All-In-One Riven Walkthrough

This guide presents a walkthrough that will lead players efficiently through RIven. For major puzzles, there is a progressive set of hints available for those wanting to keep some of the challenge. There is also insight into the game's lore.

Introduction

Welcome to my guide to Riven: The Sequel to Myst!

I first played Riven upon its release in 1997 without having played Myst, which is not recommended as much of the lore refers to concepts from Myst. Nevertheless, I intend this guide to be a full walkthrough to the entirety of Riven for everyone interested in this wonderful game.

Please do not share or upload this guide anywhere without my permission.

This guide will include summaries of background lore. As not to disrupt the flow of the walkthrough, the guide will reference a lore that can be found at the end of this guide. If interested, simply head to the relevant section of the guide to read about it. Some lore will give background information from Myst, and some will summarize various journals and such for those without the time to fully read/explore every inch of the isles.

The walkthrough will go through all minor puzzles with explanations. For major puzzles, there will be a hint system of sorts ranging from minor probes to a full walkthrough.

Starting Out

Riven begins with an enticing opening cutscene. However, if you have never played Myst, it may confuse you more than set you up for the game.

For a crash course in Myst and who this man is, see Lore: Carrying on from Myst and Lore: Atrus.

For an explanation of why you went into the TV screen inside a book, see Lore: Linking Books.

To learn about the "one-man prison" the man talks about, see Lore: Prison Books.

Temple Island

Starting your journey

Upon arrival in Riven, you are treated to another cutscene. This time, you are supposed to be confused by what's going on. Some answers can be found in the journal that Atrus gave you. For some explanations see:

Lore: Why did Atrus send me to Riven and not himself?

Lore: Atrus' Journal

Lore: What's with the cage and weird people?

Just ahead of you is what appears to be a brass telescope. Feel free to play around with it, but you can't do anything of value yet. Instead head to the right. You'll see some stairs on the left, but for a quick Easter egg, look down over the cliff before climbing the stairs to see what became of your first Riven friend. (His name is Cho.) Don't worry. He'll be fine later and will have left, should you come back to check on him.

The Rotating Room

Head up the stairs and look left. This room is our first puzzle of sorts that we'll revisit a few times. This takes a little explanation and a crudely-drawn picture. This part of the island connects five different sections to this room. However, as you can see, there are only two doorways (seen as gaps in the green circle). At the start of the game, the doorways are where you are (the start area) and the gold dome. There are also three closed gates (gate 1, gate 2, and gate 3), one of which is blocking your path to the gold dome. The room itself rotates via buttons in a few locations. Pressing one of these buttons will rotate the room one-fifth of the way around, moving the two open doorways. One such button is to the right of the doorway from the top of the stairs.

If interested in the pictures in the gold scarabs in the room, see More Lore: The Temple Scarabs.

We don't have to do anything now, but to make our lives easier later on, we'll do some things involving this room. Press the button to the right of the door four times. This will move the openings to the "wooden gate" and "telescope power switch" areas. Turn back and head left down a set of stairs. In this area you'll find a locked wooden gate. We need to get through it.

Wooden Gate Puzzle

Hint: We can't open the gate, but we can get to the other side.

Solution: You can crawl under the gate.

Flipping Some Valves for Later

Head along the path and through the room to some pipes. You'll notice a picture of something that looks like a simplified version of the microscope-looking thing outside. Flipping the switch under it powers that up. (We still can't do anything with it of value.) Make sure to flip the switch down.

Now we could have left this switch alone until we need it at the end of the game. What is more helpful now is behind us. Turn around. To the left of the doorway to the rotating room is a sliding switch. Pull it up. This will open Gate 2, toward the area behind the gold dome.

Before going back to the rotating room, turn to the right to find another button. Press it twice to rotate the room twice. This will create openings where you are and to the area behind the gold dome. Go through the rotating room. Gate 3 is still down. So, we cannot head to this area. However, just like before, to the left of the doorway is another sliding switch. Pull it up. This will open Gate 1 to the gold dome. To the right is another button. Press it twice to open a path to the start area.

We have one more thing to do before exploring. While facing the rotating room at the starting area, rotate the room twice more. This will open the path to the (now open) gold dome. Follow the path inside the gold dome. Before it curves left, notice the sign that shows five distinct shapes being connected to a circle. This is a small introduction to a very large puzzle later on. The five shapes represent the five islands of Riven. Continue along the path out the dome. On the left will be some pipes and some steam billowing out. There is another valve for you to turn. Do so. Continue down the path to the end to find yet another value to turn. These values power movable sets of stairs later on in the game. Believe me, you'll be happy to have done this now rather than need an insane amount of backtracking.

Leaving Temple Island

Finally, head back to the rotating room and exit to the starting area. We can head across the bridge into a rocky tunnel. On the left is a room with a switch we need. Head inside and turn around. To the left of the red screen is the switch, which opens our exit from this island. Exit the room and turn left down the path. Open the stone door at the end. To the left is an altar. The exit is to the right. Once outside, find the little set of stairs. To the right of them is a blue button that is just begging to be pressed. Doing so will summon your chariot to the next island. These things are called "mag-levs." Hop inside, turn the ship around, and enjoy the ride.

If you are interested about the weird spider chair and the altar, see Lore: The Temple Island Altar

Jungle Island Part 1

Welcome to the Jungle

Exit the chariot (mag-lev). Proceed two screens forward. Turn to the right. On the wall is a foreign object. It appears to be a ball with an eye. Interact with it. It should rotate a bit to reveal a symbol. It will also play a sound. This is a piece to a very large puzzle later on. Make sure to note the symbol and sound.
Turn around and head up the stairs. Continue along the path to a crossroads and another blue button (which is useless as it summons a mag-lev that is already there). Take the right path up the stairs. Across the wooden bridge, you'll find a set of paths with the jungle in the distance as seen in the picture on the right.

Exploring the Jungle

Take the right path and then the left toward the wood gate. Before going through the gate, look at the beetle on the right post. Inspecting it will cause it to fly off. Make a note of the sound the beetle makes as it flies away. (Needed for a very large puzzle later on.)

Go through the gate and down the path. Once you go through the tree stop. Turn to the left to see a little path down. At the end is another eye-ball. Spin it to see the symbol. Take not of the symbol and the sound it makes.
Coninue on the path. When at a fork inside the little structure, take the right path. Continue on until you find a large fish-like structure. There is actually an elevator inside the fish. To access the fish, you need to get close to it as shown in the picture to the right. At the bottom of the screen are the tops of two lanterns. Click on the little nub on top of the right lantern. (The picture shows the nub already pulled.) Once the fish opens up, head inside.

You are on the middle of three floors. Use the lever on the right to go up. (Drag and pull up.) When you exit the elevator and go a screen or two forward, you will see a spinning dome. This is called a "Fire Marble." There are five of these around Riven. We are going to stop the spinning for moment to find a symbol. There will be a little path off to the right. Find a viewer that looks like a telescope and look through it. Press the button repeatedly to stop the dome. Pay attention to the symbol it lands on before the dome opens. It happens quick. Also note that you found it on the Jungle Island dome.
We can't do anything with these domes yet. So, head back to the main path. Continue on around the dome.

You'll come to a brown and gold building. Enter it. Inside is a bone throne. (That rhymes.) Sit in it and use the left lever to get a king's-eye view of the village below. Look down to see the weird structure in the water. Use the right lever to close the hole in the middle.


If you would like to know about the structure and this weird throne in the tree-tops, see Lore: Gehn's Executions

We are done here. Use the left lever to descend. Return to the elevator and go down one floor. (We will not head to the bottom for now.) You'll find that the fish's mouth has closed. Use the lever on the left to open it and exit. Head back into the jungle. Exiting the fish sometimes triggers a cutscene with a little girl. (Don't worry if it doesn't; it's simply for world-enrichment purposes.) When you reach the crossroads in the little structure, take the right path and go through the gate. A man may sound an alarm, notifying the village of your arrival. (Apparently, you're not to be trusted.)

Guess Who's Coming to Our Village!

Take the right path and proceed through the tunnel lined with phosphorescent blue plants. As you exit the tunnel, you should see a short scene of a mother coming to hurriedly collect her children from the monstrosity that is you. Continue along the dock and winding path to a ladder. At the top of the ladder sequence is a hut. For even more rejection, use the door's knocker five times. Continue left around the hut and up another ladder. After a few more screens, you'll find a metal object that appears to be part submarine and part mine cart. Use the lever on the left to lower the object into the water.

Let's take a moment to orient ourselves. From where you lowered the metal object into the water, we can see the cone-shaped gallows ahead of us. You'll notice a walkway in the cliffs behind it. That is our ultimate goal for this island. At the top right of the screen is a grey rock platform. That is where we were on the bone throne to close the hole in the gallows. If you look one screen right, you'll see a little altar. Just past it is a little empty pool. That is our next destination. However, getting there requires way more backtracking than you may think.

Using the Village Backdoor

We need to get to that little pool area. You need to do some backtracking. Go back the way you came, down the ladder, past the mean-woman's hut, and down more ladders. Head back along the lake and through the blue-flower tunnel. You'll be back in the area with the alarm. We will be moving straight ahead (not into the jungle). Go up the stairs and through the area with the huge grass leaves. At the fork, take the right path and traverse the bridge. Go down the stairs to reach a cross roads. To the left is the path back to the mag-lev. We want to go straight down to a new area.

At the bottom of the stairs, you'll see a cutscene of some walrus-penguin things disapprovingly running from you. (Even the animals hate you.) These creatures are known as "sunners." Pay attention to the sounds they make. (Needed for a puzzle later.)

The path curves to the right, but we want to make a pit-stop. You can approach the area where the sunners were sunning themselves. On the little beach, move right around the rock. Move forward a few screens to a palm tree and turn left. Embedded in the rock is another eye-ball. Rotate it, make note of the symbol, and pay attention to the sound it makes.

Leave the beach area and continue your journey along the path. You can't get lost as it's a straight shot. (There is a chance that another person will sound an alarm.) Once down a ladder, you'll find yourself at the little pool we were trying to reach. Inside the pool is yet another eye-ball. Rotate it and make note of the symbol and the sound it makes. For the first time, that sound should be familiar. Recall where you heard it. If you would like another hint, you can fill the pool with water by using the valve at the bottom right of the pool. You may recognize the shape. The sound is that of the beetle we found earlier. That symbol is associated with the beetle.

Jungle Island Part 2

Life Aquatic

Behind the pool is a series of ladders down. Climb down and along the short path to a metal dock. Below is the metal submarine we lowered earlier. Climb inside it.

The vehicle we are in is more like an underwater mine cart than a submarine. It is fixed to a track. There are a series of "nodes" underwater that the vehicle will stop at. Some of these nodes are at docks where we can disembark (such as the one we're at now). The lever on the far right will make the vehicle move forward one node. Some nodes will be at forks in the track. We can choose to take a left or right path by using the sliding handle at the bottom of the panel. We can turn the vehicle around by rotating horizontal handle near the middle of the screen.

Navigating this underwater maze is an ... experience. You can explore at your leisure, or you can use the crudely-drawn map I've provided. As mentioned, some nodes allow us to disembark at various points in the village. However, the corresponding docks for some of the disembark points are retracted and need to be extended. This is our first task.

We need to reach the "Dock Switches" location on the map. From the start area, the quickest way is to turn the vehicle around, move forward, then move forward along the right path. Exit the vehicle via the door above you. If you're at the right location, you should see a ladder to climb. At the very top is a small room with five switches. Flip all switches so that they point up. Flipping these switches will make all docks usable. (If you want to make sure they're in the right position, there is a viewing window behind you. Confirm that the docks are all extended.)

Going to School

If you were doing a speed run of Riven, this next portion would be unnecessary. However, to understand some puzzles later on, we need to learn a few things. What better place for that than a school? Our next destination is the school. Return to the vehicle. To reach the school from the switches, turn the vehicle around, move forward one node, and then move forward one node along the left path.

There are two usable objects in the school. There is a holographic projector that shows Gehn teaching a short lesson. This won't help us in our journey. To the right of the exit is a wooden toy. It shows a whale-like (whark) creature breaching the water and two humanoids being dangled on either end. This toy is what we're after.

Toy Puzzle

You may notice a symbol at the bottom of the toy. Assuming you haven't touched the toy yet, the symbol should be familiar. (It doesn't matter if you've fiddled with the toy yet.) This toy will help us understand the meaning of these symbols. You interact with the toy by spinning the metal ring at the base to the other side. After thoroughly playing with the toy, you should be able to read and interpret twenty-four of these symbols.

Hint 1: Is there a connection between the symbols that are displayed and how the suspended wood people move?

Hint 2: The symbol displayed corresponds to the number of ticks a person descends.

Hint 3: The toy allows us to learn the first 10 numerals in the D'ni language. When a symbol appears, the number of ticks a person descends is that numeral. But there are numerals for numbers greater than 10, which we can deduce.

Hint 4: In many ways, the D'ni number system is a base-5 number system. It has distinct symbols for 1, 2, 3, and 4. (We don't actually get the symbol for 0.) So, how do they use the symbols for 1, 2, 3, and 4 to get the symbols for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10?

Hint 5: Notice that the symbol for 6 is the combination of 1 and 5. Further notice that the symbol for 7 is the combination of 2 and 5. So, could the symbol for 11 be the combination of 10 and 1? And where do the symbols for 5 and 10 come from?

Hint 6: The symbol for 5 is just the symbol for 1 rotated 90 degrees. The symbol for 10 is the symbol for 2 rotated 90 degrees. So, the symbol for 15 is the symbol for 3 rotated 90 degrees.

Solution: There are really only four symbols - the symbols for 1, 2, 3, and 4. The symbols for 5 is obtained by rotating the symbol for 1 90 degrees. The symbols for 6, 7, 8, and 9 are the combinations of 5 with 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The symbol for 10 is just 2 rotated 90 degrees. Continuing in this pattern, we get the symbols for 11, 12, 13, and 14 by combining the symbol for 10 with those for 1, 2, 3, and 4. The symbol for 15 is just 3 rotated 90 degrees.

Preparing the Way to Tay

A huge puzzle will be coming up later, but we do not have the needed knowledge for it yet. Getting to the puzzle's location is tricky, but right now we can open up a shortcut to it for later. Leave the school and head to the gallows via the underwater vehicle. If you've followed this guide, the hole in the gallows should be closed. If the hole in the gallows is not closed, you need to close it. Refer to the Jungle Island Part 1 section of this guide. At the back of the gallows, pull the little dangling pulley. Hop on the trapeze that lowers for a ride up.

There is a big metal door. The puzzle inside isn't solvable yet without more information, but we will take a look to get a sense of what the puzzle is about. Open the metal door via the star-shaped crank on the right.

Once inside, examine the grate on the ground and open it. Click on the murky water to find a secret handle, which will open a secret passage.

This next part is a little tricky. The path is pitch black. Keep clicking forward seven or eight screens until you see light and emerge by some water. To the left will be a light you can turn on.

Now, turn around to see that a little of the path has been illuminated. Proceed one screen. Right in front of you on your left will be a second lamp to turn on. Keep moving backward through the tunnel, illuminating the lamps. There are six in total. Once they're illuminated, proceed back through the tunnel. This time, you should see a stone door on your right. Swing it open to reveal a new path. Proceed inside to find a large chamber with 25 stones with animals on them.

If you play around with the stones, it's clear that we need to figure out which to press. We need to explore more of Riven to find out. Notice the pictures are all of animals. Recall you've been told to keep track of some animals thus far.

Leave the cave and turn right along the catwalk. At the end is a ladder that you can lower. This will create a shortcut for us to use later.

Leaving Jungle Island

We're heading to a new island. Once you descend the ladder, turn around and head for the familiar blue-flower tunnel. At the area with the multiple paths and huge grass, take the only path we haven't. (At the forks, go left and then right.) You should reach a man-made hole with a mine cart. Hop in and pull the lever.

Book Assembly Island

Reaching Higher Ground

The name of this island may give a clue as to its purpose. For more detail, see: More Lore: What is Book Assembly Island.

Your first destination is the platform stretching out over the little lake. At the end of the platform is a valve with a handle you can rotate. We need that handle to be facing the bottom right (as seen in the picture). This will direct steam to the cylindrical structure behind us (boiler).

We next need to get into that cylindrical structure. To open the door, we need to drain it of water. To do so, head up the first few stairs and left around the building. You'll come to an area with some levers and a wheel. First, pull the lever on the far right from horizontal to vertical. This will lower the temperature of the water (stop it from boiling). Next, rotate the wheel. This will drain the water. Lastly, we need to raise a platform. Turn left, to see a small lever. Switch it so that power flows along the other pipe. Turn back right and push the last handle up to make the platform raise. You are now free to open the door into this structure.

Once inside, enter the tunnel. It's dark, but keep moving forward until you emerge. You'll emerge on top of a small cliff. There is a little path to the left. This will take you to a man-made platform. You'll see some doors, but first notice the man-hole cover on the ground. Interact with it to unlock the manhole. This gives us a way to reach the ground below (and back) without having to use the pipe.

Trap Puzzle

Climb down the ladder and return to the valve on the lake. Turn the handle to the right one space (where it was originally). This will power the area in the cliffs. Return to the ladder and climb up. Finally, open the double doors and enter. Head inside and along the little path to a weird contraption. It may seem useless now, but it gives information for a much larger puzzle later.

Open the trap and place a pebble (bait) in the center. Use the the lever to lower it. Move several screens away and come back. Use the lever again to raise the now-closed trap. Examine the contents.

Make a note of what this creature sounds like, which should be familiar.

Reaching Gehn's Office

From the trap, look directly up. Notice that there is a vent with a spinning fan. We want to be in that vent. This next step took my eleven-year-old self almost a week to figure out back in 1997. Go back to the double doors, but do not go through. Instead, close them, revealing two hidden passages. (You will see this trick a few more times throughout the game.) If you're wondering how you'd know to close these doors, from the platform outside, there is a walkway that seems to emerge from the area we can't reach. This is how.

We're going to make a quick detour. Take the left path. You'll come to another spinning dome. However, there does not appear to be a viewer to stop it. You may notice a hole in a wall housing the viewer. To get to it, apply the trick we just learned. Go to the door you went through and close it to reveal a secret path. Use the viewer to stop the dome and note the symbol it lands on (and where you found it).

Take the right path to a walkway. Gehn's office is in the distance, but the door will be locked. Along the path on the right is a lever for you to pull. Doing this will shut off the fan in the vent. Return to the trap and crawl into the vent. You will reach Gehn's office from this vent.

Gehn's Office

The first object of note will be another eye-ball. Rotate it to see its symbol. This one will not make a sound because Gehn had it removed. However, he gives us a little clue in the letter next to the ball. It was found in the water in the bay.

Next to the ball is one of Gehn's journal's. There is one very important thing to discover in the journal - a code for the spinning domes that are scattered around Riven. I've posted a photo of one such code, but the codes are randomized. You need to find the code and use your numeral translations from the school to get the five-digit code. (If you need help deciphering your code, refer to the section of this guide: Jungle Island Part 2: Going to School.) For example, the code for my playthrough is 10, 12, 20, 21, 24. We will not be using this code until we are ready. So, write it down for later.

For a summary of what is in the journal, see: More Lore: Gehn's Office Journal

The Gold Dome

That's all we need for Gehn's office. There is a blue button that will summon a mag-lev. Make sure to press it. Now, exit through the left door. (This will unlock the door and allow easier re-entry.) Turn right down the path to the gold dome on Temple Island. You'll come to an incline as seen on the right. Pull the lever to lower the inclined walkway and allow passage. (If the lever doesn't work, it is not powered. You power it back on Temple Island. You'll need to backtrack all the way there. See this guide's section Temple Island: The Rotating Room and Temple Island: Flipping Some Valves for Later.)

The first thing we we'll do is take the first left you come to. Step outside to find that the walkway is missing a piece. Turn around and face the doorway to the gold dome. There should be a button on the right just begging to be pressed. Do so to make the path whole. At the end of the path is a closed door with a sliding handle on the side. This will open up the final gate attached to the rotating room. Return to the gold dome and head left. You'll find a wheel on your left you can turn. Doing so will extend a bridge, connecting us to the area of the gold dome we were in near the beginning of the game. Move along this path straight all the way outside and past the pipes/valve that power the movable walkway. Stop just short of the dark tunnel to the second valve. On the right will be a button that is now press-able. (If the button is not press-able, you need to raise the platform to complete the path above you. (See the beginning of this paragraph.)

Pressing the button will send you down to a secret little path. Up the stairs is another spinning dome. Use the view finder to stop the dome. Write down the symbol it lands on. Return to the elevator and back into the gold dome. Once up the stairs, there will be a path to the right, which is a bridge back to the rotating room on Temple Island. Do not cross the bridge. Instead, on the right of the doorway is a lever for you to pull. This will cause the bridge to turn into a set of stairs, accessible via the rotating room. We'll need this later. (If the lever doesn't do anything, it needs to be powered. Return to the area outside we were just at and make sure the values are in the right position.)

Survey Island (Plateau Island) Part 1

A Quick Detour

To better understand an upcoming puzzle, we'll make a quick detour. (Feel free to skip this part and simply look at the picture below instead.)
We're headed for the set of stairs we just created. If you are following this guide, you have just pulled the level creating the stairs. Turn around and head right on the path in the gold dome. Take the first right to the path with the section you lifted to complete it. At the end of the path is an entrance to the rotating room. (If you haven't already moved the slider to lift the gate, do so now.) If you've followed this guide exactly, you can press the button on the right three times to rotate the room and access the starting area. Standing in the starting area doorway, press the button twice. This will give you access to the stairs you created. Head up the stairs and approach the machine. This panel is a very large puzzle ("Fire Marble Puzzle") that we need to solve in order to find Gehn. Notice that this contraption will power the large gold dome. We will solve this puzzle soon.

Getting to Survey Island

Return all the way back to Gehn's office and go inside. (Assuming you did the above steps, you'll need to go through the rotating room to the start area and press the button three times to regain access to the gold dome.) This time, exit Gehn's office through the other door. Down some stairs, you'll find another mag-lev. If it is not at the station, press the blue button in Gehn's office. Hop in and ride to our fourth island.

Surveying the Land

Technically, visiting this island isn't necessary to complete Riven. If doing a speed run, one would bypass it altogether. However, to understand all the puzzles, we need to gather some information. And there is quite a bit of information to gather. Exit the mag-lev to the left. On your left is a path up some stairs. Continue along the only path for a good while until you can't progress anymore. You'll automatically turn around. Notice the button on your left. Pressing it will take you up to an observation deck.

In front of you is a balcony with a square of five buttons. These button shapes should be familiar. (Recall the little sign in the gold dome at the beginning of the game.) Pressing one of the buttons does two things. First it creates a little bulb of water to form in the corresponding structure below, which is useless. The more important function is behind us. I recommend pressing the button that is just above the largest one or the bottom left button.

With a button pressed, turn around and proceed to the strange metallic room sitting on a flotation collar. Enter the room and approach the machine. Depending on which button you pressed, you should see the same shape on a little panel below. The shape will be sub-divided into tiny squares. Pressing one of the square will cause the machine to create a 3D object in front of you. You can rotate the view of the object via the handle on the panel.

Your goal here is to understand where the marbles will go in solving the Fire Marble Puzzle. (We'll handle the colors very soon.)

Survey Puzzle

Hint 1: First, you need to determine what you're actually looking at when you press the little squares. If you pressed the button I recommend, it may be a bit clearer.

Hint 2: Each little square gives you a topographical view of a part of an island. Notice that the Fire Marble grid shows bolded lines giving the rough shape of each island. Each island has something of interest we need to find. So, we need to figure out locations of interest on these maps.

Hint 3: To determine what it is you're looking for, think about what the Fire Marble Puzzle will do. It will power the big gold dome and anything connected to it.

Hint 4: The sign in the gold dome and Gehn's journal indicate that the large gold dome powers the five smaller gold domes around Riven. .

Hint 5: We need to power the gold domes. Find those on the topographical maps. There is one for each island.







Solution: We need to find the locations of the gold domes around Riven. You'll need to look close. The Fire Marble grid consists of 25 large squares, and each square has 25 slots. Once you find the right button on the panel that shows a gold dome, that will give you which of the large squares a marble should go. (On Book Assembly Island, the gold dome is hidden a bit in a cave.) The red lines on the topographical map, subsection it further into 25 pieces. These red lines will help you find the exact slot a marble will go. Yes, only five of the six marbles will be used.

Now all we need to do is determine which colors go where!

Survey Island (Plateau Island) Part 2 and the Fire Marble Puzzle

Seeing in Color

Before finishing the Fire Marble Puzzle, you've probably noticed the spinning dome. Unlike the other three, there is a problem. The viewer that stops the dome and lets us briefly see a symbol is bent, preventing us from getting a good glimpse. Feel free to try, if you'd like. This will turn out not to matter.

Before leaving, notice the four totems in this lake. Each totem has a different color paint on it. The colors represented are blue, green, red, and orange.

Head back down to the mag-lev. You'll notice a door on the other side of the gap. To get over there, hop in the mag-lev. Turn the mag-lev around but don't take off! Instead exit the mag-lev. Head through the door and approach the red-ish pool. Pull the lever on your left to make an elevator appear. Hop in and use the button to descend.



At the bottom, you may encounter a scribe in white robes see you and take off. (Feel free to follow him and see him use a mag-lev to flee.) Don't worry if you don't see him; it's not connected to gameplay. From the elevator, continue straight until you reach a big chair in front of a huge under-water viewing screen.

Sit in the chair. Press the red button the right to rotate and face the water. Use the right lever to make an orb with a screen descend.

Color Puzzle

We know the location of the marbles in the Fire Marble Puzzle, but we do not know the correct colors. This machine will help us.

Hint 1: The six symbols should look familiar. Where have you seen them?

Hint 2: Gehn's journal mentioned these symbols. He knew they were connected to colors. We've seen them elsewhere.

Hint 3: These symbols also appeared on the spinning domes. We have associated three of these symbols to certain domes.

Hint 4: The three symbols we've associated to domes are connected to the islands on which we found them. For example, we found this symbol on Temple island. Pressing that symbol's button on this machine gives the color green. So, the marble for that island should be green.

Hint 5: We can't see the symbols associated with Survey Island or the fifth island, so how can we use this machine to get those colors?

Solution: Using the three symbols from the three spinning domes we have, we can associate three colors to three islands. Temple Island is green, and Jungle Island is red. Book Assembly Island is Orange. Survey Island's color is missing, and purple is the only missing possible marble color. So, Survey island is purple. That leaves the last island. It is either blue or yellow. We could guess and check. However, there is a hint. Gehn's journal hints that the six color scheme should only be five, meaning one is left out in Riven. There is a hint. Those totems in the lake with the topographical map had a blue one, but not a yellow one. So, the last marble will be blue.

A Few More Things

Before we leave, there is a bit more information to gather. First, when you press the symbol for red, you should have noticed your visitor. This is the legendary whark. Notice the sound it makes. Now, raise the right level and lower the left. Press the right button. Scroll a few scenes around. One scene should look peculiar with a prominent silhouette. Notice the shape. Also look at the place where the eye would be. Is that a ball? Didn't Gehn's journal say something about an eye-ball being seen in the lake? Pressing the left button will give you a glimpse of a room we've yet to visit. You may see a mysterious woman walking around.

Powering the Domes

We're finally ready to power the domes and complete the hardest puzzle in Riven. We need to head back to where the marble puzzle is. If you've followed this guide, the way is more-or-less set for us. Return the way you came. Go up the elevator and into the mag-lev to Book Assembly Island. Head through Gehn's office to the golden dome. (Note that sometimes Gehn's followers like to reset some of your progress. You may need to re-raise the stairs from the rotating room to the Fire Marble puzzle.) In the golden-dome, take the first right (from the entrance from Gehn's office) to the back-entrance to the rotating room. If you haven't already done so, raise the gate. Rotate the room with the button until you can get to the starting area. Once there, press the button twice to gain access to the Fire Marble puzzle. (If the stairs aren't raised, you need to raise them from within the gold dome. If the lever in the gold dome doesn't work, you need to power it via the value at the end of the long path through the gold dome.) Enter your solution to the Fire Marble puzzle. To activate it, go backward one screen and turn around. There is a little lever on your right. Slide it down to see a waffle-press type action. Press the white button to activate the gold dome. There should be a sudden sound and visual cue showing it activated. If no such cue occured, your solution is incorrect. (See below for solving.)

If you've followed this guide, we have accumulated all the pieces to this puzzle. Here they are again.

Piece 1: The thicker black lines outline the rough shapes of the five islands of Riven.

Piece 2: This device powers the gold dome and the smaller domes around Riven ("Fire Marbles.")

Piece 3: The colored marbles represent the smaller domes. The locations of the domes around Riven are where the marbles go.

Piece 4: We can use the topographical map device on Survey Island to find the dome locations (and hence marble locations).

Piece 5: When you use a viewer to stop a dome, it lands on a particular symbol - a different one for each dome. Those symbols are connected to colors

Piece 6: We can use the views in the Whark viewing chamber on Survey Island to associate the colors with the symbols. This tells us the colors of the marbles.

Solution:

Tay and the Animal Stone Puzzle

Getting to the Puzzle Chamber

Although we've just powered the gold domes and can now access Gehn, we'll hold off. Our goal is to imprison him, but we don't have the prison book back yet.

If you've followed this guide, we've been collecting some information about animals and sounds.
It's time to use that information. We need to go back to the animal stone chamber. Return to Jungle Island via the mag-lev. Approach the village from the front (up the stairs, across the bridge, along the left path, and through the blue-flower tunnel. If you've followed this guide, you should have lowered a ladder, which should be visible as you exit the blue-flower tunnel (as pictured). (If you didn't lower the ladder yet, you'll need to reach the upper walkway via the gallows. See section Jungle Island Part 1 and Jungle Island Part 2.

The way to the next puzzle should already be opened if you've followed this guide. If not, see Jungle Island Part 2: Opening the Way to Tay.

Solving the Animal Puzzle

While not as difficult as the Fire Marble puzzle, this one is still challenging.

Hint 1: If you start pressing stones, you'll find that they reset after pressing five. So, we need to find the right five stones. Order may or may not matter.

Hint 2: The stones show animals. We need to find the right five animals. In our travels, have we seen some prominent animals?

Hint 3: We are trying to find the rebel hideout. They've left clues so certain people can find them. Gehn's journal mentioned something about certain villagers being interested in those eye-balls

Hint 4: Animals make sounds and so do the eye-balls. One ball didn't make a sound.
We also didn't find one animal, but we did find a shape that looked like an animal.

Hint 5: The eye-balls have symbols on them. We found the meaning to those symbols in the village school.

Hint 6: We saw a beetle on a door post near the jungle fly away. We interrupted the sunners sunbathing on a little beach on Jungle Island. We captured a frog on Book Assembly Island. We watched the Whark under Survey Island. We saw the silhouette of a fish on the viewer in the Whark viewing chamber.

Solution: The five animals we've seen are the Whark, sunner, frog, fish, and beetle.
The fish was a silhouette, which we inferred was related to this puzzle from an entry in Gehn's journal about a villager swimming out the an eye-ball in the lake. The eye-balls each show a D'ni number from 1 to 5 and play a sound. The sound matches the call of the animal. The number gives the order of pressing the tablets. For example, the ball near the mag-lev station on Jungle island matches the call of the frog and shows the D'ni number 3. So, we press the frog tablet third.


With the puzzle solved, a capartment should open, revealing a linking book. Use it.

Tay

Welcome to your first age outside of Riven! (Not counting D'ni.) Ready to explore a whole new exciting world in that tree hive? Too bad. We'll be here all of five minutes.

After enjoying the sudden change of scenery, turn around to see a linking book. Head for it to meet an old friend.
When you adjust to your new quarters, look around as you like. Take a look out your door to see a guard patrolling. After a bit of exploration, you'll receive a visit from your friend. (Her name is "Nelah.") She will set two books on the table for you. Pick them up. They are you lost prison linking book and Catherine's journal.

Once you pick up the books, Nelah will return. (You may need to explore the room and outside the door a bit first.) She will place a third book on the table. It is a linking book back to Riven.

Before you use it, you can get one the endings now by using the prison linking book here in Tay. Save your game before you do! (This is ending C.)

We also have Catherine's journal. Most of it is not necessary for game completion, but she does tell us about the telescope on Temple Island. She gives the code to unlock the porthole cover. Notice that yours will likely be different as it is randomized for each game. You'll need to use the D'ni number system to translate. (The code in my book is 24241.) Also notice the "stop" she mentions and what lowering the telescope too far would do.

Use the book on the table to link back to Riven.

If you'd like a summary and explanation of Catherine's journal, see Even More Lore: Catherine's Journal.

The 233rd Age

Opening the Fire Marbles

Welcome back to Riven. With the prison linking book, we are ready to find Gehn. (If you would like another ending, use the prison linking book here in Riven, before talking to Gehn or Catherine. Save your game before you do! This is ending D. You can get yet another ending by returning to Temple island and opening the Star Fissue. This will get you Ending F.)

We need to find any of the fire marbles. As we're on Jungle island, we may as well get to the one here. Leave the tablet chamber and exit outside. (Pull the little handle on the ground on the right to open the secret door.) Take the walkway to the right toward the ladder. Descend and move along the blue-flower tunnel. Take a left through the gate. Go straight through the forest, left in the little structure, to the whark idol. You may need to re-open it by pulling the nub on top of the right lantern. Ascend on the elevator.

Stop the spinning dome as usual. We'll need to open the gold dome (or rather close it around us). You should have retrieved the code from Gehn's journal and translated it via the number system we learned. Again, I can't give you the code as it is randomized every game. The tick marks on the sliders represent numbers. The larger ticks are multiples of five, to help us out. My code was 10, 12, 20, 21, 24. So, it would be inputted as pictured on the right.

Once you input your code and press the button, you'll be enclosed in the dome with access to a linking book. Use it. (If the screen is black, you haven't powered the domes via the Fire Marble puzzle.)

Gehn

You'll find yourself in another cage. There is only one thing you can do here. There is a prominent button on a star-shaped panel that is begging to be pressed. Do so to summon the infamous Gehn.

For more information about Gehn, see Even More Lore: Gehn

Gehn will talk at you at great length. Assuming you have the prison linking book, Gehn will request that you use it first. He basically wants to make sure it's safe. He will hold up the book. You need to decide whether or not to use the book.

Trapping Gehn

To trap Gehn, you must use the book when he holds it up. If you refuse to use it, he will let you go to explore RIven as you'd like and even visit Catherine. If you would like to see another ending, return to Gehn's office and summon him two more times, still refusing to use the book. This is Ending E.



With Gehn captured, if you open the linking book and watch, you can see him sitting among some rubble - probably not very happy.

You can get two more endings at this point. You still have access to the prison linking book. If you use it while on Riven, you can free Gehn and get Ending G. If you go all the way back to Tay and use it, you can unleash Gehn on the Moity and get ending H.

You can get yet another ending. If you signal Atrus now, before freeing Catherine, you can get Ending I.

Freeing Catherine

Once you've captured Gehn, you'll be in his office, outside the cage. You should do two things in this room. First, lower the cage by pulling the lever in front of the window. Second (if Gehn hasn't already), turn on the boiler/furnance to power the linking books.

Next, you need to find a hole in the floor. There should be a ladder down to Gehn's bedroom. You're looking for a special object. It can be found in the silver ball on the desk beside Gehn's bed. Open it up to hear a sequence of five sounds. Memorize the sequence.

For a summary of Gehn's journal, see Even More Lore: Gehn's Journal

We're now ready to free Catherine. Head back up the ladder. You want to find the linking book with a single dot on it. This will take us to Prison Island.

To exit the dome, press the button on the floor to the right of the book pedestal. Approach the elevator. For a scene with Catherine before trying to free her, pull the triangular handle. (If you've already talked to her, you won't get another chat.) When you are ready to free her, approach the strange little contraption just beyond the bars with three buttons.

Prison Puzzle

If you start pressing the buttons, you should recognize the sounds. Enter the sequence learned in Gehn's bedroom and pull the horizontal lever. The sequence is random. So, I can't give it to you.

With Catherine free, she will tell you how to signal Atrus.

Signalling Atrus

Finishing Up

Catherine tells us how to signal Atrus. We need to re-open the Star Fissure on Temple Island. There have been several warnings that this will destroy Riven. So, if you have anything you'd like to do, now is the time to do it.

Getting Back to Temple Island

Fortunately, we've pretty much done all the work. The hardest part will be heading back. You'll notice that Catherine has used the dome. So, you need to unlock it again with Gehn's code. Link back to the 233rd Age. From here on, Catherine has set a path for us. All linking books except the Temple Island linking book will have the screen pages ripped out. She also put the cage back up. (No detours for you.)

Once on Temple Island, exit the dome and follow the only path you can. (She even retracted the little bridge in the big dome, preventing us from walking to Book Assembly Island.) You may need to lower the set of stairs via the lever to the right of the door to access the rotating room. (If the lever doesn't work, you can re-power it by flipping the valve at the very end of the path outside.) If you followed this guide, the room should already be set. If not, you may need to rotate it a few turns to get back to the starting area.

Setting the Signal

The telescope in the starting area should already be powered, if you've followed this guide. If not, you'll need to flip the proper valve. (See the section Temple Island: Flipping Some Valves for Later.)

The lever/button on the right will let us move the telescope up and down. However, there are two things impeding us. Catherine's journal mentions a "stop." It is at the bottom of the left leg. Make sure to flip that up. Lastly, we need to open the hatch. The combination is in Catherine's journal, written in D'ni. You'll need to translate the numbers. They should each be values between 1 and 5. The number correspond to the location of a button from the left. E.g. a "2" would mean you press the second button from the left. Enter your code and pull on the handle. If the code was correct, it should open. (Keep in mind, the hatch can't be opened if the telescope is lowered.)

Finally, make sure the lever on the left points down. Press the button five times to end the world.

Enjoy the ending sequence and Ending J!

Major Puzzle Solutions

This section is for those just looking for help with particular puzzles.

Fire Marbles Code

Hint 1: The code is found in Gehn's journal on Book Assembly Island. Make sure you can read D'ni numbers. (Codes are random, so yours will be different than in the picture.)

Hint 2: To translate the numbers, you're going to need to go to school and play a game.
There is a school on the lake on Jungle Island, accessible via the underwater mine cart.



Hint 3: This toy allows us to easily learn the D'ni numbers from 1 to 10. Can you see how to use the numbers for 1 through 4 to get the numbers for 6 through 10? Can you continue the pattern?

Hint 4: The D'ni number 5 is the number 1 rotated one quarter turn. The D'ni number 10 is the number 2 rotated one quarter turn. The D'ni number 8 is the combination of 5 and 3. The D'ni number 12 is the combination of 10 and 2.

Solution: We can get 5, 10, 15, and 20 by rotating the symbols for 1, 2, 3, and 4 a quarter turn. We get other numbers by adding 1, 2, 3, or 4 to the relevant multiple of 5.

Animal Stone Puzzle

Hint 1: If you start pressing stones, you will find that after five guesses, the puzzle resets. So, we need to press the right five. The symbols on the stones are animals. Somewhere around Riven are five animals of note. But does the order we press the stones matter?


Hint 2: Gehn's journal on Book Assembly island references villagers disappearing around the area and some villagers being interested in the "eye-balls" around Riven. One such ball is by the journal. It has a symbol on it that may be familiar. (See Fire Marble Code.)

Hint 3: Look in the following locations for some animals: Jungle Island - On the little beach at the bottom of the stairs. Jungle Island - Beside a gate leading into the jungle. Book Assembly Island - Use the trap inside the cave in the cliff. Survey Island - use the whark viewing chamber to find an animal and another animal's silhouette.



Hint 4: Look in the following locations for eye-balls: Book Assembly Island - Gehn's office, Jungle Island - On the beach near one of the animals. Jungle Island - Near the mag-lev to Temple Island. Jungle Island - In a dried fountain on the way to the underwater mine cart dock. Jungle Island - In the forest on a hidden path near one of the giant Moity daggers.

Hint 5: Assuming you've learned the D'ni numbers, the symbols on the balls are numbers. When turned, the balls make noises that match noises made by animals.

Solution: The five animals are the whark (whark viewing chamber), sunner (beach), beetle (gate near jungle), frog (trap) in cliff cave, and a fish (silhouette in whark viewing chamber). We match the sounds they make to the sounds the eye-balls make and note the numbers. Whark is 5, sunner is 4, beetle is 2, frog is 3. Fish is 1 by elimination.

Fire Marble Puzzle

Before starting this puzzle, make sure you've found it atop the big gold dome and have seen the grid.


Hint 1: The grid has some thick black lines outlining five shapes. On Survey Island, you can find a mechanism that will associate these shapes with the five islands of Riven. So, the marbles are placed on certain locations on the "islands."

Hint 2: Gehn's journal indicates that the massive gold dome powers the smaller "fire marbles" around Riven (the spinning domes). We need to mark their locations on the fire marble grid. There are machines on Survey island that will help us find the locations and colors.

Hint 3: Use the topography map machine on Survey Island to find the gold domes around Riven. There is one on each island. The little buttons on the panel represent one of the squares on the fire mable gride (each with 25 marble slots). After finding a gold dome, you can use the red lines on the map to narrow in on which marble slot it is in. (Book Assembly Island's dome is hidden in a cave.)

Hint 4: Here are the marble locations. Note that there are indeed only five. One of the marbles will not be used.

Hint 5: When you stop one of the spinning domes via its viewer, it will stop on a particular symbol. Each dome has a different symbol. Each island has its own dome. So, each island has its own symbol. If you've read Gehn's journal, you've learned that those symbols are colors.

Hint 6: You can only find the symbols for three islands via this method of the viewers for the spinning domes. For those three, we can use the whark viewing chamber to learn the colors for three islands (and the colors for three of the marbles). (It is possible to get the symbol for Survey Island if you watch the spinning dome very closely.) Notice that one of the lights in the whark viewing chamber is broken. By process of elimination, we can deduce that it should be purple. It is impossible to see the last island's color symbol, but there are clues.

Solution: We can use the whark viewing chamber to associate green with Temple Island, red with Jungle Island, and orange with Book Assembly island. By elimination, we can deduce that purple is associated with Survey Island. The last island must be blue or yellow. Gehn comments in his journal that Riven should use a five-color system rather than six. So, one color should not be used. There are a few villager-made things around Riven that use blue but not yellow. The last island's marble is blue.

Common places to get stuck

I can't get into the spinning domes.

To make these domes stop spinning, you need to find its corresponding viewer. Each viewer is within a few screens of the matching dome. While looking through the viewer, you need to press the button on top while the symbol in yellow is in view. Just keep pressing rapidly, and you'll get the dome to stop and flip over to reveal a gold dome. To get inside one of these domes, you must enter the code. Your code will be unique to your save file, so it is impossible to tell you. Please see the "Fire Marbles Code" within the "Major Puzzle Solutions" section for hints/solution to getting the code. You must set the sliders on the dome panels so that they match your code. The tick mark on the far left is 1, and the one on the far right is 25. The right-most slider should go on the tick mark for the highest number of the code, and so on.

I tried the code from the guide in a gold dome, but it didn't open.

Unfortunately, I can't give you your code. They are randomly created with each new game. Please see the "Fire Marbles Code" within the "Major Puzzle Solutions" section for hints/solution to getting your code.

The books in the spinning domes are just black screens.

The small domes have not yet been powered. Powering these domes is perhaps the largest puzzle of the game, spanning all the islands. You need to locate the fire marble puzzle. (See the next subject.) For hints/solution to this puzzle see the "Fire Marbles Puzzle" in the "Major Puzzle Solutions" section. After inputting the correct solution, make sure to activate it by using the small button on your right (while facing the puzzle two screens back).

I can't find the fire marble puzzle.

The location of the puzzle is a bit tricky. It is on top of the big gold dome. Via the rotating room on Temple Island, there are two paths that connect to the big gold dome. One is a short, straight path, and the other is a longer, curvy path. (The longer, curvy path is blocked by a gate at the beginning of the game.) The short, straight path can be raised into a set of stairs. To do so, find the green lever on your right while facing the path from within the gold dome. If the lever doesn't do anything, it is not powered. There are two valves that need to be flipped in this game. See "Flipping Some Valves for Later" in the "Temple Island Section."

I can't catch the frog.

Keep in mind that you don't actually need to initiate that event to complete the game, if you know the solutions. There doesn't seem to be a "do X to get frog in trap" event. If you've loaded the trap correctly (open with food on plate) and have lowered it, try walking a good distance away (even to another island, perhaps). Eventually, the frog will be yours (for a few seconds).

I can't get to the gold dome from Gehn's office. The lever doesn't do anything.

The mechanism isn't powered. Unfortunately, you'll need to back-track to Temple Island. See "Flipping Some Valves for Later" in the "Temple Island" section.

The button for the elevator outside the gold dome isn't press-able.

While facing this button, you can look up. You should see a path above you with a section missing. You're standing on that section. Go back into the gold dome and take the second door on your right. You'll be on this path with the missing section. Turn around to find a button that will raise this section. You can now return to the elevator with a newly-press-able button. Keep in mind that you cannot press this button at the beginning of the game as you cannot access the area above until you return via Gehn's office.

I can't get on the trapeze in the village.

It is likely that the gate beneath the trapeze is still open. You'll need to close it in order to get onto the trapeze. See the "Jungle Island Part 1" section of the guide for a description of how to close this gate.

I can't lower the telescope.

If you cannot lower it at all, it is not powered. See "Flipping Some Valves for Later" in the "Temple Island" section for a description of how to power it. If the telescope is powered, but you cannot move the telescope any further, you likely need to open the "stop." It's near the ground on the left side of the telescope, waiting to be flipped.

How do you know for sure which islands go with purple and blue?

So, cards on the table... I don't. You may notice that the logic in my guide is a little wishy-washy. The thing is, I don't believe there is an actual 100% way to fully deduce those colors. I remember in 1998 going to a Barnes and Noble with and reading the official Riven guide. (Because I wasn't going to buy it.) I distinctly recall being annoyed that the guide used a glorified guess-and-check solution for the final two marbles. I prefer my fuzzy logic in my guide. See the "Fire Marbles Puzzle" in the "Major Puzzle Solutions" section for a run-down of the colors and islands.

I have a hearing impairment or audio issue and cannot hear the mechanism in Gehn's bedroom.

I'm sorry, but I do not know of a workaround for this puzzle. The code is randomly chosen with each new game. So, I cannot give you your code. While auditory puzzles can be fun, they can also be non-inclusive.

Lore

Carrying on from Myst

(Spoiler alert for Myst!) In Myst, you find yourself trapped on an inhabited-yet-deserted island. Exploration reveals that a family of four lived on the island, consisting of a father named Atrus, his wife named Catherine, and two adult children named Sirrus and Achenar. In a mostly-burned library, you find that Sirrus and Achenar are each trapped in a book. A recording left by Atrus claims that one of the two sons is guilty of serious crimes. The sons both claim innocence and ask the player to release them by finding removed pages from their prison books. After much exploration, the player will find a third book holding Atrus captive. The player must choose to help one of the sons or Atrus. The opening of Riven clearly shows that you end up helping Atrus. Atrus "takes care" of his sons and alludes to "an even greater foe." The opening of Riven gives a name to that foe - Gehn. Atrus is "asking" you to enter another world called "Riven," where his wife, Catherine, is being held captive by Gehn.

Atrus

In some ways, Atrus is the protagonist of the Myst series, and the player is more of a conduit. Atrus values education, experience, and respect. He is prone to accept the burdens of others and is quick to help those in need. Atrus is one-quarter D'ni, but he was born after the fall of the D'ni and never experienced their true culture. He was born to Gehn and Keta. However, Keta died in childbirth, and Gehn felt more responsibility to the D'ni culture's revival. So, Atrus was raised largely by his grandmother Anna (Ti'ana). Gehn showed Atrus the basics of age writing, and Atrus showed great skill in it, quickly surpassing Gehn's ability. Gehn had the hope that Atrus would share his determination to revive the D'ni culture, but, largely due to Anna's influence, Atrus developed a more balanced view of the world and rejects the idea of D'ni superiority. At some point, Atrus came to live in Riven with his father. At this time, Gehn was harvesting Riven's resources to make linking books and was recruiting its villagers as potential age writers. Gehn had also taught a promising student named Katran (Catherine), whom become betrothed to him. Atrus and Catherine fell in love. When Gehn showed signs of madness and obsession, Atrus and Catherine left Riven and trapped Gehn in the age by destroying all linking books out of the age. The final linking book in Riven was a book linking to Myst. To use it and keep it from Gehn's hands, Atrus jumped into Riven's Star Fissure with the book and linked away. That book traveled through the star field to the player at the start of Myst. Atrus and Catherine had two sons, Sirrus and Achenar, and they all lived on Myst. Atrus wrote countless ages for he and his sons to explore. Atrus tried to properly educate his sons about how to respect the ages he wrote, but the two became perverse. They ultimately hatched a plan to trap Atrus in D'ni and Catherine in Riven, which they carried out successfully. Atrus was trapped in D'ni for about four months. During this time, he took it upon himself to write in Riven's description book, trying to keep the dying world alive. While he could link to Riven at any time, he needs to keep Riven from collapsing. (He would also be killed by Gehn on the spot.)

Linking Books

In the Myst lore, there was a civilization of people known as the D'ni (pronounced "dunny"). In the opening of Riven, Atrus is sitting among the ruins of an ancient D'ni city, also called D'ni. (He's actually in the basement of a mansion on a lake in K'veer within D'ni.) These people mastered a technique known as "the Art." The Art allowed these people to write books that would describe all manners of worlds, called "ages." Anyone could enter these ages by touching a panel on the first page of the book. Entering an age in such a way is called "linking." Authors of linking books can make physical changes to ages by writing "patches" in the texts. To be more precise, authors would create a singular descriptive book that "wrote" the age. They could then write smaller "linking book" that referred to the larger descriptive book. These linking books allow the travel into the ages.

Prison Books

There is a huge challenge with linking. Linking is a one-way passage, meaning that travelers do not have a way back home by default. The solution is for the traveler to bring along a book that will link back home. If a traveler does not have a linking book home, or their linking book becomes damaged, they will not have a way home. Gehn and Catherine are both trapped in Riven in this way. A one-man prison book functions much like a regular linking book except there is no way to link out of that age. Further, it is an age with a maximum capacity of one. If someone becomes trapped in such an age, they are immediately released if someone else links to the age. Atrus' book is a very clever such prison that appears to simply be a regular linking book to D'ni. One of your tasks is to get Gehn to touch the screen for this linking book, trapping him inside. If you've played Myst, you know to be wary of the book.

Why did Atrus send me to Riven and not himself?

Because you're the chosen one?

Gehn, and everyone else in Riven, knows Atrus very well. You'll notice that you become trapped in a cage upon arrival in Riven and your prison linking book is taken. This cage was erected by Gehn to trap Atrus should he ever link to Riven himself. Presumably, Gehn (or one of his followers) would immediately kill Atrus upon his arrival and take whatever linking book Atrus would be carrying. Being a stranger, you can more easily infiltrate Riven and search for Catherine. Further, Riven is highly unstable. Atrus is actively writing patches into his Riven book, keeping the world just short of the brink of collapse.

Atrus' Journal

It is loosely revealed that Gehn is Atrus' father. Gehn and Atrus are, presumably, the last of the D'ni on Earth. Gehn tried his best to master the D'ni Art of linking books to re-establish the D'ni civilization. However, Gehn is lazy in his writing. So, the books he writes link to unstable worlds. The linking book to Riven that Atrus uses is one of Gehn's unstable writings. Atrus' writings are much more stable. The D'ni disagreed on whether writing a linking book created a world or simply provided a gateway to one of infinitely-many conceivable worlds already in existence. Gehn is in camp creation; Atrus is in camp gateway. In order to keep Riven from collapsing, Atrus must spend every waking hour writing in the book. Once Gehn is trapped, Catherine is saved, and all other human inhabitants are linked to a more stable world, Atrus can let Riven die. With your arrival, Atrus has someone to do the needed tasks while he continuously keeps the world from collapse.

What's with the cage and the weird people?

The cage was constructed by Gehn to trap Atrus upon arrival, should Atrus ever return to try to save Catherine. Gehn has established himself as a demigod among the people of Riven. Some of Riven's inhabitants follow him, others have formed a rebellion (the Moity). This man (Cho) who talks to you and steals your prison linking book is one of Gehn's followers, presumably tasked with monitoring the cage trap. The second person is a woman (Nelah) from the Moity.

More Lore

The Temple Scarabs

These five scarabs give a glimpse into the local theocracy. Gehn has situated himself as a demigod. These pictures revolve around Gehn and the books he writes, or rather ages he has written. It is a story of the people's creation by Gehn through his writings. One image shows Gehn casting a man down a hole filled with stars. Atrus' journal alludes to him dropping his Myst linking book into the Star Fissure. Atrus is a bit of a heretical rebel-rouser, speaking out against Gehn. Gehn has claimed to have banished Atrus to the Star Fissure. In reality, Atrus destroyed all of Gehn's linking books off Riven, jumped into the Star Fissure with the very last linking book to Myst, and used it while falling. (That book is the one the player finds at the very beginning of Myst.)

The Temple Island Altar

Gehn has taken taken on the role as a demigod, and many of Riven's inhabitants worship him. Gehn himself believes that he creates worlds through the D'ni Art, and he preaches such to Riven's inhabitants. Whether or not the people believe him, Gehn does come from a society much more technologically advanced, which would at least demand their fear and respect. While Gehn believes he created Riven and its inhabitants, he knows he's no actual god. However, he has no intention of dispelling the idea. He very much believes in natural superiority of the D'ni species. He works to present himself in grandiose and spectacular ways. The spider chair record's Gehn's voice and face, which will be projected onto the altar. In this way, he can preach to his followers and accept their gifts and praise. He preaches that by accepting the D'ni culture and ways, the people can earn salvation with the paradise age Gehn is writing.

Gehn's Executions

Like the Romans, Gehn likes executions to be public spectacles. As you discover in your travels, there is a large whale-like creature that roams the waters around and under Riven called the "whark." Gehn likes to execute those who've wronged him by feeding them to the whark. Prisoners would be tangled to the top of the cone-shaped structure in the water of the village and slowly lowered toward the awaiting hole and the hungry whark. Like the Roman emperor, Gehn will make a decision on whether to release the prisoner or execute them by keeping the hole open or closing it.

What is Book Assembly Island

Gehn wants to leave Riven. The age is collapsing, and he still wants to restore the D'ni race. Atrus has destroyed every linking book off Riven. So, Gehn is trying to make another linking book. There are two issues: Gehn's age-writing is really just copy-and-pasting sections of old D'ni books, and he needs physical books to write in. Book Assembly Island is an entire island dedicated to that purpose. You'll notice that the mine cart is a significantly-different vehicle than the mag-levs. The cart is actually meant to transport wood from Jungle Island to Book Assembly Island. (Notice the plethora of stumps.) The machine that you land on is for pulverizing the wood into pulp for making paper. The boiler is used to power Gehn's operations.

Gehn's Office Journal

Gehn has been trapped on Riven for nearly thirty years. His ultimate goal is to return to D'ni to obtain access to all the old formulae and documents he needs to rebuild their society. To do so, he needs to write his own linking book to D'ni, which requires books, ink, power, and practice. He has books constructed for him from the trees of Jungle Island. The necessary ink is functional, but he believes that it hinders establishing a link connection. He has developed a rudimentary power system via steam. The Star Fissure that Atrus and Catherine used to escape acts as a vacuum, but appears to be hospitable to life. He is too scared to jump in the fissure himself. (He likely knows that the fissure is hospitable by throwing villagers into it and watching them via the telescope.) Ultimately, he sealed the fissure and hints that reopening it could destroy Riven. The rebels (Moity) seem to be able to disappear suddenly through an area in the village. Gehn created a more stable age, which he calls the "233rd Age." He plans to create another age, "234th Age" for him and the villagers to live on.

The Fire Marbles

Gehn isn't great at writing ages, despite his talent for it. His ages have a tendency to decay. They also tend to have weak "links." The effect of weak links is that the viewing window is "unpowered" and cannot be used to actually link to the age. This second flaw can be overcome by "powering" the books. This is the point of the gold domes. The massive gold dome collects steam power from allover Riven and channels it to the five smaller "fire marbles." These fire marble power Gehn's books and allow him to use them.

Even More Lore

Catherine's Journal

Catherine was born and raised on Riven. Atrus and she fell in love when he and his father came to explore the island well over thirty years ago. When Atrus and Catherine confirmed Gehn's tyrannical madness, they decided to leave Riven and trap Gehn with no way out. They did so by destroying all linking books except one and throwing the last into the Star Fissue. Catherine returned to Riven after thirty years because her two sons tricked her into thinking that Atrus was there and needed her immediate help. She was captured by Cho but was ultimately intercepted by the Moity. The group had witnessed her original escape and imprisonment of Gehn and interpreted it as a divine sign. They believe Atrus is a god and she is a savior. Over the past thirty years, Riven split from one island into five. All villagers are forced to live on Jungle Island, and the rest are essentially Gehn's factory for creating linking books. Catherine is dismayed to learn that Gehn is trying to write his way out of Riven and even more dismayed to learn that he finally created a working linking book. The Moity recovered an unusable linking book that Gehn had tried to burn. Catherine was able to fix it and create a stable age. Gehn mistakenly believes that his book's failures are the fault of Riven's resources and not his own ineptitude. To fully "heal" the book, Catherine wrote the needed material into the new age. She created windows that will power any of Gehn's unpowered linking books. The Moity came to live in this new age, called Tay. The prophecy of Catherine as a savior was complete. Catherine planned to visit Riven to see how Gehn reacted to the Moity's actions. This is presumably when she was captured.

Gehn

Gehn is a much more complicated antagonist than Sirrus or Achenar from Myst. Sirrus was motivated by greed, and Achenar was motivated by sadism. Gehn is more of a tragic figure. Gehn is the first known offspring of a D'ni (father Aitrus) and a human (mother Anna/Ti'ana). Gehn grew up in D'ni and fell in love with the culture and idolized his father. His mother's presence among the D'ni sparked great unrest among the society. When the D'ni fell, Gehn blamed his mother. When his father was murdered in front of him while saving his mother, Gehn's animosity grew. As the surviving D'ni had all left for unknown ages, Gehn found a human woman, Keta (Leira), whom he truly loved. However, she died in childbirth when she gave birth to Atrus. With Keta's death, Gehn took on the mission to revive the D'ni culture. He left Atrus with Ti'ana as he set out on his mission. Gehn always showed prowess in the Art, but he could not complete his education as the D'ni culture fell. He could only visit ruins and collect fragments of notes. Gehn started writing ages. The conservative members of the D'ni believe that they created the ages they wrote, making them akin to gods. More liberal members believed that they simply created pathways to worlds already in existence. Gehn very much believes he is a creator of worlds. Gehn's ages are faulty as he doesn't have the knowledge to write a proper age. The effect is that all his ages decay rapidly. The fifth age he wrote is Riven. Gehn only refers to his ages by their order of creation. (The age where his bedroom is is his 233rd age. Hence, the name.) It is easy to see a god complex in Gehn, but his main motivation is not simply power. He is obsessed with restoring the home that was taken from him. This drive pushes him to behave inhumanely. The fact that he views the people of Riven as his creations to do with as he sees fit makes his behavior worse. When Atrus and Catherine realized Gehn's almost-crazy obsession, they decided to trap Gehn on Riven so that he couldn't damage any more worlds. Gehn has lived on Riven for thirty years. Half of the Rivenese revere him as their creator. The other half see him as a false god. Being removed from D'ni, Gehn opted to teach the children the ways of the D'ni, even making them wear D'ni clothes. Gehn hopes to be able to escape Riven and return to D'ni to continue his mission. However, he has a backup plan of creating a new world for the people of Riven, teaching them the ways of the D'ni and revitalizing his culture through them.

Gehn's Bedroom Journal

Gehn is excited by Catherine's sudden return to Riven but dismayed that Cho lost her to the Moity. He hopes that Catherine brought a linking book out of Riven with her, but concludes that if she did not, he would only have to wait for Atrus to rescue her. Gehn laments for the collapsed D'ni civilization and blames his mother (Ti'ana/Anna) for its downfall and his son's "corruption" against the D'ni. (Gehn is referring to the internal conflict caused by the marriage of his D'ni father to his human mother.) Gehn does not believe the current adult villagers are intelligent enough to learn the D'ni Art, but he is hopeful that the children can learn. Gehn confirms his use of wharks as pets and as a way to keep the villagers in line. He manages to capture Catherine and imprisons her on Prison Island. Five months later, you and your linking book arrive on Riven and require close observation.

The Number Five

You'll likely notice that the number five is very prominent throughout Riven. All the major puzzles and codes involve five objects. The number system is a base-five number system. Many items found throughout the world are five-sided or have five points. Even the V (Roman numeral for 5) in the title of Riven is made prominent. This number five comes from the fact that Riven is the fifth age that Gehn created working linking books to. ("The Fifth Age.") Gehn does not give names to the lands he visits. Instead, he refuses to acknowledge the unique identities of the ages and coldly refers to them by number. Somewhat ironically, Riven's number permeates throughout its culture vividly.

Yet Even More Lore

Catherine

Catherine was born and raised in Riven. Her true name is Katran (pronounced "ka-TRAN"). (She adopted the name Catherine when Atrus could not properly pronounced her name.) She is the wife of Atrus and mother to Sirrus and Achenar. In Gehn's earliest days in Riven, Catherine immediately stood out as a prodigy for age-writing. Her skills greatly exceeds Gehn's and, in some aspects, even Atrus'. She has an ability to connect with spiritual components of ages by "dreaming." As such, the ages she writes from scratch tend to focus on spirituality and have more abstract approaches to physics to the point of being contradictory to logic. (See Myst IV.) Because of her talent for writing, Gehn branded her and made her part of a bastardized "Guild of Writers." She also became betrothed to him until she ran away with Atrus. Catherine was always considered odd in her village, which is likely why she agreed to leave Riven with Atrus. Nevertheless, she did have two close childhood friends in Eti and Nelah, the later of whom you meet in Tay. With the help of Anna, Atrus' mother, Catherine wrote Myst, which became her home with her family.

The Star Fissure

The Star Fissure is somewhat of a tear in the reality of Riven. It is a hole in Riven that leads to a field of stars. While the fissure does act as a vacuum, the field of stars is breathable and hospitable. Atrus proved this when he jumped into the Fissure with a linking book to Myst. Gehn also threw "wrong-doers" into the Fissue to observe their fate. No one is sure of the purpose of the field of stars or how the Fissue appeared in Riven. Gehn believes Atrus and Catherine inadvertently wrote it into the age when they escaped. Catherine believes that the Maker put it there for a purpose. (That purpose being to send the Myst linking book to you and to send you home.) The field of stars is a world between worlds and acts as a river between ages. It seems to connect Riven with Earth (particularly what is modern-day New Mexico). Gehn knew that Atrus' Myst linking book was somewhere in the field of stars. He built the telescope to learn about the field of stars with the ultimate purpose of finding that book.

Endings

Ending A

While technically the earliest ending you can get, it requires some time travel. Once you obtain Catherine's journal and the Star Fissure code, load a save from the start of the game. (This must be done before meeting Gehn or Catherine.) Open the Star Fissure to get this ending. Riven will fall apart, and you will fall into the Fissue. (Thank you to Chapmike for noting that this ending can be seen without time travel by giving Gehn the prison book, not using it, and then opening the star fissure.)

Ending B

This ending requires you to visit Gehn before getting the prison linking book back. He'll ask you to find it for him. Before returning to Gehn, use the prison linking book somewhere in Riven. You'll see Gehn force Cho to use the book, freeing you into Gehn's office. Surprised at your appearance and filled with realization of what the book does, Gehn calls his deal off and shoots you.

Ending C

Once you get the prison linking book back in Tay, use the book while l in Tay. Two Moity members look into the book and likely marvel at your stupidity before throwing the book in the fire, sealing you away in the void between ages forever.

Ending D

Get the prison linking book back before talking to Gehn. Anywhere on Riven (except Tay), use the book. You'll see Gehn force Cho to use the book, freeing you into Gehn's office. Surprised at your appearance and filled with realization of what the book does, Gehn shoots you.

Ending E

In Gehn's office on the 233rd Age, refuse to enter the prison linking book. Leave and come back to re-summon Gehn. Again refuse to enter the book. Leave, come back, and refuse a third time. Frustrated, Gehn will shoot you.

Ending F

Once you get the prison book from Tay, open the Star Fissue before going to the 233rd Age.
Open the Star Fissure. Atrus will arrive, but Gehn will be there to intercept him. Gehn shoots Atrus, orders Cho to kill you, and now has a linking book out of Riven, leaving all the inhabitants to die in the collapse.

Ending G

After you trap Gehn in the prison book, use the book anywhere on Riven or the 233rd age. This will free Gehn and trap you. Gehn marvels at your stupidity and gloats as he closes the book, forever trapping you in the void between ages.

Ending H

After you trap Gehn in the prison book, return to the Moity Age (Tay) and use the book. This will free Gehn and trap you. Gehn is thrilled to be able to murder the Moity now. He marvels at your stupidity and gloats as he closes the book, forever trapping you in the void between ages.

Ending I

After you trap Gehn in the prison book, do not free Catherine. Open the Star Fissue. Atrus will arrive. While happy to see Gehn trapped, he is confused as to why you signaled him without completing your mission. He leaves to return to D'ni to try to keep Riven on life support as long as he can. You return home through the Fissue, and Catherine is left to die in Prison in a dying world.

Ending J

Trap Gehn and Free Catherine before opening the Star Fissure. Atrus will arrive just as Catherine does. The two embrace and happily say their goodbyes to you. Atrus points your way home through the Star Fissue and invites you to visit when you want. The two return to D'ni to start their new life.

Speed-running Riven Part 1

Introduction

For those interested, the section is a very brief guide for how to beat Riven as quickly as possible.

If you've played Myst, you likely know that you can beat the game in a couple minutes, if you know how to get the white page and the fireplace code, which is the same for each game. Like Myst, Riven ends very close to where you begin. Unlike Myst, Riven does require that you complete certain tasks and requires that you learn codes that change with each playthrough. This guide will be a streamlined guide of what minimally needs to be done to beat the game.

What You Need to Know

Some parts of the Riven experience do not change with each playthrough. In order to complete the game as quickly as possible, you need to know the following.

The D'ni Number System

In order to read the two numeric codes in the game, you need to be able to read the D'ni numbers. Here they are:

The Animal Stone Puzzle Solution

In order to get the prison book back, you need to get to Tay via the animal stone puzzle. Since the puzzle solution is static with each playthrough, we should know its solution. The stones you need to press (in order) are as follows:

Speed-running Riven

Temple Island (Starting Island)

-Go to the rotating room and rotate it four times.
-Go to the wooden gate, crawl under it, and proceed through to the valve. Flip the valve. (Turns on telescope.)
-Behind you, pull the slider handle up. Rotate the sprinning room twice. Proceed through the room to the other opening.
-Behind you, pull the slider handle up. Rotate the spinning room twice. Proceed through the room to the starting area.
-Rotate the room twice.
-You should have access to the gold dome. Proceed through all through until you exit the dome. On your left will be a valve to flip. (Powers bridge from Gehn's office to the gold dome.)
-Keep moving forward to yet another valve to flip. (Powers steps to fire marble puzzle.)
-Return to the starting area.
-Proceed across the bridge to the temple. In the room on the left, find the switch next to the red terminal. Continue to the mag-lev area. Press the blue button to call the mag-lev. Hop in a head to Jungle Island.

Jungle Island

-Proceed through the cave. At the first fork, take the right path up the stairs.
-Move straight across to the wooden gate and move through it. Continue along the path in the forest. At the next fork, take the right path. You should reach a large wooden whark.
-Pull the nub on top of the right latern in front of the whark.
-Inside the elevator in the whark, pull the handle up.
-Move along the path above the trees to the building. Sit in the bone throne.
-Pull the left lever to raise the seat. Pull the right lever. (Closes the hole in the gallows.)
-Return to the elevator. Pull the handle down once to return to the forest.
-Exiting the whark, proceed foward. At the fork, go right. Continue until you reach another wood gate. Moving through it, at the fork, move right.
-Continue along the only real path, up ladders and past small homes until you reach the aquatic mine cart. Pull the lever in front of it to lower it.
-Return the way you came, all the way through the cave with blue lights. Stick to your right until you descend a set of stairs. (At the bottom of the stairs are the sunners who take off when they see you.)
-Continue along the only path (down some ladders) until you reach the lowered aquatic mine cart. Enter the cart.
-Turn the cart around. Move foward twice. Exit the cart.
-Ascend the ladder. Flip all switched up. Return to the cart.
-Turn the cart around. Move foward once.
-Turn the cart around. Move the slider left. Move forward (left) once. Exit the cart. You should be at the gallows.
-Pull the triangle handle. Hop on the lowered trapeze.
-At the top, use the mechanism to the right of the door.
-Inside the cave, pull open the grate on the floor. Click on the water to pull a lever.
-Enter the opening. Proceed through the dark cave until you reach the end. Turn on the light on the left by the water.
-Turn around. Proceed back through the cave lighting the lights. At the end, turn around once more.
-Moving back through the cave, you will now be able to see a door. Open it to gain access to the animal stone puzzle.
-Input the solution to the animal stone puzzle. Use the book that appears.
-Once in Tay, turn around and approach the statue.
-Inside your new room, move around until Nelah appears and gives you two books. Pick them up.
-Move around more until Nelah returns. Use the book she places on the table to return to Riven.
-Proceed through the cave. You'll need to pull the lever on the bottom right to re-open the door.
-Exiting the cave, take the path right. You should reach a ladder that you can lower. At the bottom of this ladder will be the entrace to the village.
-Go back through the cave with blue lights. At the first fork, continue straight. At the next fork, take the left path. At the next fork, take the right. You will reach a hole with a mine cart.
-Hop in the cart and pull the lever to head to Book Assembly Island.

Speed-running Riven Part 2

Book Assembly Island

-Descend the ladder. Head along the path on the lake. Pull the lever clockwise once (points to bottom right).
-Head to the building. Up the stairs, move left around the building to the mechanisms on the side of the building.
-First, spin the wheel (lowers water). Turn left and pull the lever (switches steam to other pipe).
-Turn back right. Slide lever up (raises platform). Flip lever on right (lowers temperature).
-Go back to the front of the building and enter it.
-Enter the tunnel at the middle of the room. Continue through the dark until you exit the tunnel.
-Continue along the path until you reach a balcony. To the right of the doors will be a manhole to open.
-Descend the ladder. Return to the mechanism in the middle of the lake. Move the handle counter-clockwise once.
-Return to the ladder and up to the balcony. Open the double doors.
-Once inside, immediately turn around and close the doors.
-Take the path on the right. On your right, you'll pass a small lever (before the building). Pull it left (turns off fan).
-Return back the way you cave. At the double doors, head behind you to reach the frog trap.
-Above the trap will be a vent and stopped fan. Head through the vent.
-Inside Gehn's office, read his notes to find the fire marble code (on fourteenth page).
-Use the D'ni number system to translate the code. Make sure to write it down somewhere.
-Exit the office via the door next to the blue button.
-Head along the path to the right as far as you can go. Pull the lever on the right to lower the path. Enter the gold dome.

Gold Dome

-Continue forward. Take the first left possible. Outside, turn around to find a button.
-Return inside the gold dome and continue along the path. Spin the wheel on the left to extend a bridge.
-Take the next possible left. Do not cross the bridge. Instead, pull the green lever on your right to raise the bridge into a set of stairs.
-Go back to where you pressed the button. Continue along that path. At the closed door, pull the handle up.
-Spin the rotating room three times. Go through the room to the beginning area.
-Spin the room twice. Move through the room and up the stairs.
-At the top, enter the solution to the fire marble code.
-Move back one screen and face the puzzle. Pull the slider and press the button. (Activates gold domes.)
-Go back through the rotating room. Spin the room three times. Go back inside the gold dome.
-Inside the gold dome, head left. Head all the way through the dome until you exit the dome (to area with the two valves). On the right wall (past first value before second), there will be button to press.
-Pressing the button will move you down an elevator. Turn around to find a spinning dome. Stop the dome (pressing the button on the viewer repeatedly).
-Enter the fire marble code. (Slider on left goes with first number. Second slider goes with second number. Etc.)
-Use the book inside the dome.

232nd Age

-Turn around and press the button.
-When Gehn holds up the book, use it.
-In Gehn's office, pull the lever in the window (lowers cage).
-Slide the horizontal lever on the furnace (big spherical object). (Powers linking books.)
-Enter the hole in the floor to Gehn's bedroom.
-Use the metal device on the nightstand. Memorize the five-sound sequence.
-Climb the ladder. Use the book with the single square on it.

Prison Island

-Press the button next to the pedestal to exit the dome.
-Enter the tree stump.
-Enter the five-sound sequence via the three buttons. Pull the horizontal lever.
-Return to the spinning dome. Stop it and again enter the fire marble code.
-Use the book to return to the 233rd age.
-Use the linking book with five squares on it.

Signalling Atrus

-Exit the dome via the button to the right of the pedestal.
-Move along the path. Use the button to lower the elevator. Head up the elevator.
-Head through the gold dome until you can't progress further.
-Turn right. Use the green lever to lower the stairs to make a path to the spinning room.
-Head to the starting area. Nearby is a telescope.
-Facing the telescope, on the bottom-left is a stop. Flip it up.
-Open Catherine's journal. On the twenty-seventh page (not including the white sheet) is the code for the cover. Use the D'ni numbers to translate the code.
-Enter the code on the panel on the ground. (Left-most button is 1. Next is 2. Etc.)
-Pull the hatch open.
-Facing the telescope, there is a button on the left. First, switch the lever so it faces down.
-Push the button five times.

[BasJack]

In the spoiler for the color you got it wrong (even if the spoiler picture for the gems is right. "book assembly island" also knows as crater island is Purple, not orange. Survey island can be seen, you just have to stare and understand the progression, it's orange, not purple.

[phoebesta]

Excellent guide, thank you! I was able to find the little details I needed, without getting the actual puzzles spoiled for me. Details like the positions of the forest eye ball thing but also... (drum roll please)... the fact that a certain white circle was actually a button: I actually solved the fire marble puzzle, pulled the slider thing then got stuck there. Reloading, rechecking and still not finding the issue... In the end I gave up and looked at the end of your section and noticed the pressing the button part. Duh... But that IS what happened with games back then, ALWAYS. Getting stuck for weeks because you couldn't figure out some pixels were not just light/shadows, or there was an extra screen somewhere... your comment about the door hiding the corridors taking you a week way back then... I can SO relate! And I am too old/busy these days to aimlessly wander around a world rechecking every pixel! Anyway, thanks for a well written guide!

[Xinthose]

Your numeral chart helped me with the 2024 remake.

[zapitzus]

Excellent walk-through. Thank you very much. Is it me or did anyone else happen to notice the shape of the fissure? Seems to me to be that part to which we all enter our worlds while conversely Atrus and Catherine exit it.Hmm, I wonder.

[NYKevin]

It is possible for the fire marble code to end with a boxed X, which does not match any of the standard D'ni numerals. If this happens, it means 25.

[Ulyss3s]

@Hamakei I hope I can help with this. It may be because you do not have the stairway from the rotating room to the puzzle created. In the final part of the "Book Assembly Island" section of the guide, there is talk about a lever that creates these stairs. The lever is inside the gold dome. If standing in the doorway to the short path that leads straight into the gold dome, there should be a green lever on your right. Pushing it will make the path raise into a set of stairs. (If the lever does nothing, you'll need to power it by making sure the steam valves are in the proper position. The one you need for this lever is at the very end of the path through the gold dome and past the elevator.) You need to get back to the rotating room to actually use these stairs. The easiest way is to use the other path that connects the gold dome to the rotating room. It is the doorway next to the one with the lever. (If the path has a piece missing, turn around to find a button that will raise it.)

[Ulyss3s]

@Hamakei I apologize for the delayed response. I think I understand your problem. I remember encountering it during one playthrough a long while ago. The issue, I believe, is that there is a piece of the path above you that hasn't been raised yet. From that elevator button, if you return to the gold dome and take the second door on the right (just past the wheel), you can head outside to find the path missing a piece. Behind you is a button for you to press. If the steam valves (near the elevator) are in the right places, you can press this button to raise the missing piece of path and make the elevator button press-able. I have updated the guide to make sure these two buttons are done in the right order. Thank you for the suggestion and feedback. (I believe the button is made un-press-able until you raise the path because you are able to access that elevator at the start of the game. This little roadblock forces you to get through Gehn's office before accessing that area.)

[radical_chic]

@Hamakei did you ever work out how to make that button pressable? I have the same problem.

[Fred D Smurf]

Thanks for creating this, it appears to be a real labor of love. I played this series upon their release in the 90s as well. Yer coming back to this one without going through Myst, it was confusing and I ran into many deadens. Thanks again, well done.

[Hamakei]

And "Powering the domes" seems to skip a few steps. I'm back at the starting area, rotate the room twice to "gain access to the fire marble puzzle" but the path just goes back into the gold dome. Where exactly is the puzzle? "Enter your solution to the Fire Marble puzzle". Where?