Magic in the world(s) of Myst

Magic in the world of Myst, created by Robin & Rand Miller and David Wingrove is relatively uncomplicated. Or perhaps that is because there’s not that much precise explaining on how and why everything works. It is one of the books where magic is based on an older knowledge that has died out and has to be reinvented partly by the main chracters. Other than most books, the disappearance of knowledge hasn’t happened a very long time ago, only two generetions before Atrus (the main character) magic was still practised daily.

Magic was only used by a race called the D’ni (there are questions raised in the book if they were the only ones able to). This race was wise and prosperous because of its magic. Magic was only used to create worlds, though it seems possible that those worlds already existed and no more than a link was established between the D’ni dwellings and the new worlds. But we will stick to the theory that the D’ni created those worlds. The worlds created were also called Ages.

Some of the Ages were used as harvest worlds, where the D’ni got their food or clothing or other things they needed from. These worlds were vital for their survival, for the D’ni lived underground and had very little recources in their own world. The harvest worlds were controlled by a special guild. Secondly there were Ages for recreative means. The rich had their own Ages, other people could go to a Library (imagine, going to a library and visiting the worlds described in books that are there!)

An Age was created writing symbols (D’ni writing) with magic ink on magic paper. The ink and paper were created by a D’ni Guild, but the knowledge how to create these things vanished along with nearly all the D’ni people. In Writing the Ages, one had to be very careful to use the right symbols and phrases. Because the meaning of symbols could contradict one another, one symbol could for example cancel the other and neither things would come to exist, though they were both written. All symbols and phrases interact with each other and the outcome of Writing can be very unpredictable when one hasn’t learned from an experienced person. Perhaps it is nice to note that Robin and Rand Miller create software (they made Myst the game as well). The likeness to programming is probably no coincidence. Isn’t it a nice idea that according to their idea of magic, here on the internet we’re all magicians: creators of a new world. Pity we don’t have magic books to make the worlds other than virtual. The book that the Age is Written in, is the source book. Other than that, you need a link book to go there. This is a book that has a connection to the Written Age, when you read it you travel to the Age. One Age can have many link books but only one source book. When you travel to an Age you either need to bring a link book to your own Age or be sure that there is a book there already, otherwise you become trapped.

How exactly the D’ni died out isn’t explained into detail, but we do read that it had something to do with a violent rebellion caused by someone named Veovis. He probably died along with the rest. The D’ni city still is grand and beautiful and witnesses of the splendid times that are gone, though many places have fallen down or are destroyed.

Gehn and his son Atrus are, together with a servant, the only people living in the city, trying to uncover and use their inheritance. Odd detail is Catherine, Gehn’s mother, who lived during the great days of the D’ni, but who doesn’t give away any knowledge. They search the city for left-over Books and Ink for magical Writing. Gehn created several Ages but they aren’t stable, he made some mistakes in Writing and those mistakes become fatal, for example when big holes in the ground are turning up everywhere in one of the Ages. He has learned the symbols from a book called Rehevkor, which is some kind of D’ni dictionary.

In the worlds Gehn has created, there are people living, though he hasn’t written them in. He considers himself to be their rightful ruler, since he created their world. In his worlds he is worshipped and served. Because there are no D’ni left Gehn starts to teach some D’ni things to inhabitants. One of them creates an Age of her own, though she is not a D’ni. This brings in the question: what are the D’ni? Are they a race or a culture? Or is the girl perhaps one of the D’ni?

The magic of the D’ni is limited to creating worlds. In their own worlds they cannot change things. For influencing the different Ages a source book is necessary.

There are no fixed ethics and rules because Gehn and Atrus have to find everything out for themselves. The debate between them about rights and rules about magic is one of the themes of the book, and leads to a very interesting plot.

If you enjoyed the computergame Myst, surely read this book, it gives a lot of background information and raises some questions of its own….

Tarhian