The Chronicles of Amber: Difference between revisions

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See also the [[Tabletop Games]] ''Amber Diceless Role Playing''. There was supposedly a prequel series by another author but they [[Canon Dis Continuity|never happened]], as confirmed by [[George RR Martin]] and [[Neil Gaiman]], two friends and colleagues of the late [[Roger Zelazny]].

See also the [[Tabletop Games]] ''Amber Diceless Role Playing''. There was supposedly a prequel series by another author but they [[Canon Dis Continuity|never happened]], as confirmed by [[George R. R. Martin]] and [[Neil Gaiman]], two friends and colleagues of the late [[Roger Zelazny]].

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** Merlin seems to be setting himself up for a [[Love Dodecahedron]] with {{spoiler|Coral, Julia, Gilva, Rhanda, etc.}} as possible paramours. He generally doesn't say no to a willing woman, much like his father and grandfather.

* [[Changing of the Guard]] - The Merlin novels. The torch is passed back to Corwin for the short stories "Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains" and "Hall of Mirrors." It's unclear who would have been the main character if Zelazny had survived to write an 11th book.

** [[A Day in ~~The~~ Limelight]] - Random gets a chapter in "Sign of the Unicorn" to tell his version of his meeting with Corwin and Flora in the first book. "The Salesman's Tale" is from Luke's point of view. "Coming to [[Punny Name|a Cord]]" is from Frakir's.

** [[A Day in the Limelight]] - Random gets a chapter in "Sign of the Unicorn" to tell his version of his meeting with Corwin and Flora in the first book. "The Salesman's Tale" is from Luke's point of view. "Coming to [[Punny Name|a Cord]]" is from Frakir's.

** Zelazny once intended his sequels to the first book to all be retellings from the perspective other characters a la [[The Rashomon]].

* [[The Chase]] - Julian lives for this one, though Benedict engages in it at one point due to a misunderstanding.

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* [[Disappeared Dad]] - Corwin to Merlin, Oberon to Corwin. Zelazny's own father died early.

* [[Disney Acid Sequence]] - ''Sign of Chaos'' starts out as one. Don't drop LSD and shift Shadow, kids!

* [[Doing in ~~The~~ Wizard]] - Some of the explanations in the second series for things introduced in the first; especially the Keep of Four Worlds as the source of {{spoiler|Brand's}} power rather than just his personal awesomeness.

* [[Doing in the Wizard]] - Some of the explanations in the second series for things introduced in the first; especially the Keep of Four Worlds as the source of {{spoiler|Brand's}} power rather than just his personal awesomeness.

** [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot|Which is bizarre]], since most of the things he is described doing are abilities the second series ascribes to walking the Logrus.

* [[Doppelganger]] - Pattern/Logrus Ghosts.

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* [[Dumb Is Good]] - Gerard. Inverted with military genius Benedict, who is the only other one above suspicion- because if he wanted the throne, he could have taken it ages ago, even against all the rest of the family united.

** "Dumb" is relative here, though. Gerard isn't "a clever man" like his conniving family, but he's still a capable physician.

* [[Dude, She's Like, in A Coma]] - Merlin with {{spoiler|Coral}}. Subverted in that she's half-awake, "thought [he'd] never ask," and both of them are forced into it to escape.

* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]] - Merlin with {{spoiler|Coral}}. Subverted in that she's half-awake, "thought [he'd] never ask," and both of them are forced into it to escape.

** Another one in "The Shroudling and the Guisel," where Rhanda reveals she's visited Merlin at night with the aid of a sleeping spells over the years. Subverted in that Merlin's reaction is to say the he just wished she'd have woken him up for it.

* [[Early Installment Weirdness]] - Flora's hair color, and whether Random or Eric is Corwin's full brother all change after the first book. Some of this can be waived away by Corwin's amnesia at the time, though.

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* [[Inverse Law of Utility and Lethality]] - The Amberites can pronounce a powerful world(s)-breaking curse-- but only when they're dying. Corwin is the first one to use this power and then recover from his near-death state.

* [[Immortal Immaturity]]

* [[Jerk ~~With~~ a Heart of Gold]] - Most of the Amberites, but especially Julian, when Corwin learns that his {{spoiler|being blinded}}, which Julian suggested, was actually a sideways way of protecting his life.

* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] - Most of the Amberites, but especially Julian, when Corwin learns that his {{spoiler|being blinded}}, which Julian suggested, was actually a sideways way of protecting his life.

** Saving Corwin's life was more for Eric's benefit than Corwin's, according to Julian himself (otherwise, {{spoiler|had Oberon had ever returned to reclaim the throne}}, having Corwin executed would have been Eric's only unpardonable act). Julian still qualifies for the trope in the above example, but from a slightly different angle.

* [[The Juggernaut]] - Do not piss off Benedict. Ever. He has spent countless lifetimes fighting wars to perfect his skill as a general and is nigh-invincible with a blade. He will not listen to your stammered excuses, and he will cut through ''trees'' to get at you quicker.

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* [[Stable Time Loop]] - Corwin gets a mechanical arm from Ghost!Benedict in Tir-na Nog'th. The arm gets to REAL Benedict, who uses it. Later on, Benedict and Dara are talking in the throne room and Corwin and the rest of 'em are trapped outside, only able to watch. An invisible Ghost!Corwin is there (they can see his sword) and Corwin realizes that it's his past self. Then Past!Corwin gets the mechanical arm from the real Benedict...

** But they stand in different places and say different phrases. So it's not nessesary that Ghost!Corwin gave the arm to the same Ghost!Benedict from whom REAL Corwin got the arm in the first place.

* [[Stalker ~~With~~ a Crush]] - In "The Shroudling and the Guisel," Rhanda tells Merlin that she's been watching him for years from the other side of mirrors and [[Dude, She's Like, in A Coma|visiting him in his sleep.]] Merlin just wishes she had woken him.

* [[Stalker with a Crush]] - In "The Shroudling and the Guisel," Rhanda tells Merlin that she's been watching him for years from the other side of mirrors and [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma|visiting him in his sleep.]] Merlin just wishes she had woken him.

* [[Succession Crisis]] - The driving plot of the first five novels is the fact that there's no clear line of succession for the throne of Amber in Oberon's absence and the war between brothers vying for it. The crisis following the death of King Swayvill of Chaos in the last book prompts a rash of deadly duels and assassinations that drastically shortens the line of succession.

* [[Surprise Incest]]: Corwin falls for a girl who turns out to be great-grand-daughter of a half-brother, sired upon an [[Eldritch Abomination]].

* [[Taking You ~~With~~ Me]]: {{spoiler|Brand drags Deirdre into the Abyss.}}

* [[Taking You with Me]]: {{spoiler|Brand drags Deirdre into the Abyss.}}

* [[Tarot Motifs]] - The Trumps are supposed to be the primal source of the concept of Tarot cards.

* [[Tell Me About My Father]] - Dara takes this up to a new height, with a shrine to Benedict in her basement.

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* [[Unreliable Narrator]] - Arguably Corwin, especially when his viewpoint on a few characters is contrasted with Merlin's -- his sisters in particular. Almost the entire first Chronicle is told by Corwin to Merlin, giving Corwin reason to not be entirely truthful. (Corwin does mention, several times, that Amberites can never trust their relatives, [[From a Certain Point of View|thus implying...]]) Additionally, at the beginning of the story, Corwin is amnesiac and has imperfect recollections (e.g. thinking Random is his full-brother) until his memory is restored. The Diceless RPG makes great use of this to post different versions of the characters to be used by the [[Game Master]].

** Merlin and Corwin's differing view of the Princesses of Amber is explainable in that Corwin is their respected and powerful older brother, while Merlin is a somewhat-dim nephew.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]] - Corwin manages both to be a pawn to one scheme, a [[Spanner in ~~The~~ Works]] to another, and work on his own plan simultaneously. Merlin manages to stay a pawn until the second-to-last page.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]] - Corwin manages both to be a pawn to one scheme, a [[Spanner in the Works]] to another, and work on his own plan simultaneously. Merlin manages to stay a pawn until the second-to-last page.

* [[Up the Real Rabbit Hole]] - Subverted. The Amberites think of Amber as the only "real" world, but then Corwin finds a place that's even "realer."

* [[The Uriah Gambit]] - It's mentioned that this is what happened to Osric, a long-dead son of Oberon.

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* [[Wham! Line]]: Almost all the books end in them.

* [[World's Strongest Man]] - Gerard, and to a lesser extent all of the Amberites.

* [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] - Tied in closely with the Amberites' ability to move through [[The Multiverse|Shadows via the Pattern]] and the Chaosites' similar ability, the two groups are able to find dimensions in which time flows at a different rate than at 'home'. Several characters use this specific trick in order to fully recover from near mortal wounds by resting in a 'fast Shadow' for a month while only a day has passed in Amber. [[Alice in Wonderland ~~(Literature)~~|Contrariwise]], Corwin goes to check out Chaos for an hour or two (albeit, on the other end of the multiverse) and gets a call from people wondering where the hell he's been all week.

* [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] - Tied in closely with the Amberites' ability to move through [[The Multiverse|Shadows via the Pattern]] and the Chaosites' similar ability, the two groups are able to find dimensions in which time flows at a different rate than at 'home'. Several characters use this specific trick in order to fully recover from near mortal wounds by resting in a 'fast Shadow' for a month while only a day has passed in Amber. [[Alice in Wonderland|Contrariwise]], Corwin goes to check out Chaos for an hour or two (albeit, on the other end of the multiverse) and gets a call from people wondering where the hell he's been all week.