Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.
With the defeat of the Chaosians and the death of Brand, the Amberites won the day. But they lost their father Oberon, as well as their sister Dierdre and the Jewel of Judgment. Corwin collapsed and rested by the black road after Oberon's funeral procession passed. When he came to, Dara was riding past and berated him for killing her swordmaster, Borel, then left him to return to her own people. Corwin's son Merlin met him briefly, and they began to talk, but they were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the Unicorn of Amber.
The Unicorn has the Jewel of Judgment around her neck. She gives it to Random, indicating that he has been chosen as the heir to the Amber throne. Though surprised, he accepts, and the other Amberites lay their swords at his feet.
Since Random is not attuned to the Jewel, he offers it to Corwin to hold off the Chaos storm. However, Corwin doesn't believe he has the stamina to succeed. Instead, he assists Random in attuning himself to the Jewel. He weakens and faints, but the attempt is successful, and when he comes to, tended to by Fiona, Random is holding back the storm while the rest of the Amberites retreat along the black road to the citadel of the Courts of Chaos.
Finally, only Random, Corwin, and Merlin remain. Merlin resumes his earlier conversation, wanting to hear more of Corwin's history. Corwin begins relating his story, beginning with the hospital in Albany.
Oberon's message to his children had said:
With my passing, the problem of the succession will be upon you. I had wishes in this regard, but I see now that these were futile. Therefore, I have no choice but to leave this on the horn of the Unicorn.
This is almost literally true, as the Unicorn carries the Jewel to Random on her horn.
The selection of Random as the new king is unexpected, not the least by Random himself. Oberon's "wishes in this regard" had been to put Corwin on the throne, but as Corwin's character developed, he realized he had only wanted the throne because Eric had it, and now that he didn't hate Eric any more, he abandoned the claim.
Julian is the first to offer Random his allegiance. At the beginning of the story, he was allied with Eric, and Corwin's first battle in the series pitted himself and Random against Julian and his hunting dogs in the forest of Arden. As Corwin tells Random, there do not appear to be any hard feelings.
"You have a lot of hard work ahead of you," he adds. Does he? There's little sense in these books of what the king of Amber actually does. He rules Amber, clearly. But Oberon abandoned the throne and hasn't been ruling. And there's been no sense of everyday life in Amber: by all appearances—contrasted with Chaos—it's a very static realm, hence the double meaning of the title Nine Princes in Amber. The children of Oberon spend more time staving off each other than enemies foreign and domestic, and it seems to have no appreciable effect on Amber proper.
Brand described the attunement process like this:
"There is another way to attune a person to the Jewel. It requires the assistance of someone who is already attuned. You would have to project yourself through the Jewel once more, and take me with you—into and through the primary Pattern that lies beyond."
As I interpret this, instead of using an external Pattern (like the one in Amber), someone can be attuned to the Jewel of Judgment by walking the Pattern it contains within itself. Of course, to access it, it takes someone already attuned to lead the newbie through, which Corwin and Random do successfully.
"The cause of all our troubles, Brand, was dead." That seems pretty final. I assume that means Dierdre is gone, as well, bringing the permanent deaths among the Amberites to four: Eric, Oberon, Brand, and Dierdre. Yet, somehow, the Unicorn managed to rescue the Jewel from the abyss. I wonder why she couldn't have rescued Brand or Dierdre as well.
One chapter remains of The Courts of Chaos and the original Chronicles of Amber. Hopefully I can publish that this Sunday, but it may take longer.
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