The Stranger

The Stranger is the unofficial title given to the faceless and silent protagonist featured in nearly every entry of the Myst franchise. Almost nothing is known about the player character's background in these games, including their name, race, nationality or even gender. It is likely that Myst's original developer Cyan never intended to flesh out the true nature of the protagonist in order to reinforce the idea that the players themselves are the true heroes of each game's story.

Longtime fan speculation that the silhouetted man depicted on Myst's original box art is intended to represent the player character was eventually debunked by Myst co-creator Robyn Miller, who confirmed that the man on the box is in fact Atrus, one of the franchise's central characters. However, the silhouetted man continues to serve as a convenient de facto representation of The Stranger among the franchise's fans.