Talk:Stranger (Myst)

The color of the hand icon used as the mouse cursor in Myst may at least tell us the Stranger's skin tone. Didn't it have a light complexion, or was it just colorless? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.255.182.232 (talk • contribs)


 * No one in their right mind would honestly think that the skin tone of the cursor was an intentional clue. Invest some thought into this and you'll come to the same conclusion. SFT | Talk 05:49, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

The Stranger is of comparative build to Atrus? Saavedro mistook the Stranger for Atrus, but only because he thought Atrus would follow him to J'nanin, not because he saw the Stranger and thought he was Atrus? Or am I forgetting some vital scene where Saavedro sees the Stranger and thinks he is Atrus? I can only remember the chase scene when you first enter J'nanin, and Saavedro possibly turns his head and looks at you... Or, wait, inside the J'nanin house he might have talked to you... If only I had Exile here right now. --Spug 12:40, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I do have Exile right now, and I just checked this out. It seems the only time Saavedro glimpses the Stranger is through a small window when he (or she) is inside the lift at the upper section of the main tusk in the J'nanin age.

Saavedro also seems to be fairly agitated, and speaking from a fair distance away. So unless the Stranger happens to be glowing neon green with various flailing tentacles I think it's reasonable to assume Saavedro just made a reasonable mistake in assuming it was Atrus (or has slight myopia).

I've edited the page accordingly, but if anyone else can find something in Exile which can expand on this (or prove me wrong) please feel free to edit - I'm certainly not the King of Myst knowledge :-) -- :William Richey 07:45, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Zork is a Myst clone?!
 * The two later chapters at least that had 1st person 3d graphics, can be defined as such Pictureuploader 21:23, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

silent protagonist
Silent protagonists predate the stranger, see the article. Dread Lord C y b e r S k u l l ✎☠ 13:40, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
 * We're talking about more than "silent protagonists" here. The Stranger isn't just silent, he's an anonymous history-free everyman.  He has no character beyond what the player does; contrast this with Mario or Crono, who have backstory and character even though they don't talk.


 * I don't know anything about "Silencer", the 3rd-person example given. If it's a Mario and not a Stranger, feel free to nuke that paragraph. SFT | Talk 18:33, 12 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Neither do I, but I clicked on the link. The "Silencer" character is at least seen.  The Stranger doesn't even have a reflection or feet. Cactus Wren 18:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, um, yes. I can't figure out how that relates to the rest of what's said here.  My point was that if Silencer does have character and backstory, other than what the player does, then he's more like Mario than the Stranger, and the mention of him(?) should be removed from the article.  But if he's more like the Stranger then it's a possible influence situation and can stay. SFT | Talk 04:21, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

One Clue to Stranger being Male
I discovered this quite by accident, while playing original Myst for a bit of nostalgia. At the end, go to meet Atrus but don't bring the green page with you. Atrus has a rarely seen tantrum because now you're both trapped in D'ni forever! Listen to his dialogue, for Atrus mutters to himself, "He didn't bring the page." (referring to the Stranger). Seems to me this indicates the Stranger is male (or a tomboy ;) Of course this is way back in original Myst, when many things weren't "worked out" yet. --Jquarry 00:45, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

On another topic, the statement "even as far back as Doom" is a bit silly, considering Doom was released the same year as Myst. Maybe they meant "Wolfenstein 3D" :)
 * That's a valid point! Well, I guess that any hints on the Stranger's nature and gender are just things that the creators 'missed' by mistake. If Rand noticed that he said 'he', he would repeat the dialogue and try to avoid it :) Pictureuploader 07:40, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Representations of the Stranger
I'm not sure if this has been covered or not, but isn't the falling person on the cover art of "Myst" the Stranger? I've always thought it to be yourself (before I realized that the character isn't you but "The Stranger"). If it isn't, who else would it be? Also, in the elevators on Myst III, the camera looks down at the floor, but no feet are seen. Maybe something should be mentioned about this? Thunderforge 20:08, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Initially I thought it was Atrus but maybe you are right. And don't wonder why he is invisible when you are near reflective surfaces. Have you noticed the glass walls in the compass room of Mechanical? Everything is crystal-clearly reflected, except you Pictureuploader 04:56, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
 * The person falling is Atrus. The speech we hear during the intro is Atrus reading his journal entry describing what we see (which happened at the end of The Book of Atrus). He wrote it before he was trapped in D'ni by his sons, and thus before the Stranger entered Myst. -- kenb215 20:36, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The logo is seen in the other games where Atrus' fall in the fissure doesn't make sense. Also, Atrus wore a longcoat when he fell Pictureuploader 21:53, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Atrus's fall into the fissure makes sense in every Myst game, as Atrus has been in every Myst game. It's just a Myst logo that's being used for a Myst game. There's not hidden meaning in everything.  Same goes for the coat. SFT | Talk 15:38, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Original Research?
Today, I saw this on the page: On the other hand, Yeesha has time-traveling abilities, and it is possible that she brought the original stranger forward in time to 2005 in order to solve the problem of the Tablet. It seems to me that it's original research because (as far as I know) nobody with authority about the game has implied this and it isn't a common theory (in the same way that the Stranger is suspected to be a Spaniard or Amerindian). So that's my decision, any thoughts? Thunderforge 21:31, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think that if the stranger could appear at myst1 the stranger could also appear at myst5 . The linking books, link to places. Maybe there have been no books introduced that link forward or backwards into time, but it's mysterious enough to make me think this is possible. --Logictheo 16:45, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Dr. Watson
I put the line about Dr. Watson being the player character in Myst V back in. Watson has explicitly stated that he was the one gave the Tablet to the Bahro, giving them their freedom, and this is currently affecting the Uru storyline greatly. Here is a chatlog taken of the conversation where Dr. Watson admitted this. 129.177.202.53 10:42, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I see. So this is a recent development in Myst Online: Uru Live then?  The section was referring to the offline Uru (which is all I've played) taking place before Myst V so I thought that couldn't be a possibility.  I haven't played Myst V either, so I guess I wouldn't know anyway.  Would it be more accurate to say Dr. Watson is implied to be the player character, or is this the only possible conclusion? ~ Dusk Knight  01:14, 26 October 2007 (UTC)