Amberite Trumps
by Gray Morrow

As mentioned, Amber is the true reality, the pole of Order, and all other realities are but shadows of Amber, imperfect reflections, changing and twisting into something more and more different the farther the ripples move from the center. Traveling through Shadow is the ability of the House of Oberon, the birthright of his children. Yet, walking through Shadow is time consuming, stressful, requiring a great deal of energy. A short cut is always preferrable. Hence came the development of the Trumps.

Amberite Trumps were created in the lines of a Tarot deck with the Trumps being face cards; however, each Prince and Princess in Amber has an individual Trump. These cards hold within them the power to instantly move through Shadow to the join the individual depicted in the Trump. There are also Trumps for places, for individuals not of the Blood. With a Trump, the power to intersect Shadow is imbued in the card and is more precise in its accuracy and exercises greater ease in traversing than using the power of the Blood and the necessary concentration, energy, and movement required to exact the changes. The Trumps are directly imbued with the power of the Pattern, the foundation of Amber and true source of Shadow.

I have searched through the internet looking for representations of the Trumps of Amber but have not found any that I have felt truly capture the ideas of Zelazny. In 1978, Gray Morrow illustrated a series of short stories for Zelazny and published his representations of the Trumps for the Princes. While I am not completely in agreement with his execution of their facial and physical features, he most definitely did successfully capture the mood and inspiration offered by Zelazny. My hat is off to Mr. Morrow, and I have not grounds to offer critique until I produce my own drawings to depict the Princes of Amber.



Click on a thumbnail to view a Trump


"The one bore a wily-looking little man, with a sharp nose and a laughing mouth and a shock of staw-colored hair. He was dressed in somthing like a Renaissance costume of orange, red, and brown. He wore long hose and a tight-fitting embroidered doublet. And I knew him. his name was Random."

"Next, there was the passive countenance of Julian, dark hair hanging long, blue eyes containing neither passion nor compassion. he was dressed completely in scaled white armor, not silver or metallic colored, but looking as if it had been enameled. I knew, though, that it was terribly tough and shock-resistant, despite its decorative and festive appearance. He was the man I had beaten at his favorite game, for which he had thrown a glass of wine at me. I knew him and I hated him."


"Then came the swarthly, dark-eyed countenance of Caine, dressed all in satin that was black and green, wearing a dark three-cornered hat set at a rakish angle, a green plume of feathers trailing down the back. he was standing in profile, one arm akimbo, and the toes of his boots curled upwards, and he wore an emerald-studded dagger at his belt. There was ambivalence in my heart."

"Then there was Eric. Handsome by anyone's standards, his hair was so dark as to be almost blue. His beard curled around the mouth that always smiled, and he was dressed simply in a leather jacket and leggings, a plain cloak, high black boots, and he wore a red sword belt bearing a long silvery saber and clasped with a ruby, and his high cloak collar round his head was lined with red and the trimmings of his sleeves matched it. His hands, thumbs hooked behind his belt, were terribly strong and prominent. A pair of black gloves jutted from the belt near his right hip. He it was, I was certain, that had tried to kill me on that day I had almost died. I studied him and I feared him somewhat."

"Then there was Benedict, tall and dour, thin; thin of body, thing of face, wide of mind. He wore orange and yellow and brown and reminded me of haystacks and pumpkins and scarecrows and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. He had a long, strong jaw and hazel eyes and brown hair that never curled. he stood beside a tan horse and leaned upon a lance about which was twined a rope of flowers. He seldom laughed. I liked him."

"I paused when I uncovered the next card, and my heart leaped forward and banged against my sternum and asked to be let out.

It was me.

I knew the me I shaved and this was the guy behind the mirror. Green eyes, black hair, dressed in black and silver, yes. I had on a cloak and it was slightly furled as by a wind. I had on black boots, like Eric's, and I too wore a blade, only mine was heavier, though not quite as long as his. I had my gloves on and they were silver and scaled. The clasp at my neck was cast in the form of a silver rose.

Me, Corwin."

"And a big, powerful man regarded me from the next card. He resembled me quite strongly, save that his jaw was heavier, and I knew he was bigger than I, though slower. His strength was a thing out of legend. He wore a dressing gown of blue and gray clasped about the middle with a wide, black belt, and he stood laughing. About his neck, on a heavy cord, there hung a silver hunting horn. He wore a fringe beard and a light mustache. In his right hand he held a goblet of wine. I felt a sudden affection for him. His name then occurred to me. He was Gerard."

"Then came a fiery bearded, flame-crowned man, dressed all in red and orange, mainly of silk stuff, and he held a sword in his right hand and a glass of wine in his left, and the devil himself danced behind his eyes, as blue as Flora's, or Eric's. His chin was slight, but the beard covered it. His sword was inlaid with an elaborate filigree of a golden color. He wore huge rings on his right hand and one on his left: an emerald, a rub, and a sapphire, respectively. This, I knew, was Bleys."

"Then there was a figure both like Bleys and myself. My features, though smaller, my eyes, Bleys' hair, beardless. He wore a riding suit of green and sat atop a white horse, heading toward the dexter side of the card. There was a quality of both strength and weakness, questing and abandoment about him. I both approved and disapproved, liked and was repelled by, this one. His name was Brand, I knew. As soon as I laid eyes upon him, I knew."

"In fact, I realized that I knew them all well, remembered them all, with their strengths, their weaknesses, their victories, their defeats.

For they were my brothers.

I lit a cigarette I'd filched from Flora's desk box, and I leaned back and considered the things I had recalled.

They were my brothers, those eight strange men garbed in their strange costumes. And I knew that it was right and fitting that they should dress in whatever manner they chose, just as it was right for me to wear the black and silver. Then I chuckled, as I realized what I was wearing, what I had purchased in the little clothing store of that little town I had stopped in after my departure from Greenwood.

I had on black slacks, and all three of the shirts I had purchased had been of a grayish, silvery color. And my jacket, too, was black."

"I returned to the cards, and there was Flora in a gown green as the sea, just as I'd remembered her the previous evening.

"And then there was a black-haired girl with the same blue eyes, and her hair hung long and she was dressed all in black, with a girdle of silver about her waist. My eyes filled with tears, why I don't know. Her name was Deirdre."

"Then there was fiona, with hair like Bleys and Brand, my eyes, and a complexion like mother of pearl. I hated her the second I turned over the card."

"Next was Llewella, whose hair matched her jade-colored eyes, dressed in shimmering gray and green with a lavendar belt, and looking moist and sad. For some reason, I knew she was not like the rest of us. But she, too, was my sister."

"I felt a terrible sense of distance and removal from all these people. Yet somehow they seemed physically close.

The cards were so very cold on my fingertips that I put them down again, though with a certain sense of reluctance at having to relinquish their touch."

a description of the Major Trumps of Amber as given by Corwin in "Nine Princes in Amber"



SWORDandMUG