| “ | "I fear Benedict. He is the Master of Arms for Amber. Can you conceive of a millennium? A thousand years? Several of them? Can you understand a man who, for almost every day of a lifetime like that, has spent some time dwelling with weapons, tactics, strategy? All that there is of military science thunders in his head. He has often journeyed from shadow to shadow, witnessing variation after variation on the same battle, with but slightly altered circumstances, in order to test his theories of warfare. He has commanded armies so vast that you could watch them march by day after day and see no end to the columns. Although he is inconvenienced by the loss of his arm, I would not wish to fight with him either with weapons or barehanded. It is fortunate that he has no designs upon the throne, or he would be occupying it right now. If he were, I believe that I would give up at this moment and pay him homage. I fear Benedict. " | ” |
| — Corwin of Amber | ||
Benedict is the son of Cymnea and Oberon and the eldest living Prince of Amber. Benedict is considered the master tactician of the family as well as the unmatched master of all martial weapons. He chose to remove himself from the struggle for the crown, leaving Eric and Corwin as the eldest surviving heirs. Moreover, Oberon declared his marriage with Cymnea null and void, rendering all his children by her illegitimate. He is brother to Corwin.
Benedict is considered the best swordsman in the world, followed by Eric (dead since The Guns of Avalon), then Corwin. For a time, Benedict ruled over a shadow of Avalon where a shadow of Corwin had previously ruled (Corwin himself having ruled in Avalon, not a shadow of Avalon).