Help me understand the "Scarab/Stone" riddle. (spoilers)

[SapienChavez]

Help me understand the "Scarab/Stone" riddle.

Is the riddle/joke just that she couldn't read?

Or was the riddle that she turned herself into the ruby?

Thank you for any help!

[MASTAN]

https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/248285/what-was-the-meaning-of-the-riddle

saying that it referred to how the mechanism for opening the stone door had the shape of a scarab, so the riddle must have been a hint for opening the door.

the inscription appeared only after the door was opened, so it couldn't have been a clue for how to open it.

That's all about the riddle. Except for the fact that 99% of the time everyone(including us as a player) assumed she could read and acted as if knowing the contents of the riddle while in fact she didn't.

[SapienChavez]

Thank you! I guess I did understand as well as I could have!

I really loved the story in this game. Very well done!

[Fyrebrand]

The lines appear over the ancient mage's tomb, presumably placed there by him so that they would become visible once the door was opened. At face value, it is a warning about how the doorway functions. The scarab needs to be intact, with the ruby installed, or else the door will close again. If not, the door will shut. If you're caught inside, and the scarab/stone are not as one, then you get trapped in the tomb forever, hence: "forever your life I'll own."

So, in that sense, it's not really a riddle at all. It's pretty straight-forward. But why would the game place so much significance on it, if that's all there is to it?

I think the riddle can also be symbolic. I suspect the "scarab" represents Sadja. The "stone" is perhaps her precious ruby, or the mask, or maybe even just her obsession with power and fame. Throughout the dream chapters, she is the keeper of the ruby, and the one who unleashes the mask's power through the ruby. She's the central figure responsible for the mask's unlocked potential. Thus, she "rules over" its ultimate fate.

However, the ruby/mask also rules over her own fate. Not simply because she covets its power, but more concretely because in the final scene it is instrumental in shaping her life's history and writing her story in the eyes of Satinav. The Staff literally figures out a way to restore Sadja's life (or so it seems to me) through the story of the ruby, thus the "stone" rules over the "scarab."

So, symbolically, the riddle is not simply a warning written by the ancient mage, but perhaps a grander message from Satinav, or else his former servant Mnemoremnon. "Enter if to you the answer is known," could refer to entering the garden of memory, and knowing the true story of what happened to Sadja. Therefore, "If not, forever your life I'll own" obviously refers to your existence being obliterated if you do not know/speak the truth. Bryda entered not knowing the true answer, and paid a tragic price for it.

I may be reaching too far, but for me the riddle was always meant as more "thematically" significant than "literally."

[MASTAN]

It's just to lead everyone's thoughts away. To what hidden sense in that puzzle Sadja has found. When in reality she hadn't at all.

[Fyrebrand]

I just read some other comments about the ending, and I'm an idiot. I guess Sadja had turned herself into a ruby, while in the garden (I just beat the game a little bit ago, still figuring it out). So the ruby represents Sadja (should have been obvious to me, as it is her most treasured object). I'm not sure what the "scarab" would be, then. Maybe it's the Staff? She is in possession of it throughout the story, but it also exercises much influence over her own actions, and in the end he determines what her ultimate fate is.

I know, in the literal plot, the riddle is meaningless because Sadja could never have read it. But still, I think the game's writers intended it to still have significance to the player, in an abstract way.

[SapienChavez]

Thanks for the input. I liked your assessment and would not call you an idiot!