Tarot cards originated as playing cards in 15th-century Italy. Their association with divination developed later, particularly in late 18th-century France, when occult writers such as Jean-Baptiste Alliette (also known as Etteilla) began assigning symbolic meanings to individual cards. A standard tarot deck contains 78 cards, divided into the Major and Minor Arcana. The 22 cards of the Major Arcana are especially significant and are often interpreted as a symbolic narrative known as the “Fool’s Journey.” This sequence represents a path of archetypal experiences leading from innocence (The Fool) to worldly integration and enlightenment (The World). Within tarot traditions, these cards represent broad symbolic concepts, such as authority, transformation, balance, and renewal, that are often used to interpret questions about fate, personal change, and life direction.

In A Vow in Vengeance, this symbolic framework becomes a structured magic system. Each of the 22 Major Arcana corresponds to a distinct magical ability, directly linking a character’s power to one of these archetypes, from The Emperor’s telekinesis to Death’s control over shadows (ix). The novel immediately establishes this connection, framing the protagonist Rune’s quest with an epigraph explaining that “The Fool represents infinite potentials in the cycle of tarot, beginnings, new paths, and adventures to the unknown” (1). By grounding its magic in the tarot, the novel transforms a familiar cultural system of symbolic storytelling into a literal source of power, weaving themes of destiny and archetypal identity into the fabric of its world. By drawing on the cultural history of tarot symbolism, the novel incorporates this interpretive system into its fantasy worldbuilding, using the Arcana to organize magical abilities and to frame questions about fate, identity, and transformation within the narrative.