THE FISHER KING

Well I stepped into an avalanche,
it covered up my soul;
when I am not this hunchback that you see,
I sleep beneath the golden hill.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn, learn to serve me well.
You strike my side by accident
as you go down for your gold.
The cripple here that you clothe and feed
is neither starved nor cold;
he does not ask for your company,
not at the centre, the centre of the world.
When I am on a pedestal,
you did not raise me there.
Your laws do not compel me
to kneel grotesque and bare.
I myself am the pedestal
for this ugly hump at which you stare.
You who wish to conquer pain,
you must learn what makes me kind;
the crumbs of love that you offer me,
they're the crumbs I've left behind.
Your pain is no credential here,
it's just the shadow, shadow of my wound.
I have begun to long for you,
I who have no greed;
I have begun to ask for you,
I who have no need.
You say you've gone away from me,
but I can feel you when you breathe.

Do not dress in those rags for me,
I know you are not poor;
you don't love me quite so fiercely now
when you know that you are not sure,
it is your turn, beloved,
it is your flesh that I wear.

-Avalanche,
Leonard Cohen

Key 19. This card depicts a tall, inhumanly beautiful man, his complexion pale blue and slightly scaled, his hair a silvery cloud. One eye of a startling, electric violet fixes the viewer with an expression of quiet, malevolent disdain. From the waist down this man is a serpent of silver and gold. About him a castle of gold stolen from shipwrecks makes a phantasmal, fantastic reflection of Castle Amber. The sun high above makes butterfly rainbows on the water.
Known throughout the universe as the Fisher King, although his true name is Arad, this man was the ruler of Rebma, which is better known as Amber Undersea. He was the calm and passive reflection of Queen Dara, her shadow if you will. He was receptive but nonetheless cruel. He was sadistic without being passionate. He feared and distrusted all outsiders and allowed none to enter his Realm without his permission or that of his Queen, Llewella. He was rumored to hate Dara and to have specially designed cages for the capture of any of her blood who dare enter Rebma.

But, after imprisoning and later killing Corbin's daughter Liora, Arad was in turn killed by Gabriel.