Tarot Motifs: Difference between revisions

''Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,''

''Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find''

 

The Tarot [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"|(usually pronounced 'tare-oh')]] is a very popular motif in the [[Urban Fantasy]], [[Ontological Mystery]] and [[Horror Tropes]] genres. It can be used by references or as an item in the setting itself. And, of course, it can be merchandised for fun and profit.

See also [[Themed Tarot Deck]] for [[Real Life]] tarot decks modified, often with characters from fiction shoehorned into the different roles. See also [https://www.tarot.com/ Tarot.com] - it uses Universal Waite as default, but there are card variations for 98(!) decks.

 

 

'''The usual structure''':

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' plays it so straight it is obviously Mashima's intention from the start. The ''Cards Magic'' Cana uses is formed of tarot cards, and the cards, combined or alone, produce attacks relating to their intended meaning.

* ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' used a lot of Tarot symbolism, including to name each episode. Rather than using the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot, Hitomi's deck uses the Merlin Tarot (a tarot deck released in the late 1980's based on Arthurian mythology). The difference, however, is that Hitomi's cards are titled in [[Gratuitous Italian]], and the Minor Arcana cards have their titles changed to one of their associated keywords (for example, the "Warrior of Beasts" is renamed "[The] Ambition").

* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' had its own tarot deck released with the DVD box sets, with illustrations by the same artist who worked on the novels.

 

* In Neil Gaiman's ''[[Books of Magic]]'' series, the main character visits the end of the universe and discovers that the last living entities are psychic after-echoes of people throughout history who have merged into the major arcana, with the explanation that the tarot cards were inspired by subconscious character archetypes that all people come from and eventually return to.

** Earlier on in the series, he gets a reading from Madame Xanadu, and the four cards drawn correspond to the four members of the [[Trenchcoat Brigade]] that are acting as his guides.

* In ''[[The Secret History (comics)|The Secret History]]'', tarot cards are tools of immense power based on the immortal Archons' superpowered runestones. The Archons and those in the know—referred to as "players"—call tarot cards "blades."

 

 

* In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', when Dr. Facilier reads Naveen and Lawrence's futures, no cards are named, but we clearly see The Fool, Three of Pentacles, and the Tower in Naveen's hand, while Lawrence is almost a replica of Ten of Wands - mirroring their situations in life perfectly. And it gets better. Naveen's hand also shows a card of himself between two lovely ladies, which resembles The Lovers. However, the number itself on the card is XV - the number of the Devil, symbolizing temptation and a need for self-control. Next the card flips into something with a IX on it, probably the Nine of Pentacles (physical independence from marrying a wealthy woman). [[Shown Their Work|It all works, and it's not a little delightful.]]

 

* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' movies feature tarot imagery. In ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', Luke is constantly in Hanged Man poses - hanging in the cave, floating in the bacta tank, upside down on Dagobah, swinging from the vane beneath Cloud City. The motif is appropriate to Luke's spiritual transition from brash kid to wise Jedi and the sacrifice, of both his hand and his innocence, that accompanies that transition.

** Not to mention that Vader and Yoda are pretty clearly Death and Hermit archetypes. Yoda even waves one of Luke's penlights around in lieu of a lantern.

* ''[[The Holy Mountain]]'': "The Tarot will teach you how to create a soul".

 

* Piers Anthony used a lot of Tarot Motif in his Constellation cycle. There were space ships that took the forms of the four suits.

** Tarot cards and their history are also the central theme of one of his early trilogies.

* Within the Gates of Ivory trilogy by Doris Egan, Theodora of Pyrene is hired by one of the aristocrats for her Tarot reading skill. It turns out that much of his business success is because his family possesses a magical deck which provides accurate (and immersive) predictions, but only works for one person at a time and it's chosen her.

* In [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novels, tarot is an analogue to poker, with [[Warhammer 40,000|40K]] imagery used for some of the major cards.

** It would, incidentally, be difficult to get a deck that was consistent with all three novels without its being enormous.

* In the first [[Circle of Three]] book, the Three of Cups is integral to convincing Kate to stay friends with Annie and Cooper and pursue magical studies with them. The plot of the fourth novel revolves around Annie's new-found talent with the Tarot.

* In ''The Eagle Has Landed'', by Jack Higgins, the Nazi officers being sent to assassinate Winston Churchill are given a Tarot reading at one point. One draws death, and is told that it's possibly a good omen; when the commander's card is drawn, the psychic immediately puts it back in the deck without showing him and lies that it was strength (it was actually {{spoiler|the hanged man}}). Guess which one of them lives.

* Lani Diane Rich's ''The Fortune Quilt'' repeatedly uses the phrase "Towered" as a reference to having one's entire life trashed and having to start over again. (It also features a psychic quilt designer.)

 

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': in "Restless", a tarot card which features hands is presented as Buffy's. Later it shows her friend. This fits with her being Manus in the "super slayer" spell

** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] with a WMG that each episode of Season 5 is a Tarot Card... and works!

** Becomes [[Fridge Brilliance]] and a [[Call Forward]] in Season Three when it's revealed that {{spoiler|Alex is in Dead Copper Purgatory, created by Gene, the [[Psychopomp]] guardian who helps lost souls cross over, and ''does'' meet a tall, handsome Devil made flesh in Jim Keats, who may possibly be [[Satan]] himself}}.

* ''[[Bones]]'' has some Tarot imagery in it, most obviously in an episode that centers around a tarot reader. Overarching the entire show is a character named Temperance, and one of the central aspects of the show is her close professional relationship with someone who is very much her opposite.

 

* Huntress has songs "Eight of Swords" (in the music video their vocalist even poses as the tested character on this card, with blindfold and all) and "The Tower" — both on the album ''Spell Eater'', and the former also as a single.

* The music video for the Church's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWRK0Prfpv8&feature=related "Almost With You."]

* The figure with the lantern on the cover of ''[[Led Zeppelin]] IV'' is The Hermit.

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* Due to a licensing problem regarding SPECTRE, the ''James Bond 007'' RPG substituted the evil organization with TAROT. Which has a tarot card motif, naturally.

 

* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s ''ZED'' is built around this, starting with the titular protagonist representing The Fool. Check out the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110224175009/http://www.zed.co.jp/about_show/characters_en.php character list] at the official website.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Ib]]'' features only one tarot card —the Hanged Man— but it's fairly important for the development of Garry's character, especially in the ending where {{spoiler|he lives up to the card's meaning of [[Heroic Sacrifice|self-sacrifice]] by giving up his rose (i.e. his life) to the resident psycho to save Ib and the Hanged Man painting in the gallery is replaced by a portrait of his dead/sleeping body in an evocation of the card's alternate meaning of entrapment}}.

 

* ''[[Not Quite Daily Comic]]'' repeatedly employs Tarot imagery, and has [http://www.truefork.org/Art/comic/cindex.php?88 one] reading.

* Parodied in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', where [[Alternate Universe]] Gwynn uses "Tarot for Dummies." When she lays down three cards they say, in order, "Death" "Is Close" "Oh No!"