House of Cards: Player Characters

Brennan

Brennan (Kiefer Sutherland)
Knight-Commander of the Order of the Ruby
Played by John Novak

Son of Brand, raised in Brand's private shadow of Uxmal, your cousin Brennan mastered swords and sorcery long before he arrived in Amber after the war. He was recognized as one of the Knights Commander of the Order of the Ruby and has used that key position to become one of Xanadu's military leaders, with special interest in the Moonrider problem. He grew close to Cambina before her death, but more recently he's been reunited with his former paramour, the Valkyrie Regenlief, and learned that Ossian is their son. He is torn between two great ambitions: Seeking justice for Cambina's death from the Moonriders, and reforging the Pattern of Amber.

Do we make the Shadow worlds? Or are they there, independent of us, awaiting our footfalls? Or is there an unfairly excluded middle? Is it a matter of more or less, rather than either-or? A dry chuckle arose suddenly as I realized that I might never know the answer for certain.

-- Corwin, The Courts of Chaos

You wouldn't know what to do with easy things.

-- Cambina

Brita

Brita (Maria Bonnevie)
Goddess of Pure Waters
Played by Monica Visinsky

Your cousin Brita, Daughter of Vidar, Norse God of Vengeance and Descendant of Uncle Finndo, and your Aunt Fiona, has Protected the springs and lakes of her First Home, Shadow Asgard., and Now Works to Un-Muddy the Waters leading to he New Home Xanadu. True to her nature, Brita has Dealt with the Deaths of her Guardian and Mentor, Cousin Reid, and her Cousins Daeon and Lucas with Peaceful Memorial Fountains, but Her Father's Legacy may be Bubbling under the Surface. She has discovered New Family in her Brother Conner and a Growing Number of Niblings and hopes to be a Bridge for Them Into the Wider Family. Mistress of many powers, Brita continues to wander and learn, meeting new people and serving the interests of King Random.

I can take care of my own honor, for he was mine to kill, not yours, had I chosen.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

To me, you just smell like kin of Amber.

-- Brita

Celina

Celina (Rosario Dawson)
Uncrowned Queen of Rebma
Played by Arref Mak

Secret daughter of Corwin and Moire, your cousin Celina grew up believing she was a girl from the Seaward kingdoms until she was swept into Rebman court life as Queen Moire's ward. As she learned more about her heritage and the magic of Rebma's mirrors, she was swept into the machinations of Rebman politics. When her lover and former teacher Khela took the Sapphire Throne after Moire's flight from Rebma, Celina was there, and when Khela perished on the Pattern, Celina took the throne herself. Buoyed by Conner and her brother Merlin, she seeks to unravel the metaphysics of Rebma and learn how Rebma's Pattern survived when Amber's Pattern broke. As such, Celina has gathered allies, and furthered the strengths of Rebma. Now she seeks the missing Sapphire Regalia which the Traitor Queen Moire may possess. The Sapphire summons storms, and Celina may be the next tempest it summons.

She cast her gaze all about. Her eyes lighted upon me and I would have looked away if I had been able. This was not possible, however, and I returned that gaze in which I read an understanding beyond my own. It was as if she knew everything about me, and in this instant had comprehended all my recent trials--seeing, understanding, possibly sympathizing. For a moment, I felt that I saw something of pity and a strong love reflected there--and perhaps a touch of humor.

-- Corwin, The Courts of Chaos

I am my mother's daughter with all the potentials to be monstrous or regal. Likewise my father is a legend with a reach greater than I can imagine. I do not think you unwise to judge me by the potentials for mayhem I represent. Some days I even think that my parents hope I turn out more dangerous than they are. This does not make for pleasant and quiet reflection.

-- Celina

Conner

Conner (Michael Praed)
Captain of the Amber Navy (ret.), Wielder of Halosdyne
Played by Rich DiTullio

Your cousin Conner served quietly, without acknowledgement that Fiona was his mother, in Amber's diplomatic corps under both Oberon and Eric. His final posting was to the Rebman embassy, where he was serving as a senior official at the time of the Sundering. During the Regency, he fled Rebma after an investigation caused trouble with the Tritons. He returned to Amber, where he served as a member of the Regency council and a liaison to stranded foreign envoys. After Random's coronation, he adventured for a time before attaching himself once again to Rebma, earning the Rebman paxblade for his efforts in helping Khela fend off Huon. He kept the blade when Celina assumed the crown, and now serves her as one of Rebma's chief envoys while coming to know his unsuspected child, Raven.

Especially then, I answered myself. For who else could be trusted with such power?

-- Corwin, The Guns of Avalon

And Father told me you were a diplomat.

Oh I am. But sometimes you get better results with a crossbow and a kind word than just a kind word.

-- Edan and Conner

Delta

Delta (Zoe Kravitz)
Played by Susan Carlson

An adventure-seeker raised by her mother and step-father in the Pearl Islands, Delta wandered the realm in search of money and pleasure until she was kidnapped by the Klybesians. Now she has mastered the Pattern of Rebma, original home of her grandmother Coral, become a guardian of a fragment of the Sapphire of Rebma, and wants to learn more of her new family.

I wanted to be an irresponsible nonentity and just enjoy myself.

-- Random, Sign of the Unicorn

Edan

Edan (Antonio Banderas) [web page]
Knight Commander of the Order of the Lamp
Played by Allen Veazey

Son of your Uncle Bleys and the Firemaid Julnar, your cousin Edan hails from the Land of Peace He learned strange Sorcery from the Padishah of the City of Brass after a Pattern-walk unlocked his own Ifrit heritage. Full of Fire and ego, he has injected his own brash brand of Sorcery, turmoil and often failure into numerous Family problems: a titanic struggle with Chantico that injured Lilly, broke the Shadow of Uxmal in a rage, kidnapped and imprisoned a possessed Queen Vialle with Martin, lost her in a sword duel with the Marshall, and raised an army of desert warriors against the Klybesians. Now he leads his army as the Knights of the Lamp against Amber's enemies and works on his great chain of Fire Gates through Shadow accompanied by his little band of affines and the phantom remains of his horse and somehow must also learn to spend time with his new son by Hannah.

I closed my eyes, closed them to join her in darkness, to recall for a brief while the world where other messages than light waves took precedence.

-- Corwin, The Hand of Oberon

I am like the fire itself- lawless, dangerous, prone to get out of control if my emotions are not held strictly in check. I have all the subtlety of a nuclear blast.

-- Edan

Fletcher

Fletcher (Hugh Laurie)
Knight Commander of the Order of the Unicorn; Defender of the Faith
Played by JP Brannan

Your cousin Fletcher, Benedict's son from days long gone, was forgotten by all but your eldest surviving uncles after he departed Amber. Now he has returned, combining mastery of the Pattern and wide experience in Shadow to secure the future of the city he nearly lost forever. And the lost history that he alone seems to remember may be the key to unlocking both the mysteries of Amber and her most dedicated foes.

Seated there at the desk, I commanded a view of the far wall, on which, among other things, hung an antique cavalry saber ... In my mind, I tsked at the shape it was in. I wanted an oily rag and a whetstone, to make it the way it should be once again.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

At Court, I was named Defender of the Faith. It was a job at court principally dealing with spiritual and ecclesiastical matters. In those days people in Amber were more spiritual than they are now, and religious too. Organized religions had a lot of clout back then, which was double-edged sword. Faith, morality, and purpose are vital to civilization.

-- Fletcher

Folly

Folly (Bjork)
Uncrowned Queen of Xanadu, Knight of the Order of the Card
Played by Karen Alfrey

Born in Texorami, Folly made her name as a musician in a band alongside "Syd Chance", known in Amber as Random; she was taken to Amber in the last moments before the Sundering, and served through the Regency alongside his son Martin, with whom she fell in love. Her bond with Random's Pattern realm has only grown even as she bore Martin's daughter Lorelei. Trained by Dworkin in Trump and metaphysics, Folly struggles to to find nonviolent methods to prevail against Amber's enemies while juggling her complicated family: her cousins, Random, Martin, her great-grandfather Julian, her mother Brij (Julian's granddaughter), and her father, Huon.

I played drums till all hours in a basement spot up the river where the walls sweated almost as much as the customers and the smoke used to wash around the lights like streams of milk. When I was done playing I'd go find some action, women, or cards, usually.

-- Random, describing Texorami, Sign of the Unicorn

Some days I wish we were normal, y'know? The rest of the time, I forget we aren't.

-- Folly

Hannah

Hannah (Alex Rice)
Medicine Woman of the Blue Earth
Played by Liz Trumitch

Your cousin Hannah was led toward Amber by the Unicorn, and believes her life has a higher purpose than the one she was serving in her home in Mahkato. She has pinned her belief in a better universe on keeping Gerard in it and getting him well enough to fully serve it. Figuring out how to do that is no easy task, and one that has been complicated by learning about her mother Ysabeau and her sisters Solange and Robin, the arrival of her father and some of her people from the Blue Earth, and her liaison with Edan, whose son she has just borne.

If the Jewel can create a new Pattern, why will it not serve to repair the old one, end our troubles, heal your spirit?

Where is your memory? You know it would be infinitely more difficult to repair the damage than it would be to start over again. Even the Jewel could more easily destroy it than repair it. Have you forgotten what it is like out there? Do you want to go and look at it again?

-- Corwin and Dworkin, The Hand of Oberon

I'm not just going to stop doing things I've done my entire adult life until I've proven there is more danger to it than I already know about.

-- Hannah

Harsh

Harsh (Dev Patel)
Commander & First Mate of the GNS Mahtala
Played by Karin Levenstein

Your cousin Harsh was brought up by his aunt and uncle in the shadow of Golconda. He's always been a bit out of place and had to excel, and in certain circumstances finagle, his way up in Golcondan society and the navy where he served as an officer. An encounter with a mystery derelict in the Great Southern Ocean brought him to Xanadu. He now seeks to find his place as both a child of Golconda and a son of Prince Gerard and to make the most of his newfound ability to sail between the worlds.

So we set sail the following day. and I directed things from the lead ship. I led us into a storm, and we emerged that much nearer our destination. I led us past an enormous whirlpool, and we were so much to the good. I led us through a shallow rocky place. and the shade of the waters deepened afterward. Their colors began to approximate those of Amber. So I still knew how to do it. I could influence our fate in time and place.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Jerod

Jerod (John Malkovich)
Prince of Amber and Rebma
Played by Blake Moorcroft

Your cousin Jerod's life has taken many turns since his tour on the Regency Council. For good and ill, the events since have molded his outlook away from his life as a Prince of old, even as he sought to find a new expression for that mindset. The appearance of his sister Rowen and his daughter Cordelia seem to have had some influence in his focus of making Family and Realm of greater import.

But his latest walk on Random's Pattern seems to have unshackled him from unrevealed bonds of his past, freeing him to take the steps he needs to protect what he holds most dear....with all the focus that a Prince can muster.

While the possibility that I am lying to you is foremost in your mind, I give you my word that I am not.

-- Eric, The Guns of Avalon

Jerod has a talent for biting off more than he can chew. When he gets the experience to back up his ambitions, he'll be formidable. I'd rather have him on my side than among the opposition.

-- Martin

[L]et us be direct because it is what I prefer.

-- Jerod

Misao

Misao (Suzuka Oghu)
Heir to Hikariguni
Played by Jennifer Jones

Your cousin Misao is the child of Kimiko, Lady of Hikariguni, and Lucas, who taught them the basics of Trump before abandoning them and their mother as the war and disruptions prevented his easy return. Having been kidnapped and escaped from the Klybesians, Misao stepped into the larger universe. As a native of Hikariguni, Misao is a natural shapeshifter, which has at times startled their relatives, and is genderfluid with they/them pronouns. Misao has been busy forming connections among their large Family but is currently baffled by Clarissa's recent summons.

Something seems to have affected the Trumps themselves, is what it is. And I never knew of anything that could do that.

Well, they are not guaranteed one hundred percent, according to the manufacturer.

-- Corwin and Random, Sign of the Unicorn

We have a saying in Hikariguni. Shigata ga nai. What can't be helped must be endured. We will get through this.

-- Misao

Morgaine

Morgaine (Kim Rosendahl)
Played by Kris Fazzari

Your cousin Morgaine, granddaughter of Cneve and a Rebman noblewoman, put on the Rebman Pattern by Khela, and has only recently made herself known to the family, along with her brother Tarian. After spending most of her life in hiding from Moire, she is cautiously getting to know Rebma and her extended family while struggling with a lifelong habit of floating in the shadows and remaining unnoticed. Who she will be when she fully emerges remains to be seen.

When Martin came of age, because he was of the blood of Amber, he determined to walk the Pattern. He is the only one of my people to have succeeded. Thereafter, he walked in Shadow and I have not seen him since.

-- Moire, Nine Princes in Amber

Ossian

Ossian (Leonard Whiting)
Member of the Regency Council
Played by Olof Dahl

Your cousin Ossian arrived in Amber at the time of the Sundering. A Trump Artist and student of Brand, Ossian was initially met with suspicion, but committed himself to the Regency Council. Since the coronation, he has worked as an agent of Amber and Xanadu, and discovered much about his own history: that his parents were Brennan and the Valkyrie Regenlief, and that he was stolen at birth and put into an orphanage by the Klybesian Order, which he has committed himself to destroy.

...Dew, like drops of mercury on the finely sanded petals and stems in the garden by the walks...

-- Corwin, describing Tir, Sign of the Unicorn

Now, he's someone who might be dangerous if he put his mind to it, but in itself he's too focused on his artwork. Which is fortunate for him. I've noted that he seems to have a lack of some of the more basic moral aspects of life. It's why I consider him to be a potential Brand in the making

-- Jerod

I was trained by my grandfather. Although he probably was a competent sorceror, he didn't teach me that.

-- Ossian

Oh, and remind me to tell you about the volcano.

-- Random

Penthelisea

Penthelisea (Brooke Ence)
Hipparchos of the Glorious Cataphract
Played by Darren Hennessey

Your cousin Penthelisea, also known as Pen, was raised in Pontus by Myrina, her enigmatic mother. Myrina was loving, but hard to impress, and disappeared when Pen became a teenager. After recovering from a terrible injury, Pen grew strong and excelled among her Amazon sisters. Queen Thalestris chose to send Pen out into the world to discover the source of The Green sickness that creeped into Pontus. Along the way, she made friends of the Rangers of Arden, battled monstrous soldiers of the Green, came to terms with a drinking problem, and discovered that she is a child of Amber. Solange, Hannah, and Robin adopted her, and she and Robin fell-in together, traveling to Pontus to rally forces against the source of The Green, the Dragon of Arcadia. Pen, Robin, Raven, Tricksey, and many brave Amazons fought against the Dragon's forces in the Forest of Arden. Many Amazons died, and even more were wounded. After the battle, Pen was given leave by King Random to walk the Pattern in Xanadu. She survived, but she hasn't quite been herself since.

There was that air of vitality about her which is attractive in ways different from mere comeliness.

-- Corwin, The Guns of Avalon

I'm so sorry. I've read about Kings before, of course, however, there have only been three that I've ever met. All were would-be invaders of my homeland. One was drowned in front of what was left of his army by my mother. Another was set aflame and catapulted over a cliff, also in front of his broken troops, by my Queen, and I personally shoved a spear through the skull of the third Conqueror-to-be, who succeeded in murdering many of my friends. I was enraged and did some things that I'm not proud of, and I was not myself for some time.

-- Pen.

Raven

Raven (Sarah Connolly)
Captain of the Southern Fleet
Played by Sarah Williams

Your cousin Raven disguised herself as a man to join the Royal Navy. During the war, her ship was lost and she assumed the captaincy to find her way home. Now entangled with the Royal family, she has learned that her father is almost certainly Conner, making her the least likely of the redheads, and that she has a half-sister in Delta; she's also learned that her half-brother Max, son of her mother Scarlett, has half-siblings on his father's side. Raven has fought the Green, invaded a Klybesian stronghold, helped restore Gateway's government, participated in an embassy to the Moonriders, and now faces the uncomfortable challenge of telling relatives who were introduced to her as a man that she was born and still is a woman, grew up as a man, and is pretty content with the dual nature of her gender, even if she isn't quite sure how best to explain it.

We passed ghost fleets, the ships of Gerard, as we sailed--the Flying Dutchmen of this world--that world, and we knew we were coming near. We used them as reference points.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Raven seems solid, but he's young. He's got first-order common sense.

-- Martin

How do you feel about having a daughter that's been passing as a man most of her life instead of a son?

-- Raven, to Conner

Robin

Robin (Renee O'Connor)
Ranger of Arden
Played by Leslie Lightfoot

Robin is the daughter of Ysabeau, raised by Julian among the Rangers as if she were his own. He trusted her with many dangerous missions, including investigating the Black Road -- a mission that left Robin's mind with troubles she still suffers from. But the love of her fair of firelizards and her cousin Vere keep her steady and anchored. Her first love is Arden, but her feelings for Vere pull her toward the family she otherwise fears.

... I'd had a head injury, and I was well aware of my own desires. The mind is a funny place. I do not even trust my own. Could it be that I had manufactured the whole business? A lot had happened since.

The price of being an Amberite, I suppose, is that you cannot even trust yourself.

-- Corwin, Sign of the Unicorn

Stupid men! Stupid words!

-- Robin

Rowen

Rowen (Anya Taylor-Joy)
Lady of Weirmonken
Played by Ian Ng

Daughter of Whisper-of-Death and presumably Eric, your cousin Rowen is Cambina's full sister and half-sister to Jerod and possibly Solace. She was raised in Weirmonken as a ward of Count Vadis, and trained in the way of her people. In time, she would show herself to be far more devious than her compatriots and served the count as a scout and a spy. Picked up in a recent sweep for the bloodline of Amber, Rowen has come to Xanadu with her half-brother Reynart to learn of her birthright and to rise up to join the heroes from the myths of her youth. In the short weeks she's been with the family, she's been on a raid and fought a dragon, which has only whet her appetite for more adventure. The grand world of politics around Amber is nothing like the simpler clashes between clans in the Monkland, though. Will shrewdness or naivete win amidst the chaos?

I saw it happen, though only in shadow. They dropped to all fours and the moonlight played tricks with their gray garments. Then there were the six blazing eyes of our stalkers.

I impaled the first wolf on my silver blade and there was a human howl.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Talia

Talia (Tatiana Maslany)
Ranger of Arden
Played by Simone Pharoah-Metcalf

Daughter of Daeon, your cousin Talia, along with her twin brother Talos, has yet to meet most of the family. More comfortable as a ranger than whatever her new status is, she is still finding her way within the family.

We were driving on a bare, dirt roadway through a cathedral of enormous trees. It seemed to go on forever and ever. I felt safe in the place.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

You're not special, there's a lot of people I didn't listen to.

--Talia

Tarian

Tarian (Omar Sy)
Played by Scott "Stormy" Whitney

Brother to Morgaine, Tarian has also found his way to Rebma and is slowly working his way through the many challenges of the city and his new family to see which he is most suited to solve.

They were men with green hair, purple hair, and black hair, and all of them had eyes of green, save for one fellow whose were of a hazel color. All wore only scaled trunks and cloaks, cross-braces on their breasts, and short swords depending from sea-shell belts. All were pretty much lacking in body hair.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Theano

Theano (Lorena Andrea)
Acolyte of the Order of the Fates
Played by Adam Easterday

A rumored cousin, the dark Adept of the Order of the Fates, Theano of Magna Graecia has claimed to be the daughter of Florimel. Neither the first nor possibly the last to make such a claim, she asserts her mentor Sister Sybill was her teacher in all things she knows about the family including the story of this alleged parentage. The truth of her story is yet to be told, but Clarissa seems to have a fair idea and Florimel, though doubtful, hasn't denied it outright yet.

So I shuffled and spread them all out before me In the proper manner. Then I read them, and I saw that bad things were in store for the entire family; and I gathered them all together then.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

Tricksey

Tricksey (Emily Kavanaugh)
Played by Jason Fryer

Dauntless. Delirious. Divine. Your crow-girl cousin, Tricksey, is these and many other d-words, depending on the moment. Daughter of Daeon and Disappointment of Kimiko, she recently embraced her inner death goddess and Ranger roots, pledging herself to Grumpy-Gramps, Julian. Now, far away from the neon nightmares of Tyrell, she seeks to understand the Dragon of Arcadia and her connection to it. This may bring her into conflict with the Family, but crow-girl gotta crow-girl.

But I was feeling kind of funny. Most of these troops were destined to die. I was the agent responsible for much of this. I felt some remorse, though I knew the difference between Shadow and Substance. Each death would be a real death, though; however, I knew that also.

-- Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber

We gods. We mercurial. We mischief and mayhem. Vanity and venom... But what of those bound by time? Our reflections. Our waking dreams. Our walking desires? What price they pay? What Family do for them?

-- Tricksey

Vere

Vere (Chris Hemsworth)
Prince of the Isles of the Dannan
Played by James Myers

Your cousin Vere was raised a warrior prince in the Isles of the Dannan,, homeland of his grandmother Queen Rilga, despite his wish for the life of a scholarly explorer. Now, with the Isles destroyed, he has begun the study of Sorcery he had always desired. But his focus is on finding a cure for his father Gerard's lameness and helping his beloved Robin end the war against the Dragon of Arcadia so they can marry and build the life they desire.

I brought my emotions to heel. One by one, you must deal with those things that come to hand, I told myself. That is all. Divorce the feelings from the speculations, or at least provide for separate maintenance.

-- Random, Sign of the Unicorn

I call myself a son of Gerard, and yet the simple approach never occurred to me.

-- Vere