History Main / CreepyCrows

[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://www.deviantart.com/art/Quoth-The-Raven-Nevermore-332432209 Image]] by [[http://kxg-witcher.deviantart.com/ KxG-WitcheR]]]]

* In the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise, these are recurring {{Airborne Mook}}s as part of the GothicHorror atmosphere of the game. The games also have a recurring boss named Malphas/Karasuman, a black, winged demon accompanied by a murder of crows.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise, these are recurring {{Airborne Mook}}s as part of the GothicHorror atmosphere of the game. The games also have a recurring boss named Malphas/Karasuman, a black-winged demon accompanied by a murder of crows.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' franchise, these are recurring {{Airborne Mook}}s as part of the GothicHorror atmosphere of the game. The games also has a recurring boss named Malphas/Karasuman, a black-winged demon accompanied by a murder of crows.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' Mastema's design has huge black wings and dark skin in contrast to other, shinier Heralds, and is a ''very'' shady and amoral character (being the ''Angel of Hostility'', bringer of the Ten Plagues and addressed in his Compendium info as the father of all evil really doesn't help his rep). In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', he is often referred to as the Raven by the Archangels, the quest issued to vanquish him is ''Great Raven of the Underground''.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' Mastema has huge black wings and dark skin and is often referred to as the Raven by the Archangels, and in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', the quest issued to vanquish him is ''Great Raven of the Underground''.

* The crow imagery is very noticeable in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'''s Mastema, and in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', the quest issued to vanquish him is ''Great Raven of the Underground''.

* The crow imagery is very noticeable in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'''s Mastema, and in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', the quest issued to vanquish him is named ''Great Raven of the Underground''.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows, rooks, and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as [[AnimalEyeSpy spies]], {{Familiar}}s and {{Mooks}} of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of a death god.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as [[AnimalEyeSpy spies]], {{Familiar}}s and {{Mooks}} of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of a death god.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as spies, {{Familiar}}s and {{Mooks}} of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of a death god.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as spies and minions of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of a death god.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as spies and minions of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of death god.

* Webcomic/ElGoonishShive: The aptly named Professor Raven. One of his spells involves summoning hundreds of exploding crows with which to [[MacrossMissileMassacre spam his opponent]]. It's called [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-07-04 "Murder Shroud."]]

* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the villainous Zealots of the Lady are EliteMooks who attack by sending swarms of crows at you. They also sport UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan-like clothes, wear coffins on their backs, and are generally associated with decay.
** After you defeat your first such Zealot, you gain the same ability yourself, as ''Infinite's'' version of the original games' BeeBeeGun Insect Swarm.

[[DarkIsEvil They're dark]]. They sound ominous. They'll eat just about anything they can find, including dead bodies on the battlefield or corpses hanging from the gallows. A group of crows is a murder; a group of ravens is an unkindness or conspiracy.

In most of their fictional appearances, crows and raven are scary birds. They are often associated with death, danger and even evil. In {{Fantasy}} and {{Horror}} works, ravens and crows are often depicted as spies and minions of the BigBad or as {{Feathered Fiend}}s in their own right. The HauntedHouse or the scary DerelictGraveyard often has crows or ravens hanging about. Some works depict them as being neutral in morality, but still associate them with death, such as having crows or ravens act as servants of death god.

Even in more realistic works, the presence of ravens and crows can be used to set an ominous mood and to signal death and danger. The presence of a dead body might be indicated by a flock of ravens or crows. A sudden rush of crows might startle a character during a tense moment.

Because they are so visually similar, in many visual media it can be hard to tell whether the bird in question is meant to be a raven or a crow. There usually little if any difference in how they are treated; however, some works might single out only one of these species as being bad. A few works might even show ravens as good (or at least normal) and crows as evil, or vice-versa.

Compare to CirclingVultures and OminousOwl.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Uchiha Itachi in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' uses crows as part of his genjutsu. He can hide them inside his victim's body to deliver time-delayed brainwashing techniques.
* The main antagonist of ''Anime/PrincessTutu'' is a monster raven. And his DarkMagicalGirl 'daughter', Princess Kraehe. And all their {{Mooks}}. [[spoiler: He also manages [[BalefulPolymorph to turn the entire town into ravens]] toward the end of the series. This was considered a bad thing.]]
* Crows frequently appear when something is about to go bad in ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent''. Which is ''all the time''
* The 1st ''{{Patlabor}}'' movie has a memorable scene involving Noah being menaced by a room full of sinister-looking, possibly mind-controlled crows in a ShoutOut to Hitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds''.
** Birds, especially corvids, also show up in numerous pivotal scenes of the second movie, as well. Director MamoruOshii seems to be using them as a visual motif for the schemes of criminal masterminds who try to put themselves above the common people with their manipulative games: E.Hoba in the first movie & Tsuge in the second.
* There's a lovely example of this in the first ending for ''Manga/DeathNote''. [[VillainProtagonist Light]] is standing by water, surrounded by doves -- except that his reflection is surrounded by crows instead.
* A three-eyed crow demon is one of the first enemies that ''Manga/InuYasha'' and Kagome encounter and it sort of kicks off the series.
* Nii Jienyi of ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'' is sometimes associated with carrion crows as well as with [[BunnyEarsLawyer rabbits]] when in his mad scientist guise. When in his guise as [[spoiler: Ukoku Sanzo]], the crow imagery goes crazy. Ukoku translates literally as "a single crow cried", after what was going on in the background when he killed his master. He wears an unusual dark-colored variation of the standard flowing white sanzo robes, and the sleeves often look like wings when he strikes from above.
* Gilbert Nightray of PandoraHearts has the Monstrous Raven as his Chain (read: EldritchAbomination monster) of choice. It attacks using blue flames.
* In the ''Anime/MaiHime'' anime, [[spoiler:Shiho's]] Child is Yatagarasu, named after the messenger from the gods in Shinto canon. It has one leg instead of three, possibly signifying that "loyalty, truthfulness and devotion" are replaced by the user's {{Yandere}} nature.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ballads]]
* Literature/{{Child Ballad|s}} 26 "[[http://www.bartleby.com/40/12.html The Three Ravens]]" features three ravens discussing dinner. They mention a dead knight, but his body is being protected by his hawk and his hounds, and his true love comes to bury him and die of grief. It has a much more cynical variant, "[[http://www.bartleby.com/40/13.html The Twa Corbies]]", where the ravens instead discuss how the dead knight's hawk, hound, and lady have all deserted him, so they can eat his corpse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Jonathan Crane of the ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'' comics, better known as the supervillain [[ScaryScarecrows Scarecrow]], is frequently seen and associated with corvids. In various appearances he has a pet raven named Nightmare or a crow named Craw, and uses a flock of crows to attack Batman in ''Haunted Knight''. On the other hand, in one version of his origin his FreudianExcuse involved his [[TheFundamentalist fanatically religious]] great-grandmother setting trained crows on him as a punishment.
* A different villain named the Scarecrow, originally from the ''[[ComicBook/IronMan Iron Man]]'' comics but later used as a [[ComicBook/GhostRider Ghost Rider]] villain, is a contortionist turned SerialKiller who uses trained crows to ZergRush his victims. In his first appearance during the Silver Age, the crows were stolen from another performer and used to aid in robberies.
* One ''[[TheFarSide Far Side]]'' panel featured the caption "Tools of the common crow" and depicted a crow standing next to some fresh roadkill, holding a spatula in its beak.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In "Literature/TheGratefulBeasts", Ferko, [[FamilyUnfriendlyViolence blinded and crippled]] [[CainAndAbel by his brothers]], rests under what he thinks is a tree; it's a gallows. Two crows talk on it, and he hears how he can cure himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', crows appear to be one of the few types of animal who can visit the Land of the Dead while still alive. Both times Victor is pulled down to the Land of the Dead by Emily, they're surrounded by a flock of them. Crows also live in Elder Gutknecht's tower -- he uses their feathers and eggs for magical purposes.
* Maleficent in ''Disney/SleepingBeauty'' has a pet raven named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Diablo]] that appears to be the only thing she trusts or cares about. It's also her only competent henchman, apparently.
* Ravens serve as the heralds of doom in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'' for both Vikings and Crom Cruach.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/TheVirginSpring'', as Ingeri and Karin enter the woods and approach the scary, ominous cabin of a creepy hermit, a raven appears and squawks. The creepy hermit is strongly implied to be the god Odin, granting Ingeri's wish for a curse on Karin, who is promptly raped and murdered.
* James O'Barr's ''Franchise/TheCrow'', both the film and the graphic novel version, has the bird as a kind of guide and familiar to the undead avenger protagonist. In the film version, if the crow dies the avenger becomes mortal again, but doesn't lose his other powers.
* In Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds'', crows in particular feature in a memorable sequence in which they [[AdultFear slowly gather at a schoolhouse]] while the children sing an IronicNurseryTune, the main character not noticing what's going on until there are ''hundreds'' of them.
* The eponymous bird in Creator/RogerCorman's ''The Raven'' is a [[BalefulPolymorph involuntarily shape-shifted]] wizard.

** However, a less malevolent raven appears with a student at the end of the last film, suggesting that wizards keep them as pets.
* In the new ''Film/SherlockHolmes'', Lord Blackwood, whose father notes at one point has been followed by death his entire life, is also followed by a rather sinister black bird.
* In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', Agent Smith's arrival is heralded by a flock of crows. This is done because in older, superstitious cultures, crows showing up was [[RuleOfSymbolism considered to be a sign]] that something bad was on the way.
* In ''The Bird War'', the villain is a FeatheredFiend named Fagin, but it is never specified if he is a crow or a raven.
* Like in the book, ravens and crows are generally an ill omen in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings''. The "crebain from Dunland" that Legolas sees near the Misty Mountains are implied to be servants of Saruman.
-->'''Gandalf''': The Enemy has many spies ... beasts, and birds ...
* The evil queen Ravenna in ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' uses a corvid motif, and is able to transform into a flock of ravens at will, while her minions change into a murder of crows when killed. However, some [[MagpiesAsPortents magpies]] serve as Snow White's friends and allies.
* A flock of crows are heard at the beginning of the Holocaust drama ''Film/{{Conspiracy}}''. Crows commonly symbolize death, so the connection to the planned genocide is quite obvious.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Wildwood'' by Colin Meloy, Prue's brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''crebain'' are crows allied with the forces of Evil, serving as spies for Sauron and Saruman.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime''
** The Dark One uses ravens as spies, and at one point early in the series a huge flock of them is shown patrolling a forest, swarming and completely stripping the flesh from anything that breaks from the cover of the trees.
** Ravens are a symbol of the imperial family of the Seanchan, who are a particularly ruthless society of slave holders that serve as one of the principle antagonists of the series. The imperial family is ruthless not only to slaves but with each other, as they are constantly conspiring against each other and assassinating each other.
** The association of ravens with evil is subverted with Mat Cauthon, a hero that is loosely based on Odin and acquires a ring with ravens on it late in the series. He also has a BladeOnAStick with an inscription referencing "Thought" and "Memory", the names of Odin's two ravens. In the 11th book he even [[spoiler:becomes the Seanchan Prince of Ravens through marriage to the Seanchan Empress]].
* Jim Butcher's ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series uses crows as a symbol of death and battle constantly. "Crows" is also commonly used as a swear word, likely for the same reason. People are quite accustomed to them appearing on a battlefield to feast on the dead. [[spoiler: A bit ''too'' accustomed, when the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] hide their [[MarionetteMaster Marionette Masters]] in a murder of crows.]]
* Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/{{Ravenor}}'' and ''Ravenor Returned'' have the sheen birds, mechanical birds that were created to live in a city where the pollution would kill most unprotected wildlife. [[spoiler: They work for the Unkindness, controlled by heretics to perform assassinations almost like a force of nature, using their collective sharp-edged wings to strip victims down to their bloody bones.]]
* In ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'', rooks (a corvid relative) are the agents of the Dark and appear at various points either as spies, harbingers of doom, actual receptacles of evil (the attack on the church on Christmas comes to mind), or simply to look ominous. There is some confusion as to whether they are genuinely wicked or merely misled and controlled by the villains; most of the time they seem rather mindless, and never do they cause any outright harm, but Merriman later says that they "chose to aid the Dark" or words to that effect, a choice they regretted when the Wild Hunt harried them to the ends of the earth. In any event, after book two the rooks are never shown to cause any problems again, whether they were freed from MindControl or simply learned their lessons and decided to stay neutral from then on.
* Corvids in general, especially magpies and crows, are the resident AlwaysChaoticEvil species in the fantasy novel ''One For Sorrow, Two For Joy'', in which they are mostly portrayed as either stupid, sadistic, or AxCrazy and kill smaller birds [[ForTheEvulz for fun]].
* In ''[[Literature/{{Stuck}} Stuck at the Wheel]]'', the gang led by The Shadow is named the Crows and their calling card is a black crow feather.
* In ''Literature/{{Krabat}}'', the boys are turned into ravens when they get lessons in (dark) magic.
* In ''Literature/RachelGriffin'', an oversized Raven with [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] is seen, seemingly an enforcer of the ExtraStrengthMasquerade. It is later revealed that while ravens in general are merely heralds of "bad luck," that particular Raven is an omen of [[ApocalypseHow the death of worlds.]]
* Crows are among the minions of the Wicked Witch of the West in ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', and they also figure heavily in the Scarecrow's backstory - when he was unable to scare them, an old crow taught him about how important brains were.
* ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'': As Tris goes into a simulation designed to emulate her fears she is attacked by a large number of crows. These turn out to be representative of something else as Four points out that she isn't really afraid of crows.
* Edgar Allen Poe's poem "Literature/TheRaven" is an unsettling piece which has a conversation between the narrator and the titular raven, a grim, ominous bird that enters his house on a dark and frightening night, when he's already in a dark mood.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/{{Justified}}'''s fifth season, crows are symbolically linked to the murderous Crowe family, flocking about the body of their first victim, Wade Messer.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', crows herald the coming of evil supernatural creatures called the White Walkers, who turn the dead into "[[OurZombiesAreDifferent wights]]" to add to their army.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In one episode, Seven of Nine begins seeing a large black bird in her dreams, which causes her an unusual amount of fear. Janeway reads her description of her dream and realizes it's a raven, as in the ''Raven'', the ship that she and her parents were assimilated on.
[[/folder]]

* The RPG ''{{Exalted}}'' has a CallARabbitASmeerp variation of the raven called a "raiton" that almost always means trouble if you hear their cries; they live in [[{{Mordor}} death-tainted areas]] called Shadowlands and are generally the picture of ominousness.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** In 1st and 2nd Edition giant ravens were NeutralEvil alignment. In module T1-4 ''The Temple of Elemental Evil'' groups of giant ravens guarded the outside of the Temple.
** In ''ForgottenRealms'' Raven's Bluff is named after unusual local birds (big ravens that leave a curse if killed).
** In ''TabletopGame/PointsOfLight'', the default setting of the 4th edition, has The Raven Queen as the goddess of death, who is, as her name implies, heavily associated with various corvids. Interestingly, she is not evil, but TrueNeutral. Death comes equally to everyone, after all.
* TableTopGames/{{Pathfinder}}
** There's a spell called "Blood Crow Strike," which creates energy blasts in the shape of fiery crows. Perhaps predictably, it has the evil descriptor.
** There are at least two sorts of psychopomp (the servants of Pharasma, ''another'' TrueNeutral [[DarkIsNotEvil death goddess]]) that look, or can look, corvid: The huge, powerful yamarajes appear part raven and part dragon, and the tiny nosoi often resemble crows.
* A raven is the symbol of Morr, the god of death and dreams in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* There are several creepy ravens throughout [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]]'s ''[[Franchise/TheHauntedMansion Haunted Mansion]]'' ride. At one point, when your "Doom Buggy" (the car you ride in) descends into the graveyard scene, it rotates around and you are looking up at a raven with glowing red eyes, cawing menacingly down at you
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', the villainous Zealots of the Lady are EliteMooks who attack by sending swarms of crows at you. They also sport UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan-like clothes, wear coffins on their backs, and are generally associated with decay.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' has crows that fly off when the player approaches, letting out loud caws as they do. They are found in Act I and Act V, which are the areas most reminiscent of classic {{Horror}}.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'': Henry, a HeroicComedicSociopath with a disturbing interest in bloodshed, is associated with crows, first appearing a midst them and being shown with one in his official art.
* ''VideoGame/HeavenlySword'': [[TheCaligula King Bohan]] is accompanied by a giant raven that wears a golden helmet, and turns out to be some kind of demon or other dark entity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RwBy'': The Nevermore, a variant of [[TheHeartless Grimm]] in the shape of a raven with additional fingers on its wingtips (akin to bats). The gigantic version of it fights the titular team.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', as they dig up [[CoolGate the door]], crows slowly accumulate, until it is opened, and [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04-49.html they rush in.]]
* ''WebComic/{{Memoria}}'': Lampshaded and then played straight in [[http://memoria.valice.net/?p=228 this]] comic. A raven is seen in the park, adding to the creepy atmosphere. The main characters comment on its being there, and aren't especially frightened by it at first. Then, of course, things get worse, and they are attacked by an [[ZergRush entire flock]] of ravens.
* {{Archipelago}}: The BigBad of this comic is The Great Raven, an ancient spirit, fearfully clever, terribly powerful, [[SealedEvilInACan trapped beneath the Earth with a magic seal.]]
* ''Crow Scare'' features [[http://crowscare.keenspot.com/d/20081113.html an enormous, homicidal crow]] as the titular antagonist.
* In ''Webcomic/CityFace'' (particularly in [[http://gunnerkrigg.wikia.com/wiki/City_Face_comments the comments below the pages]]) all the other birds seem afraid of the crows. They tend to [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=845 speak with authority]] (and in all-caps).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** The plot of one episode has Homer destroy a scarecrow, gaining the loyalty of the crows it was meant to get rid of. They proceed to serve him loyally, and possibly killed a few people, until they nearly kill Maggie by accident. After that Homer tries to get rid of them, but they turn on him and hurt his eyes.
-->'''Marge Simpson''': I don't want a flock of crows in our bedroom!\\
'''Homer Simpson''': It's a murder, honey. A group of crows is called a murder.
** A crow call is often heard in {{establishing shot}}s of the Springfield nuclear plant, perhaps as a sign of the ominous doings that often occur therein.
** The first ''Treehouse of Horror'' did a version of Edgar Allan Poe's ''The Raven'' with the raven looking like Bart.
* Nogbad the Bad's minions in {{The Saga of Noggin the Nog}}.
* In one episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/SuperFriends}}'', the Scarecrow, as a member of the LegionOfDoom, uses crows to attack Batman and Robin, and in a later season keeps one as a pet.

* In ''Disney/{{Bambi}}'' crows warn the other animals of the approach of man.