The king displayed on the card is seen stabbing himself in the head with a dagger which gave it the name of Suicide King. However, this is not all about Suicide King, there’s much more that you will get to know in this blog where we will also learn what is Suicide King Card. 

Suicide King in Card Games: What is it?

Suicide King is not a name officially given to the king of the hearts, but it is slang used in Poker and by the players. The story behind this modern-day king of hearts is quite interesting and you’ll definitely have fun knowing it. 

When you notice all the kings in the deck of cards, all four kings are holding a sharp weapon and the other three counterparts are different from the king of hearts. He looks like he is stabbing himself in the head, however, if you look closely it also looks like he has a dagger drawn and is ready to strike. 

When we go back to the lineage of playing cards, we notice that the original intent for the king of hearts was to show him taking out his dagger to attack someone, but with time and changes in the picture, it turns out to be like the king striking the dagger to his head. 

French playing card pattern - What does it say?

A competing French playing card pattern which is also referred to as the Rouen pattern came into existence in the 15th century. The pattern was imported by England hence it became the standard for English playing cards. In this deck, the King of the Red Hearts clearly is seen drawing his sword to go to a battle. There’s another thing which must be noticed: the Kings of the Hearts is the only one of the four kings without a moustache or else all other kings have a moustache. 

Conclusion - 

So, as for the modern deck of cards, the suicide king appears to commit suicide and the modern playing cards seem to preserve the quirks and signature looks of the face cars with which the players are aware in the game. It would not be incorrect to say that this is the result of bad copying done over centuries by the English card makers where the axe head of the king disappeared with each copy resulting in it looking like a suicide. 

Historians also have no reason why the Suicide King card went from a ready-to-battle picture with an axe to a suicidal face with a dagger in his head like we know it now. We hope that after reading this blog, you now have an idea of why the King of Hearts got his name as the suicide king and how he got this name.