Knight of Swords

Know-it-all

The Knight of Swords has all the answers. “I’ve got it!” they shout, rushing headlong into the fray to tell everyone the truth. It’s a confident, bold, and dynamic card.

The thing is, they may be right, or they may be wrong. The Knight of Swords doesn’t usually take the time to check. It looks like they’re thinking with their mind, but what they’re really listening to is ego: This is how I need the truth to be. This is me and what I’m fighting for. There’s a heck of a lot of ‘I’ in those ‘truths’, and this card can point to a need to unpick some of this, some of this entanglement of your own identity with objective facts.

As a teenager, there’s that theme of immaturity again. Wielding that sword of truth with a kinda clumsy determination, the Knight hasn’t taken the time to fact-check or think about consequences. They’ve got an opinion and it’s time for everyone to hear it. The impulse is egotistic, but there’s also a genuine belief here that they are right and that their campaign is fair and just (a dedicated social justice activist may find themselves embodying this character, even with the best intentions). The Knight of Swords can certainly be self-righteous. There’s arrogance too, of course – there is arrogance in every Knight.

Still – sometimes this impulsive ‘tell it like it is’ energy is what a situation needs. Someone to shake things up a little, make a controversial statement or, just maybe, speak an important and genuine truth. The Knight of Swords isn’t known for being careful, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily wrong.

The Knight of Swords may also be a person with a chip on their shoulder. Maybe you’ve been nursing a grudge, or running over and over some past hurt in your mind. This person can be bitter, resentful, or obsessive. In Pamela Colman-Smith’s version of this card, the knight gallops from right to left, as if towards the past. There is certainly a theme here of being hung up on past events, choosing to dwell in old hurt rather than move forwards.

Special skills: Not afraid to speak the truth.