Welcome seekers after sama, kana and qi!  You won't be the first to want to reverse your life's fortunes; otherwise embrace words to change the world; take steps to transform yourself into a hero; divert humanity away from its current perverse course; perfect its core that all may sing together - refraining from discordance, aligned in peace and harmony; gain insight into the working of the universe; realize your dreams; reach for the stars; sail across the cosmos and converse with the divine; enchant and charm Kannon at the gates of wisdom; seize manna from the Gods; invoke matter from the kether; traverse the mysteries and become God of this New World.

It's not unknown.

But no matter what foolish idea inflames your passion and ignites your will.  Before you take your first steps onto the path of making it real, you will need some guidance.  Sound the intro, maestro!  And enter The Magician.

In ancient Persia, the Magos were the learned members of the priestly caste, adept at astrology.  They could give you the overview of your life and destiny, as it was written in the stars, taking in the knowledge of what constellation was on the ascendency or ruling within a certain house. It was up to you what you did with that information and how you let it guide your lives.

Over the centuries, their spiritual descendants have been known as the adepts in a variety of other fortune-telling, mind expanding, soul perfecting or perception enhancing skills.  For example, those magnificent seekers delving into the Kabbalah/Cabala/Qabala as scholars, scryers, practitioners, occultists, alchemists, diviners, philosophers, Hermetic code-breakers and ceremonial magicians.

Enlightened beings who know The Way and what it might mean for you.  But if it's shared - and done so entirely, selectively or else strewn with misinformation - and how that translates into relevancy for your own life's destiny, only a Fool can know in passing through the realm of the Magi.

The Death Note itself can be seen as falling right into the realm of The Magician.  In fact, it's practically the Three Magi represented here in the notebook, as its role is considered in relation to Light Yagami.

Firstly Light has to find the shinigami's notebook, which serves the dual purpose of opening his eyes to the existence of a world beyond his own and highlighting its possibilities. Hitherto unconsidered (or disbelieved) realities are presented as a pathway upon which to forge his own destiny.  It's the Tarot Magician as gatekeeper, signpost and luminary of higher knowledge.

However, its also the Trickster, or Charlatan, insofar as the falling Death Note serves Ryuk's agenda first and foremost. Its presence on Earth is set to alleviate the shinigami's boredom.  Light will pick it up and, primarily believing it an elaborate prank, use it to the detriment of his own future.  Not only will it curse his living years, but condemn his eternal being into the dissolution of Mu.  This ultimate destination for Death Note users means that a destiny is foisted upon Light Yagami, manipulated by ignorance and curiosity into foolishly using it without fully translating all of the rules beforehand.

The Death Note wasn't on his side, nor against him.  It's an item; a thing without judgement nor partiality.  It serves an agenda encapsulated by itself.  ('I am that I am' is the So'ham Sanskrit manta; also viewed as the Word of God in Christian mysticism; or 'As above, so below; so below, as above' in Hermetic teachings.  All very much part of The Magician's inner knowledge, and here beautifully descriptive of the Death Note too.)

Secondly, Light actually reads the rules written inside the Death Note.  Here the shinigami notebook becomes The Magician as a teacher; illuminating the arcane knowledge needed to utilize this supernatural tool.  The rules themselves inspire possible ways in which Light may now traverse in order to fulfil his projected destiny.

Even more dramatically comes that third moment of the notebook of death as The Magician in Death Note.  That's when the touch of it allows Light's mind to access his memories, previously locked away through rejection of the artefact.  Perhaps it's not quite what the ancient Magos would view as accessing the higher self, but it serves the same purpose within the storyline.  In an instant, Light Yagami's ignorance is dissolved, when the doors of perception are well and truly opened upon his past.  His destination now reached, just as planned.

Quem Deus perdere vult, dementat prius; quem di diligunt, adolescens moritu.
Those the Gods will destroy, they first make mad; and whom the Gods love dies young.

Hold on!  One missing from this listing of The Wam-Magi as read from the Book of God's New World: 

Bored out of his mind, Il Matto stayed put in Winchester, playing SuperMario and thanking the Gods of the Internet that Kira never came with cyber-terrorism on-line.  Else he'd never have been able to get away with hiding behind his lazy, mad, wise Fool routine; playing Tetris instead of getting himself killed in someone else's war.  So wise he only ever ranked third and remained forever Il Matto.  He probably wouldn't have amounted to much anyway.  Beep, beep, lulwut, nub?

Ok, I've stopped now.

Today we'll be looking at one of the greatest examples of the Fool in manga storytelling - Death Note's Touta Matsuda, NPA agent and one of the courageous few in Japan's Anti-Kira Task Force.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Touta Matsuda is the most archetypal Fool in Death Note - not Ryuk, Light, nor any of the Wammy cohort, as would otherwise be the most obvious choices, though all are the Fools in their own story-lines and some take the role through other avenues.  In the most common iteration of tarot storytelling, the Fool needs to begin the tale in ignorance; commit to the quest; learn incrementally; then finish with their overview of the world complete and often unparalleled, ergo in possession of said World.

Throughout Death Note's epic story, the World is up for grabs. The opening theme tune check-lists it.  L is introduced against the background of a globe. Light famously declares himself 'God of this new world'.  But ultimately Light loses his grip upon said world, and his life too.  L and Mello equally slip from this world to the next. Near can be said to both understand and articulate the Finis Death Note world, but he wasn't there at the beginning,  nor did he start in all innocence of the facts. Ryuk is fabulously Foolish; however, he fulfils the characterisation in the Jester/Joker sense - a Wise Fool indeed. Only one character can be seen to fully embrace the tenets of the Royal Road protagonist tarot Fool and that is Touta Matsuda.

Which makes Death Note fundamentally the story of Matsuda's Fool's Journey.

Regardless of whether you concur with such a emphasis on the young police officer - placing him above even Light Yagami and his main protagonist L in terms of importance to the storyline - Matsuda's brave journey is arguably the thing that binds both arcs (and sub-arcs) together, creating a coherent whole of Death Note's overall narrative, while encapsulating most of its themes.

Moreover, he takes us - the reader/viewer - with him, delivering us back to the beginning with our world utterly changed, ready to strike out again into the unknown.  Our outlook wiser; ourselves more accomplished; experience discerning so much now in what we survey; and our skill-sets honed to perfection within this narrow realm.

No more the Fool, but the Master of this now known domain. Which always makes us much more stupid.  Poised to become the Fool again, or else stagnate without stimulus within an overly familiar terrain.

The Royal Road, or Fool's Journey is one of the oldest, most commonly told tales of all.  You don't have to be a tarot card reader, or know a thing about them, in order to find highly familiar this sequence of events surrounding a certain kind of individual.

Ninety percent of all Hollywood blockbusters and best-selling novels are telling - and retelling in the sequel, then again for the third in the trilogy - the story of a Fool, who embarks upon a great adventure, which changes them and their world(view) forever.   A great many of them also do so by touching upon a series of meetings or circumstances, each relayed in a precise order, which matches that of the Major Arcana in tarot.

It's not that the movie or literary worlds are swamped with secret tarot readers inserting some vast and dodgy agenda.  It's that the Fool's tale mirrors the span of human life itself, therefore has a commonality across all cultures, globally or historically.

Everyone can relate to a plot with such basic building blocks as 'the hero knew nothing, learned some stuff, grew up (physically/mentally/spiritually/whatever fits best), put such learning to the test and/or applied it practically, then the hero knew everything'.   Or at least 'something', often with a reward - if only survival - when retold via celluloid or the printed page.  We all like a happy ending, or failing that, some satisfaction at witnessing just desserts occur.

Those markers set out along the path of the Major Arcana tend to be used by writers and directors for no particularly mystical reason either.  It's because they also represent the most intuitively efficient plot devices to get the Fool from the beginning to the end.

The hero who knows nothing meets someone who opens up their world-view to possibilities (Magician); something/someone occurs to make the hero emotionally connect with what the Magician showed him/her (High Priestess), thus they commit to the journey/quest (Empress).  In order to set out, or survive the trip, they must take on provisions and see to their physical needs (still Empress).  They also need information about the delineation of the quest's boundaries, limits, rules, what it will take to succeed (Emperor), which usually involves finding or inviting in an expert (Yoda... I mean Hierophant).

See what I mean about intuitive, commonplace and common sense storytelling?   That's effectively the end of the first arc in the Major Arcana.

The next tranche of cards deal with the learning process.  In movies, books and manga, this is often learning by adversary, as that adds more dramatic tension than watching the hero sitting in a library and/or writing essays.  Unless it's the movie Karate Kid, wherein the 'wax on, wax off' part gloriously shows us how the Fool learns through practice, revision and sheer hard work.  But back to the Major Arcana.

Having learned all they can about what the journey is, why they should undertake it, committing to it, getting in supplies and information, then perusing the full game-plan, our hero has a choice to make.  Do or do not, there is no try.  Take the quest on, or go home now, there is no time for dithering  (The Lovers).

Alternatively, it can mean what it says on the packet.  The introduction of a love interest and/or partner is beloved of film-makers and book authors both. The inherent dualism usually strengthens or otherwise propels the plot forward, while the will of the individual to stay the course is generally now a foregone conclusion (The Lovers).

Any one of the below could feature as The Lovers moment in the Fool's Journey of Matsuda, and they all happen in quick succession.

The hero then needs to set out their own personal strategy for success (The Chariot), before putting it into action and applying stamina, trust, skill or sheer brute force to see it through (Strength).

Afterwards, there must be a period for reflection, evaluation of the tactics employed, tinkering with them etc, or recovery, depending on what the strategy actually cost in its application (The Hermit).  Otherwise it's time to bring in another expert, usually - again for dramatic tension - the one who won't come out to play for anyone else, but who the Fool charmed with their earnestness and/or passion for the quest (also The Hermit).

End of part two in the Major Arcana's basic story-telling plot touchstones.

Part three in the Fool's journey begins with our hero discovering that you can learn it all and become as skilled and experienced as may be.  But luck will always play its part, for good or ill.  No-one can predict every move nor aspect of their lives.  (Wheel of Fortune)  Either that or our hero gets a kick which momentarily puts them out of the game, or the converse, a boost which raises them in it.  (All still the Wheel of Fortune.) 

However, all being well, everyone should get their just desserts.  The hard worker should bring home a decent pay.  The victimised should see recompense in whatever way is most appropriate.  The baddie should get their comeuppance.  Real life doesn't work like that, but neither is it totally devoid of the same. Just as with fortune and luck, justice is more often served than the cynical could admit. (Justice.)   (NB Some modern, and all earlier, tarot decks placed Justice after The Chariot.  The Golden Dawn switched it around in the 1920s, and most decks since have copied them.)

With all of the elements known and/or in place, the Foolish hero enters a formative stage in their lives.  A time of willing sacrifice for the greater good and/or in exchange for greater insight - Odin in Yggdrasil or Christ on the cross; Light submitting to tortuous detention under the auspices of L; the average student sitting down to write their dissertation.  (The Hanged Man.)  Which, all being well, results in a transformation in being; a sudden escalation of understanding; or something else which sees our Fool shed all past ignorance and grow in whichever way is relevant to their journey.  (Death)

Beyond that, all stabilizes again into a steady work-a-day rhythm.  All fine-tuned skills need time to be applied; all heavy graft requires a period of relaxation to follow.  After all that excitement comes the novelty of boredom, or else an uncoiling to still all jangling sensibilities in a quieter life (Temperance).  Which is nice at first, but soon becomes a tad too hum-drum, familiar and finally downright soul-destroying.

Our hero looks for diversion - any diversion - something to break up the day and/or a life. Temptation hums everywhere (The Devil).  And not every diversion is entirely sensible.  After all that hard work building up to whatever the quest required of its Foolish hero, frustration or the sheer monotony of being did its steady job of erosion.  A mistake which can see the whole edifice falling down (The Tower).  It's time for our hero to learn the lessons of destruction, and how to accept it as the necessary (and often welcome) flip side of creation.  Or, as Kipling put it in the poem If, 'meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same'.

But for most of us, it would take the grace of the Dalai Lama to put such sentiments into actuality, when disappointment, panic and stress abound.  So, being human, we rely upon the second best boon afforded us - hope  (The Star) - and enter a necessary time of sifting through the ruins of a life, shattered dreams or fatally disrupted plans.  A moment of reflection as to what went wrong and what can make it all right again.  Giving ourselves time to mourn, regroup and go on (The Moon).

If our once Foolish hero is able to rise up again from the collapse of everything, then he/she/it can rebound from anything.  Theirs is the confidence come from knowing nothing can hurt nor touch them again, at least nothing from which they can't recover (The Sun).  Then comes the hardest moment of all - the ability to look at oneself, and others, as they truly are.  Without excuses, prejudice, projection nor bias, and gain the final insights available through comparison, acceptance or rejection.  In short, making a judgement call fuelled by all that's been met, learned, experienced and practised on the journey thus far (Judgement).

And if all went according to plan, with no lessons skipped nor learning shirked as irrelevant, the Fool has the wisdom necessary to complete their quest.  They have mastery in this universe.  They own The World.

Given the Death Note creators' propensity to play around with tarot imagery, it's probably no accident that Matsuda's shining moment of heroism, and true enlightenment in grasping the entirety of the story so far, comes in an anime episode called New World.  The final card of tarot's major arcana is The World.

In the manga, this chapter is entitled Curtain, as 'black curtain' (which additionally describes the aesthetics of these pages' black frame) suggests someone orchestrating events behind the scenes, in how the words sound in Japanese.  This according to Tsugumi Ohba, who revealed his reasoning behind the choice of title in Death Note 13: How to Read.  He just skipped the 'black' because there already was a chapter with that in the title, and he didn't want to imply a new character was about to emerge.  His Fool (and therefore unwitting focus for his audience) was already there, hidden in plain view, amongst so many other contenders for the role.

One doesn't have to deliberately, or even knowingly, move events along in order to be the force behind their momentum. Fools, in many a popular epic, tend towards being a catalyst rather than an instigator. Right up until their moment of fruition, when they become the best placed individual to confront whatever rocks their world.  Thus the journey is brought to a climatic end and the Fool is momentarily a Fool no more.  They have gained The World and its secrets have all been revealed.

To which there is no point.  Every story ever has been about the quest. The ending is just the precursor to the credits starting to roll.

The Fool is possibly the most interesting card of the Major Arcana (aka Trump cards). It's certainly unique - integral to all tarot based story-telling to follow, whilst simultaneously standing alone.

For a start, it is the only card to bear a Hindu-Arabic number - zero - if it carries one at all. The rest of the Trump cards are counted in Roman Numerals: I, II, III, IV and so forth. This remains true regardless of where it sits in the tarot deck - for The Fool has been known to wander from the prequel to the end of the Major Arcana (no. 22); or else in between.  Sometimes even drifting over into the minor arcana, where it sits outside any of the suits too.

The Fool is not numbered in Roman numerals with the other Major Arcana, because it doesn't really matter where it's positioned.  It's omnipresent; fitting in everywhere, and nowhere.

Even while seen as something apart, The Fool tends to play a part in proceedings, and can take a myriad of forms. This includes the environments, situations or states of mind that are nominally governed by any other card in the Tarot deck, but is especially true where the Major Arcana are concerned.

Many of which are found with Death Note's narrative.  But first...

Words like 'arcana' and 'tarot' have been thrown around without me once delving into what they mean.  Thus you have no context for the folly to follow.  Let me fill in the blanks with explanation to define this world for you.

'Arcana' means 'secrets' or 'mysteries'.  It's plural.  One secret, one mystery, would be arcanum.  The Major Arcana are the big ones, known only to a select few.  The Minor Arcana is where the humdrum of ordinary things are hidden; far more accessible by the masses in society.  The latter make up the suits in common playing cards, which anyone can use.

This is where you'll find the minutiae of minor mysteries and everyday miracles - birth, death, love, hate, money, loss, friendship, family, long-time sickness, health, happiness, fear and all those other small things that may be found on any urban community sprawl.  They  make up reality, but they don't make it.

The former aren't in your average poker pack.  You can't use them to deal a hand in Blackjack or Snap.  They aren't a game for just anyone to play. 
That concealed in the Major Arcana is the domain of privilege - which means 'private law' - the preserve of rulers and the elite.  Their secrets and mysteries describe the process by which reality is formed; the building blocks for the creation and definition of a new world order.

For example, the commoners may have all the babies they like, and learn the arcana of childbirth. But it is their priests, law-makers, and leaders of the moral majority who tell them whether having that baby was alright.  Stepping out of line can mean social ostracisation, imprisonment, that infant taken from you or anything else which asserts control by those who have dominion over this particular realty; who own the domain or real estate.

Who shape this realm's reality. 

'Tarot' means 'colour' or 'illustration'.  Collectively, these cards paint a picture of the human world in which we live, its society, hierarchy and all the rest. While the minor arcana tells the story, the context is made from the major.  That's the arcana to illuminate the blocking blocks; point out the strings to pull; and fill in the fine detail with colour.  Those privy to the ways of the Major Arcana get to become Gods of the New World - or at least try.

Which is pretty much the story at the heart of Death Note too.

However, there is one to transcend arcana - one of the Trump cards, but also present in an ordinary deck of playing cards.  The wild card going wherever it will; difficult to pin down, yet with the potential to bring about the downfall of emperors and saints.  The hidden force behind it all.  The alpha and omega of any given tale - jester to some; joker to others; and in tarot, The Fool.

The most obvious Royal Road undertaken in Death Note is that by Light Yagami.  When he first picked up the fallen notebook of death, he had no idea what it was nor what it might mean.  He was curious enough to find out. 

His ignorance was blunted with a perusal of the rules written inside.  After about three seconds worth of dismissing it all as a foolish prank, he decided to be that Fool.  Testing out the pages to see if someone really would die.  I mean, what's the worst that might happen?  Yep, what it said on the packet, or in this case, fly-sheet.  So Light continued using it, stepping foolhardily into the dark unknown, though he had no idea what it might mean for himself personally.

In fact, his best guess was that the shinigami would come for his soul, like the Death Note's usage was some Faustian pact.  Not at all literally - though it might as well be - Light was willing to sign a contract with the Devil, in order to journey yet further into the reality shaking conventions of this strange new book.

Did it send him insane?  That's another reading of The Fool - the madness inherent in losing all sense of that otherwise universal conviction that all share the same reality.  We don't.  Nurture, nature, the quicks of physicality and all those myriad personal influences, not to mention perspective, mean that none of us receive the same data, nor interpret it simultaneously and in the same way.   Nontheless, pretending that there's one dominion of the real (or royal) shared by all keeps us from straying onto such foolish pathways.

Light Yagami typifies the Fate of those who do.  With no-one to bounce his new reality off, but a semi-divine being who previously had no data to exist, Kira slips ever further into unreality.  Until he can't even see what everyone else judges to be real.  In his arrogance, he over-reaches his own domain and the resultant mistakes lead Mello and Near right to him, lending proof to their case.

Until finally, ranting without sight of any objective reality, Light attempts  a secondary fall - this time from grace, as espoused by his task force, and from secrecy, in letting his veil of truth slip.   As he made his confession - I am Kira! And also God of this New World! - he sparked a seismic shift in the perceptions of most there present.  Confirming not only the reality of the Death Note, shinigami and all, but also his prolonged part its usage.

No wonder they shot him.  Thus precipitating his third and final fall, from existence and being into Mu.

The Fool in the sense of 'an empty-headed Fool' now embodied nothingness.  Back to the beginning again.

The Fool is the thorn in the side of reality; ergo those who own its real estate too. 

As wild card, it has partial immunity to the wiles and ways of the Major Arcana. Standing aside, yet also part of the minor arcana, so unable to be dismissed out of hand.  Despite the fact that the Fool will not, can not, or else alone decides when and where to, view the world as written by its creators of reality.  And that is dangerous insofar as it places a crack in the veneer of the real, which could fracture the picture entirely. Or else may breed revolution or dissent.

It has always been the province of kids and Fools to tell the Emperor that he wears no clothes.

Unwittingly or not, the Fool commands the story.  Acting as its fail-safe, in madness, ridicule, wit or slap-stick, this card can bring about the fall of all pretenders to power.  Worse still, the Fool could simply walk away, consigning the disregarded erstwhile God to nothingness.  Dissolving into the essential arcana that which allowed him/her/it to arise.

And the great cosmic joke seems ever historically to be that the watchful masses follow more gladly those with the power to entertain. They will dismiss any who leave them bored.

Why else do you think US presidential candidates spend $40m and more on their campaigns?  Those spellbound foolish Americans demand their spectacle, just like everybody else, and those seeking to impress them need to pay enough entertainers to ensure that everybody sing their song.

Of course back in the day, no millions were needed to make rulers stand tall before their reality's subjects.  Only a good deal of generous hospitality, or a tame bard or two.

Tarot cards arose in their modern from the medieval period, when Jesters and Joculators (Jokers) represented all that remained of the once proud Bardic System.   A branch of Druidry subsumed under Christianity; the staple of the old, crushed, Celtic courts.  Much of this tradition - tarot and bardic alike - came from France, where the groves of the Bretons and Gauls once dotted the land, and the great Romances bloomed.

An elite then who knew the dangers inherent in bards - who wove better stories then them in songs and recited tales, who could speak on behalf of people and spread dissent - hence doing all to reduce their power.  Edward I, for example, had over 500 Welsh bards killed, when they refused to sign praise-songs to him on their harps.   Others across the old Celtic lands of Europe followed his lead, if not his scale.

Most simply froze them out.  Not giving them a platform to sing at their hearth.  Give or take those who could be trusted to toe the line.  The rest wandered about as minstrels, denounced from throne and pulpit alike, and the foolish congregations by and large turned against them.

Skip forward a century or so, and the drip-drip of reduction in stature has allowed courts to keep 'jesters', who tell 'jokes' that are simply ridiculous instead of pointing ridicule at their sire.  Thus the Fool became silly, idiotic, without the power to sting.  Sort of.  The harp of my country survived - how about yours?

And this, I think, is the final point about the Fool.  He exists everywhere because he is legion.  He's included in the tarot, because he - or the idea of him - is still a threat.  All who tell and hear stories are the Fools, and that power could never be reduced.  All hail the story-tellers.  Bards and Fools all.

They were there at the beginning.   They remain irretrievably linked at the end.  We feel their influence in every nuance of the story, and reference them whenever any other version is told.  They were there every step of the way, yet never once appear in it at all.

Of course, the Fools we talk of here are the story-tellers:  Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata; and those who heard their tale:  you, me and the whole Death Note fandom.  We fell for it big-time and wouldn't let them fail.  Within the confines of this story, we judged them Gods of this manga universe; instigators and arbitrators of canon. In our minds and imaginations at least, their Death Note domain became real; its creators had (re)written reality.

Yet even the author and artist of Death Note, widely acclaimed and heralded as the best in their genre, could fail in the final judgement.  Even there, the fandom retained the potential to walk away as bored Fools lured into watching the spectacle elsewhere.

For evidence, just see the widespread rejection of the belated canon-directed colouring for Matt.  He's got brown eyes and brown hair, Death Note fans were informed, a decade after the fanon colouring had been fixed.  You're wrong, a few louder Fools yelled back at the Mangaka Gods.  But most simply said nothing at all.  Just pretended they hadn't heard a thing, and continued to colour Matt with blue/green eyes and bright red hair.  The shift denoted nothing and faded into nothingness. 

But on balance, the reality Ohba-sensei and Obata-sensei wrought remained.  It was enough to win them The World.

When it seems a new Kira has emerged from the ether, former SPK agents Hal Lidner and Anthony Rester approach Near to see what he's going to do about it. After all, he is the new L now and everyone knows that L takes on Kira.  Or does he? 

Well, yeah, as long as he accepts that his opponent really is Kira.  If not, then why take a Fool's Journey along the same old pathway, as directed by an imitator. Near's already taken those steps and learned those lessons. He's already in possession of that world.  As underscored and illustrated throughout this one-shot Death Note manga sequel by use of tarot imagery.

L's successor - now L - quite literally occupies The World in tarot.  He's created a whole world from the cards!

As Matsuda makes clear before we even glimpse Near, the current L is in a position of considerable power in this new post-Kira world.  Especially as regards understanding and information. 

The story takes place nine years after Light Yagami received a Death Note from the Shinigami Ryuk, and three years since his serial killing persona Kira was killed by the same. All of which was not only orchestrated and witnessed by Near, but he also obtained custody of said Death Note AND calls the shots on what details enter the public sphere.  There is some intelligence known for certain only to Near - like the whereabouts/Fate of that deadly notebook - which he expects others simply to take his word on trust.

Near not only has the keenest overview of this world as far as Kira concerns it, but he is able to determine all future aspects of Kira within it.  Light Yagami might once have thought himself God of This New World. But in reality, it turned out to be Near.

He and/or the Death Note creators - Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata - choose to express that with use of the tarot, tarot cards and the Fool's Journey through the Major Arcana (though the latter is largely implied).   And by 'Near's world in tarot cards', I mean that quite explicitly.

When Hal Lidner and Anthony Rester enter Near's hub, it's to find themselves confronted by a wall of cards.  Superimposed against a view of the city, representing the world outside.

We see this urban sprawl first. It's a telescoping within from tower, as context and location, to room as specific spot wherein lurks the current L. But it also emphasizes the fact that we're seeing their environment/territory/universe.  At its centre, there's Near; architect and creator of the cityscape in cards.

In truth, these could be any old cards (though the minor arcana in tarot is the four suits of playing cards anyway).  However, it's made overt in the next clutch of panels that Near chose tarot with which to build his card tower's massive expanse.

After underscoring again that that Near knows everything (the panel after this states that he's 100% certain that a Death Note is involved in the latest killing spree by one labelled Kira via those denizens of the world wide web), he goes on to prioritize in importance the safety of his 'tarot card tower'.

The world he's constructed in the wake of the previous Kira tops that being introduced by this new one.

I have repeatedly used 'The World' in conjunction with Near in this Death Note manga special. This is no accidental over-usage of the words. The World is the last card of the tarot's major arcana. It's the final trump to play.  It's what there is to play for.

The World's meaning is to return to the beginning but, as the poet says, see it again for the first time.  Those in control of The World, or in a World state, recognize the signs for an environment in which they originally tramped through in all ignorance. Only this time they have the overview; experience from lesson's learned and teachers along the way; and incorporate within their own personalities the archetypes enacted by the previous arcana.

To enter The World is to complete the circle, thus finish the story.  Typically, the possessor of The World will ape the stance of The Fool from card zero. Only instead of blithely heading straight towards an unseen cliff-edge, they will note the abyss before them, smile knowingly and step right over it.  Then they fly.

It achieves a bird's eye view of everything below in manageable, surmountable, graspable miniature. All they survey, they know.  The World is their oyster; it belongs to them entirely.

Thus is Near situated here.  Warning Lidner and Rester not to 'knock over his tarot card tower' - The World he holds; built of all he mastered in the journey towards its construction - because that would indicate a brand, new world for the making.  But first, he has to double check.  Only then can he soar over his cliff-edge in complete (intellectual) ownership of all he surveys.

It has to be assumed that Near understands the symbolism and archetypes inherent in the tarot. At least, insofar as that's all we ever see from his decks, those of the major arcana.  Assuming that he hasn't just got a pack arranged precisely beside him at all times, then Near is seen picking a card at random in order to begin his contemplation of L.

As his Wammy predecessor on the original Kira case, L may be viewed as the original Fool.  The first one to undertake this journey, which Near then inherited. Therefore all cards in the tarot would pertain to L.

And to Near too, upon the same journey.  He and L together may take an overview through the way-makers and ponder the states learned, mastered and/or understood.  His insight isn't into one specific point, but them all.  If Near knew less about the tarot, then he might have opted for a single card, one which he knew intimately and/or triggered the pensive subject.

Moreover, because he inherited this case from L the original Fool, it's to L's mindset Near must return to identify the start.  There to recognize it most fully when it's viewed again from the end.  'What would L do?' pretty much delineates the boundaries of this quest; the rules of the game, determining failure or success; and what Near must consider most important of all in concluding the same right now.

If you like, L drew the lines in the sand to begin the battle.  Now Near has to return to where that was, in order to draw a line under the Kira case, so to end it.

It may be of interest to contemplate the other cards spread out around Near's Death (Light Yagami) and Fool (C-Kira) cards.  They don't actually seem all that random, when placed in conjunction with Near's known history; and the card he surveyed whilst holding the L puppet aloft might be surmised. 

First there's Strength, which is pretty much what it says on the packet.  That's the sheer endurance and brute force intellect required to survive The Wammy House for Gifted and Talented Orphans.  Followed by The Priestess - the inspiration for entering the quest, or reason to be upon that great Fool's Journey - aka Roger telling Near and Mello that L was dead and Kira was reigning unchecked. 

Both are already on the floor by the time Near picks out a card to contemplate with L.  Later panels show that to be The Hermit - the isolated light in the darkness, which both Near and Mello would have represented at that time.  In short, Near's own instance of inheriting L's Fool's quest, and bringing himself up to speed in following the clues rippling out from L's investigation. 

This is followed by The Star, which could be summarized as 'hope', i.e. when Near sourced the means to fully integrate himself into the Kira case.  Then Death - Kira - and The Fool - C-Kira. 

It could be that Near is merely hunting through a tarot deck looking for the two that will illustrate his mind-set and direct his musing, discarding all others along the way.  Or it could be that he's spelling out the story thus far, in order to reach his conclusion.  Revisiting major markers on his own journey to this moment, so to recognize the reality of the situation in which he now finds himself.

Seeing The World for the cliff-edge it is, thus finding the courage to soar above it.

It is the prerogative of the enlightened Fool, at the end of their Journey, with all their lessons learned, situations enacted and archetypal states fully realised to return to the beginning and see it again with its truths revealed.  The Wise Fool in possession of The World gets to soar beyond with a smile on their faces, enjoying a bird's eye view of all the components which make up reality. 

In mastery of their dominion, those claiming The World in tarot cards may even dictate its reality to others (though such elevated, returning Fools in symbolic reality generally feel no need to; displays of power play like that not only appear trifling but meaningless too in the face of other Fools and other realities). 

Thus Near finishes his contemplation of The World by opting out of it.  But not before he's seen pronouncing his conclusion through an overview of everything, as represented by a whole wall of tarot cards, each carrying their own component towards the whole picture.

Viewed close up, Near seems to be symbolically revisiting a similar point on his own 'true' journey; contrasting this apparently easy conclusion with one which wasn't so simple to conclude.  Compare this frame with Near's previous derogation of Light Yagami's Kira.

Then we pull away for the long shot and know that Near truly has returned to the beginning and seen it for the first time. That he really has seen and accepted his truth in The World; that he is no mere successor to L, but L himself.  With the power to disdain lesser distractions that would teach him nothing new; to reject imprisonment inside an arena begun and delineated by some other Fool; to step away from The World, over the cliff top, and into new journeys bespoke to himself.

The Hermit's illumination, with Mello in hand (literally) to spark the courage for chaotic dismantlement, quickly escalated into Near knowing to pull down his own tarot card tower, and build the whole thing anew.  After all, Near now owned The World.

Incidentally, this gets quite poignant when you realise whom Near is addressing here.  That speech bubble for his unseen partner in discussion is L.  It's the style used whenever L speaks through a monitor - over a television screen or computer - alongside a letter upon a white background. Throughout this Death Note One-Shot Special, that was Near himself speaking publicly as L.

Or put another way, this is Nate River conversing with Near right at the point when he mentally and emotionally accepts that he is L.  When he steps free of The World as delineated by L. Lawliet and embarks upon new worlds of his own discovery, and journeys of his own destiny.

A final world compares the images of Near from the beginning and end of this Death Note One-Shot Special. The front cover artwork depicts him still very much a successor to L, continuing the ways of his idol until completion of that particular journey.  Near's own voice is overtly silenced, subsumed beneath a finger-puppet of L. Himself acting entirely as L's proxy.

We travel through the story, witnessing Near's final leap from Wammy heir to the L Code to one actually in possession of it, mentally as well as physically.  There is no Lawliet by the final depiction of Near, in the manga's closing artwork.  Though Near now looks more like L than ever before, and sits confidentially beneath a shining tag proclaiming the same - backwards, forwards and in black and white.

In terms of tarot, there are characteristics in the former which suggest that of The Sun tarot card.  Blazing far more keenly than The Hermit ever could, The Sun indicates those seeing their own being, environment and all anew.  They aren't necessarily illuminated, but ARE the illumination.  "Who are you?", asked The Fool of the Sun.  "I am you." The Sun replied.

It's the final stage before Judgement calls and, beyond that, The World.

There are fewer indicators that the last piece of artwork in Death Note's canon series depicts Near as archetype of The World.  Nor can we totally dismiss it.  There are no symbol creatures in each corner, but that central topmost circle could pass for a globe, and Near himself - L-esque as he appears - could arguably be perched with his back against a cliff-top; or at least the dark unknown.

Nevertheless it's a stretch, so we'll leave this here.

The appearance of tarot cards in Death Note is heralded by Near's shopping list, presented to Anthony Rester, of things that he requires in order to investigate the Kira case. Amid items such as 'plastic models', 'inflatable pool', 'secret base set', 'radio controlled rubber duck' and a 'Christmas tree', Near asked for 'Tarot cards... $250'. That's a pretty expensive deck of tarot!

It's to Near we return, time and again, to see how tarot is used in Death Note.

The deck of tarot cards used by Near in Death Note appears to have been invented by Takeshi Obata (or prompted for him to draw by writer Tsugumi Ohba). At least it's not one that I've ever seen outside the Death Note universe, nor have any fans apparently found a real world set.  Surely a marketing opportunity lost right there.

Anthony Rester's tarot purchase on behalf on Near was first revealed in the manga: Death Note Chapter 78 Prediction.  Those scenes later appeared in the anime: Death Note Episode 30 Justice.

In both the Death Note anime and manga, Near lays his tarot cards out in a very specific way.  They are arrayed in a circle around himself, with most of the cards used in this manner, while a small pile remains to sit inside with him.

While I can't claim to know every single tarot card spread in existence, this one is a new configuration on me. It's difficult to know how it would - or indeed could - be read in a predictive context.

There are roughly 40-44 tarot cards precisely placed in a circle around Near.  As there are seventy-eight cards in most packs, this constitutes the majority of them.   They appear even more densely packed in version shown in the anime of how Near lays out his tarot cards.

Circular tarot spreads tend to use far fewer cards. The most I've encountered are sixteen piles, with thirteen or twelve (or zodiacal spreads of tarot) being more common.  This isn't to say that Near hasn't invented his own, or else knows a way that I haven't seen before.  Just that it's rather surprising and probably for visual effect only.

The question being - for whose?

The titles of the Death Note scenes where tarot cards are featured contain hints of their usage.

In the manga, this is Chapter 78 - there are usually 78 cards in a tarot deck.  The chapter is entitled Prediction. Fortune telling is how tarot is most famously employed, though by no means the only way in which they might be used.

Moreover, in Death Note 13: How to Read, author Tsugumi Ohba claimed that he chose the title based upon the predictions given by Near and Light respectively.  Namely that there is a fake rule (Near) and that Mello would contact the Japanese Kira Task Force (Light).  No mention of tarot in this context at all, though it would seem the obvious source.

In the anime, the scenes in which Near reads tarot cards occur in Episode 30: Justice.  There's nothing particularly meaningful about the number 30 in tarot, but there is a card usually labelled Justice.

Absolutely the most clichéd use of a tarot card in popular culture comes with the misuse of the Death card.  The problem is that viewers, or readers, think they know what it means. You don't have to be a tarot reader to interpret that Death is bound to translate into a fatality. It doesn't look good for the person whose fortune is being told, which is why it works so well for dramatic effect.

Unfortunately for the storytelling plot, the Death card in tarot rarely means actual, physical death for any individual uncovering it.

As an aside, a group of us tarot readers once challenged ourselves to come up with a configuration of cards which would genuinely denote an imminent loss of life. As in unequivocally could not be read in any other way.  It was hard work, with much toing and froing and debate, but we eventually arrived at something. Every card was one of the minor arcana.  They did not feature the major arcana card Death.

So how did Death Note do with its use of the tarot Death card?

At first glance, quite badly.  Near waves the Death card about whilst discussing Shinigami, rules of the Death Note and finally focuses upon it as he tells Light and the Japanese Task Force that he plans to murder Mello. None of which are particularly covered by that card's tarot meaning.

At least not in isolation.

Though, of course, Near could just be using the Death tarot card as a symbolic prop and not reading it at all. In which case, it very nicely indicates a Death God, an instrument of death and a vigilante brand of enacting capital punishment upon his erstwhile foster brother.

However, that's not precisely how and when Near links events with his Death card.

In tarot, the Death card signifies an ending of something - usually a situation or circumstance, rather than a life. It might just as well have been called a breakthrough card or closure of a chapter, than the more evocative Death.

Near doesn't turn over  his card until the moment when he's found a rule which can't be proven true given the known facts of the Kira case.  Unless, of course, Light Yagami really was innocent, which Near doesn't believe.

Therefore the appearance of the Death card in Death Note marks a watershed moment whereby Near's investigation genuinely threatens Kira's security, and Light's previously watertight alibi.  It's also the first fruits from the beginning of a new arc, in which Mello and Near (not entirely willingly) work together to defeat their mutual adversary.

Death Note's creators may have employed this tarot card in a purely symbolic way or not, but it also fits the plot.

A second card gets flicked over, as Near realises that the second L - à la Kira - can see and speak with a shinigami. Bringing another of the major arcana into play seems to denote that some progress has been made.  Two cards to signify that they've taken a step forward.

It could also be seen very symbolically without recourse to knowledge of tarot cards.  If Kira is Death, then he was tempted into it by a supernatural force, i.e. the Death God.  (Who was no doubt seen as demonic anyway, especially in the Western mind, amid all that Christian imagery dotted throughout Death Note.)  Who better then to represent Ryuk in tarot than The Devil?

However, as it happens, The Devil in tarot is exactly the right card for Ryuk, particularly in this situation.

If you're reading from an Abrahamic background (Jew, Christian, Muslim etc.), then please put aside all you know of The Devil/Satan. This tarot card skirts about the edges of that persona, but it isn't an exact fit. For that you need to reach further into the inspiration for the modern Devil - Pan, Bacchus/Dionysus etc.  This is a deity/demi-god who exists for hedonistic pleasure. He will grant your every desire and give you tools to satisfy your greatest craving.  Thus teaching the individual the meaning of the old adage: be careful what you wish for, it might come true.

You only have to see the addict in thrall to their next hit, or those crushed beneath debt because they really couldn't afford all those things that they bought, in order to see how instant gratification and receiving all that you wanted might go badly wrong.

In the case of Kira, it was that Ryuk presented him with power usually beyond the scope of any mere human. Light Yagami's wish for a better world made him reach for the Death Note.  His use of it ultimately controlled him, rather than the other way around.  Ryuk has frequently stated that he's on nobody's side.  He's there for the lulz, as it were. But here he is providing Light/Kira/2nd L with the lie required to continue satisfying his need to remain in power.

That is The Devil of the tarot, and the Death God of the manga/anime alike.  At any time, Light could have stopped. Ryuk doesn't force him into this course of action.  He just facilitates it.

That Near turns over The Devil card at the point whereby Ryuk lies on Kira's behalf is exactly right. That was the moment of facilitation, not merely that of being present. 

In both the manga and anime, Death Note's tarot scenes with Near aren't so much fortune-telling - nor the Prediction of its chapter title - as seeing the cards used as commentary upon what's already occurring.  Near isn't 'reading' tarot cards per se.  He's providing illustrations to highlight the important clues unfolding.

If he'd merely picked those cards at random from the tarot pack, then they really were worth the $250 in precision, and Near is undoubtedly the most intuitive character in manga history.

But he didn't pick either of them at random.

Look again at how the sequence with The Devil tarot card in the Death Note anime plays out to witness how Near selects his tarot cards quite purposefully.

Step One:  Near sits in the midst of his circle of tarot cards. He's selected just a handful - five or six at most - and flicks through them overlooked by Hal Lidner and Anthony Rester.  As his conversation with Light Yagami goes on, Near's index finger pauses upon a single card among the tarot in his hand.  His fingertip strokes back and forth along its rim.

Analysis:  Near hasn't yet reached a firm conclusion upon what's occurring with the Second L (Light/Kira). Each tarot card in his hand represents a possibility.

Step Two:  Near suddenly whips the card free of those in his hand. But he holds it away from himself, with its picture aspect concealed from his own view.  His gaze is actually upon the Death card upturned on the carpet before him.  Meanwhile, Near tells Light that he knows there is a fake rule in the Death Note and asks his opinion upon which it is.  Light - in the guise of (second) L - answers that it's the 13 day rule.

Analysis:  Until now, The Devil card has symbolized one of a final handful of strong contenders for what's going on. Near has promoted it to most likely scenario, but cannot acknowledge it as fact until he's tested his theory.

Step Three:  As Light asks Ryuk to confirm whether or not there is a fake rule in the Death Note, Near smiles and turns The Devil card towards himself.  He does so at the moment that Ryuk asserts that there are no fake rules, thus lying to maintain Light Yagami's prior alibi against accusations of being Kira.

In that pose, Near clarifies that there is indeed a shinigami present, and confirms that the answer was that all Death Note rules are truly stated.

Analysis:  Near has already deduced that there should be a shinigami present, as he suspects that Light Yagami is Kira.  What he was testing was whether the relationship between Kira and Ryuk is akin to that state of affairs governed in tarot by The Devil card.  Near knows there is a fake rule, so Ryuk's denial of the fact confirms Near's favoured theory.  

From a pack of 78 tarot cards, Near has now homed in on one - The Devil - to describe Kira's inner sanctum and mindset, and Ryuk's position within the scenario too.  This sets the tempo for what will later play out in the Yellow Box warehouse.  In short, Near just nailed Light Yagami's psychology; Ryuk's facilitative indifference; and his own end game.  All with a single tarot card to provide context.

Step Four: Near might hold his card close to his heart, but only physically.  In actuality, he's crowing his victory - repeating to Light precisely what just happened.  That the confirmation wasn't that the Death Note rules aren't fake, but that a shinigami will lie in capitulation to Kira's will.

Whilst speaking, Near throws down The Devil card, so it lands upturned upon the Death card.

Analysis:  Thus Near is able to finally play his card - The Devil previously selected - whilst spelling out to all listening (the remaining SPK, plus the entire Japanese Task Force, in addition to Light and Ryuk) that the shinigami's presence confirms Kira's presence too.

Moreover, Near's just shown that the Death God will lie for Kira, inserting fake rules to provide him with an alibi. Therefore Light Yagami's innocence is no longer proven.  He could still be, and almost certainly is, Kira.

He never once mentions The Devil, though Hal, Anthony and the unseen Stephen would be able to see Near deal his tarot card.  Nevertheless, Near has tripped Light up by triggering the weakness inherent to all in that state of being highlighted by The Devil in tarot.

Conclusion:  Near uses the tarot in Death Note as psychological profiling tools.  Not fortune-telling at all, just props for his own thought processes and theory categorization.

A trio of Death Note News columnists are about to come on board, with the first being posted later on today.  Yep, that's right. You wait two years for one, and three of them turn up at once!  It's all very exciting.

So who have we got for you?

The first monthly column will be penned by New Zealander Nathaniel Brown - a man who subscribes to several Schools of Thought.  At least when he's applying them to Death Note.

A thinker and a philosopher, Nathaniel will be leading us through some of the great theories and worldly perspectives across the range of human experience.  But doing it all through the lens of Death Note characters, plot-lines and whatever else from manga, anime or live action might illuminate the angle taken.

It might be Aristotle, Descartes, Confucius or whomever, depending upon the month, but what I can guarantee is that it'll be enjoyable. 

No Philosophy degree needed to read and contribute to the debate. Just a willingness to join with Nathaniel as he over thinks Death Note, all in the name of fun.

Look for his inaugural column in an hour or two from now.

No idea if that's what the column will ultimately be called, as this welcome to the team is very fresh, and we're yet to fine tune the details.

Yet Lucas King himself is no stranger to Death Note News.  He's guest blogged before and orchestrated for himself an instant fan-base, when he composed those missing Death Note themes for Matt.

Lucas will be taking a wider view of the musical array in Death Note tunes - from soundtracks to tributes, across the spectrum of canon, fanon and all the rest. Probably.  Like I said, it's early days yet and anything still is possible.

An original composer of Death Note music himself - albeit from the fandom community - Lucas King's occasional column for Death Note News promises to be insightful, expert and downright entertaining.  Find it in the future and enjoy.

Talking about looking to the future, do you recall that moment in the Death Note anime when Near laid out his tarot deck and turned them over to shocking symbolism? 

There was Death staring straight back at us. Chilling in any context but one which habitually has a Shinigami prancing about in full view upon our screens.

Also utterly erroneous in its reading, according to long-time connoisseur of these cards and Death Note fan, Tarot Mikami.  Loving the play on words in that pseudonym there!

'Probably monthly',  her Death Note News column will explore the genre and story through the literary device of the Fool's Journey. Along the way, you'll learn how to read tarot cards, not only with reference to Death Note - though that's how we'll come to understand it - but using any deck you care to handle.

We'll also find out why Near's tarot scene was all about the imagery and nothing to do with the reading (well, who would have thought...?).  Sneaky boy.

Death Note Tarot Tales with Tarot Mikami will appear anon, almost certainly within the next couple of weeks.  Another fabulous new insight into our favourite manga universe.