Are Atrus and Catherine justified?

[Visuwyg]

All this talk about Gen being an evil Colonizer, but they imprisoned him Oldboy Style for decades and condemned the native Rivenese population to a life in servitude or underground.

If that weren't enough, Atrus used us to trap Gen in a hellish limbo where he is fully aware but without a body. Then he links out of there with his wife before leaving us to die. No ♥♥♥♥♥ given. Are we sure these two are the good guys?

I found it pretty impressive how Gen was able to create working linking books without the required knowhow. His intention to rebuild the D'ni civilization seemed fairly justified to me, since apparently his mother caused it to collapse?

The game didn't really give me enough evidence of Gens evil colonizing intentions, causing Atrus and Catherine coming off as more cruel than perhaps intended.

Not letting us link back with them is a ♥♥♥♥ move no matter how you slice it.

[Hellish Fiend]

Originally posted by genechtagazoink:

your tone gets a bit too harsh, i guess i shouldn't have persisted. we discuss a game and i perceive this discussion as a game and nothing more. all i'm trying to convey is there are no facts, only interpretations, as one dude once said.

Well, that's the view of a moral relativist. And if youre a moral relativist, then there is really no discussion to be had, is there? In moral relativism, each individual has their own "interpretation" or view of what is good and what is evil, meaning good and evil doesnt truly exist in that kind of framework, rendering the question of whether Atrus and Catherine are "justified" as a complete non-subject, since there is no longer a concrete definition for "justified".

If you want to challenge the position, you should do so on the merits, and do so thoroughly, not pick at one nit and expect the position to crumble because of it. That's frankly somewhat annoying, which is why I had you pegged as a troll. The most you could really do, if youre being intellectually sincere, is claim that the Myst universe has its own concrete system of right and wrong apart from our own in real life, and then argue the case based on that.

Honestly I think there are far more interesting things in the Myst lore to discuss than this. I think Cyan did an excellent job of creating a flawed yet earnest deurotagonist (second most important character after us, the "Stranger") in Atrus, and there really isnt much room to be accusing him of being willfully wrong or evil without either being rather unfair, or completely subjective.

[Anxiety]

Originally posted by Hellish Fiend:

his decisions to leave out those traps for his sons

Trap books were originally meant for adventurers/raiders/thieves who could potentially have stumbled into Myst (Atrus was getting a bit paranoid by that point), but his sons took great interest in them. Atrus was understandably worried by that and tried to deny them access to these books (still, not revealing their true purpose). Then the sons locked him in D'ni and used the traps.

IIRC this was mentioned in Atrus's monologue through D'ni book in the chimney at the end of Myst, before linking to D'ni. Very easy to miss.

[Hellish Fiend]

True, maybe its not technical to say he left out the trap books specifically "for his sons", but the substance of what I said is largely accurate, I think. Especially in light of the fact that Atrus didnt inform his sons that they were traps.

[PlutoniumBoss]

One important thing to note, when Gehn says he's busy writing a sanctuary for the villagers, he's lying. You never see him writing in the book on the desk, he always comes in from outside and the only books out there are burnt.

[EkajArmstro ｂｒｉｌｌｉａｎｔ ｏｎｅ Ｋｉｅｒ]

I just finished the remake and this was a great discussion to read through. I think if you have to pick good guy vs. bad guy yeah Atrus is good Gehn is bad but I like how it's not so straightforward that Gehn did no good and Atrus did no bad. Although I imagined that even though you are a silent protagonist, story wise you agree to Atrus' plan both to risk going to Riven in the first place and to risk trying to get home through the Star Fissure and he's not actually forcing you to do those things.

[Hellish Fiend]

^^ Well said. Yeah, in a broken world, things arent always so straightforward, but the intent behind the actions means a lot, and that part is fairly clear, at least. Glad you enjoyed the read!

[Midnight77]

"It was justified" - Raylan. :)