Room 6

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…a gloomy, cavelike place far underground. Even I was oppressed by the weight that hung over our heads. A very small hole, high above, admitted a feeble light.

Standing in the light one of them put his hand out. “I think it may be raining out there…”

They didn’t like the look of the place.

“You continue to judge everything by the way it looks!” I cried, exasperated by their timidity. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. If you think of all the deceptions practiced in my family, particularly on my father…

We went down the only way open to us and came to…

 - Images and text copyright 1985 by Christopher Manson
used with permission. [Purchase MAZE from Amazon]


Room Type:  TRAP     Doors:  8  17  32  40


● The door number 40 (the only choice) is written in the same style as 38 in Room 40 suggesting a path. [Shared independent Credit: vewatkin | White Raven]

Note: Riddles regarding the identity of the Guide are not factored into the solution meter.


35 thoughts on “Room 6

  1. If we accept the solution that the Guide is the Minotaur, then what is the deception played on his father (the Cretan Bull)? As far as I can tell the only deception really played was by the Minotaur’s mother, Pasiphae, who got the bull to mate with her by hiding inside a wooden cow. The deception lead to the birth of the Minotaur. Is this passage meant to be the Guide resenting his mother for bringing him into the world?

    • It certainly seems to be that way, seeing that Pasiphae was the only family member that directly deceived the Cretan Bull. It is worth noting that the Cretan Bull has often been a victim of ‘deception,’ usually when great heroes capture him. Theseus waits until it is dark to steal the bull away from his village, and Hercules waits until the bull is looking down and away from him to grab him by the horns.

    • Perhaps it is, though I wonder if the Guide’s feelings go as far as resentment. His preceding line (You continue to judge everything by the way it looks!), in conjunction with the reference to deceptions on his father, certainly seems to be a direct reference to the Bull’s incident with Pasiphae.

      I feel like many events in Greek mythos that happen to the Cretan Bull could be read as trickery and deception. For example, the Minoans captured the Cretan Bull possibly through deceit, as it is an animal of remarkable strength that would be difficult to overpower physically by ordinary villagers. Some versions of the tale in which Hercules wrestles the Cretan Bull say that Hercules waited for the bull to be looking down and away before grabbing it by the horns, instead of taking it on in a fair contest of strength. It was captured and relocated multiple times, sowed mayhem and sorrow, and was eventually killed by Theseus. If the Greeks had more sympathy towards animals then the tale of the Cretan Bull would be labeled a tragedy. I wonder if the Guide has any such feelings towards the matter of his father’s tragic end.

  2. The very rough “face” over the central door is similar to the sly face in 43 in that one eye looks off to the left and one looks straight ahead or downward.

    • And actually, if you are looking at the nails in the torn paper on the post as eyes, they are doing the same thing.

  3. One door has a angry face over it.
    One has a broken ladder.
    One has a watching eye.
    The only one without something wrong is 40.
    I solved a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    …what you mean there are no choices?

  4. Along the same lines of “look look this is important….” in 6 there is something that says “important notice” we know it contains “trap” and I think the fine print a guide hint. But maybe we are supposed to notice what it is attached to. The beam in the foreground. It could have two arms up. Like the bear in 2. Other examples people can think of?

    • Paint in 10? Fork in 12/28? Upside down hand in 14. 4 door rooms of a 1,3 pattern could work. Easels upside down? Top or one tree in 21. Trident in 22. Coat rack in 23. Fork in 26. Candlabre almost. Statue guy in 32? 3s are a thing in 35. Ballerina in 40 and 10. Doll in 41? 42 has another coat rack. Also 3 thing in foot. Maybe devil door in 43.

  5. This room “Looks” like it clues to THE INVISIBLE MAN…Griffin, the “optic scientist” turns himself and his CAT invisible while experimenting. We see the “eye” in many of the rooms. In this room it is hung as a “shingle” like an Optometrist would have along with the Notice that clues to an “Eye chart” both representing “optics”. Thinking 20/20 vision = Door #40.

    The Important Notice posted can be filled in with: “the individual representing himself as the GUIDE is no other than GRIFFIN the INVISIBLE MAN”.

    We seem to have a cat and other items running through the rooms and the Invisible Man wore a hat, gloves, coat, dark glasses, and wrapped his head in bandages as in Room 35.

    The clue in the narrative “deceptions practiced in my family, PARTicularly on my father” refers to Edgar Allan Poe’s father (and mother) being a professional actor who wears disguises (deceptions).

    H.G. Wells created The Invisible Man and Poe created William Wilson and his doppelganger. Wells character was named H. George Wells and Poe’s William Wilson/doppelganger (posted in Who Is The Guide?) is critiqued to be Poe representing his educational life.

    Now it gets complicated: Are there “pairs” of Guides visiting MAZE or are the visitors all literary figures with creepy multiple character identities? Is Room 13 “The Time Machine”? Is the “she” visitor Mary Shelley, if so where is Frankenstein (who is many people in one)?

  6. Okay, this is going to seem kinda beside the point but the fourth rung up is broken, so fourth rung is 4 and it being broken is 0. Could be a coincidence, especially since we have no other choice than going to 40.

    • Is it a four and a zero…or a three and an eight? Probably not a three and an eight, you have to count the broken rung with the top ones to get there, and that’s just arbitrary.

    • The ladder leads to room 8, which has a feeble light (rooms 17 and 32 do not). The beam may have two arms; 6+2=8 (probably a coincidence).

    • I like your observation about the light; Room 8 emphasizes that a single bulb lights the room, and Room 6 refers to a feeble light from above. I’m not sure this is what’s intended, because the characters also reference rain, implicitly coming from the same source as the light, and it’s not clear how or why rain would be coming from Room 8….

      But, there is an umbrella there, which the Guide suggests you may need. If you travel from 8 to 6, with the references to light and rain, there does seem to be a strong implied connection between the two rooms, sort of like the 4/39 noises or the 41/38 slide, though not so clear cut.

  7. Maybe associating the other ladder with “I door” might make us think of the broken ladder her as an “I door”. (The eye over the gate is enough for me). Also the grumpy capstone could help make that an I-door as well. The point all comes down to – I think – this is where we look Raven in the eye to escape the Trap.

  8. “are visitin” = anangram of “It is I, Raven”, and odd against finding just the 4 concecutive letters of “Raven” there, it that short text, making roungh assumptions, is about 2%. Significant right there.

  9. Re guide sign. Yes – it IS that of course. But maybe it also is something else if you scramble the words. Or maybe not. Nothing compelling fell out yet.

  10. Somebody unscramble the small part of the guide note better than this?

    All those who are, must be aware as no other individual visiting this house is himself.

    It seems like something might be there, but that above makes little sense.

      IS NO OTHER THAN [?]

      I think the note is fairly clear, it’s just that the identity of the person is obscured. Presumably, it’s the Guide, but it doesn’t even tell us who the guide is representing himself to be.

  11. This is one of the trap rooms. The first word of the note “IMPORTANT” does contain the letters of “TRAP”. So I think that is part what is going on there (although we could get “I’m not trap” see below).
    The number 40, upside down, spells “Oh”. Maybe just a curiosity.
    The weight that hangs over their heads (and shoulders!) is “earth” or “Maze”, which helps clue the overall solution to the Maze. And we can think of the guide as baring the weight of the Maze on his shoulders.

    Once we know the identity of the guide is Raven (from elsewhere) and that we should be looking for identity clues here (from the note) we can notice some things. That hole way up above becomes the hole in the top of the Teepee. In a main story of Raven he steals the sun from the “old man” (yes I’ve noted there is an old man in room 7), and flies out the hole in the top with it. The sun and the small hole up there make us think of this story (once we know we are dealing with Raven). Raven also steals water for the world and flies it out a smoke hole (that ties in with the rain coming down). But in the process of that theft they light first under him and he gets “smoked”. That is why Raven is the color he is today. Before that he was a “White Raven”.
    http: // www
    Now the text about deceptions being played on his father – well Raven is a trickster and I don’t doubt tricks were played on his father, but in his most famous trick he plays it on his grandfather (an least in the version I read). He turns himself into a pine needle and the “old man”’s daughter shallows it. She gets pregnant and gives birth to Raven in human form. He then steals the sun from the old man.
    “Out” is in the text twice. “Look” twice. “Notice” can mean to “look”. We have an eye of course.
    The number 40, upside down, spells “Oh”. “Look” is in the text twice. We have an eye. We have “notice”. “Out” is in the text twice. Maybe – “Oh look out, trap”. But there may be more here involving the word “look”. We are admonished to not judge things by appearances. What if we judged that “I” by its sound instead. Then it is an “I”. That looks like a one. Wouldn’t that be nice. Hey – that note said “I’m not trap” right? If we stretch it maybe a little too fat “Notice” is “cote in”. “Oh I’m not cote in trap”? Well…”I’m not trap will do.
    He is exasperated because of their timidity. Perhaps because they would not look him in the eye. He knew he should not have said anything, but…when you look into Raven’s eye it is a gateway (between worlds). So remember that talk in the prologue about the walls dividing and half of it being Maze (and the other half being real world) as far as the “HUMAN EYE” can see?
    If we put that all together and look into Ravens eye/I/1 – I think we get back to our world and the start.
    Why do the Trap clues lead to room 22 then? I think this “rest stop” gives us more reason to come here. Working on that…
    That business about looking the guide in the eye in 19. It is a clue about this stuff here, but also related to the “Don’t bear false witness” stuff in the next room 23.
    Misc. – we went down the only way open to us. (Maybe if your eyes were open you’d have another choice).
    Personal room satisfaction rating = 90%.

  12. I don’t know what the deal is with Room clues in the trap, but if the clue in 11 points to 40, then I guess they point away from 24, even though you have to end up there?

    Anyway, if so, it’s worth noting that the room number 40 in Room 6 is written in the same style as the 38 in Room 40, suggesting a path. The sign for 6 in Room 40 also points the way to 38, as mentioned on that page.

    • Turn 40 upside down and it says “oh” we have to go this way??

    • vewatkin,

      Congratulations on noticing the link between this room and Room 40 as part of a path!

      Bumping the solve meter up to five – everything else in this room is related to the Guide in some fashion or another and I am not counting Guide related riddles on the solve meter.

      White Raven

  13. The picture of the eye echoes the Guide’s outburst about the group judging everything by the way it looks. Shortly prior, someone judges the weather above not by sight, but by touch. However, sound is maybe a more likely sense for us to judge things given both the author’s proclivities and the limitations of the medium.

    35 and the Entrance are the only other rooms that I can think of that provide the same quantity of door options. Both, along with this one, seem weighted with information about The Guide. Since there are more similarities between 35 and 6 than either with the Entrance, let’s think about those similarities:
    0. They both have one exit.
    1. 35 is apparently someone’s basement. 6 is far undeground.
    2. They both have ladders.
    3. They are both falling apart (not so rare a thing in the maze, but it’s good to be inclusive when brain storming.)
    4. The piece of wood in the door to nowhere has a similar tilt as the piece of wood leaning against the wall below the suit in 35.
    5. Eye/Eyedoll
    6. Dim light

  14. The picture of the eye could be taken as an “I” – if so then the guide could be the author, Manson, or the reader.


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