Tarot: Gilmore Girls Edition, Part 2

If you haven’t already, check out Part 1 where we cover Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.

But now we go onto the O.G.’s - the Original Gilmores - Richard and Emily.

These two are tough, particularly Emily. If you’ve watched the show as much as I have, you may view her as a very complex character. At times, I sympathize with her being treated poorly from her daughter, the Queen of Wands (reversed typically when dealing with Emily). But it’s the little glimpses into Emily’s motivations that make her so compelling. While her actions may be problematic, her intentions are typically good. She’s seen a lot and knows what it takes to survive in the cutthroat world of the upper crust.

Emily Gilmore: May it come as no surprise.

• The Queen of Swords is what I eventually landed on for Emily. She is a woman of experience, she’s been burned a fair few times to know that your closest friends might be your biggest enemies. She holds a keen perceptiveness into the motivations of others but is not triggered into making foolish mistakes. She plays a long game, calculating life like a game of chess. She’s dangerous with information because she’ll use it how she sees fit and has no one in the way of confidantes. She operates in the shadows, works behind the scenes. This comes from experience.

  Knowing Lorelai wouldn’t approve, she sneakily approaches Rory about a coming out debutante ball (knowing she’ll say yes because Rory’s a grade A people pleaser). She secretly buys Lorelai a home (to Lorelai’s dismay?). Remember Rory’s birthday party in which she was pimping her out to the other rich kids? We see her thought process in full at the D.A.R. fundraiser when she seats Mrs. Huntzberger and her pals at a table only those in the know would scoff at and has some choice words to share when Mrs. Huntzberger does in fact scoff.

  With power comes responsibility, but sometimes it feels this Queen feels responsible for making other peoples business her own, and it feels more like a game of manipulation just for the power trip. Who’s to say?

  And spoiler alert, I just have to mention that her storyline was my favorite in Year In the Life. She lays down her sword and war map and retreats to a quiet life.

• Honorable Mentions:

  • The Empress - Reversed, let’s be for real. This bitch started it all.

  • Queen of Pentacles - We know she’s not leaving the house without a head-to-toe Chanel lewk.

  • The Hermit - Only because Year In the Life, her storyline had the most somber yet satisfying ending she lays down her sword and war map and retreats to a quiet life after a year of deep introspection.

Richard Gilmore: The man behind the Girls.

• The Emperor, no doubt. He is the face of authority with his tall stature, sitting at the head of the table reading the New York Times over his grapefruit for breakfast before heading off to hit the links, swooning new clientele. He likes structure and routine. He basically loses his mind what he “retires”, driving Emily and eventually Lorelai crazy. He needs to be in charge of something. He keeps a tidy ship and expects all on board to respect the order of operations. When a 16-year-old Lorelai gets pregnant, he’s arranging the marriage and maps out the rest of her and Christophers lives. And with that. . .

  When he feels disrespected, he might come off as a tyrant, driving his daughter away. He tries to punish Rory, a grown adult, when he finds out she’s been getting frisky with Logan in the pool house.

  To top it off, the man sells insurance, his job is to evaluate risk. It’s apparent this is also how he walks through life.

• Honorable Mentions:

  • King of Pentacles - This is who he is without the controlling nature.

  • Nine of Pentacles - Despite being born with a silver spoon, Richard still hustled hard to maintain his lifestyle.