The Death card means change, not literal death. note These make for good visual shorthand, but aren't quite true. As audiences grow more trope-savvy, writers instead use The Tower and/or The Hanged Man, which are often illustrated with alarming pictures, for the same purpose.
For info on what the cards actually mean, see Tarot Cards.īut what is the point of all that? Isn't it more fun for a writer to use them to hint at terrible danger? After all, most people only know one Tarot card, Death, which makes an unambiguously sinister omen.
Originally created for European gambling games, the Tarot deck has now become almost synonymous with fortune telling and prophecy.
