Dark Gothic Tarot: The Tower
Stable DiffusionAn SDXL prompt for a dark gothic Tower tarot card — a lightning-struck stone tower with falling crowned figures, heavy engraved linework in charcoal and ash with a warm flame burst, gargoyle corner border, and a blank title banner.
Last tested: August 2026 with Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0
Part of the Stable Diffusion prompt library · see more moody prompts .
Prompt
A dark gothic tarot card illustration of a stone tower struck by lightning, the top crowned in flames and crumbling, a crowned figure falling headfirst from the summit, another figure falling beside the base, dark storm clouds and jagged lightning, muted charcoal and ash grey palette with a single burst of warm orange flame, heavy black engraved linework on aged parchment, a gothic arched border with gargoyles in the corners, a blank banner panel at the bottom, no text, no letters, no numerals
Negative prompt
photorealistic, 3d, bright colours, text, words, watermark, signature, blurry, modern, clean digital
Settings
- Model
- Stable Diffusion SDXL 1.0
- Aspect ratio
- 2:3
- Steps
- 30
- CFG scale
- 7
- Sampler
- DPM++ 2M Karras
How to use this prompt
The Tower is the card most likely to come out too bright because the lightning and flames push SDXL toward a high-contrast digital look. The fix is the muted palette — "charcoal and ash grey with a single burst of warm orange flame" is the phrase that confines the warmth to the impact point and leaves the rest in gothic gloom. "Heavy black engraved linework" is the style anchor that stops SDXL from rendering a smooth 3D tower, and the negative prompt's "clean digital" ban is the backup. The two falling figures are the iconographic test — one crowned, one not — and omitting either makes the card read as a generic burning building.
Variations to try
- Redraw as The Devil: a horned figure on a pedestal, two chained figures below, an inverted pentagram
- Recolour to deep violet and ice blue for a colder storm palette while keeping the gothic line
Explore collections
What to do next
Adapt it →
Open this prompt in the Stable Diffusion builder, pre-filled, and change one layer at a time.
Explore more →
Browse the full Stable Diffusion prompt library — every entry tested with its settings.
For developers — copy this prompt as JSON
{
"title": "Dark Gothic Tarot: The Tower",
"prompt": "A dark gothic tarot card illustration of a stone tower struck by lightning, the top crowned in flames and crumbling, a crowned figure falling headfirst from the summit, another figure falling beside the base, dark storm clouds and jagged lightning, muted charcoal and ash grey palette with a single burst of warm orange flame, heavy black engraved linework on aged parchment, a gothic arched border with gargoyles in the corners, a blank banner panel at the bottom, no text, no letters, no numerals",
"negative_prompt": "photorealistic, 3d, bright colours, text, words, watermark, signature, blurry, modern, clean digital",
"model": "Stable Diffusion",
"model_version": "SDXL 1.0",
"settings": {
"aspect_ratio": "2:3",
"steps": 30,
"cfg": 7,
"sampler": "DPM++ 2M Karras"
},
"style_tags": [
"moody",
"vintage"
],
"use_case_tags": [
"tarot-cards",
"illustration"
],
"source_url": "https://promptkoi.com/prompts/stable-diffusion/dark-gothic-tarot-the-tower/"
}The whole library is available as an open JSON dataset · developer docs.
