Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 3

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read Nine Princes in Amber now. I promise I won't be offended.

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Corwin has escaped from the private hospital where he was recovering from a car accident but actually being held prisoner. He has amnesia, but learns his sister Florimel (or Flora) was the one keeping him there. He finds her and (while hiding his memory loss) learns that he is actually from (apparently) an alternate reality called Amber, and stands opposed to his siblings on some as-yet-unspecified family issue.

In chapter 3 of Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin wakes up the next day in Flora's house. She isn't there, so he searches her library for more clues. He finds a secret compartment in her desk that hides a deck of tarot cards. The trump cards are lifelike representations of himself and his siblings.

The phone rings. It's another of his brothers, Random. He is on the run from someone. Initially he panics when he realizes whom he is speaking to, but calms down when Corwin promises him protection in Flora's house.

Flora returns home. She has been trying to travel to Amber, but was obstructed or opposed somehow. She suspects Corwin when he reveals that he found her card deck. Then Random arrives at Flora's door.

In this chapter, we meet the second of Corwin s siblings in the flesh: his brother Random. My limited research suggests"Random" is a Middle-English given name derived from the French randir, meaning to run or gallop. However, Corwin regards him as untrustworthy, so maybe his name actually reflects an unpredictable or arbitrary character.

From Random, we get a bit more information about Corwin's dysfunctional family. When he realizes he is taking to Corwin on the phone, he suspects he has murdered Flora. So she is allied with Eric, who is Corwin's chief antagonist. It's unclear where Random himself stands. He is frightened of Corwin, but more so of Flora, and trusts Corwin to protect him from her. Why? Who is he on the run from?

Amber is accessed in two ways. Flora tried to travel there via the Road, and failed. Her journey was blocked by "things," which she suspects Corwin put in her way. It's implied that the second route to Amber has something to do with the tarot cards.

The tarot deck is the most interesting part of this chapter. English North Americans mainly associate tarot cards with the occult: card readers use them to tell fortunes. But cartomancy is a relatively modern invention. But in Europe, especially France and Italy, the tarot deck has been used since the Middle Ages to play a family of games something like bridge. A tarot deck consists of 78 cards. There are four suits—wands, cups, swords, and pentacles—with numbered cards from 1 (ace) to 10 and four face cards, king, queen, cavalier, and jack. An additional 21 trump cards have characters on them such as Death, the Lovers, the Hanged Man, and so forth. These are likely the cards most associated with the tarot deck. One last card, the Fool, may or may not be a trump depending on the game.

In cartomancy, the suit cards are known as the Lesser Arcana while the trumps are the Greater Arcana. Corwin calls Flora's trump cards "Greater Trumps," which implies to me that their use is more like card reading than card playing.

In Flora's deck, the usual trump cards are replaced with pictures of her siblings. There are nine brothers and four sisters, named (in the order Corwin turns them up) Random, Julian, Caine, Eric, Benedict, Corwin, Gérard, Bleys, Brand, Flora, Deirdre, Fiona, and Llewella. Corwin notices that some trumps are missing. Those eight or nine missing cards presumably represent other family members. Who are they? Why are their cards gone?

Perhaps more will be revealed in chapter 4, this coming Sunday.