Ahira's Hangar

I thought I would start a thread for miscellaneous Amber bits, things that people like and want to talk about, but that might not rate a full thread of their own.

Like horses -- Benedict and Merlin have these great tiger stripey horses that aren't afraid of anything -- and I thought they were pretty cool.

Or Princess Flora. Sometimes she seems very competent -- like when her house is broken into by Random's pursuers in Nine Princes, and other times she seems to be , well, ditzy. I wonder if she really is a ditz or if that's just an act she puts on so that people don't see her as a threat in Amber's constant Game of Thrones???

Or how does Oberon manage to attract so many women willing to marry him, given his spotty marital history?? Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Once, Merlin commented once that 'his Dad had Drum, Benedict had the striped one (which had a name, mentioned once), and Julian had Morgenstern'.

Flora, I think, is an actress. She can be, as you said, whatever she wants to be--weak or strong. She is neither. She is shrewd..she knows which side to be on.

Regarding Oberon, well none of the women knew that he had so many wives...look at Cymnea. As soon as she finds that Oberon has another wife, he has her imprisoned and then banished from Amber. :shrug Further up, and further in!


"Come to Elfhand," the troll said.
The child thought for a while....
"N-no" said the child
"Why not?" said the troll.
"Mother made a jam roll this morning," said the child.
-the King of Elfhand's Daughter<i></i>

Discussing some lack of consistency on another thread I came across a following problem:

Basically we know that technical devices do not work in Amber and vicinity. However:

In NPiA Corwin and Random are able to shoot Julian's dogs with a gun and they are able to dirive a car in Arden Forest. In GoA it said that ammunition does not work in Amber and even shadows close to Amber (because they seem appropriate to excercise a special ammunition i.e. earth ammunition seemed not to work there). Any ideas?
"Damn you, Luke. You always make the stupidest things sound sort of attractive."
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The simple one is that Arden Forest is far enough from Amber - at least the part of it where action took place. "Good. Bad. I'm the one with the gun." -- Ash, Army of Darkness<i></i>

Jame Retief's explanation is the most plausible. Arden expanses hundreds of shadows. -----------------
"If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we'd live like animals or angels in the happy land that needs no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, and stupidity commonly profit far beyond humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all...why then perhaps we must stand fast a little - even at the risk of being heroes." - Sir Thomas More, "A Man For All Seasons," by Robert Bolt<i></i>

This was the explanation I have always believed. However someone paid attention that in GoA Corwin was looking for a shadow close enough to Amber to try its special ammunition. This shadow was further from Amber than the Arden Forest. Special ammunition did not work on earth, while ordinary ammunition did not work in Amber. Unless you assume that there could have been places where both types worked and Arden Forest or a shadow where Corwin excercised was one of them. "Damn you, Luke. You always make the stupidest things sound sort of attractive."
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duchess, wouldn't you marry the king on the off chance you would be the one he stayed faithful to? It's good to be the queen! ____________
Highdrake's mastery of spells and sorcery was not much greater than his pupil's, but he had clear in his mind the idea of something very much greater, the wholeness of knowledge. And that made him a mage.<i></i>

An interesting moment about Gail's, Julia's and Luke's "power" conversation: later on, Gail, who's claimed that duty and morality have nothing to do with each other, ends up proving herself wrong twice (note that what she calls duty is actually Dara's will forced upon her, but still Luke turned out to be right):
1. Couldn't kill Luke in Santa Fe: her morality stopped her from carrying out her duty.
2. Kept protecting Merlin even when no longer under geas, her duty now becoming her morality. "Good. Bad. I'm the one with the gun." -- Ash, Army of Darkness<i></i>

I don't know if it was her morality or rather her love to Luke and sympathy to Merlin. Especially in the first case - she turns out to love Luke all the time (even when he is already married to Coral). When she allowed herself to get killed (as Dan Martinez) she probably knew she could still protect Merlin, so she could both spare Luke and help Merlin. She didn't care for the owner of her body, so she let him die. "Damn you, Luke. You always make the stupidest things sound sort of attractive."
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Well, as for letting real Martinez die, it doesn't look like she did it on purpose.
I also wonder if keeping someone you love alive can be viewed as a part of one's morale... "Good. Bad. I'm the one with the gun." -- Ash, Army of Darkness<i></i>

Certainly, she had nothing against real Martinez, but she had probably no sentiment towards him, either. She possessed different bodies and used them for the purpose she needed. If she had to put the owner at risk she did it. First she wanted to shoot Luke and then she decided not to and this meant letting real Martinez die. "Damn you, Luke. You always make the stupidest things sound sort of attractive."
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