r/Amber

I'm big on the Pattern of The Chronicles of r/Amber, but also fond of the movie r/labyrinth (which doesn't have an actual, literal labyrinth in it), and the book r/houseofleaves , which uses labyrinth and Minotaur symbolism. The mythic Cretan labyrinth is quite the tale as well, with gods, bestiality, human sacrifice, and thread!

There are others out there, for sure! I'm not aware of many of the contemplative, meditative walking labyrinths in stories and media, but I'd be curious if you knew any!

Anything counts that you think counts, pedantic definitions and such are a cool discussion for another time!

Do you have someone other in mind?

Link to portraits in the comment.

#fancasting

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I'm on book four and I'm already sure that rereading these books will be even more fun.

( Montagne de Beuren in Luik/Liège).

https://preview.redd.it/43kf5wy7cvah1.png?width=451&format=png&auto=webp&s=50c47d4eb9caec5ea2885ed9c1d1e84213598b1d

This is half theory and half just pure headcanon that I'd like to share, but hear me out.

From what we know out of the books it seems that Grayswandir and Werewindle make a pair. Day and night, moon and sun, female and male, two halfs of the Pattern on their blades. So I think it's rather safe to say that there should be only two swords like this in the universe.

Yet here is the description of Bleys's Trump from the Corwin cycle:

"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. He wore two huge rings on his right hand and one on his left: an emerald, a ruby, and a sapphire, respectively. This, I knew, was Bleys".

Do you see this "elaborate filigree of a golden color"? Later Corwin looks at Bleys's Trump with his memory intact again, and this is what he notices:

"I stared at him, flame-crowned, dressed all in red and orange, with a sword in his right hand and a glass of wine in his left. The devil danced in his blue eyes, his beard blazed, and the tracery on his blade, I suddenly realized, flared with a portion of the Pattern. His rings flashed. He seemed to move. The contact came like an icy wind".

So, before the contact comes, Corwin sees the Pattern on Bleys's blade. And we know from before (previous quote) that this Pattern is golden. I'm 100% sure Bleys is holding Werewindle on his Trump.

So. My theory is that initially (that is, when the Trumps were made) Bleys possessed Werewindle. Brand got it from him later. How? I don't know. Maybe he stole it. Maybe he won it in a game of poker. Don't know, don't care.

So, initially Corwin had one sword and Bleys had the other. The question is, why. I have a theory here too.

Benedict's and Eric's legitimacy is questionable. Corwin's — not so much. According to Corwin, the next in line after him is Caine. But according to Merlin, Caine's mother was Rilga, not Faiella. So I think Rilga was Oberon's mistress when she bore Caine. Oberon legitimated Caine only years later, when he married Rilga after Clarissa. That means that initially Bleys was the next legitimate male child after Corwin. So, two eldest legitimate sons get two super-cool Pattern-powered swords. Makes sense.

But what if we stretch this theory even further? Before Corwin and Bleys, before the first divorce of Oberon, there were other two eldest sons: Benedict and Osric. So my headcanon is that Grayswandir first belonged to Benedict and Werewindle first belonged to Osric. And during the rebellion of Osric and Finndo Oberon took Grayswandir from Benedict because he couldn't trust him. Osric died, Werewindle returned to Oberon too, and later he gave them to Corwin and Bleys.

What do you think? Do you believe this could be true? Do you have your own theories about this two swords?

Having not run or played the game since the 90s, I'm gearing up to run a short campaign at my local games club later this year, in South East London. As part of that I've worked up a character sheet, as I find the one in the book butt ugly and barely functional. It includes two item/creature worksheets on the back page.

Any input welcome, especially from anyone with more/recent experience of playing or running the game. What do you think would make for a better character sheet?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gd0uwCZY-eaYxp-xIMLTl8cnFQKC2GOO/view?usp=sharing

Updated with space for character art.

BTW for the mods, would it be helpful to have a tag for game related posts?