| The Chronicles of Corwin |
The Chronicles Of Merlin |
| Nine Princes In Amber | Trumps of Doom |
| The Guns of Avalon | Blood of Amber |
| Sign of the Unicorn | Sign of Chaos |
| The Hand of Oberon | Knight of Shadows |
| The Courts of Chaos | Prince of Chaos |
| Amber Short Stories Prologue to Trumps of Doom The Salesman's Tale Blue Horse Dancing Mountains The Shroudling and the Guisel Coming to a Cord Hall of Mirrors |
| Corwin’s Journal | |
| Nine Princes in Amber | |
| 1 | Corwin wakes up at Greenwood Private Hospital with no memory, apparently recovering from an auto accident. He manages to take advantage of the hapless staff and has a cab called for him. |
| 2 | Corwin arrives at Flora’s mansion in Westchester and hides his amnesia from her in order to find out more about his true nature and why he is in danger. He forms a tentative alliance with her. |
| 3 | With Flora out of the house, Corwin examines her Trump cards. Random calls and Corwin gives him safe harbor at Flora’s. Flora eventually returns and reveals that she had tried and been unable to return to Eric. Corwin tells her that he is going to try for “it”, although in actuality he’s not sure what “it” really is. Random arrives. |
| 4 | Immediately following Random’s arrival, Flora’s mansion is attacked by six pistol-wielding aliens with spurs on their hands (Chaos agents). Corwin and Random defeat them, and the next day the two of them go for a drive. Corwin tells Random that he wants to try for “it”, and Random shifts shadow until they reach the Forest of Arden, where they are attacked by Julian and his stormhounds. Corwin unhorses Julian from his mount Morgenstern and he and Random escape. Eventually they encounter and rescue their sister Deirdre, held captive by Eric’s guards. After eliminating some pursuing werewolves, Corwin admits his memory loss to Random and Deirdre. They decide to go to underwater Rebma so that Corwin can walk its Pattern in order to jump-start the restoration of his full memory. |
| 5 | The trio evade pursuing horsemen and descend the Stairway to Rebma, at the bottom of which they are greeted by its ruler, Moire. Random is forced to remain in Rebma to face punishment for indiscretions committed earlier there, but Corwin has a dalliance with Moire. Later, Corwin walks Rebma’s Pattern and regains his full memory (including an episode with the Plague in the 16th C). At the center of the Pattern he transports himself to Amber where, after obtaining a pack of Trumps, he ends up in a duel with Eric. When reinforcements arrive, Corwin uses a Trump to escape to Bleys, who is assembling an army to overthrow Eric. They decide to form an alliance. |
| 6 | In Avernus, Corwin and Bleys gather armies from various shadows. Corwin makes deals with Julian and Gérard, while Brand is found to be in some form of distress (before contact is lost). Oberon answers briefly and weakly gives Corwin his blessing for the throne. Soon Corwin leads a fleet through shadow towards Amber, while Bleys leads an infantry force. Both incur massive casualties from Eric’s control of the weather through the Jewel of Judgement. Caine reneges on his agreement when he sees the odds and confronts Corwin’s fleet. Eric contacts Corwin and tries a mental attack through the Trumps, allowing Caine to attack. Corwin defeats Eric in the mental duel, but is forced to surrender his fleet. He uses a Trump to escape to Bleys’ camp. |
| 7 | Fighting through a fire in the Forest of Garnath, Bleys and Corwin’s troops eventually begin ascending the stairs going up Kolvir to Amber's palace. Bleys falls from the stairs and Corwin throws him his only deck of Trump cards. Corwin almost reaches the palace but is overwhelmed by Eric’s forces and imprisoned in Amber's dungeons. |
| 8 | Corwin is brought to the Great Hall to witness Eric’s crowning. In a desperate move he tries to crown himself but is knocked down. His eyes are then put out and he is imprisoned once again, although he does manage to lay a death curse on Eric’s reign. News arrives that Random is also imprisoned in the dungeons. After a year, Corwin is briefly presented at the anniversary celebration of Eric’s reign. |
| 9 | Corwin soon realizes that his eyes are regenerating. Dworkin appears and Corwin has the wizard draw a picture of the Lighthouse of Cabra. Using his remaining matches, Corwin uses the drawing to port himself to the Lighthouse. |
| 10 | Corwin recuperates under Jopin the Lighthouse keeper’s care and prepares to depart on Jopin’s boat. Jopin points out to Corwin a dark path leading through the former Forest of Garnath, which Corwin recognizes as the result of his death curse. He sends notes both to himself and Eric, forecasting his return. |
| The Guns Of Avalon | |
| 1 | Corwin disembarks from Jopin’s boat and begins walking towards Avalon, a shadow where he hopes to begin preparations to again invade Amber. On the way, he comes across an injured man whom he recognizes as an incarnation of Lancelot. After dispatching some hostile giant talking cats, Corwin learns about the malevolent Black Circle. He takes Lance back to the city of Lorraine and the Keep of Ganelon, a former comrade whom Corwin had exiled from Avalon many years ago. Ganelon does not recognize Corwin however, and welcomes him. Later, Ganelon describes how the appearance of the Black Circle and its goat-headed leader has worked to reform him since his exile from Avalon. Corwin agrees to help Ganelon fight the Black Circle. |
| 2 | Corwin becomes friendly with a local girl named Lorraine (same name as the town), who sees Oberon’s image when a Trump contact is attempted with Corwin. A demon from the Black Circle named Strygalldwir attacks and recognizes Corwin before being slain. A couple weeks later, Corwin, Ganelon and Lance make plans to attack the Circle, as Lorraine has evil forebodings of her final fate. |
| 3 | Corwin and Ganelon lead their forces into the region of the Black Circle and they battle through to the Citadel at its center. There, Corwin confronts the Black Circle’s goat-headed leader, who recognizes Corwin as the one who gave them passage to this shadow. He tries to make a deal with Corwin but Corwin kills him anyways. With Corwin’s true name revealed, Lorraine mistakes him for the despotic shadow Corwin she’s known, and departs the Keep with a former lover. Corwin pursues them to explain that he is not the same evil Corwin of her own shadow, but finds her slain by her partner. Corwin tracks and kills the man and regrets the cruel fates he sows behind him. |
| 4 | Corwin and Ganelon depart Lorraine for Avalon, and during Corwin’s shadow-walk they come across a thief. They learn that Avalon has been under attack by “hellmaids” (led by a creature named Lintra) who have been raiding the city from caves. Corwin eventually arrives at the defending “Protector’s” camp and recognizes him as his brother Benedict. Benedict sends Corwin off to rest at Avalon, while Benedict remains in the field to clean up the war zone. |
| 5 | Relaxing in Avalon, Corwin meets a girl named Dara, who claims to be Benedict’s great-granddaughter. She describes her recent experiences in learning how to walk through shadow. Corwin explains the Pattern to her and how she must walk it if she is to gain full control of her power to navigate through shadow. Dara reveals that Gérard and Julian have recently been in Avalon, recovering from injuries gained battling in the Black Road. |
| 6 | Corwin hellrides to a remote sandy South African region where he gathers diamonds which he hopes to use to pay for a flammable jewelers rouge found in Avalon. When he returns to Avalon, he hears that Benedict will soon be returning and makes plans to depart with Ganelon in the morning. Ganelon also reports that he has found some suspicious buried bodies near Benedict’s house. Later, Corwin runs into Dara and they have an intimate encounter. Dara agrees to cover for Corwin so that he can make his escape with the flammable materials. |
| 7 | Corwin and Ganelon depart with their gunpowder cargo and they eventually encounter the Black Road. Corwin comes to the aid of a “damsel in distress” but learns that he has been tricked by a faceless ghoul. With a great effort he manages to materialize a path through the Black Road (by concentrating on an image of the Pattern). Soon he sees Benedict in pursuit. Despite hellriding, Benedict catches up with Corwin, accusing him of murder. They duel. Corwin is the victor when he tricks Benedict into stepping into some muscle-numbing black weeds emanating from the adjacent Black Road. After leaving Benedict bound and unconscious, Corwin uses Benedict’s Trumps to call forth Gérard, who promises to care for Benedict. |
| 8 | In Europe, Corwin and Ganelon meet with an arms dealer to set in motion the manufacture of unique automatic rifles for his invasion army. Afterwards, Corwin returns to his upstate New York home out of nostalgia and gets a briefing from Gérard. Corwin also finds a letter from Eric, suing for peace in view of the increasing danger posed by the Black Road. Corwin decides to ignore Eric’s plea. |
| 9 | Corwin assembles an army from
the same race whom he had earlier conscripted warriors from during his attack
with Bleys. He trains 300 of them to use the special rifles. As Corwin’s army
approaches Amber from the Forest of Arden, thunderclouds can be seen around
the peaks of Kolvir. They encounter manticoras and strange winged creatures,
which Corwin attributes to Eric’s doing. Reaching the Valley of Garnath,
Corwin sees defenders of Amber at the base of Kolvir attacked by flying
wyvern creatures. With Gérard, Caine and Julian in the field (as well as
Benedict), Eric wields the Jewel of Judgement to inflict lightning strikes on
the Black Road attackers. Instead of conquering Amber as an invader, Corwin decides to instead use his riflemen to help defend Amber as its savior. The wyverns are successfully driven off. Dara suddenly appears and races up the mountain towards the palace on horseback. Corwin finds Eric in his last minutes, and Eric gives him the secret on how to use the Jewel of Judgement. Corwin sends his riflemen to aid Benedict in Garnath with the remaining enemy infantry. Benedict claims that he has no knowledge of Dara. Concerned, Corwin has Random Trump him to the palace in pursuit of Dara. Corwin and Random descend to the Pattern and see Dara port from its center after promising Amber’s destruction. |
| Sign of the Unicorn | |
| 1 | An alien spurred creature (a Chaos agent of the kind which had much earlier pursued Random to Flora’s mansion) is found to have assassinated Caine. It then tries to frame Corwin as the murderer. Corwin kills the creature, buries Caine and seeks out Random for answers. |
| 2 | Random tells Corwin that at some point in the past he had been mentally contacted by Brand, apparently imprisoned in a tower circled by floating rocks and guarded by a glass serpent. He had then attempted to rescue Brand by himself, but was unable to get past the glass serpent. Defeated, he then used the floating rocks to make an escape, but was pursued by the spurred aliens, which had apparently been guarding Brand. Distressed to realize that his pursuers were able to travel through shadow (a skill which only a member of the royal family was supposed to possess), he eventually decided to call Flora for help, and ended up finding Corwin in his amnesiac state in Westchester. |
| 3 | Random and Corwin wonder if Brand had accidentally discovered these alien shadow-walkers and/or made a deal with them and was subsequently betrayed. Afterwards, Corwin walks the Pattern under the palace basement and attunes himself to the Jewel of Judgement by having himself projected into and back out of it. He ports to a tower and conjures a storm as a test of his new power. |
| 4 | Corwin interrogates Flora about the events leading to his awakening in Greenwood, but no new clues arise. Corwin reveals to his siblings the news of Caine’s death but claims that he did not kill him. While visiting Corwin’s prematurely-erected grave monument, Ganelon tells Corwin that he suspects someone may have learned how to eavesdrop on Trump conversations. Corwin orders Ganelon to bivouac his remaining rifle troops in the Forest of Arden near the Black Road. |
| 5 | Corwin and Gérard visit the Grove of the Unicorn, where Oberon had reportedly first encountered the family’s patron being. Gérard beats Corwin unconscious and afterwards asks him if he is allied with the forces of the Black Road. Corwin denies it and Gérard believes him. Later, while moving Caine’s body to a proper gravesite, they witness the brief appearance of Oberon’s Unicorn. |
| 6 | Corwin again gathers his eight siblings and suggests a plan to have them all simultaneously attempt to reach Brand through their Trump decks. They are successful. Gérard and Random are able to Trump to Brand and rescue him from the tower, fighting off a squad of the spurred aliens. When back in Amber, they discover that someone has stabbed Brand in the confusion, most likely a member of the family. |
| 7 | While Gérard guards Brand, the other siblings air their suspicions of each other. Fiona tells Corwin that the Jewel of Judgement may slow one’s perception of time after a period of wearing it. When Corwin finally returns to his room for the night, this slowing of time allows him to evade an unknown assassin’s blade, although he is injured. |
| 8 | The incapacitated Corwin somehow finds himself transported to his home in upstate New York (probably through the Jewel of Judgement). He hides the Jewel in a compost heap. His old friend Bill Roth finds him and takes him to a hospital. Bill fills Corwin in on some more circumstances around his initial car accident, hinting that Brand had come to his rescue after his car accident. |
| 9 | Corwin is called back to Amber through Random’s Trump. In a private conversation, Brand claims that Fiona had engaged Bleys and himself in a plot to gain the throne (placing Bleys as the apparent figurehead), engaging the help of alien Chaos forces to depose and imprison Oberon. They had planned to have Chaos allies attack Amber in order to provide an excuse for Bleys to take the throne as its defender. However, becoming nervous about having Chaos forces attacking his own home, Brand sought out Corwin’s whereabouts. Brand had used shock therapy to restore Corwin's memories, hoping that Corwin’s rightful claim to the throne would defuse Bleys and Fiona’s aspirations. Bleys had found out about Brand's betrayal and caused the recovering Corwin to have an auto accident. After Brand had then rescued Corwin from death in a river, he was imprisoned by Fiona and Bleys in the shadow tower as punishment. Brand also identifies Fiona as the one who had stabbed him during his rescue from the tower. |
| 10 | In order to buy time to recover from his stab wound, Corwin climbs up to Tir-na Nog’th, the sky-echo city of Amber, and briefly encounters the ghost of Lorraine. He next arrives at Tir-na Nog’th’s version of the throne and sees Dara sitting there as Queen, with Benedict beside her, equipped with a new mechanical arm (replacing the one lost to Lintra the hellmaid). Corwin threatens Dara with Grayswandir, but Benedict defends her. In the duel the combatants cannot touch each other, but Grayswandir and Benedict’s metal arm are somehow mutually tangible objects. Corwin cuts the ghost-Benedict’s metal arm off, and as the sun rises (dissolving Tir-na Nog’th) Corwin is saved from a great fall by Random’s Trump. |
| 11 | Corwin discovers that the ghost-Benedict’s metal arm is still gripping his shoulder when he lands. He, Random and Ganelon depart from the peak of Kolvir but soon find themselves lost in impossibly unfamiliar territory, apparently shifting through shadow involuntarily. They spot Oberon’s Unicorn, which leads them to a duplicate of the Grove of the Unicorn. Continuing on, they pass through a strange “nullified” zone, after which they come into view of a plateau upon which appears to be a duplicate of the Pattern. Ganelon and Corwin realize that this is the primal Pattern, the true Amber. |
| The Hand Of Oberon | |
| 1 | A griffin is seen guarding the Pattern, although it befriends Corwin and Random. Ganelon impetuously races to the center of the Pattern (along a dark, smudged path) to retrieve an apparently blood-stained Trump card, which holds an image of Random’s son Martin. Random’s horse is spooked into the Pattern and destroyed by the turbulence. They then learn that the blood of an Amberite will damage the Pattern. |
| 2 | Corwin reviews in his mind the events leading up to the present. Random reasons that someone had contacted Martin through a newly-painted Trump and then stabbed him, but holding him mentally in order that Martin’s blood would stain and damage the Pattern (although Martin himself may have escaped afterwards). They then Trump to Benedict and inform him of the situation. |
| 3 | Random goes off with Benedict to go in search of Martin’s whereabouts. Ganelon suspects that Martin may have been the one to stab Corwin in his apartment (due to distrust or hostility with the royal family). |
| 4 | Corwin visits Vialle, who makes Corwin question why he even sought the throne in the first place. He then visits his old dungeon cell and uses Dworkin’s old wall sketch to reach Dworkin’s prison/library. He finds Dworkin and pretends to be Oberon. |
| 5 | Dworkin reveals that he originally came from the Courts of Chaos and created the Pattern and Amber from inside the Jewel of Judgement, which he had found hanging from the neck of a Unicorn. With the Pattern now damaged by the blood of one of his descendants, he suggests that the Pattern be destroyed and a new one created with the Jewel. He takes Corwin to visit the primal Pattern, guarded by the guard griffin (Wix). Dworkin begins to lose control of his damaged mind (being an analogue of the smudged primal Pattern) and Corwin is forced to use a Trump card to flee to an unknown realm – the Courts of Chaos. |
| 6 | Corwin is confronted by a white horseman who seems to recognize him. Nonetheless Corwin kills him. Another horseman arrives with a crossbow, and tells Corwin to leave immediately. After noting a lack of Chaos forces amassing in the area, he Trumps back to Amber with help from Gérard. He learns that Benedict has returned from his trip with Random, and now sporting the mechanical arm from Tir-na Nog’th. |
| 7 | Corwin confronts Brand in his room, who admits to being the one who stabbed Martin for Bleys and Fiona. He claims that Bleys is preparing a feint attack on Amber, after which the forces of Chaos will strike en masse in a surprise attack. He proposes to use a group Trump contact to ambush Bleys and Fiona (who he suspects is at the Courts of Chaos). He asks Corwin for the Jewel of Judgement so that he will have enough raw power to kill Fiona. Skeptical, Corwin turns down Brand’s plan for lack of evidence. |
| 8 | Corwin rejoins Ganelon and Benedict in Garnath. Benedict wants to take the fight to the Courts of Chaos but is willing to wait for Corwin to try and first repair the primal Pattern (closing down the Black Road). Gérard appears and reveals that Brand has disappeared. He accuses Corwin of killing Brand. |
| 9 | Ganelon knocks Gérard out, allowing Corwin to escape. While riding towards shadow in the Forest of Arden, Corwin is pursued by a manticore, but saved by Julian. Getting caught up on things, he tells Corwin that Brand has developed special powers which allow him to manipulate shadow (and port himself indiscriminately as a "human Trump"). |
| 10 | Corwin hellrides to Earth and his house in Westchester, hoping to retrieve the Jewel of Judgement from his compost heap. He learns that it is missing and seeks help from Bill Roth. They eventually find the compost heap but realize that Brand has already retrieved the Jewel for himself. Corwin suspects that Brand will attempt to attune himself to the Jewel by walking the Pattern. He contacts Gérard to have guards posted at the Patterns in Amber and at Rebma. |
| 11 | Gérard’s Amber guards repel Brand’s attempt to walk its Pattern. Fiona contacts Corwin and Trumps to his location. She reveals that Brand was the one who had been trying to erase his memories through shock therapy and later kill him in a car accident. Fiona takes them to the primal Pattern where they see Brand already en route to its center, wearing the Jewel of Judgement. Corwin begins navigating the Pattern in order to catch up and uses the Jewel of Judgement remotely to cause a lightning strike to disarm Brand. Brand self-Trumps himself away. |
| 12 | After having guards placed at the primal Pattern, Corwin reunites with Random and Martin. Martin describes how he had run into Dara years ago and how she had helped him recover from Brand’s attack. In return, he had explained to her how the Trumps and shadow worked. Ganelon contacts Corwin and proposes a plan in which Benedict can intercept Brand when Brand tries to walk the Pattern that night in Tir-na Nog’th. Benedict will be able to beat Brand to the sky-city's Pattern entrance by porting directly from the center of the Pattern in Amber. |
| 13 | While maintaining Trump contact with Corwin (acting as an anchor at the foot of Tir-na Nog’th’s stairs), Benedict ports to the sky-city’s Pattern. Brand appears and uses the Jewel of Judgement to immobilize Benedict. Just as Brand is about to stab Benedict, Benedict’s metal arm strikes out and hoists Brand up by the Jewel’s chain around his neck. Brand breaks free and Corwin Trumps Benedict to safety as the sky-city fades to intangibility (Brand is later revealed to have ported to the Courts of Chaos). With the Jewel of Judgement now retrieved from Brand and the immediate danger averted, they try Oberon's Trump on a hunch and are greeted by Ganelon. |
| The Courts of Chaos | |
| 1 | As Oberon organizes a preemptive strike on the Courts of Chaos, Corwin and Random discover an invisible field barring them from the throne room. At the throne are Martin, Dara and Benedict. Benedict defends Dara from a suspended Grayswandir, which cuts off his metal prosthetic arm. The weapons drift away, the barrier falls and Martin explains that he was the one who had just brought Dara over in order to meet Benedict. Dara tells Corwin about their son Merlin. |
| 2 | Dara explains that, although a daughter of Chaos, she has become more sympathetic to a balance between the Courts of Chaos and Amber after having befriended Martin. Together they had decided that the best ruler of both realms would her son Merlin. She reveals that she had freed Oberon from his imprisonment at the Courts (trapped by Brand while seeking a false solution to the damaged Pattern). She tells them that Oberon will attempt to repair the Pattern with the Jewel of Judgement, although the act will be fatal. Corwin trumps to Oberon’s location and grabs the Jewel (intending to repair the Pattern himself), but is immobilized by Oberon’s use of the Jewel from afar. Later Oberon explains that he had posed as Ganelon to test Corwin for his worthiness of the throne (unfortunately in the process having had to kill Benedict’s servants in order to set up Corwin’s relationship with Dara). Corwin turns down the throne, after which Oberon sends him back to Amber. Benedict is ordered to attack the Courts of Chaos as a distraction to allow Oberon the chance to repair the Pattern. Random is ordered to join Julian in Arden. Corwin stations himself at his empty tomb. |
| 3 | Oberon contacts Corwin and draws some of his blood with a dagger. He uses the blood to conjure up a red raven. He tells Corwin to hellride to the Courts of Chaos in order to create a time differential. Corwin travels through shadow and is eventually intercepted by the red raven, who gives him the Jewel of Judgement (indicating that Oberon must have completed his attempt to repair the primal Pattern). Later on, Brand tries to trap Corwin in a circle of fire, but Corwin escapes by hellriding in a circular route. |
| 4 | Brand catches up with Corwin again and tries to convince Corwin to give up the Jewel so that Brand can succeed where Oberon had failed. Corwin does not believe him and travels on. |
| 5 | While resting in a cave, Corwin is visited by a stranger who describes a prophecy in which an archangel named Corwin interacts with a “Horn” of some sort. They see a wave of Chaos approaching in the distance, although Corwin claims it is only a storm. Corwin uses the Jewel to stop the rain. Later, some dwarves capture Corwin’s horse Star and he almost lulled into an ambush. He uses the Jewel of Judgement to freeze the dwarves in their tracks and departs. |
| 6 | Corwin is forced to use the Jewel of Judgement to forge his way through the Chaos storm front. He encounters a woman (named Lady) who attempts to seduce him at her pavilion but he resists and continues on. Later, Brand kills Star with from a sniper shot with a crossbow. The red raven returns and saves Corwin from the same tactic and takes out one of Brand’s eyes before Brand escapes. |
| 7 | Hiking onwards, Corwin meets a sentient tree named Ygg, planted by Oberon in ages past to mark a division between Order and Chaos. He is joined by a bird name Hugi who tries to sap Corwin’s resolve. The Head of a sunken giant soon appears and does the same. Continuing on into the seemingly-endless fog, he next encounters ghostly ballroom dancers who are apparently celebrating for the last time before Corwin’s expected failure. Corwin receives a silver rose from one of the dancers. |
| 8 | A jackal appears and appears to offer help. However it later attacks Corwin, hungry for the royal blood of Amber. Corwin then realizes that he does not have the strength to cross to the next mountain range across a large plain. He decides to create a new Pattern himself on the plateau where he stands. He kills and eats Hugi for some nourishment. |
| 9 | Corwin uses all of his strength to create a new Pattern, drawn from the Jewel and his own being. The Chaos storm overtakes him but his new Pattern shields him in a bubble of stability. Just after Corwin reaches the center of his new Pattern, Brand ports in and steals away the Jewel. |
| 10 | Corwin uses his new primal Pattern to port to the Courts of Chaos, where he is attacked by Borel, Dara’s fencing teacher. He dispatches Borel with some clever cloak-work and then from afar observes Benedict leading Amber forces against the Chaos army. Julian adds his forces to Benedict’s main force, and eventually Bleys appears as another reserve, winning the battle. However, with the Chaos wave now approaching, Brand appears with the Jewel, planning to use its weather powers on the Amber troops and protect his Chaos allies from the Chaos wave. As Corwin tries to reach Brand, a lightning strike unhorses him. He eventually reaches Brand’s location to find him missing. |
| 11 | Further on, he sees Brand standing at the edge of an abyss, threatening Deirdre with a dagger as Fiona uses her powers to try and gain control over him. Oberon’s face appears in the clouds with a pre-recorded message, claiming that he is about to try to repair the primal Pattern and the resulting, oncoming Chaos wave can be deflected if Corwin can use the Jewel of Judgement. With his death, he leaves the succession up to the unicorn. Corwin tries to use the Jewel remotely to burn Brand, but Brand retaliates by cutting Deirdre’s face. Deirdre bites Brand, allowing someone to shoot Brand with a crossbow. Brand falls into the abyss with Deirdre and the Jewel of Judgement. Caine appears and identifies himself as the crossbowman. He explains that he had faked his own death in order to go underground and to try to get both Corwin and Brand out of the way (he was the one who had stabbed Corwin in his apartment and fought Brand in his apartment later on). A trumpet sounds and white riders on black mounts appear. |
| 12 | A funeral cortege of bizarre creatures emerges from the Chaos storm, bearing the casket of the deceased Oberon, led by Dworkin. The procession passes over the abyss and beyond the Courts of Chaos. Dara accuses Corwin of dishonorably killing her teacher Borel and leaves him forever. Merlin appears and Corwin gets to know his son a bit better, as the Amberites plan for a retreat before the storm. The Unicorn climbs out of the abyss. |
| 13 | The Unicorn gifts Random with the Jewel of Judgement, choosing him as King of Amber. Corwin takes Random on a mental journey into the heart of the Jewel to attune him to it, as the rest of the Amberites retreat to the citadel in the Courts of Chaos. Random confronts the storm as Corwin explains to Merlin his story since Greenwood. |
| 14 | Random successfully parts the Chaos storm as it passes around them. Corwin reflects on his current relationships with his siblings and how they have evolved in the last few years. He accompanies Merlin to the Courts of Chaos, and plans to visit his new primal Pattern before returning to Amber in the future. |
| Merlin’s Journal | |
| Trumps of Doom | |
| 1 | While awaiting a yearly assassination attempt on his life, Merlin meets his old friend Luke Raynard, who gives him a note from Merlin’s old girlfriend Julia. Julia claims to know Merlin’s true identity and includes a warning. Merlin goes to Julia’s apartment and discovers her dead body. He fends off a giant dog-creature and discovers that Julia owns some strange Trump cards. |
| 2 | Merlin leans from Julia’s most recent boyfriend that she had been trying to gain occult power for herself by studying with a local shaman named Victor Melman. Later, Merlin reminisces on an old episode in which he had taken Julia on a walk through shadow, probably leading to her accidentally conjuring the lethal dog creature. |
| 3 | Merlin visits Melman, who turns out to have been the one who created Julia’s Trump cards. Melman attempts to murder Merlin after conjuring a shadow altar. Merlin defends himself with a spell and learns that Melman had been instructed by his “master” (possibly from the Keep of the Four Worlds) to expect Merlin and to try to kill him when Merlin arrived. Merlin accidentally throws Melman into a sea of Chaos, killing him. |
| 4 | Merlin receives a phone call and lures the caller to come to Melman’s studio by Trump. Unfortunately the woman (Jasra) bites Merlin, immobilizing him. Merlin uses one of Julia’s Trumps and finds himself ported face to face with a sphinx. The sphinx recites a riddle he had learned from Melman’s master (Jasra). Merlin beats the sphinx with a counter-riddle and shadow-walks to a friendly village to fully recover from Jasra’s toxic bite. He considers contacting his Amber siblings or Ghostwheel but decides he’d rather have vengeance for Julia on his own terms. |
| 5 | Merlin returns to Melman’s studio and finds it destroyed, although there are signs of pink gunpowder. He then flies off to Santa Fe to catch up with Luke in order to get more information about Julia’s state of mind. There, he is intercepted by a mysterious man named Martinez (later revealed to be under the control of a ty’iga - a demonic spirit from Chaos) who asks him about Amber and the Courts of Chaos and then disappears. Merlin and Luke then drive off into the mountains for some air and come under fire from a sniper. Luke kills the shooter (puppet-Martinez) and then tells Merlin to leave immediately, naming him as Merlin son of Corwin in the process. At gunpoint, Merlin departs. Back at Luke’s apartment he finds rifle shells (which later turn out to also contain the pink gunpowder). |
| 6 | At Bill Roth’s house, Merlin runs into George Hanson, who appears to be an old acquaintance of Corwin’s, but acts strangely (controlled by the ty’iga). Merlin gets a call from a stranger (the ty’iga) asking suspicious questions and they make plans for a meeting at the country club. Later, Random contacts Merlin by Trump and ports him to Amber. Bill Roth comes along as well. George Hanson (the ty’iga) attempts (and fails) to port over as well. |
| 7 | Merlin learns that Caine has been assassinated by a shooter. An unsuccessful attempt has been made on Bleys as well. After a strained dinner with the royal family, Random tests the pink gunpowder found in Melman’s building and in Luke’s room and learn that they are of the kind ignitable in Amber which Corwin had once discovered. Merlin meets a mysterious woman (the ty’iga) at Bill’s country club who warns him that Luke is the one who has been trying to kill him every year. Her husband returns and Merlin is picked up by Fiona. Fiona recognizes Luke from a photograph but will not explain who he really is. |
| 8 | After Caine’s funeral an unknown figure tries to bomb the procession and then disappears. Later, Merlin tells Random about Ghostwheel’s surveillance and power transmission abilities. Random asks Merlin to shut it down as a precaution. While shadow-walking out of Arden, Merlin is surrounded in a ring of fire by an unknown enemy. A woman on horseback (the ty’iga) saves Merlin, but dies in the process. |
| 9 | Continuing on towards Ghostwheel, Merlin is saved from some wolf-creatures by an unknown agent (Luke). Luke finally reveals himself when he saves Merlin from falling down an abyss during an earthquake caused by Ghostwheel (also responsible for the Arden fire and apparently trying to prevent Merlin from reaching its location). |
| 10 | As Merlin and Luke approach the maze in which Ghostwheel is hidden, a shadow-storm appears and the two barely escape by trumping out. Merlin wakes up in a blue crystal cave, imprisoned by Luke, who reveals himself to be Brand’s son. Luke confesses that he has been the one mounting the assassination attempts (Caine, Bleys and the funeral procession), and plans to use Ghostwheel to destroy Amber. |
| Blood of Amber | |
| 1 | When the opening to the cave is dislodged, Merlin escapes and ends up fighting Jasra. When Luke arrives to help Jasra, Merlin trumps to Flora. Flora recognizes and punches Jasra before the connection is closed. (Jasra heads to the Keep of the Four Worlds). |
| 2 | At Flora’s, Merlin is trump-contacted and threatened by someone who prefers to remain nameless and gifts him with a shower of flowers (Mask, or Julia). Returning to Julia’s apartment, he discovers a secret passage. Inside he is barred by Scrof, the Dweller on the Threshold (a fat giant with bat ears). |
| 3 | After shape-shifting to defeat Scrof, Merlin eventually comes to a citadel under siege (Luke and Dalt). He learns from a hermit that a mercenary named Dalt (and formerly an ally) has been attacking the Keep of the Four Worlds, who is ruled by Jasra and her son Rinaldo. When Merlin tries to shift a boundary marker, he is attacked by a sorcerer (Mask/Julia) but escapes by trumping to Random in Amber (accompanied with a shower of flowers). |
| 4 | Merlin has dinner at the seedy restaurant Bloody Bill’s in Death Alley and runs into one of Random’s spies, returning from Kashfa. Outside, he is forced to dispatch some mercenaries (Jasra’s assassins). He then encounters Vinta Bayle, Caine’s widow (actually possessed by the ty’iga). |
| 5 | Merlin reminisces about a duel he had won in the Courts of Chaos against his half-brother Jurt. Vinta (the ty’iga) takes Merlin to her father’s winery estate at Arbor House and tells him about Luke’s plan to attack Amber with firearms. She reveals the existence of a ty’iga who has been possessing people in order to provide protection for Merlin and/or Luke. She also informs Merlin that when Luke had stopped his yearly assassination attempts, Jasra had continued them against his wishes. Ghostwheel contacts Merlin and Merlin warns Ghostwheel about Luke. |
| 6 | Luke (injured in a fight with Dalt) reaches out to Merlin by Trump and Merlin gives him shelter. Luke claims that he no longer has a vendetta against him. Vinta arrives and admits that she is not the real Vinta, only the ty'iga possessing her. |
| 7 | Luke tells Merlin that when Jasra had returned to the Keep of the Four Worlds, she must have accidentally freed Sharu Garrul while trying to accrue additional power to attack Ghostwheel (actually she was captured by Julia). Jasra had then called out to Luke to rescue her, in turn prompting Luke to ask Dalt for help. During the siege on the Keep, Dalt had turned against Luke unexpectedly. Merlin takes Luke to the blue crystal cave so he has time to heal. |
| 8 | Merle departs Arbor House and heads towards Amber. |
| 9 | Memory episodes from the past: Fiona takes Merlin to visit Corwin’s primal Pattern. He learns that no one is able to walk this Pattern, and notes that the center is hidden by a fog. Merlin however seems to be the only one able to step on the Pattern. Jurt attempts to kill Merlin, but is himself injured (blinded in one eye). Luke, Merle and their girlfriends Gail and Julia discuss the difference between morality and duty (Luke claims they are the same). Before Merle departs for Amber as a youth, his Uncle Suhuy shows him how to use the brute force of Chaos as a destructive force. |
| 10 | On the way to Amber, Merlin repels the attack of a clumsy werewolf (later revealed to be Jurt), but the werewolf trumps away. After lunch with Bill Roth in Amber, Merlin finds some time at his father’s cenotaph in order to prepare some spells for future use. |
| 11 | Merlin walks Amber’s Pattern and at its center ports to the Keep of the Four Worlds. There, he finds both Jasra and Sharu Garrul frozen. A wizard named Mask (later revealed as Julia) attacks, but Merlin uses a flower-manure spell on him and trumps back to Amber with the spell-frozen Jasra. |
| 12 | A trump-whirlwind appears in the palace and Merlin makes contact with a somewhat dazed Luke through the maelstrom. Thankful for the liberation of his mother Jasra, Luke reveals that Dalt is the son of Oberon and Deela, and that Dalt is planning to attack Amber with the pink gunpowder. Merlin is then drawn into the trump-whirlwind and imprisoned in an Alice in Wonderland tableaux. |
| Sign of Chaos | |
| 1 | Merlin dispatches a hostile Bandersnatch, but a Fire Angel then appears (sent by Jurt). A Jabberwock attacks the Fire Angel, giving Merlin time to flee from the tableaux with Luke. The Fire Angel pursues but is delayed by the Jabberwock. |
| 2 | After defeating the Fire Angel with the Vorpal Sword, Merlin leaves Luke to give him time to fully recover from the Alice drug trip. Back in Amber, Merle invites his Chaos step-brother Mandor over to discuss the situation. Fiona brings them to the site of a black shadow-tornado. |
| 3 | Fiona believes that Corwin’s primal Pattern is causing ripple effects throughout shadow and asks Merle to walk Corwin's Pattern so that she can further study it. Mandor uses Chaos magic to prove that the tornado is more related to Chaos than the Pattern. While Mandor and Fiona continue investigating, Merlin returns to Amber and learns that Random has placed a proxy ruler in Kashfa after the sudden death of its last ruler (possibly by Random’s order). A concerned delegation from Kashfa’s neighboring kingdom Begma arrives and Vialle and Llewella entertain them. |
| 4 | Merlin takes the Begman minister’s daughter Coral on a walk on the side of Kolvir, believing that she is possessed by the Entity. Merlin executes an exorcising spell but it only knocks out two hidden zombies, who were being controlled by a nearby Jurt. Jurt escapes by trumping out to Mask (Julia). |
| 5 | Coral insists on being taken to see the Pattern. She begins walking it and confesses that her father was Oberon. When she reaches the center she asks the Pattern to send her wherever it wants. She then disappears from view. |
| 6 | Fully sobered-up, Luke contacts Merlin and offers to help him attack Mask and Jurt at the Keep if Jasra is revived. He also warns Merlin that Mask is probably preparing Jurt for immersion in the Fount of Power. |
| 7 | During dinner, Coral’s sister Nayda offers Merlin her “services” – she is willing to remove any “obstacles” or enemies for him through some secret weapon. Bill tells Merlin that Kashfa and Begma are both vying for the shared border territory of Eregnor, and that Random has given his support to Kashfa. |
| 8 | Vialle tells Merlin that Dalt has led an invasion force to the Forest of Arden. Merlin brings Luke over to Julian's camp in order to arrange a meeting between Dalt and Luke. |
| 9 | Luke and Dalt have a hand to hand duel. Luke loses and Dalt retreats from Arden with Luke’s unconscious body. Merlin runs into Nayda and learns that she had recently recovered from a heart attack. She again pledges her help to Merlin. |
| 10 | Merlin tries to reach Coral but she seems to be trapped somewhere. Mandor returns to Amber and places Nayda in a spell, revealing her to be the ty’iga. Merlin revives Jasra, hoping that she will help him and Mandor attack the Keep. |
| 11 | Jasra agrees to help. Ghostwheel transports Merlin, Mandor and Jasra to the Keep. At the Fount of Power, they are attacked by a power-enhanced Jurt. |
| 12 | A climactic battle ensues between Merlin, Jurt, Jasra and Mask (Julia). Mask revives Sharu Garrul, who immediately attacks Jasra. Jasra bites Jurt and Merlin stabs Mask. Mandor causes the Fount to overflow. As Jurt retreats with an injured Mask, Merlin realizes that Mask is actually Julia. |
| Knight of Shadows | |
| 1 | After Jasra defeats Sharu Garrul (cursing him to be the Guardian of the Fount), she, Merlin and Mandor have dinner and discuss Julia’s latent magical abilities, which Merlin had in the past tried to dismiss. |
| 2 | Jasra explains that she had initiated Julia into the sorcerous arts by having her walk a shadow Pattern (the Way of the Broken Pattern). She reasons that Julia had faked her death to fool her and Melman, and since then has been taunting Merlin because of his initial dismissal of her when they were dating. Jasra offers to help find Coral. |
| 3 | Ghostwheel offers to help as well. They see Coral imprisoned in a circle of fire. Ghostwheel becomes afraid of the power (the Pattern) holding Coral prisoner and sends Merlin off to a remote cave. There, he is visited by copies (Pattern ghosts) of Dworkin, Oberon and Corwin. Corwin gets through Merlin’s wards and they duel. Corwin knocks him out and Merlin awakens in a visually-reversed (negative polarity) world. He summons the Logrus and is knocked out again by an explosion. |
| 4 | Merlin realizes that the Logrus has given Frakir sentience and voice. Frakir tells Merlin that he is being tested in a land between Order and Chaos. They are faced with challenges while on a directed path through the region. |
| 5 | Frakir tells Merlin that he is in the "underside of reality", where the Pattern and the Logrus are each struggling to gain power. Merlin encounters various tableaus of Brand and Deirdre sacrificing each other at an altar. He meets each of them individually and learns that the Pattern can create “Pattern ghosts” to do its bidding. They each try to obtain Merlin’s blood but then fade away into whirlwinds before stabilizing. |
| 6 | Merlin encounters Pattern/Logrus ghosts of Jurt, Caine and Lord Borel of Chaos. Caine and Borel are dispatched, but Merlin gives ghost Jurt an infusion of blood and manages to stabilize him. They become allies. |
| 7 | Merlin is briefly ported to Random's aprtment in Amber and instructed to retrieve the Jewel of Judgement from its hiding place. Back in the negative-polarity underworld, a ghost Borel reappears (summoned by the Logrus), but a Pattern ghost of Benedict appears to face Borel. Merlin and ghost Jurt continue on until they reach a Broken Pattern holding Coral at its center. The Pattern indicates that Merlin must walk the Broken Pattern to rescue Coral (repairing the Broken Pattern). |
| 8 | While walking and repairing the Broken Pattern, a Logrus ghost of Merlin himself appears. Ghost Jurt kills the ghost Merlin but is destroyed himself in the process. After Merlin reaches and breaks Coral out of her spell (in an uncomfortably intimate affair) they are ported to Amber’s Pattern. Dworkin visits Merlin in his room and warns him against the Pattern. |
| 9 | Merlin attunes himself to the Jewel of Judgement in order to help repel the Pattern’s attacks. He returns to his room in Amber to find that Coral has accidentally revived the ty’iga inside Nayda. Mandor arrives and in the confusion Nayda tears the Jewel of Judgement away from Merlin. |
| 10 | Nayda calls forth the Sign of the Logrus in order to return the Jewel of Judgement to its original owner the Serpent of Chaos, but the Sign of the Pattern materializes as well and they argue over ownership of the Jewel. Ghostwheel appears and whisks Nayda and the Jewel away and the two Powers meet in an explosion, damaging the castle. After being rescued by Dworkin, Merlin later receives the Jewel from Ghostwheel (Nayda wanders off into shadow, no longer bound to Dara’s spell). Random informs Merlin that Luke and Dalt have retaken Kashfa (displacing Random’s representative) and that Luke soon will be crowned King Rinaldo. Random asks Merlin to attend the coronation to smooth things over with their former enemy. |
| 11 | The Corridor of Mirrors takes Merlin on a vision where he is attacked by Dara, Julia, Jurt and Coral, but rescued by Corwin. After the vision, Merlin discovers a hidden ring of power (spikard) in Brand’s room. He also learns that Dworkin has sent Coral to Kashfa. |
| 12 | Merlin ports to Kashfa to meet with Luke, who is unhappy with the idea of becoming King of Kashfa. Jurt attacks, but Merlin is able to counter-attack his Keep-enhanced powers with the help of the spikard. Coral appears and Jurt tries to take her hostage, but she repels Jurt with the Jewel of Judgement (which Dworkin had embedded in her head as one of her eyes). Coral reveals that she is Luke’s wife. |
| Prince of Chaos | |
| 1 | Merlin attends the coronation of Luke as King of Kashfa and learns that Coral was promised as his wife in an arranged marriage to smooth over the Eregnor situation. A Chaos demon named Gryll arrives and takes Merlin back to the Courts of Chaos, where he is greeted by his Uncle Suhuy. He learns that King Swayvill of Chaos has finally died. |
| 2 | Mandor arrives and tells Merlin that he is 3rd in line for the throne (due to a plethora of recent assassinations). Dara arrives and Merlin rebukes her for forcing the ty’iga to watch over him (although she remains unrepentant). During a dream, Merlin revisits the Corridor of Mirrors and imagines brief conversations with all of his friends and enemies. |
| 3 | Ghostwheel asks to visit the Logrus and Merlin gives it a trail to follow to its location. Merlin tries Corwin’s Trump but a black bird flies out of it, warning him away. During breakfast, Mandor wonders if the Logrus and the Pattern both desire Merlin on the throne of Chaos. |
| 4 | Mandor reveals that he would be happy to see Merlin on the throne. While taking a walk, Merlin is visited by a Pattern ghost of Luke. Merlin gives it his blood so that it can stabilize. A Logrus ghost of Duke Borel appears. |
| 5 | A Pattern ghost of Corwin appears and dispatches the ghost Borel. He then takes ghost Luke and Merlin to Corwin’s Pattern (revealing himself to be created by Corwin’s Pattern). He has ghost Luke and Merlin both walk Corwin’s Pattern and the ghost Luke volunteers to guard Corwin’s Pattern. Merlin returns to a shadow near the Courts where he runs into his childhood serpent friend Glait. Glait leads him to a passage which connects to a chapel and altar where both Chaos and Order manifest symbols. |
| 6 | The chapel is revealed to be a Chaos altar to Corwin. Merlin meets Dara and asks him where the real Corwin is, but she evades him with a riddle answer. Ghostwheel appears after having traversed the Logrus. The Sign of Logrus pursues it, but Merlin promises to help maintain the balance if the Logrus leaves Ghostwheel alone. Merlin and Ghostwheel port to Sawall’s sculpture garden (the Maze of Art). |
| 7 | Jurt arrives and calls a truce with Merlin, realizing that the struggle between the Logrus and the Pattern presents a greater threat than their personal differences. Julia is also at the Courts but is no longer angry with Merlin. Jurt tells Merlin that Dara is plotting to kidnap Coral in order to make her Merlin’s Queen when he is on the throne (with the Jewel of Judgement held in Chaos, the Logrus would also be much stronger). Jurt and Merlin sneak out to Kashfa during Swayvill’s funeral to tell Luke. |
| 8 | Luke agrees to help Merlin search for Coral (who has been kidnapped and taken away on a Black Road). Merlin arranges for Jurt to become temporary guardian of Corwin’s Pattern so that Rinaldo (Pattern ghost Luke) can substitute as Kashfa’s King. While Luke briefs Rinaldo (with Nayda now present as well) Merlin returns to the Courts of Chaos to attend the end of Swayvill’s funeral (at the Cathedral of the Serpent at the outer edge of the Plaza at the End of the World). |
| 9 | Another assassination occurs during Swayvill’s funeral, putting Merlin directly in line for the throne. While exploring the chapel altar to Corwin with a childhood friend, Dara approaches, forceing them to flee. Later Merlin joins Luke, Dalt and Nayda on the Black Road, tracking Coral through Nayda’s mental connection with her sister. |
| 10 | The foursome come across a tower where Coral is held by Chaos agents. The Pattern materializes Pattern ghosts of Benedict, Gérard, Eric and Caine to attack the tower (and acquire the Jewel). Merlin manages to sneak Coral and the Jewel out of the tower in the confrontation. The Sign of the Pattern dismisses the Amberite Pattern ghosts and ports the five of them to the plateau of the primal Pattern as prisoners. Merlin threatens the Pattern by holding a fistful of blood above the image of the primal Pattern. |
| 11 | Luke holds the Pattern hostage (using his own blood held over the primal Pattern) allowing Merlin and the others to leave (although later Luke manages to escape when he pretends to accidentally spill some of his blood on the primal Pattern). Merlin eventually ports to Corwin’s Pattern to wait for its ghost Corwin’s return (to help mount a rescue of the real Corwin). During a vision, Merlin learns from a lost Amber sibling named Delwin that the spikard was originally a trap set by Dara and Mandor to make whomever wears it desire the throne of Chaos as their puppet. However, Bleys had switched it with an un-tampered-with spikard before Merlin had found it. The Logrus tries to destroy Corwin’s Pattern with an earthquake, but Merlin uses the spikard to repair the fault line. As the Logrus and the Pattern continue their attacks on each other in the realms of shadow, Merlin uses the spikard to port himself and the ghost Corwin to the Courts of Chaos to seek out the real Corwin. |
| 12 | They find Corwin’s prison hidden inside Dara’s Corwin altar in Sawall’s sculpture garden. Corwin’s ghost takes Corwin’s place in the cell in order to prevent arousing suspicion from Dara and Mandor. Merlin leaves Corwin in Jurt’s room and has a brief reunion with a now-friendly Julia. Later, he returns to Sawall’s sculpture garden where he summonses Mandor and Dara. After revealing that he knows that they had tried to enslave him, he is forced to use the spikard to defend himself against their attack. When the Sign of the Logrus appears to turn the tide, Ghostwheel appears, allowing a stalemate. Merlin agrees to rule Chaos but not as a puppet under Mandor and Dara. Merlin uses the spikard to help send Corwin back to Amber to update Random on the new political situation. |
| Amber Short Stories | |
| Prologue to Trumps Of Doom (1985) | |
| Merlin walks the Logrus and the rope around his wrist gains sentience. His uncle reprimands him for walking the Logrus without his guidance, but Merlin assures him of his confidence. | |
| The Salesman's Tale (1994) | |
| After escaping the Pattern (by pretending to spill Amberite blood on the primal Pattern) Luke rests at the Pattern-proof blue crystal cave. He retrieves his father’s sword Werewindle from Shadow and then trumps to Vialle in Amber in order to update her and Random on current events. Vialle uses the statues of the Tongue, Memory, Desire, Caution, Risk, Heart, Head, and Chance to divine a prophecy warning of the return of ancient powers. Vialle recommends Luke contact the remote Amber sibling Delwin to ask about the remaining spikards. Delwin defers after he learns of Luke’s maternal parentage. Luke decides to wait for Corwin to arrive from the Courts of Chaos. | |
| Blue Horse Dancing Mountains (1995) | |
| Corwin rides the Chaos mount Shask towards Amber on the way back from the Courts of Chaos. During a rest stop in the Dancing Mountains, Corwin gets the opportunity to spy on Dworkin and Suhuy engage in chess match with pieces representing the members of the royal families (as well as dangerous elements such as a Fire Angel). Corwin learns that he must race to Amber and explore the Hall of Mirrors in order to learn clues to what happens next. | |
| The Shroudling and the Guisel (1994) | |
| At Mandor’s guest house, Merlin has an intimate encounter with his first love Rhanda, who he learns is actually a vampiric shroudling whose race exists in reflections inside mirrors, spying on (and feasting on) members of the outside world. She warns him of an unrevealed enemy who has found a way into the mirror realm and brought with him a destructive guiseling. Merlin enters the mirror world and with the help of his old friend Kergma the living equation defeats the guiseling with the Vorpal Sword. He sends the guiseling’s twin back to its master, in the hope of forcing his hidden enemy to reveal himself in a confrontation. | |
| Coming to a Cord (1995) | |
| Frakir untangles itself from the bedpost in Brand’s room and visits Flora. The mysterious mirror sorcerer reveals himself to Flora and wonders if she can help him fight off the guisel Merlin had sent back to target him. Luke arrives and uses Werewindle to destroy the guisel. The mystery sorcerer escapes. Frakir reveals that Werewindle was originally a spikard named Rawg. | |
| Hall of Mirrors (1996) | |
| While riding Shask through shadow, Corwin is accosted by some thugs but soon learns that his passage through the Dancing Mountains has rendered his body and sword intangible. Arriving at Amber, he runs into Luke, and the two of them are drawn to the Hall of Mirrors. Inside they encounter visions of Jasra, Oberon, Eric, Deirdre and Dara. Greyswandir and Werewindle are both revealed to have originally been spikards. Corwin and Luke are eventually led to a meadow where they are involuntarily forced to duel each other. When they each score severe injuries on the other, Mandor and Fiona appear as witnesses (and possible instigators). Corwin and Luke later wake up in Amber’s infirmary and Flora suggests that the recent manifestations of the Hall of Mirrors is a sign of the castle itself waking up. | |
| An Amber Timeline | |
| 1 | Dworkin escapes from the Courts of Chaos and encounters a Unicorn. The Unicorn gives him the Jewel of Judgement (Eye of the Serpent, patron of the Logrus), which he uses to inscribe the primal Pattern (creating Amber and its shadows). |
| 2 | Eleven spikards are created, each with the ability to draw massive amounts of raw power from different regions of shadow. Two are shaped into swords (Greyswandir and Werewindle). |
| 3 | Oberon is born (to Dworkin and the Unicorn?). He becomes King of Amber. In his travels throughout Shadow he produces nine sons - Princes of Amber. |
| 4 | Dworkin discovers that if his blood is spilled on the primal Pattern it will damage it, causing a proportional amount of carnage to Amber. |
| 5 | Prince Delwin becomes guardian of most of the spikards, although a couple remain at the Courts of Chaos. |
| 6 | Prince Corwin becomes ruler over the shadow realm of Avalon. During his reign he exiles an errant subordinate named Ganelon, who eventually ends up in Lorraine. |
| 7 | Prince Eric injures Corwin in a showdown in Arden and deposits him in an amnesiac state on Earth during the Black Plague (16th C.). Another child of Oberon, Flora, begins keeping tabs on Corwin's mental state on behalf of Eric. |
| 8 | Dalt is born as an illegitimate son to Oberon and Deela the Desacratrix. |
| 9 | While defending Begma, Deela is killed in a battle with Prince Bleys. Dalt seeks revenge on Amber but is defeated by Amber's weapons-master, Prince Benedict. |
| 10 | A servant from shadow named Jasra becomes a maid-companion to Lady Dara of the Courts of Chaos. Dara initiates Jasra into the ways of Chaos sorcery. |
| 11 | Jasra becomes ruler of Kashfa. |
| 12 | As part of a plan to help the Logrus gain leverage over the Pattern, Dara arranges for Jasra to meet Amber’s Prince Brand at the Courts of Chaos. They marry and have a child named Rinaldo. |
| 13 | Jasra, Rinaldo and Dalt defeat Sharu Garrul to gain control of the Keep of the Four Worlds, where the Fount of Power resides. |
| 14 | Brand turns himself into a “living Trump” when he absorbs power from the Fount of Power (but loses some of his sanity). |
| 15 | Under the influence of the Courts of Chaos, Brand conscripts Fiona and Bleys in a plan to remove King Oberon and then allow Amber to be attacked by “mysterious forces” (giving Bleys an excuse to take the throne as Amber’s “defender”). |
| 16 | Brand locates and reaches Prince Random’s long-lost son Martin with a newly-painted Trump, and uses his Amberite blood to damage the primal Pattern (a trick learned from his studies with Dworkin). This creates an opening for Chaos to forge the Black Road to Amber (gaining leverage for the Logrus). |
| 17 | Oberon searches for a way to repair the primal Pattern. Dworkin (mentally-damaged from the blot on the primal Pattern) recommends erasing it and reinscribing a brand new one. Realizing this would destroy Amber, Oberon imprisons him in a cave, and leaves a griffin named Wix to guard the primal Pattern. |
| 18 | Baited to take up a fruitless quest for a tool to restore the damaged primal Pattern, Oberon is ambushed by Brand and imprisoned at the Courts of Chaos, leaving the throne of Amber vacant. |
| 19 | The damaged primal Pattern results in a Black Circle surfacing near Lorraine. Also, near Avalon, hellmaids attack from caves, distracting Benedict from the political intrigue at Amber (and possibly interfering with Bleys’ planned role as Amber’s “hero”). |
| 20 | Benedict defeats the hellmaids’ leader Lintra, but loses his arm. |
| 21 | Near the Courts of Chaos, Dara meets the injured Martin. She claims that she is descended from Benedict and Lintra (which would be impossible if the hellmaids' invasion was initiated through Dara's own plotting). Charmed by the boy, she helps Oberon escape from the Courts of Chaos. |
| 22 | Brand tries to enlist Prince Caine to help facilitate his coup of the throne, but Caine exposes him to Prince Eric and Prince Julian. With Oberon still missing, Eric declares himself regent ruler by birth. |
| 23 | Brand has a vision on Tir-na Nog’th that Corwin will return and up-end their plans. Brand reads Eric’s mind to ascertain Corwin’s location and then uses shock therapy on him in the hope of completely erasing his memories. When the treatment instead begins restoring his memories, Brand tries to have Corwin killed in a car accident. Bleys prevents Brand from finishing Corwin off after the car crash. |
| 24 | Realizing Brand is being used as a pawn of Chaos, Fiona and Bleys imprison Brand in a shadow tower (although they keep him alive, hoping to learn how to reverse the damage done to the primal Pattern). |
| 25 | Eric and Flora keep Corwin sedated at Greenwood Private Hospital. |
| 26 | Brand mentally contacts Random for help. Random’s rescue mission fails, and he is pursued through shadow by Chaos agents. |
| 27 | Corwin escapes from Greenwood. He helps Random fight off the Chaos agents at Flora’s mansion in Westchester. |
| 28 | After evading Julian in the Forest of Arden and rescuing Deirdre from Eric’s guards, Corwin goes to the Pattern in Rebma to restore his full memory. |
| 29 | Corwin and Bleys attack Amber in order to dethrone Eric. Their attack fails and Eric officially crowns himself King. Corwin is blinded and imprisoned for 4 years (which also puts him out of reach of Fiona and Bleys). |
| 30 | Chaos forces begin ramping up their attacks along the Black Road to Amber (in part empowered by Corwin's death curse). Gérard and Julian are injured on the Black Road and recover in Avalon under Benedict’s care. |
| 31 | Oberon hatches a plan to have Corwin and Dara conceive of an heir derived from both Amber and Chaos, hoping to bridge the two realms. In Lorraine, he kills Ganelon and takes his identity, believing that Corwin will eventually return there (he wishes to test Corwin’s worthiness to be King). |
| 32 | Corwin escapes Amber with the help of Dworkin and ends up in Lorraine fighting the Black Circle with Ganelon (Oberon). After the Black Circle is destroyed, they head for Avalon. |
| 33 | Corwin comes across Benedict in the field, cleaning up after victory over the hellmaids. Corwin continues on to Avalon. |
| 34 | In Avalon, Ganelon (Oberon) secretly kills Benedict’s servants so that Dara can rendezvous with Corwin. |
| 35 | Corwin and Dara have an intimate dalliance. |
| 36 | Corwin escapes Benedict’s pursuit and forms an armed militia out of shadow. |
| 37 | Corwin’s armed forces arrive at Amber just as Eric and his brothers are defending the city against a Chaos army from the Black Road. Corwin adds his forces to the defense of Amber, turning the tide. Eric dies from battle wounds and from use of the Jewel of Judgement. |
| 38 | Dara walks the Pattern (gaining power over shadow) and then ports to the Courts of Chaos. |
| 39 | At the Courts of Chaos, Dara gives birth to Corwin's son and names him Merlin. |
| 40 | In Amber, Caine fakes his own death and tries to have Corwin incriminated. |
| 41 | Corwin attunes himself to the Jewel of Judgement by walking Amber’s Pattern. |
| 42 | Brand is rescued from his shadow tower prison by a family group Trump contact. However he is stabbed (by Fiona) in the confusion. |
| 43 | Caine uses the pattern to port to Corwin’s apartment and tries to kill him but fails (although Corwin is seriously injured). |
| 44 | Corwin hides the Jewel of Judgement at his home on Earth. |
| 45 | Corwin ascends to Tir-na Nog’th in order to buy time for his wounds to heal. He comes down with a mechanical arm cut from a ghost-Benedict. |
| 46 | Descending from the peak of Kolvir, Ganelon (Oberon) manipulates shadow so that Corwin encounters the Unicorn and discovers the primal Pattern. Ganelon (Oberon) retrieves Martin’s blood-stained Trump from the center of the Pattern. Random goes in search of Martin. |
| 47 | Corwin visits Dworkin, who explains that the primal Pattern must be destroyed and then reinscribed from scratch in order to repair it. Dworkin begins to lose control of his sanity and Corwin is forced to escape to the Courts of Chaos on a strange Trump. |
| 48 | After briefly meeting Merlin (although not recognizing him as his son), Corwin Trumps back to Amber. |
| 49 | A recovered Brand asks Corwin for the Jewel of Judgement so that he can stop Fiona and Bleys (in reality he plans to use the Jewel to inscribe a new Pattern to make himself ruler of Amber). Corwin is skeptical and refuses. |
| 50 | Caine tries to kill Brand but fails. Brand travels to Earth to search for the Jewel of Judgement at Corwin’s home.. |
| 51 | Corwin is too late to prevent Brand’s acquisition of the Jewel and so has the Patterns in Amber and Rebma guarded (preventing Brand from attuning himself to the Jewel). |
| 52 | With Fiona’s help, Corwin stops Brand while he is trying to walk the primal Pattern, but Brand escapes. |
| 53 | Random returns to Amber with Martin. Ganelon (Oberon) hatches a plan to stop Brand at the sky-Pattern of Tir-na Nog’th. Benedict stops Brand in Tir-na Nog’th with the help of his mechanical arm, but Brand escapes again. Ganelon reveals himself to be Oberon. |
| 54 | In a strange tableaux in the throne room, Benedict loses his mechanical arm to a ghost-Corwin (re-enacting the scene from Tir-na Nog’th). |
| 55 | Oberon orders Benedict to prepare an attack on the Courts of Chaos as a distraction to allow him the time to repair the Pattern with the Jewel of Judgement (and erase the Black Road). |
| 56 | Oberon orders Corwin to hellride to the Courts of Chaos in order to create a more leisurely time differential for himself. This will give Oberon time to repair the Pattern, after which he will have a red raven (derived from Corwin’s blood) deliver the Jewel to Corwin while en route to the Courts of Chaos. Corwin can then use the Jewel to shield everyone from the resulting Chaos wave. |
| 57 | Oberon uses the Jewel of Judgement to repair the primal Pattern but dies from the effort. A destructive Chaos wave begins rippling out from the repaired/reset primal Pattern (but erasing the Black Road). The red raven delivers the Jewel of Judgement to Corwin in the middle of his hellride. |
| 58 | Prevented from reaching the Courts of Chaos by several attacks from Brand and other Chaos agents, Corwin uses the Jewel to inscribe a new Pattern himself on a remote plateau. However, Brand manages to obtain the Jewel immediately afterwards. Corwin uses his new Pattern to port to the Courts of Chaos. |
| 59 | Benedict and his siblings begin their attack on the Chaos army outside the Courts of Chaos. Brand attempts to use the Jewel of Judgement against Benedict’s forces. The siblings corner Brand but he holds Deirdre hostage. Corwin and Caine cause Brand to fall into the Chaos abyss, but Brand takes Deirdre down with him. |
| 60 | Oberon’s funeral procession appears and heads off beyond the Courts of Chaos. |
| 61 | The Unicorn emerges from the abyss and gifts Random with the Jewel of Judgement, appointing him King of Amber. Random protects everyone from the Chaos wave using the Jewel of Judgement. |
| 62 | Corwin visits the citadel of the Courts of Chaos. |
| 63 | Dara ambushes Corwin and secretly imprisons him in Sawall’s Maze of Art sculpture garden. |
| 64 | With Jasra busy ruling over the Keep of the Four Worlds, Kashfa comes under control of Jasra’s betrayed brother-in-law, Kasman. |
| 65 | Kasman hires Dalt to lay siege to Jasra and the Keep of the Four Worlds. |
| 66 | Merlin studies on Earth. |
| 67 | In San Francisco, Brand’s son Rinaldo (posing as “Luke Raynard”) tries to assassinate Merlin every April 30, the anniversary of the date that he had learned of his father’s death. |
| 68 | After becoming friends with Merlin, Luke ends his vendetta against Merlin (but not Amber). Jasra picks up the yearly murder attempts in his stead. |
| 69 | Dara assigns a ty’iga to watch over Merlin. Unsure of which Earth-based son of Amber is Merlin, she begins tracking both Luke and Merlin. She also protects Merlin from Jasra’s yearly assassination attempts. |
| 70 | Merlin inspires his girlfriend Julia to explore sorcery after impulsively taking her on a shadow-walk. |
| 71 | Julia begins studying with Melman, a seedy conjurer who is an acolyte of Jasra. |
| 72 | Luke begins manufacturing Amber-ignitable gunpowder in a warehouse near Melman’s studio. |
| 73 | Jasra has Julia walk a Broken Pattern (shadow Pattern near Amber), giving her minor powers over shadow. Julia travels to the Keep and attacks Melman to test her powers. |
| 74 | Merlin begins building Ghostwheel, an AI device which can scan shadow and port people/things from place to place. Luke sees the designs on Merlin’s desk and becomes curious. |
| 75 | Betraying Jasra, Julia fakes her own death in order to buy time to prepare a trap for Jasra at the Keep. |
| 76 | Seeking information about Julia’s apparent death, Merlin tracks down Melman and kills him by accident. Jasra attacks Merlin at Melman’s studio. |
| 77 | Luke musters a personal army in New Mexico to attack Amber with. |
| 78 | Luke assassinates Caine. |
| 79 | Luke tries to kill Bleys and fails. |
| 80 | Dalt learns of Luke’s pink gunpowder, and plans to later attack Amber with it. |
| 81 | A mysterious “entity” (the ty’iga) tries to warn Merlin about Luke in Santa Fe. |
| 82 | In Amber, Luke sets off a bomb during Caine’s funeral procession. |
| 83 | Merlin heads towards Ghostwheel to deactivate it under Random’s orders. On the way he is captured and imprisoned by Luke in a blue cave. Luke heads off to try and gain control of Ghostwheel for his own purposes. |
| 84 | Jasra visits Merlin’s crystal prison intending to force him to help Luke gain mastery over Ghostwheel. Merlin turns the tables and escapes. |
| 85 | Jasra returns to the Keep to collect power to attack Ghostwheel, but is ambushed and imprisoned by Julia (now also known as Mask). |
| 86 | Luke and Dalt lay siege to the Keep in order to liberate Jasra. The attack fails and Luke flees to Merlin at Vinta Bayle’s house. |
| 87 | Luke tries again to rescue Jasra in a hang-glider mission but is captured and drugged by Julia. |
| 88 | Jurt attacks Merlin in the form of a werewolf but is repelled. |
| 89 | Merlin rescues Jasra from the Keep intending to use her as leverage against Luke, and leaves her frozen at Amber. |
| 90 | While helping Luke revive from his Alice in Wonderland drug trip, he is attacked by a Fire Angel sent by Jurt. |
| 91 | After a coup in Kashfa, Random supports a new ruler with his backing. A nervous Begman PM visits Amber. |
| 92 | Jurt tries to attack Merlin on Kolvir with zombies but fails again. |
| 93 | Still hurt by Merlin’s lack of trust in her, Julia helps Jurt becomes a “human trump” through the Keep's Fount of Power. |
| 94 | Coral walks the Pattern in Amber. The Sign of the Pattern imprisons her in Jasra’s Broken Pattern. |
| 95 | The ty'iga entity (now possessing Nayda, the Begman PM’s resurrected daughter) offers her help to Merlin. |
| 96 | Luke conspires with Dalt to retake Kashfa in order to restore Jasra as its ruler. |
| 97 | Merlin revives Jasra, and attacks the Keep with her and Mandor. Merlin finds out that Mask is actually Julia (although Julia and Jurt escape). |
| 98 | Using Coral as bait, the Pattern forces Merlin to repair Jasra’s Broken Pattern (helping it gain additional leverage over the Logrus) |
| 99 | The Nayda ty’iga tries to return the Jewel of Judgement to the Sign of the Logrus, but Ghostwheel intercepts it and passes it to Dworkin (who gives it to Coral). |
| 100 | Luke retakes Kashfa with Dalt’s help and finds himself stuck on the throne. |
| 101 | King Swayvill of Chaos dies. |
| 102 | Jurt and Julia call off their feud with Merlin. |
| 103 | Luke appoints a Pattern ghost of himself to rule over Kashfa. |
| 104 | Merlin rescues Coral from Chaos agents, preventing either Power from gaining leverage through the Jewel. |
| 105 | Merlin frees Corwin from Dara’s prison. |
| 106 | Merlin agrees to become the King of Chaos, but defies Dara and Mandor's attempts to control him. |
| 107 | Merlin defeats a guiseling in the mirror realm. He sends it back towards its sorcerer master, a new competitor for the throne. |
| 108 | In Amber, Luke saves Flora and the mysterious sorcerer from the guiseling using Werewindle. |
| 109 | Corwin and Luke visit the Hall of Mirrors and discover a plot involving Mandor and Fiona, and possibly Castle Amber itself. |
| Major Events During Corwin and Merlin’s Journals (by Volume) | |
| 1 | Nine Princes in Amber: An amnesiac Corwin slowly regains his memory and then mounts an attack on Amber with the help of his brother Bleys. He fails and is imprisoned, but later escapes with his grandfather Dworkin’s help. |
| 2 | The Guns Of Avalon: Corwin helps a former ally named Ganelon defeat the malignant Black Circle in Lorraine. After gathering supplies in Avalon (ruled by his brother Benedict), he musters an armed force to attack Amber with firearms. When he arrives, he instead saves Amber from an invading Chaos army coming down the Black Road. |
| 3 | Sign of the Unicorn: Corwin and his siblings work together to rescue their missing brother Brand. Corwin discovers the existence of a “primal Pattern”. |
| 4 | The Hand Of Oberon: Brand is revealed as the true enemy when he attempts to gain control of the Jewel of Judgement to remake reality with himself as its ruler. After Benedict stops him in Tir-na Nog’th, Ganelon is revealed to be the missing King Oberon. |
| 5 | The Courts of Chaos: While Oberon repairs the primal Pattern, Corwin creates a new Pattern using the Jewel of Judgement. Brand is defeated at the Courts of Chaos and Random becomes King of Amber. |
| 6 | The Trumps of Doom: Brand’s son Luke seeks vengeance on the Amberites, although Merlin seems to be under the protection of various mysterious characters. The AI Ghostwheel, afraid of its creator, attacks Merlin to keep him from reaching it. Weakened, Merlin is captured and imprisoned by Luke. |
| 7 | Blood of Amber: Merlin and Luke call off their feud when Luke’s mother Jasra is captured at the Keep of the Four Worlds by a masked sorcerer. Merlin’s secret protector is revealed as a possessing spirit. Merlin’s jealous brother Jurt begins mounting attacks on Merlin. Merlin and Ghostwheel make peace and Merlin retrieves Jasra from the Keep. |
| 8 | Sign of Chaos: Merlin helps Luke escape from a “drug trip” prison set by Julia. Oberon’s illegitimate daughter Coral walks the Pattern and the Pattern takes her hostage. Merlin, Mandor and Jasra drive Jurt and Julia (the masked sorcerer) from the Keep of the Four Worlds. |
| 9 | Knight of Shadows: Merlin becomes trapped in a strange realm where he becomes a pawn in the power struggle between the Logrus and the Pattern. The Pattern releases Coral only after Merlin repairs a “Broken Pattern”. In Kashfa, just after Luke is made the new King, a magically-enhanced Jurt attacks (but is repulsed). |
| 10 | Prince of Chaos: The Logrus and the Pattern each try to obtain the Jewel of Judgement through living pawns and “ghosts constructs”. Jurt (and Julia) both end their vendettas on Merlin. Mandor and Dara try to manipulate Merlin into becoming the new King of Chaos (and under their control). Merlin defeats them and rescues Corwin from Dara’s prison. |
