Ainia wrote:
Within the historic recreation we experience (i.e., the Myst gameplay), we are able to restore the linking books's functionality by adding the missing pages back into the books. I believe RAWA classifies this specific form of fixing linking books as a simplification of the reality in order to create a playable historic recreation (game). (But I could be mistaken, I haven't re-read The Watson Letters in a while and you may find something a bit different upon reading them.)
Actually, I think RAWA has stated 'trap books' are no longer considered canon at all; the current Uru canon is that the Myst games are 'historical fiction' based on the writings of Atrus, Catherine, Gehn, and Yeesha, but aren't a direct retelling-- some things were fictionalized in order to make gameplay more exciting--- the 'real story' is that Sirrus and Achenar linked into Prison-Ages designed to be traps-- enticing images on the linking panel made the Ages look ripe for plunder, but they were uninhabited and didn't contain any linking books back out-- Sirrus and Achenar trapped themselves, and they wouldn't have the ability to speak to anyone in Myst.
Quote:
...it's far easier to simply Write a new linking book since it is a very simple affair and countless linking books can be created that will function perfectly well so long as the descriptive book remains intact.
With a descriptive book, if a damaged book cannot be repaired/stabilized, then access to the Age is lost forever...
Yes... And I've always believed when you put these two facts together, you come up with a clear inference that linking books won't function, and you just can't link into an Age that has no intact descriptive book--- whether said descriptive book was destroyed OR one was never written. ....sooo....
... long story short, the Art could NOT have originate in Garternay, because there would have to be a fuctioning Garternay descriptive book in order to allow linking into Garternay... and we know for a fact that the Ronay could not have written a descriptive book for their own Age-- that's nigh impossible considering the randomness of Age creation. Which means someone outside Gartnernay must have written a Garternay descriptive book, and brought the Art there.