salinea: (Default)
Etrangere ([personal profile] salinea) wrote2008-02-09 02:12 pm
Entry tags:

Tarot of ice and fire

ASOIAF Tarot

This is for [livejournal.com profile] generalblossom who once asked me to do a Tarot (as in, writing descriptions of cards analogies) for A Song of Ice and Fire as I did for Harry Potter. Never mind the fact that it was something like two years ago.

Unlike HP (or Buffy, for that matter), ASOIAF has both too many characters and too many centers the plot to make something around the characters themselves, so I worked more with the setting.

The deck is divided into a series of 22 Major Arcana (as usual), and 8 series of 7 suits for a total of 56 Minor Arcana.
The 8 suits of Minor Arcana are Snow, Stone, River, Pyke, Storm, Flowers, and Sand.
The 7 cards in each suit are called Father, Mother, Fighter, Maiden, Smith, Crone and Stranger.


Snow is represented by snowflakes,
Its meanings are related to necessity, hardship, duty and justice.

Stone is represented by mountains,
Its meanings are related to prudence, protection and wisdom.

River is represented by cups,
Its meanings are related to relationship, love and sadness.

Pyke is represented by ships,
its meanings are related to travels, unforeseen change, ambition and decline.

Hill is represented by gold coins,
its meanings are related to cleverness, wealth and luck.

Storm is represented by lightnings,
its meanings are related to war, fighting, friendship and courage.

Flowers is represented by flowers (usually roses),
its meanings are related to prosperity, growth, family and children.

Sand is represented by suns,
its meanings are related to passion, pleasure, desire and danger.

The characters represented on those cards are either Heroes of the Age of Legends or famous lords, ladies and knights.

The 22 Major Arcana are :

1. the Hand
A wealthy lord, the chain of hands at his neck, holding symbols of power and of the seven kingdoms.

This card is often associated with the Smith.

2. the Maegi
A foreign woman, most often old, using mysterious tools & herbs.
This card is often associated with the Crone.

3. the Queen of Love and Beauty
A fair lady, crowned with flowers, who hands her favour and holds a basket of fruits and wheats.
This card is often associated with the Mother.

4. the Iron Throne
The Iron Throne (duh). The card occasionnally display a king on it, but most decks avoid it by tradition.
This card is often associated with the Father.

5. The Septon
An old man, wearing the symbols of the Faith, blessing two young people.

6. The Brides
One young man, two young women around him (one fair, one dark). Most interpreters agree that the women are supposed to be Aegon the Conquerer's sisters, hence their numbers. Others argue the young man has to pick one woman as a choice of alliance.
This card is often associated with the Maiden.

7. The Conquest
A crowned lord, riding onto a three-headed dragon (whose heads are red, blue & black), sweeping with fire the armies below. In some deck, this card features other famous battles, such as the Trident in the most recent decks.
This card is often associated with the Fighter.

8. Trial by Combat
Two knights standing on the two plates of a balance, ready to fight for Justice.

9.the Maester
An old man, a chain of many links at his neck, holding a glass candle whithin a dark cave

10. the Tournament
Three knights seen from above, chasing one after the other in circle. They each wear the colours of a season : Winter, Spring & Summer.

11. the Oath, sometimes called the King's Guard.
A kneeling knight swearing his vow, one young and frail woman holding his head bowed.

12. the Wall, or the Night's Watch
A huge wall of ice, one grim man wearing black standing in front of it.

13. the Faceless Man
A man holding a scythe, whose face is either blank, half-man half-woman, or with animal features, wearing a grey, shredded coat. Bones and body parts lay at his feet.
The card if often associated with the Stranger.

14. Mercy
A woman holding two cups, one red, one blue, to a wounded knight lying at his feet. Common interpretation has it that one cup holds death, called the Cup of Ice, and the other holds life, called the Cup of Fire. Whichever represents mercy depends of the situation.

15. the Other, sometimes called Winter
A white creature with ice-blue eyes and crystalline sword. Wights are kneeling at his feet.

16. the Castle
A burning, besieged castle, 2 small figures falling from its wall. This card typically represent famous taken castles. Harrenhall is especially a popular subject, but it also occasionnally depict Summerhall.

17. the Star
A red comet burning across a nightly sky. Poor and wretched people are looking up at it

18. the Weirwood, or the Green Man
Two weirwood trees with faces carved onto it, crying blood. Two direwolves are howling beside them, and a child or a short man is sleeping between them.
This card is often associated with the Old Gods.

19. Summer, or the Long Summer
A luxurious field of flowers and wheat, onto which two children are holding hands.

20. Dragons, sometimes called the Prince who was Promised
A burning brasier out of which a Dragon is flying. This card sometimes picture a figure wearing red raising from the fire.
This is card sometimes associated with the Red religion of the east.

21. the Seven Kingdoms
A dancing woman, whose body parts (head, arms, legs, stomach & breasts) are tinted with each color of the seven Kingdoms.

(Unnumbered) the Fool
A fool in motley, often lame, dwarf or disfigured otherwise, dancing with a bear on the edge of a castle wall.

[identity profile] sophiap.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
This is intriguing. I'm not familiar with ASOIAF, but I'd love to see the Harry Potter tarot if you're willing to share a link.

[identity profile] sophiap.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 01:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

dashes off to look

[identity profile] mamculuna.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Very fine! I love the major arcana. I like that you avoided over simplifying--and a perfect Fool!

[identity profile] kethlenda.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I would so buy this deck if it were out there.
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! :D
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2008-02-09 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Now if only I could draw :)
hamsterwoman: (Tarot -- queen of wands)

[personal profile] hamsterwoman 2008-02-09 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
This is wonderful! I especially like that the Magician becomes the Hand, the Devil becomes the Other, and that the Lovers card features three, not two. And clever reimaging of the Wheel of Fortune, the Hanged Man, and Death, too! And I'd been wondering whether your Major Arcana would include the Fool, and then I got to him, and he was absolutely perfect. Down to the bear!

I would also totally buy this deck if it existed!

[identity profile] savepureness.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Hm. I definitely need to study this closer. If I'll have your permission, I might be even trying my hand and sketching some of these :)

[identity profile] cloud-wolf.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 03:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool!
I love the bastard name theme you picked for the Minor Arcana. I guess you're not working the Minor Arcana out, it'd be a headache ;).
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you, I'm really glad you found it fitting (the bear! the bear! and the Maiden fair!)

It'd be cool if they did something like this as merchendizing.
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope you enjoy the studying, and I'd be really delightened to see some sketches of it ♥
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

I tried to do some main characters equvalencies with the Minor Arcana (Ned as Father of Snow, Tyrion as Stranger of Hills, stuff like this...) but it didn't work too well. In some "regions/families" we have too many characters, and in others too few, and then there's some characters who would have fit into none of the suits. And the Targaryens don't even have a suit.

[identity profile] savepureness.livejournal.com 2008-02-10 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll need to make myself familiar with the classic tarot format, and then to try and fit the sketches within it. It's basically a long-run project, but if it works with the first trials I'll gladly keep working on it :)

[identity profile] generalblossom.livejournal.com 2011-07-15 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I never saw it! so sorry! I was using bloglines for a while (before they decided to die, then not die and then I had to move to google reader) and bloglines was totally erratic with any LJ feeds. I used to try to check on LJ friends page now and then but I was not always doing it reliably enough!

so sorry I missed it for years

(and google reader, totally kicks ass over bloglines. Just stupid it took me the final death threat from bloglines to finally make myself get used to it. Though since I already used gmail and google docs and blogger and so on, well it was my last attempt of having google not having ALL my personal info)

[identity profile] generalblossom.livejournal.com 2011-07-15 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
and for mercy you think maybe Catelyn? a long stretch, but the mother and then the you-know-what?

[identity profile] generalblossom.livejournal.com 2011-07-15 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
wait, nevermind, mercy but only for one aspect, maybe the rivers one. It´s going to tak a while to study this.
ext_2023: (Default)

[identity profile] etrangere.livejournal.com 2011-07-15 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
none of the cards are supposed to be one specific person. ^^;; i just couldn't make it work that way.