Stranger (Myst)

The Stranger was a person of unknown origin (it is widely believed it is an ordinary human) who discovered the Atrus' Myst book that fell from the Star Fissure to the Mexican desert, thus teleported to Myst and came to the help of Atrus several times. Notably he freed him from K'veer and his wife Katran from Riven. He then falls into the Fissure so that he returns home to earth. He later reappears to recover the Rehleeshan book from Saavedro.

The Myst games and novels are represented within the fiction as taken from the journals of Catherine, Atrus' wife. In the games, his role is assumed by the player, and as such the games are seen from the Stranger's perspective.

Identity

The identity of the Stranger is one of the best-kept secrets in the Myst universe, and little is known about this person, not even whether the Stranger is male or female. It is notable that in the Myst games any dialogue is absent, so we don't know whether the game characters asked the Stranger questions about his origin or what reply he might have made. Saavedro mistook the Stranger for Atrus during the events portrayed in Myst III: Exile, suggesting that perhaps the Stranger is of similar general appearance to Atrus. However, Saavedro's initial view of the stranger occured from behind a glass portal at a fair distance - thus still permitting broad lattitude in assuming anything about what the Stranger may look like.

The game Uru: Ages beyond Myst revealed that the Cleft, and thus the location where the Myst Linking Book was found, is in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. As it has also been revealed that the Myst games take place in the early 1800s, many fans speculate that the Stranger must have been either a Spaniard (Mexico), or an Amerind native.

Another theory speculates that the Stranger is Rivenese. The Myst novels say that the Myst Linking Book fell from the Riven Fissure, and was then found by the Stranger, introducing him to the Myst adventures (this is also implied by the ending of the Riven game). That was the very Fissure into which Gehn would throw Rivenese slaves for his experiments. So the Stranger might be a Rivenese survivor who fell to Bernalillo through the fissure; this would explain how he understood Atrus, perhaps speaking D'ni ... but, on the other hand, the Stranger does not understand the Rivenese dialogue spoken by the Black Moiety characters, lending doubt to this theory.

The Stranger's identity is most likely a simple blank, which allows any player to play the games without having to "play" a character. Players are thereby free to approach the puzzles and plot without having to account for any backstory, special abilities or personality factors for the Stranger.