Character Analysis
Choose Your Own Adventure
Admit it. We all cheat at Choose Your Own Adventure books. You peek at one path, then check out another to see what might have happened if you'd done things differently.
But what if your other actions had consequences? And what if that other you still existed even after you flipped back all the pages? If that happened, you'd end up with an Uncle Ambrose of your own.
Uncle Ambrose is actually Nick from the future. Nick says he doesn't have an Uncle Ambrose, but Ambrose says, "You're even named after me" (10.43). Nick's middle name is Ambrosius, but he wasn't named after Ambrose. He and Ambrose have the same name because they are the same person.
In the universe as it currently stands, Ambrose made some bad decisions that led to him becoming the Malachai. These actions also led to death of his mother and maybe a few other loved ones. Oops. That's the worst, and you can't flip back a few pages of a book and change it.
Or can you? Well, Ambrose has traveled back into the past to convince Nick to make different decisions. He's desperate, saying, "I would sell my soul and give my life to keep you from becoming what I am" (16.53).
Even though the Malachai is supposed to be some sort of supreme evil, Ambrose still demonstrates the tenderness we see in Nick, his younger self. Ambrose feels guilty for what he did wrong, and he will do anything to protect his mother.
By the end of Infinity, Ambrose seems confident that Nick is on the right path. Only time will tell.