Prison Book
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A Prison Book (alternatively, Trap Book) is an artifact in the fictional computer-gaming world of Myst.
Prison Books were Linking Books to desolate Ages, and no other Linking Books to return. The D'ni used this method to punish and isolate unwanted persons. Atrus also used this, and altered their Linking panel to show rich and flourishing worlds to lure greedy explorers. Sirrus and Achenar were 'prisoners' in Spire and Haven.
According to Atrus' plan, Gehn also was trapped in one, thinking that he would link to D'ni.
[edit] In Myst
In the scenario of the two first games, we are told that Atrus discovered that with some slight modifications, Linking Books could become unable to link the Age traveller to their destination, thus trapping him in the void between the Ages (see Star Fissure). The Linking panel seemed normal, showing the supposed destination. The modifications that 'harmed' the link were so slight, that even a knower of the Art who would read the book, could miss them. Atrus then decided to use them as traps for greedy explorers who would want to visit his Ages.
An interesting property of the Trap Books was that when someone tried to link to an already occupied Trap Book, the persons would switch positions, thus freeing the 'prisoner'.
According to the Myst scenario, the Red and Blue Books are Trap Books, and after Atrus left for D'ni, Sirrus and Achenar had eventually been trapped in the inter-Age void, while looking for more Ages to rule. They sought for the Stranger to find the 5 pages in order to link to the books, thus freeing the brothers, while s/he'd be trapped there. According to the Riven scenario, Gehn was trapped also in a similar Trap Book.
[edit] In Riven
After the production of Riven, Cyan Worlds decided for some reasons that Trap Books are not canonical and cannot exist. Instead, the simplified concept of Prison Books was real and Trap Books were retconned into Prison Books. This became known by Cyan employee Richard Watson who was the first official mouth to dismiss the established canon set forth by the games [1].
Unfortunately, this retcon is inconsistent with the first two games: There is thus no logic behind the switching places between the Stranger and the brothers, since the books are now normal. While this can be easily overlooked, since this plot element is used only in the losing scenario, this is not so simple in the sequel: In Riven, Atrus' journal makes an analysis of what Trap Books are, and an essential puzzle for trapping Gehn, includes this exclusive property of Trap Books, getting trapped while switching places with another. These events are explained by Cyan Worlds as artistic license, as well as the communication through the Gateway Image.
For this reason, the fans didn't like the retcon and preferred to think of the Trap Books and the events concerning them as 'actual'. Some theories tried to reconcile these: At the end of the Myst game, it is believed that the brothers were indeed trapped in the void, but Atrus before burning the trap books, rewrote them into prison books, and the brothers finally linked each to his own prison Age. The switching of places between Gehn and the Stranger can not be explained unless the book used was a trap book and not a prison book, although there is no reason it too could not have been rewritten into a prison book by Atrus after the events in Riven.
[edit] In Myst IV
In Myst IV: Revelation, a new pair of Red and Blue books appear (we know they are not the same books from Myst because Atrus clearly states that he burned those books during the course of Myst IV.) These two books are linking books to Spire and Haven, respectively, as we are led to believe were the two Trap Books from Myst. We are told that Atrus' family linked to them and visited their sons, and the Stranger also can link to them normally, so these two new books have not been altered into Trap Books like the older pair had been.
The dates of the journals kept by the brothers indicate that they have been exploring their respective Ages for the last twenty years. Since there was a ten year gap between Riven and Exile and another ten year gap between Exile and Revelation, this means the brothers arrived in their Prison Ages about the same time Atrus destroyed the original two Trap Books they had previously been caught in during the original Myst.
From all this, we can infer that one of two things happened to release the brothers from their trapped position in the "void between Ages." Firstly, as suggested above, Atrus may have altered the Trap Books before destroying them in order to "free" the brothers by completing the links. Secondly, it is possible that the simple act of destroying each Trap Book forced the link to complete, dumping the brothers in their new homes. Since these are the only known instances of occupied Trap Books being destroyed, it's hard to know which is true.
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Myst • Riven • Myst III • Myst IV • Uru / Uru Live • Myst V |
