Dis,
It seems to have a lot to do with RPing.
What is this "Shadow Knight" book they keep citing?
Quote:A8) What color is Florimel's hair?
NPiA, Chapter 2: "The woman behind the desk wore a wide-collared,
V-necked dress of blue-green, had long-haired low bangs, all of a
cross between sunset clouds and the outer edge of a candle flame in
an otherwise dark room, and natural I somehow knew, and her eyes
behind glasses I didn't think she needed were as blue as lake Erie
at three o'clock on a cloudless summer afternoon; and the color of
her compressed smile matched her hair."
SotU, Chapter 4: "Pale gold, her hair. She had cut it, but retained
the bangs. I could not decide whether I liked it that way or not.
She had very lovely hair."
Sunset clouds are seldom yellow, and it's doubtful that Florimel wears
blonde lipstick (though one never knows). While the second quote is
unambiguous, from the first quote, it appears as if Florimel is a natural
redhead. Even if Corwin's memory was failing him when he said he knew it
was natural, you'd think he might have said something if Flora's Trump
representation had blonde hair. So what's going on? Some possibilities:
a.) Zelazny made a mistake and gave Florimel different hair colors. It's
possible, although not terribly likely. He mentions a change in her
bangs; it seems odd that he would say something like that and then get
her hair color wrong. On the other hand, Delwin's Trump has reddish hair
but when Merlin sees him in the hall of mirrors, he has blondish hair.
b.) Florimel's hair actually changes color between NPiA and SotU.
Corwin's "I could not decide whether I liked it that way or not" easily
could be referring to the change in hair color as well as styling.
Perhaps Florimel (gasp) dyes her hair from time to time, or her hair
color fluctuates naturally. Maybe she's a shapeshifter.
c.) Chris Doherty (
cpdohert@calum.csclub.uwaterloo.ca) has spent some time
staring at sunset clouds (pale orange, he claims) and a candle's flame in a
dark room (which he says is bright yellow). Seizing on the word "cross", he
believes the first passage is an artistic attempt to describe gold-colored
hair. He also says pale orange or peach lipstick was not uncommon in the
early 70's when NPiA was set so the compressed smile works out alright.
A9) How can Dara be born in a week after Lintra died? How can she be
ancient and powerful in the Merlin series?
Corwin's impression of Dara on first meeting her and Merlin's impression
of his mother are at odds. Corwin sees Dara as young and naive; Merlin
sees her as someone who negotiates with the Logrus on an equal basis and
who is powerful enough to scheme for control of the Courts. Furthermore,
the obvious way for Dara to be Lintra's great-granddaughter (through
Benedict's liaison with Lintra in Avalon) would require very rapid
timeflow for her to be ancient and powerful by the time she raised Merlin.
Very clearly, Dara lies to Corwin about some things, since she claims
knowledge of Benedict when he insists he knows nothing of her. It's
not inconceivable that she in fact deceives Corwin about many things,
which could easily include the specifics of her heritage and her age.
Some possible explanations: Dara and Merlin spent a good deal of time
in extremely fast time Shadows; Dara lied about her heritage and is not
descended from Benedict or Lintra (yes, Corwin saw confirmation of Dara's
heritage in Tir -- but doesn't Tir show you things you think are true?);
Dara was descended of a liaison of Benedict and Lintra that happened
before their encounter in Avalon (perhaps even before Amber was founded).
A10) What makes some Amberites older than others? Are they immortal?
Corwin says he appears to be in his mid-thirties, and then says that the
Shadows will lie for him. The appearance of all the family on the Trumps
seems to be young mature adulthood, with the possible exception of Benedict
and the definite exception of Oberon. There are several frequently
advanced theories. One is that an Amberite is literally only as old as
he or she feels. In the course of the first series, Random advances from
"asthmatic teenaged hood" and "homicidal little fink" to being described
as having a regal cast to his features. This could be merely an effect of
Corwin's changing perceptions, or it could be an actual change brought on
by maturity and Random's new self-image as husband, father, and king.
Another theory is that the Pattern freezes you at the age you are when you
walk it. Or perhaps the exercise of Real power ages Amberites.
As for Amberite immortality: some suggest is that it's the effect of the
Pattern. Others point out that Swayvill, Moire, Roger-the-guard and others
appear to have extremely elongated life spans. Corwin himself spent some
number of centuries on Shadow Earth, and did not age excessively in that
time. Corwin also tells Ganelon that Benedict has enjoyed a lifetime
measured in terms of millenia. On the other hand, in the second series,
Swayvill of Chaos ostensibly dies of old age. So a GM has the option of
giving the average Amberite either a very long lifespan with the possibility
of death from old age in some distant future -- or functional immortality.
Some have found that the elongated lifespan helps to curb the PC tendency
to spend a thousand years in a fast time shadow learning macrame.
A11) What was Julian's favorite game?
There's no answer for this in the books. However, Judd M. Goswick
(
juddg@randomc.com) regaled the list with the following tale, which
speaks for itself:
Julian's self-control slipped only once, when Corwin kissed his cheek.
In that single moment, Julian's hand strayed and "BZZZT!" the nose of
the Oberon Trump shone red and Julian looked down to see that in
attempting to remove the Jewel of Judgment from the card, he had hit
the edge of the card with the Tweezers.
Corwin then drew the "Crown" card, took the tweezers and fetched it with
no problem, as Julian was still shocked. He then laid claim to the
throne until Oberon sent him to his room. Just before he was taken away,
Julian threw his tumbler of "Juicy-rific Kool-Aid" at Corwin's face.
"I'll have your eyes for this, Corwin!" He had spoken too soon and
the disappointment on Overon's face was apparent. He had lost his
self-control twice in one sitting.
All Dworkin could do was look up from his paper and ask Julian, "How
do you know about the eye thing?" "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>Edited by: mhoram6910 at: 7/22/05 4:59 pm
</i>
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