The Hand of Oberon, chapter 5

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Corwin, Random, and Ganelon returned to Amber after discovering the primal Pattern, which had been damaged by spilling an Amberite's blood on it. They believed the sacrificial victim was Random's son Martin, having found his Trump and a dagger on the Pattern. Random and Benedict went into Shadow to investigate Martin's fate, while Corwin went back to the dungeon to visit Dworkin. Dworkin mistook him for Oberon, and asked him when they were going to destroy the world.

Corwin plays along with the mistaken identity; Dworkin assumes Oberon has taken Corwin's appearance, and he also transforms himself into Corwin's likeness. They get into an argument: Dworkin wants to destroy the Pattern and recreate it anew, while Corwin wants to repair the damage (as, apparently, does Oberon). Dworkin asks permission to sacrifice himself to destroy the Pattern, while "Oberon" would recreate it using the Jewel of Judgment. They go to the Pattern, which is accessible through, of all things, Dworkin's cell door, which opens into the back of the cave next to the Pattern, where the purple griffin is.

They resume their dispute about recreating vs. repairing the Pattern. Dworkin tells Corwin that it can only be repaired at great risk; destruction and recreation is the easier option. Dworkin does not know whose blood caused the damage to the Pattern, so Corwin tells him it was Martin. Dworkin recognizes the Trump as the work of Brand, his "best pupil." He then realizes he is talking to Corwin himself, not a disguised Oberon.

As Dworkin's madness starts to re-emerge, they return to Dworkin's cell. Dworkin warns Corwin that he may attack him when he loses control. Corwin takes a Trump at random from Dworkin's desk. As Dworkin's clawed hand reaches for him and Dworkin laughs because Corwin has chosen his doom, he teleports himself to … the Courts of Chaos.

As I suspected last week, this chapter is heavy on Shadow theory. Dworkin tries to explain the origin of the Pattern, but it's very confusing:

"I am the Pattern," he said, "in a very real sense. In passing through my mind to achieve the form it now holds, the foundation of Amber, it marked me as surely as I marked it. I realized one day that I am both the Pattern and myself, and it was forced to become Dworkin in the process of becoming itself. There were mutual modifications in the birthing of this place and this time, and therein lay our weakness as well as our strength. For it occurred to me that damage to the Pattern would be damage to myself, and damage to myself would be reflected within the Pattern. Yet I could not be truly harmed because the Pattern protects me, and who but I could harm the Pattern? A beautiful closed system, it seemed, its weakness totally shielded by its strength."

This may be a confusing chapter, but it's full of "whammy" revelations.

Dworkin is the father of Oberon—Corwin's grandfather—as well as the creator of the Pattern. His mad plan to destroy Amber—for which Oberon locked him up—is to kill himself on the proto-Pattern, thus obliterating it. Dworkin did not realize his offspring "unto the third generation" could also accomplish this. With Oberon being the first, and Random the second, Martin is the third generation of Amberite.

With its source destroyed, Corwin's Amber, and all Shadow, would cease to exist. Then Oberon was to use the Jewel of Judgment, which contains the Pattern within it, to recreate it. When the Jewel was introduced in Nine Princes in Amber, it was just a magic talisman that enabled the wearer to control the weather. It was hinted to have greater powers in Sign of the Unicorn after Corwin attuned himself to it. Fiona warns him not to overuse it, as it causes the user's metabolism to accelerate and appears to slow down time. This effect probably saved Corwin's life. According to Dworkin, it means he has exhausted his energy and will soon die, unless he draws power from the original Pattern contained within it. The Jewel also has a distorting effect on Shadow if left too long there, which doesn't sound too good for upstate New York, since Corwin hid it in a compost heap at his house.

Dworkin can change his appearance; implicitly, so can Oberon. Is this an innate ability for the other Amberites as well, though apparently an untapped one?

It appears Dworkin's quarters are accessible only by a large steel door that opens into the back of the cave. Oberon left the griffin (which is named Wixer) there to prevent him from accessing the Pattern. That didn't work. In what dimension is Dworkin imprisoned? If he can simply open a door and walk into Wixer's cave, it makes sense that he's in proto-Amber. Zelazny doesn't suggest that they shift Shadow to get there. That also means he's effectively locked away where no one else can find him (since only Oberon knew where he was). On the other hand, Nine Princes in Amber introduced Dworkin when he teleported into Corwin's cell, simply curious what was on the other side of his wall, suggesting that he is confined in Corwin's Amber. Of course, since Dworkin is the expert on the Amberites' ability to move through Shadow, the two cells don't have to be physically adjacent.

Apparently there's a German vulgarity, Wichser, which is equivalent to the British English wanker, but it doesn't really seem to fit Wixer, who is good at his job and pretty friendly for a giant mythical beast.

At last, we are about to find out what the Courts of Chaos actually are. See you on Sunday.