History Literature / TheChroniclesOfAmber

%%* TheWorldAsMyth

* Reality Warper: Those beings with the requisite bloodlines and training can conjure up new worlds at a moment's whim...or at least visit them. Even discussed and debated in-universe: do the infinite number of Shadow worlds already exist out there in the aether, or are they only brought into existence if an Amberite (or Minion of Chaos) imagines and visits them? Leading to...

* YourMindMakesItReal: Even discussed and debated in-universe: do the infinite number of Shadow worlds already exist out there in the aether, or are they only brought into existence if an Amberite (or Minion of Chaos) imagines and visits them?

* CloningBlues: Minor shades of this in the Corwin cycle, where the Shadow reflections of Amberites lead to (notably Corwin and [[spoiler:Caine]]) form a few minor plot points. Then the full, classic version of this shows up in the Merlin cycle, when the Patterns and Logrus start creating copies of the core cast, personalities included.

* TheWorldAsMyth

* OutOfTheInferno: Benedict in ''The Guns of Avalon:'' Jurt in ''Sign of Chaos.''

* LampshadeHanging: Bill, over his status as a OneSceneWonder. [[spoiler:This, however, is subverted, as Bill shows up again later, even contemplating retiring to Amber in the latter half of the series.]]

* NoodleIncident: Sometime between the first part of Book I and Corwin's arrival in Lorraine early in Book II, Oberon escapes from an unspecified, decades-long imprisonment. He later implied that Dara was of help to him in this escape... and that's the ''only'' detail we're given.

* FindingJudas: Lots.

* AlternateHistory / AnotherDimension: In ''The Guns of Avalon'' Corwin travels to an alternate African coast that has never seen human habitation to harvest diamonds from the sand.

* BuryingASubstitute: Corwin underwent a sudden and longtime disappearance, (even for what is essentially an immortal demigod, it was a long time) and eventually his family created an cenotaph for him. When he finally returns from exile, he's quite amused by it, and somewhat surprisingly he finds he rather likes hanging out there, as it's a quiet, out of the way spot that is good for getting away from family intrigue and politics for a bit. He also admits that he's more fond of pissing on his own "grave" than he really should be.

* WritersCannotDoMath: The two-and-a-half-to-one conversion rate for the time differential between Amber and Earth that Zelazny eventually establishes is...difficult to reconcile with the events of the narrative as presented. For example, the time between Corwin's imprisonment in the dungeon in ''Nine Princes'' and his triumphant return to Amber in ''The Guns of Avalon'' is around five years, from Corwin's perspective (nearly four years imprisoned, then some months recovering at Cabra, some more months in Lorraine with Ganelon, etc, etc). But when Corwin finds himself back on Earth after being stabbed and is coincidentally being treated by the same doctor who worked on him after his car accident, both he and the doctor are in agreement that the latter event happened seven years previously, Earth time. According to the time differential, it should have actually been twelve-and-a-half years. Even assuming Lorraine has a radically different time flow to Amber, the four years Corwin spent imprisoned means that the elapsed time on Earth really shouldn't be anything less than a decade.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: When it isn't GrayAndGreyMorality. The Princes of Amber regard anything, up to and including [[ApocalypseHow the annihilation of an entire dimension,]] as permissible out in Shadow. They don't necessarily ''approve'' of mass murder, except of course when it's [[NecessaryEvil necessary to their plans]] - they just don't see that it matters much. WeHaveReserves and WeAreAsMayflies contribute to this attitude. On the other hand, relatively minor affronts such as insulting another Prince can lead to centuries of blood feuding.

* DemonicPossession / PuppeteerParasite: The ty'iga in books six and seven. Turns into GrandTheftMe when she possesses [[spoiler:Nayda]], who was dying at the time, and gets stuck.

* MarriageBeforeRomance: Random is forced to marry a woman, to lend her some status even after he deserts her. However, when Corwin sees him later, he has brought his wife with him to the courts. He explains that they had actually fallen in love.

-->'''Scrof:''' Do you know the odds of a Chaos Lord coming this far to go two out of three with a Dweller?\\
'''Merlin:''' One out of one should be enough.

* PoisonousFriend: Pretty much all of the Amberites to each other.

** Merlin and Corwin's differing view of the Princesses of Amber is explainable in that Corwin is their respected and powerful older brother, while Merlin is a somewhat-dim nephew.
* UnwittingPawn: Corwin manages both to be a pawn to one scheme, a SpannerInTheWorks to another, and work on his own plan simultaneously. Merlin remains a pawn until the second-to-last page of the tenth book.

* VancianMagic: Merlin's Logrus sorcery operates in this fashion, requiring Merlin to design and "hang" spells before he can employ them. He's not restricted solely to this kind of magic but he does claim that it's the most efficient and elegant way to use magic. The alternative is to simply unleash raw power and blast away, which is tiring and inelegant.

* IncestIsRelative:
** Merlin sleeps with [[spoiler: Coral, who is his half-aunt,]] and possibly has a child with her.
** [[spoiler:Coral]] has an arranged childhood marriage with [[spoiler: Rinaldo, ''another'' half-nephew,]] but neither are interested in consummating it. It's almost certain that none of the people who set it up knew they were related.

** Justified in the case of Logrus initiates: their bodies and minds alike are transformed by direct contact with the Sign of Chaos. Usually, the resulting madness is temporary - and a ShapeShifter can revert back from whatever changes he or she went through. Some people don't make it.

* {{Doppelganger}}: Shadow doubles, Pattern/Logrus ghosts, [[ShapeShifter shape-shifters]] engaged in an impersonation...