Corwin, son of Oberon and Faiella, is generally considered first in line for the throne of Amber. Zelazny chose Corwin as the narrator of the first five books of the Amber series.
Corwin has, of course, walked the Pattern and was later responsible for creating another Pattern, near the end of the Patternfall War. His colors are black and silver, and he clasps his cloak with a silver rose.
Corwin races through the first five weeks of Nine Princes in Amber without sleeping. His endurance (and ability to regenerate) is, beyond the shadow of a doubt, without compare. Imprisoned for four years beneath Castle Amber, his eyes were burned out by his brother Eric. They grew back over the course of those four years.
"Yes, I remember Avalon," he said, "a place of silver and shade and cool waters, where the stars shone like bonfires at night and the green of day was always the green of spring. Youth, love, beauty - I knew them all in Avalon. Proud steeds, bright metal, soft lips, dark ale. Honor..." -- Ganelon, The Guns of Avalon.
Avalon is Corwin's personal shadow, a realm of swordplay and frequent invasions of one duchy by another. The Arthurian mythos is present in flavor, if not in substance.
revised 4/9/94