Gehn
From D'ni - The Myst Wiki
Gehn is the father of Atrus and the main antagonist of Riven. Possessing an incomplete and corrupted knowledge of The Art, his actions have a heavy influence on the early parts of the Myst series. Much of his past and motives are further explained in the book series.
[edit] Life
[edit] Early Life
Gehn was the first child born of D'ni and human parents, Aitrus of D'ni and Ti'ana of Earth. Due to his mixed blood, Gehn suffered many health ailments as an infant and a toddler. There were several times in his life when it was believed that he would die - a result believed necessary by those who considered his birth an abomination.
This image of Gehn did not change throughout his later years, and when he was sent to the Guilds as a small child as per D'ni custom, he endured harassment and teasing from his peers because of his mixed heritage. But Gehn's sharp mind and natural intelligence helped him overcome his ethnicity, and he was accepted as an apprentice in the Guild of Writers.
Not much is known of his life during his short time in the guilds, but when the empire of D'ni collapsed, Gehn's father, Aitrus, was lost in his successful attempt to destroy A'Gaeris the Philosopher. After Aitrus' death, Ti'ana took Gehn to the surface to began life anew in the Cleft.
[edit] Later Life
Little is known of Gehn's teenage and adult years. The only specific details include that of his marriage to Keta, which remain equally as vague. However, it is known that Keta died giving birth to Atrus, and that upon her death Gehn returned to D'ni, leaving Atrus in the care of Ti'ana. In D'ni, it is assumed that Gehn pieced together his corrupted education of the art of Writing, as during this period he wrote many ages where he was worshiped as a god. These Ages, however, directly reflected the flaws and contradictions in Gehn's Writing - which led them to quickly decay and collapse soon after their Descriptive Books had been completed. The completion of Gehn's "Fifth Age" - Riven - marked the first "stable" age Gehn had Described, although in time this age, too, would begin to show signs of breaking apart and decaying.
Roughly fourteen years later, Gehn returned to the surface to collect Atrus, who had since then grown into a teenager. When Atrus first meets Gehn in The Book of Atrus, Gehn seems intelligent, adventurous, and friendly. However, Atrus soon realizes that Gehn is corrupt. Because Gehn was never taught the D'ni beliefs before its destruction, he believes that when an age is written, it is being created, and thus that any Age that a person creates they have the right to rule over.
The Book of Atrus details Atrus' disillusionment with Gehn's tyrannical education of the Art and his cruel, god-like rule over his flawed ages - Riven in particular. Together with Ti'Ana and Catherine, Atrus helped devise a plan to leave Gehn trapped in Riven, thus preventing him from dooming more Ages and their civilizations. The plan made use of the newly-formed Star Fissure - the first manifestation of Gehn's corrupted writing in Riven - as well as an Age written jointly by Ti'Anna and Catherine to escape to - Myst. This plan culminated in a confrontation at the Fissure between Gehn and his son, who leapt into the starry void and linked to Myst - setting in motion the events leading to the discovery of the Myst book by the Stranger.
In Riven, the Stranger is sent by Atrus to the age with the goals of releasing Catherine (who has been since imprisoned by Gehn shortly before the events of Myst) and capturing Gehn in the most secure manner known to Atrus, with what appears to be a Linking Book to D'ni, but is in actuality a Trap Book (much like the Red and Blue books in the Myst library). The Stranger managed to trick Gehn into using the Trap Book - ending his tyrannical reign and allowing the Stranger free access to the entire Fifth Age - before rescuing Catherine and signaling Atrus by reopening the since-sealed Star Fissure. However, the instabilities of Riven coupled with the strains of reopening the fissure become so great that the age completely collapsed shortly after everyone had been evacuated.
It remains unknown what became of Gehn, or the Trap Book he was imprisoned in, after the collapse of Riven, although it is known that the Stranger returned the book to Atrus and Catherine before Riven's collapse.
| Relation | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Great-Grandparents | Gehn | |
| Grandparents | Kahlis | Tasera |
| Parents | Aitrus | Ti'ana |
| Spouse | Keta | |
| Children | Atrus | |
| Grandchildren | Achenar and Sirrus | Yeesha |
