Darla, Angel, Drusilla and Spike - Observations gathered while connecting them to Tarot Cards (long)
Since I'm fascinated by the glimpses we've seen of the vampire family Darla, Angel, Drusilla and Spike, I've spend some time on linking them to tarot court cards.
For everyone who knows nothing about tarot cards:
Each tarot deck contains 16 court cards.
For each suit - Wands, Cups, Swords, Coins - you'll find King, Queen, Knight and Page.
These cards often vary in names, e.g. in some decks you may find Queen, Knight, Princess and Prince, in others these cards are called Father, Mother, Son and Daughter. There's really a wide range of possible names, but nevertheless these four cards depict a family.
Purely for fun, I've been trying to assign my four favorite vampires to a suit and a court rank. Fictional characters are perfect for this kind of fun exercise, because they are supposed to represent a certain type. Linking characters to cards always gives me some more insight inside the characters *and* the cards. So onto what I've found out:
- It all started with Drusilla. Observing her over several episodes, watching her lay out tarot cards, hearing Spike call her "Princess" all of a sudden made me see her as Princess of Cups or Daughter of Cups.
This card usually depicts someone who's young, innocent, gracious, sensitive and inituive or even psychic. Drusilla as a human girl fits these descriptions very well. She's afraid she might be evil and goes to church to confess her sins. She tries to be a good girl. Even when all her family has been killed, she apparently still tries to believe and becomes a nun.
Angelus turns her into a vampire, but Darla is present as well. Both of them even make love in front of her eyes before she is turned. I interpret this as them both becoming her parents. Angelus is directly responsibe for fathering her, but he takes care to include Darla.
Drusilla as a vampire turns into a dark version of the Princess of Cups. She's still psychic, but her innocence has been twisted. She switches between being slavish and demanding, she both loves and hates Angelus with a fiery passion. All her dreams have been fractured.
The innocent girl Drusilla once was can still be glimpsed when she plays with her dolls or rejoices over the presents Spike gives to her. We also learn that human Drusilla loved her siblings. Well, her love for children has remained, she just loves them in a *very* different way now.
- William/Spike is extremely interesting to cast as a court card. He transforms himself several times and shifts between various court cards.
Human William I see as Prince of Cup, a very young and innocent man who's focused on his dreams and is full of imagination, but is lost in the real world.
What he *wants* to be is a Knight of Cups: Still focused on his dreams, but more mature and taken seriously by others, a respected poet perhaps or someone who's worthy of the love of a woman.
Typical traits for a Knight of Cups are lover, helper, consoler, seducer, spiritual seeker, romantic, artist, dreamer, knight-in-shining-armor. He can also be "in love with love".
The downsides of the Knight of Cups are that he can be emotionally insecure and easily influenced. He can be moody and manipulative, may enjoy drugs to escape the world or to heighten pleasurable experiences. He can be heedless of the hard facts.
I think that we see all these traits in William/Spike.
Before Drusilla turns him, she actually states that she's looking for the wisest and bravest knight in all the land. She wants to find herself a Knight of Cups, and after she turns William this is what he becomes first of all.
Angelus: "Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make yourself a playmate?"
Dru: "I could. I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land - and make him mine forever with a kiss."
However, a Knight of Cups doesn't have much of a chance as the youngest member of a vampire family. Immediately after William meets Angelus, he starts to imitate him. Angelus inspires in him the wish to be wild. He's always been sweet and good - and now that he's a vampire there's a chance to fundamentally change. Over a short period of time, Williams turns into Spike, a fiery and adventurous Knight of Wands personality.
For Drusilla, he still can be the caring Knight of Cups, but apart from that he works on his image as the Big Bad.
Whereas the Knight of Cups is associated with the element of water, the Knight of Wands is associated with Fire.
The Knight of Wands is an adventurer, a revolutionary. Stirring things up is what he lives for. He's descriped as impulsive, dramatic, enthusiastic, competitive, clever, witty and full of boundless energy.
On the downside, he doesn't accept rules, is impatient and bored with details, arrogance can be his downful.
Once again, I can see Spike very clearly in these descriptions.
What I love in particular is that some of the imagery used on Buffy and Angel ties William/Spike to these court cards.
The scene where Drusilla turns William is lovely, but I'm particulary entranced when she recounts her vision of seeing burning baby fish swimming all around his head. This image is not only a great symbol for William's extraordinary imagination, it ties the imagery of water (Cups) and fire (Wands) together. (The Page of Cups in the Rider Waite deck holds a cup from which a fish emerges.)
Drusilla: Oh, I see you. A man surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his glory. (beat) That and burning baby fish swimming all around your head.
Spike backs away from her, nervous.
Spike: That's quite close enough. I've heard tales of London pickpockets. You'll not be getting my purse, I tell you.
Drusilla: (smiles) Don't need a purse. (She points to his heart and head in succession.) Your wealth lies here... and here. In the spirit and... imagination. You walk in worlds the others can't begin to imagine.
Spike is riveted by her insight into his character.
Spike: Oh, yes! I mean, no. I mean... mother's expecting me.
Drusilla opens the collar of his shirt.
Drusilla: I see what you want. Something glowing and glistening. Something... effulgent.
Spike is beside himself. Finally someone who understands him.
Spike: (sotto) Effulgent.
Drusilla: Do you want it?
Spike has never wanted anything more.
When William tries to prove to Angelus that he is worthy of his attention, he copies Angelus and hold his hand into the sunlight where it burns a little. This is the moment I view as William changing into his Knight of Wands personality, and the visual clues of sunlight and burning fit that nicely.
The spikes William uses as his trademark weapons are a version of wands, the symbol of the Wands suit. He even names himself after his newly found weapon.
selenak showed me some scenes from a later episode called Destiny in which Angel and Spike fight over a cup - and Spike wins. Now I don't know why this cup is special or any of the larger context, but I love the imagery. Spike winning the cup could mean that he's rediscovering his Knight of Cups personality that is also more closely related to his human self. (The cup also fits his inner personality, so he has a bigger chance to win it. Now if Angel and Spike had competed for a magic sword, Angel would have won, IMO. :-))
- On to Liam/Angelus/Angel. Like Spike he transforms himself several times, and so can be cast as several court cards as well.
Now Liam is definitely a Knight of Wands. He's defies his father, he's impulsive and eager to charge into action, he relishes the fight in the pub during which he catches Darla's attention.
I heart the irony that Spike tries to become a lot like Angel(us)' human persona and that Angel(us) is so very annoyed by it... :-)
When Darla turns Liam into a vampire, she is looking for a knight who is at the beck and call of his lady. She likes him the way he is so there's no need for any big personality changes right away. Angelus at first is cruel, but he still has retained his impulsiveness and rebels against authority. For now he's still a Knight of Wands as can be seen when he opposes the Master and calls him ugly among other things.
Over the years, though, Angelus changes. I don't know (yet) what exactly triggers this, but the Angelus I've mostly seen so far is a dark version of a King of Swords or Father of Swords. He's the consort of the Queen (= Darla) and tries to be the ruler of his vampire family. Of course, Darla is still his superior, but I believe that she sometimes allows him the illusion that he's in charge. And sometimes, she does give him to in, e.g. Drusilla is turned because of Angelus' wishes.
An important trait of the King of Sword is that he doesn't rush into action; he thinks first. He has high standards and plans meticulously. He can focus all his attention on achieving a goal - and it doesn't matter how long it will take to achieve it.
The dark side of the King of Sword is that he can be overly critical and dictatorial, insatiable, cynical and uncaring. He can be extremely sadistic.
Angel I see as the light side of the King of Swords, but dashes of the Knight of Wands are added to the mix.
Where Angelus could be the father of nightmares - his fathering of Drusilla springs to mind as a prime example -, Angel tries to be a good father. Here I'm thinking of how he accepts Cordelia and Wesley even when they make mistakes or seem to be useless. One scene that comes to my mind is how he cooks for them both.
This King of Swords is impartial and values honesty, he is committed to a cause and tries what to do is right.
Sword suit characters have also the greatest talent for depression and lengthy brooding. :-)
Cup suit characters may wallow in misery for a while, but they can enjoy being melancholy and might transform their pain into art.
It's noteworthy that Angel does have dashes of the Knight of Wands, e.g. he does rush into action sometimes and states outright that there is no plan.
This could be seen as Angel reintegrating parts of his human self. It can also be interpreted as a counterreaction to Angelus: 'Angelus used to plot extensively, so I won't.'
I realise that the Angelus before 1898 might be different from the Angelus we see in Sunnydale. Sunnydale Angelus might be more vicious, simply because he has been held in check for so long by a soul. I haven't yet collected enough data to take this into account.
Not sure if I'm imagining it, but Angel(us) seems to fight with swords a lot whereas I haven't seen Spike with a sword yet. Correct me if I'm imagining this.
Figuring out as which court card to cast Darla gave me a hard time at first. That is until I realised that I had always missed an aspect of the Queen of Coins.
So far I had mostly seen the Queen of Coins as caretaker and good organizer who's more of a shy mouse than a glamorous lady. Well, I was wrong.
Darla as Queen of Coins works perfectly for me. Coins not only stand for the material world, but also for being practical and down to earth, for actually accomplishing things. The suit of Coins also has a tie to traditional values.
Some keywords in the tarot book I have here list these terms for the Queen of Coins:
mother, consort, courtesan, business woman, manager.
The Darla I've seen so far is not only Angelus' consort, but also his mother. Liam's real mother was next to invisible, Darla takes her place. She can be cruel and vicious, but can also be sweet and caring. She definitely has a soft spot for Angelus; she even takes him back in when he has a soul and her demon part is revolted by his soul.
Before Darla was turned into a vampire she worked as a courtesan and from what I could observe ran her own business and didn't work for a pimp.
She obviously was interested in gathering material possessions. As vampire, we see Darla in beautiful dresses, adorned with jewels.
She plays a part in the liberation of the Master. Haven't read up the details, but I think she played an important part in managing the whole operation.
The Queen of Coin also enjoys social prestige and is traditional.
Well, I get the feeling that Darla would hate to lose her status. It's important to her that everyone respects her and her family. She also values her connection to the Master and comes whenever he calls for her.
Overall I noticed that both female vampires remain static. They both present the same persona as humans and as vampires and don't transform themselves essentially.
Angel and Spike, on the other hand, undergo many changes in their personalities. Interestingly enough, they transform themselves in part to please their ladies. For Spike, an added impulse is that he wants to impress Angel(us), his father figure. Angel(us) is also influenced by Spike: I get the impression he becomes more mature in order to put some distance between himself and Spike (who as Knight of Wands most likely reminds Angel(us) too much of his human self as Liam). To counter this Spike tries to pull Angel(us) down to his level by provoking him endlessly.
I'm sure there's still a lot I have missed. There are still so many episodes I haven't seen. :-)
Many of the keywords I used to describe the court cards were taken from the book Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary Greer and Tom Little.
Next on my LJ: Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been. But now I'm off to bed, have to get up early tomorrow. Just so much: I enjoyed this episode *a lot*.
For everyone who knows nothing about tarot cards:
Each tarot deck contains 16 court cards.
For each suit - Wands, Cups, Swords, Coins - you'll find King, Queen, Knight and Page.
These cards often vary in names, e.g. in some decks you may find Queen, Knight, Princess and Prince, in others these cards are called Father, Mother, Son and Daughter. There's really a wide range of possible names, but nevertheless these four cards depict a family.
Purely for fun, I've been trying to assign my four favorite vampires to a suit and a court rank. Fictional characters are perfect for this kind of fun exercise, because they are supposed to represent a certain type. Linking characters to cards always gives me some more insight inside the characters *and* the cards. So onto what I've found out:
- It all started with Drusilla. Observing her over several episodes, watching her lay out tarot cards, hearing Spike call her "Princess" all of a sudden made me see her as Princess of Cups or Daughter of Cups.
This card usually depicts someone who's young, innocent, gracious, sensitive and inituive or even psychic. Drusilla as a human girl fits these descriptions very well. She's afraid she might be evil and goes to church to confess her sins. She tries to be a good girl. Even when all her family has been killed, she apparently still tries to believe and becomes a nun.
Angelus turns her into a vampire, but Darla is present as well. Both of them even make love in front of her eyes before she is turned. I interpret this as them both becoming her parents. Angelus is directly responsibe for fathering her, but he takes care to include Darla.
Drusilla as a vampire turns into a dark version of the Princess of Cups. She's still psychic, but her innocence has been twisted. She switches between being slavish and demanding, she both loves and hates Angelus with a fiery passion. All her dreams have been fractured.
The innocent girl Drusilla once was can still be glimpsed when she plays with her dolls or rejoices over the presents Spike gives to her. We also learn that human Drusilla loved her siblings. Well, her love for children has remained, she just loves them in a *very* different way now.
- William/Spike is extremely interesting to cast as a court card. He transforms himself several times and shifts between various court cards.
Human William I see as Prince of Cup, a very young and innocent man who's focused on his dreams and is full of imagination, but is lost in the real world.
What he *wants* to be is a Knight of Cups: Still focused on his dreams, but more mature and taken seriously by others, a respected poet perhaps or someone who's worthy of the love of a woman.
Typical traits for a Knight of Cups are lover, helper, consoler, seducer, spiritual seeker, romantic, artist, dreamer, knight-in-shining-armor. He can also be "in love with love".
The downsides of the Knight of Cups are that he can be emotionally insecure and easily influenced. He can be moody and manipulative, may enjoy drugs to escape the world or to heighten pleasurable experiences. He can be heedless of the hard facts.
I think that we see all these traits in William/Spike.
Before Drusilla turns him, she actually states that she's looking for the wisest and bravest knight in all the land. She wants to find herself a Knight of Cups, and after she turns William this is what he becomes first of all.
Angelus: "Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make yourself a playmate?"
Dru: "I could. I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land - and make him mine forever with a kiss."
However, a Knight of Cups doesn't have much of a chance as the youngest member of a vampire family. Immediately after William meets Angelus, he starts to imitate him. Angelus inspires in him the wish to be wild. He's always been sweet and good - and now that he's a vampire there's a chance to fundamentally change. Over a short period of time, Williams turns into Spike, a fiery and adventurous Knight of Wands personality.
For Drusilla, he still can be the caring Knight of Cups, but apart from that he works on his image as the Big Bad.
Whereas the Knight of Cups is associated with the element of water, the Knight of Wands is associated with Fire.
The Knight of Wands is an adventurer, a revolutionary. Stirring things up is what he lives for. He's descriped as impulsive, dramatic, enthusiastic, competitive, clever, witty and full of boundless energy.
On the downside, he doesn't accept rules, is impatient and bored with details, arrogance can be his downful.
Once again, I can see Spike very clearly in these descriptions.
What I love in particular is that some of the imagery used on Buffy and Angel ties William/Spike to these court cards.
The scene where Drusilla turns William is lovely, but I'm particulary entranced when she recounts her vision of seeing burning baby fish swimming all around his head. This image is not only a great symbol for William's extraordinary imagination, it ties the imagery of water (Cups) and fire (Wands) together. (The Page of Cups in the Rider Waite deck holds a cup from which a fish emerges.)
Drusilla: Oh, I see you. A man surrounded by fools who cannot see his strength, his vision, his glory. (beat) That and burning baby fish swimming all around your head.
Spike backs away from her, nervous.
Spike: That's quite close enough. I've heard tales of London pickpockets. You'll not be getting my purse, I tell you.
Drusilla: (smiles) Don't need a purse. (She points to his heart and head in succession.) Your wealth lies here... and here. In the spirit and... imagination. You walk in worlds the others can't begin to imagine.
Spike is riveted by her insight into his character.
Spike: Oh, yes! I mean, no. I mean... mother's expecting me.
Drusilla opens the collar of his shirt.
Drusilla: I see what you want. Something glowing and glistening. Something... effulgent.
Spike is beside himself. Finally someone who understands him.
Spike: (sotto) Effulgent.
Drusilla: Do you want it?
Spike has never wanted anything more.
When William tries to prove to Angelus that he is worthy of his attention, he copies Angelus and hold his hand into the sunlight where it burns a little. This is the moment I view as William changing into his Knight of Wands personality, and the visual clues of sunlight and burning fit that nicely.
The spikes William uses as his trademark weapons are a version of wands, the symbol of the Wands suit. He even names himself after his newly found weapon.
selenak showed me some scenes from a later episode called Destiny in which Angel and Spike fight over a cup - and Spike wins. Now I don't know why this cup is special or any of the larger context, but I love the imagery. Spike winning the cup could mean that he's rediscovering his Knight of Cups personality that is also more closely related to his human self. (The cup also fits his inner personality, so he has a bigger chance to win it. Now if Angel and Spike had competed for a magic sword, Angel would have won, IMO. :-))
- On to Liam/Angelus/Angel. Like Spike he transforms himself several times, and so can be cast as several court cards as well.
Now Liam is definitely a Knight of Wands. He's defies his father, he's impulsive and eager to charge into action, he relishes the fight in the pub during which he catches Darla's attention.
I heart the irony that Spike tries to become a lot like Angel(us)' human persona and that Angel(us) is so very annoyed by it... :-)
When Darla turns Liam into a vampire, she is looking for a knight who is at the beck and call of his lady. She likes him the way he is so there's no need for any big personality changes right away. Angelus at first is cruel, but he still has retained his impulsiveness and rebels against authority. For now he's still a Knight of Wands as can be seen when he opposes the Master and calls him ugly among other things.
Over the years, though, Angelus changes. I don't know (yet) what exactly triggers this, but the Angelus I've mostly seen so far is a dark version of a King of Swords or Father of Swords. He's the consort of the Queen (= Darla) and tries to be the ruler of his vampire family. Of course, Darla is still his superior, but I believe that she sometimes allows him the illusion that he's in charge. And sometimes, she does give him to in, e.g. Drusilla is turned because of Angelus' wishes.
An important trait of the King of Sword is that he doesn't rush into action; he thinks first. He has high standards and plans meticulously. He can focus all his attention on achieving a goal - and it doesn't matter how long it will take to achieve it.
The dark side of the King of Sword is that he can be overly critical and dictatorial, insatiable, cynical and uncaring. He can be extremely sadistic.
Angel I see as the light side of the King of Swords, but dashes of the Knight of Wands are added to the mix.
Where Angelus could be the father of nightmares - his fathering of Drusilla springs to mind as a prime example -, Angel tries to be a good father. Here I'm thinking of how he accepts Cordelia and Wesley even when they make mistakes or seem to be useless. One scene that comes to my mind is how he cooks for them both.
This King of Swords is impartial and values honesty, he is committed to a cause and tries what to do is right.
Sword suit characters have also the greatest talent for depression and lengthy brooding. :-)
Cup suit characters may wallow in misery for a while, but they can enjoy being melancholy and might transform their pain into art.
It's noteworthy that Angel does have dashes of the Knight of Wands, e.g. he does rush into action sometimes and states outright that there is no plan.
This could be seen as Angel reintegrating parts of his human self. It can also be interpreted as a counterreaction to Angelus: 'Angelus used to plot extensively, so I won't.'
I realise that the Angelus before 1898 might be different from the Angelus we see in Sunnydale. Sunnydale Angelus might be more vicious, simply because he has been held in check for so long by a soul. I haven't yet collected enough data to take this into account.
Not sure if I'm imagining it, but Angel(us) seems to fight with swords a lot whereas I haven't seen Spike with a sword yet. Correct me if I'm imagining this.
Figuring out as which court card to cast Darla gave me a hard time at first. That is until I realised that I had always missed an aspect of the Queen of Coins.
So far I had mostly seen the Queen of Coins as caretaker and good organizer who's more of a shy mouse than a glamorous lady. Well, I was wrong.
Darla as Queen of Coins works perfectly for me. Coins not only stand for the material world, but also for being practical and down to earth, for actually accomplishing things. The suit of Coins also has a tie to traditional values.
Some keywords in the tarot book I have here list these terms for the Queen of Coins:
mother, consort, courtesan, business woman, manager.
The Darla I've seen so far is not only Angelus' consort, but also his mother. Liam's real mother was next to invisible, Darla takes her place. She can be cruel and vicious, but can also be sweet and caring. She definitely has a soft spot for Angelus; she even takes him back in when he has a soul and her demon part is revolted by his soul.
Before Darla was turned into a vampire she worked as a courtesan and from what I could observe ran her own business and didn't work for a pimp.
She obviously was interested in gathering material possessions. As vampire, we see Darla in beautiful dresses, adorned with jewels.
She plays a part in the liberation of the Master. Haven't read up the details, but I think she played an important part in managing the whole operation.
The Queen of Coin also enjoys social prestige and is traditional.
Well, I get the feeling that Darla would hate to lose her status. It's important to her that everyone respects her and her family. She also values her connection to the Master and comes whenever he calls for her.
Overall I noticed that both female vampires remain static. They both present the same persona as humans and as vampires and don't transform themselves essentially.
Angel and Spike, on the other hand, undergo many changes in their personalities. Interestingly enough, they transform themselves in part to please their ladies. For Spike, an added impulse is that he wants to impress Angel(us), his father figure. Angel(us) is also influenced by Spike: I get the impression he becomes more mature in order to put some distance between himself and Spike (who as Knight of Wands most likely reminds Angel(us) too much of his human self as Liam). To counter this Spike tries to pull Angel(us) down to his level by provoking him endlessly.
I'm sure there's still a lot I have missed. There are still so many episodes I haven't seen. :-)
Many of the keywords I used to describe the court cards were taken from the book Understanding the Tarot Court by Mary Greer and Tom Little.
Next on my LJ: Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been. But now I'm off to bed, have to get up early tomorrow. Just so much: I enjoyed this episode *a lot*.