A Question

[yendi]

In Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin mentions how fond he is of Random, and attributes at least part of that to the fact that they've got the same mother and father (as opposed to the other spawn of Oberon, most of whom are half-siblings to Corwin). Two books later (in Sign of the Unicorn), while recounting his family history and lineage, Corwin makes it clear that his mother (Faiella) died years before Random was born.

[Poll #1784161]


(In related news, anyone want to guess what series of books I've been re-reading?)

Comments

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

Ooh, it's about time for my yearly rereading of them, too. Thanks for the reminder!

[gwynraven.livejournal.com]

I've only actually read Nine Princes in Amber and it's been years. I should reread it and then go read the others.

[idonotlikepeas]

>.>

[idonotlikepeas]

To clarify: Zelazny didn't make mistakes. He just had happy little accidents.

[zeyr.livejournal.com]

Just reread the series over the summer myself. Holds up so well...

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

In random news, I now want David Tennant to shout "Zelazny!"

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia mentions this glitch, but I haven't read the books. My feeling is that something being clarified two books later without being wholly explained means the author retconned. (Simply, my general rule of thumb would be that if it looks like a retcon and is not carefully or even showily presented as intentional, then it's a retcon.)

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

I will go with they have the same mother but from different Shadows? Yeah that will work...

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

Mm, love Amber. Have I mentioned where my tattoo came from? :)

[aedifica]

Technology! Frozen eggs or something.

(I haven't read the books.)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it was a mistake, but I'm equally sure that if you had been able to ask Zelazny about it he would have claimed something like your brain damage theory.

[chaos5023.livejournal.com]

C) Magic. (Random was stolen out of Faiella's womb by House Sawall magicians and kept in a swan-shaped vial in embryonic form for years until Oberon found out, recovered the vial by trickery and murder, and accelerated Random's growth to infanthood by walking the Pattern carrying him.)
D) Shadow-working. (Oberon gets maudlin, goes and knocks up the Faiella from the Shadow next door to where he found the first one, comes back and is all, "hey, Corwin, here's your new baby brother, raise him or something.")
E) Corwin is a big fat liar.

We of course know that Corwin is a big fat liar, just not whether about this.

[chaos5023.livejournal.com]

There's no particular reason this shouldn't be the case, and the fact that Random's kid Martin likes to kick around cyberpunk settings almost suggests it.

[yendi]

That last is a very good point; we know from Courts of Chaos that he's not narrating to himself or a presumed trusted reader, but to Merlin, who he's only really just met for the second time.

As for the others, I don't really buy C, but I could see D coming into play.

[ex-bookkeep.livejournal.com]

Corwin's memory has been slowly reworked by Fiona at Random's behest.

What? He *did* end up king, after all.

My Amber RPG books are now looking at me accusingly. I have not played/run Amber since the 20th century.

[yendi]

No problem!

[yendi]

Yes, you should. Everyone should.

[yendi]

:-)

[yendi]

That was my reaction, too.

[yendi]

That sentence would also work if you'd capitlized the "R" in "Random."

[yendi]

That's my assumption, but I'm also not sure how tightly everything was planned (I know he planned the first five books together, but might not have had all the details straight).

[yendi]

That works!

[yendi]

I don't think I realized that!

[yendi]

I do recommend reading them (although I don't see Oberon as likely to use frozen eggs).

[yendi]

I never actually played the game. I should at least get the rulebook and browse it.

[yendi]

Heh. I agree!

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's a representation of the Logrus. :)

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

The game can be fun, but I take a lot of issue with the author's perception of Amberite power levels.

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

If it's not too forward (hi, nice to meetcha!), is there an image of the art extant online somewhere? I am simply WAY too curious about what a visual representation of the Logrus would look like to people!

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

Sure, you can see it here: http://wiki.lostsouls.org/Logrus

It's the chapter image from the 10-book compendium edition. I don't know if it was actually intended to represent the Logrus, but that's what I decided it meant when I appropriated it, so it does now. :)

[ex-bookkeep.livejournal.com]

It's one of the only Diceless RPGs I've encountered that I'd willingly play over and over again. Erick Wujick does have some very definite opinions about who can trump (no pun intended) whom at what, but adjusting power levels is relatively simple.

If nothing else, the simplicity with which you can whip up a shadow of your very own makes the game worth the price of admission.

[idonotlikepeas]

By its nature, the Logrus is constantly changing shape, so any kind of stylized interpretation will do the job, as long as it says Logrus to you.

[idonotlikepeas]

Yeah, this kind of drove me up the wall. It's been a while since I read the DRPG sourcebooks, but I seem to recall the author giving Julian a higher strength and/or warfare score than Corwin. That is to say, Corwin, the dude who in the books takes out Julian with barely any effort when he is barefoot and unarmed in civilian clothes and Julian is fully armed and armored and sitting on a horse.

Don't even get me started on the silly rubber-band Logrus shadow travel they talk about.

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

Also, honestly, the whole Beyond Superhuman Abilities the elders had out of the gate. I mean sure, they're big deals and all, but I don't see Benedict parrying invisible opponents from out of nowhere. And such.

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

That's pretty sweet!

[idonotlikepeas]

And using the edge of a piece of paper as a bladed weapon and all that, yeah.

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

That was basically my take on it. :)

[rain-herself.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[fings.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that one always bugged me. There is another one that bugs me, in Dilvish. In Passage to Dilfar, Dilvish says "They think you are a demon, my mount", and Black chuckles and replies "Perhaps 'twere better an' I were."

But then at the end of The Changing Land, Dilvish says "I sometimes doubt you are a demon.", to which Black replies "I never said that I was."

Granted, they were written 17 years apart, but it really looks like Zelazny changed his thoughts on Black's origin and/or Dilvish's knowledge.

[mydochas.livejournal.com]

God I love these... I just had my copy of the full chronicles returned so I think I will have to read it soon!