The Chariot

The Chariot

Anime: Voltron, Defender of the Universe
Characters (clockwise from top): Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Lance

"Form feet and legs! Form arms and body! And I'll form the head!" The concept of a chariot for this card comes from the idea that a chariot is a very unbalanced vehicle, and in order to successfully drive it one must be attentive and in control of the situation. If it takes that much attention and control to balance on a two-wheeled vehicle while steering horses without wiping out, imagine how much attention and control must be needed to work with four other people to pilot a giant robot like Voltron! On the Voltron Force, each team member has a different personality and a different role to play in the team, although all must work together to pilot Voltron and defeat threats to the universe.

Many factors go into the successful controlling of this giant robot. First of all, every single lion must be present and functional. If even one is missing, Voltron cannot be formed. Second, the pilots must all be working together. Third, each must have sufficient command of their lion.

Notice, however, that the pilots are not all looking the same way, nor do they all seem to be quite all of one mind. Although The Chariot denotes the ability to pull different forces together into a working and workable whole, it does not imply complete harmony.

It may be noted that the colours of the Voltron Force's uniforms each echo a dominant colour in cards 1 - 5 of the tarot, and a constellation known in the east as 'The Lovers' appears in the skies. One use for tarot cards is as a meditation tool, and in this respect the colours remind us that in order to reach a point of control over ourselves and our environment, it is necessary to gain a measure of control over (or peace with) each of the archetypal forces represented by the cards that come before The Chariot. (The Fool is not represented because he is a freewheeling wanderer who does not neatly fit into the journey through the Major Arcana - hence his designation as card zero.)

One last note that is not usually part of the description of The Chariot but which I feel merits some mention in context of my interpretation of the card: in some Native American tribes there is a teaching that says that every person is like a whole wigwam full of people who may sometimes agree with each other, or who may fight and argue against each other. These are our different feelings and beliefs. When the people in our wigwam agree with each other, we are at peace and can get things done. When they fight each other, we are conflicted and have trouble getting things done, or done well. The well-known science-fiction author David Brin also makes this point in his book "Earth", in which he concludes, "We are legion." This is an important concept, and as the card of uniting disparite assets, I feel that The Chariot is a good representative for it.

Meanings at a glance: Victory, success through willpower and attention to detail, uniting disparate forces.

Reversed: A tendency to become stuck in a rut. The biggest problem with the Voltron Force was that they always tackled problems with the same sequence: Fight with individual lions, then form Voltron and fight with the robot's lesser weapons, then pull out the Huge Kickass Sword of Doom and kill the monster. Tedious, and if anything should happen to go wrong with the sequence, it could be disasterous.


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Here's one from the vaults, folks - Voltron, Defender of the Universe! And thus I well and truly date myself by admitting that Voltron was the very first anime I ever saw, even though I didn't know it was anime at the time. I found it on a station that I found by accident when I discovered that there was a tv station hidden in between the 7 and 8 on the television dial! Da da dun! I have very fond memories of that show. Naturally it looks terrible now compared to other anime, but at the time it was a real breath of fresh air. It had a plot that lasted longer than one episode! OMG! When the bad guys screwed up too often, there were lasting consequences! OMG! Hey, the bad guy is in love with one of the heroes! Wow, he has some actual personality! And five robot lions that join up to form a giant kick-ass robot - well, does that even need explaining? Voltron was awesome, especially when the plot of the competition cartoons were about as deep as 'Gee, Timmy lost his model racing car, we gotta get it back!'

Egad. This card was complimicated. The funny thing is, when I started it I thought the biggest issue would be getting the composition right. But it turned out the biggest problem happened once I started colouring it - how to stop the card from making your eyes bleed when you looked at it. So many different colours! Impossible to choose a nice, harmonious colour scheme like the other cards have! >__<;; AARGH! In the end I had to make a nice, spacy blue-black be the dominant colour to rest your eyes in so the technicolour rainbow that is the Voltron Force wouldn't stun the eye into submission. I think I succeeded...more or less. >_<