King of Coins

High Dragon

Significance and Note: I don’t believe this High Dragon is an Arch Demon.  And if you ask me, the King of Coins is Smaug.  It really looks like Smaug.  And just like in Middle-earth, the High Dragons of Thedas, drop a lot of valuable loot when you defeat them.  And there’s our significance.

The card itself represents: Men aged 36 or younger, hard work, doing what one loves, a successful business leader, being steadfast, generous, methodical, economic power, ownership, manifestation, reliable allies, etc.

The High Dragon actually represents the reversed aspects of this card.

Reversed: Greed, warning, materialism, poor investments, being tyrannical, a vicious old man, rigid attitudes, vanity, failure, waste, illness, breakdown, laziness, the easy way out, being unable to bring ideas to reality, etc.

A red reptilian eye stares out at us, the all seeing eyes of our losses, our weaknesses, and yet our strengths and fortunes.  Its teeth gnawing at and its jaw swallowing part of the heap of the gold it sits on, the High Dragon’s scales, as it sits in a dank cave, are mixed with the pile of gold; we cannot tell where gold ends and scales begin, or if the dragon’s scales are made of the very gold it guards.  Gold is malleable, fortunes may be shaped to suit one’s needs.  Gold as a metal is symbolic to the Sun, representing perfection and great knowledge.  As a colour, it is symbolic to wealth and prosperity, grandeur and wisdom, illumination and magic.  The dragon represents great power, fortitude, courage, and strength.  The High Dragon gives us a warning, yet teaches us a lesson, the meaning of which can only be found within.

What I think this means for High Dragons: More, there will be more, I say.  We are, after all, in the Dragon Age.

What I think this means for DA: This is a High Dragon, not an arch demon.  Perhaps can we tame a dragon to fight with us in the coming battle, perhaps taming dragons to fight other dragons for us and with us?  Or is this dragon a warning of blights to come?  Two more await Thedas, is this dragon one of the remaining old gods?

Links to the Tarot Decks Used in the Comparison, the DAI Tarot Deck, and the Books used to determine what the cards actually represent:

Dragon Age: Inquisition Tarot Deck
Rider-Waite Tarot Deck
Miniture Tarot Deck
“The Green Witch Tarot” (Ann Moura) Deck & Book
“The Path of the Fool” (Michael Tsarion) Book