The Significance of Tarot in the Dragon Age Games

Sera's tarot card

She would always like to say,

"Why change the past

When you can own this day?"

Today she will fight

To keep her way.

She's a rogue and a thief,

And she'll tempt your fate.

—“Sera Was Never,” DA:I

Dragon Age, a fantasy role-playing series of video games and graphic novels, is one of my favorite worlds to visit for writing inspiration.

The games—DA: Origins, DA II, and DA: Inquisition—feature tarot motifs throughout gameplay and theatrical cutscenes, from The Hanged Man tavern in Kirkwall, to Anders’ possession by the spirit of Justice, to literal tarot cards representing each companion and adviser in the Inquisition.

The Inquisition tarot cards appear as profiles in the peripheries of the screen during world exploration for the player to switch between characters, as well as in codex illustrations and loading screen entries. The developers actually created a physical tarot deck in a limited release that is absolutely stunning, but I sadly have yet to find one.

What I love most about these cards, aside from their unique art style, is that they change as the game develops depending on what choices the player makes. Before world travel, the companion cards always appear for the player to select their party members, but the images can change in response to certain key quests. 

For example, each companion has a range of possible depictions. These include a friendship card, which appears after you complete one of their personal quests, a romance card, which is only accessible after you initiate a relationship with them, a rejection card, for if you expel them from your party, and an epilogue card, which varies with the outcome of the game. 

When collected into one deck, these varied companion cards symbolize all the possible outcomes of everyone involved. The alternative timelines shuffle together, all tied to the player's decisions.

Morrigan's tarot card

Is it fate or chance? I can never decide.

—Flemeth, DAII

I see these tarot motifs in Dragon Age as a metaphor for the player’s role in deciding characters’ fates. This creates a sort of meta-relationship between the player and their character: you’re in charge of your own destiny in the game, and yet your character is still fated to be the hero/heroine.

Like the querent in a tarot reading, the player’s choices tell a story. Whether this story is fiction or an allegory to explain one’s thoughts, the player or querent has control over the outcome, because they alone decide how to respond to the narrative that enfolds.

The tarot motifs in the Dragon Age games are significant because they serve as visual signifiers for characters as well as figurative representations of them; they draw from the tarot's multitude of cultural-symbolic associations, yet don't rely on them, which allows their characters to change; and they construct an extended metaphor for the game itself and the player's role in it. 

Role-playing is my favorite style of gaming—whether digital or table-top—because of its immersive play quality, stimulating morality issues, and strong narrative drive. In RPGs, the player often has more control over the direction of the story than in other genres, in which the player takes on a passive role in the story, following a selected route and moved between plot points by events or scripted decisions. RPGs allow players’ choices to drive the story, giving characters the illusion of free will.

Like in these games, our lives change with one simple decision. Keep this in mind when you’re writing! Conflict—and characters’ choices in reaction to it—mobilize narratives more than anything else. Give your protagonists agency and you will bring them to life.

DA Companions as the Major Arcana

These are my personal interpretations of which archetype I think best fits each character. The companions are dynamic enough that one card doesn't fully encompass their personalities, but overall I feel like each embodies a certain role. 

The Fool: Sera (DA:I) 

Magician: Dorian (DA:I) 

High Priestess: Leliana (DA:O, II, I)
Emperor: Alistair (DA:O, I)
Empress: Vivienne (DA:I) 

Hierophant: Wynne (DA:O)
Lovers: Isabella (DAII)
Chariot: Oghren (DA:O)
Strength: Cassandra (DAII, I)
Hermit: Solas (DA:I)
Wheel of Fortune: Morrigan (DA:O, I)
Justice: Anders (DAII)
Hanged Man: Zevran (DA:O, II)
Death: Sten (DA:O)
Temperance: Aveline (DAII)
Devil: Iron Bull (DA:I)
Tower: Fenris (DAII) 

The Star: Merrill (DAII)
The Moon: Cole (DA:I)
The Sun: Varric (DAII, I)
Judgement: Blackwall (DA:I)
The World: Bethany/Carver (DAII)

DA Supporting Characters as Minor Arcana

Similar to class archetypes and backgrounds in RPGs, the minor arcana classify these characters by their roles in the games as well as their interests and tendencies.

Pages 

Cups: Scout Harding (DA:I)
Pentacles: Sandal Feddic (DA:O, II)
Swords: Krem Aclassi (DA:I)
Wands: Dagna the Arcanist (DA:O, I)

Queens 

Cups: Keeper Marethari (DAII) 

Pentacles: Josephine Montilyet (DA:I)
Swords: Knight-Commander Meredith (DAII)
Wands: Flemeth, Witch of the Wilds (DA:O, II, I) 

Kings

Cups: Cullen Rutherford (DA:O, II, I) 

Pentacles: Bartrand Tethras (DAII)
Swords: Warden-Commander Duncan (DA:O)
Wands: Grand Enchanter Orsino (DAII)

What do you think? Share your tarot-character pairings in the comments!