I know I’m going out of order, but recently I determined what The Hermit represents in the Chuthulu Dark Art Tarot deck, so I’m a tad excited to share my interpretation. The hermit is the 9th card in the deck, and usually the card depicts an older man up on a hill shining some light. The hermit as an archetype is a knowledgeable character who can show the way to others, which is why the card signifies instrospection, isolation, meditation, study, and concentration, and in a way this does match the character I think this card is depicting.
In the story, The Alchemist, we follow a narrator who explains his childhood as well as the sinister curse placed on his lineage. Every descendent dies mysteriously at the age of 32, but the narrator, Antoine, reveals though he is the last of this line he has made it to hundred some odd years of age. Born to a noble line, as a child he was alone left only with an old servant who isolated him from the world so he may avoid learning of his curse. Stuck in his family’s decrebid old castle, Antoine eventually discovers his fate from his servant and recounts all the mysterious deaths as well as the origin of the curse. Hundreds of years ago, Antoine’s ancestor, a king, murders an alchemist who the kingdom believed was evil when the prince goes missing. They find the boy unharmed in the castle, but the son of the alchemist, Charles Le Sorcier, curses the king and his line, killing the king at the age of 32. Knowing this, Antoine studies alchemy in hopes of sparing his life, but finds no way to lift the the curse, and one day while exploring the castle, finds a staircase that leads to a door he cannot open. When he turns around, however, the door opens revealing an old man clad in black robes, with sunken cheeks, white marble-like skin, long claw-like hands, and black abysmal eyes. The man attempts to kill Antoine, but Antonie sets him on fire with his torch and escapes through the door he could not move only to find a laboratory. The dying man reveals that he is Charles Le Sorcier and with the elixir of life, has been murdering all of the descendants himself.
The alchemist, Charles Le Sorcier is the hermit in this card. He is a recluse who dicovers the greatest secret, that of eternal life. He entrenched himself in his studies, isolated from the world, though he is also a symbol of fear and paranoia to the narrator. For anyone interested, Blue Osyter Cult released a song called The Alchemist based on this Lovecraft story, but from the perspective of the villian.
EspressoComSaudade 