#0: The Fool

Description

The card shows Isaac kneeling in the basement, staring up at the trapdoor he fell through only a moment before. Through the trapdoor, we can see the silhouette of Mom with her knife raised high, and the light from the room shines down on Isaac in an effect similar to the light of God.

In-Game Effect: Teleports player back to the beginning of the current floor

In-Game Description: Where journey begins

Classic Meaning: The Fool is the card of new beginnings and fresh-faced innocence. When the Fool appears in a spread, it typically means that it's a good time to start a new journey, or maybe it's already started. This journey should be seen as the opportunity it is. However, the fool is a young, inexperienced man, and as such, a reversed fool could be warning of reckless behavior or closed-mindedness.  

My Analysis:

Since this is the start of our journey through this deck, it’s only fitting that we start with this card. The Fool is the card of limitless potential, typically appearing to herald the coming of a new journey, be it physical, spiritual, intellectual, or for some other reason.   The Fool is an innocent soul, one who can see the best of any situation, although at times he may be oblivious to the consequences of his actions.  He will happily embark on his travels, eager to find new experiences.

When the Fool appears, it is possible that a choice must be made, and there may not be time to fully consider the choices. In this case, Isaac trusted his instincts and jumped down the trapdoor to escape his mother, knowing full well what Mom intends to do, an act that starts his journey and every playthrough of the game, although he does not know what awaits him in the basement. He realizes too late what he leaving behind, and that if his mother catches him, then the punishment will be great, signifying that the outcome of the journey may not be a happy one. But there is no way back now, and now Isaac will have to trust that fate will be kind to him. On the other hand, the way forward could hold salvation, signified by the God-like light shining down on him. It is also worth noting that The Fool can represent innocence. Since this is the beginning of his journey, Isaac still believes himself to be innocent ,  and that innocence can fuel the faith that keeps him going in his darkest times. This can give him the courage to face what lies ahead, which could very well be worth the risk. The future is unknown, but once one makes the jump, there’s nothing to do but see where the path leads to.

This card can also oftentimes represent the person asking the question, a blank slate that the asker can project themselves onto.  Isaac himself makes an excellent blank slate in this card, with this being one of the only two cards in the deck that show Isaac without items of any sort. As such, Isaac’s presentation on this card represents the potential of his journey.  Just as the items that Isaac encounters oftentimes alter his appearance, so too will upcoming events leave their mark (physically or spiritually) on the card’s reader.  But in both cases, the events will make one stronger.

This card does a terrific job of summing up this deck. While this card is much simpler than the Rider-Waite version (as are many, although not all, of the cards in the deck), it still carries the overall meaning of a journey that may lead to good or ill. This Fool does make more sense if one is familiar with the game, as do most of the cards in this deck, but seeing as how more “official” Tarot decks require a working knowledge of general symbolism, this deck can be a good intro for fans of the game.

Now that the journey has started, let’s see what the first steps into the darkness bring… 

Greetings

Greetings to all

Welcome to TBOI Tarot, A blog dedicated to analyzing The Binding of Isaac (TBOI) Tarot Cards released by Edmund Mcmillen. (see HERE if you don’t know about them: http://edplusdanielle.bigcartel.com/product/binding-of-isaac-tarot-cards-2nd-edition)

With The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth being developed and released in the near future, I wanted to celebrate by going over the recently released TBOI tarot cards. As such, each day I’m going to pick a card from the deck (usually at random), and give an in-depth analysis of the card’s symbols and meanings. If you picked up one of these decks, or aren’t sure if you want one, I welcome you to follow me on this journey.

Edit: When The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was released in November of 2014, Mcmillen also released a set of Tarot Cards based on his horribly adorable game. At the time, I wanted to celebrate by analyzing the cards, one a day, as my small way of celebrating the game’s release. Unfortunately, life got in the way, and now it’s the beginning of 2018, and I never even got around to posting the handful of reviews I typed back then. Still, I want to analyze them, and I’ve been trying to tie up loose ends and finish my abandoned projects from years past, so at the very least I need to finish this project for personal closure. At least this will be good writing and web design practice.  

Since this is a fairly niche intersection of interests, you can read HERE for an intro to Tarot cards and HERE for an Intro to The Binding of Isaac

As I go over these cards, I’m going to compare them to the Rider-Waite deck (which is one of the most common decks in the United States) and I’m going to give my own interpretations of them. This way, we’ll have a couple of different whys of viewing the cards. Just keep in mind that I may (and probably will) have a different interpretation of the card then you may have. Of course, if you see some other meaning in the card, please let me know in the comments. I would love to know what you think. 

Also, since this is now little more than a personal passion project, I will probably be editing pages quite a bit. I'm kind of looking at it as if this were a short book, so if i obtain some new bit of info or insight, I'll edit the relevant post. 

Let’s get started.