The Eight of Swords is about having no easy options but still having to make a choice. Even if every path is less than ideal, refusing to move is not an option, and there is an admirable quality to moving through something despite how painful it may be. This figure is sometimes referred to as the prisoner, and this can be taken literally and refer to some manner of actual imprisonment, or it can be taken in a more metaphorical sense, regarding feelings of being trapped or acts of entrapment. It could be read that the figure is only a prisoner of their own design, and though they cannot see it, the only thing holding them back is themselves.