V Swords: Bloodless Victory

Fulgour

"Schoolyard Bully!" is what I most often read about this card,
but isn't that just one interpretation, and based upon what?

The fact that the tall, brave, rugged and handsome figure
standing there alone with his bright red, wind-tossed hair
is smiling... but maybe he has every right to smile today,
he's won a bloodless victory! He's won five noble swords.

Sure we see a distant figure hanging his head as if crying,
but isn't that more like the behaviour of a vanquished foe,
agonized by frustrated plans ~ and see the middle figure,
doesn't he seem to be looking upon his erstwhile companion
as if he's thinking, thanks a lot for getting us into this trouble.

The brave and dashing figure of the man featured on this card
strikes me as a noble hero, in the fashion of Robin Hood or a
Celtic Chieftain. He's won the day, and a bloodless victory too!

*

Colman Smith (rider-waite) Five of Swords
http://www.learntarot.com/bigjpgs/swords05.jpg
 

Milfoil

Now I come to think of it, I have often seen the V of Swords along the same lines as the kid at school who wins all your marbles . . . You may feel crestfallen at the time but its not the worst thing in the world.
 

squeakmo9

Fulgour said:
The brave and dashing figure of the man featured on this card
strikes me as a noble hero, in the fashion of Robin Hood or a
Celtic Chieftain. He's won the day, and a bloodless victory too!

*

He appears, to me, to be more smug than nobel. If he doesn't watch his step he'll find himself on the other side of that victory- the losing side.
 

judylea1

5 swords

I think the smirk on his face says it all. He could care less about the pain he is causing the other 2 people -- this is noble? If he was a noble guy he is having a less than noble moment. Sorry, didn't mean to sound harsh, I was thinking of a situation where I got this card.
 

graylensman

I see this card similar to judylea: it reminds me of my teenage son, who is a very smart kid, but takes great delight in lording his knowledge over other people, especially his kid sister - and especially if it makes her feel stupid.

The main figure to me looks arrogant, and pleased with his own arrogance - not only his he pleased to be the victor, he is reveling in the grief he's inflicted on his opponents.

In a way, this card strikes me as being a potential outcome to the Five of Wands.
 

Fulgour

the fountainhead
by Ayn Rand



Howard Roark laughed.

He stood naked at the edge of a cliff. The lake lay far below him. A frozen explosion of granite burst in flight to the sky over motionless water. The water seemed immovable, the stone flowing. The stone had the stillness of one brief moment in battle when thrust meets thrust and the currents are held in a pause more dynamic than motion. The stone glowed, wet with sunrays.

The lake below was only a thin steel ring that cut the rocks in half. The rocks went on into the depth, unchanged. They began and ended in the sky. So that the world seemed suspended in space, an island floating on nothing, anchored to the feet of the man on the cliff.

His body leaned back against the sky. It was a body of long straight lines and angles, each curve broken into planes. He stood, rigid, his hands hanging at his sides, palms out. He felt his shoulder blades drawn tight together, the curve of his neck, and the weight of the blood in his hands. He felt the wind behind him, in the hollow of his spine. The wind waved his hair against the sky. His hair was neither blond nor red, but the exact color of ripe orange rind.

He laughed at the thing which had happened to him that morning and at the things which now lay ahead.

He knew that the days ahead would be difficult. There were questions to be faced and a plan of action to be prepared. He knew that he should think about it. He knew also that he would not think, because everything was clear to him already, because the plan had been set long ago, and because he wanted to laugh.



The Ayn Rand Institute: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
 

ArcanoMáximo

in the cemetery

one time i was reading for a woman just felt she was that moorning in the cemetery seeing at this card, and so was. After that those swords seems for me many times like crosses.
 

ArcanoMáximo

The first figure seems to me like if he was putting crosses in the graves, and happy for that ( like just only a job, or some body really happy for this death- some times a disimulated enemy ) and after him are the relatives of the dead person with all their pain and sorrow ( 3 swords ?!!!). I know you see that maybe in the 5 cups too, but for me that is diferent, there is a lost, but there is also an oportunity or even something usefull. In this not...
 

Statickitten

To me he seems exactly like the kind of guy who will do anything to win, no matter who he hurts. To him the end justify the means. He will do whatever it takes to get to the top and it doesn't matter who he steps on to get there.
 

Parzival

V of Swords: Bloodless Victory

Also, the analytical mind that likes to tear apart and relishes the result. No more poem, only pieces, no more skeleton, only a million names of bones. Dissecting frogs, hunting defenseless deer, the accompanying arrogant glee. American foreign policy, bullying one and all into democracy, no bloodshed to mourn. Corporate greed victoriously looking down on the pillaged and plundered environment.