Certified Ballas Headpatter

This piece is kind of a love letter to Alad and all he has been through I suppose! I'm sure plenty of people have drawn Warframe Tarot Cards before, but I decided to draw Alad as the Hanged Man card.

Upright, the Hanged Man represents a change in perspective, surrender, sacrifice. In this position you can see Nef Anyo to Alad's left, and Shadow Stalker + Hunhow to his right. People Alad has come to the Tenno for help against, or even assisted us in besting.

Nef, who sought to destroy Tyl Regor's lab data for the sole purpose of stopping Alad from curing himself, causing Alad to instead come to us, desperately seeking help to stop Nef and cure his self-inflicted malady. Nef, who while Alad suffers as an underdog trying to claw his way back to his seat on the Corpus board, continues to gain the favor of his peers.

Though Alad did initially gain from assisting us in the Second Dream, he immediately had to surrender that gain when the Shadow Stalker sent his Acolytes after him. Once again finding himself in the position of asking the Tenno for help.

In this position Alad is hung by a string of infestation, the very thing that caused his downfall and sparked this change in perspective.

Reversed, the Hanged Man represents stubbornness, a refusal to change, selfishness and egotism. In this position you can see Natah to his left, and Frohd Bek to his right.

It was Alad's stubbornness and refusal to play nice with his fellow board members, and his selfish dedication to the Zanuka project, that sparked Frohd Bek attempts to sabotage him, seeking the aid of the Tenno to halt his work and removing Alad from the Corpus Board, bank rolling his projects. One of the many events that incited his downfall.

Alad's old habits and greedy nature caused him to take the red flag filled deal with Regus, leading to his regretful forced partnership with the Sentients, of which Natah placed the Ropalolyst on his front doorstep as a reminder of his mistakes and his forced servitude. Despite his numerous mistakes in the past, he had not learned a thing, he had not changed.

In this position Alad's head is bracketed by sentient like structures, alluding to his cowardly attempt to hand over Corpus ships during the new war. Though we don't know his true intentions, given his thoughts through the Partnership Fragments, I believe this was just another attempt to save his own skin. After all, you know what he always says: If you can save just one life, it better damn well be mine.

Here it is in reverse, and with some extra closeups so you can see the background characters.

Cleaner version without the eyepatch, just for funsies