Kevin's Watch

I was talking w/ a friend the other day, who'd just had a Tarot reading. She said that for one of her questions, she pulled the "Tower" card... which is basically the worst card in the deck you could get (like the Ace of Spades being the "death card")... the image is typically a tower being stuck by lightning, assailed by high seas, people are falling from it, etc. The meaning of the card includes Change, Eruption, Upheaval, Cataclysm, Blind-sided, Sudden Shift, Destruction, and all sorts of other fun stuff.

I'm not much into Tarot but I know that it has been used for many hundreds of years and can be uncannily accurate. Whatever we might think of it, this card is chillingly similar to the very first scene in the Land in Runes... Kevin's Watch is destroyed by a caesure; Linden and Anele are sent tumbling 1000's of feet down. I don't know if SRD was consciously aware of it, but it's a very interesting parallel. We've discussed the symbolism of the Watch falling but I don't remember seeing this aspect of it.

While you *really* don't want to get this card, it also implies that the unexpected shock and upheaval of events will create new opportunities and make you a stronger and wiser person; that this phase will pass and that a new direction or new opportunities can be created from it.

This sounds a lot like the discussions we've had on the fate of the entire Land... Linden (or someone) had better pull a better card if she wants to stand against all things ending.

Thoughts?

Maybe she'll pull a yellow card and get benched.

The Tower is "Sudden change, releasing, falling down, having a revelation".

Divinatory meaning
Upright - Disruption. Conflict. Change. Sudden violent loss. Overthrow of an existing way of life. Major changes. Disruption of well worn routines. Ruin and disturbance. Dramatic upheaval. Change of residence or job sometimes both at once. Widespread repercussions of actions. In the end, enlightenment and freedom.

Reversed - Negativity. Restriction of desires and imprisonment. Less severe forms of the above. Drastic change that may rob the individual of freedom of expression. Sometimes bankruptcy and imprisonment. More usually imprisonment within a set of circumstances which cannot currently be altered. Sudden changes out of one's control. Less severe forms of the above.

"Sometimes our limited vision of reality blocks our understanding and perception of truth. We begin to believe that the Tower - which we have been building higher and higher in order to reach the Gods - is the only reality. A cataclysmic force is needed to destroy this fantasy so as to allow us to recognise the powers which surround us. When this happens we must react with hope, letting go of our fears. The highest truths can now be realised."

From this, we can see that the fall of Kevin's Watch symbolizes that Linden has lost her position at the hospital.

But seriously ... what says "Letting it all go" more than this? Hang on and suffer, or let go and be free.

wayfriend wrote:From this, we can see that the fall of Kevin's Watch symbolizes that Linden has lost her position at the hospital.

I'm sure Lytton will see to that. A lost patient and a couple of dead staff members? (unless he realizes, "hell, she did try to warn me...")

But seriously ... what says "Letting it all go" more than this? Hang on and suffer, or let go and be free.

Well put.

Mr. Broken wrote:Maybe she'll pull a yellow card and get benched.

I interpreted the fall of the Watch as an all In during a poker game, a point of no return, an entryway to the Land closed forever, this time it would be for all the chips, a decided issue for good or bad.

Mr. Broken wrote:I interpreted the fall of the Watch as an all In during a poker game, a point of no return, an entryway to the Land closed forever, this time it would be for all the chips, a decided issue for good or bad.

I'll second that one!