[Spoilers] Rime and Riven

[korovev]

Given how much Myst’s events have been retconned, most “why didn’t he...” questions could be answered with “well, he did” Even tearing pages off a linking book might not be canon at this point. So, here’s a possible explanation:

The Stranger might have deduced what happened by visiting various Ages (Myst was actually bigger and with more working linking books than what we see in the games) and finding more communications left by the brothers. Getting themselves imprisoned was obviously the brothers’ last action, so he might also have found the two prison books in a suspicious state, compared to the other books.
Once free, Atrus likely relocated to Rime or Myst (somewhat more comfortable than a room in K’veer without a lavatory), used the crystal viewer for signaling, and he and/or the Moiety possibly had a greater role in capturing Gehn.
Both Myst and Riven events might actually have taken weeks or even months, instead of few days as it seems in the games, and coordinated actions by more people, making an ‘actual’ reenactment more complex (and perhaps less engaging) than what could be done in the Nineties.

[Main_Avvie]

I'm with Robyn on this one. I never appreciated how Uru effectively retconned the rest of the series.

As far as I understand it Atrus was trapped in K'veer at the time and had no way out, until of course the Stranger rescued him. Due to the fact that Riven was so unstable he probably also couldn't afford being away to Rime after the Stranger freed him.

Atrus' personal journal makes it pretty clear that as soon as Atrus leaves his desk that is the end of Riven. In the ending cinematics, as soon as 'the stranger' breaches the fissure Riven's apocalypse happens immediately and it happens fast. By the time Atrus arrives at the link-in point the sky is already eclipsed, tremors have already happened and atmospheric phenomenon has occurred.

Of course it is also heavily implied that the fissure is Riven's doomsday button. Atrus observes that the instability that results from breaching the fissure would be the catalyst for Riven's destruction. Of course that instability is what is required to get Atrus' attention. If the fissure is left alone, would Riven's deterioration not be as acute?

The fact that Atrus could not have linked to Rime to monitor the imager pretty much answers the question. At the end of Myst he even remarks that he "... fear(s) that his delay could have already had a catastrophic effect on [Riven]." The minute it took for him to tend to his sons had him worried, another delay like that could have been costly.

[korovev]

The minute it took for him to tend to his sons had him worried, another delay like that could have been costly.

So he hasn’t slept for months?

[belford]

Linking-book ink: 5% pigment, 95% caffeine.

[Main_Avvie]

The minute it took for him to tend to his sons had him worried, another delay like that could have been costly.

So he hasn’t slept for months?

HaHaHa~ I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever wondered that. Remember that there is no bed and no privy in that room in K'veer. But in Atrus' journal he makes a point to mention that he should afford time to rest as if it were a scheduled activity. I can't remember the passage exactly and I don't have time to look it up atm, but it is as if he could scarcely afford time for sleep.

It is difficult to discern the exact amount of time that passes between events in Myst and Riven for lack of any exact day/nigh cycle. But Atrus is presumably confined to K'veer for months, maybe even the better part of a year since his imprisonment.

Gotta take the logistics with a grain of salt. I like to think of it as all being relative. Atrus could get away with a few sparse winks here and there, but frequent trips to Rime or even uprooting his whole operation in K'veer to move to Rime would have taken considerably more time. Even the Myst journals seem to treat linking as a considerable venture that is somehow more involved than it's made out to be.

[Magic88889]

According to the timeline:

Ghen trapped on Riven: 1774
Atrus trapped in K'veer: March 14, 1806
Catherine tricked in going to Riven: March 14, 1806
Catherine captured by Gehn: June 5 1806.
Events of Myst begin: December 11, 1806.
Events of Riven begin: January 2, 1607.

So it looks like just a couple of months, at most. Most of these dates, I believe, are converted from the dates in the journals.

You can find the entire timeline here: http://www.mystwiki.com/wiki/Timeline

[Jamie Marchant]

I think you mean 1807 , unless time travel was involved... hmm... me looks for Gage Blackwood.

[Twitch]

He's single, he time travels, he parts water: ladies and gentlemen, Gage Blackwood!

[Graizur]

so I realized that the description (of the link armor in BoD) in the MYST Novels doesn't match (the 2 link armors) in the URU games. But they do match the time travel armor from #thejourneymaroject , I believe these are called Wingrovisms. #exo #armor #myst #dni #nara #Wingrove #Uru

I say that to illuminate two points of fact
1. Descriptions from the books sometimes do not line up with the games
2. Those discrepancies may be accounted by the multiverse which is and is bot not a vacuum. (ie Point 2: the imagery can be found elsewhere for surrealistic reasons.)
g+ related link (all pardons)
https://plus.google.com/u/1/10486341957 ... h2X9C3M93d

[Twitch]

Is it possible that there are simply multiple types of link armor? Maybe the immobile one in Gahreesen is just for training; after all, it wouldn't be able to link back into the spinning fort.

[korovev]

What if the Stranger was Katran’s brother, one of the lasts Rivenese to be thrown into the Fissure? It would then make perfect sense for him to have the Myst book, to know which books not to touch, and to know how to reach K’veer safely.

[Jamie Marchant]

That theory sounds good to me.

[Talashar]

What if the Stranger was Katran’s brother, one of the lasts Rivenese to be thrown into the Fissure? It would then make perfect sense for him to have the Myst book, to know which books not to touch, and to know how to reach K’veer safely.

But if he showed up in the linking cage on Riven, there'd be a significant risk that Gehn would decide to return to his investigations of the Fissure, now that he suspects it's a way to reach D'ni...

[dgelessus]

But then the stranger would have known Atrus before Myst, which obviously isn't the case. If I were trapped in D'ni and a long-time friend of mine came to help me, I certainly wouldn't greet them with "who the devil are you?" After you give Atrus the white page he continues to explain his situation to you like a complete stranger. Though they might just not have met for a very long time, so Atrus assumed that the stranger would be interested in what happened in the past few years.

Katran's reaction when first meeting her on Riven isn't exactly what you'd expect from your sister either, but IIRC she acts a little more as if she knew the stranger before, though that might just be because she was regularly informed by the Moiety about the stranger's progress.

[Graizur]

"The Stranger" is a relationship between the U in URU and the multi-dimensional universe of the D'ni.

Kind of like your theorecptical ability to travel back in time and change the present, but only the parts that you don't know about, because the rules of reality account for conciousness.

I'm paraphrasing (superphrasing?) what I've read on tech site and in video interviews so many of us have watched where Cyan, specifically Rand or Robyn Miller talk about the player having as little indntifier so the player is you. In my shard it is I who rescued Atrus from his prison and then ventured into Riven with on a mission , and some books Atrus had given.