The Journals at Myst3.com

About the Journals | The “Entries” | The “Journals” | The Chime Journals

Historical note: This page discusses the official Myst III: Exile website as it existed until early 2004, and is preserved for the interested reader. But that website is now offline, and all Myst3.com links on this page will take you to the Internet Archive instead.

A number of intriguing journal entries are scattered throughout the pages of the official Myst III: Exile website. In plain view are several individual entries consisting of a few lines of text and an accompanying image. There are also interactive Flash journals that include animation and sound effects.

Shortly after Myst3.com launched in July 2000, fans began to speculate whether these journal entries might be clues to some sort of puzzle. After all, the webmaster was none other than Gordon Currie, the creator of the cryptic E.D.G.E. and GRID puzzles at the former RivenGuild website. Do the journals at Myst3.com point to secret material hidden elsewhere at the site? The unveiling of the “Chime Journals” a month later only added to the excitement.

Gordon has indeed stated on several occasions that there may be hidden pages at Myst3.com. Thus far, however, no one has found them — or if any people have, they aren’t telling!

As a convenience for puzzle solvers, the text from the journal entries is reproduced below. For further analysis, take a look at Marck’s page on “The Secret of the Chime Journals”.

The journal entries and images on this page are the property of Ubisoft Entertainment.

The following journal entries appear (or previously appeared) on various pages at Myst3.com. All but the first begin with the word “Entry” and are numbered.

Title	Text	Comments
(Untitled)	Our journals and notes are scattered. Our search has lead us to a page, a place that reveals much about this site. Things are not as they seem .	Location: Newsletter (Thank You) and (formerly) Press and Media. This may not actually be a journal entry since it is unnumbered and differs in color from the others. However, note its similarity to Journal 1512.
entry nine	Our explorations and research have told us little of what's beyond these pages. Only dust. So many strange signs, strange words ... it's all so new. Soon we will find what we have been looking for.	Location: main page, beneath a rock set with a red gem. This entry is unique in several ways: “entry” is set in lowercase, “nine” is spelled out, and the text is part of the image. This entry is an edited version of Entry 6388. Also note the similarity of this entry to the first paragraph of Journal 6899.
Entry 1125	The disorientation isn't quite as horrible as the fear. Perhaps the fear adds to the strange vertigo..wondering if I am up or down or perhaps backwards in time.	Former location: FAQ, beneath some foliage from Tomahna.
Entry 5241	We've just begun, and already I'm tired. The threats, added to the mystery of ages, has compounded my misery. My legs ache, but I don't tell the others.	Former location: Press and Media.
Entry 5932	This is nothing like the scripting...its altogether different. To believe it's a form of communication may be accurate, but to be self-assured in knowing how ancient this "language" is would be a mistake. Quite dangerous to assume anything here.	Former location: What’s New.
Entry 6388	Our explorations and research has taught us little of what's behind these pages. Only dust. So many strange signs, strange words....its all so new. Soon we will find what we have been looking for.	Location: Newsletter (Thank You), beneath a doorway. Note the similarity of this entry to “entry nine”. Also, the doorway might be the one mentioned in Journal 6388.
Entry 8591	Our old ways...the rules and the wisdom. They don't work here. We are, once again, breaking our own rules just to survive and to live long enough to understand the ways of this world.	Location: Contact Us and Credits, beneath some seaside rocks.

Four pages at Myst3.com include an image of a rock set with a colored gem. On three of the pages, clicking the gem opens a Flash-animated journal. All the entries within these journals begin with the word “Journal” and are numbered.

Journal	Location	Image	Contents
A – 719.html	Privacy Policy	red gem	Journal 1512 · Journal 6388 · Journal 9072
B – 533.html	Downloads	green gem	Journal 6698 · Journal 6899 · Journal 7248
C – 226.html	Links	blue gem	Journal 7263

The gem on the main page (above “entry nine”) is currently inactive. (For a short while, clicking the gem would open the Chime Journals.)

Title	Text
Journal 1512	Our meticulous notes and journal entries are only so many scattered pieces of paper - without order, without connection. It makes me wonder if the key to all this can ever be found. I shall rest now, and perhaps will find answers in my dreams ...
Journal 6388	My hand trembles as I write. I was awakened early to find a page. Such writing! It is a doorway. But a doorway to what? Why do I feel the faintest sense of foreboding? We don't feel welcomed here - as if treading in a forbidden place. Are we being observed? [See also Entry 6388.]
Journal 6698	A most intriguing find moments ago ... a hidden place that seems incongruent to the natural formations and patterns of this Age. Ancient? Perhaps. At this moment we are gleaning what we can from the site, and more will surely follow. Somewhat disturbing ... I do not know what to write.
Journal 6899	So many symbols and signs. Words that have no meaning, as voices couched in the dust. What will be revealed? [Note the similarity of this to “entry nine”.] Again, I have no words to accurately describe what we have found. From Age to Age we traverse worlds, and yet we have never discovered anything quite like this. I am being summoned.
Journal 7248	Do I struggle to find meaning where there is none? Or do these remnants truly indicate something of great importance? What at first seemed mundane has become evidence of great, hidden secrets. Little can be taken for granted here and yet, even with all our previous experience, we find our abilities lacking.
Journal 7263	He is here; there can be no doubt of it now. Our days spent in exploration and dangerous journeys ... and now to have come to this. The writings warn us, leaving many clues to the [ink blot, blank space...] he's coming.
Journal 9072	We have arrived. Greeted by the expected vistas and wonders we find in all our journeys. A cursory glance of the area about camp suggests all is as it should be within this Age; I anticipate a thorough, yet brief accounting before we move on to our next exploration.

The “Chime Journals” are named after the background sound that plays while the journals are open. To view them, click the headings below, or scroll to the bottom of the Credits, FAQ, Gallery, or Newsletter (Thank You) page and click the map buried in the sand. The window that opens is entitled “A special message”. Click the object in each journal to advance to the next.

The reproductions below preserve the line breaks but not the indentation of the originals.

When I linked to this Age, I knew the search would be difficult.
There was no guarantee that I’d find my way home. But what
choice did I have? My wife is in danger! If I ever hope to see her
again, I have to follow all his instructions.

I fear I am running out of time.

I know he has a reason for everything. I have only to look, to
examine all I see, and I’ll discover how things work.
I just can’t figure out what he intends! The devices he built
in this Age, the tracks that begin and end without purpose...
What does he want me to learn?!!

I don’t know. I don’t know! And I’m afraid of what my
ignorance is costing me.

Don’t know how much longer I can take this
The vast expanse of this Age, the utter silence,
cut only by the wind...

Yesterday I was certain I heard him speaking to me.
I thought maybe he’d come back. That he’d taken pity on me
and would show me the way home. I thought I would see my
beloved wife again.

When I reached the chasm gantries, I knew. I should not have
been able to distinguish his words. The waterfall should
have drowned out his voice.

And yet, I could still hear it.

The voice I had been listening to was my own.

[Ink is splattered dramatically all over this entry.]

I am going to die here
If I can’t find a way out of this
Age, surely I am going to die

Have to keep searching. Have to find out where it is.
The last piece I need

The animals elude all my traps
The vines keep hindering my progress.
I chop them back to the branches, only to regret it later.

So hard to know what I must do
So hard, and I can hear him laughing.

Don’t know how much longer I can take this.

Twenty years, old friend.
Twenty years I’ve been waiting for this moment.

You thought your past was buried. Thought you could
move on, make a new home for yourself. You thought
you could continue writing worlds. Leaving your
mistakes to die in the dust.

You can’t old friend. You can’t. I’ve been waiting all
these years. Planning, and scheming, just waiting
for this day. I knew it would eventually arrive.

Do you realize that I’ve visited your home?
Do you know what I’ve been setting into place?

Soon, my friend. You’ll see.
You will learn what your mistakes have finally wrought.