The Guns of Avalon: Ch 1
May. 17th, 2025 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chroniclingamber“The Guns of Avalon” picks up shortly after “Nine Princes in Amber” ends. Corwin shows another little Shadow power that doesn’t come up again, I don’t think – he sends his borrowed boat back home. It’s a boat, not a thinking animal that can travel on its own. It’s a boat. But it can make its way home. He also manages to find his sword, his specific sword and not a similar one, in a hollow tree – a sword he’d left behind in Amber previously.
There’s a really quick recap and explanation of the precis of the book – he has to find a specific place. The place he REALLY wants is gone but there’s an imitation, an alternate version, that he can get to. (How does a whole entire Shadow vanish? What happened, and how? This is never discussed!) While trying to get there he comes across someone he recognizes: a man who’s severely injured, a man who managed to kill six people before sitting himself down to bleed out. Corwin gives him a drink (of water) and then a stronger drink (of whisky), helps him clean out and bandage his largest wound, and then helps him get comfortable and watches over him as he sleeps. He’s got a place to go and things to do but he still takes the time to take care of this guy out of a sense of nostalgia and also because his experiences have changed him and left him far more sympathetic to others (who are humans).
That place he’s going to? It’s called Avalon.
In Arthurian myth, Avalon is the mystical island where Excalibur was forged and where Arthur was taken to recover from his mortal wound – and where he still is, sleeping until he’s needed again. He’s, you know, “the once and future king” – he was king once and will be again. Corwin reveals that Avalon was his place, he ruled there. He was king there once.
He also talks a bit more about Shadow and his attitude toward the inhabitants of same:
Later in the series Vialle asks Corwin why he doesn’t just make a Shadow-Amber and rule there and he points out that he’d know it was a Shadow but that also it would be peopled with folks who LOOK like people he knows but they wouldn’t ACT like them. It’s weird and jarring. And here he is, watching over a man who looks like someone he was once close to.
Corwin commits some mild atrocities against his sword, using it as an axe, and is pissed that Lance doesn’t want to leave his enemies lying about for the ravens and the foxes to eat. He specifically mentions “a decent Christian burial” which Lancelot doesn’t ask for clarification concerning so like… is there a Christ in this land? Are they Christians? As he sets about building a cairn for the dead Lancelot mumbles out a prayer for them so… maybe? He forgets himself and hefts up a 400 pound boulder – and remember this is him STILL SICKLY AND RECOVERING – and nearly gets caught. A few moments later he again shows off his super human strength in a way that I don’t quite understand…
He’s built a stretcher for Lancelot, right? The guy’s got a gut wound, he’s pretty beaten up, he’s lost a lot of blood. He can’t walk. So there’s this whole stretcher arrangement that Corwin assembled. He can drag it along the ground, right? But no, he… he picks the entire thing up?
That just sounds incredibly unwieldy? I’ve never understand the logistics of this. It sounds like he’s making things HARDER for himself, as opposed to dragging the stretcher (or travois) along behind him. And, again, how many old men (he’s masquerading as an old man) can carry another full grown men? How many YOUNG men can do that? I remain baffled by this, but I’ve also never had to haul around an injured adult so what do I know. I have only ever BEEN the injured adult being hauled around. I think I’d rather be dragged than cradled stiffly in someone’s arms, especially after an abdominal injury.
A few sentences later and we get to a perfect illustration of why I enjoy the fantasy-language and modern language in the books:
Like, that’s just… that’s just funny.
Anyway, this place is not Avalon but it contains someone that Corwin very obviously once knew and has strong feelings about.
“Ganelon” has become, over the centuries, a kind of betrayer archetype. In “The Song of Roland,” Roland sends his stepfather (Ganelon) into active danger. Ganelon assumes that Roland wants him dead, and betrays him. Dante stuck him in “The Inferno.” He’s in a bunch of poems, inscribed on walls, he’s in “Canterbury Tales” and “Don Quixote.”
A “rat fink,” in addition to being a cartoon hotrod character crated by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, is a traitor. It’s a pretty big insult, or it was once. Corwin’s very emotionally invested in Ganelon.
Lancelot speaks French and picks up on Corwin’s little joke about the devil. The Chronicles of Amber has a very messy cosmology.
As the saying goes, history might not repeat itself but it often rhymes. Ganelon, a traitor, shares a name with another traitor; Corwin punished him with exile the way that Eric later punishes him. We get a little summary of the guy’s character here, though. He’s not great, and was exiled for a reason. But between his presence and Lancelot’s presence and the way Lance keeps almost recognizing him… this place feels weighty.
Corwin brings something up that Flora touches on later – when Amberites dwell in Shadow they make it a bit more real, a bit more solid. They affect other Shadows. And they can cast Shadow versions of themselves as well. When Flora encountered Corwin on Earth he didn’t have his memory. She wasn’t sure if it was him or just a reflection of him, an echo. Corwin isn’t sure if echoes of him persist in this not-Avalon.
But they, ah, don’t seem like they’d be GOOD echoes since he’s so worried about it.
Just what kind of a king WAS he?
It’s also interesting that instead of a “Black Road” we’ve got a black circle that’s some sort of portal. A bunch of dark circles spreading out and overtaking a land is very ominous, in a different way than “black road cutting through Shadow, a pathway for dark beings” is.
Anyway, Corwin hauls ass until he realizes he’s being stalked by giant cats. Giant talking cats. Giant talking cats who discuss him as if he can’t hear them. Which, you know. Rude. Rude, and very cat-like.
If “giant talking cats” isn’t freaky enough, when he slices them with his silver sword… they catch fire. One of them, as it dies, refers to him as “Opener” and asks why he killed them. This is one of those threads that Zelazny wove here and there, contradicting itself. It’s unclear if Corwin is just confused, perhaps ascribing to himself more import than he deserves, or if Zelazny decided on going in another direction. But in the earlier books the black road is entirely the fault of Corwin’s Curse and later… it isn’t.
And here we have the big reveal as to who exactly Corwin has saved, and a great line.
I mean, it’s not “I enjoy slaughtering beasts and I think of my relatives constantly” but it’s still good.
It turns out that yes, this is the guy Corwin knew. Probably. At any rate, he decides to play it safe and continue acting like an old guy who isn’t THAT strong after all.
Pretty much every where that Corwin goes he’s spoken the language of the people around him. It’s interesting that he encounters someone in a Shadow whose language is the same as Amber’s (Thari) who doesn’t speak that language… or any others that he knows.
We also find the name of Corwin’s sword. There’s a lot of debate about what the name means, where it’s from. In the story he mentions there’s a story behind the name, and that he’ll tell that story some time, but he never does – just like he never reveals the trick to eating underwater. Anyway, he sword fights with a guy who’s very good and Corwin reveals that he once dueled against Random for twenty six hours. Wouldn’t you get bored? I’d get bored. Corwin called it quits first but only because he had a hot date, not because he was, like, tired or anything. This time, though, instead of twenty six hours he fought for half an hour and is beat. He’s very aware of how weak he is compared to how he was before his imprisonment and basically starts doing CrossFit. It leaves him exhausted, which helps out as he continues to feign being old.
Ganelon is THE Ganelon, as he asks about Avalon. Corwin takes the chance to recite a bit of his poetry because of course he does. Ganelon also refers to Corwin as The Sorcerer Lord because we don’t see him doing a LOT of magic, but what he does do is pretty impressive. Ganelon is super down on Corwin, just absolutely hates him. But when Corwin tells him that the evil sorcerer was blinded and cast into a dungeon Ganelon is visibly upset by the news. He goes on to reveal his traitorous past, and the cycle where he is a villain who’s recruited by the king to be a hero. He goes up against a creature from the Black Circle, a creature that changes shape and also sets on fire. King Uther soon dies and Ganelon is thrust into the role. He hates it, he’s selfish, he’s self-centered, but he also sees how important this is and how many people are suffering. He’s dutiful, a theme of the books.
As Corwin and Ganelon talk a bird flies up – it’s the “white bird of his desire” that Corwin summoned and released at the close of “Nine Princes in Amber.” The note promises that he’s coming, signed by his own hand.
References:
There’s a really quick recap and explanation of the precis of the book – he has to find a specific place. The place he REALLY wants is gone but there’s an imitation, an alternate version, that he can get to. (How does a whole entire Shadow vanish? What happened, and how? This is never discussed!) While trying to get there he comes across someone he recognizes: a man who’s severely injured, a man who managed to kill six people before sitting himself down to bleed out. Corwin gives him a drink (of water) and then a stronger drink (of whisky), helps him clean out and bandage his largest wound, and then helps him get comfortable and watches over him as he sleeps. He’s got a place to go and things to do but he still takes the time to take care of this guy out of a sense of nostalgia and also because his experiences have changed him and left him far more sympathetic to others (who are humans).
That place he’s going to? It’s called Avalon.
In Arthurian myth, Avalon is the mystical island where Excalibur was forged and where Arthur was taken to recover from his mortal wound – and where he still is, sleeping until he’s needed again. He’s, you know, “the once and future king” – he was king once and will be again. Corwin reveals that Avalon was his place, he ruled there. He was king there once.
He also talks a bit more about Shadow and his attitude toward the inhabitants of same:
I was drawing nearer to my Avalon when I came upon the wounded knight and the six dead men. Had I chosen to walk on by, I could have reached a place where the six men lay dead and the knight stood unwounded — or a place where he lay dead and they stood laughing. Some would say it did not really matter, since all these things are possibilities, and therefore all of them exist somewhere in Shadow.
Any of my brothers and sisters — with the possible exceptions of Gerard and Benedict — would not even have given a second glance. I have become somewhat chickenhearted, however. I was not always that way, but perhaps the shadow Earth, where I spent so many years, mellowed me a bit, and maybe my hitch in the dungeons of Amber reminded me somewhat of the quality of human suffering. I do not know. I only know that I could not pass by the hurt I saw on the form of someone much like someone who had once been a friend. If I were to speak my name in this man’s ear, I might hear myself reviled, I would certainly hear a tale of woe.
Later in the series Vialle asks Corwin why he doesn’t just make a Shadow-Amber and rule there and he points out that he’d know it was a Shadow but that also it would be peopled with folks who LOOK like people he knows but they wouldn’t ACT like them. It’s weird and jarring. And here he is, watching over a man who looks like someone he was once close to.
Corwin commits some mild atrocities against his sword, using it as an axe, and is pissed that Lance doesn’t want to leave his enemies lying about for the ravens and the foxes to eat. He specifically mentions “a decent Christian burial” which Lancelot doesn’t ask for clarification concerning so like… is there a Christ in this land? Are they Christians? As he sets about building a cairn for the dead Lancelot mumbles out a prayer for them so… maybe? He forgets himself and hefts up a 400 pound boulder – and remember this is him STILL SICKLY AND RECOVERING – and nearly gets caught. A few moments later he again shows off his super human strength in a way that I don’t quite understand…
He’s built a stretcher for Lancelot, right? The guy’s got a gut wound, he’s pretty beaten up, he’s lost a lot of blood. He can’t walk. So there’s this whole stretcher arrangement that Corwin assembled. He can drag it along the ground, right? But no, he… he picks the entire thing up?
I scooped the stretcher up in my arms, holding him as you would a baby, cradle and all.
That just sounds incredibly unwieldy? I’ve never understand the logistics of this. It sounds like he’s making things HARDER for himself, as opposed to dragging the stretcher (or travois) along behind him. And, again, how many old men (he’s masquerading as an old man) can carry another full grown men? How many YOUNG men can do that? I remain baffled by this, but I’ve also never had to haul around an injured adult so what do I know. I have only ever BEEN the injured adult being hauled around. I think I’d rather be dragged than cradled stiffly in someone’s arms, especially after an abdominal injury.
A few sentences later and we get to a perfect illustration of why I enjoy the fantasy-language and modern language in the books:
Who are these friends of yours I am taking you to?”
“We are headed for the Keep of Ganelon.”
“That ratfink!” I said, almost dropping him.
Like, that’s just… that’s just funny.
Anyway, this place is not Avalon but it contains someone that Corwin very obviously once knew and has strong feelings about.
“Ganelon” has become, over the centuries, a kind of betrayer archetype. In “The Song of Roland,” Roland sends his stepfather (Ganelon) into active danger. Ganelon assumes that Roland wants him dead, and betrays him. Dante stuck him in “The Inferno.” He’s in a bunch of poems, inscribed on walls, he’s in “Canterbury Tales” and “Don Quixote.”
A “rat fink,” in addition to being a cartoon hotrod character crated by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, is a traitor. It’s a pretty big insult, or it was once. Corwin’s very emotionally invested in Ganelon.
Lancelot speaks French and picks up on Corwin’s little joke about the devil. The Chronicles of Amber has a very messy cosmology.
As the saying goes, history might not repeat itself but it often rhymes. Ganelon, a traitor, shares a name with another traitor; Corwin punished him with exile the way that Eric later punishes him. We get a little summary of the guy’s character here, though. He’s not great, and was exiled for a reason. But between his presence and Lancelot’s presence and the way Lance keeps almost recognizing him… this place feels weighty.
Corwin brings something up that Flora touches on later – when Amberites dwell in Shadow they make it a bit more real, a bit more solid. They affect other Shadows. And they can cast Shadow versions of themselves as well. When Flora encountered Corwin on Earth he didn’t have his memory. She wasn’t sure if it was him or just a reflection of him, an echo. Corwin isn’t sure if echoes of him persist in this not-Avalon.
But they, ah, don’t seem like they’d be GOOD echoes since he’s so worried about it.
Just what kind of a king WAS he?
It’s also interesting that instead of a “Black Road” we’ve got a black circle that’s some sort of portal. A bunch of dark circles spreading out and overtaking a land is very ominous, in a different way than “black road cutting through Shadow, a pathway for dark beings” is.
Anyway, Corwin hauls ass until he realizes he’s being stalked by giant cats. Giant talking cats. Giant talking cats who discuss him as if he can’t hear them. Which, you know. Rude. Rude, and very cat-like.
If “giant talking cats” isn’t freaky enough, when he slices them with his silver sword… they catch fire. One of them, as it dies, refers to him as “Opener” and asks why he killed them. This is one of those threads that Zelazny wove here and there, contradicting itself. It’s unclear if Corwin is just confused, perhaps ascribing to himself more import than he deserves, or if Zelazny decided on going in another direction. But in the earlier books the black road is entirely the fault of Corwin’s Curse and later… it isn’t.
And here we have the big reveal as to who exactly Corwin has saved, and a great line.
Thus did I bear Sir Lancelot du Lac to the Keep of Ganelon, whom I trusted like a brother. That is to say, not at all.
I mean, it’s not “I enjoy slaughtering beasts and I think of my relatives constantly” but it’s still good.
It turns out that yes, this is the guy Corwin knew. Probably. At any rate, he decides to play it safe and continue acting like an old guy who isn’t THAT strong after all.
Pretty much every where that Corwin goes he’s spoken the language of the people around him. It’s interesting that he encounters someone in a Shadow whose language is the same as Amber’s (Thari) who doesn’t speak that language… or any others that he knows.
We also find the name of Corwin’s sword. There’s a lot of debate about what the name means, where it’s from. In the story he mentions there’s a story behind the name, and that he’ll tell that story some time, but he never does – just like he never reveals the trick to eating underwater. Anyway, he sword fights with a guy who’s very good and Corwin reveals that he once dueled against Random for twenty six hours. Wouldn’t you get bored? I’d get bored. Corwin called it quits first but only because he had a hot date, not because he was, like, tired or anything. This time, though, instead of twenty six hours he fought for half an hour and is beat. He’s very aware of how weak he is compared to how he was before his imprisonment and basically starts doing CrossFit. It leaves him exhausted, which helps out as he continues to feign being old.
Ganelon is THE Ganelon, as he asks about Avalon. Corwin takes the chance to recite a bit of his poetry because of course he does. Ganelon also refers to Corwin as The Sorcerer Lord because we don’t see him doing a LOT of magic, but what he does do is pretty impressive. Ganelon is super down on Corwin, just absolutely hates him. But when Corwin tells him that the evil sorcerer was blinded and cast into a dungeon Ganelon is visibly upset by the news. He goes on to reveal his traitorous past, and the cycle where he is a villain who’s recruited by the king to be a hero. He goes up against a creature from the Black Circle, a creature that changes shape and also sets on fire. King Uther soon dies and Ganelon is thrust into the role. He hates it, he’s selfish, he’s self-centered, but he also sees how important this is and how many people are suffering. He’s dutiful, a theme of the books.
As Corwin and Ganelon talk a bird flies up – it’s the “white bird of his desire” that Corwin summoned and released at the close of “Nine Princes in Amber.” The note promises that he’s coming, signed by his own hand.
References:
- A cairn is a pile of stones that’s sometimes erected as a marker or monument, but also is often a burial site. Heaping great big rocks over a body prevents predators from eating the body – maybe this is done because it’s not possible to dig a grave, maybe it’s done as a specific funerary practice. It can vary.
- A league is 3 miles on land (slightly longer on the water).
- “Don’t you smell the brimstone? And my right hoof is killing me.” is a reference to traditional ways that the devil is portrayed. One thing about certain depictions of satan is that he only has one hoof – the version of the story that I heard is that he was bothering an Irish priest and the priest grabbed the devil, threw him to the ground, took off his leg, and swapped it with the leg of a cow that kicked when being milked. You know. As one does. The cow leg still kicks out, which is how you’ll recognize satan if you meet him on the road and chat for more than a minute or two – his hooved leg will kick out. I guess the cow then had a human/satanic leg? History does not relate. I forget if the myth specified which leg was swapped out. Zelazny’s mom was Irish (American) and Irish mythology very much influenced his writing.
- “Doing time” is slang for serving a prison sentence. Or in Corwin’s case being blinded in a dungeon, I guess.
- Lancelot du Lac was one of the Knights of the Round Table of Arthurian myth, first recorded (as opposed to being part of the oral tradition) was by French poet Chrétien de Troyes. His origins are pretty unclear – maybe he’s Welsh! Or Irish! Or Hungarian! Or a bunch of stuff wadded up and smashed together! Which is different from the kid that French poets gave him, who is the most perfect to knight to ever perfect knighthood. Lancelot… fucks.
- “Laceration by means of the eyeballs” is another way of saying “looking daggers” or “staring daggers” [at someone]. This generally means to glare angrily at someone. Ganelon is a bit suspicious, or maybe Corwin has a guilty conscious. (or both)
- As noted, thumb rings are used in some archery techniques. Everyone in this Shadow speaks the same language as Corwin, they apparently have Christianity in some form, but they have different fighting styles.
- “Grayswandir” is also a weapon in the video game “NetHack.”
- “How Many Miles to Avalon” is most likely a reference to “How Many Miles to Babylon.”
- Uther Pendragon was the father of King Arthur. Yes, that Arthur.
- “Why number the teeth of a horse you may receive for nothing?” is a reference to “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” The context of the original saying is that you can tell how old a horse is by looking at its teeth and it’s rude to examine something that’s a gift that way. Just accept it and move on.
