Roger Zelazny's fantasy masterpiece The Chronicles of Amber: A Picture-Primer

[cimorene]

Just finished rereading the first "five-book trilogy" of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber in an omnibus with a pretty awesome cover. I discovered to my dismay that the second quintilogy (or Merlin cycle) has never been released in its own omnibus (only part of a bigger 10-book one), so I'm going to be hunting used books soon.

I've spent several weeks obsessively compiling a fantasy cast for the series. This was necessary to get through the whole thousand or so pages of it, because it's a true epic full of twists and turns, tangled interpersonal drama, and a large ensemble cast. The first book's called Nine Princes in Amber, and that's just the princes: there are four sisters and a non-prince brother, too, as well as other important characters.

So this is kind of an introduction to Roger Zelazny's fantasy masterpiece (a ten-volume universe published from 1970 to 1991 that's spawned rpgs and professional fanfic), combined with a picspam, combined with quotes in support of my casting rationale. An entirely self-involved enterprise, but it'd be a big waste not to post it now after all that work. So without further ado,

The Chronicles of Amber: A Picture-Primer, or




I. The premise: Infinite parallel realities, and their source

The series is based on the concept of parallel worlds, with the kingdoms at the extreme ends of Shadow - Amber, the one true world of order, and the Courts of Chaos - battling for dominion over them.

Amber is the one real world, casting infinte reflections of itself - shadow worlds - which can be manipulated by those of royal Amberite blood. But the royal family is torn apart by jealousies and suspicion, and the disappearance of the patriarch, Oberon, has intensified the internal conflict. The throne has been left, it seems, up for grabs, while amnesia has robbed Corwin, Crown Prince of Amber, of his memory - including the fact that he is the rightful heir to the throne.

That's the blurb from the back cover of the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks edition.

A second world, the Courts of Chaos, is situated in Shadow at the very edge of Chaos itself. Royals of Amber who have negotiated the Pattern can freely travel through shadow-worlds. By shifting between shadows, one can appear to alter reality by simply choosing which elements of which shadows to keep, and which to switch between.

There are apparently infinite realities, and the characters in the novels are not sure if these different universes are created as one walks through Shadow, or if they already exist and a Shadow-walker is able to slip from one to another. In the Merlin cycle there are references to the Wheeler-Everret interpretation of quantum-mechanics, and the Ghostwheel created by Merlin is said to "shuffle" through Shadows, suggesting that the multiverse exists independently, although this is never explicitly stated.

Within this multiverse, Zelazny deals with philosophical concepts about the nature of existence, compares and contrasts the ideas of Order and Chaos, and plays with the laws of physics—they can differ from Shadow to Shadow; for instance, gunpowder does not ignite in Amber, which is why the characters all carry swords. Other Shadows have green skies and blue suns, cities of glass and Kentucki Fried Lizzard Partes, and worlds out of our own fiction can come to life.

Modified (for spoilers and grammar) from the Wikipedia entry The Chronicles of Amber; HOWEVER, it is not recommended that you read the Wikipedia article without reading the books first as it contains significant plot spoilers even in the background material, not just the individual plot summaries.


II. Blood of Amber: The Royal Family

The nine princes and four princesses of the royal blood of Amber and their non-prince brother - all the children of King Oberon (obviously echoing the fairy King represented in Shakespeare, but as nearly-omnipotent father-god, he also recalls other mythic figures like Odin; he's more Kronos than Zeus) - are ageless immortals possessed of special abilities and superhuman strength and regenerative abilities, as well as the ability to manipulate shadow.

When the eldest son, Armsmaster Benedict, the greatest swordsman, general, and tactician in all the shadows, loses an arm in battle, he and Crown Prince Corwin are both optimistic that it may grow back with time. Corwin and several siblings recover from severe abdominal wounds over the course of the first quintilogy in several days' time apiece. The red-headed princess Fiona and prince Brand are said to have learned even greater power over shadow in their studies under the Court Philosopher, Dworkin; Corwin calls Fiona "Sorceress".

III. The Trumps

The royal family all carry a special set of Tarot trumps (otherwise known as the Major Arcana) with a key difference - each card shows a lifelike painting of a member of the royal family rendered by the mad scientist-philosopher-artist Dworkin (a character who shows clear echoes of Leonardo DaVinci).

The Trumps can be used by Amberites to contact each other. An Amberite can make telepathic contact with another by holding their card and concentrating on it. They can hold a conversation that only they can hear in this manner, can see each other's physical surroundings, and can even reach out to touch each other and pull each other through, effecting instantaneous inter-dimensional travel through all the worlds of Shadow, all the way to Amber and the Courts of Chaos (thus circumventing the laws that make it impossible to manipulate shadows in Amber itself). This telepathic contact requires cooperation, though; all that is necessary to refuse is to ignore the mental sensation of someone calling, although this can be difficult. The contact is broken by passing one's hand over the trump.


IV. The Cast

1. Corwin
Our protagonist and narrator, Corwin, is played by Rufus Sewell.

I knew the me I shaved and this was the guy behind the mirror. Green eyes, black hair, dressed in black and silver, yes. I had on a cloak and it was slightly furled as by a wind. I had on black boots, like Eric's, and I too wore a blade, only mine was heavier, though not quite as long as his. I had my gloves on and they were silver and scaled. The clasp at my neck was cast in the form of a silver rose.

Me, Corwin.

Corwin is the oldest legitimate offspring of King Oberon. He is known through Amber to the Courts of Chaos for his swordsmanship, and has lived thousands of years in shadow, many of them ruling an Avalon not unlike the one from the King Arthur legend, many more of them on the shadow world otherwise known as Earth or "the real world" to you, the reader. He's big and strong, well-read and crafty, and a very pragmatic narrator. He thinks himself a lover of women, but they nevertheless have rather little effect on his worldview and life story.

2. Random

First introduced as a faithful sidekick for Corwin in Nine Princes in Amber, Random, the youngest brother, proves the next most important character, even taking over narration for a time in the third book, Sign of the Unicorn. He is played by Damian Lewis, who will, however, require a bit of a dye job to turn his ginger hair blond.

The one bore a wily-looking little man, with a sharp nose and a laughing mouth and a shock of straw-colored hair. He was dressed in something like a Renaissance costume of orange, red, and brown. He wore long hose and a tight-fitting embroidered doublet. And I knew him. His name was Random.

Random holds elements of the Trickster. He's also a bit obsessive about card-playing:

He once accused me of cheating at cards, did you know that? And that's about the only thing I wouldn't cheat at. I take my card playing seriously. I'm good and I'm also lucky. Eric was neither.

- Random in Sign of the Unicorn

Although in his youth he sired a bastard son, Martin, on the mermaid-princess daughter of Queen Moire of the underwater kingdom of Rebma, Random's grown up in the interim, and he changes a lot over the course of the quintilogy. His character arc is much more pronounced than Corwin's, so even though Corwin is the narrator and access character, in some ways Random could be considered the true protagonist of the story: he provides the character development.

3. Benedict

The oldest living son of Oberon, Benedict is the greatest general, swordsman and tactician in creation and Armsmaster of Amber, and probably the third most important character. He's not a prince, because King Oberon never married his mother. He is played by Paul Bettany.

Then there was Benedict, tall and dour, thin; thin of body, thin of face, wide of mind. He wore orange and yellow and brown and reminded me of haystacks and pumpkins and scarecrows and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He had a long, strong jaw and hazel eyes and brown hair that never curled. He stood beside a tan horse and leaned upon a lance about which was twined a rope of flowers. He seldom laughed. I liked him.

Benedict is a kind of God of War, but powerful, merciless and just, not bloodthirsty like the horseman of the Apocalypse or chaotic and easily-angered like Ares.

He may have seemed an ordinary man to you - a handicapped one, at that. But that is not so. I fear Benedict. He is unlike any other being in Shadow or reality. He is the Master of Arms for Amber. Can you conceive of a millenium? A thousand years? Several of them? Can you understand a man who, for almost every day of a lifetime like that, has spent some time dwelling with weapons, tactics, strategies? ... All that there is of military science thunders in his head. He has often journeyed from shadow to shadow, witnessing variation after variation on the same battle, with but slightely altered circumstances, in order to test his theories of warfare. He has commanded armies so vast that you could watch them march by day after day and see no end to the columns. Although he is inconvenienced by the loss of his arm, I would not wish to fight with him either with weapons or barehanded. It is fortunate that he has no designs upon the throne, or he would be occupying it right now. If he were, I believe that I would give up at this moment and pay him homage.

- Corwin in The Guns of Avalon

4. Ganelon

Ganelon isn't a prince of Amber, but a friend and sidekick introduced in the second book, The Guns of Avalon. He is played by Ray Stevenson.



He's a reluctant warlord when Corwin meets him, an outlaw who pitches in to lead military forces against the sinister and supernatural, er, armies of darkness (Hell Maids, giant talking man-eating jaguars, goat-headed sorcerer warriors, harpies, etc) moving in his shadow. But he's an even older friend and used to be Corwin's chief general in Avalon - until he turned traitor and Corwin cast him out, carried him to another shadow and stranded him there in exile. Surprisingly enough, neither of them holds a grudge, and he becomes a good friend, a sympathetic ear, and a helpful sounding board to allow for background exposition on Amber-related topics which the reader might find confusing.

5. Eric

Eric is closest in age to Corwin, his immediate elder and the second-oldest son after Benedict. He is played by Ioan Gruffuld.



Eric and Corwin are a lot alike in personality and looks; they are full siblings, along with Caine and Deirdre, so I've tried for a resemblance there. They also hate one another with an intense, passionate Eternal Rivals sort of hatred that fuels at least two novels' worth of plot, and try to kill each other quite a few times.

Then there was Eric. Handsome by anyone's standards, his hair was so dark as to be almost blue. His beard curled around the mouth that always smiled, and he was dressed simply in a leather jacket and leggings, a plain cloak, high black boots, and he wore a red sword belt bearing a long siulvery saber and clasped with a ruby, and his high cloak collar round his head was lined with red and the trimmings of his sleeves matched it. His hands, thumbs hooked behind his belt, were terribly strong and prominent. A pair of black gloves jutted from the belt near his right hip. He it was, I was certain, that had tried to kill me on that day I had almost died. I studied him and I feared him somewhat.

6. Caine

Caine is Eric and Corwin's next younger brother. The first word used to describe him was "swarthy", so I've cast Siddig el Fadil.

Then came the swarthy, dark-eyed countenance of Caine, dressed all in satin that was black and green, wearing a dark three-cornered hat set at a rakish angle, a green plume of feathers trailing down the back. He was standing in profile, one arm akimbo, and the toes of his boots curled upwards, and he wore an emerald-studded dagger at his belt. There was ambivalence in my heart.

Although in and of himself Caine is a likeable enough chap, I gather, he's a bit of a rascal and entirely untrustworthy, besides being inseparably close to Eric, Corwin's sworn enemy. Caine doesn't get much screen time at all, but what he does get is pretty cool. In the imaginary film version of Amber, he ought to be given a bit more dialogue.

7. Deirdre

The last of Corwin's full-blooded siblings, Deirdre is dark-haired and hot, so I've cast Indian megastar Aishwarya Rai. I imagine their mother, Faiella, was brown.

And then there was a black-haired girl with the same blue eyes, and her hair hung long and she was dressed all in black, with a girdle of silver about her waist. My eyes filled with tears, why I don't know. Her name was Deirdre.

Despite being onscreen for, oh, at least ten or twenty pages of events, making her one of the most prominent women, Deirdre is kind of a non-entity, having even less character than some of the other women who are around less. Considering that she seems to be Corwin's ideal woman and there's a shitload of hetcesty implications and a lot of "oh how I wished she was not my sister!1", that's kind of interesting. His ideal woman has the personality of a mannequin and he makes little to no effort to talk to her, let alone keep her around at all. His overtures are mostly limited to one attempt to feel her up. Corwin's not really a ladies' man, and Amber's main flaw, for me, is that it's REALLY not a ladies' verse. In my imaginary film version, this would be miraculously fixed, of course.

8. Fiona

Fiona is the oldest of the red-heads, children of Oberon's second wife Clarissa. She is played by Shirley Manson.



Her description is "Hair like Bleys or Brand [ie flame-red], my eyes [ie green], and a complexion like mother of pearl."

Fiona's a sorceress, and of all the female characters, she's my favourite, although she still has very little screentime. She's cool and remote, superior, and a bit sassy. Everyone's a bit afraid of her and highly respectful of her sorcerous powers and knowledge.

9. Bleys

Bleys is a devil-may-care, reckless prince, ambitious, fiery, and bearded. He is played by Ewan McGregor.

Then came a fiery-bearded, flame-crowned man, dressed all in red and orange, mainly of silk stuff, and he held a sword in his right hand and a glass of wine in his left, and the devil himself danced behind his eyes, as blue as Flora's or Eric's. His chin was slight, but the beard covered it. His sword was inlaid with an elaborate filigree of a golden color.

10. Brand

Brand's a youthful, unpredictable, wild type. He's played by Simon Woods.



When Brand first appears in Nine Princes in Amber, he's been missing for some years, and only manages a brief telepathic contact through which Corwin realises that he's imprisoned somewhere, laden with chains and in torment. There's another echo of myth: Loki, the Norse Trickster and god of fire, was imprisoned also in chains for eternity in punishment.

My features though smaller, my eyes, Bleys' hair, beardless. he wore a riding suit of green and sat atop a white horse, heading toward the dexter side of the card. There was a quality of born strength and weakness, questing and abandonment about him. I both approved and disapproved, liked and was repelled by, this one. His name was Brand, I knew. As soon as I laid eyes upon him, I knew.

Brand is both a pathetic figure and a kind of scary one, with erratic dialogue that can veer from confiding to jackass to chillingly badass. He's a really cool character.

11. Florimel

Flora is a cool blonde with a very small role. I have cast Naomi Watts to play her, but considering that she barely talks, pretty much any cool blonde would do...

The woman behind the desk wore a wide-collared, V-necked dress of blue-green, had long hair and low bangs, all of a cross between sunset clouds and the outer edge of a candle flame in an otherwise dark room, and natural I somehow knew, and her eyes behind glasses I didn't think she needed were as blue as Lake Erie at three o'clock on a cloudless summer afternoon; and the color of her compressed smile matched her hair.

12. Julian

A fearsome prince, the master huntsman of Amber's Arden Wood, Julian rides a specially-bred killer horse named Morganstern and wears jointed white armor, and has the limp, long hair of a skeeze. I've cast Guy Pearce because he has shitloads of intensity and also hidden depths, and because guys who can pull off long limp hair are far between.

Next, there was the passive countenance of Julian, dark hair hanging long, blue eyes containing neither passion nor compassion. He was dressed completely in scaled white armor, not silver or metallic-colored, but looking as if it had been enameled. I knew, though, that it was terribly tough and shock-resistant, despite its decorative and festive appearance. He was the man I had beaten at his favorite game, for which he had thrown a glass of wine at me. i knew him and I hated him.

13. Gérard

Gérard's defining characteristic is strength, and he's a good, true man, but serious and not jolly. I've cast Russell Crowe, although I was also leaning towards David Morrissey (he just doesn't look as strong as Russell).

A big, powerful man regarded me from the next card. He resembled me quite strongly, save that his jaw was heavier, and I knew he was bigger than I, though slower. His strength was a thing of legend. He wore a dressing gown of blue and gray clasped about the middle with a wide, black belt, and he stood laughing. About his neck, on a heavy cord, there hung a silver hunting horn. He wore a fringe beard and a light mustache. In his right hand he held a goblet of wine. I felt a sudden affection for him. His name then occurred to me. He was Gérard.

Gérard nearly kills Corwin with his bare hands a couple of times, which says a lot.

14. Llewella

Llewella, a bastard child born between Bleys and Brand to one of the green-tinted people from the underwater kingdom of Rebma, but whom Oberon later acknowledged to legitimize her. I've cast Gabrielle Anwar, who would have to wear jade-green hair and blue-tinted skin for the role, however.



She only has like two speaking lines in the entire thing, though. She's essentially a non-entity. All we know is that her hair is jade green and she looks "moist and sad".

15. Dara

Dara is Benedict's great-granddaughter, a beautiful, spunky young woman who introduces herself to Corwin by demanding a fencing match. I've cast Eva Green.



We're told that she's dark-haired and that she faintly resembles Benedict, but that it's a resemblance one detects after being told. She flits in and out of the storyline, but her personality is always strong and faintly mysterious - at least until the end, where the scene struck me as more "WTF?". But I'll let you judge that for yourself. At any rate, she needs to be crackling with life and well able to carry off mischief, innocent sexuality, and cool mysteriousness.

16. Dworkin

The white-haired mad hunchback who helped King Oberon to build Amber, who knew the secrets of the universe, who taught magic to Fiona and Brand, who painted the Trumps. He's played by Terence Stamp.



A sort of Leonardo DaVinci figure, Dworkin is alternately an utter genius and a crazy nutter - sometimes both at once. He's been missing for ages and presumed dead or locked up by Oberon when his mind went when the story begins, but he makes some important appearances later on.

17. Oberon

Oberon overshadows the whole story from beginning to end, but he's gone missing before it starts, so there's not a whole lot of onscreen acting required; nonetheless, he is Gabriel Byrne.



King of the Fairies, King of the Gods - a father-figure who's cold and anything but benevolent, inaccessible and remembered without fondness by any of his children, though he commands their respect.

18. Martin

Random's son by Morganthe, daughter of Queen Moire of Rebma. Played by Ben Foster.



Martin has the blood of Amber and the power over shadow, and he uses it to vanish from the Rebma Pattern before the story starts. He really only makes a cameo appearance.

19. Merlin

The son Corwin didn't know he had, Merlin grows up far away and appears only at the end of the Corwin cycle. However, he then goes on to be the protagonist of another five books. He's Hugh Dancy.



20. Moire

Moire is the Queen of Rebma, the underwater kingdom which is a reflection of Amber. She's played by Polly Walker.



Moire's role is fairly minor, but the scenes in Rebma are highly impressive and she makes a memorable impression.

A woman sat upon the throne in the glassite room I almost recalled, and her hair was green, though streaked with silver, and her eyes were round as moons of jade and her brows rose like the wings of olive gulls. Her mouth was small, her chin was small; her cheeks were high and wide and rounded. A circlet of white gold crossed her brow and there was a crystal necklace about her neck. At its tip there flashed a sapphire between her sweet bare breasts, whose nipples were also a pale green. She wore scaled trunks of blue and a silver belt, and she held a scepter of pink coral in her right hand and had a ring upon every finger, and each ring had a stone of a different blue within it.

Comments

[morningfine]

I kind of skimmed this because I think I might have interest in reading the books at some point. However, #1: that Patterns of Amber song finally makes sense after all these years, kind of, and #2: oh, Terence Stamp got old. That hurts something in my soul that believes it's forever 1994.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

My introduction isn't spoilery at all!

[anglepoiselamp.livejournal.com]

Um. I know I've read at least some of the books, but I remember very little of them. I really should re-read the whole shebang.

I like your actor choices, though. Mostly folk it's a joy to see in any movie. :)

[copracat]

Wow. I know I read the first five of those books when I was 18 but I seriously don't remember a thing. Nothing in your post rings any kind of bell. *worries about her mind*

I would watch a movie will all those performers though!

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I read them a bit before that, but I didn't actually remember all THAT much before this reread. The protagonist's name and the interdimensional travel, that was about it. Also the Temple of the Unicorn or something like that from the Merlin cycle, because one of my favourite scenes in literature takes place there.

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

this is awesome. i read the first one and thought it was amazing, but yeah, so many characters! (also, my brother lent me the 10-collected edition, and that is too heavy to lug around on public transit.)

[cimness.livejournal.com]

Clearly you need a big messenger bag. I usually have at least two or three big books with me at all times when I'm not just going shopping, counting my sketchbook!