Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Characters / The Chronicles of Amber

Go To

Most of the characters in the Chronicles are deliberately iconic - in other words, they're rich in Vitamin Trope. These characters all share certain tropes, unless otherwise noted:

  • Cain and Abel: All of them consider their siblings capable of a little fratricide. And they're right.
  • The Chessmaster: Unfortunately for them, the long centuries of sibling rivalry and navigating royal politics have left them Properly Paranoid. They can't stop thinking in terms of who's about to betray them and why, even when trust would be the wisest option.
  • Functional Magic: Mostly of the 'inherent gift' type. All the serious contenders have it, generally stemming from walking either the Pattern or the Logrus. Some have also tapped into additional sources of magical power.
  • Healing Factor: A very slow version for Amberites: they can recover from almost anything, but major damage (paralysis, blinding, loss of a limb) can take months or years. A much quicker variation for shape-shifters.
  • Immortal Immaturity
    I sometimes think of us as a bunch of mean little old ladies in a combination rest home and obstacle course.
  • One-Steve Limit: In spite of infinite universes full of imperfect duplicates of themselves, nobody has to ask "Which Benedict?"
  • Really 700 Years Old: Eternal youthfulness is a standard part of the package.
  • Super-Strength: So is superhuman vitality and inhuman strength.
  • Taking You with Me: The dying curse of a noble of Amber manifests in many ways, but all of them amount to "you're screwed."

    open/close all folders 

    Benedict 

Prince Benedict of Amber

Eldest of three children of Oberon and his first wife, Cymnea (the other two, Osric and Finndo, are long dead). Also the great-great-grandfather of his half-brother Corwin's son Merlin. Benedict is the greatest general of the Amberites and perhaps in all of space and time. He also despises royal politics and has no ambition to hold the throne, and begins the series having left the Court of Amber to live in a Shadow realm.
  • Awakening the Sleeping Giant: In the Licensed Game, if Benedict is forced to take the throne to prevent Amber from collapsing, it's over, just as Corwin feared in the novels. That said, it's one of the better endings, since it's one of the few where Corwin won't be killed and can live unmolested, and it's definitely one of the best possible endings for Amber as a whole.invoked
  • Berserk Button:
    • Seen in the second book. For some reason, Benedict strongly disapproves of discussions of the various family claims to the throne. It's implied that he's simply sick to death of the family habit of plotting, hence his self-exile to get away from everyone.
    • The deaths of his Shadow retainers are enough to drive him into a rage to kill his younger brother. This normally wouldn't pass the "things that would logically make anyone angry" test, but his family and siblings just see Shadow people as somewhere between grass to be thoughtlessly stepped on and living toys to be tormented and destroyed as they will.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Not very strongly. But he won't allow his younger siblings to kill each other in his presence.
  • Cain and Abel: Zig-Zagged. It would take a powerful incentive for Benedict to decide to kill one of his siblings...
  • The Chessmaster: Played with. He's generally considered an unbeatable strategist, to the extent that Corwin says if Benedict wanted the throne, Corwin would bow down and pay him homage because there would be no way to stop him. But Benedict doesn't care to turn those abilities against his siblings.
  • Cool Horse: A black-and-red-striped horse named Glemdenning, which seems virtually fearless - earthquakes, forest fires and so forth don't seem to faze it.
  • Four-Star Badass: He's used the nature of Shadow to make a scientific study of warfare, making him probably the best commander in the multiverse. He's also easily the best swordsman among the Amberites.
  • Handicapped Badass: Events prior to Benedict's first appearance in The Guns of Avalon cost him his right forearm. Although he shares the Healing Factor of his family, it works slowly enough that his appearances in all future books invoke this trope.
  • Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Played with. Benedict (great-grand)fathered Dara with a creature of Chaos, the latter of which is a shapeshifter. Dara is said to be "the first of [her] line to bear all the markings of humanity," but whatever Lintra and her fellow hellmaidens were, she was probably close enough to not be this trope with Benedict.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Played with. He still can't cope very well with family, but at least he treats ordinary Shadow beings like people, not toys.
  • The Juggernaut: Do not piss off Benedict. Ever. He has spent countless lifetimes fighting wars to perfect his skill as a general and is nigh-invincible with a blade. He will not listen to your stammered excuses, and he will cut through trees to get at you more quickly.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Averted. Benedict uses his brilliance mostly to stay out of family politics.
  • Master Swordsman: Even more so than the other Amberites to whom this applies. Although Benedict is The Juggernaut in a fair fight, some of the talents ascribed to him by fans and in the RPG push him into Memetic Badass territory - his ability to parry the bullets of invisible snipers, for example.invoked
  • Memetic Badass: In-Universe. When it starts to seem likely that one of his siblings is the Big Bad, Corwin has a short inner monologue to the effect of, "I really, really hope it's not Benedict, because if it is, we're screwed." Later, Fiona says the Big Bad can't be Benedict because if he'd wanted the throne, he would simply have taken it through military might and strategy, and nobody - not even Oberon - would've been able to stop him.
    Corwin: "I fear Benedict. [...] He is the Master of Arms for Amber. Can you conceive of a millennium? 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, strategy? [...] 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 slightly 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. I fear Benedict."
  • Noodle Incident/Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: The Moonriders of Ghenesh were the only serious threat to Amber in her entire history (prior to the Black Road) and their invasion force made it as far as the slopes of Kolvir itself. It's implied that they overpowered Oberon himself, Eric, Corwin, Bleys and all the other princes of Amber. Benedict was recalled and stopped them cold with an elite regiment in the pass above Arden.
  • Only Sane Man: He willingly exiled himself for centuries because he knew his siblings would not react responsibly to Oberon's absence.
  • Papa Wolf: Subverted. In the second book, after hearing Dara's sob story, Corwin thinks he's seeing this - he's actually seeing a more conventional Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Played straight in the fifth book.
  • Parental Substitute: To Martin.
  • Sole Survivor: Not just during his centuries of military adventure off in Shadow; he's also the only survivor of Oberon's first set of children. This may explain some of his other traits, considering that the family scheming he despises was what got his two full brothers killed.
  • The Strategist: Shown in books two, five, eight, and mentioned several times in a Remember When You Blew Up a Sun? sort of way.
    Random (describing his battle with a mighty Shadow serpent): "Benedict would not have missed the eye. He would have had one in each pocket by then and be playing football with the head while composing a footnote to Clausewitz."
  • The Stoic: When Merlin asks Benedict to explain something and is told "Not now," he admits the answer was twice as long as he expected it to be.
  • Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Kind of. Corwin says he reminds him of Ichabod Crane.
  • Tranquil Fury: A textbook example of the trope occurs in the second book, when Corwin is framed for the death of some of Benedict's servants.
    Benedict (attacking): Murderer.
    Corwin (retreating like crazy): I don't understand. I haven't murdered anybody lately. Certainly not in Avalon.
    Benedict (pressing the attack): Liar.
  • World's Best Warrior: Benedict is regarded by his family as the greatest warrior who has ever existed. No matter what the weapon, battle or terrain he will beat you. He has also dedicated his immortality (and the power to study military matters by effective trial and error) to become the most experienced military commander who has ever existed, with an intimate understanding of the capabilities and limitations of any fighting force of any size. Benedict is explicitly not invincible, but nobody else could do better in the same position in any form of combat.

    Bill Roth 

Bill Roth

An exception to the general tropes listed above: Bill is just an ordinary human attorney on 'our' Earth who happened to be a neighbor and acquaintance of Corwin. Corwin tries to keep Bill uninvolved with his abruptly far-more-complicated life, but to no avail. Corwin's disappearance and subsequent reappearance keep getting Bill involved at the very edge of the story. In the Merlin books, he has become, on occasion, legal counsel for the Court of Amber.

    Bleys 

Prince Bleys of Amber

Second child of Oberon and his third wife, Clarissa.
  • Bash Brothers: With Corwin in the first book.
  • Always Second Best: He's competent at all the skills expected of a prince of Amber, but isn't the paragon in any of them, unlike his brothers. The RPG, short stories and other material outside the main books confirm his status as Jack-of-All-Stats.
  • Disney Death: Falls off the Cliffs of Kolvir to his apparent death in the first book, but Corwin throw his Trumps to a falling Bleys. While Corwin sees Bleys catch them, it's not revealed if he survived until the final book of Corwin's series, where it's shown that he did manage to use the Trumps to teleport himself away from certain death.
  • Four-Star Badass: Subverted in the first book when he and Corwin are summarily overwhelmed by Eric's generalship: played straight later on, when Corwin is told Bleys deliberately lost that battle in order to get Corwin out of the way. He does win several battles, and in some of them Bleys was massively outnumbered, it was Eric's control of the weather that caused most of his casualties.
  • A God Am I: Downplayed. To galvanise his Shadow soldiers for war, he sets himself up as The Messiah to his brother Eric's The Antichrist, but it's clearly just a strategy to ensure their loyalty.
  • Heel–Face Turn: One of the three who initially ally with Chaos to get Oberon out of the way, but like his sister Fiona he turned against the plot, albeit offscreen.
  • Karma Houdini: He's included in the general amnesty in the fifth book.
  • Lovable Rogue
  • Master Swordsman: His abilities are underplayed in comparison to his brothers Benedict, Eric, and Corwin, but he's still remarkably good.
  • Mook Horror Show: The battle on the face of Kolvir.
  • The Unseen: After the first book he switches to this tactic.

    Brand 

Prince Brand of Amber

Third child of Oberon and his third wife, Clarissa. Born after Llewella, from a temporary reconciliation between his parents.

    Caine 

Prince Caine of Amber

The eldest child of Oberon and his fourth wife, Rilga. Known for being a consummate sailor and pirate, he is part of the trio of princes (along with Eric and Julian) that rule Amber at the start of the series.
  • Faking the Dead: He apparently abruptly dies after Corwin comes to power but in reality he faked his death and intends to work in secret to protect the realm.
  • Killed Off for Real: Twice. It's only a ruse the first time.
  • The Man Behind the Man: According to Julian, Caine was the brains of their triumvirate.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Caine doesn't even pretend to like the others, except his full brothers Julian and Gerard. He does still show remarkable skill at playing his brothers against each other.
  • Name of Cain: Well, duh. He ends up as the only prince to actually kill a brother with his own hands.
  • The Unseen: During most of books three through five.

    Coral 

Princess Coral of Begma

Coral is a princess of Begma, a Shadow-realm close enough to Amber to trade and otherwise hold commerce with the city. Thus, not all of the tropes apply to her. Well, actually, only Cain and Abel and Immortal Immaturity are disqualified, and even those may just be due to her not having been immortal for long enough yet. Coral is actually Oberon's daughter via an affair with her mother Kinta, wife of the Begman Prime Minister.
  • Badass Bystander: Coral starts out in this role and rapidly becomes far more central to events.
  • Damsel in Distress: At one point, Merlin finds her lying in an enchanted sleep at the center of the Broken Pattern. Sound familiar?
  • Secret Identity: Coral is an illegitimate daughter of Oberon.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Dworkin tends to Coral's eye injury by implanting the Jewel of Judgement in place of her missing eye. Coral immediately starts displaying unusual powers similar to those Brand and Corwin had when they attuned to the Jewel. Unfortunately, the author Died During Production before the reasons and consequences of this surgery could be explored.invoked

    Corwin 

Prince Corwin of Amber; Carl Corey

Second child of Oberon and his second wife, Faiella, and the first of their children to be born after their marriage. Hated rival of his brother Eric. Main protagonist and viewpoint character of the first five books.
  • A God I Am Not: One of the few family members to take this attitude... in his humbler moments. He does occasionally recruit armies from a shadow that thinks he's a god, and he thinks of them as mercenaries being paid in "spiritual coin".
  • Always Someone Better: Towards Eric, initially.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Not exactly - but his memory loss and six hundred years on Earth helped him to become a better person.
  • Amnesiac Hero: Mostly cured by the middle of the first book, although he continues to suffer from bouts of plot-convenient amnesia here and there.
  • Anti-Hero: Generally a Good Is Not Nice type. And this is considerably nicer than he used to be. Stories about his past imply he used to be a Byronic Hero or Nominal Hero.
  • The Atoner: Having used the terrible power of a blood curse to hurt Amber in his darkest moment, Corwin spends the rest of the first series trying to make it right.
  • Attending Your Own Funeral: Well, Visiting Your Own Memorial Tomb. Corwin quite likes it up there. And then he takes delight in pissing on his own grave, mainly because how many people even get the opportunity?
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: The closer Corwin gets to becoming king of Amber, the more he realizes he doesn’t really want to. He mostly wanted it because Eric did.
  • Big Eater
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Has romantic feelings towards Deirdre, his full sister. Oberon forbids such unions, though, and nobody dares to defy him.
  • Character Development: Particularly in the second book.
  • Color-Coded Eyes: His green eyes indicate that he's driven by envy.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Corwin IS this trope. He will fight to win and use any dirty tactic necessary to do so.
    Borel (dying): Oh, basely done! I had expected better of thee.
    Corwin: This isn't exactly the Olympic Games.
  • Cool Sword: Greyswandir, which has a silver coat on the blade (useful for killing werewolves) and Pattern-related powers.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Determinator / Implacable Man: Depending on your perspective.
  • Eye Scream: Happens to Corwin in the first book.
    "...Then he had me blinded and sent to the dungeons."
    He leaned forward and studied my face. "Yes," he said, "I had heard that. How was it done?"
    "Hot irons," I said, wincing involuntarily and repressing an impulse to clutch at my eyes. "I passed out partway through the ordeal."
  • Fate Worse than Death: What's intended for Corwin when he's blinded and tossed into the dungeons to be forgotten except for once a year when he's paraded around as a trophy of Eric's rule. Later Corwin is told that this torture was "for his protection," although his source had good reason to cover up the details.
  • First-Person Perspective: For the first five books.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: Grows a new pair of eyes after the last set got seared out of his head with red-hot irons.
  • Healing Factor: Of all the Amberites his is supposed to be the fastest and strongest. Nobody was really surprised that he regrew his eyes but nobody expected him to do it in just under four years while being horribly neglected in Amber's dungeons.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Eventually, almost everything he thought about his siblings is turned upside-down. Could be due to his own Character Development, though.
  • Identity Amnesia: Starts off with this in the first book; the reasons for it are explored in the third and fourth.
  • In Its Hour of Need: Returns to Lorraine, a shadow of the Avalon he once ruled, to help defeat the Chaosite incursions there.
  • May–December Romance: With Dara. Maybe. The time differentials make it hard to tell.
  • Mirror Character: Eric, the eldest son of King Oberon by his second wife, and Corwin, the eldest acknowledged son of Oberon by his second wife. Corwin says they are probably the most alike of the siblings despite Oberon's children numbering in the double-digits, and their bitter rivalry fuels the plot of the early books.
  • Mook Horror Show: The mook deserved it, but...
    ... it was not long before I overtook him, riding as though he were pursued by the Devil, which he was. I spoke not a word when I unhorsed him, nor afterward, and I did not use my blade, though he drew his own. I hurled his broken body into a high oak tree, and when I looked back it was dark with birds.
  • Necessarily Evil: Corwin at one point describes himself as 'a part of that evil that exists to oppose other evil'.
  • Private Eye Monologue
  • Sanity Slippage: During his imprisonment.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Corwin narrates the first five books and demonstrably gets some things wrong, either through ignorance or misremembering. Also, his descriptions of his siblings are slanted through his personal prejudices. For example, in the first book he "remembers" that he and Random are full brothers and he and Eric are half-brothers, whereas it's later established to be the other way around. Out-of-universe, this was a retcon; Word of God says that in-universe, recovering amnesiac Corwin was engaging in some wishful thinking since he liked Random better than Eric. invoked
  • Victory Is Boring: Corwin found this out after Eric's death, and soon decided that becoming king wasn't for him after all.
  • Warrior Poet: Literally. A renowned swordsman and poet in Amber. On Earth, Corwin was both a soldier and a composer of popular music. His narration exemplifies the trait as well, switching from hard-nosed, cynical commentary to prettily-expressed, poetic sentiment.
    • He is said to have composed "The Ballad of the Water-Crossers," the anthem of Amber's merchant navy (the most important aspect of their culture).
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Played with.
  • What Have I Done: Has this moment upon beholding Garnath near the end of Nine Princes in Amber.
  • You Wake Up in a Room: He begins the series in a long-term care facility, and has to reconstruct his past.

    Dalt 

Dalt son of Deela

A mysterious and hard-bitten mercenary leader introduced during the second set of books. He has a deep hatred of Amber, so much so that his personal symbol is a lion rending a unicorn. He once led an assault on Amber itself, and was turned aside by Benedict. Despite being run through by Benedict himself in the battle, Dalt survived, and still leads a formidable mercenary group. He is a secret son of Oberon, who he claims raped his mother when she, an enemy of Amber herself, was captured by Oberon. Deela eventually escaped captivity and gave birth to Dalt. He also has a connection to Rinaldo.

    Dara 

Dara of House Sawall

A Mysterious Waif Corwin encounters in the Shadow Avalon. She is the great-granddaughter of Benedict through an affair with his mortal enemy, the hell-maid Lintra of Chaos. Dara seduces Corwin before revealing herself to be an agent of the Courts of Chaos, and later gives birth to their son, Merlin. She is descended from Houses Helgram and Hendrake of Chaos and married to Duke Gramble of House Sawall, with whom she has two younger sons, Jurt and Despil.
  • Arranged Marriage: Discussed in the first series; Oberon is hoping to set a marriage up between her and Corwin.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: She manipulates her son Merlin onto the throne of Chaos, only to find that he is no longer under her (magical or emotional) control.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: She, Mandor, and the Logrus are the conspirators driving events in books seven through ten.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
  • Consummate Liar: Everything she says to Corwin in book 2 is revealed to be a lie in the book's final scene. Then the Merlin cycle reveals that pretty much everything she said throughout the entire first series was a lie. Then, she is revealed to have also lied to Merlin about everything for his entire life. Even the Logrus, which is the Anthropomorphic Personification of Chaos itself thinks this lady is slippery, and with good reason.
  • The Dragon: To the Logrus of Chaos itself.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Rejects Corwin at the end of the fifth book because he killed her old dueling master (and presumable relative of some degree), Lord Borel Hendrake, and not in honorable combat.
  • Face–Heel Revolving Door: Dara is this trope. Could almost be a trope namer or codifier.
  • The Ingenue: Subverted. Corwin initially buys into the young and naive facade she was projecting, but in truth she was always a deceptive manipulator who played the part of an ingenue solely to seduce him.
  • Irony: Dara's sudden-but-inevitable betrayals always seem to come just as the side she just left is about to win.
  • Multiple-Choice Past: She claims to be descended from Benedict and Lintra, who could only have come into contact after the damaging of the Pattern, but later she states that she was responsible for corrupting Brand and manipulating him into damaging the Pattern in the first place. Also, during the Corwin cycle she and Oberon plot to use the events of the Patternfall war to maneuver Merlin onto the throne of Amber, while in the Merlin cycle she and the Logrus are shown to have been plotting all along to maneuver Merlin onto the throne of Chaos. Of course, this all makes sense when one considers her most prominent character trait.
  • My Beloved Smother: Has been plotting and conniving Merlin's path since before he was born, and was willing to attempt using Mind Control on him to make him go along with it.
  • Shapeshifter
  • Loving a Shadow: To Corwin. After he kills Borel, whom she was fond of/loved, decides that he is not the man she believed him to be.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Working at the behest of the Logrus itself, it was ultimately her machinations that started Brand down his dark path, although she maintains that he would have walked it regardless. She claims that she only sped the process up.
  • Tsundere: She shows her attraction to Corwin by challenging him immediately to a fencing match. If one assumes she really cares for Corwin at all, then her true personality reflects this trope even more strongly, to Yandere levels.
  • Walking Spoiler: If the fact that every single one of the above tropes is tagged with spoilers didn't tip you off, just about any information about Dara will spoil several revelations from both the Corwin and Merlin series. Even reading most of these tropes' names isn't safe.

    Deirdre 

Princess Deirdre of Amber

Third child of Oberon and his second wife, Faiella, who died giving birth to her.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When contacting the family members after discovering Caine's apparent death, Corwin notes to Random that Deirdre seems pleased, and clearly doesn't believe Corwin's account of non-involvement.
  • Damsel in Distress: When we first meet her, Deirdre is tied to a tree and has to be rescued (although she joins the fight once released). At the end of the series, she is held hostage by Brand. This time it doesn’t end well.
  • Faux Action Girl: During the battle at the Courts of Chaos, she is the most heavily armored of the princesses and wields a large axe. Two minutes later, Brand is holding a knife to her throat.
    • Debatable, as Brand can take on Benedict. Deirdre may not have had an opportunity to defend herself - if, for instance, she accepted a Trump contact and he overwhelmed her as he once did to Martin.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She is pale with jet black hair, and quite lovely.
  • Taking You with Me: Brand, mortally wounded by an arrow from Caine and about to fall to his death, drags Deirdre down with him due to little more than spite.
  • Warrior Princess: At one point in Nine Princes in Amber, she and her brothers are attacked by werewolves. She is unarmed, so she grapples one and snaps its spine.

    Dworkin 

Dworkin Barimen

A twisted old dwarf who was Amber's court magician before Oberon had him locked up. He's actually Oberon's father and the younger royals' grandfather, unbeknownst to Oberon's children (though some suspected), and originally comes from the Courts of Chaos. Using the Jewel of Judgement (which is the stolen eye of the Serpent of Chaos), Dworkin drew the Pattern and created Amber, where once there was only Chaos. Fiona, Bleys and Brand were the only ones who really listened to him when they were kids, which is why they have far greater knowledge of the arcane than their siblings.

    Eric 

Prince Eric of Amber

Eldest child of Oberon and his second wife, Faiella. Eric was born from an affair before his parents actually married, while Oberon was still married to Cymnea. Eric was never formally acknowledged, although everyone knew his paternity. The hated rival of his full brother Corwin.
  • Bastard Bastard: Subverted. Eric, bastard son of Oberon and Faiella and hated rival of Corwin seems to be the main antagonist of the series. Mortally wounds his brother Corwin and carries his comatose body off to some plague-infested Shadow. Later, he locks Corwin up and burns his eyes out with a red hot iron (though to be fair, the blinding was Julian's idea.) Yet, at the end, he turns out to be a good king and a good man, and he ultimately dies a hero's death saving his city and his crown from disaster and forcing Corwin to acknowledge that just because Eric was his personal enemy he wasn't necessarily a bad person.
  • Died in Your Arms Tonight: To Corwin.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Initially appears to be the Big Bad of the series. By the end of book 2, though, the real threat is revealed to be something else entirely.
  • Defiant to the End:
    "Acquit yourself as well as I have—bastard!"
  • The Evil Prince: Subverted. He's presented this way from Corwin's POV but proves to be a fairly good ruler when he has the throne of Amber, and given that Corwin is an Anti-Hero, Eric's less moral actions are probably nothing Corwin himself wouldn't have done.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He dies defending Amber from its enemies. Corwin speculates that there is a further layer to his heroism, if he knew the draining effects of the Jewel of Judgement, and used it anyway.
  • Master Swordsman: The second (possibly) best around.
  • Mirror Character: Eric, the eldest son of King Oberon by his second wife, and Corwin, the eldest acknowledged son of Oberon by his second wife. Corwin says they are probably the most alike of the siblings despite Oberon's children numbering in the double-digits, and their bitter rivalry fuels the plot of the early books.
  • Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Corwin slowly lets go of his hatred for Eric after his death, and acknowledges that his brother died a heroic death in defense of their homeland.
  • Nothing Personal: Eric doesn't use this trope in so many words, but he's willing to put blood feuds aside for the good of the kingdom.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Corwin reflects that he and Eric were probably the most alike of the Amberite siblings.
  • The Reliable One: Much as Corwin hates to admit it.
  • The Unfavorite: Oberon wasn't fond of him. Fiona admits that her cabal conspired to inflame this dislike.
  • Villain's Dying Grace: In his final moments, Eric uses his blood curse against the Courts of Chaos instead of against his hated brother Corwin. This last act of nobility haunts Corwin, as Corwin's own blood curse was used in a moment of weakness against Eric, and manifested as a threat to all of Amber.

    Fiona 

Princess Fiona of Amber

Eldest child of Oberon and his third wife, Clarissa. Of all the princes and princesses, she is most associated with magic and knowledge of the arcane, with the possible exception of her younger brother, Brand.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Julian has something of a crush on her, but Fiona despises Julian and would consider him as this if she knew about his feelings.
  • Brainy Brunette/Fiery Redhead: A combination of the two tropes: Fiona is the brainy redhead.
  • The Chessmaster: It's been remarked that while (most) of her siblings play the game of Amber, Fiona plays with the game.
  • Cool Old Lady: How Merlin sees her in the second series.
  • Evil Redhead: Formerly a straight version, by Courts of Chaos Fiona is as close as it gets without actually being on the bad guys’ side.
  • Heel–Face Turn: She was part of the triumvirate that started the plot against Oberon and Amber, prior to the series' opening. She is also instrumental in stopping it, by the last book.
  • Hot Witch: Her vanity is alluded to in Corwin's narration.
  • Karma Houdini: She was part of the cabal that intended to use the Courts of Chaos to unseat Oberon. On the other hand, she exerted herself pretty heavily to defend Amber when that plan got away from them, so her pardon might be justified.
  • Lady of Black Magic
  • Manipulative Bitch: Accuses Julian of attempting to murder another character in ice-cold blood, while knowing full well that it wasn't he. Because she was the one who did it.
  • Redhead In Green

    Flora 

Princess Florimel of Amber

The only child of Oberon and his fifth wife, Dybele.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: She doesn't feel safe without a powerful protector. Whoever's on top tends to win her loyalty.
  • Crazy-Prepared: She's not a match for most of the others in a fight. For this reason she maintains six huge attack dogs in her home... and carries a grenade in her purse.
  • Dumb Blonde: She's not outright dumb, but is mostly out of her depth and regarded as such by the others.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: In the big battle in the fifth book, she's commanding archers.
  • Head-Turning Beauty: She's the pretty one, and given that the princesses of Amber seem to always turn out attractive, that's saying a lot.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: A little. She's more capable than she let's on, but she doesn't play in the same league as most of her siblings.
  • Only Known By His Nickname: Her rather fancy birth name is eschewed in favor of 'Flora'.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: In Corwin's story she's seen as a light-weight, though she does know how to wind up on the winning side. In Merlin's story she comes off as more confident and formidable, most likely due to the shift in narrator viewpoint.

    Gerard 

Prince Gerard of Amber

The third child of Oberon and his fourth wife, Rilga.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Despite being born after most of the other princes, Gerard displays this trope. He has a fondness for looking out for people and preventing harm to them.
  • The Big Guy: The royalty of Amber don't usually team up, but in those rare situations, Gerard is the strong, reliable one.
  • Cain and Abel: He subverts the trope that most of his family shares.
    Brand: He is the only decent one among us, you know.
    Corwin: He's high on my list.
  • The Caretaker: To Brand, for a while.
  • Dumb Muscle: While he is not dumb per se, his trusting and straightforward nature makes him appear like this in comparison to his scheming relatives. On the other hand, he's not usually considered a threat, so nobody goes after him.
  • Gentle Giant: Gentle by comparison to his murderous siblings, that is. Don't presume on his gentleness or good nature, or you'll wish that you hadn't.
  • Good Is Not Soft: In Sign of the Unicorn, Gerard suspects Corwin of fratricide and treason. Gerard takes him to an out-of-the-way place, knocks him silly, dangles him over a thousand-foot drop, and delivers a Badass Boast.
    Gerard: You may be as innocent as you say or as guilty as possible[...] Look down at the black road. Death is the limit of the distance you travel if that is your doing. I have shown you my strength once again, lest you have forgotten. I can kill you, Corwin. Do not even be certain that your blade will protect you, if I can get my hands on you but once. And I will, to keep my promise. My promise is only that if you are guilty I will kill you the moment I learn of it.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Subverted; he's considerably less manipulative than his brothers.
  • Mighty Glacier: Corwin flat-out states that Gerard is the strongest of the children of Amber, but that he is comparatively slow when fighting with swords or quarterstaves, rather than hand-to-hand.
  • Super-Strength: True of all the princes, but Gerard is acknowledged as the very strongest. Corwin, who is capable of using a recliner as a lethal throwing weapon, regards Gerard's strength as "a thing of legend." At one point, he snaps a chain that had successfully held one of his brothers in place for years, and begins using it to dispense some Chain Pain to his enemies.
  • Multiverse’s Strongest Man: As indicated under Super Strength.

    Ghostwheel 

Ghostwheel

At one point Merlin, having taken an interest in computer design (after his phases of interest in sorcery and Trump artistry), picks a particular Shadow where the physical laws will allow him to design a machine programmed like a computer, but capable of designing 'virtual' Trumps instantly and thus reaching through Shadow. Soon, it develops its own personality and agenda. Subverting the usual tropes, Ghostwheel doesn't turn into the Big Bad of the series. Since it's an "ideally synthesized" being, usually only present as an immaterial projection, and quite young, it doesn't share in the tropes listed at the top of the page aside from Functional Magic.

    Jasra 

Queen Jasra of Kashfa

A woman from Shadow (near the Courts of Chaos) who shows up as an inexplicable enemy of Amber in the seventh book. Looks human; has a poisonous bite... which sums up her personality as well, actually. She is the mother of Rinaldo/Luke by Brand, a former servant of Dara, and mentor of Mask/Julia.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Brand was secretly married to her, and after Brand's death, she was more than happy to come seeking revenge.
  • Enemy Mine: She eventually drops her vendetta and helps Merlin storm the Keep of Four Worlds after Mask usurps it.
  • Evil Sorceress
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: In Kashfa she seduced the captain of the royal guard to help her carry out a coup. The details are a bit vague about what happened after that, but when Luke carries out a second coup to try to put her back on the throne it's made very clear to him that there would be a rebellion if she ever came back.
  • Hazy-Feel Turn: She comes around, but not due to any change in direction of her moral compass; fortune simply puts her in a position where siding with the heroes is far more profitable than not.
  • My Beloved Smother: Acts as this to Rinaldo. That said, her attitude towards Luke is more conventionally maternal than Dara's is towards Merlin (she keeps tabs on his girlfriends and college grades, and even attends his sporting meets), and he is very capable of denying her if need be. Her final appearance, in the short stories following Prince of Chaos, has her wishing him the best of luck in ruling Kashfa.
  • Sixth Ranger: Merlin recruits her to help attack Mask's keep in the eighth book.
  • The Vamp: Unapologetic about it.

    Julian 

Prince Julian of Amber

The second child of Oberon and his fourth wife, Rilga. Known for his ice-cold demeanor, self-control, and being a master hunter and woodsman. Guards the forest of Arden, which anyone attempting to attack the palace must pass.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Has an unrequited desire for his half-sister Fiona, which makes Fiona's comment about Julian in Sign of the Unicorn hilarious in hindsight:
    Fiona: Julian has no friends. That frosty personality of his is warmed only by thoughts of himself.
  • Cool Horse: The grey stallion Morgenstern - seemingly tireless and fearless, capable of astonishing speed and agility. It may be a horse-shaped construct rather than simply an extraordinary animal: Corwin recalls at one point that Julian created it, and Random (after trying a few shots) is pretty sure that it's bulletproof.
    Morgenstern stood five hands taller than any other horse I had ever seen, and its hooves were like polished steel and its eyes were the dead color of a Weimeraner dog's.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He doesn't like Corwin, or much of anybody else, but he's too fond of his self-control to be aggressive about it.
    Julian: "We spend so much time lying to each other that I decided it might be amusing to say what I really felt. Just to see whether anyone noticed."
  • Egomaniac Hunter:
    Julian: "I enjoy slaughtering beasts. And I think of my relatives....constantly."
  • Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: He's quite happy to hunt people, including his brothers.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: A sign of his cold, remorseless nature.
  • It's Personal: When Caine's body is found, Julian insists on the privilege of questioning and executing his killer.
  • Jerkass: Julian's not presented as a nice person. However, Corwin never claimed to be unbiased, and the two men do have bad blood in their past.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eventually, although it’s possible he was this all along and it's only Corwin's perspective that's changed. Corwin learns that Julian suggested to Eric that Corwin have his eyes burnt out and be imprisoned as an alternative to outright killing Corwin, or leaving Corwin a loose end that the trio of Bleys, Fiona, and Brand might try to make use of.
  • Obviously Evil: Despite literally being a Knight In Shining Armour, Julian has a sinister presence and doesn't make it easy for people to trust him – probably not helped by his monstrous steed Morgenstern. This is ironic, as Julian is among the most honest of the Amberite siblings, and would rather just be his casually unpleasant self than keep up with his family's constant scheming. Corwin eventually concedes that Julian has good intentions and genuine loyalty to Amber, and Julian is never less than accommodating to Merlin.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Merlin mentions that Julian fought and killed the powerful Chaosite General Larsus during Patternfall.
  • Red Herring: He's a formidable warrior with a sinister presence, a noted personal antagonist to Corwin, and owns a monster horse observed to have a specific weakness to silver. All of that spells him being a bad guy and major antagonist, right? He's never fought directly, serves Random loyally, and is ultimately firmly on Amber's side.
  • The Stoic: Has an "almost legendary self-control". One of Corwin’s memorable past exploits involved shattering it, causing Julian to throw a glass of wine in his face and curse him.
  • Walk into Mordor: The infinite roads to Amber all pass through the Forest of Arden, which is crawling with Julian's hounds, hawks and forest guardsmen.

    Jurt 

Jurt of the House Sawall

One of Merlin's half-brothers from the Chaos side of the family, who has a longstanding rivalry with Merlin. He has made many attempts on Merlin's life and schemes against him, which inevitably tend to fail.
  • Always Someone Better/Sibling Rivalry: Supposedly, he's driven to hate Merlin by this... but we only have Merlin's word for it.
  • Ambition Is Evil
  • Bash Brothers: Merlin travels through a dimension where he meets a younger copy of Jurt, and surprisingly enough the two become this, despite Merlin pointing out that logically a younger version of Jurt would only be more likely to blindly hate him than one who has possibly had time to grow up and mature. Towards the end of the 10th book, as more and more of the people ahead of them for the throne of Chaos are murdered, Jurt calls a truce in his feud with Merlin and the two fight on the same side.
  • Being Evil Sucks: He goes from one embarrassing failure to another until he and Merlin bury the hatchet.
  • Cain and Abel: Like most of the others, but he's specifically murderous toward Merlin and seems indifferent to his full brother Despil and his other half-brother Mandor.
  • The Dragon: For Mask.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: His plans against Merlin tend to be rather bad and to fall apart.
  • Full-Frontal Assault: In the climactic battle of Sign of Chaos... wait, does it still count as Full-Frontal Assault if you're wearing an eyepatch?
  • A God Am I: Falls into this error at the end of Sign of Chaos.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Played with. The suddenly high mortality rate among Chaos nobles makes him call off his vendetta with Merlin, but he states outright that he's not joining 'Merlin's side', just 'the winning side'.
  • Love Redeems: Played with. It's strongly implied that he has feelings for Mask/Julia, who played a part in his decision to align himself with Merlin... but she was as much a villain as he was — and hated Merlin just as much — until they had both been thoroughly defeated and forced to reevaluate their future.
  • The Rival: One-sided: he seemingly lives to destroy Merlin, while Merlin thinks the whole business is a tedious nuisance.
  • Shapeshifter: And he seems to have almost come to prefer a wolf's form to a man's.

    Llewella 

Princess Llewella of Rebma

Daughter of Oberon through an affair with Moins, the former Queen of Rebma, while Oberon was married to Clarissa. Unlike Eric, she was formally legitimized, mostly to spite Clarissa.
  • Atlantis: Comes from Rebma, an undersea "reflection" of Amber.
  • Flat Character: She features far less than most of the other royals, and has proportionately less character development. Lampshaded by Corwin.
    It is sometimes pleasant to emerge from a conflict untested.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: As with Flora, she was commanding an archer corps in the fifth book.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Or rather, she's half of what passes for 'human' in Amber. Shades into Green-Skinned Space Babe.
  • Never Accepted in His Hometown: She's a big wheel in Rebma, her mother's country. In Amber she's withdrawn and understandably suspicious.
  • The Quiet One: She converses more readily with Merlin than she does with her siblings, but even then she's not talkative.
  • Shrinking Violet: Apparently she holds a lot of authority in Rebma, but she only appears in Amber with reluctance.
    Whether her withdrawal involved animus, self-consciousness in her alienation, or simple caution, I could never be certain. Probably something of all of these.

    Lorraine 

Lorraine

A woman whom Corwin meets and befriends in one of the Shadows. As a Shadow human, she doesn't qualify for the tropes at the top of the page, aside from Functional Magic.

    Mandor 

Mandor of House Sawall

A Lord of Chaos who was one of Merlin's tutors in the magical arts, Mandor is considered powerful and subtle even by the standards of the Courts. He is Merlin's stepbrother, as Mandor's father Gramble is married to Merlin's mother Dara. Ironically, Merlin gets along better with Mandor than with their shared half-brothers Jurt and Despil.
  • Affably Evil: Although sinister and Machiavellian, Mandor is usually polite, and even capable of friendship. Just don't count on him allowing your friendship to get in his way.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Dara (and, to a lesser extent, the Logrus) act as Merlin's final adversaries in book ten.
  • Big Bad Friend
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: We find out at the end of the series that he actively tried to magically enslave Merlin to make him a Puppet King and when he found out it hadn't worked he attacked Merlin and tried to forcibly put the spells back. He accepts his defeat rather gracefully, though.
  • Broken Pedestal: Merlin admires him and his abilities, particularly after Mandor is willing to go out of his way to be Merlin's ally on all sorts of quests. And he's part of a conspiracy to turn Merlin into a Puppet King.
  • Graceful Loser: It might be part of a ploy, but when Merlin defeats his conspiracy and spares him, he makes a seemingly genuine offer to be Merlin's Honest Advisor.
  • The Man Behind the Man: He prefers to remain behind the scenes.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: Always fashionably dressed, rarely shaken by crisis, and never revealing his true motives.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted at the very end of Merlin's series. Until that point, he had played the trope straight, being the more knowledgable and powerful figure that Merlin could come to in a crisis, but in Merlin's final book he learns that Mandor was part of a conspiracy to brainwash Merlin and turn him into a Puppet King.
  • Wicked Cultured: Mandor is a master chef as well as a designer of custom realities. In entertaining, he always knows the best wine to go with each course.

    Martin 

Martin of Rebma; Prince Martin of Amber

Son of Random through an affair with Princess Morganthe of Rebma.
  • Aerith and Bob: Martin, the son of Morganthe, daughter of Moire. They at least all start with M, though.
  • The Aloner: Self-imposed for a long time after he got stabbed by Brand.
  • Apocalypse Maiden: Gender-flipped. It is his spilt blood that damages reality, an event that took place off-stage in the first book but was not discovered until the fourth.
  • Darker and Edgier: He drops out of sight for a few years, and when he returns for a brief visit to Amber he's got a punk hairstyle and some kind of cybernetic implant. This is strictly appearance-wise, though; he seems to be the same pleasant but gun-shy Martin on the inside.
  • Disappeared Dad: Random abandoned his mother before he was born.
  • Heroic Bastard: Martin was born of an affair that ended about as badly as they can, but seems to have become a straightforward, helpful man.
  • Properly Paranoid: After his first experience with Trumps (and family politics), Martin opted to stay the hell away from his father's homeland.
  • Unwitting Pawn: One day he received a random psychic contact, had a brief chat with his uncle, and got stabbed. He never did find out why, until the fourth book.
  • Walking the Earth: Martin spends a lot of time adventuring in Shadow.

    Mask 

Mask: Julia Barnes

A cryptic, masked sorcerer who - for reasons unknown to Merlin - keeps trying to kill him. And keeps sending him flowers. As a Shadow being, Mask isn't subject to most of the 'universal tropes' above - except for The Chessmaster and Functional Magic.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: After several books with Mask potentially being the Big Bad, they are ultimately just one of many players in Merlin's life, and not the biggest or most powerful by a long shot.
  • The Reveal: Providing the Wham Line for Sign of Chaos. Mask is actually Julia, Merlin's ex who he believed was killed at the start of his first book.

    Merlin 

Merlin of House Sawall; Merle Corey

Son of Corwin and Dara. Main protagonist and viewpoint character of the second set of five books.
  • The Call Knows Where You Live: And will attempt to assassinate you on April 30th. Every April 30th.
  • The Casanova: Merlin seems to be setting himself up for a Love Dodecahedron with Coral, Julia, Gilva, Rhanda, etc. as possible paramours. He generally doesn't say no to a willing woman, much like his father and grandfather.
  • Disappeared Dad: Merlin was raised knowing his father was technically his enemy. Later becomes Disappeared Dad in a more literal sense, because nobody seems to know what happened to Corwin after the fifth book.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: In Knight of Shadows, and it's not one of Merlin's brighter decisions.
    The Unicorn & the Serpent: We are not pleased by your attitude.
    Merlin: Vice versa.
  • First-Person Perspective: Merlin is the viewpoint character for the second set of five books.
  • Momma's Boy: Inverted. He has a distant relationship with Dara, whose motives and plans he's often suspicious of, yet greatly admires the missing father he'd only briefly known.
  • My Beloved Smother: Dara has definite plans for Merlin, having had him for just such a reason, and doesn't mind using a few hundred political assassinations and mind control of her own son to have her plans come true. Also to a lesser extent, Merlin's aunts are very snoopy in his life, although they generally seem more benevolent.
  • Parental Substitute: To his creation, Ghostwheel.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Merlin is normally quite low-key. But if you push him hard enough, you'll discover that under that calm, reasonable exterior is a talented sorcerer who's good at improvisation, can call on the two greatest sources of power in the known universe, can kick the ass of most beings even without magic, shape shift into monstrously powerful forms, and as a last ditch option, can summon elemental chaos itself to utterly obliterate everyone and everything within a target area and rip it out of creation.
  • Shapeshifter: Being a Lord of Chaos, Merlin can change his shape at will, a fact that he often uses to his advantage by changing into very large and/or powerful creatures and pummeling opponents. Often pummeling them to death.
  • Weirdness Magnet: Starts shortly before he becomes the narrator in Trumps of Doom, and gets worse continuously for the next five books.

    Oberon 

King Oberon, Lord of Amber, Ganelon

First King of Amber.
  • The Ace: His most impressive deeds take place offstage, but he does casually display strength and magical abilities that baffle his children. Corwin also infers that Oberon's been interfering on the basis that nobody else could play everybody this well.
  • Back from the Dead: Subverted. In the ninth book Merlin encounters "Oberon," only to learn that what he's seeing is a duplicate created by the Pattern from its last "recording" of Oberon.
  • Becoming the Mask: To an extent. Actually inverted, as he says that his Ganelon-disguise was closer to his actual self than his official persona.
  • Big Good: Well, okay, morally not very good. But very powerful, and implacably devoted to Amber.
  • The Casanova: Oberon seems to leave kids everywhere he goes, though considering how long he's lived, the actual number seems relatively small. He also seems to have trouble with the "forsaking all others" part of marriage. In the Merlin books, his ghost claims to have fathered forty-seven children (thanks in part to time proceeding more slowly in some Shadows than others). That doesn't sound like a lot when you've been alive for maybe tens of thousands of years, but of his children (who have probably at least as many years between them) only four have had children of their own that we know of, and in three of those cases magic might have been used to help things along. Corwin even muses that Oberon, and by extension the royal family of Amber, seems to have a low fertility rate relative to his libido.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Hm, maybe it's genetic.
  • God Was My Copilot: In disguise as Ganelon, he's copilot to Corwin.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: If Dworkin is to be believed, Oberon is half-Unicorn. Admittedly, Dworkin is insane at the time he makes that statement.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The only course of action that will save Amber requires him to destroy himself. So he does.
  • Messianic Archetype: He is the only son of this setting's equivalent to God, and he sacrifices himself to save the world.
  • Semi-Divine: Possibly. According to Dworkin, who is not exactly in his right mind at the time, Oberon's mother was the Unicorn, which is the physical manifestation of the Pattern, a.k.a the Sentient Cosmic Force that holds the entire multiverse together. Though it would certainly explain why Oberon is The Ace even compared to the other Lords of Amber, who are superhuman in their own right.
  • Shapeshifter
  • Time Abyss: He's so old that, well, the calendars don't go back that far.
  • Trickster Mentor: He takes on this role with his kids, manipulating them because they would never willingly take his instruction directly. He uses shape-shifting, false messages, subterfuge, murder and a reality-bending time-loop to make things come out according to his plans. And he does generally succeed in leaving his kids better off.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Many of the other characters would be a lot less screwed up if Oberon weren't such a terrible father.

    Random 

Prince Random of Amber

The only son of Oberon by his sixth wife, Paulettenote . The second King of Amber.

    Rinaldo 

Prince Rinaldo of Kashfa: (Luke Raynard)

The son of Jasra and Brand.
  • Big Bad Friend: For books six through eight, until he renounces his vendetta.
  • Clashing Cousins: He first went to Earth as part of a plan to kill Merlin, his cousin through his father's side, and initially only befriended Merlin as a ploy to make it easier to get to him. Except that his attempts to kill Merlin failed and he found himself genuinely liking and becoming friends with Merlin. By the time that Merlin's books start, his heart was no longer in the attempts on Merlin's life and before long he calls off the vendetta against Merlin entirely.
  • Disappeared Dad: His father Brand died when he was still quite young.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: In the Merlin books, comes across as much more well-adjusted, cunning, and likable than the title character, and even manages (technically) to steal his love interest.
  • Friendly Enemy: He initially only faked becoming Merlin's friend as a ploy to kill him, but found himself genuinely liking Merlin. For awhile he attempted to continue trying to kill Merlin anyway, but after a while he refused to carry on the vendetta any longer.
  • Heel–Face Turn
  • Muggle Best Friend: Subverted. He's not a Muggle and he's... well, sadly, maybe he is Merlin's best friend.
  • My Beloved Smother: Rinaldo's mother employs him as a pawn. Initially at least. He eventually stops going along with her plans and designs.
  • You Killed My Father: His mother raised him to have the goal of avenging his father's death on the entire Amber royal family, but time and experience made him reevaluate things and realize what his father had become by the end. After managing to kill Caine (who is the specific individual who actually caused his father's death) he decides to be satisfied with the amount of revenge he's achieved to that point, instead of continuing to try to attack and destroy the rest of the Court of Amber.

    The Serpent 

The Serpent Which Manifests the Logrus

  • Both Order and Chaos are Dangerous: The Serpent is the Chaos side of this trope to the Unicorn's Order. The two almost solely focus on their ancient feud, and will callously use and throw away the lives of their followers.
  • Church Of Evil: Played with. A faith dedicated to it exists in the Courts of Chaos, but even the High Priest seems to be a nonentity in the political arena.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The Serpent is only concerned with its ancient contest with the Unicorn. It wants Amber and, later, Corwin's Pattern destroyed to reclaim its ancient supremacy over reality-as-we-know-it. The innumerable deaths that would result are utterly, utterly inconsequential.
  • Living Shadow: Merlin is the only one to see the Serpent incarnate, and describes it as a slithering darkness, with the exception of its one luminous eye.
  • The Man Behind the Man: It's revealed in the tenth book that Dara and Mandor are the Lords of Chaos it has employed in an attempt to regain its previous level of power.
  • Serpentine Personification: It doesn't manifest as often as the Unicorn, but it can.

    The Ty'iga 

The Ty'iga demon

A bodiless spirit/demon from Chaos, it can possess the bodies of people and pass freely from one to another. While it is equally capable of possessing male or female bodies, it seems feminine and to have a preference for possessing women. Whenever some new woman comes into Merlin's life and seems interested in and/or strangely well informed about his situation, there's a good chance it's actually the Ty'iga's current host.
  • Alternate Identity Amnesia: People possessed by it generally don't remember much, if anything that happened while it was controlling them. Considering that some of the people it possessed on Earth while close to Merlin and Luke were under the Ty'iga's control over for quite some time (most notably a girlfriend of Luke that it was implied he was together with for awhile), that raises some questions about the enormous gap that must exist in the memories of those people.
  • Body Surf: It can readily move between different bodies that it wishes to possess, and if a host is about to die, it can just pop out of the body without suffering any consequences. Until one particular victim with health problems suddenly died just as the Ty'iga began possessing her, trapping the Ty'iga's spirit in the body.
  • Demonic Possession: It's a disembodied spirit capable of moving into and taking over a host. Until it becomes stuck in the body of Coral's sister Nayda once Nayda dies while being possessed.
  • Geas: It was put under a magical command by Dara to watch over and bodyguard Merlin. The only acceptable out that would allow it to abandon this mission would be if it got the chance to steal the Jewel of Judgement and deliver it to Chaos.
  • In Love with the Mark: Played with and downplayed. Merlin isn't exactly a mark (since it was sent to protect him), and it doesn't love him, but it has used seduction to get close to him a number of times while possessing the bodies of women, and seems to have at least some degree of fondness for him. Towards the end of the series it seems to have developed actual feeling for Luke.
  • Mysterious Protector
  • Not Me This Time: After enough occasions where strangers with a suspicious level of knowledge about him or interest in him turn out to be hosts possessed by the Ty'iga, Merlin begins suspecting any new person who approaches him and shows interest in him as possibly being the Ty'iga in a new host. Needless to say this isn't always the case, most notably with Coral, who came up to him because she wanted to find out if she truly was a bastard daughter of Oberon and could walk the Pattern, and Merlin was a much easier mark to fool into taking her to the Pattern than most of his relatives.
  • Suspect Is Hatless: A variant, it was sent to protect the descendant of both Amber and Chaos living and studying on Earth. It was flummoxed when it turned out there were two such people living on Earth, studying at the same school no less, and had to determine which one was the one it was meant to protect. Especially since one (Luke/Rinaldo) kept trying to kill the other (Merlin), and this put the Ty'iga in a difficult spot.
  • Trapped in the Host: She attempted to possess Coral's sister Nayda, but unfortunately for the Ty'iga, Nayda's health problems caused her to suddenly die right as the Ty'iga was doing this and it promptly became stuck in the body. The "Nayda" in the narrative from that point on is actually the Ty'iga. Said body continues functioning like normal because there's a spirit inhabiting it, so at least it's not as though the body is decaying and falling apart, but it's a definite drag for the Ty'iga.

    The Unicorn 

The Unicorn

  • Ambiguous Gender: "It" and "its" are used. Possibly later subverted... if Dworkin's claim that the Unicorn is Oberon's mother can be trusted.
  • Big Good: Played straight in the first series; toyed with in the second.
  • Both Order and Chaos are Dangerous: The Unicorn is the Order side of this trope to the Serpent's Chaos. The two almost solely focus on their ancient feud, and will callously use and throw away the lives of their followers.
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Averted. The later books reveal that there is a religion based around the Unicorn, but the royal family seem to regard it as a respected totem creature rather than actually worshiping it.
  • Mythic Beast Personification: Although what exactly it personifies is open to debate (maybe Order).

    Vialle 

Vialle of Rebma

An exception to the usual tropes (aside from Functional Magic) because Vialle is not a member of Amber's royalty except through marriage. She is a minor noblewoman of Rebma, a sculptress and a seer despite being blind.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top