Who's your favourite king and what makes the card individual?

TheTarotCat

Hi peeps,

Ste here, I'm new to the forums and really enjoying getting my head into all of your fabulous knowledge and perspectives on tarot! I'm hoping I can pick your brains on something. I often struggle with the kings. If you could sum up your favourite king in one sentence by describing what makes the card distinctly unique from the other kings, what would it be? What does he have/do that the others don't?

Thanking you in advance for any thoughts you have!

Ste.
 

violetdaisy

My favorite is king of wands. I like fire types though that usually gets me in trouble. But I like the passionate type...who enjoys a good challenge sometimes, because I am challenging! Trouble is I don't tolerate their negative aspects real well. I do better with swords there.
 

skyfiery

My favorite would be the King of Swords, because I tend towards those who are more logical and practical with their ideas before the execution of them. I find that few are really balanced in that within the network of people I know, though, and most that that card can embody falls more towards the excess or 'negative' aspects by being overly-aloof because it's not easy to let emotions connect.
 

TheTarotCat

Thanks violetdaisy and skyfiery! I like your appreciation of these kings, both are very strong headed in different ways :)
 

Sztar

Well, I don't know if I'd call him my "favorite," but if you're trying to distinguish the kings from one another, I find the King of Pentacles easy to understand by thinking of him as King Midas: Everything he touches turns to gold. Aspected positively, he's a highly competent manager, a stable leader, financially successful, etc. Aspected negatively, when everything you touch turns to gold, it's a curse as much as it's a blessing. A negatively aspected King of Pentacles might be greedy and ruthless in his attempts to achieve success, such that it destroys the things in life that matter most.
 

Inghinn

The King of Swords is my favourite too. He's analytical, level headed, not overcome by emotion. He is someone to rely on. He is everything that I'm not.
 

Girl Archer

Love the King of Wands! :heart: He cuts such a sexy, dashing and dynamic figure striding boldly to go after whatever he wants (especially in the Anna K deck)
 

GhastlyGhost

King of cups is my favorite BC he appears wise and father-like. He isn't cold hearted like the swords, or hot tempered like wands
 

Padma

I like *all* the kings, rolled into one - making an Emperor! :laugh:

I think I am most partial to the Pentacle King, because I do enjoy his stability and down-to-earthness, as well as admire his ability to plan things, and see them through patiently.

Though in my youth, I did love Wands types. I like their drive. If there was a King that was as much Wands as well as Pents, I should be quite content. :)
 

nisaba

In the Granny Jones deck, I like the King Wands. The King Swords is a statue, which doesn't really appeal to me, and echoes the traditional imagery of Justice, with the sword and scales. The King Cups is taking a bath in front of a fire, and seems too self-indulgent to me. The King Pentacles looks like a slightly gone-to-seed Pearly King. But the King Wands, an Aboriginal pictured in context, is strong, powerful, and of his land.

Lately I've been corresponding with a cousin of Granny Jones, on whom the Queens of Swords and Wands are based (the Queen Wands is holding a dog she very much loved), and she tells me that the model for the King Wands was a former lover of hers, whom she wants to return to Australia for, to seek him out again.