Will Gehn appear in Myst V? | Forums

[thewebb]

[thewebb]

in the past there has been a fair bit of talk about this. i for one would love to see him return and have since i finished riven. it has been said that myst V will combine stories of the previous games which made me thought we would see ghen but on the other hand in video interview with rand (here) he mentions yeesha and this new guy as main characters but not gehn. then again perhaps that's just because he's going to be a surprise. what do you think?

[Alahmnat]

There really isn't anything to gain from bringing Gehn back, and it would kill any sense of finality that Riven had. The brothers were given a second chance in Revelation because Atrus, being the sucker that he is, felt that they might have changed (well, he was right about one of them anyway...). The brothers are also characters who, prior to Revelation, had been very loosely-defined and one-dimensional characters. Gehn, on the other hand, has been a prominent character in one and a half novels and had an entire game all to himself. He's a very fleshed-out character who has been given well more than his fair share of chances to change. Bringing him back would really do nothing to create an involving plot, since all you'd be doing is stopping someone you already know is bad from doing what they're trying to do. There's nothing interesting in such a plot, IMHO. There's no tough decision or moral dilemma to face in bringing him back... he's an antagonist through and through.

Now, Yeesha and this new guy they're bringing in, on the other hand, are characters who we still don't know a whole lot about. Even after appearing in 3 games, Yeesha is still someone who gives a lot of people pause (largely because of what she does and says in Uru), though there's also a bunch of people who like her and think she's doing the right thing. It'll be interesting how they play off of what we already know of Yeesha - especially through Uru - and play her against the other major character (I'm being vague since this is the non-spoilers forum), and see what kinds of outcomes can result from your choices.

I just really don't think there's anything to be gained from bringing Gehn back, and honestly, this whole "ghosts of Atrus' past" plot is starting to wear a little thin after four straight games . It's good to see Cyan bringing in a new character who is apparently unconnected with Atrus and friends and making him a big player in the story. I just wish they hadn't waited so long to do it, being the last game in the series. Ah well.

[thewebb]

after a bit of consideration i have to say i agree with you - to an extent. it is good to have characters you're not sure you can trust in the game. but that has been done in every myst game so far. it would not nesesarily be a bad thing to have a character you know is bad. that's not to say you can't have characters that you're not sure of aswell - like this new guy (i've forgoten his name) probably will be.

the other thing is that the end of riven, while ending on something of a conclusion (as all the myst games have except i guess myst), it was left so open for a continuation. being trapped in the book doesn't seem like a final ending for ghen and i would like the ghen saga to have more closure.

having said all this sadly i have to concede he probably won't re-appear and will be doomed to be trapped in the book for the rest of his life.

[Mowog]

At least you have the consolation that if the trap book that captured Gehn is anything like the books that snared Sirrus and Achenar, he is now the sole inhabitant of a luscious Age somewhere, and monarch of his domain... just without any subjects to enslave! Atrus's trap books weren't really traps so much as one-way tickets to -um- "interesting" places.

[thewebb]

yeah. the whole idea that trap books are actually ages is an interesting one. while cyan etc claim it was always the case i'm not sure they had that in mind when they first made myst (and probably riven).

with regards to that being a consolation i'm afraid that doesn't really work for me. i don't really feel sorry for gehn or want him to be happy i just want to play a game involving him again. after all, riven is my favourite of the series (and i think is more people's favourite than any of the other games)

[mszv]

From what I've read on various boards, Riven tends to be quite popular among avid Myst series game fans. I think it's less popular among less avid fans, including the majority of people who bought Myst.

I'm not a big fan of Riven but I'm glad I played it.

[Alahmnat]

Really, you're not supposed to feel sorry for Gehn once he's trapped... he did enough to be tried about five times over at the ICC . And while I agree that Riven is widely considered to be the best game in the series, I don't think it's right to demand another Riven (complete with the same cast...) with each release. There are many other types of gameplay and puzzles that can be introduced that would break a game out of the Riven mold without necessarily making it any better or worse.

[SageBlackthorn]

Hello Everyone,
It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything, but this thread piqued my interest. I primarily play the Myst games for the same reason I read the books: I like the story, I want to know what happens next. In that regard, I can't see the use of bringing Gehn back into Myst 5, except maybe through journals or recordings to fill in necessary background. Gehn's active role in the story of Atrus's family is done, in my opinion. Bringing him back would not serve to further the story along now that it has progressed to the next generation: Yeesha's life.

The story thus far from Myst, to Riven, To Exile, to Revelations, to Uru has a decided gap between Revelations and Uru that I expect End Of Ages to fill. I'm waiting to see how Yeesha turns from that precocious little girl in Revelations into the the best writer ever that we see in Uru. I also wanna know what's up with her tribal facial tatoos!

I've read and watched all I care to of Gehn, his time is over and I think his, and the brothers, contribution to Myst 5 should be left to that of portraits and entries in journals. And even then, only when it will serve to give us a deeper understanding of the events that shaped Yeesha's young life after Revelations.

Sage

[poutrew]

Of course, one way to bring Ghen back is to have Yeesha use her godlike powers to 'reclaim' him from his sad fate and bring him back into the fold. Heck, didn't she have the hots for that dead guy in the treasure room and bring him back to life? If she could do that then saving Ghen would be small change, but I agree, there is no point in bringing him back unless there were an incredible plot twist leading to a surprise conclusion, like, we finally learn that it was Atrus who was the bad guy, not Ghen, and that he [Atrus] had to decieve the stranger in order to get him to do his dirty work for him. Hey, I like that! Ghen fighting to keep his crazy in the head son Atrus from destroying all the ages he had written, and loosing thanks to the help of a pesky, naive 'Stranger' who Atrus used as a stooge to do his dirty work. It was Atrus who imprisoned and drove crazy his innocent young sons because they stumbled onto his plans of world domination and attempted to stop their Evil Daddy. We don't see his wife in URU because - you guessed it- he got rid of her because she was getting too close to the awful truth. Now, with Ghen, Wifey, and Sons out of the way, Atrus can begin the long process of psychological manipulation necessary to turn his youngest daughter into his Tool of Destruction

OK, I think it's getting late and maybe I should go to bed