Myst III Exile possible endings

Myst 3 has always been my favorite for several reasons. Good puzzles, but doable, gorgeous landscapes and buildings, intriguing story but most of all the acting of Brad Dourif, from such films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dune and Alien4. His tapestry-toga rending “NO NO NO NO NONONONONONO!” is reason enough to leave him there, just to hear it.

This article was written by the docweasel gamers in 2005 when one of the writers couldn’t find a definitive source for all possible endings to the game, but lost in the shuffle of moving the site here and there.. He enjoyed it so much he would often play it from a save of the last possible save place, before turning the switches. He played them out, wrote this up and here they are.

Here’s the scenario, in case you’ve forgotten. You’re trapped on a God-forsaken station somewhere. There is a lower area with 2 rooms, one for the tapestries and one with the power puzzle and polarity switch. He’s up above in a living quarters, locked behind a door. You never get to see this place, he won’t open no matter what you do. There’s an opening that allows you to go out to where the gondolas are, but it’s closed with a barrier. If you could get out and get on the gondolas, they could presumably can take you to his home planet and family. Finally, there is an outer barrier trapping the gondolas inside, even if you got out there.

You solve the final puzzle. Now, when you turn the switch reversing the polarity, you can toggle the door to the room you are in shut, or you can open the outer barrier. He comes down to congratulate you, then after discovering he can’t open the outer barrier without trapping himself inside, realizes you could do it. He bargains with you for the book; let him out, and he’ll give you the book. Do you trust him? What do you do. What DO you do?

If you give up and warp back to Tomanha before this happens, without solving the puzzle

When you warp back, you drop the Tomanha book. Atrus and his wife come out to ask what happened, and Saavedro uses the book you left behind, warps in and kills you all.

If you DO solve the puzzle, here are all the possible endings:

The Non-Power based options

1. Do Nothing, leaving the door to your room open but the outside barrier in place
If you stand in the door where he can see you, he will grimace at you, but take no action, no matter how long you wait. This is one of the infinite endings.

2. Go outside the open door to hang with Saavedro
The first 2 times he will chastise you and threaten to drop the book. If you run back inside quickly after he says “What are you waiting for?”, he will not follow. If you don’t get your butt back in there before his final threats, you get the hammer. The third time you step outside, he attacks you immediately with the book, game over.

3. Warp back to Tomanha:
Again, when you warp back, you drop the Tomanha book, leaving the door open so he can grab it. Atrus and his wife come out to ask what happened, and Saavedro uses the book you left behind, warps in and kills you all.

The Power Options

4. Reverse the polarity immediately, letting him go:
Saavedro says: “Apparently, it’s time for me to live up to my end of the bargain,” then he throws the Releeshan Book off the edge, jumps in the gondola and leaves, laughing, the bastard. For this, I always say “leave him for dead” because it shows his true character. Nothing to do now but warp back to Tomanha, your entire adventure in vain. Atrus is pretty disappointed in you, and it shows.

5. Turn off the main power, trapping Saavedro in between, with the door leading to you closed and the outside barrier both intact
“No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!”
After all the trouble he’s given you, drink his tears, after all his snotty asininity and all the problems he’s caused you they taste very sweet indeed.

Ok, now you have some new options with the puzzle solved but the power off, polarity set to open door to your room if power is reinstated, outer barrier intact:

5a: Turn the power right back on, opening door to you so he can get inside:
A mistake. Before you can turn the power back off, he’s inside with his hammer out, and he’ll be up to see you ‘terectly.

Instead, go downstairs to taunt him. Stand near the bars so he can see you. He’ll beg you for mercy. He can’t even throw the book off the edge now, so he does what any trapped little bitch does and gives you the Releeshan Book and tries to guilt you into letting him go. Now you have 2 more choices of the “turn the power off and torment him” variation:

5b Switch Polarity, Turn on Power
To keep him from killing you, you have to switch the polarity, then go upstairs and turn the power back on. Door is shut, he can’t get to you, and the outer barrier is opened so he can leave. You can do that, he leaves to be with his family, you have the book and return victorious and get the happy ending and Atrus is happy when you return. If you don’t switch the polarity first, see ending 5a. You got the book, but you’re dead.

5c Leave power off with him trapped in between, then warp home
This guy has been a total asshole the entire game. And knowing the other endings, he would either kill you if he could, or he would renege on the deal and drop the book off the edge into nothingness and then laugh at you. I really felt a great deal of satisfaction just warping back to Tomanha and leaving him trapped there. He can’t even get back to his stupid little house, he can’t jump off the edge and end it all, he’s trapped out on the porch for eternity. I guess he could bludgeon himself over the head until he blacks out, that might give him some relief. How he eats or drinks or where he goes to the bathroom is one of those *\If you’re wondering how he eats or drinks, and other science facts, you should say to yourself that it’s just a game and you really should relax/*

Atrus is sad about your decision and takes it all upon himself, but so what. Really, it’s the only rational ending, who would unleash this wacko back on his family, I’m sure they’ve moved on already and he would only go there and freak out on his wife’s new husband.

Leave him, it may suck for him, but the world is better off.

If you want more balance, you could warp back right after trapping him, BEFORE he gives you the book, so you both fail. That would be pretty stupid, but it is another possible ending. See ending #4 above for Atrus’ reaction at your incompetence.

To recap
NON-POWER BASED
1. Do nothing. Stalemate.
2. Go outside. He finally kills you, takes Tomaha book, kills Atrus and family.
3. Warp back immediately. With door still open, he takes Tomaha book, kills Atrus and family.
4. Simply reverse the polarity (closing your door and opening outer barrier) and he can leave. He drops the Reeleshan over the side. You warp back, bookless.

POWER BASED – Turn off the power, trapping Saavedro outside
5. With the power off both the door and outside barrier intact. Now you can either:
5a Turn it back on, either before or after getting book, without reversing polarity, allowing him inside to kill you (and warp back to kill Atrus and his wife)
5b Turn on power after getting book back and reversing switch. Door is closed (you’re safe) outer barrier is open, he leaves. This is the ‘nice’ ending, the one the game prefers you choose because it’s a happy ending for everyone involved.
5c Get book back and simply warp back to Atrus, leaving him trapped there. This is the mean ending and the one I prefer. I’ve played the savegame of the last 10 mins many times just to savor his pain.
6. After trapping him by turning off the power leave before getting the book. Mission failure, but at least you don’t get killed and he’s trapped forever and he can’t throw the book away. Maybe you can return somehow and he’s still willing to cut a deal?

Something frustrating to me is he locks the door to the little room after he leaves it, meaning you can’t get in even after trapping him outside. I’d tell him I need the key or whatever to the little room as well as the book just to satisfy my curiosity. Then I’d leave him. Since no one seems to eat or drink in this world I guess he’d last eternity in the limbo between the outer barrier and the door barrier. He could sleep in the gondolas, I guess, and continue to wail NO NO NO NO NO NO forever.

One of the most satisfying endings of a very annoying pest in a puzzle/roleplaying game without actually killing him. In fact, leaving him no way to kill himself, unless he beats his own brains out with his stone axe.