Myst III: Exile
TOMAHA
Enter the study, read the papers on the table, and move towards the book inside the display case on the opposite side. Atrus will enter. Saavedro steals the book. After the cutscene, enter the book, and you will be transported to...
J'NANIN
Chasing Saavedro is useless.
Explore the island to get your bearings. You’ll notice three large horns that we’ll refer to by the symbols that mark them: the Dove Horn, the Wing Horn, and the Oval Horn. These horns allow access to other worlds, and you'll need to find a way to open their doors and find the combinations for the mechanisms that give access to the various linking books. So, we’ll first solve all the puzzles on this island, and then we’ll have access to the different worlds. For convenience, we'll refer to the two possible paths from the starting point as the "right path" (the one that continues along the beach) and the "left path" (the one that goes through the rocks into the water).
Elevator Puzzle
From the starting point, take the right path, continue straight, and go down the stairs carved into the rock. Cross the walkways, and you’ll arrive at a building. Enter, pull the lever in front of you, go into the next room, and press the blue button. Enter the room, walk around until you reach the hammock, and pick up Atrus’s journal.
Go to the elevator, enter, pull the lever on the left, and go up. You can see Saavedro, but you can't exit because the door opens on the wrong side. Go down, exit, and look to the left; you’ll see a lever behind the elevator. Pull it and go down into the lower chamber. There are mechanisms to set.
Candle Mechanism
- 1st: Leave it as it is
- 2nd: One click
- 3rd: One click
Weights Mechanism
- 1st: Left, all the way down
- 2nd: Middle
- 3rd: Middle
Gear Mechanism
Align the tooth of the lower gear with the missing tooth of the upper one.
Relay Mechanism
Open it.
Go back up, call the elevator, and go up. Enter the circular room, go to the center (picking up the journal pages along the way), and press the blue button. After the cutscene, go to the portholes: the left lever zooms, the right one focuses. You need to move the porthole image until it aligns with the one above the horn, then use the two levers to perfectly overlap the two images (fig.1, fig.2, fig.3).
Once done, call the elevator with the left lever, enter, unlock the door, and exit outside.
Dove Door - VOLTAIC
Return to the starting point. Take the right path until you see a kind of wheel with four arms by the sea. Activate it four times until the nearby spotlight turns on. Go back and find a yellow spotlight nearby. Turn it so that it reflects light towards the blue spotlight that you can see by looking through one of the two portholes (the third reflects the light). Do the same for the other spotlights, some of which are on the other side of the island. The color sequence is: YELLOW, BLUE, GREEN, RED, YELLOW, PURPLE, RED.
If the spotlights are set correctly, in the viewer of the last one, the red one, you’ll see the Dove Door topped with a rainbow. Take the right path, go down just one flight of stairs carved in the rock, then turn left and go up. You’ll find yourself in front of the door illuminated by the rainbow. To open it, you’ll need to press the colored buttons on the door in the same order. The door opens, giving you access to the book mechanism.
Oval Door - AMATERIA
From the starting point, go towards the horn behind you and continue until you find a hole in the rock. You can’t go down yet. Turn left and advance to the sea, where you’ll see a descending ladder and two knobs in front of you. In the distance, you’ll see that an obstacle blocks the entrance to the hole in the rock, and by maneuvering the knobs, you’ll have to move it. The movements are: Left knob: 1 time – Right knob: 1 time – Left knob: 1 time – Right knob: 1 time.
Go to the hole and go down, but when you open the door, you’ll notice a chasm preventing you from reaching the mechanism.
Return to the knobs and maneuver: 2 times left – 2 times right.
Now you have access to the book mechanism.
Wing Door - EDANNA
From the starting point, go towards the right path, go down, and enter the building. Exit through the other door that leads to a small walkway. Go to the other side, turn left, and you’ll see two strange plants. Click on the smaller plant on the right, then on the one on the left; a creature will approach the spores. When it makes its sound, the spores will inflate. Go back and, ignoring the walkway, go straight until you find a ladder going up. Stop halfway and turn around, approach the strange flower, and click on it. Through it, locate the creature's sound and block it. The spores above you will inflate, allowing you to access the third horn. Now you can start visiting the worlds from any of the three horns.
VOLTAIC
Set the balls as shown in fig.1 and enter the book.
You’ve arrived in front of a structure, but the door is closed. In front of you is the J’nanin book to return. Take the only possible path and venture between the rocks.
At the fork, go right (blue corridor), collect more pages, and continue. The door on the left is closed. Continue to the right. At some point, you’ll find a ladder on the left and a panel on the right. Climb the ladder and turn the wheel to open the dam. Go back down and continue until you reach an armored door. On the right, there’s a hatch; go down and press the red button. Enter and turn the crank.
Go back up, move forward one step, and turn left; there’s a porthole, click inside. Go to the end of the corridor and open the armored door. Go down the stairs and press the button. After the cutscene, continue until you reach a circular room with a large turbine. You need to restore the contacts.
Starting from the top:
- 2 times the first on the right
- 1 time the second on the right
- 15 times the third on the left
Pick up the notes on the floor and exit.
Return to the initial fork and take the red corridor. Collect the papers and continue to the end of the walkway, go down the stairs, continue until you reach a cabin with red knobs. On the left, there’s a ladder, climb up. You find yourself in front of a large boiler with a hatch. Click on it and cross the passage. Turn left and follow the pipeline until you reach another large boiler. Click on it and enter. In the distance, you see a faint light; go towards it. It’s a hatch, go down. Now you’re on the other side of the door you found locked while walking through the previous corridor. Turn around and see a mechanism.
Lava Room
Move the lever up to lower the platform in the lava room. Go down the hatch, open the porthole, and go onto the platform. There’s a mechanism similar to the first. You need to move: DOWN - LEFT - DOWN.
Go forward and press the fan button. Go back to the knob and move: RIGHT - UP - LEFT - UP.
Exit the lava room, go back up, and move the knob DOWN. If everything is correct, the room should fill with lava. To check, you can go down and look through the porthole of the porthole.
Valves
Return to the valve cabin and move them as follows:
- Level 0 – Close all valves – pull the lever to go up.
- Level 1 – Close all valves and pull the lever to go up.
- Level 2 – Close one valve and pull the lever to go down to level 1.
- Level 1 – Open 2 valves.
- Level 0 – Open three valves.
Go behind the cabin and turn the wheel. You’ll see the flying ship advancing.
Return to the upper walkway until the fork that leads left to the elevator. Pull the lever to go down, and when you’re down, collect the papers. Continue to the end of the path and pull the lever. Enter the capsule.
Go down to the left and pull the lever at the end of the walkway.
Return to the ship and pull the lever. Go to the right and open the door, turn the knob, and you’ll receive the FIRST VOLTAIC SYMBOL. Open the green hatch in front of you and use the book to return to J’nanin.
J'NANIN
In the round room, use the Voltaic symbol on the blue panel in the center and watch the cutscene.
Go to the elevator, use the knob on the right, enter, unlock the door, and exit outside. Go to the Oval Horn and enter the code shown in fig.2 (oval). Enter the book.
AMATERIA
Starting position: you have a walkway in front of you. You’ll need to find the codes that will allow you to reconstruct the bridge of the walkway behind you, which is currently broken. Move forward, and under the canopy to the right, you’ll see the J’nanin book. Move forward; to the left of the rope, there are some small stairs. Go down and continue forward until the fork, go right and use the elevator to go up. Move forward and look to the left, zoom in on the red ball; you’ll see that it consists of 3 brown parts and one light part. Return to the fork and take the other path until you reach a machine. Pull the lever to go up and look to the right, zooming in on the ball. From this side, it’s all brown. Try pulling the lever to the left on the panel to see what happens. You’ll see the ball disintegrate, but you need to direct it onto the track. Go down and continue moving forward until you reach the shelter, enter, and see segments of different materials (brown = wood, white = glass, black = marble) that you need to position on the balance.
In the hammock room at J’nanin, there was a scale with weights, and from there, you can deduce that one marble ball weighs 16 times more than a wooden one, and a glass one weighs 4 times more than a wooden one, so: 1 wooden segment = 4 glass segments: 1 wooden segment = 16 marble segments.
A ball is equivalent to eight segments, so: 1 wooden segment = 1/8 of the ball; 1 glass segment = 4/8 or 1/2; 1 marble segment = 16/8 or 2.
The ball we saw consists of 1 glass piece and 7 wooden ones, so: 4/8 + 7/8 = 11/8.
However, it’s not possible to build a counterweight of 11/8 with the elements provided. You’ve noticed on the panel levers that shift the machine’s center of gravity, so you’ll need to achieve an even number and then shift the center of gravity.
Double the sum, and the 11/8 becomes 22/8.
The counterweight is already made with 4 wooden pieces (4/8), so you need to find weights for 18/8, i.e., a marble ball + 2 wooden pieces (16/8 + 2/8).
Position the pieces and return to the machine. Go up and move the top lever from left to right, then pull the right lever. You’ll get the first code.
Return, go to the elevator, and move forward until you find a carved stone staircase, one step before reaching a clearing with the mural on the left. Move forward, and you’ll arrive at a radial of paths. By visiting these paths, you’ll notice magnetic fields (no, your graphics card hasn’t failed...) and small side walkways leading to small dials. Return to the starting position at the center of the radial. This is the scheme and the direction in which to orient the respective needles of the dials (fig.4).
Return to the carved stone staircase and climb up, go to the machine, and operate the lever. If you’ve positioned the needles of the dials correctly, the ball will proceed along its path, and you’ll get the second code.
Return to the center of the radial and take path number 5, continue to the grassy pavement, and on the left, you’ll see a gate. Enter, collect the journal pages on the right, and go to the panel. There are three red sticks that you need to insert like this:
- Two in the left dial N – NE.
- One in the right dial NW.
- You’ll get the third code.
Exit and continue straight along the path; at the end, you’ll find yourself back at the starting point. Turn around and go to the code panel, enter them one by one in the order you found them (fig.5).
At this point, bridge pieces are added that allow you to move forward towards the structure. Sit in the chair at the top of the stairs and press the button. After the cutscene, pull the handle above. Now you have a dial in front of you.
Number the sectors from 1 to 9, as in the figure:
press the following buttons: 2 – 3 – 5 – 5 – 7 – 8 – 9 raise the cursor to the ceiling and click on the blue light. Take the AMATERIA SYMBOL and enter the J’nanin book.
J'ANIN
You’re in the round room. Place the AMATERIA SYMBOL on the blue viewer and watch the cutscene. Exit and go to the horn of the spore bridge, enter the ball code, and enter the book.
EDANNA
In this location, it’s very easy to get lost. You find yourself in a place with strange plants. In front of you is a plant, a kind of large bulb, and you’ll find similar ones along the path that we’ll call hydrovores. Inside this one is an inactive book. Move forward along the only possible path, and you’ll find an elevator plant. Climb on it and move forward. You’ll see a large bird flying in the sky. If you look inside the plant, you’ll see it feeding its chick. This same bird will fall and get trapped in a plant. Along the way, you’ll hear the noises it makes as it tries to free itself. Your task is to free it.
Pass through the hole in the rock that overlooks the sea and move forward; on your left, you’ll see a large water bladder, but even if you click on it, nothing happens. Move forward until you have a sunflower in front of you: look inside it. Further ahead is a plant with long stems; click on it: it will allow the sun to hit the sunflower and will free access to the return book to J’nanin. Return to the sunflower and aim the beam at the red bladder that explodes and allows a new elevator plant to grow. Go back and climb on it.
Move forward until you find a fish swimming in a water bubble. Move forward until you find a second hydrovorous plant. Click on it, and it will suck up the fish. Go back on the path, and in front of you, you’ll find some papers: take them. Turn right and move forward; you’ll arrive at a fork, but it’s useless to go left. In front of you is a lamp-plant; pull the cord, and a leaf will unroll, forming a bridge.
The Trap
Move forward on the bridge; in front of you, you see a kind of blue rod that you can activate both on the left and right. If you activate it on the left, you go back because the spore bridge blocks your passage, so launch yourself to the right. You see a suspended trap and further ahead a mechanism. With the crank, you raise it; with the plate, you lower it. Go to the plant with the pink fruits and click on it. Then move the fruit further ahead.
Now go to the machine and lower the trap. Slide into the hole on the left and return to the bridge. Now you see the strange little bunny (the one you’ve already met at J’nanin) eating the fruit. Turn right, and slightly lower, you see a handle: pull it. The cage falls, and the bunny runs onto the spore bridge, which bursts them with its squeak. Now take the rod and launch yourself that way.
Move forward and light the lamp. A leaf unrolls, allowing you to access the other side (you’ll use it only if you’ve forgotten to do something and want to go back). Move right, and you’ll see the trapped bird, but for now, you can’t do anything. Move forward until you find a mural on your right. Click on the hydrovorous bulb, and the fish will be sucked up. You have two paths ahead of you. Take the right one and follow it. You’ll find two enormous lilac flowers (ignore the one you see on the right because it’s inaccessible); go to the further one and look inside; you see two more lilacs in the distance: illuminate the left one.
Now return to the first lilac and aim the light at a leaf below that unrolls and forms a bridge.
Return to the mural and take the left path. Follow it until you have a rock in front of you, and you can no longer move forward; turn left. There are two paths (the left one is barely visible). Take the right one and move forward. You arrive at a recorder, press the button, and listen to the message. Return to the fork and take the left path, follow it, cross the leaf, and climb up. You find yourself at another fork. Take the right one.
You see a large sunflower. Look inside (from the back): aim at the hydrovorous plant with the fish inside. Move further up and look inside the lilac, framing the sunflower. Retrace your steps back to the mural and descend the right path, go to the further lilac, and aim the light at the left lilac. The light reflects on the sunflower and concentrates on the bubble, which explodes and frees the fish that will devour the plant trapping the bird.
Now move the second lilac onto the right lilac to reactivate the leaf-bridge. Retrace your steps to the mural, descend the left path, and climb up to the sunflower. Now take the left path and move forward. You’ll find a rod similar to the first one that allows you to descend.
The tree roots form a ladder; ignore it and instead proceed on the small path to its left. You’ll see a large blue bulb. Proceed to the lilac and aim it at the top of the bulb to straighten the pistils. Go back and be careful to find a passage through the bushes on the right that is not visible. Enter, move forward, turn right, and click on the center of the plant that closes.
Approach the bulb on the ground and click on it. The large blue plant opens, enter, and go left, pick up the papers. Move forward and pull the handle above. The bird arrives and carries you to safety.
Turn left and take the EDANNA SYMBOL, approach the book, and return to J’nanin.
Place the symbol sheet on the blue viewer, then enter the book.
NARAJAN
Globe Puzzle
On the left, there are stairs; climb up and watch the cutscene. Turn the lever to the right. Go down and see two globes and a lever in the center. Depending on where you direct the lever, you activate the globes. Start on the left. There are three circles with signs that resemble those on the wall. The solution is in Atrus’s journal in some bolded sentences.
For this globe, the solution is:
LEFT GLOBE
(fig.6), (fig.7), (fig.8).
The energy blocking the door is interrupted, and you can enter. Go down the stairs and pick up the Tomaia book but don’t use it. Enter a new room. Go back up, move the lever to the right. The solution is:
RIGHT GLOBE
(fig.9).
Saavedro will ask you to free him in exchange for the book. You can act differently and have different endings:
- Climb the stairs and move the power lever. If you reactivate the lever now, Saavedro will kill you. If you go down, he will give you the book, and you can use it to return to Tomaia and leave him imprisoned.
- Activate the lever before going up, then go up and activate the power. In this way, you’ll have the book, and Saavedro will be free.
Different actions from these will cause your death.
