SUITES AND ROYAL CARDS
We are going to first look at the four suites in a tarot deck. They have different names, but I will for now call them Staffs, Swords, Cups, and Coins. Each suite has a few related meanings which help in interpreting how a card's value could be applied to the story. You'll see what I mean soon enough. Most of the cards in a tarot deck belong to one of these four suites, and they are collectively called Minor Arcana. The remaining cards called the Major Arcana (cards like the Tower or the Fool) do not belong to suites, so their interpretations can be more broadly applied.
Next, I royal cards of the Minor Arcana, because these are the most clearly organized in an entire tarot deck. By royal cards, I am referring to the Kings, Queens, Knights, and Paiges which occur in each of the four suites. Each suits has a broad theme and each value conveys a persona. We can lay out a simple table with suites on one axis and values on the other. Cross reference the two, and an interpretation of the card immediately appears.
STAFFS
The staff and swords are considered to have male connotations, mostly because they are both long pokey things. It is tempting to read too much into that means, however. A King of Staffs could represent a woman just as frequently as it represents a man, just that the woman displays characteristics classically thought to be male personality traits or is serving a role which may be have at one time been considered a man's responsibility (like a soldier). I know, I know, I didn't make up this system.
A card does not have to reflect a person either. That King of Staffs can be a tree or an experience as you will see later. More often than not, the royal cards do represent specific characters, because it is easy to associate the persona of royal aristocrat with a specific person or character than with anything else.
Staffs are also often called wands, staves, or batons. In fact, the term wands is probably more popular. I use the term staffs because the most well known illustrations of these cards display long wooden poles.