanted to experiment, but never exactly the same.

[@bradleyirons3497]

This video is dope

[@Liliisntiiriis]

I have never play the games but read the first book and part of the second... Now I want to read all of them but I don't know if I should play the games before. What do you recommend?

[@necrovarius225]

Read the book of atrus, play myst and riven, read book of dni, play the rest of the games. Book of tianna after.

[@amaya6091]

I've played 1 and 4 and I honestly couldn't get past the first island much less the first puzzle even from a young age

[@gregkrazanski]

did you see they're building myst from the ground up?

[@necrovarius225]

Was that just for VR?

[@hobog]

There is a point difference between casual and hardcore fans: was it worth making so much lore around the simple idea of books showing readers new worlds? Myst 1 and 3 appeal to people who answer no

[@ManyDoors777]

I have all three of those books! Great read!

[@515161]

Thank you

[@daneph]

Finished the original when it came out Just started the iOS port of realMyst a great port

[@olitonottero7620]

Any spoilers in the books? Do you recommend playing all the MYST games before reading the MYST trilogy The Book of Atrus, The Book of Ti'ana, The Book of D'ni ?

[@necrovarius225]

Not really spoilers. I would start with the book of Atrus, Myst, Riven, Book of D'ni' Exile, Revelation. Save the book of Tianna for later.

[@A2goddess]

I already finished most myst games except Revelations although I was at the ending of myst 4 but stop due to marble color puzzle.

[@necrovarius225]

That puzzle sucked!

[@h4x0y]

Hey what's that Myst Island render shown at 1:24??

[@necrovarius225]

It was a render done by a group of students, I think for a class. I got their permission to use it. They are in the credits.

[@h4x0y]

@@necrovarius225 Thanks. I vaguely remember seeing it on youtube a few years back, but I can't find it anymore.

[@Dan1elAndrade]

Subbed

[@bolognabong]

More please.

[@necrovarius225]

Next video is being worked on right now, Im adding some flair.

[@bolognabong]

@@necrovarius225 awesome, man. I really look forward to it. I hope you get many more views.

[@KeithMon]

@@necrovarius225 I'm looking forward to part 2! Thanks for doing these.

[@nicodubn]

Thanks much!

[@LifeLikeSage]

I thought Myst was some lame puzzle game, but after learning that it's about being a world crafting god, it sounds a lot more interesting.

[@Etienne_H]

The games would find more new fans if the story was told in order and if it was told more visually and less text heavy. But of course that would require to completely restructure the games and who'd want that. It's unfortunate.

[@necrovarius225]

I agree, and I would hate to see a remaster that changed the formula to appeal to today's audience. I would rather keep this way and preserve the hidden gem.

[@jintarokensei3308]

Part2?

[@necrovarius225]

It is in the works as we speak. Looking at possibly two more weeks of work.

[@donwald3436]

Wait what so Riven happened before Myst?

[@necrovarius225]

Not the Game. But the events that led up to Riven happen before Myst. Read the book, it will make much more sense

[@tube.brasil]

Why would Ghen imprison Atrus and leave a linking book with him? It makes no sense.

[@christiansmith9306]

The Art,is just computer programming in book form.

[@LibertyLawyer]

You lost me as soon as you started talking about Ghen and the D'ni "creating" Ages. Isn't a major plot point of the first book (and the entire series) that linking books connect to pre-existing worlds?

[@necrovarius225]

Some think of it as creating an age, others think of them as connections to pre-exsiting worlds. Personally I think both scenarios could be true.

[@Dachusblot]

The series tends to imply more heavily that Atrus's belief is correct, that the books link to pre-existing worlds. However there are some things in the series that could be seen as evidence that the books are capable of actual creation, at least to an extent, such as Atrus writing a ship into Stoneship Age out of nothing. My personal headcanon is that the books link to pre-existing worlds, but once the link is established then the books can be used to manipulate the world in godlike ways.

[@Mike14264]

@@Dachusblot well, it's complicated. Think of Quantum Physics. Imagine you write a Linking Book, and you make it very detailed. These things are properly established, they stand completely true in that Age. But, all the things you didn't write, the things that are "in-between the lines", are all left in a probability uncertainty, an oscillating quantum state. They might exist, or might not exist. It's like, 'it's there, you just don't see it', or 'it's there when you don't look at it'. If you make changes to the book that are too drastic all at once, you end up linking to a completely different Age. But if the changes are something that isn't exactly monumental (like, say, adding a boat into the book that might've been there the whole time, you just didn't describe it), then those specific things that weren't sure if they were true, suddenly are now true. Problem is, Atrus probably wasn't very specific with how the boat was located in the world, hence why it appeared embedded in the rock. As for Genn, well, he made all these subtle changes happen to his favor. Problem is, they were very contradictory, and thus the Age would become very unstable, and start to collapse.

[@Dachusblot]

@@Mike14264 Well, yeah it's supposed to work based on quantum physics. But the only problem with the example of the boat in the Stoneship Age is that Atrus had already been to the age first. He had already opened Schrodinger's Box, basically, and seen that there was no boat there, and then he caused one to appear out of thin air by writing it in. So that was less a matter of "Is the cat dead or alive inside the box?" and more like "I just caused a cat to materialize inside of this definitely empty box," lol. And yeah, I know that's an example from the first game so you could brush it off as just a case where they hadn't figured out all the rules of how the books work yet. But there are other examples from later in the series that are similar, such as Katran & Anna causing the big rebel knives to appear on Riven, or Atrus writing in the linking cages to Spire & Haven in Myst 4.

[@Mike14264]

@@Dachusblot well, again, from what I understood, those possibilities are still there, even if you were already there. You may have seen the place for yourself, and everyone else on the age as well, but the world doesn't care, the book doesn't care. If nothing that's written on the book contradicts the fact that a boat or a giant knife could've been there, and you do write the boat or the knife there, it sure does appear. Again, you can read the possibilities in-between the lines.

[@cosmicrdt]

Sorry I found your video hard to follow because most of the visuals don't match what you're saying throughout.

[@necrovarius225]

I will work to that to improve that in the future

[@MaxHarden]

Played Myst for about 10 minutes as a kid before going back to Doom or whatever. Was always curious what I might have missed. Now I realize it was a pile of poop I missed stepping on.

[@necrovarius225]

Each to their own. I enjoyed Myst more than any other game at the time.