Characters of Myst
The inhabitants of Myst include the explorer Atrus, a writer of many linking books, and his wife Catherine and their children Sirrus and Achenar and Yeesha.
For Myst V: End of Ages, a different approach was taken: a special camera recorded actors' faces and mapped the video onto digital models.
Due to a limited amount of time and money, Myst's creators, Rand and Robyn Miller, took on roles in the game themselves.
[2] For the first time, Cyan directed the live action actors for Riven's scenes; the designers, including Richard Vander Wende, were apprehensive about how the characters would fit in the finished product.
Cyan staff worried that the audio syncing for animation would not be finished in time for the E3 unveiling of the game, but were happy with the end results.
The D'ni perfected a craft known as the Art, which allowed them to create portals to other worlds known as Ages by writing a descriptive "linking book".
[11] On Riven, Atrus meets Catherine, a local inhabitant and a brilliant student of Gehn's who shows promise in the Art of writing Ages, despite not being D'ni herself.
The Stranger's discovery of the Myst linking book saves Atrus from being trapped in K'veer a second time, and Catherine from Gehn's clutches.
[10] Moving to Tomahna, Atrus and Catherine have a third child, their daughter Yeesha, and attempt to resurrect the D'ni by writing a new Age for the people called Releeshahn.
In actuality, both brothers grew greedy, destroyed Atrus' library, killed the inhabitants of the Ages, and attempted to strand their parents forever.
He is thoroughly embittered by his exile, especially when he learns about his sister Yeesha and how Atrus is teaching her the D'ni language and the Art of Writing, which he never taught his sons.
According to a journal Achenar kept on Serenia twenty years before, Sirrus' original plan was to trap Catherine on Riven and use an aging "Memory Chamber" to steal Atrus' knowledge of the Art.
Juliette Gosselin plays a young Yeesha in Revelation and Rengin Altay voices the character as an adult in Uru and End of Ages.
[21] Believing that he creates worlds by writing linking books, Gehn considers himself a god and dedicates his life to rebuilding the fallen D'ni empire.
When Catherine is stranded on Riven, Atrus must send the Stranger to rescue her, as he is busy making changes to the Age to delay its collapse.
Saavedro agrees to help tutor Atrus' sons, but is shocked when the brothers instigate a destructive rebellion and abandon the Age to be destroyed from within.
Trapped on J'nanin and believing Narayan destroyed and his family to be dead, Saavedro's mental health deteriorates during his years of captivity.
When Saavedro is unexpectedly freed and travels to Tomahna in hope of finding the brothers, he steals the linking book for Releeshahn in a plan to lure Atrus to Narayan and exact revenge.
In the game's optimal ending, the player enables Saavedro to peacefully return to Narayan, before taking Releeshahn back to Atrus.
Esher is voiced, and portrayed (in the form of video-recorded facial texture-mapping), by David Ogden Stiers, who received acclaim for his performance.
[31] Fellow GameSpot reviewer Scott Osborne stated the actors delivered convincing performances, and were smoothly incorporated into the game's scenes.
[13] GameSpot stated that Esher moved and acted like a real person, and that the voice of David Ogden Stiers brought "this interesting character to life"; the reviewer did feel that the revelation of Esher and Yeesha's motivations was a letdown, as the character's true motivations were revealed "with all the unpleasant abruptness of turning on bright, fluorescent lights in a dark room.
