List of The Chronicles of Amber characters

The Chronicles of Amber is a fantasy series written by Roger Zelazny chiefly in ten books published from 1970 to 1991. It features a great variety of characters from the realm of "our" universe as well as myriad parallel universes. All universes spiral out on a continuum, which are more closely related to one end, Amber (and its history and functions), or slides on a scale closer and closer to Amber's opposite, the Courts of Chaos, at the other.

Amberites

Characters from Amber are referred to as Amberites.

The royal family

Much information about the royal family is compiled only in the authorized companion book Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber. Some personal colors and offspring are identified only there.

The names of Florimel's and Random's mothers are not given in the novels; the names here are taken from the Visual Guide to Amber and the Complete Amber Sourcebook. The Visual Guide adds a younger daughter of Paulette, Mirelle, but she does not appear in any of the novels.

Caine's parentage varies from book to book. Corwin places him above Bleys in the succession - and Random also alludes to this: but Merlin says he is a full brother of Julian and Gérard. (Both statements could be true if Caine is, in fact, older than any of Clarissa's children, and the result of an illegitimate affair with Rilga but legally adopted into the line before Clarissa's children, just as Llewella was born illegitimate but legally adopted: although Oberon did not actually marry Rilga till after finally divorcing Clarissa after the birth of Brand.) The Visual Guide to Amber and the Complete Amber Sourcebook, both authorised works, contradict each other. For more details, see section A7 of the Amber FAQ. Corwin also ignores the sisters in the succession.

It is also mentioned that, although Llewella definitely (and possibly Caine, as mentioned above) was legally adopted into the family after being born illegitimate, this did NOT happen to Eric - because Oberon needed to remain on good terms with Cymnea's family: and Eric was perpetually bitter about this.

In Nine Princes in Amber Corwin mentions his fondness for Random as related to being full brothers instead of half-brothers. However, he is still suffering from brain damage at the time. Given that only two books later, it is Corwin himself who mentions that his mother Faiella died giving birth to Deirdre, and Random was only born much later after many more children to other women, this can be put down to either an official authorial change and retcon (in book 3), or to Corwin's still-damaged memory (in book 1).

In the Merlin Cycle, a Pattern-ghost of Oberon claims that there were a total of 47 children, though only 20 are mentioned in the books.

Other Amberites

The Courts of Chaos

Perhaps fittingly, there isn't a specific name for characters from the Courts of Chaos. Both "Chaosites" and "Chaosians" are popular choices by fans; through the first series, they are referred to only as the Courts, or as "the forces of Chaos". In the final book, those of the Courts of Chaos are referred to as Chaosites by Merlin.

Shadow dwellers

The Powers

The two main beings who control and create the Amber multiverse are The Pattern and The Logrus, who are immensely competitive and often cause collateral damage and casualties in the course of their struggles against each other.

References

  1. Zelazny, Roger. "Nine Princes in Amber". The Great Book of Amber. New York: Avon Books, 1999. 357. Print.

External links

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