Art Blog: The Four as Tarot Cards

​During the last few months, I had the amazing opportunity to work with author and artist @mawcehanlin
 
If you follow me on my socials, you’ve probably seen at least one of these amazing pieces. They’re also on my Art page, but I wanted to collect them here with a bit more detail. 
 
Thanks again to an amazing artist who was a joy to work with! 

Leora of Mae as “The Magician”

The Magician card is part of the Major Arcana and is often read as a card of creation and manifestation. 

Leora is a very powerful Xanthos who learns to overcome self-doubt to control her Xanthcraft. Growing up as the only one of her kind in the out-of-the-way village of Mae, she is an outcast despised by her adoptive family. When she learns of their plot to see her into the servantry, she runs away from home to face the unknown alone. As The Serrulata Saga progresses, we see that she is far from the meek young woman many mistake her for. As she learns to control her powers, she gains strength and self-confidence - the embodiment of The Magician.

​Roland Shallowbrook as "The Fool"

The Fool is the first card in the Major Arcana and symbolizes new beginnings or journeys; The Fool is a playful spirit in search of experience.

When we first meet Roland, he is hiding out at a roadside stop after completing a dangerous heist with no real idea of where to travel next. With twenty-five years behind him, he is adrift - stealing what he can to survive with no real place to call home. One fateful morning, he stumbles into a tavern, where he meets Leora, and the rest is history...

Lady Aurora Verte as "Strength"

Strength is the Tarot card in the Major Arcana that symbolizes, among other things, perseverance, courage, and compassion. Strength's message is that the ability to withstand any storm exists.

When Lady Aurora is introduced, she is preparing for marriage to the boring but malleable Lord Paris Townsend. White Riders crash the celebration to arrest her father, but he is executed instead. Prompted by her twin sister, Aurora quickly flees her family home and the only life she's ever known. A proper lady forced to face incredible danger, she must beg for help when she first meets Leora and Roland, but soon falls head-over-heels for the latter and eventually proves her worth on the battlefield. 

Leopold, former First Commander of the White Riders and the Realm’s First Defender as "Judgement"

Judgement is the card in the Major Arcana that often involves a powerful, spiritual transformation from which there is no turning back. 

Leopold, the former White Rider is cold, calculating, and unfeeling when we first meet him. Though he ignores orders and betrays his fellow soldiers, he concocts a dastardly plot to get back into their good graces -- only to have a change of heart. By the end of the second book, we see his courage through his emotional strength to set off on a path of his own choosing and leave his past behind.