King of Swords in 6 decks
The same card as 6 decks draw it, five and a half centuries apart. What stays the same is the card’s core; what changes is where a reading can find something new. The meanings are written for the Rider–Waite–Smith picture; the descriptions here are of each deck’s own. Not in Oswald Wirth, which has no King of Swords card.
Side by side
Choose any two decks and read the pictures against each other.
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A crowned king sits facing forward on a stone throne carved with butterflies and crescent moons, holding a long sword upright and slightly tilted. His other hand rests open on his knee. Two birds fly in a clear sky behind him, and a few trees stand at the horizon.
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A king in a wide red hat with a crown on top sits on a blue and red block, holding an upright sword in one hand. He wears blue armour with yellow shoulder pieces shaped like faces, a pink skirt studded in yellow, and bare legs. The block's front shows a carved leaf. Titled ROY D'ÉPÉE.
Rider–Waite–Smith
Pamela Colman Smith, 1909
A crowned king sits facing forward on a stone throne carved with butterflies and crescent moons, holding a long sword upright and slightly tilted. His other hand rests open on his knee. Two birds fly in a clear sky behind him, and a few trees stand at the horizon.
Tarot de Marseille
Lequart, Paris, 19th century
A king in a wide red hat with a crown on top sits on a blue and red block, holding an upright sword in one hand. He wears blue armour with yellow shoulder pieces shaped like faces, a pink skirt studded in yellow, and bare legs. The block's front shows a carved leaf. Titled ROY D'ÉPÉE.
Tarot de Viéville
Jacques Viéville, c. 1650
A ruler in a broad yellow hat with a crown sits on a red and pink block, wearing grey armour with scroll decoration and a dark cloak. He holds a tall sword upright in his left hand and rests his right on his lap.
Visconti-Sforza
Bonifacio Bembo, c. 1450
A young crowned king with fair curls sits facing forward in dark plate armour on a gold hexagonal throne. He holds an upright sword in his right hand and rests his left on a tall dark shield leaning against the throne. The throne stands on a pale hexagonal step before a dark tooled ground.
In the Visconti-Sforza deck the number cards show only their suit symbols, and the trumps are unnamed and unnumbered.
Sola Busca
c. 1491
A crowned figure in a blue helmet and red armour stands with a red sword and holds a blue orb. Dark winged beasts flank him above and below, and a cart wheel shows behind. The lettering at the top reads ALECXANDRO and M, partly obscured, with 14 at the left.
Soimoi
Mike Koz, 2025
On a pale, paper-toned card, a stern older man with grey hair and a dark headband stands on a rocky outcrop in a long dark blue robe, holding a sword upright with turquoise mist curling around it and leaning on a staff with his other hand. A hawk perches in a pine above a grey heron. Mountains and a winding river fill the background.