The Hand of Oberon, chapter 10

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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Learning that Brand had again disappeared, Corwin began a hellride to Earth to retrieve the Jewel of Judgment, which he had hidden in the compost pile at his New York house, before Brand could find it. He encountered Julian on a hunt in the forest of Arden. Julian warned him that Brand had become more powerful than the rest of them in the ways of Shadow, calling him a "living Trump."

When Corwin arrives at the house, he discovers that the compost pile—and with it, the Jewel—is gone. Remembering that his lawyer friend, Bill Roth, had offered to try to sell the house, he pays Bill a visit to try and track down his compost. Bill hired a local contractor, Ed Wellan, to clean up the yard and renovate the house. Ed kept the compost for himself, however, and took it to his own farm. Bill also tells Corwin that there has been buyer interest in the house: a redheaded, bearded man visited the property. It is Brand, obviously. Corwin contacts Gérard to warn him that Brand is still alive and must be kept away from the Pattern at all costs. The same goes for the mirror Pattern in Rebma. He then rides to Ed's farm to search for the Jewel.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 9

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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Brand again disappeared, and there were blood and other signs of a struggle in his room. Gérard, who had suspected Corwin previously of murdering Caine and Benedict's retainers, was again enraged and tried to fight him.

Ganelon intervenes and pummels Gérard unconscious, allowing Corwin to escape so he can hellride to Earth and retrieve the Jewel of Judgment, which he concealed in a compost heap at his New York house (after being stabbed, supposedly by Fiona, in Sign of the Unicorn). As he pssses through the forest of Arden, he is spotted by one of Julian's hunting birds. He believes Julian is hunting for him. However, when he is pursued by a manticora that is taken down by Julian's hounds, he realizes it was his prey, not him.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 8

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, along with his brother Random and general Ganelon, discovered the primal Amber and Pattern, the latter of which had been damaged by the spilt blood of Martin, Random's son. Upon returning to their own realm, Random and his brother Benedict travelled through Shadow to find clues as to the whereabouts of Martin, if indeed he survived. Corwin went to speak to Dworkin, the architect of the Pattern, but was forced to escape when Dworkin's madness came upon him, and found himself transported accidentally to the surreal Courts of Chaos.

Returning to Amber, Corwin met with his brother Brand, who admitted to stabbing Martin; the resulting damage to the Pattern created the black road, which gaves his allies from the Courts of Chaos access to Shadow and to Amber itself. He also revealed that Bleys and Fiona were still organizing another attack on Amber, and suggested a plan to assassinate them, which Corwin rejected.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 7

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 paid a visit to the mad Dworkin, architect of the Pattern that is the source of the Amberites' power—and, as he learned, his grandfather. Dworkin wanted to destroy the primal Pattern, which was marred with the blood of Martin (the son of Corwin's brother Random), and remake it. But Corwin, posing as his father Oberon, wanted to try and repair the damage. As Dworkin's madness came over him and he transformed into a clawed being, Corwin escaped using a random Trump from his desk—only to find himself in the Courts of Chaos.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 6

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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After returning from the primal Amber, Corwin went to see the mad hunchback Dworkin in the palace dungeon. Dworkin mistook him for Oberon using Corwin's likeness. They argued over Dworkin's plan to destroy the world. Dworkin wanted to sacrifice himself on the primal Pattern to obliterate it, and thus destroy Amber and all Shadow. Oberon would then use the Pattern stored in the Jewel of Judgment to recreate the Pattern anew. Corwin, on the other hand, wanted to try to repair the damage to the proto-Pattern (as would Oberon) caused by Martin's blood. Dworkin was revealed to be Oberon's father. He realized he was speaking to the real Corwin, not a disguised Oberon. As his madness came over him again, Dworkin transformed into a beastly, clawed creature and tried to attack Corwin, but Corwin used a random Trump to escape, and teleported himself to the Courts of Chaos.

Corwin realizes he has been to this place before, though he does not remember who brought him. The Courts of Chaos are a misty, surreal landscape: one-half of the sky is as dark as night with rapidly moving stars, while the other half is a mad swirl of colours, and the whole thing rotates rapidly around a point overhead. Corwin stands at the edge of a cliff, and looking downward, he can see more sky. Far in the distance is a black mountain with an indistinct edifice upon it.

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.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 4

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, Ganelon, and Benedict compared notes after Corwin's party returned from the primal Amber, where the Pattern was found damaged by blood assumed to be from Random's illegitimate son Martin. Benedict revealed that he had been in frequent contact with Martin. The last time had been a note left with his friends, the Tecys, whom Martin had visited while suffering a serious stab wound. While Benedict and Random went into Shadow to call on the Tecys, Ganelon and Corwin returned to the palace.

There, Corwin calls on Vialle, Random's wife, to tell her Random is travelling for a day or two. After sleeping, he visits his old cell in the dungeon, where he cleans up the two sketches left there by Dworkin: one of the Lighthouse of Cabra that he used to escape, and the other of Dworkin's quarters on the other side of its wall. He teleports through the latter. Dworkin, mistaking Corwin for Oberon, asks if it is finally time to destroy the world.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 3

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 discovered the primal Amber, where no Mt. Kolvir or palace existed: just a mesa with a Pattern embedded in it. This proto-Pattern was damaged by the spilling of Amberite blood, the source of the black road running through Shadow. They discovered a Trump of Random's son Martin at the centre of the Pattern, impaled by a dagger. Corwin recognized the Trump's art style as Brand's. He kept this knowledge from Random. They called on Benedict to return to their Amber, and brought him up to sped on what they had been doing.

Benedict had suspected that the proto-Amber had existed, and that Oberon and Dworkin had created their Amber close by to draw on its power. Learning of Martin's apparent death, he reports that Martin had spent nearly a year living with him, learning about moving through Shadow and using the Trump's (of which he gifted him a spare deck), before leaving again. The last time Benedict had heard from Martin, he turned up at the home of a family Benedict knew in Shadow, the Tecys, with a knife wound. He had left a note saying not to worry. Random and Benedict leave to visit the Tecys (with Random riding Corwin's horse, Star), while Corwin and Ganelon return to the palace.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 2

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.

After a trip to the ghostly, floating city of Tir-na Nog'th, Corwin, with his brother Random and general Ganelon, were led by a unicorn to a place that appeared to be Mt. Kolvir, but with the top of the mountain and the palace missing, and only the Pattern remaining. They realized they were looking at the primal Amber and Pattern.

The Pattern was marred with black splotches, and at the center they found a dagger impaling a Trump of an unknown person. They figured out that the damage to the Pattern was caused by spilling blood of Amber. Random realized that the figure on the Trump was his missing son, Martin.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 1

Today I continue my readthrough of Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber. I've been sick, so I'm late—sorry! So far I have competed the first three books in the series, so we pick up the story with the fourth novel, The Hand of Oberon.

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.