The Elders

Benedict (Basil Rathbone)

General and swordsman without peer, your eldest surviving uncle has long disdained the throne of Amber and was absent for most of the succession crisis. He helped to defend Amber against many invasions, including the Black Road incursions. He was placed in charge of the battle at the Courts of Chaos, commanding Amber's forces on Oberon's orders.

Since then, Uncle Benedict has returned to the Shadows where he seems to enjoy his quiet study of all things military. He makes semi-regular contact with King Random and is almost always attendant on the Yule festival in Amber.

Why did you do all these things?

Someone had to. It was me that he came to, so it was mine to do. It was not as if I were not very fond of the boy, though.

-- Random and Benedict, discussing Martin
The Hand of Oberon

Bleys (Kenneth Branagh)

One of the members of your Uncle Brand's conspiracy and a one-time invader of Amber (with your Uncle Corwin), your Uncle Bleys has repented his past involvement with Chaos. He was an student of Dworkin and used his extensive talents with shadow to gather the Shadow auxiliaries your Uncle Benedict led against the forces of Chaos.

The King seems to trust him. Bleys has settled in Amber and is raising a large family. He has eight consorts and five known children.

Whatever else you might say of Bleys, on that day he acquitted himself as became his rank.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Dworkin (Jack Nicholson)

Long believed dead, the artist Dworkin Barimen turns out to be Oberon's father. He was responsible for originally tracing the Pattern and creating the Trumps. He had also gone mad and was confined by Oberon for most of the War.

Since the Patternfall War, he has been seen by almost no one in Amber. He disappeared with the Jewel of Judgment shortly after Merlin took the throne of Chaos.

Even with the Treaty, Dworkin's name is not spoken in the Courts of Chaos, his history there is a grievous one, full of dark passions and terrible vengeance.

I am the Pattern 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.

-- Dworkin, The Hand of Oberon

Fiona (Myrna Loy)

The third member of your Uncle Brand's treasonous triumvirate, your Aunt Fiona has repented of her former involvement to the extent of knifing Brand to prevent him from carrying out his plans. An advanced student of Dworkin, she departed Amber with Dworkin and Oberon before Trumping to join her brothers at the Courts of Chaos.

Fiona is considered most knowledgeable in the family's hidden powers over Shadow. Since Brand's death, however, she has been largely a recluse in Shadow. She parts with her knowledge only at her own whim.

I had simultaneous desires to curse and to smile. The arrant bitch was playing games with us again. Always remarkable, though ... I moved forward, as she had known I would.

-- Corwin, Sign of the Unicorn

Flora (Susan Sarandon)

Your Aunt Flora is resolutely apolitical, which means she offers her support to whomever appears to be ahead in the 'family game' at the moment. She was a staunch supporter of the late King Eric, and served as your Uncle Corwin's warder during his exile in shadow, but now appears to have made peace with the latter.

She is currently King Random's ambassador to Chaos. She is also the Royal Architect of Amber and restored the castle after the Patternfall War. Florimel is the best-known by the public, most approachable by the nobility, and most informed princess of the blood on all matters of family history.

She is often the most approachable for the youngers and, at times, a role model for young ladies everywhere.

She had very lovely hair. Blue eyes too, and tons of vanity to keep things in her favorite perspective. At times she seemed to behave quite stupidly, but then at other times I have wondered.

-- Corwin, Sign of the Unicorn

Gerard (Liam Neeson)

The strongest of your uncles, Gerard is considered too affable by his siblings. He is the most honest of your uncles and is generally considered to have the best interest of Amber at heart. He has served as Regent for Oberon in the past, but his current assignment is as Fleet Admiral of Amber's navies.

Gerard is the most loved prince with the people of Amber. Some say he is the most trusted within and without the realm.

Gerard possesses the will but not the wit ...

-- Dworkin, The Hand of Oberon

Julian (Jude Law)

Your Uncle Julian commands a formidable array of hawks, hounds, forest beasts, rangers, and his own stormhounds. Your aunts and uncles admire his wit and savoir-faire even as they dislike the cold barbs he plants in them. The third member of Uncle Eric's triumvirate, Julian retreated to Arden when Uncle Corwin took Amber and then stormed Chaos in the final battle of the Pattenfall War. He is currently also entitled the Lord Protector of Amber.

King Random has strengthened Julian's position at court, sometimes relying on him to act as Regent in the King's absence.

Arden's green magic must have softened that old vanity during my long absence, leaving a juster pride and something I would fain call fairness -- a thing apart from mercy, to be sure, but an addition to your armory of traits I'll not disparage.

-- Corwin, The Courts of Chaos

Llewella (Grace Kelly)

Half-sister to the Queen of Rebma, your Aunt Llewella spends much of her time in Amber's underwater counterpart. Her removal from Amber is partially due to the long history of disfavor she had with King Oberon. She joined the battle of the family at the Courts of Chaos.

Llewella is and remains a mystery to everyone but those she chooses. It is only recently that she has taken an interest in a greater range of family matters. Perhaps this is because only recently has she welcomed her long-lost sister back to Amber.

Whether her withdrawal involved animus, self-conscious in her alienation, or simple caution, I could never tell. Probably something of all of these. Hers was not that familiar a presence in Amber.

-- Corwin, Sign of the Unicorn

Mirelle (Meg Ryan)

This aunt has long been estranged from Amber and even King Random, who is her full brother. A queen in her own kingdom of Corilaine, she has only recently consented to infrequently return to Amber and its painful memories.

She was only three when her mother, Queen Paulette, committed suicide. Oberon's loss of his queen was also reflected in his inattention to Mirelle. Perhaps as a result, Mirelle is considered moody and difficult by many of the family. Her wish to be left alone seems to be honored.

Our parents had tried to discipline [them] in the past, never very successfully.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Random (Ewan McGregor)

The youngest of your uncles, Random's history was conspicuous for his lack of any redeeming qualities. Loathed by many of his older siblings, particularly the women, Random was also notorious for fathering and then abandoning Martin. During Patternfall, he became a partisan of your Uncle Corwin and spent most of the War in the dungeon for an attempt to kill King Eric. Your aunts and uncles seem to believe that his marriage to Vialle has improved and matured him. He served with your Uncle Benedict at the Courts of Chaos.

There, as family legend has it, the Unicorn appeared and granted him the Jewel of Judgment, and the throne. Random is also credited with saving the Courts from the immense Shadow Storm that nearly destroyed both sides. Random has strengthened Amber's defense and political ties.

... there were lines upon his face which I had never noticed before, signs of some depth to which I had paid no heed.

-- Corwin, The Courts of Chaos

Delwin (Denzel Washington)

Younger twin to Sandmorel and ever-distant member of the court of the Gleaming Banner. Some say he has maintained a friendship with Bleys despite his homeland's animosity towards Amber.

Events recorded in the journals of the Empire recount that Delwin has returned to the Sunwashed City of Darrheabarr after long absence.

"My name is Delwin, and we may never actually meet-- unless certain ancient powers come loose."

-- Delwin, Prince of Chaos

Corwin (Timothy Dalton)

Your Uncle Corwin was believed dead — presumably killed by your Uncle Eric -- for decades, but reappeared to try to unseat Eric before he could claim the throne. Eric captured and blinded him, but he escaped from the dungeons with regrown eyes. Recently, he returned again with an army of his own, among them your disguised grandfather, equipped with firearms that worked in Amber. Instead of using it against Eric, he used it to defend Amber from the Black Road. After the war with Chaos was won, Uncle Corwin disappeared in Shadow to investigate his own Pattern.

Corwin has only been seen a few times since then.

You have changed.

Enough to do the job?

Perhaps enough to make it worth trying, even if we are foredoomed to failure.

-- Dworkin and Corwin, The Hand of Oberon

Sandmorel (Nia Long)

Older twin sister to Delwin and Heir to the Imperial Seat of the Gleaming Banner. A woman who seems to be able to completely resist the lure of fabled Amber. She lives in Darrheabarr, the Empire of the Gleaming Banner. Little else is known about her these days.

Some say that as the fortunes of the Empire have fallen, so have those of Sandmorel.

I had the story from Flora years ago, and in that she'd never gotten along too well with Delwin and Sand, the offspring of that union, she was inclined to the pro-bigamy interpretation.

-- Merlin, Blood of Amber