Tarot (The Lovers) Meaning
I know there are shippers out there, and I don’t mind if ever Ethan and Vanessa become canon in the future (though I’m not too enthusiastic about it or any pairing in the show).
When Ethan drew The Lovers card, it appears to be upright.
The tarot used in PD is very different from the traditional. In PD, we see a man with a scorpion on his lower lip, and it seems to signify a kiss of death. In the traditional illustrations, the card features a man and a woman (Adam and Eve).
A tarot’s meaning differs whether it’s upright or upside down/reversed. There are two major traditional meanings of an upright The Lovers card. One, it is about the strength of one’s relationship with his or her lover. It means that there is trust, harmony—a great bond that makes two people soulmates and possibly leg-shackled (married) in the future. This bond is more than sexual; it is spiritual, profound.
Since Ethan picked this in the presence of Vanessa, it is often assumed that it speaks about the two of them. At that time, it’s not yet clear if it foretells of the two of them. However, we find out that Ethan becomes entangled with the dying Brona.
But it is Ethan who picked the card. The reading seems to be very personal. That is to say, it’s not about him and another person. It may be only regarding his situation, so the other meaning of the tarot card may be the most apt in Ethan’s case.
The second meaning of the tarot card refers to oneself. The tarot card can mean that the person will have to make a very important decision in his life. The person will have a problem that will drive his or her decision, and whatever this decision will be, it can look bad in the surface yet look good in the end.
Sounds familiar? It is exactly how Ethan’s situation with his attachment to Brona came to be. At first, he was hesitant to join Malcolm and Vanessa for his own reasons, but when he meets Brona, he is given another dilemma that he shoulders, and he makes it his own. This prompts him to join the Mina-hunting gang finally. And when he does, doesn’t he waver at the knowledge that Fenton, a “child,” will be an experiment subject? Does he not think that it’s all very bad?
Indeed, the PD tarot illustration for The Lovers is very appropriate in Ethan’s case, for in his choice, he is kissing death, figuratively and literally (Brona or the monster there is).
