Grimrock

It's not really in reverse, and killing the Trickster certainly did not release the "good guy" ... since after killing the Trickster the Wizard comes out and tries to murder the living hell out of your entire party. The Trickster was actually nicer since he kinda helps you a bit.

The Trickster is the Island Master, they're one and the same I believe. The Island Master probably just takes that form to interact with without you realizing who he is.

It could have been a different Island Master who dealt with the pyramid people, but that doesn't really help explain much about why he did it.

And I am confident that LoG1 came before LoG2. Those weren't blueprints in the book, that was documentation, which is very different. Moreover, Toorum went to the Isle of Nex, and he says that the crystals there were not nearly as powerful as those in Grimrock, which suggests that they wren't always the size they were on Nex, and the Island Master grew them. The Sword of Nex also notes the existence priestesses on Nex, which also aren't there, anymore at least.

Avantir wrote:The Sword of Nex also notes the existence priestesses on Nex, which also aren't there, anymore at least.

I have the sneaking suspicion that they're what we now see as "medusas" in the game.

I think the Island Master is the same one.

More interestingly was for me that when you kill the Island Master you see the trickster again for a short time. This makes it feel to me that the "Trickster" is actually his real form and not an illusion. Isn't it more common to turn into your real appearance at the brink of death rather than turning into an illusion again?