Story Behind the "SAVE"
First chapter | The story
The palace was lit only by a couple of flickering candles. Aragorn was sitting on his icy throne alone, not one soldier by his side. He was the supreme ruler of the kingdom, and lately, his nights have been sleepless. It seemed as if a bad thought was plaguing his mind.
In the last few days, Aragorn has ordered the killing of many of his loyal ministers and imprisoned many generals who have been following him for many years. The court was still with shock and disbelief. More and more ministers and soldiers who didn’t want to give in were put into prison and even more dropped their weapons and fled. The glorious kingdom was becoming weak and unstable. A rumor had spread overnight that the king has been possessed by an evil spirit. No one could truly understand what was happening. And, how could they? Just a few months ago, Aragorn was the beloved king of the country, young, perspective and kind to his people.
“Duwei!” Aragorn suddenly called. A slim figure slowly came out of the shadows. It was an old man in a long robe.
“Your majesty, Duwei is gone,” the man said with his head down. Aragorn did not forget about this loyal young general, who has followed him into battle everywhere he went and eventually died in battle. His heart ached as he thought of all the times him and Duwei would ride into battle side by side, fight and kill together… Suddenly, a strange wave raised inside his body. He was full of anger, remorse, and determination. That overwhelming wave of strength made the king break free from the evil charm and come back to his good senses. The Aragorn, who was once laughing at the world which laid at the tip of his sword was finally back. He released all his men from prison, trained his soldiers again and marched his horses to the battle. Finally, he succeeded in driving all the enemies out of the kingdom.
When peace was restored, it was as if the whole land broke into a song. Aragorn, wearing a brilliant golden robe, gazed down on the vast country of mountains and rivers that he now held firmly in his rule. The enemy has finally been banished and forced to go into hiding in forests, thousands of miles away from his kingdom. Despite the fact that everything felt peaceful, the king’s brows were still knitted with worry. He did not forget about the dark memories of the past. Moreover, no one knew where these evil forces actually came from... A few loud salutes woke him up from reverie. He put on a composed expression. No one noticed that it was still as if a pair of evil eyes were still lurking in the darkness behind Aragorn…
Many years have passed, and the king’s redemption has become a subject of many songs and legends. Duwei’s name was remembered as the name of a young hero, who laid down his life for his kingdom. However, where the evil actually came from remained an unsolved mystery…
Second Chapter | A deck of cards
This legendary story and the mystery behind it are the inspiration behind this deck of cards. It is called Save.
The story starts right before you open the tuck case. Then when you finally uncover the deck, you will discover the mystery of the legend of Aragorn hiding inside.
The broken embossed letters on the top of the tuck case imply the decaying justice in the kingdom and the shadows represent the evil power that has crept into the king’s heart.
The gilded image on the side of the tuck case shows the eternal battle between the good and the bad.
The back of the tuck case has a side view of a face, which means that the king still has some humanity left in him. However, the face is covered with a ring, signifying that Aragorn is still stuck in the loop of his torment. When you are breaking the sticker seal, you can imagine that you are breaking the king free from under the evil influence. Both on the back of the cards, as well as on the back of the tuck case, you can find a cross, the sign of eventual save.
The court cards represent all the people that surround the king. K is the minister, Q the maid and J a guard. Both the minister and the guard carry weapons, so as to protect the king. The maid holds a torch, illuminating the right path. Their clothes look a bit ragged, matching the broken bronze letters on the top of the tuck case.
Third Chapter | The journey
In order to make space for Elvish language in the world, Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings and created the grand Middle-earth. The designer of Save was just the same. In order to breathe life into this deck, he chose an intriguing story and made sure to embed it well into the design. Good and evil, right and wrong, that all permeated into these cards and is ready to be spread into the world.
The king is an embodiment of the good. Kind, strong, disciplined and with great hope for a bright future.
The witch embodies the evil, negative, confusing and misunderstood.
The courage of young people represents good will and perseverance in the pursuit of happiness.
The designer spent the whole year designing Save. While he was working on it, he completely reached the lowest point in his life. However, this deck gave him the bravery and encouragement, it was like coming out into the sunlight again, empower. And that is the kind feeling that this deck wants to transmit. Just as its creator said: “I don’t only want to give you a nice deck. Even more than that, I want to give the audiences a ring of power,” Handling these cards is a powerful experience and when this sentiment is passed on from person to person, it creates the ring of power the designer had in mind.
A circle is the sign of cohesion, togetherness. So, where does this gravitation towards each other come from? Well, it comes from the shared love for the art of playing cards.
The story says that the true origin of the evil forces that possessed the king has not been found yet. However, it might be of interest to you that in fact, this deck hides the answer to this mystery…