Ten of Staves

Fear

Significance: And here we are at last, the most powerful type of demon, Master and Overseer of the Fearlings and Terror demons, coming up at number ten, the highest number for the Minor Arcana.

Staves 10

The card itself represents: Commitment, completion, carrying a burden, a determination to achieve one’s goals, will (as in willpower), great accomplishments, stressful work pressures, survival, challenging adventures, etc.

Reversed: Collapse, over-commitment, halted plans, incompetence, total failure, burdensome success, huge losses, wasted efforts, disastrous outcomes, danger approaching, etc.

Staves 10 O

In a hunched over posture, the demon holds up a skeletal clawed and pale hand, four pointed finger ready to grip at whomever is vulnerable enough to fall prey to the demon’s trap. Cloaked in black, reflecting the intensity of the emotion the demon becomes, into which it transforms its prey. Lips curled up in a sinister smile, teeth ready to tear hope and joy apart, and rip a hole in its prey’s heart. Striped downwards horns resemble in shape and style that of a goat’s, an animal of prey, running away before it follows like a sheep, all because of fear.

What I think this means for DA: The opposite emotion of love is fear; powerful and primal and at the forefront of many occurances in the history of Thedas. We revisit fear all the time. If people let fear conduct their actions instead of letting themselves be guided by love, the world will be brought down to chaos. Maker of Chaos? Something of Chaos. Maker, Evanuris, Forgotten One, Magister, complete stranger, other spirit or demon, something is creating, and contributing to, the chaos that originates from, and is run by, fear.