Connolly: King of Swords

[Sophie-David]

With a throne and backdrop very like the Queen of Swords, the Connolly King of Swords is a somewhat more static figure than the Queen. A darker and more meditative character, he shares with the Queen a simple golden crown with the symbolic blue jewel of the intuitive third eye in its centre. Where the Queen looks about to engage an adversary, the King appears to almost rest on his sword, and his gaze is somewhat withdrawn. He has the full but trimmed dark beard affected by the stereotypical intellectual, and the long wavy hair of a disciple, teacher or patriarch.

The King's intellectual passion appears somewhat more restrained than the Queen's, the blue and pink of his cloak is darker, and his tunic is cyan rather than grey. His sword is gold rather than silver, and there is no moderating butterfly. Where the Queen's throne has an inclusive roundness, the King's is very blocky and squarely conventional, with the rigidity of a tile mosaic on top of stone. The wintery black tree appears in the backdrop of his unconscious, but the sky is now cyan and grey, the intensity having been cranked up a notch.

Although he sits on his throne, he seems about to move and is far from comfortable in inactivity. He looks like he has just been caught by a thought as he was about to get up to do something. You feel that you would not want this man as your enemy.

 

[MoonMaiden]

Yes. The look in his eyes and that right hand! He looks like he is capable of jumping - and the offender might find that sword pointing straight at his throat! No, one does not want him for an enemy. Better to learn from him. His mastery is power waiting for the moment. He reminds me of a large cat, a panther, perhaps, waiting and watching. Ready to pounce, or just to observe. Sizing up a situation? A mighty energy in concentration.

 

[Sophie-David]

Yes, I like that image. His right hand has pulled back his cloak, and he may be looking to his right, his body coiled like a cat's and ready to spring there. I'm just thinking how this might play out in a spread. Just for fun I put the Materialist in the middle, with the Queen of Swords on the left side, the King of Swords on the right. Whatever the coming actions of the Royal Swords, the Materialist will be complacent no longer!