Discovering someone else's heart
The exploration into the unknown presented by the Megastructure isn’t just some epic journey to solve some neat puzzles and go on an adventure. You and your team first think she built this place - but at the very end, it is revealed that the Megastructure, in all its glory, is a manifestation of Athena. It depicts her hopes in Prometheus, her fears in Pandora, and her doubts in the Sphinx, all particle beings that follow you on your journey throughout the island. And this is all wrapped in the fantasy world of puzzles and towers, similar to the simulation where Athena came from.
The point in which you truly start becoming your own person is when you discover the Founder was in the Megastructure and was building it. You would find audio recordings of her from the past, talking about various ideas and philosophies. You find out she has a daughter and was the one who built the Megastructure. You listen to her joy at her daughter’s improvements, and her grief when she dies. You listen to her sadness as she finds the equation to the universe, only because she can’t bring her daughter back.
You connect with the Founder not because she was the Founder, but because she was Athena.
You realize that Athena is human, just like you and the rest of New Jerusalem - so why can’t you be “just human”? Why do you have to be defined by other people and their ideas about you? Why do you have to be “1k, important because of the number of people born before him” and not “just 1k”?
And so you discover yourself because you discover what was forgotten: that the Founder, Athena, is human, with her own emotions, and by discovering the true intentions of the Megastructure, you’ve seen into the heart of Athena.
