If you're a big fan of the Tarot designs seen in the video then displate also have prints of them along with tonnes of other Cyberpunk designs: displate.com/cyberpunk/tarot-cards?art=65c117e361df4 Getting anything with this link will also be directly supporting the channel so thank you to anybody who does :)
There is way more to the tarot than this. We have to remember there is also an entire inverted deck, which is also present in the game. All the cards are in one direction in Act 1 and they are all flipped once V dies. This is why almost every character from Act 1 dies. For example, in Act 1 Dexter is the Inverted Hierophant and immediatly at the start of Act 2 the upright Hierophant kills him, or how Jackie is the Magician and Johnny the Inverted Magician.
Thanks, that actually clears a lot up! I assumed since the cards only become scannable after act 1 that they didn't bear any relevance to characters there. But what you say makes total sense and is very poetic
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Wait what?! Are the inverted cards the oposite of the originals? I'm not very familiar with the tarot cards (in the game or outside) but how come Johny would be the inverted Magician? If inverted card are the oposite then an "inverted" Magician doesn't sounds a lot like Johnny, the magician says: schemer, always stay afloat, always has a last trick and is a schemer.
@ Not the diametral opposite of the original cards. The upside downs are vicious versions: when as characters they fulfill the same role but are mal-intended, unstable, obcessive etc; when as an event, they have a catch.
@@SamBram I loved the video, but was a little disappointed you didn’t give more props to how cdpr used real life tarot cards and meanings knowing us players would find a way to make them relevant to the game just like how poeple relate them to themselves irl. I felt it was quite clever, as much of a cheap parlor trick tarots might be, it’s amusing how well it suit the story telling of this game.
I've always interpreted the Hermit card to represent Vik Vektor. "In solitude he discovers the truth about himself & the world." In act 1, Vic mentions how once you reach a certain age, you stop lying to yourself and see your place in the world. Vic is always down in his basement keeping to himself, he's very introverted. The dialog with him in act 1 shows he's contempt with just being a simple Riperdoc and not trying to become a NC legend. Sounds alot like the Tarot card, he understands his place in the world while he works in solitude. The lantern part of the card, could kinda represent his advice he gives us in act 1 to help guide/ warn V. Misty also mentions the Hermit "could be someone who shows you kindness" & who shows us alot of kindness by donating a 20,000 $ Kioshi eye implant despite V being a nobody in the beginning of the game, that's right, our boi Vik. The Hermit doesn't steal the show & prefers solitude over the limelight, IMO its him to a T.
I LOVE the take that Jackie is what's causing the tarots to show up, the biochip was in his brain for a short while, maybe throughout the game, our brain could be mostly V and Johnny but also like 1% Jackie.
Could be given how the chip saved our life, since Jackie was on the verge of death maybe the chip had begun the process of taking over Jackie’s body or something.
@@riosiscold9865 But it's explained in-game that the chip doesn't actually do anything unless the host is flatlined. Jackie removes the chip before that.
@@pinnacleevolution1634Yes but we cant forget the Relic is experimental technology even in cyberpunk, AND Jackie was only seconds away from death before he gives you the relic so its possible that the relic already started working when you slot it for the first time
I think the justice card for Evelyn has a different meaning. Evelyn is the one who started the plot that brought V in to steal the chip, causing the events of the game. Unknowingly condemning V to their fate, condemns Evelyn to hers. An eye for an eye, a death for a death. A Just outcome. A return to order.
nothing just about it .. evelyn was a prostitute doll that got handledt like shit and the voodoboys just exploitet her .. she tryed ONE time to get out of that circle of fuckery .. only to get wrecked.. raped multible times and then send to a chop shop .... there was nothing just about it . she was the first and real victim of the whole story no one forced V or Jacky to use the chip.. they fucked it up .. they ruined her life "not willingly" but they did .. they had one job and they fucked it up "all for the major league"
excatly. finally someone said it. she literally crossed everyone she worked with. yorinobu, voodoo boys, dexter, and she would probably do the same to V. why would anyone feel bad for her is a mystery to me.
@@medovk yeah fingers ain’t even that bad of a guy. They made him super grotesque looking... and we only assume he’s awful cause Judy assumes “his fingers sometimes “slip”..” but it’s just an assumption... but dude has giant ass dildos everywhere!! Which makes me assume he’s gay!... he’s guilty of using shitty implants... but he is trying to help whores out as best he can for what they can afford... everyone judged dude way too hard cause he’s ugly and his nickname sounds dirty.
The moon card since it’s found outside the Arasaka home could symbolize yorinobu since it’s description says things are not as they appear and Yorinobu appears as just a killer but like in your hero video he is actually working for the betterment of everyone
This could also play into the Sun, as it is largely connected to V, the Moon reflects light from the Sun, both being reflections of the other. Yorinobu being out to destroy the corps before getting chipped in the Devil, while V wants to destroy the corps after being chipped during the heist. Both Yori and V start and end at the other's position, but both have the same goals.
yeah me too, I always thought that maybe it was a nod to the fact that this company started out by making games steeped in ancient mysticism and folk lore. This kind of felt like a way of bringing that into the 21st century.
V and Johnny are not the only ones seeing the tarot cards. There are two Afterlife mercs across the road from Regina's office. One of them describes seeing images on the wall. All this does seem a little similar to the Zen master. i.e., an urban legend that is more than just a myth.
One thing I noticed about the Zen Master is that if you draw a line connecting all the places you meet him and follow that line you get a path leading out of the city. Combine that with the Strength card being near where you meet Panam and the Star being where you leave with the Aldecados, I think both the cards and the Zen Master hint that going with them is the best ending for V. As to why V is seeing the cards, I wonder if there isn't some AI that uploaded something during Johnny's transfer.
I have always wanted to visit Misty for a tarot reading before and after major quests to see how much her tarot readings reflect what I’m about to do and what I have just done. But I always forget!
@@rustyjones7908 I'm pretty sure it changes, but I haven't payed attention close enough to be 100% sure how much it changes. My next playthrough will be my fifth, and probably last... so when Phantom Liberty comes out I need to remember to play slow and pay attention.
@@thejontao, It does change from main mission to main mission. But I've never done it after every main mission. I've done it for a few in a row, then come back the next day and forget to continue doing that after every main mission. One of these days I need to remember to do that as well. Thank the Gods for post-its; Am I right?
The cards definitely offer us "guidance". After been booted back to life we have an augmented perception of the cyberworld. Artificial intelligences also treat us differently (Delamain, Clouds Algorithm, "Alt", with a *special mention to Brendan and whoever mentions our name to him). Great video, my favorite so far!
I still believe that whatever was in the chip originally is the key to the blackwall and everything else is smoke and mirrors, why would Yorinobu even bother putting Johnny's engram in the relic to begin with? If the chip was supposed to be used by Saburo? Johnny is probably the only "person" that would 100 per cent go directly to Alt after the chip was done eating the previous owners psyche.
@pinnacleevolution1634 Johnny's "memories" are not trustworthy. How Saburo got Silverhand's engram? Not sure, but it was Spidermurphy who soulkilled him and saved his data in a shard after Adam Smasher butchered him. EngramSilverhand was a bait for AIs beyond the Blackwall. And it worked, "Alt" bit. Contact was established.
What I find cool about this take on the hanged man is that (it’s theorised) that the hanged man was sent to his death by the emperor, which is the ‘4th’ card in the deck, with the hanged man’s legs bent into a 4. And Johnny silverhand was basically sending Johnny to his ‘death’ via the soulkiller.
A few of the Tarot descriptions mention intuition and following your intuition, so maybe they’re a manifestation of Vs intuition, while not fully matching their descriptions, because V doesn’t know what they are until they bring this to Misty, it’s symbolic and more or less i think mirror Vs feelings about the world and the characters to a certain degree with the limited knowledge they have. I dunno, could be talking out my ass, but thats just the vibe i got from watching this video, great job btw, awesome vid as usual🔥🤌🏽
Honestly, I think the High Priestess as a card more represents Misty while the inverse represents Hanako -- I imagine if it weren't a readability issue, the art itself would have appeared upside down on the building, rather than standard. The High Priestess represents the divine feminine energy that holds intuition and sacred knowledge; she is a being who guides and teaches the Fool on their journey early on. Inverted, she represents secrets, silence, and being disconnected from intuition -- not too far off from Hanako's silence in the building and the general disconnection from intuition intended for going for the Arasaka ending. Misty is someone we meet early, who can read the Tarot for us and share this intuitive, esoteric, divine sort of knowledge with us, the Fool.
The Devil card isn’t the worst ending, it’s letting you know that even the traps you’ve been lured into by Hanako can still be escaped from. The important thing is the player remembering their ability to choose, you can walk straight into the depths of Hell and still throw up deuces when they offer you permanent residency. Also a funny thing happens when you know when to call it quits, despite Takamura insisting you lost any favor or use for Hanako in attempt to get you to sign away your soul for survival Hanako calls you during your return trip to Earth. That means that conversation was purely an intent to trap you in despair, and Hanako offers to find high paying jobs during your projected remaining lifespan. The darkness of the Arasaka takeover isn’t assured while you remain a potential thorn in their side, so maybe they didn’t perfect immortality for the masses after all and Yorinobu was right when he described the technology as theater tricks with a dead man’s voice coming from a box. V being able to introduce doubt to the public could be the difference between market dominance of a strong Arasaka or Hanako’s reign being exposed as smoke and mirrors.
The Sun ending isn't about survival and success in regaining V's life back. It's almost the opposite - becoming a legend, the end in the blaze of glory. It's about mythological Icarus flying higher than ever, up to the Sun, against all odds.
I think the Sun arcana and image show a skeletal biker who in the cards description is literally settling into the sun. V settles in the sun with Panam as she knows the sun in her head will burn out soon.
@@greg0050 The ending you describe (the one with Panam) is called "The Star Ending". The Sun Ending is the one with going into space. Images on the actual achievements connected to endings are quite different to images on tarot cards, hence the confusion.
Huh, interesting then. I practice tarot a bit and thought the Sun arcana's description ingame fit to a T Panam's ending. But i suppose the Star sounds hopeful. Since V is pretty finite in the Start ending the Sun came to mind.@@skeezaworkan
It's also a realization of V's dream which is, as she tells the doll at Clouds, to "leave her mark on the world and to NEVER be forgotten". As much as I love Star, it is a modification or maturation of her dream and not really a fulfillment of it.
28:19 I think the phrase " wolves only howl at night" is a reference to Hanako and Takemura: the two wolves howling at a mystery( the biochip) but at same time wolves howl as a call to other wolves, in this case their howling at Saburo in order to bring him back which, if i recall correctly, it is what happens in the devil ending where Saburo is brought back to life
I love that The Tower is also represented as the ending that you can attain in Phantom Liberty, as V does face a great shock as to what they’ve just come to realise and nothing is the same anymore (both for themselves and for the people around them)
The chariot also represents the game. The 2 horses are V and Johnny and te one in control is you, the player. You experience te highs and lows of the stories you play, often choosing the outcome, for good or bad.
It took me a long time to actually try the "fool on the hill" quest because GENERALLY these types of quests in games are super boring and it just reminds me of finding the jinjos in banjo kazooie or the fucking feathers in assassin creed 2 but once i did complete fool on the hill and get all the tarot cards and actually read into them, i found that i appreciated the entire sidequest. One thing i definitely noticed what that each tarot is located in a location of interest too
I think the Justice tarot really does represent Judy, and I think it does it quite well. When we meet Judy at Lizzie's we're not really meeting the real girl. She's incredibly cagey and doesn't trust V or anyone in her crew. Instead, the Judy we meet while hunting down Evelyn is the real girl, and we get to know her as we do her quest line. The Tarot's entry speaks on an ability to see through lies and deceit, and Judy is one of the more insightful characters in the game. Add onto the fact that the card speaks of due process and a just sentence, but justice itself is rarely fair. Judy, more than any other character, is idealistic in her beliefs and in her goals. She believes in the right thing happening for the right reasons, but shit is never fair to her nor the people she cares about.
So glad you did a video on the tarot cards. Interesting hearing your own theories and takes on what each one could represent. Don't have any of my own, but probably lean more towards them being a result of Johnny's presence and influence on V's mind, as well as a wee bit of mysticism creeping into V's heart and mind. People tend to become a little more open to religion or spirituality when they've experienced great trauma or close encounters with death, or even facing death in some form or other, even if they were never particularly religious or spiritual beforehand. I love the artwork on these Cyberpunk tarot cards. Even bought a deck of gilded edged cards off Etsy because I loved them so much, and have plans to get The Fool as a tattoo at some point in the not-too-distant future hopefully.
I can't help but think the tarot cards and Mistys interpretation of them is... A homage to role the game master has in the original tabletop. To some degree, most GMs have to try and hint to their players what consequences their choices will have, without saying it outright. Being cryptic like this is important in order to not break your immersion, but if one takes a moment to look at these hints from a bigger perspective... Then the outcome should be predictable enough and still being satisfying to reach, without knowing too many details.
I love the tarot cards in CP2077 and wish CDPR would have sold a nicely made set of them with a cool back. The artwork is so cool. One thing about The Moon is that the graffiti doesn't match the card, which is a bit odd. The card shows an industrial area outside the city, two wolves howling at the moon, with a skull on the ground between them. It is odd that it's found at the Arasaka mansion. One thought is that the two wolves could be the two living Arasaka children, and the skull is their deceased older brother. They both are overlooking the city, possibly competing for control of it.
Well this is quite interesting. I never paid much attention to the Tarot card even in my third(!) playthrough. I never knew the full meaning behind those cards, aside from the obvious ending titles that reference them. Goes to show that this game has more depth than most people realize.
The Tarot card first of all look amazing. The art is good. I also like how the card hints the characters and events of the game. Are they like Archetypes of sort? I like the way the devs use them. I think Cyberpunk 2077 is a good game, sometimes feels incredible story telling. I just think the marketing was bad. I also created a solid expectation before launch but it changed for the better as I played the game. Good game, truly deserving A Star ending!!!
The tarot is perhaps the oldest catalog of human archetypes in the world, yeah. They're setup in an order that tells something like a "hero's journey" (although it need not be for a hero in this case).
I felt like Justice was meant to signify one of the last things Judy warned Evelyn of, that if she tried to cheat the fragile system by which Night City operates, it would eat her alive. The first thing she did after was pull V aside and ask them to cheat Dex. The job itself was "stolen", in a way, from her own employers. As a result the City devoured her mind, body, and soul, taking it's own justice.
I think that in many cases, it's kind of both. The cards themselves represent one general character or group, while the cards drawn for V represent someone else. Like with the Hermit. The in world representation, with the description, very much describes the Voodoo Boys, but in the personalized drawing for V, it very much means Alt. Kind of like the ones you scan tell you about the world at large, while the drawing is just for the people that V is meeting and interacting with.
On my first playthrough, I actually used my found tarot cards to influence my decision at the end of the game!!! I got the sun ending; it was so cool to play it like that!
I agree and believe this quest is definitely a fourth wall break. They are meant to warn us about our futures, just like a real fortune teller would attempt to do. The player was the fool the whole time.
The Tarot quest has another purpose, assuming that you do it right after the Heist; Every one of the Tarot marker sites is close to a fast travel point. IMHO, the Tarot Quest was added to do many things. It gave us a long over-arching plot. It gives us quite a few dialog options with Misty. It also sets us up to use fast travel to get to most of the major map points if we wish.
The Fool card art followed very closely to the most well-known Tarot deck. A person with arm outstretched, looking up into the sky about to walk off a cliff, a staff in one hand and a dog behind them. The Hermit, often thought to represent Odin, as a wisen old man offering knowledge.
I always read the Magician as Evelyn. Both her Charisma in drawing in so many into her plans, and her eventual fate taking her own life linking into the Magician reversed. Though I can definitely see Johnny as well. The placement of the Sun image always confused me, I couldn't tell that it was close to the apartment; at street level it's just a random wall.
I think reversed magician is Evelyn and Judy inherits the card as upright. The reverse of the card generally represents greed, trickery, and manipulation which Evelyn sadly employs to get her own heist going but it ends up destroying her. Judy lacks these qualities.
The more I play the more I think the magician is actually V/Johnny, not only did PL add the synced faceplate thing (which would explain the masks in the background and the lack of a face) but the game card is missing 2 important things from the real life tarot card. The ouroboros belt and the wand in hand. Now those two are also in the game and can be "obtained" in some way.
I always wanted to know more about this I knew they had a deeper meaning but I didn’t want to overthink it cuz the cyberpunk world it’s wild I can really see our own world today we might end up like it
Dammit though, didn't realize I forgot to save Takemura on my main character during search and destory, so now during my trophy hunting for the endings I can't get the Devil trophy and now I need to make a new character lol
I always thought of them as hints to the different endings. All ending achievements are named after tarot cards and all graffiti are tied to important story locations. Once the player makes that connection they'll realize that the quests at the oil fields and the drive-in theater are not just simple side quests, but rather significant, albeit optional turning points of the story. IIRC it took people a while to find the Don't Fear the Reaper ending, but I bet that the close proximity to the oil fields gave some people the idea that this place was crucial for something. Heck, even the wordings of the card points towards it: "The Hanged Man's forsakenness opens a path to rebirth into a new life, though this path is wrought with pain suspended in time" This is almost literally explaining what you have to do later on: wait 5 painful minutes (=suspended in time) until the hanged man (Johnny) acknowlegdes your and his forsakeness and presents a new path. If you die during the mission you are actually (ultimately) dead and cannot reload a save to try again.
the cards represents journey of the person, the fool to world, the world means expansion and circular events. it does not mean just goal, it is repetitive, the devil is addiction, suspiciousness, hazardous goals and temptations, the extremes. the hanged man means sacrificing your old beliefs to create new ones, the fool is the beginning, starter of journeys, learning new things, ect.
The lovers is the bond of Johnny and V friendship and the difficult choice and also the Devil (which is Saburo) is usually represented trapping the lovers and considering the influence arasaka has on both of them...
Every now and then I still go back to Misty for a Tarot Reading and I’m still trying to figure out the meaning. I’m essentially in the post ending phase, replaying and completing anything I’ve missed thus far. My most recent reading was The Chariot, The Sun Reversed, Strength and The Reversed Magician.
I believe that some of these also fall with as mentioned Jackie because some have similar style to the artwork you'd see of the "Day of the Dead"(Halloween) in some latino/hispanic cultures and some similar. Some beliefs are similar and even his funeral has those kinds of references. You also have gypsies(Nomads) where it can play as well. A lot of different cultures mended together, which shows how well mixed Night City is as well. A melting pot of cultures stirred together. The fact we see (as mentioned in some other comments) two different versions before and after the relic gets stuck in our head. Changes interpretations and opens up a whole slew of possibilties, but also a nice easteregg so to speak. Makes things take on whole new meanings as each card if they represented one person, they now mean another. Or if pertaining to one, it represents a complete paradigm shift in their paths.
This latest run of mine I delayed the Fool on the hill until the very end. Usually as soon as act 2 started I ran around and grabbed them. This time I just completed it as I'm completing everything before going to Embers. I didn't make the connection that Death was on the side of Embers until this run and thought. "How fitting"
Love ur cyberpunk videos, i have watched and rewatched most if not all i have 300 hrs and ur still showing me shit i haven't seen before, love it, so long as u make any vids u have my attention
Mate I just finished Cyberpunk’s new novel “No Coincidence” and you should definitely give it a read. Saying anything about the story would spoil it and significantly dilute the experience so I hope other commenters won’t accidentally spoil it in the future before you get the chance (also audiobook is narrated by Cherami Leigh who voices female V and its amazing)
Hey man, I heard about that but didn't know the audiobook was voiced by Cherami Leigh. Will probs be listening to it in audio form in that case! Also, love your content! The history of Tamriel video especially was a great help in brushing up on my elder scrolls lore. May your road lead you to warm sands!
@@SamBram Yeah the Audiobook is pretty great! And also funny coincidence you watched my video(s) as I have basically binged almost all of your content and watch basically everything. Cool stuff, keep doing what you do mate!
Regarding higher powers and what could be causing the cards to appear: in the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG, there was a supplement called Night's Edge that was released as a way of following on the success of the Vampire: the Masquerade RPG. It contained rules for playing vampires, werewolves... and psychics.
I think it’s cool how you find tarot cards representing certain characters in places of their quests. The world card is found on the roof misty takes you to. The fool is outside v’s apartment. The moon in the Arasaka estate where hanako is held.
Was V familiar with the Tarot? Misty being Jakies girlfriend implies he would have definitely had an intimate knowledge of her deck. And you can bet your last eddy that Misty would have given Jackie a reading everyday. Having left Jackie's body with Victor and seeing 2 different versions of his engram his refrain of "Misty knew, Misty always knows.", haunts me to this very moment. All that leads me to believe that somehow a bit of Jackie IS on the Relic and that he was sending the tarot images and a guide, or warnings.
between the fact that the main story isn't that long, and these cards are semi-predictors of the future or descriptions of the stoy (depending on how you look at it), I wish they had enough post game quests to make it feel like you get a sense of how much your "changes" affected the world, and give better context to your endings. I definitely feel like we should find out more about Mr. Hand.
major arcana doesnt just refer to people tho. the magician could very well refer to the bar, because this is the mission that sets the stage for the rest of the journey you perform in.
Woulda been cool AF if you could have done a mission that involved Ciri from the Witcher 3 since she clearly references spending time in this world. Even if she was blending in and laying low.
My wife says she’s a witch. I’m like right on man, different strokes for different folks right? So I went on Etsy and got her a pack of full size hand made CP2077 tarot cards! Her mind was blown! Thanks CDPR!
What I find curious about the whole tarot card thing, is that it's implied the information about those images is being broadcast into your brain. Which would imply an external source? But it never comes up in game.
@@SamBram Yeah, part of me was thinking originally it was something coming from the engram, but Johnny always seems just as confused as you as to where it's coming from. Plus, the information IS very prophetic about what will happen, in relation to the major character near to that Card's display. All of them have very significant contextual meaning when you know what significant location is nearby. So yeah, unless it's just some meta-4th wall thing, the amount of foreshadowing/forewarning those cards represent, is very interesting. Taken from an in-universe perspective.
I got a big fat deck of tarot cards and i've been getting into Cyberpunk Red and thinking of incorporating them into the game somehow with my players. Could be interesting. There's even some rules in the book for using them in the game for certain things I believe. They really ought to print a whole Cyberpunk 2077 tarot deck. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.
I honestly think Fool on the Hill is one of the best collect-a-thon quests in all of gaming. It spans the whole game effectively without being overy tedious, you can feasibly find every mural during a natural playthrough (albeit need to get multiple endings), and each collectible has a deep connection to the game's story without needing too deep of a dive to gain a decent understanding. CDPR did a fantastic job with this mission.
OHHHH nope, i like the jackie is in the chip theory because... he WAS dying when he gave you the chip, and when V died johnny started taking over, so its not too far fetched that some sort of code on the chip is responsible for recording the user psyche when they die. And as he started to flatline the chip started copying, but couldn´t copy too much because for one he was not completely dead yet, and for two, there was also johnny on the chip already. So, it would make sense that jackie is on there, at least in fragments, trying to give you messages and help you throughout your journey.
I think the way Panam organizes the raid into saka tower is reminiscent of how Rogue organized it both times, albeit with less confidence,its sort of hypocrisy for Johnny to insult us for this decision, seeing has how he depends on Rogue for everything, so both Rogue and Panam could be strength and empress, has Panam becomes the leader after Smasher kills Saul , and if you talk to the Aldecado vets, they have seen her has the leader for a while
Now that the new tower ending is out, I think it can also represent climbing to the top of the tower and falling back down, similar to how V became a legend, but is forced to become a normal NC citizen at the end with all his friends leaving him, gaining everything in the process but losing everything in the end
I think the Empress is actually Alt Cunningham. Perfectly fits her narrative. She is feminine, in cyberspace she is the mother of all processes, she knows what she wants, she is refined. In her creative way she grows out of her mortal being, so she definitely listened to her own intuition on her path.
She is also the counterforce to the Emperor Saburo. If you choose Alt, she shepards the souls to her domain, but if you choose Arasaka, Saburo retains the souls.
You should make a video about cyberpunk genre literature references like some achievments named Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive and Burnimg Chrome. Idk if there are more in-game references to William Gibson, Bruce Sterling or Phillip K. Dick. I know braindance is the Sim-Stim budget version and there is a Voight-Kamph test in moon ending, but I couldn't find more (and I've read too much Gibson and Cyberpunk books). I like to think that moon ending is vaguely inspired by "I have no mouth and I must scream" due the horror vibes, but I don't know.
I find tarot cards and all that jazz to be pointless nonsense. But, I absolutely love them in video games and movies/tv shows because more than likely they actually do mean something in those rather than irl. Irl they just seem like something spooky youd tell your kid to keep them in line Haha Great video, man!
Best video ever for cyberpunk, should be included in the premium bundle of the game. For me, tarot cards were just a fetch quest, but i realize now that they are so much more, almost like a storytelling tool that marks every important moment in the game.
PS: i think the devil is the best ending (not the happy one, people always assume best = happy in game endings), because its the only one were V is trully alive and not a emgram in her own body. They even mention the ship of theseus in this ending.
The very nature of the Tarot is supposed to be a guide that emanates from one's self by using the archetypes of the cards as a lattice to build plans or paths on. In essence the 'higher power' referenced could literally just be the player themselves through V. Anybody that fully embodies a specific card is a force that can't really be contended with, and I'd say V in concert with the player at the helm is such a force.
The magician out side Lizzie's could be because if not for Evelyn who we meet there we would never have met Johnny and that was the start of Johnny and V's story in 2077.
My theory is that V's subconscious has a rough idea of what's coming or what situation he's in at certain points in story, and the relic helps him visualize it by showing it to him as tarot cards. The subconscious mind tries to protect you from danger by sending warning signals, which is the case with many cards. It warns you about the future, what you will become or what people you should beware of. Assuming we see the tarot graffities at the same time of the certain story sections and internalize them, then we will, for example, at the devil ending come to the idea that we were fooled, after we realized that we were not actually helped because arasaka didnt kept their promise. If we have seen all the other tarot graffities, only 2-3 tarot symbols can come into question, of which one can only assume the devil tarot in the current situation. Would also explain why we don't see any graffiti, but only the devil's head in the cube, as a nightmare sequence, next to the others we have during the stay in the arasaka space station. Another warning that we have made the wrong choice, but we can still take the deal or leave it. Another thought of mine was that we see the tarot graffities through V's and Johnny's perspective and our merged opinion indicates that respective graffiti we see.
I saw it as Jackie. He had the biochip in for a moment, and it’s possible that he was thinking of misty, of the tarot she told him about, and that bled into the chip.
Other banger of a video >w< I always loved the tarot cards references and how they fit with whatever situation you're around. And the aesthetic of the Deck is just beautiful. I'd kill for having a cyberpunk tarot deck in my hands. About the Moon which seem to be one you had trouble with! When you're reading tarot, the moon caaan be read as "you're focusing into something beautiful and distant so much, that you don't see the troubles so close to your back" usually represented by a bright moon and a scorpion. In this case the wolves howl at the moon and some creepy figure looms under them. I think it fits Hanako very well, since she promises you the big shiny for sure salvation, but she is the trouble, what she does to her brother and by extention to everyone if you help her, is not worth achiving the moon. I always took the moon in there as a clear "Hanako is not to trust" But!! That's some of the fun of reading tarot and the cards the interpretations are open and fluid! Loved to see someone else loving it.
I think the Magician is actually Judy. She is certainly a tech wizard, is in a relationship with Evelyn who seems to just use her but also is one of the few characters who remain true to themselves and their morals through the story.
I love how everyone has a different interpretation for who the cards belong to, I used to think for the longest time the fool was for Johnny. I guess you could say it is for both since they share a body.
Good. worse thing they can do is to give us good ending for expansion so everybody would just blindly pick it. even nomad ending is too good and it become fav ending of many
I don't think people realize how befitting Justice is for Evelyn considering she not went beyond her station a MULTITUDE of times, taking multiple shortcuts and getting a helluva lot of people involved in a job that was meant to only involve her, but also made every attempt she could to cheat people out of their piece of the pie. If Dex stayed loyal and didn't cheat us I imagine Ev would've either sold us out to the VDBs or shot us ourselves. Justice is there not only because we destroy a (frankly) FUCKING MASSIVE Scavver operation, but because we witness the result of Evelyn breaking the few **insanely important** rules NC's culture and people have and her paying the ultimate price for it.
In the Justice one, I actually think it fits perfectly. In all of those cases, you get justice without due process and in all of those cases, disaster ensues.
One thing people don't want to admit about the Tarot Cards is probably the most important thing in all of pop culture. With the use of the Tarot, it makes ALL of Cyberpunk 2077 one big JoJo's Bizarre Adventure reference.
If you're a big fan of the Tarot designs seen in the video then displate also have prints of them along with tonnes of other Cyberpunk designs: displate.com/cyberpunk/tarot-cards?art=65c117e361df4
Getting anything with this link will also be directly supporting the channel so thank you to anybody who does :)
There is way more to the tarot than this. We have to remember there is also an entire inverted deck, which is also present in the game. All the cards are in one direction in Act 1 and they are all flipped once V dies. This is why almost every character from Act 1 dies. For example, in Act 1 Dexter is the Inverted Hierophant and immediatly at the start of Act 2 the upright Hierophant kills him, or how Jackie is the Magician and Johnny the Inverted Magician.
Thanks, that actually clears a lot up! I assumed since the cards only become scannable after act 1 that they didn't bear any relevance to characters there. But what you say makes total sense and is very poetic
Wait what?! Are the inverted cards the oposite of the originals? I'm not very familiar with the tarot cards (in the game or outside) but how come Johny would be the inverted Magician? If inverted card are the oposite then an "inverted" Magician doesn't sounds a lot like Johnny, the magician says: schemer, always stay afloat, always has a last trick and is a schemer.
If you want to call someone a schemer from start to finish, it's Evelyn. I'd say she is inverted magician, and Judy is magician.
@ Not the diametral opposite of the original cards. The upside downs are vicious versions: when as characters they fulfill the same role but are mal-intended, unstable, obcessive etc; when as an event, they have a catch.
@@SamBram I loved the video, but was a little disappointed you didn’t give more props to how cdpr used real life tarot cards and meanings knowing us players would find a way to make them relevant to the game just like how poeple relate them to themselves irl. I felt it was quite clever, as much of a cheap parlor trick tarots might be, it’s amusing how well it suit the story telling of this game.
I've always interpreted the Hermit card to represent Vik Vektor. "In solitude he discovers the truth about himself & the world." In act 1, Vic mentions how once you reach a certain age, you stop lying to yourself and see your place in the world. Vic is always down in his basement keeping to himself, he's very introverted. The dialog with him in act 1 shows he's contempt with just being a simple Riperdoc and not trying to become a NC legend. Sounds alot like the Tarot card, he understands his place in the world while he works in solitude. The lantern part of the card, could kinda represent his advice he gives us in act 1 to help guide/ warn V.
Misty also mentions the Hermit "could be someone who shows you kindness" & who shows us alot of kindness by donating a 20,000 $ Kioshi eye implant despite V being a nobody in the beginning of the game, that's right, our boi Vik. The Hermit doesn't steal the show & prefers solitude over the limelight, IMO its him to a T.
Note: it was 2000 for both the ballistic compensator and Optics
@@william_brobrine8975It's 21,000 eddies.
@@william_brobrine8975$21,000 for both.
maybe, but the card doesn't appear closer to Vik. As Misty mentioned in the game, card's location is important as well
Well said... Can't wait until your realize.
I LOVE the take that Jackie is what's causing the tarots to show up, the biochip was in his brain for a short while, maybe throughout the game, our brain could be mostly V and Johnny but also like 1% Jackie.
That's an interesting theory
Same... amazing theories!
Could be given how the chip saved our life, since Jackie was on the verge of death maybe the chip had begun the process of taking over Jackie’s body or something.
@@riosiscold9865 But it's explained in-game that the chip doesn't actually do anything unless the host is flatlined. Jackie removes the chip before that.
@@pinnacleevolution1634Yes but we cant forget the Relic is experimental technology even in cyberpunk, AND Jackie was only seconds away from death before he gives you the relic so its possible that the relic already started working when you slot it for the first time
This is so CDPR. A massive amount of effort to give a deep meaning to what most people just assumed was a simple find-and-collect side quest.
Thank god the world building is there, because at launch the game itself wasn't.
@@AngelusNielson I played the game at launch and had a blast. Yes it's better now but I had a lot of fun when it came out
@@Karajorma You didn't play on ps did you?
@@AngelusNielson Nope, PC. Still not sure what any of this has to do with my original comment though.
@@Karajorma You forgot how horrible the last generation PlayStation version of the game was already?
I think the justice card for Evelyn has a different meaning. Evelyn is the one who started the plot that brought V in to steal the chip, causing the events of the game. Unknowingly condemning V to their fate, condemns Evelyn to hers. An eye for an eye, a death for a death. A Just outcome. A return to order.
nothing just about it .. evelyn was a prostitute doll that got handledt like shit and the voodoboys just exploitet her .. she tryed ONE time to get out of that circle of fuckery .. only to get wrecked.. raped multible times and then send to a chop shop ....
there was nothing just about it . she was the first and real victim of the whole story
no one forced V or Jacky to use the chip.. they fucked it up .. they ruined her life "not willingly" but they did .. they had one job and they fucked it up
"all for the major league"
excatly. finally someone said it. she literally crossed everyone she worked with. yorinobu, voodoo boys, dexter, and she would probably do the same to V. why would anyone feel bad for her is a mystery to me.
@@medovk100%!!! Never telling the full truth even to Judy.
@@codes2682 exactly, Fingers actually said it the best…as ugly as that truth is for Judy to hear, its not any less true.
@@medovk yeah fingers ain’t even that bad of a guy. They made him super grotesque looking... and we only assume he’s awful cause Judy assumes “his fingers sometimes “slip”..” but it’s just an assumption... but dude has giant ass dildos everywhere!! Which makes me assume he’s gay!... he’s guilty of using shitty implants... but he is trying to help whores out as best he can for what they can afford... everyone judged dude way too hard cause he’s ugly and his nickname sounds dirty.
The moon card since it’s found outside the Arasaka home could symbolize yorinobu since it’s description says things are not as they appear and Yorinobu appears as just a killer but like in your hero video he is actually working for the betterment of everyone
I like that take! 😁
This could also play into the Sun, as it is largely connected to V, the Moon reflects light from the Sun, both being reflections of the other. Yorinobu being out to destroy the corps before getting chipped in the Devil, while V wants to destroy the corps after being chipped during the heist. Both Yori and V start and end at the other's position, but both have the same goals.
I loved the concept of Tarrot in cp2077, it adds nice layer of mental side.
Yeah. 2077 high tech meets midevil (or older) mysticism.
@@gdolson9419You mean medieval?
Considering AI is a big part of this world and their immaterial nature, that alone could turn into a TLDR
yeah me too, I always thought that maybe it was a nod to the fact that this company started out by making games steeped in ancient mysticism and folk lore.
This kind of felt like a way of bringing that into the 21st century.
V and Johnny are not the only ones seeing the tarot cards. There are two Afterlife mercs across the road from Regina's office. One of them describes seeing images on the wall.
All this does seem a little similar to the Zen master. i.e., an urban legend that is more than just a myth.
urban legends in night city tends to be true, especially the worst ones
One thing I noticed about the Zen Master is that if you draw a line connecting all the places you meet him and follow that line you get a path leading out of the city. Combine that with the Strength card being near where you meet Panam and the Star being where you leave with the Aldecados, I think both the cards and the Zen Master hint that going with them is the best ending for V. As to why V is seeing the cards, I wonder if there isn't some AI that uploaded something during Johnny's transfer.
I saw someone reference The Fool as being David Martinez, as walking off a ledge is how he leaves the family apartment at the start of the anime.
That is also a fair idea too. Technically. Even if we all have different Tarot cards that is a part of our lives. Every single one of us has The Fool.
The Fool would only represent David's own journey, not ours.
The fool is everyone. It represents naïveté seen in young and untested protagonists at the beginning of their respective journeys
That part is definitely a reference to The Fool tarot. The Magician also resembles David a bit.
I have always wanted to visit Misty for a tarot reading before and after major quests to see how much her tarot readings reflect what I’m about to do and what I have just done.
But I always forget!
I didn't realize it changed, I gotta do that next playthrough
@@rustyjones7908 I'm pretty sure it changes, but I haven't payed attention close enough to be 100% sure how much it changes. My next playthrough will be my fifth, and probably last... so when Phantom Liberty comes out I need to remember to play slow and pay attention.
@@thejontao,
It does change from main mission to main mission. But I've never done it after every main mission. I've done it for a few in a row, then come back the next day and forget to continue doing that after every main mission. One of these days I need to remember to do that as well. Thank the Gods for post-its; Am I right?
lol I just beat the game for the second time, going into my third character and i'm going to make it a point to go all in on it this time.
The cards definitely offer us "guidance". After been booted back to life we have an augmented perception of the cyberworld. Artificial intelligences also treat us differently (Delamain, Clouds Algorithm, "Alt", with a *special mention to Brendan and whoever mentions our name to him). Great video, my favorite so far!
I still believe that whatever was in the chip originally is the key to the blackwall and everything else is smoke and mirrors, why would Yorinobu even bother putting Johnny's engram in the relic to begin with? If the chip was supposed to be used by Saburo? Johnny is probably the only "person" that would 100 per cent go directly to Alt after the chip was done eating the previous owners psyche.
@pinnacleevolution1634 Johnny's "memories" are not trustworthy. How Saburo got Silverhand's engram? Not sure, but it was Spidermurphy who soulkilled him and saved his data in a shard after Adam Smasher butchered him. EngramSilverhand was a bait for AIs beyond the Blackwall. And it worked, "Alt" bit. Contact was established.
What I find cool about this take on the hanged man is that (it’s theorised) that the hanged man was sent to his death by the emperor, which is the ‘4th’ card in the deck, with the hanged man’s legs bent into a 4. And Johnny silverhand was basically sending Johnny to his ‘death’ via the soulkiller.
sry for the late replay but the hanged man is in that position commonly in tarot.
A few of the Tarot descriptions mention intuition and following your intuition, so maybe they’re a manifestation of Vs intuition, while not fully matching their descriptions, because V doesn’t know what they are until they bring this to Misty, it’s symbolic and more or less i think mirror Vs feelings about the world and the characters to a certain degree with the limited knowledge they have. I dunno, could be talking out my ass, but thats just the vibe i got from watching this video, great job btw, awesome vid as usual🔥🤌🏽
Honestly, I think the High Priestess as a card more represents Misty while the inverse represents Hanako -- I imagine if it weren't a readability issue, the art itself would have appeared upside down on the building, rather than standard. The High Priestess represents the divine feminine energy that holds intuition and sacred knowledge; she is a being who guides and teaches the Fool on their journey early on. Inverted, she represents secrets, silence, and being disconnected from intuition -- not too far off from Hanako's silence in the building and the general disconnection from intuition intended for going for the Arasaka ending.
Misty is someone we meet early, who can read the Tarot for us and share this intuitive, esoteric, divine sort of knowledge with us, the Fool.
The Devil card isn’t the worst ending, it’s letting you know that even the traps you’ve been lured into by Hanako can still be escaped from. The important thing is the player remembering their ability to choose, you can walk straight into the depths of Hell and still throw up deuces when they offer you permanent residency.
Also a funny thing happens when you know when to call it quits, despite Takamura insisting you lost any favor or use for Hanako in attempt to get you to sign away your soul for survival Hanako calls you during your return trip to Earth. That means that conversation was purely an intent to trap you in despair, and Hanako offers to find high paying jobs during your projected remaining lifespan. The darkness of the Arasaka takeover isn’t assured while you remain a potential thorn in their side, so maybe they didn’t perfect immortality for the masses after all and Yorinobu was right when he described the technology as theater tricks with a dead man’s voice coming from a box. V being able to introduce doubt to the public could be the difference between market dominance of a strong Arasaka or Hanako’s reign being exposed as smoke and mirrors.
The Sun ending isn't about survival and success in regaining V's life back. It's almost the opposite - becoming a legend, the end in the blaze of glory. It's about mythological Icarus flying higher than ever, up to the Sun, against all odds.
I think the Sun arcana and image show a skeletal biker who in the cards description is literally settling into the sun. V settles in the sun with Panam as she knows the sun in her head will burn out soon.
@@greg0050 The ending you describe (the one with Panam) is called "The Star Ending". The Sun Ending is the one with going into space. Images on the actual achievements connected to endings are quite different to images on tarot cards, hence the confusion.
Huh, interesting then. I practice tarot a bit and thought the Sun arcana's description ingame fit to a T Panam's ending. But i suppose the Star sounds hopeful. Since V is pretty finite in the Start ending the Sun came to mind.@@skeezaworkan
It's also a realization of V's dream which is, as she tells the doll at Clouds, to "leave her mark on the world and to NEVER be forgotten". As much as I love Star, it is a modification or maturation of her dream and not really a fulfillment of it.
Never sunsetting in stubborn defiance is more Star than Sun, that's really apt!@@AuspexAO
The wolf, the hunter becomes what he hunts.
The escape and the chase is now one
RUN! RUN!
I love that song! One of my favorite samurai tracks
28:19
I think the phrase " wolves only howl at night" is a reference to Hanako and Takemura: the two wolves howling at a mystery( the biochip) but at same time wolves howl as a call to other wolves, in this case their howling at Saburo in order to bring him back which, if i recall correctly, it is what happens in the devil ending where Saburo is brought back to life
correct
I love that The Tower is also represented as the ending that you can attain in Phantom Liberty, as V does face a great shock as to what they’ve just come to realise and nothing is the same anymore (both for themselves and for the people around them)
The chariot also represents the game. The 2 horses are V and Johnny and te one in control is you, the player. You experience te highs and lows of the stories you play, often choosing the outcome, for good or bad.
It took me a long time to actually try the "fool on the hill" quest because GENERALLY these types of quests in games are super boring and it just reminds me of finding the jinjos in banjo kazooie or the fucking feathers in assassin creed 2 but once i did complete fool on the hill and get all the tarot cards and actually read into them, i found that i appreciated the entire sidequest. One thing i definitely noticed what that each tarot is located in a location of interest too
I think the Justice tarot really does represent Judy, and I think it does it quite well. When we meet Judy at Lizzie's we're not really meeting the real girl. She's incredibly cagey and doesn't trust V or anyone in her crew. Instead, the Judy we meet while hunting down Evelyn is the real girl, and we get to know her as we do her quest line. The Tarot's entry speaks on an ability to see through lies and deceit, and Judy is one of the more insightful characters in the game. Add onto the fact that the card speaks of due process and a just sentence, but justice itself is rarely fair. Judy, more than any other character, is idealistic in her beliefs and in her goals. She believes in the right thing happening for the right reasons, but shit is never fair to her nor the people she cares about.
And fittingly, The Tower Ending plays out how Misty describes it
So glad you did a video on the tarot cards. Interesting hearing your own theories and takes on what each one could represent. Don't have any of my own, but probably lean more towards them being a result of Johnny's presence and influence on V's mind, as well as a wee bit of mysticism creeping into V's heart and mind. People tend to become a little more open to religion or spirituality when they've experienced great trauma or close encounters with death, or even facing death in some form or other, even if they were never particularly religious or spiritual beforehand.
I love the artwork on these Cyberpunk tarot cards. Even bought a deck of gilded edged cards off Etsy because I loved them so much, and have plans to get The Fool as a tattoo at some point in the not-too-distant future hopefully.
I can't help but think the tarot cards and Mistys interpretation of them is... A homage to role the game master has in the original tabletop. To some degree, most GMs have to try and hint to their players what consequences their choices will have, without saying it outright. Being cryptic like this is important in order to not break your immersion, but if one takes a moment to look at these hints from a bigger perspective... Then the outcome should be predictable enough and still being satisfying to reach, without knowing too many details.
I love the tarot cards in CP2077 and wish CDPR would have sold a nicely made set of them with a cool back.
The artwork is so cool. One thing about The Moon is that the graffiti doesn't match the card, which is a bit odd. The card shows an industrial area outside the city, two wolves howling at the moon, with a skull on the ground between them. It is odd that it's found at the Arasaka mansion.
One thought is that the two wolves could be the two living Arasaka children, and the skull is their deceased older brother. They both are overlooking the city, possibly competing for control of it.
Well this is quite interesting. I never paid much attention to the Tarot card even in my third(!) playthrough.
I never knew the full meaning behind those cards, aside from the obvious ending titles that reference them. Goes to show that this game has more depth than most people realize.
The Tarot card first of all look amazing. The art is good. I also like how the card hints the characters and events of the game. Are they like Archetypes of sort? I like the way the devs use them. I think Cyberpunk 2077 is a good game, sometimes feels incredible story telling. I just think the marketing was bad. I also created a solid expectation before launch but it changed for the better as I played the game. Good game, truly deserving A Star ending!!!
The tarot is perhaps the oldest catalog of human archetypes in the world, yeah. They're setup in an order that tells something like a "hero's journey" (although it need not be for a hero in this case).
I felt like Justice was meant to signify one of the last things Judy warned Evelyn of, that if she tried to cheat the fragile system by which Night City operates, it would eat her alive. The first thing she did after was pull V aside and ask them to cheat Dex. The job itself was "stolen", in a way, from her own employers. As a result the City devoured her mind, body, and soul, taking it's own justice.
I think that in many cases, it's kind of both. The cards themselves represent one general character or group, while the cards drawn for V represent someone else. Like with the Hermit. The in world representation, with the description, very much describes the Voodoo Boys, but in the personalized drawing for V, it very much means Alt. Kind of like the ones you scan tell you about the world at large, while the drawing is just for the people that V is meeting and interacting with.
On my first playthrough, I actually used my found tarot cards to influence my decision at the end of the game!!! I got the sun ending; it was so cool to play it like that!
I agree and believe this quest is definitely a fourth wall break. They are meant to warn us about our futures, just like a real fortune teller would attempt to do. The player was the fool the whole time.
Not forth wall break… more like “never question Misty’s power to connect with the ethereal” 🎉
@@AnonYmous-hu7jo fair that saying kind of gets thrown around too much
I take it as CDPR injecting magic into a setting where it doesn't belong under the facade of being "deep" and "meaningful".
The Tarot quest has another purpose, assuming that you do it right after the Heist; Every one of the Tarot marker sites is close to a fast travel point. IMHO, the Tarot Quest was added to do many things. It gave us a long over-arching plot. It gives us quite a few dialog options with Misty. It also sets us up to use fast travel to get to most of the major map points if we wish.
I'm not big into Tarot, but I knew enough to recognize each one was somehow narratively linked to where you find it (The Fool was pretty blatant).
The Fool card art followed very closely to the most well-known Tarot deck. A person with arm outstretched, looking up into the sky about to walk off a cliff, a staff in one hand and a dog behind them. The Hermit, often thought to represent Odin, as a wisen old man offering knowledge.
I always read the Magician as Evelyn. Both her Charisma in drawing in so many into her plans, and her eventual fate taking her own life linking into the Magician reversed. Though I can definitely see Johnny as well.
The placement of the Sun image always confused me, I couldn't tell that it was close to the apartment; at street level it's just a random wall.
I also thought Evelyn, with her multiple identities as a doll.
I think reversed magician is Evelyn and Judy inherits the card as upright. The reverse of the card generally represents greed, trickery, and manipulation which Evelyn sadly employs to get her own heist going but it ends up destroying her. Judy lacks these qualities.
The more I play the more I think the magician is actually V/Johnny, not only did PL add the synced faceplate thing (which would explain the masks in the background and the lack of a face) but the game card is missing 2 important things from the real life tarot card. The ouroboros belt and the wand in hand. Now those two are also in the game and can be "obtained" in some way.
man, I really love your videos, they give me some peace of mind in a tough period 🌸
Very glad you enjoy them Choom!
Bro how is the quality of your videos and your analysis of the game so fantastic and consistent? Loved the video man, keep up the great work!
I always wanted to know more about this I knew they had a deeper meaning but I didn’t want to overthink it cuz the cyberpunk world it’s wild I can really see our own world today we might end up like it
33:50 I didn't notice this, until now, but when Jackie put the chip in your head, it glitches out and he becomes death for a second.
Well noticed
Been frequenting your videos during my playthroughs of the game, great content man, love your stuff
Dammit though, didn't realize I forgot to save Takemura on my main character during search and destory, so now during my trophy hunting for the endings I can't get the Devil trophy and now I need to make a new character lol
I always thought of them as hints to the different endings. All ending achievements are named after tarot cards and all graffiti are tied to important story locations. Once the player makes that connection they'll realize that the quests at the oil fields and the drive-in theater are not just simple side quests, but rather significant, albeit optional turning points of the story. IIRC it took people a while to find the Don't Fear the Reaper ending, but I bet that the close proximity to the oil fields gave some people the idea that this place was crucial for something. Heck, even the wordings of the card points towards it: "The Hanged Man's forsakenness opens a path to rebirth into a new life, though this path is wrought with pain suspended in time" This is almost literally explaining what you have to do later on: wait 5 painful minutes (=suspended in time) until the hanged man (Johnny) acknowlegdes your and his forsakeness and presents a new path. If you die during the mission you are actually (ultimately) dead and cannot reload a save to try again.
I finally made it to a video (almost) as soon as it came out! Let's goooooo!
the cards represents journey of the person, the fool to world, the world means expansion and circular events. it does not mean just goal, it is repetitive, the devil is addiction, suspiciousness, hazardous goals and temptations, the extremes. the hanged man means sacrificing your old beliefs to create new ones, the fool is the beginning, starter of journeys, learning new things, ect.
The lovers is the bond of Johnny and V friendship and the difficult choice and also the Devil (which is Saburo) is usually represented trapping the lovers and considering the influence arasaka has on both of them...
Every now and then I still go back to Misty for a Tarot Reading and I’m still trying to figure out the meaning. I’m essentially in the post ending phase, replaying and completing anything I’ve missed thus far.
My most recent reading was The Chariot, The Sun Reversed, Strength and The Reversed Magician.
I believe that some of these also fall with as mentioned Jackie because some have similar style to the artwork you'd see of the "Day of the Dead"(Halloween) in some latino/hispanic cultures and some similar. Some beliefs are similar and even his funeral has those kinds of references. You also have gypsies(Nomads) where it can play as well. A lot of different cultures mended together, which shows how well mixed Night City is as well. A melting pot of cultures stirred together. The fact we see (as mentioned in some other comments) two different versions before and after the relic gets stuck in our head. Changes interpretations and opens up a whole slew of possibilties, but also a nice easteregg so to speak. Makes things take on whole new meanings as each card if they represented one person, they now mean another. Or if pertaining to one, it represents a complete paradigm shift in their paths.
Another brilliant video, love your insight into their meaning which mirrors my interpretation but with more in-depth thought than I gave any of them 😂
Never finished the game, but did enjoy it despite the bugs. Looking forward to phantom liberty
Please give it another chance!
This latest run of mine I delayed the Fool on the hill until the very end. Usually as soon as act 2 started I ran around and grabbed them. This time I just completed it as I'm completing everything before going to Embers. I didn't make the connection that Death was on the side of Embers until this run and thought. "How fitting"
This is my only go-to channel when it comes to Cyberpunk. Any other channels are meh.
I love your Cyberpunk lore videos especially that it's my favourite game. I think I watched every one of them.
Thank you glad you enjoy them!
Love ur cyberpunk videos, i have watched and rewatched most if not all i have 300 hrs and ur still showing me shit i haven't seen before, love it, so long as u make any vids u have my attention
Mate I just finished Cyberpunk’s new novel “No Coincidence” and you should definitely give it a read. Saying anything about the story would spoil it and significantly dilute the experience so I hope other commenters won’t accidentally spoil it in the future before you get the chance (also audiobook is narrated by Cherami Leigh who voices female V and its amazing)
Hey man, I heard about that but didn't know the audiobook was voiced by Cherami Leigh. Will probs be listening to it in audio form in that case!
Also, love your content! The history of Tamriel video especially was a great help in brushing up on my elder scrolls lore. May your road lead you to warm sands!
@@SamBram Yeah the Audiobook is pretty great! And also funny coincidence you watched my video(s) as I have basically binged almost all of your content and watch basically everything. Cool stuff, keep doing what you do mate!
Great video, sorry I said the other was too long. Keep it up dawg. Best cyberpunk RUclipsr!
Thanks for this eye-opening video & new perspective on the cards👍
I swear next time I'll try discovering these naturally as i play through next time. I always get sidetracked and just search for all of them at once 😅
It honestly would have been really awesome, if the tarot cards and their locations changed depending on your starting path and in game choices.
Regarding higher powers and what could be causing the cards to appear: in the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG, there was a supplement called Night's Edge that was released as a way of following on the success of the Vampire: the Masquerade RPG. It contained rules for playing vampires, werewolves... and psychics.
Very nice insight, very good interpretations I hope you go over the new cards in Phantom Liberty eventually
I think it’s cool how you find tarot cards representing certain characters in places of their quests. The world card is found on the roof misty takes you to. The fool is outside v’s apartment. The moon in the Arasaka estate where hanako is held.
Bro really been dropping back to back bangers
Simply want to say, your analysis was brilliant. Thank you.
Was V familiar with the Tarot? Misty being Jakies girlfriend implies he would have definitely had an intimate knowledge of her deck. And you can bet your last eddy that Misty would have given Jackie a reading everyday. Having left Jackie's body with Victor and seeing 2 different versions of his engram his refrain of "Misty knew, Misty always knows.", haunts me to this very moment. All that leads me to believe that somehow a bit of Jackie IS on the Relic and that he was sending the tarot images and a guide, or warnings.
V helped Jackie choose that deck misty uses I believe.
between the fact that the main story isn't that long, and these cards are semi-predictors of the future or descriptions of the stoy (depending on how you look at it), I wish they had enough post game quests to make it feel like you get a sense of how much your "changes" affected the world, and give better context to your endings. I definitely feel like we should find out more about Mr. Hand.
major arcana doesnt just refer to people tho.
the magician could very well refer to the bar, because this is the mission that sets the stage for the rest of the journey you perform in.
Woulda been cool AF if you could have done a mission that involved Ciri from the Witcher 3 since she clearly references spending time in this world. Even if she was blending in and laying low.
My wife says she’s a witch. I’m like right on man, different strokes for different folks right?
So I went on Etsy and got her a pack of full size hand made CP2077 tarot cards!
Her mind was blown! Thanks CDPR!
The designs are awesome! I'm not really into any Tarot stuff irl but I'm almost tempted to get them to go with my irl gwent decks
My wife says, "hail Satan" I'm like, right on man😂
@@youtubehatestruthtellers8065nah man, she doesn’t say stuff like that!
You always make me love Night City more in each video
What I find curious about the whole tarot card thing, is that it's implied the information about those images is being broadcast into your brain. Which would imply an external source? But it never comes up in game.
It's a huge mystery. I hope Phantom Liberty provides more details because right now all that makes sense to me is that it's a 4th wall break
@@SamBram Yeah, part of me was thinking originally it was something coming from the engram, but Johnny always seems just as confused as you as to where it's coming from. Plus, the information IS very prophetic about what will happen, in relation to the major character near to that Card's display. All of them have very significant contextual meaning when you know what significant location is nearby. So yeah, unless it's just some meta-4th wall thing, the amount of foreshadowing/forewarning those cards represent, is very interesting. Taken from an in-universe perspective.
I like to think that a tiny bit of Jackie's Engram is guiding V to his/her path, his way of looking out for them.
I got a big fat deck of tarot cards and i've been getting into Cyberpunk Red and thinking of incorporating them into the game somehow with my players. Could be interesting. There's even some rules in the book for using them in the game for certain things I believe.
They really ought to print a whole Cyberpunk 2077 tarot deck. I'd buy that in a heartbeat.
I honestly think Fool on the Hill is one of the best collect-a-thon quests in all of gaming. It spans the whole game effectively without being overy tedious, you can feasibly find every mural during a natural playthrough (albeit need to get multiple endings), and each collectible has a deep connection to the game's story without needing too deep of a dive to gain a decent understanding. CDPR did a fantastic job with this mission.
Sweet been waiting for this video!
OHHHH nope, i like the jackie is in the chip theory because... he WAS dying when he gave you the chip, and when V died johnny started taking over, so its not too far fetched that some sort of code on the chip is responsible for recording the user psyche when they die. And as he started to flatline the chip started copying, but couldn´t copy too much because for one he was not completely dead yet, and for two, there was also johnny on the chip already. So, it would make sense that jackie is on there, at least in fragments, trying to give you messages and help you throughout your journey.
I think the way Panam organizes the raid into saka tower is reminiscent of how Rogue organized it both times, albeit with less confidence,its sort of hypocrisy for Johnny to insult us for this decision, seeing has how he depends on Rogue for everything, so both Rogue and Panam could be strength and empress, has Panam becomes the leader after Smasher kills Saul , and if you talk to the Aldecado vets, they have seen her has the leader for a while
Now that the new tower ending is out, I think it can also represent climbing to the top of the tower and falling back down, similar to how V became a legend, but is forced to become a normal NC citizen at the end with all his friends leaving him, gaining everything in the process but losing everything in the end
I think the Empress is actually Alt Cunningham. Perfectly fits her narrative. She is feminine, in cyberspace she is the mother of all processes, she knows what she wants, she is refined. In her creative way she grows out of her mortal being, so she definitely listened to her own intuition on her path.
She is also the counterforce to the Emperor Saburo. If you choose Alt, she shepards the souls to her domain, but if you choose Arasaka, Saburo retains the souls.
You should make a video about cyberpunk genre literature references like some achievments named Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive and Burnimg Chrome. Idk if there are more in-game references to William Gibson, Bruce Sterling or Phillip K. Dick.
I know braindance is the Sim-Stim budget version and there is a Voight-Kamph test in moon ending, but I couldn't find more (and I've read too much Gibson and Cyberpunk books).
I like to think that moon ending is vaguely inspired by "I have no mouth and I must scream" due the horror vibes, but I don't know.
I find tarot cards and all that jazz to be pointless nonsense. But, I absolutely love them in video games and movies/tv shows because more than likely they actually do mean something in those rather than irl. Irl they just seem like something spooky youd tell your kid to keep them in line Haha
Great video, man!
Best video ever for cyberpunk, should be included in the premium bundle of the game. For me, tarot cards were just a fetch quest, but i realize now that they are so much more, almost like a storytelling tool that marks every important moment in the game.
PS: i think the devil is the best ending (not the happy one, people always assume best = happy in game endings), because its the only one were V is trully alive and not a emgram in her own body. They even mention the ship of theseus in this ending.
You can see the email of the Zen master the first time you go into Misty's shop. But you can't see the cards until after you are shot in the head.
The very nature of the Tarot is supposed to be a guide that emanates from one's self by using the archetypes of the cards as a lattice to build plans or paths on. In essence the 'higher power' referenced could literally just be the player themselves through V. Anybody that fully embodies a specific card is a force that can't really be contended with, and I'd say V in concert with the player at the helm is such a force.
Well produced and brilliant! Great video!
Much appreciated Choom!
I love this game! I think laguna bend might be based off of lake Lanier! Lots of cool little things they’ve added in to the story.
The magician out side Lizzie's could be because if not for Evelyn who we meet there we would never have met Johnny and that was the start of Johnny and V's story in 2077.
It should be noted that The Emperor also symbolizes a person trying to control their surroundings. Which perfectly embodies Yorinubo.
My theory is that V's subconscious has a rough idea of what's coming or what situation he's in at certain points in story, and the relic helps him visualize it by showing it to him as tarot cards. The subconscious mind tries to protect you from danger by sending warning signals, which is the case with many cards. It warns you about the future, what you will become or what people you should beware of. Assuming we see the tarot graffities at the same time of the certain story sections and internalize them, then we will, for example, at the devil ending come to the idea that we were fooled, after we realized that we were not actually helped because arasaka didnt kept their promise. If we have seen all the other tarot graffities, only 2-3 tarot symbols can come into question, of which one can only assume the devil tarot in the current situation. Would also explain why we don't see any graffiti, but only the devil's head in the cube, as a nightmare sequence, next to the others we have during the stay in the arasaka space station. Another warning that we have made the wrong choice, but we can still take the deal or leave it. Another thought of mine was that we see the tarot graffities through V's and Johnny's perspective and our merged opinion indicates that respective graffiti we see.
I saw it as Jackie. He had the biochip in for a moment, and it’s possible that he was thinking of misty, of the tarot she told him about, and that bled into the chip.
Other banger of a video >w< I always loved the tarot cards references and how they fit with whatever situation you're around. And the aesthetic of the Deck is just beautiful. I'd kill for having a cyberpunk tarot deck in my hands.
About the Moon which seem to be one you had trouble with!
When you're reading tarot, the moon caaan be read as "you're focusing into something beautiful and distant so much, that you don't see the troubles so close to your back" usually represented by a bright moon and a scorpion. In this case the wolves howl at the moon and some creepy figure looms under them.
I think it fits Hanako very well, since she promises you the big shiny for sure salvation, but she is the trouble, what she does to her brother and by extention to everyone if you help her, is not worth achiving the moon. I always took the moon in there as a clear "Hanako is not to trust"
But!! That's some of the fun of reading tarot and the cards the interpretations are open and fluid!
Loved to see someone else loving it.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!
I think the Magician is actually Judy. She is certainly a tech wizard, is in a relationship with Evelyn who seems to just use her but also is one of the few characters who remain true to themselves and their morals through the story.
I love how everyone has a different interpretation for who the cards belong to, I used to think for the longest time the fool was for Johnny. I guess you could say it is for both since they share a body.
Love this content looking at someone passionate is refreshing
oh really love this! love to see an update for phantom liberty cards too
I believe if their is a solution to v’s fate in phantom liberty, it’s going to be absolutely terrible in terms of consequences
Good. worse thing they can do is to give us good ending for expansion so everybody would just blindly pick it. even nomad ending is too good and it become fav ending of many
It's not like V has to die for the ending to be good.
Well, you were right.
I don't think people realize how befitting Justice is for Evelyn considering she not went beyond her station a MULTITUDE of times, taking multiple shortcuts and getting a helluva lot of people involved in a job that was meant to only involve her, but also made every attempt she could to cheat people out of their piece of the pie. If Dex stayed loyal and didn't cheat us I imagine Ev would've either sold us out to the VDBs or shot us ourselves. Justice is there not only because we destroy a (frankly) FUCKING MASSIVE Scavver operation, but because we witness the result of Evelyn breaking the few **insanely important** rules NC's culture and people have and her paying the ultimate price for it.
In the Justice one, I actually think it fits perfectly. In all of those cases, you get justice without due process and in all of those cases, disaster ensues.
One thing people don't want to admit about the Tarot Cards is probably the most important thing in all of pop culture. With the use of the Tarot, it makes ALL of Cyberpunk 2077 one big JoJo's Bizarre Adventure reference.
Damn good video my man