The Delirious History of The Chronicles of Amber

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]When you think of fantasy, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Dragons, an epic quest for the McGuffin, hot elf girlfriends, whatever you said. What it probably was not was Shakespearean pros, a revenge arc that makes Guts look well adjusted, enough family backstabbing to make the Medici blush, Arthuran legends, and a whole bunch of cigarettes. That is unless you happen to think of Chronicles of Amber. This series was practically a hand grenade thrown into the fantasy genre in the 1970s and it has been cited by authors like George RR Martin as some of their all-time favorites and probably laid the groundwork for more of the fantasy landscape we have today than most people realize. And yet somehow over the years, it seems like we're hearing less and less about it. So in this video, we're diving into all of it.

[00:01:05]The beautifully unhinged plot of the entire series, the surprisingly large number of books, both great and divisive, shall we say, its very strange adaptations, and finally, where everything stands in the cold, sobering light of 2026. So, let's walk the pattern together as we explore what ever happened to the Chronicles of Amber. Hi everyone, my name is Otto and welcome to Exits Examined. In this series, we'll be exploring the history of series, franchises, and more. If that sounds good to you, there's a like and subscribe button below. And I really appreciate the support, especially that of my patrons at a time when YouTube is pushing more shorts and AI content. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelasny is a fantasy series that started in 1970.

[00:01:58]And maybe the best way to describe it is basically if the entire universe was ruled by a bunch of petty, some might say sociopathic demigod, Machavevelian princes thrown in with Shakespeare references and multiverses. Now, although that's a lot of things, what is conspicuously absent in this fantasy series is a lot of typical fantasy trappings. So, some people actually describe it more akin to something like sci-fi with much more of a focus on metaphysical pondering and jumping between realities. So, yes, it's a bit of a bizarre cocktail. At points, it's a revengefueled rampage across the multiverse that feels like Berserk meets Elrich of Melmina. At other times, it's a fever dream odyssey. Fear and loathing in Las Vegas at the end of the world.

[00:02:49]It's a lot to take in, mostly because Amber and people in it are rarely what they seem. And to explain any of it, I think we have to start at the very beginning. Not with the characters, not with the plot, but with one question.

[00:03:06]What even is amber? No, not the color.

[00:03:09]And no, not fossilized tree resin. But instead, amber is way more. And maybe even everything more. Because amber is reality. The one true world from which every other world, every parallel universe, every version of existence, including our earth, is just a pale reflection. Quote, "Amber was the greatest city which had ever existed or would ever exist. Amber had always been and always would be. Every other city that existed was but a reflection of a shadow of some phase of Amber." Amber, amber, amber, I remember thee. I shall not forget thee. A mortal city from which every other city has taken shape.

[00:04:01]I cannot forget thee. End quote. So you can kind of think of it like a ripple effect in a pond. So amber sits at the center and everything else radiates outwards from it. Other worlds, alternate histories, and yes, even our own Earth, all of it is just Amber's shadow cast in different directions.

[00:04:21]Whatever happens in Amber reverberates through everything. So if you live in a shadow world, and heads up, if you are currently on planet Earth, you do. I got bad news because you, my friends, are just a reflection of Amber. Bummer. So yeah, if your mind is going to something like Plato's cave and the shadows on the wall, you're not far off. But it's a bit well more than that because these shadow worlds are created by the tension between two opposing poles. So, if Amber is on one end of this cosmic seesaw representing order, on the other end, you've got what is known as the courts of chaos representing well, you can probably have a guess. And the interesting thing about all of this is that with these shadow worlds, you can actually travel between them. However, before you go jumping out the window trying this, there are two pretty significant catches you should know about. The first is that to traverse this multiverse, you need to do something called walking the pattern.

[00:05:25]So, deep under Amber Castle, carved into the caves beneath this mountain, there is a single intertwined curve laid out like a spiderweb. And to unlock the ability to walk between the worlds, you have to walk it. But the catch here is that walking the pattern is a bit of a nightmare. It's a physical and mental ordeal where every step gets heavier and heavier and at points you have to push through these veils which are points of intense resistance where the multiverse is basically trying to grind you into nothing. The pattern is actively trying to break you. If you stop, you die. If you stray from the line, you die. But if you can get through this herculean task and reach the center, it is well worth it because you essentially become a demigod who can walk in shadow, letting you command the pattern and sending you anywhere to any reality you wish. Now, that sounds great, but we haven't gotten to the second arguably much worse catch.

[00:06:36]So to walk the pattern at all, you have to be born into one very specific family, the royal family of Amber. You would expect this one true city to be ruled by some benevolent godkings, right? Well, think less King Arthur and more God of War coded Olympians that smoke a ton of cigarettes. This is non-stop scheming, pettiness, assassination attempts, and successes.

[00:07:02]And make no mistake, these are not good people. And what makes this even worse is that they are pretty much gods. Much stronger than the average human. They can regenerate and also walk through shadow. Now, don't let the title Nine Princes in Amber underell you because there were originally way more of these goobers. The family tree is genuinely a puzzle. I found some fans online who tried to map it out and go bless them because it looks like a conspiracy board after a few drinks. The only reason we're down to nine is because the rest were weeded out by accidents, duels, and all other manner of creative backstabbing that makes the Medici look like the Brady Bunch. And the ones that are still standing are still standing because they're the ones who schemed harder, plotted longer, and killed better. So much for brotherly love here.

[00:07:56]Now, the king and father of all of these guys was Oberon, who was apparently a competent ruler and just intimidating enough that his deeply unruly children more or less behaved. But he did have a bit of a bad habit of disappearing for large periods of time. And eventually he just never returned at all. Which of course quickly sparked a massive succession crisis which don't forget all of this is basically happening at the center of the universe. So yeah, no bueno. But to be fair, it's not like non-stop murdering. Sometimes these guys do work together. So very much kind of a frennemy relationship, even helping each other at times, which brings us to one of the most iconic ideas in the whole series, which are the Trumps. So you can basically imagine tarot cards. But imagine each card depicts one of the royal family members painted in beautiful detail. Now, if you concentrate on one of these cards hard enough, you can open up a direct line of communication across any dimension, any world, any shadow, any corner of the multiverse. It doesn't matter. The trumps connect you. And if both people are willing, instant travel. You can reach through the card, grab a hand, and step through. It's such a deceptively simple idea, but it's so original. And I think in a really genius move, Zelasni actually introduces the main siblings through these cards and their descriptions. Now, all of this, the schemings, the surviving siblings, the Trumps, the whole powder keg gets completely upended when maybe the most dangerous one of them all wakes up. Now, to be the scariest member of a family that breeds sociopaths, you have to be pretty intense. And boy oh boy, does Corwin deliver. He is the definition of main character energy. He carries a sword called Grace Winder. He's extremely violent and he has the driest humor of any fantasy protagonist I can think of. Some people describe him as a film noir detective dropped into a fantasy epic which honestly fair. He's logical to a fault, dangerously observant, and possesses a level of around and finds out energy that defines the series. Quote, I gathered I wasn't very wellliked. Somehow, the feeling pleased me. End quote. Or anyone who tried to hurt me did so at his own peril. I felt a strong desire to kill, to destroy whoever had been responsible. And I knew it was not the first time in my life that I had felt this thing. Or, and maybe my favorite is when a literal demon is trashalking him midfight. Quote, "Tonight, I will suck the marrow from your bones. I will dry them and work them most cunningly into instruments of music. Whenever I play them, your spirit will writhe in a bodyless agony." Corwin's response, you burn prettily. This man does not blink.

[00:11:04]He is to the point coldly logical. But we meet him at probably his most vulnerable, waking up in a hospital bed on our earth with zero memories and an extremely broken body. Now, most people in that situation would probably wait for a nurse, but not Corwin. In the time it takes to blink, he has already one, beaten up the orderlys, two, held the warden at gunpoint for answers, and three, escaped into the night like just another Tuesday. So, the question is, how did a prince of Amber end up in a American hospital? Well, he and his brother and probably greatest rival Eric essentially had what Corwin would later describe as a simultaneous decision to murder each other, which is such a perfect encapsulation of how this family operates. Now, Eric won, but instead of finishing the job and risking their father Oberon's wrath, he dumped Corwin on the shadow earth, specifically Elizabeth and era England. And Corwin basically just gallally vance around Earth for several hundred years, getting drunk with Shakespeare, serving under Napoleon, riding with General Lee. And these experiences with just ordinary humans gives him perspective and some degree of empathy that his siblings lack. But even with that, he is very far away from what you would call a goody two shoes hero. And all of this is kicked off when he is in a mysterious car accident that wipes his memory entirely. And I know the amnesia trope is well done now, but it is incredibly compelling here because you notice slowly that this guy is extraordinary, even if he doesn't know it. He's incredibly intelligent, incredibly physically formidable, like way more than an average human, and knowledgeable in ways he can't explain. His power levels keep quietly revealing themselves, lifting the curtain inch by inch. And even without his memories, even without knowing what Amber is or what the throne means or even who his family are, there is this pull, this almost physical compulsion driving him towards Amber. He doesn't question it.

[00:13:18]He doesn't interrogate it. He just moves very much like water moves downhill. And almost as soon as Corwin gets his bearings, the story goes from zero to insanity in no time at all, he raises a massive army and then decides to invade Amber and take the throne. Now, it is impossible to overstate how big of a deal this is. To invade Amber, you have to cross through countless shadow worlds. And his siblings, who are essentially demigods, remember, will use every tool at their disposal to stop him. The weather, the environments, reality itself is bending against him.

[00:13:58]And what follows is this frantic, breathless, almost hallucinogenic campaign. Armies marching through shifting worlds. time doing strange things. Tanks appearing and disappearing, floods, ships lost, and the very fabric of existence, weaponized, all written in this abstract, almost indifferent way that makes the entire thing feel much more colossal. And after all of that, moving heaven and earth just to reach Amber and losing countless men along the way, well, Corwin straight up fails. Not a little, not even a noble defeat or managing to escape. This is a catastrophic total failure. His entire army, every single soldier is killed to a man methodically. And that is just the start because remember this is not the family from seventh heaven. Eric is crowned, ascends the throne of Amber, and Corin is straight up blinded and thrown into the darkest, most forgotten dungeon to rot. And the books don't gloss over this. This experience is described in horrible detail, the starvation, the slow unraveling of a man's mind in the dark. And the only time Corwin is brought out is on the anniversary of Eric's coronation to be paraded and mocked. in years pass like this. It's one of the most genuinely harrowing stretches in a series I've read. But despite all of that, we have to remember that Corin is a force of nature. He grows his eyes back. Yes, that's right. His eyes grow back, probably from sheer will, and he escapes, ending the book. Quote, "I was free and I was running. I now had the chance I wanted all along. A black bird of desire came and sat on my left shoulder and I wrote a note and tied it to its leg and sent it off into the west. It said, "Eric, I'll be back." And it was signed Corwin, Lord of Amber. End quote. What a book. What an ending. This is guts and Griffith level unfinished business right here. A reckoning will happen surely. And surely what follows is this epic showdown that all of this is building toward. Well, before I answer that, fair warning, from here on out, I'm going to be painting in very, very broad strokes, but there still will be massive spoilers. So, about that revenge arc, yeah, that's not really what this series is about. Almost everything we thought we knew from the first book gets quietly and quickly turned on its head because it turns out that the personal vendetta between Corin and Eric is actually the smallest story being told here. The story balloons outwards in various directions and on one hand there's this ongoing layered who done it mystery compounding on other mysteries and characters revealing themselves to be other things entirely.

[00:17:09]And on the other hand, chaos and its war against order gets pulled much more into the focus as well as the pattern itself.

[00:17:17]And along the way, we learn much more about the world's key players. Oberon, the suspiciously absent king, the deeply enigmatic Dwarin, who might as well be God, or close enough that the difference barely matters. Benedict, the most terrifying general in existence, who at one point fights Corwin over a misunderstanding. and all the siblings start dropping like flies and occasionally reappearing like flies. So, just to give you a taste of the wild that happens throughout this, Corwin gets pulled into a war against chaos aside what is essentially the Knights of the Round Table in Authoran legend. He sleeps with someone who turns out to be his grand niece called Dar, which is already bad, but then discovers that she's actually from the Courts of Chaos, which is somehow worse. Actually, I'm not sure which is worse, finding out your girlfriend is related to you or if she's an agent of ruin and damnation.

[00:18:13]Take your pick. Anyway, it all builds to this end of everything battle between order and chaos. The highest possible stakes. Reality itself is on the line and betrayals are flying every direction. But the actual battle isn't really the point. What the story focuses on instead is Corwin's journey from Amber to the courts of chaos, which is this increasingly trippy, fragmenting, fever dream of an odyssey. Ghostly apparations appear, animals having philosophical debates with him, and kind of reality is just dissolving at the edges. And at the absolute bottom of it all, when everything seems lost, Corwin creates his own pattern. And when his father offers him the crowns, the thing that pretty much set off this entire chain of morbid events, he actually just refuses it, which I think goes to show how far along he's come. Now, I cannot stress enough how much I glossed over.

[00:19:14]And I think if any of that sounds interesting to you, I would highly recommend to read it yourself. But the crazy thing about all of that, everything I just said is that that was only books 1 through five out of 10 books. Universe shattering events, the fate of reality decided, a new king crowns, and we're only at the midpoint.

[00:19:38]Now, the second part of the series is a whole other can of worms, and it shifts focus dramatically, following Merlin, Corwin, and Dar's son, and goes deeper into this technaphysical weirdness and the courts of chaos, and is honestly a very different beast. Some people love it, and some people bounce off it hard, but when most people talk about The Chronicles of Amber, they are talking about these first five books. And it's probably not a controversial thing to say that it is the siminal half of the series. And I'll explain that more in a bit. But while we're talking about it, one of the most interesting things about The Chronicles of Amber is how it handles its world building. Which is to say, it's juggling a lot of worlds.

[00:20:24]Because the multiverse framing gives Zelasnne this incredible playground where he can just kind of drop whatever mythology, historical events or general vibe he wants in. Probably first and foremost is the realworld earth of the ' 70s because the books are deeply products of their time in probably the best way. Everyone is smoking. Everyone is drinking. And then there's also this kind of hilarious parallel and inversions of real world things like Kentucky Fried Lizard, which I really want to try out. Then this is in the same series with scenes that go full Alice in Wonderland, kind of an LSD sequence where the Jabberwatch fights something called a fire angel. Zazznney clearly loved mythology and literature and just let it bleed all over this work. Classical references are everywhere. Illusions to other works are tucked into corners. But the deepest influence, the one that is actually woven into the structural bones is of course Shakespeare. Oberon shares his name with the king of fairies from Midsummer's Night's Dream. But the real Shakespearean shadow hanging over the series is of course Hamlet. Corwin literally describes himself as the mad prince of Amber and is contacted multiple times by what he believes is Oberon's ghost and Zazny tips his hand directly at many points. Quote, to paraphrase Odifius, Hamlet, Lear, and all those guys, I wish I had known this some time ago. There's also a strong argument that Zazny owed a debt to Morco, the multiverse, the cosmic struggle between order and chaos. And I think it's cool to mention that Zelasni in interviews said he was a huge fan of the Heimmingway device. So Heimmingway would write and see the whole story, but then he would intentionally remove a key part of it, even though that part influenced everything else in the story.

[00:22:20]And it all left the reader kind of wondering and trying to fit the puzzle pieces in. And you can see clear parallels of this happening with Corwin and his time on the shadow earth which is largely not explored in depth as well as a bunch of other examples in the series. Now all of this the Shakespearean the mythology the multiverse feverdream might sound a bit hoham and boring to you but it is wrapped in a writing that is delicious blend of pulpy and feverdream. The books are fast. sword fights happen every few pages and Zelasny apparently drew from his own martial arts training to describe it and then it's thrown in with these Shakespearean references and then random bits of real world history and pulp energy and it's led some people to describe the Chronicles of Amber kind of like fantasy written jazz. It's this genuinely hard to classify thing that somehow just really works for the series. So, just to give you a sense of the cadence and kind of otherworldliness of the writing, here's a description of one of the key battles. Quote, "Then we heard the thunder. There was lightning and the rain began to fall. The thunderhead had finally broken. We wheeled and the fighting began in earnest. Men, it was men that we slew that slew us. Gray-faced, dower, countenanced men. I wanted more. One more. I raised my blade. They hissed and they croked and they flapped. They were like huge black birds with needleike teeth and eyes like a portable electric chair. I slew them as fast as they approached, and they burned as they died. Through the flashing lightning, the Citadel loomed larger. End quote.

[00:24:08]So, it's no wonder that Amber has been hugely influential, most notably on a certain George RR Martin, who by the way looked at Zelaznney as pretty much his mentor. They apparently lived near each other in Santa Fe and knew each other really well. And when you look at Game of Thrones, the political scheming, the massive family rivalry, and the mysterious forces on the fringes, the entire premise has Amber's fingerprints all over it. You know, we spend a lot of time on this channel dissecting fictional worlds, their magic systems, their messy borders, and their convoluted bloodlines. But I think it has to be said that making one of these worlds for your very own tabletop group, maybe your own novel, or just for fun, is one of the most complicated undertakings you could ever do. And it's easy to get swamped with endless, unorganized notes. And that's why I am genuinely excited to be partnering with World Anvil for today's video. World Anvil is basically a onestop shop for world building where you can create your own worlds, manage campaigns, make articles, write timelines, and they even have novel writing software. There's over 25 professional templates to help you organize everything from ethnic groups and magic systems to military conflicts and family trees. My favorite part is actually the interactive maps.

[00:25:37]You can drop pins that link directly to your articles so you can literally zoom in on your world building. It keeps everything interconnected so you don't accidentally break your own lore. If you want to take your world building to the next level and support the channel at the same time, use code exits for 51% off any yearly subscription to World Anvil or just use the link in the description. It's built by worldbuilders for worldbuilders, and it's the best way to make sure your setting is as deep and organized as the ones we talk about right here on this channel. Now, Roger Lazny himself is a very interesting, although bit reclusive character. He graduated with an MA in Elizabethan and Jacobian drama, which yeah, not exactly the most marketable degree, but it's kind of fitting how he would go on to blend mythology, philosophy, and classic literary influences into his works. Now, throughout the 1960s, Zelasni started making a serious name for himself with works like Lord of Light in 1967. But what makes this even crazier is that during most of this time, he wasn't even a full-time writer. He was actually working as a civil servant for the US Social Security Administration, writing in the evenings, basically grinding out awardwinning, genredefinding works like it was a side hustle. But in 1969, he eventually took at it full-time. And it's a good thing he did because the very next year he gave us Nine Princes in Amber in 1970. Although apparently he did not plan it out at all, but rather discovered the plot alongside Corwin, regaining his memory from his amnesia.

[00:27:19]And originally it wasn't even planned out to be a series, but a series it would become. So with that in mind, what does the series actually look like as a whole? Well, after the first book, Zilasny followed it up with a pretty tight run of books in quick succession.

[00:27:36]The Guns of Avalon in 1972, Signs of the Unicorn, 1975, The Hands of Oberon, 1976, and The Courts of Chaos in 1978.

[00:27:45]Now, like I mentioned, these are all relatively short and to the point. I mean, by fantasy standards, they are tiny, which is honestly a bit refreshing, but the ending did have a few loose ends. And after a 7-year break, Zelasni returned to write another five books, which would be known as the Merlin cycle. Now, these include Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Signs of Chaos, Night of Shadows, and Prince of Chaos, ending in 1991. Now, this second set, like we talked about before, is where things get a bit divisive. Because if you look up almost any discussion of Amber, what you're going to see is something along the lines of first five books great, second five books not so much. Now, I personally think calling the second half of the series worse bit of an oversimplification. It's just a very different beast. And this is apparent from the first page because structurally the baton is passed from Corwin to his son Merlin. And Merlin is a very different protagonist. He's younger, less cynical, sometimes even a little naive by comparison, which I can understand is a bit jarring because when you spent the first five books inside the head of a man who responds to demons with oneliners and grows his eyes back, it's different. Merlin, however, actually starts his arc in college on Earth. But that naive has some generally funny consequences. One of the central hooks of the series is that every single year someone tries to murder him, which you would think would produce a man of certain caution. And yet, at one point in the middle of this crazy series, Merlin decides it's a great idea to wander around alone and go on a date with a girl he just met. Now, Corwin was never exactly above a bit of, shall we say, spontaneous companionship, but he would always have something up his sleeve. Merlin, not always. But the Merlin books do things that the first series didn't. We get to see much more of Chaos and the chaos version of the pattern Logus. And then there's Ghost Wheel, who deserves a special mch.

[00:29:51]Merlin has spent years on Earth building this sentient patternbased supercomput that calls him dad, which is extremely endearing. Both the Lorris and the pattern view Ghost Wheel as a huge threat, and various factions spend the series trying to weaponize it. So that sounds cool, right? So why do the Merlin books have a reputation for being weaker? Well, I think a lot of it is the shift in tone. If you came for Corwin's particular brand of cold, poetic, slightly terrifying competence, Merlin takes some adjustment. Some of the focus also feels a bit looser. And personally, I was fully locked in for the first five books. But I did notice my attention started to waver in the middle of the second series. But that could very easily be a me issue. I saw a rumor that Zelasnney said something to the effect that the first five books were written because they demanded to be written and the second five were to put his son through college. And some people will also point out that in the early '90s, Zelasn's health was quietly declining.

[00:30:49]although he did keep it a secret at the time and passed away in 1995, just 4 years after finishing the final Merlin book, tragically at only 58, which makes you wonder in a bittersweet way what the next chapter of Amber might have looked like. Well, wonder no longer because whether you like it or not, and believe me, the fandom is not quiet about this, the story actually didn't end there. After Zelasn's passing, his estate authorized a brand new prequel series and they tapped John Bettin Court to write it. Now, as you can probably guess, this is where the community quietly started throwing shares. Now, the controversy here isn't just about the quality. It's about the ethics.

[00:31:33]Salazy was very vocal in no uncertain terms in his life that Amber and Corwin were special to him and he did not want other people playing in that sandbox.

[00:31:44]So, for some fans and even George RR Martin, these books are heresy. But the million-dollar question is, are they actually bad? If you go in expecting the lightning in a bottle genius of the 1970s, you're probably going to be disappointed. But they do try really hard to capture that early hardboiled amber energy. And they take a deeper look into the origins of amber with a young Dwarkin and Oberon in the focus.

[00:32:12]Is it as good? No. Is it offensive?

[00:32:16]Well, that depends on you. But there were four of these released in pretty rapid succession starting in 2002, including The Dawn of Amber, Chaos and Amber to Rule Amber, and finally Shadows of Amber. Now, that is only four books, which breaks the trend of the five book series in here. Now, sadly or not, sadly, depending on your perspective, he ended book four on a massive cliffhanger, fully planning to finish the story in a fifth volume called Sword of Chaos. But then the publishing company's owner died. And by 2007, this last series of Amber ended. And that's probably all there ever will be as far as Amber novels go. But if you want more, the good news is that there are still the short stories. And considering Zelasny was honestly known as a short story writer just as much as a novelist, these are not footnotes. So after finishing the Merlin cycle, Zolasnne wrote six Amber short stories before he died, including The Salesman Tale and Blue Horse Dancing Mountains. And these stories kind of weave in and around the main series, fill in gaps and expand the POV beyond Corwin and Merlin, and they feel like a prologue to something larger. Also, a bizarre side note, we also got A Secret of Amber in 2005, which is widely considered non-cannon, probably because it's an informal collaboration with none other than Ed Greenwood. You know, the guy who created the Forgotten Realms for D&D, which somehow he is appearing in the footnotes of everything, I swear. So, if you're looking to actually buy the series today, your best bet is probably The Great Book of Amber. massive absolute unit that crams all 10 of the books into one spine. It's more of a home defense weapon, but it's probably the most efficient way to get into the story in one go. But of course, because Amber was such a massive hit in the8s, we also ended up with a bunch of weird, wonderful, and semiobscure peripherals.

[00:34:10]So, in 1988, there were two authorized adventure books that are almost like choose your own adventures for grown-ups. But Choose Your Own Adventure is arguably a bit of an oversimplification because there's also RPG elements in here like stats and combat. They weren't written by Zelasting, but they do have forwards by him and include Seven No Trump in 1988 and the Black Road War also in 1988.

[00:34:35]There's also been some guides over the years as well, including a visual guide to Castle Amber in 1988. And then there was the complete Amber Source book in 1996 as well as the illustrated Roger Zasnne. But it's actually not just the books. There's also a ton of fascinating and really unique adaptations in here as well. In 1996, none other than DC Comics actually put out a three-part adaptation of the first two books of Amber. And it is very '9s. And to be fair, Zazny himself approved it. It's got this painterly, almost hazy quality to it.

[00:35:13]But I have to say Corbin looks like well, he looks like this, which is a choice. And of course, we got a computer game, Nine Princes in Amber in 1995, which again is very much a product of its time. One of those classic parser adventures where you type in commands to control the story. What's wild about this game is the branching because it's loosely based on the first book and you could follow the book's plot fairly closely or go completely off the rail and change the story drastically. It's a beautiful piece of media that only that era could produce. Speaking of which, because this series came at the time of the beautifully early internet era, we also had Amber Mush and Amber Mutz, which is a multi-user dungeon, essentially a collaborative storytelling in a textbased world, very much a online roleplay. If you know, you know. The fact that some of these are still floating around today in 2026 is a testament to how much people love this world. And I'll link some of the active ones below. But of course, the big one, probably the biggest, is the Amber Dice role- playinging game in 1991. And like the name implies, there is no dice. It was an extremely ambitious project that tried to capture the feel of the family throne war, covering material from the first five novels and some details from the second part of the series. And these were not throwaway books. They are hundreds of pages filled with awesome illustrations. As for the system itself, I have not played it, but reading reviews, people seem to describe it as a bit more conceptual than something like Dn D. And I've seen some people describe it also as very frustrating. But on the flip side, there is still a diehard community today and even something called Amber Con which is still slated for 2026. But the big question is where is the show? And Zelasny himself when asked about the film option as a book said that they were all under film option way back when and saying that he would happily take their money. And you would think that someone would, right?

[00:37:19]One of the most beloved fantasy series of all time in this post Game of Thrones fantasy gold rush where every streaming platform was tripping over itself to find the next big hit. Surely someone scooped this up and they tried. 2016 there was a serious push led by one of the Walking Dead creators which eventually landed an agreement with Amazon Prime but then quiet for years but in the last few years we actually did get an update none other than Steven Colbear who is apparently a massive fan of the series came on board as a producer but since then again nothing given that Amazon has lately been swinging the axe on high budget productions left and right and we're still dealing with mixed reception of things like the Wheel of Time. Who knows if Amber will ever actually walk the pattern onto our screens? So, with the TV show seemingly somehow still trapped deep in shadow and the last official Amber book releasing with Shadows of Amber 2005, or if you're a purist all the way back in 1991, where exactly does that leave the Chronicles of Amber in 2026? Well, it seems like Amber is done.

[00:38:30]The book is shut. my friends, because there's almost no news, development, anything unless by some miracle that show happens and ushers in a brand new wave of Amber stuff. But the good news is that even without that, Zeleznney has plenty more to offer. Some fans would argue that his best work isn't Amber at all, and Lord of Light is still considered one of the greatest science fantasy novels ever written. As far as the reception of Amber over the years, sadly, if you go looking at greatest fantasy series of all time list, Amber is usually just getting only a respectful nod. Often, it's not even cracking the top 10, which feels slightly insane considering how much of modern fantasy is clearly standing on his shoulder because you can see the pieces of amber everywhere. I have a sneaking suspicion Hyperion Kantos took heavy notes from Amber's obsession with Shakespeare and then replaced it with John Keats. It's a series that your favorite writer recommends but probably no one else. But despite that or because of it, for the people who click with Amber, it really clicks. There are still dedicated fan spaces all over the internet from Reddit threads, fan art, and incredible fan sites like the Chronicles of Amber with amazing deep dives into things like Corwin's Earth timeline. And I'll link it below. And that raises the question, why isn't Amber bigger? Why isn't it sitting in the same mainstream conversation as something like Wheel of Time or Song of Ice and Fire? And my best guess, and this is pure speculation, is that Amber is just weird in a way that doesn't package easily. It's not traditional epic fantasy. It's not quite sword and sorcery. It's part pulp, part Shakespearean pros, which to be clear is amazing. Plus, well, it has that legacy of the up and down quality with the books in the second part of the series.

[00:40:28]But even if it never gets the giant prestige adaptation it probably deserves, its influence is everywhere.

[00:40:34]whether people see it or not. And we probably would not have had series like Game of Thrones without it. And I think Amber went a long way to prove that the fantasy genre could be stranger, more philosophical, and all the while still having a ton of backstabbing siblings.

[00:40:50]So, in conclusion, no matter where your road leads, Shadow, Amber, or Chaos, I wish you luck on your walk through the pattern. Thank you so much for watching.

[00:41:01]I want to give a huge shout out to Cobblish for helping me fact check. No shout out is ever complete without shouting out my incredible patrons. Big shout out to my top patrons, Marshall Rather, Desan, Skylakes, John B, Shifting Eras, CD and Shota 87, Philippo, Dr. Barrel, Retsumu 101, Benjamin Leine, Psych Link, Shintanu David, Lindsay Lightner, Alex McGuffy, Connor Bellflower, Katie Dunn, Time Travel Master, Kzrix, and Rhett Roster.

[00:41:33]As always, if you ever have any suggestions about what you want me to cover next, please drop a comment and let me know. It's been really interesting hearing what you guys have to say. Thanks again and I hope you have a great