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| 2 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1658826654085061900 |
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| 6 | [[quoteright:350:[[Magazine/{{Dragon}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragonplus_cover_6.jpg]]]] |
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| 8 | ->''"In raven arithmetic, no death is enough."'' |
| 9 | -->-- '''Ghostweight''' by Yoon Ha Lee |
| 10 | |
| 11 | [[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. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | In most of their fictional appearances, crows, rooks, and ravens 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 [[GodOfTheDead death god]]. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Even in more realistic works, the presence of ravens and crows can be used to set an ominous mood and to [[PortentOfDoom signal death and danger]], similar to CirclingVultures. 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. The sound of crows or ravens cawing is a common form of SpookyAnimalSounds, and the most likely to be heard during daytime scenes. In works where ravens and crows are not outright ominous, they'll instead be portrayed as annoying pests in vein of PeskyPigeons. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | 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 is usually little if any difference in how they are treated. Scientifically speaking, ravens are crows, that is they're members of the genus ''Corvus''. The term "raven" originally applied to the common raven, the largest and most widespread crow species, but is also used in the common name of some other species; rooks and jackdaws are also crow species with different common names. 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. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Compare to CirclingVultures, OminousOwl and PeskyPigeons. Not to be confused with IdiotCrows, where the crows denote stupidity rather than evil. May overlap with CleverCrows, although Clever Crows are more often benevolent. Also see PlagueDoctor, as fictional portrayals often play up the Creepy Crows aspect of the costume. |
| 20 | ---- |
| 21 | !!Examples: |
| 22 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 23 | |
| 24 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 25 | * ''Manga/CaseClosed'': The Black Organization, the ruthless, homicidal NebulousCriminalConspiracy, is compared to crows InUniverse due to its agents' habit of always dressing in black. Crows flying overhead or staring ominously from afar is a common symbol in cases involving them. |
| 26 | * ''Manga/DeathNote'': In the first ending, [[VillainProtagonist Light]] is standing by water, surrounded by doves -- except that his reflection is surrounded by crows instead. |
| 27 | * ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'': A three-eyed crow demon is one of the first enemies that Inu Yasha and Kagome encounter and it sort of kicks off the series. |
| 28 | * ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': The Moriarty brothers (criminals, murderers, and liars all) are frequently represented by crows. |
| 29 | * ''Manga/TheMoroseMononokean'': Creepy crows show up to foreshadow the first appearance of the Executive, who is himself creepy and a {{youkai}} who transforms into a giant crow. |
| 30 | * ''Anime/MyHime'': In the 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. |
| 31 | * ''Manga/MyRoommateIsACat'': Crows are a recurring antagonistic animal in the flash-backs to Haru's time as a stray cat. [[spoiler:Some are responsible for the death of one of her siblings]]. |
| 32 | * ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Uchiha Itachi uses crows as part of his jutsu. Itachi could summon crows, which he would typically call forth in flocks to swarm opponents and distract them. He even integrated crows into clones of himself that would draw opponents' attacks. His illusions often involved crows, using them to torture his enemies turning crows into shuriken. If Itachi was struck down in battle, chances are his crows would disperse and reveal it was an illusion or a crow shadow clone. |
| 33 | * ''Manga/PandoraHearts'': Gilbert Nightray has the Monstrous Raven as his Chain (read: [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demonic]] EldritchAbomination monster) of choice. It attacks using blue flames. |
| 34 | * ''Anime/ParanoiaAgent'': Crows frequently appear when something is about to go badly. Which is ''all the time''. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': The main antagonist is a monster raven. And his DarkMagicalGirl 'daughter', Princess Kraehe, whose name is German for "crow". And all their {{Mooks}}. [[spoiler:He also manages [[ForcedTransformation to turn the entire town into ravens]] toward the end of the series. This was considered a bad thing.]] |
| 36 | * ''Manga/PrivateActress'': A very creepy BetaBitch girl named Mai has trained a bunch of crows on her own. [[spoiler: Under the influence of her AlphaBitch Kana, she commands them [[AttackAnimal to attack people]], including the murder victim of the case and our protagonist Shiho, who is investigating the other girl's death.]] |
| 37 | * ''Anime/TheRoseFlowerAndJoe'', based on a children's book by Creator/TakashiYanase is focused on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6wvqKpxpXQ a puppy who falls in love with a rose]]. The main antagonist is a large crow who is not only mean spirited, but threatens to destroy the rose and antagonizes the [[PreciousPuppy puppy]]. Later in the short, the black crow is joined by three more crows which the dog managed to defeat. However, the same black crow manages to throw a surprise attack on Joe by attacking his face causing him to become permanently blind. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Crow Jamian one of the Silver Saints. His Silver Crow Cloth represents the constellation Corvus and has a reputation of being able to control crows almost functioning like a part of himself. |
| 39 | * ''Manga/{{Saiyuki}}'': Nii Jienyi 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. |
| 40 | * ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'': In the opening, Lain is surrounded by terrifying crows. [[spoiler:And then she just stops them. By stopping time]]. |
| 41 | * ''Manga/VampireKnight'': A bunch of crows can be seen in the background in chapter 57 for ominous effect when Zero is interrogating a vampire and then killing him. |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Ballads]] |
| 45 | * 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. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 49 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': |
| 50 | ** [[https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/115/crow-of-dark-tidings Crow of Dark Tidings]] forces you to discard two of your cards when it enters play, and its art shows it staring balefully at the viewer. |
| 51 | --->"Well, this can't be a good sign." |
| 52 | ** [[https://scryfall.com/card/otj/101/raven-of-fell-omens Raven of Fell Omens]], a bird with purple-tinged wings and glowing eyes, allows the player to steal one point of life from their opponent whenever the player commits a crime (that is, use a card action to target something controlled by the opponent). |
| 53 | --->''A raven sighted at midnight often means there’s unkindness on the way.'' |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 57 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Jonathan Crane, better known as the supervillain {{Scar|yScarecrows}}ecrow, 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''. |
| 58 | * ''ComicBook/DeathVigil'': Hugin the White Raven is by far the most powerful and feared of the Death Knights. It helps that he can shapeshift into a dinosaur in an UrbanFantasy. |
| 59 | * In ''Dracula The Unconquered'' issue #1, Dracula escapes the Tower of London, when a swarm of crows descends on him and his companion, miss Thalia. The girl thinks the crows are Dracula's doing, but it's actually the work of a giant ghostly, pale blue crow with a crown on its head. The crow acts as the warden of the Tower of London, and is magically bound to the place. |
| 60 | * ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': A villain named the Scarecrow, originally from the ''ComicBook/IronMan'' comics but later used as a ComicBook/GhostRider 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. |
| 61 | * ''ComicBook/{{Okko}}'': The sigil of the Walkers of Karasu, a sect of necromancers who serve as the antagonists of the Cycle of Earth, is a Raven. |
| 62 | * ''ComicBook/OzCaliber'': The Scarecrow can summon a murder of crows from within his own body and send them to attack his foes. |
| 63 | * ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': Ominously, a flock of ravens arrive at the Dreaming shortly before the Kindly Ones begin destroying it, and are happy to feed on the carrion left behind. Their roles as portents of doom (via their allegiances to figures like Morrigan and Odin) are also discussed. |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 67 | * ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'': One 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. |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Fairy Tales]] |
| 71 | * In "Literature/TheGratefulBeasts", doubles up with Clever Crows: 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. |
| 72 | * Creator/FranzXaverVonSchonwerth's "Literature/TheEnchantedQuill": The two elder sisters find the crow who wants to marry one of them more than a bit disgusting and frightening. Later, when they travel through a dark, gloomy forest to visit the crow's castle, the three sisters become convinced that they must be traveling on the road to Hell. |
| 73 | [[/folder]] |
| 74 | |
| 75 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 76 | * ''Fanfic/BetweenMyBrotherAndMeMorsOmnibus'': Ash Ketchum is surrounded by a multitude of ravens in his first appearance that can converse with them and they act like his eyes and ears. He also wears a black-feathered hood that transforms into a raven cloak, and he quotes that [[VideoGame/LifeIsStrangeBeforeTheStorm "the raven is to be respected, never trusted"]]. |
| 77 | * ''Fanfic/ByTheSea'': Shell-shocked World War II veteran Obi-Wan associates crows and ravens with the dead, because he watched them pick at the bodies of fallen soldiers throughout the war. Seeing them picking at the body of an injured merman on the beach at the very beginning of the story is what spurs him into action. |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/OSMUFanfictionFriction'': One of the first signs that tell Omar (and the readers) that the island of Hy-Brasil is a bad place is the flock of crows that swoop towards him before settling on tree branches as he makes his way through the island forest. The crow that is owned by the Morrigan, an old woman settling in a house in the forest, is the only one that averts this trope, as it guides Omar out of the forest and back to the Mobile Unit's van. |
| 79 | %%* ''Fanfic/{{Pokedex}}'': Murkrow are portrayed as this. It doesn't stop a lot of historical nations from using them as symbols, though.%%Portrayed as what? |
| 80 | * ''Fanfic/TheRainsverse'': Chroma's "stormcrows" are bird-shaped constructs of animate lightning magic used by the psychotic alicorn as scouts and sentries. |
| 81 | * ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': A rare case where a creepy crow belongs to one of the ''heroes''. Rei is a follower of [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Nurgle, God of death, disease and decay]]. Sick, dying animals and scavengers are drawn to her. The leader of those animals is her pet crow Old Priest, an old carrion-eater crow. At the end of the fic it [[spoiler:transforms into the first Carrion Crow of Reigle, a creature about as putrid and disgusting as it sounds, yet wise and clever]]. |
| 82 | [[/folder]] |
| 83 | |
| 84 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 85 | * ''WesternAnimation/The3LittlePigsTheMovie'': A shifty-looking crow follows Rublad to Big Boss' inn while he sings his VillainSong. This is notable as the other forest animals that see Rublad treat him like TheDreaded, and duck out of sight when he walks by. |
| 86 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'': After leaving the Halloween party and riding through a dark and ominous wood, Ichabod hears a crow, which flies off cawing "Beware! Beware!" |
| 87 | * ''WesternAnimation/AnimalFarm'': A crow is present when some dogs loyal to Napoleon maul Snowball to death. He is also present when several farm animals are sent to be executed, and what he witnesses is [[EveryoneHasStandards so horrifying that he has to turn away]]. |
| 88 | * ''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. |
| 89 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'': The old crows perched on the sign outside the Once-ler's house are harmless, but add to the dark, dreary atmosphere of the place. |
| 90 | * ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'': |
| 91 | ** ''Anime/PatlaborTheMovie'' has a memorable scene involving Noa being menaced by a room full of sinister-looking, possibly mind-controlled crows in a ShoutOut to Hitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds''. |
| 92 | ** ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie'': Birds, especially corvids, also show up in numerous pivotal scenes. Director Creator/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 and Tsuge in the second. |
| 93 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'': Ravens serve as the heralds of doom for both Vikings and Crom Cruach. |
| 94 | * ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Maleficent has a pet raven named [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Diablo]] that appears to be the only thing she trusts or cares about. He's also her only competent henchman, apparently. |
| 95 | * ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhite'': The Wicked Queen has an unnamed raven for a pet that’s often seen perched on a skull in her workshop. Downplayed as the raven is less an object of fear and is actually shown to be quite frightened of [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Queen herself.]] |
| 96 | * ''WesternAnimation/WereBackADinosaursStory'': Crows are seen gathering around Prof. Screweyes' CircusOfFear. When Screweyes is defeated, the crows [[spoiler: gather around him and completely cover his body. When they fly away, [[NoBodyLeftBehind nothing is left of him]] except the screw from his eye, [[EyeballPluckingBirds which a crow picks up before flying away.]] |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 100 | * ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'': Charles Deetz is sitting in Adam's den, delightedly playing with his birdwatching stuff. He picks up binoculars and looks out the window, and recoils when he sees a crow with scraggly head feathers pecking at entrails on a fence post. |
| 101 | * ''Film/TheBirds'': Crows in particular feature in a sequence in which they 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. |
| 102 | * ''Film/TheBirdWar'': The villain is a corvid of indeterminate species named Fagin. |
| 103 | * ''Film/Conspiracy2001'', a Holocaust drama, has a flock of crows heard cawing at the beginning. Crows commonly symbolize death, so the connection to the planned genocide is quite obvious. |
| 104 | * ''Franchise/TheCrow'', both the [[Film/TheCrow1994 film]] and the [[Comicbook/TheCrow 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. |
| 105 | * ''Film/DamienOmenII'': A raven (complete with its own {{Leitmotif}}) appears near in the earlier death scenes, and in two instances is the direct cause of them. |
| 106 | * ''Film/TheEndOfSummer'': The farmer played by Chishu Ryu notes an unusually large number of crows sitting around and wonders if someone has died. It's Manbei (the protagonist of the film) that's died, and soon enough smoke rises from the crematorium that's on the other side of the river. The very last shot shows crows sitting on the headstones in the graveyard where Manbei has been interned. |
| 107 | * ''Film/{{Goyokin}}'' (and the ForeignRemake ''The Master Gunfighter''). A woman returns to her village to find it abandoned except for the crows, which are played up for maximum creepiness. The villagers were actually massacred by the local lord and their bodies disposed off, but three years later the legend is that the villagers were taken by evil crow spirits, and the SoleSurvivor plays this up (to discourage men from trying to abuse her) by claiming she was immune to the crows thanks to her magic powers. The trope is combined with DisturbedDoves as crows continue to appear throughout the movie, especially the climatic sword fight between the hero and the BigBad. |
| 108 | * ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'': The scene of Buckbeak's execution has crows all over the area being just as sinister as they can be. |
| 109 | * ''Film/{{Husk}}'': A murder of crows smashes into the windscreen of Chris's SUV, causing him to crash into the cornfield. Afterwards, more crows hang around the protagonists; watching them and cawing creepily. |
| 110 | * ''Film/JurassicWorld'': After the ominous opening involving baby dinosaurs hatching, the scene cuts to a shot of an extreme close-up of what looks like a giant dinosaur foot... that turns out to be the foot of a random crow, or even a blackbird based on size. Which, strictly speaking, is still a dinosaur foot, as birds evolved from, and are thus a type of, dinosaurs. Played a bit more straight later in the film, as a few crows can be seen scavenging on the ''Apatosaurus'' corpses left behind in the wake of the saurian BigBad's rampage. |
| 111 | %%* ''Film/JeepersCreepers'': Crows seem to be drawn to wherever the Creeper is.%%Which is an example how? |
| 112 | * ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': Like in the book, ravens and crows are generally an ill omen. The "crebain from Dunland" that Legolas sees near the Misty Mountains in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' are servants of Saruman, reporting on the position of the Fellowship for him. |
| 113 | -->'''Gandalf''': The Enemy has many spies ... beasts, and birds ... |
| 114 | * ''Film/JonahHex2010'': Jonah notes that crows seem to be hanging around him a lot after he was brought back from the dead. One warns him of a sniper, and a murder flocks around his body when he's OnlyMostlyDead and is carried to the Crow medicine man who resurrected him the last time. |
| 115 | * ''Film/MadMax'': The cawing of crows is used in the films to show the WorldHalfEmpty as our hero travels the gang-plagued highways and deserts of Australia. Used very effectively in ''Fury Road''; the crows in the Quagmire indicate that this is ''not'' a happy place [[spoiler:and that it's actually what's left of the Green Place that Furiosa has been searching for.]] |
| 116 | * ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' combines this with DisturbedDoves. While Neo and the Oracle are discussing free will and whether we understand our own choices, the Oracle is feeding the birds. The Oracle says her goodbyes... and the birds immediately take flight en masse as Agent Smith shows up. |
| 117 | * ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' introduces Jack by showing a large, foreboding prison, with crows picking at rotting corpses in cages and one of them landing on a coffin that's been thrown to sea then getting blown away by Jack, who'd been hiding inside. |
| 118 | %%* ''Film/TheRaven1963'': The eponymous bird is an [[ForcedTransformation involuntarily shape-shifted]] wizard.%%And is creepy because? |
| 119 | * ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'': 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. |
| 120 | * ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'': The evil queen Ravenna uses a corvid motif and can transform into a flock of ravens at will, while her minions change into a murder of crows when killed. However, some {{magpies|AsPortents}} serve as Snow White's friends and allies. |
| 121 | * ''Film/UltramanTheNext'': In the final battle, the monster known as Beast the One use it's powers to absorb entire flocks of crows into his body, morphing what seems to be a few thousand crows into becoming a pair of crow-like wings on it's back, which grants it the powers of flight to battle Ultraman in aerial combat. Ultraman eventually slices those wings off, which then disperses back into crows and flew away. |
| 122 | * ''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. |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Gamebooks]] |
| 126 | * ''Literature/KnightsOfDoom'': You forge an alliance with fellow knight Lord Taris Varen, only to find out that [[spoiler:Varen is actually a traitor and a were-raven serving Lord Belgaroth, the BigBad. At the peak of your final battle with Belgaroth, Varen, in raven form, will attempt to summon reinforcements unless you break his transformation, turning him into a grotesque half-man, half-raven hybrid]]. |
| 127 | * ''Literature/LoneWolf'': It's mentioned that ravens are considered a bad omen in Sommerlund, and indeed whenever they show up in the books, it is in a quite negative light. The fact that some are used by lieutenants of the Darklords as scouts, as seen in Book 1 with a Vordak, sure doesn't help things. In Book 4, the finding of a murder of crows feasting on corpses reveals the fate of the RedshirtArmy preceding Lone Wolf. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 131 | * ''Literature/AmericanGods'': In one chapter, Shadow encounters a rather large raven eating a dead fawn, which tells him that [[Myth/NorseMythology Mr. Wednesday]] wants him to go to Cairo (Illinois), and to "fuck off" when Shadow asks it to say "Nevermore". |
| 132 | * ''Literature/CodexAlera'' consistently uses crows as a symbol of death and battle. "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.]] |
| 133 | * ''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 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're freed from MindControl or simply learned their lessons and decided to stay neutral from then on. |
| 134 | * ''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. |
| 135 | * "Dragon Scales", a short story by Eric Tanafon, published in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine: The bard who sets out to charm the dragon thinks of the abundance of ravens, and absence of songbirds, around the dragons lair as an ill omen. [[spoiler: He eventually realises it's a clue that dragons have very different taste in music to humans.]] |
| 136 | * ''Ghostweight'' by Yoon Ha Lee: The protagonist steals an abandoned mercenary spacecraft that communicates with her via AnimalMotifs formed on [[UnusualUserInterface tapestries displayed around the walls]]. Ravens are used to indicate impending danger. |
| 137 | * ''Literature/TheGirlFromTheMiraclesDistrict'': In the second book, Nikita and Robin are constantly followed by Odin's two ravens to highlight that they're BeingWatched and the uneasiness that comes with it. Near the end of the story, Morrigan's crows join them as harbingers of bad times to come. |
| 138 | * ''Literature/GodsAndWarriors'': The [[BigScrewedUpFamily House of Koronos]] and the warriors under their employ are called Crows due to their greed and preference to [[EvilWearsBlack wearing black fluttering cloaks]]. One member of the house named [[TheBrute Kreon]] finds this so amusing that [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor he has carcasses thrown at the base of his stronghold in order to have actual crows infesting the area]]. |
| 139 | * ''Literature/HowToSurviveAHorrorMovie'': Mentioned in the "10 Wildlife Creatures That Are Always Evil" section. Apparently, ravens are actually quite pleasant animals... [[DoubleSubverted but they're still certain harbingers of impending doom]]. |
| 140 | * ''Literature/{{Krabat}}'': The boys are turned into ravens when they get lessons in (dark) magic. |
| 141 | * ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'': The villainous [[spoiler:Vicar Roberts]] has an albino raven for a familiar. |
| 142 | * ''Literature/OneForSorrowTwoForJoy'': Corvids in general, especially magpies and crows, are the resident AlwaysChaoticEvil species. They are mostly portrayed as either stupid, sadistic, or AxCrazy, and kill smaller birds [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. |
| 143 | * ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'': The twin Drow goddesses Sve Noc favour appearing as crows after [[spoiler: they follow Catherine to the surface]]. Worshippers start daubing crow wings on their possessions, and [[spoiler: Catherine herself carries them on her shoulder to show their approval, or will weave illusions of them when they're busy]]. |
| 144 | * ''Literature/RachelGriffin'': An oversized raven with {{red eyes|TakeWarning}} 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.]] |
| 145 | * "Literature/TheRaven" is an unsettling piece that 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. |
| 146 | * ''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.]] |
| 147 | * ''Literature/TheReynardCycle'': Tiecelin has a pet raven, Prophet, who can talk, but only knows one word: "Doom!" |
| 148 | * ''Literature/TheRiddleMasterTrilogy'': Played with. Crows are associated with the kingdom of An; in fact, it seems to be common that members of the royal family can turn into crows, and they are portrayed positively -- however, An is also the kingdom with the most restless dead, so much so that one of the main duties of the ruler is to keep them bound, and they can be distinctly horrifying when loose. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/RipVanWinkle'': Rip is climbing around in the woods when he hears his name called, but all he sees is a single crow flying above the mountain. Then he meets a strange, silent man who turns out to be a ghost. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'': The Brett Helquist covers show crows on them (two on the first cover). |
| 151 | * ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': The Baudelaires are sent to a village called [[FunWithAcronyms the Village of Fowl Devotees]], which is full of crows. Though the crows themselves never actually hurt anyone, they contribute to the unpleasant and ominous atmosphere of the village, whose people are creepily devoted to them, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat full of worthless rules]], and otherwise [[AdultsAreUseless unhelpful]]. |
| 152 | * ''Literature/SheepsClothing'': The vampire Alexandre Russeau brings a flock of carrion crows with him when he moves into Salvation. They serve as his eyes and ears -- and as a handy way to get around people scattering seeds outside their doors and windows to invoke how ObsessivelyOrganized he is as a vampire. |
| 153 | * ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Crows appear often and prominently. Broadly speaking the series has [[CleverCrows Clever Ravens]] and Creepy Crows, but there's some overlap: |
| 154 | ** Ravens serve as messenger birds throughout Westeros, often [[BearerOfBadNews delivering bad news]]. This leads to the commonly-repeated expression, "dark wings, dark words". Crows, meanwhile, are used as a motif for death and the general toll of war, going as far as being the fourth book's title, ''Literature/AFeastForCrows''. |
| 155 | ** The character most associated with crows (his names, his birthmark, the Blackwood sigil and his rumored [[spoiler:and revealed to be true]] skinchanging ability) is Brynden "Bloodraven" Rivers, who is a [[KnightTemplar controversial character]] at his best, and (ambiguously) {{evil|Chancellor}} at his worst. He's eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:a powerful sorcerer who has always skinchanged into crows to fulfill his own mysterious agenda]]. |
| 156 | ** Jeor Mormont's old pet raven can speak a few words, which often seem ominously prophetic.%%[[spoiler:It may have something to do with the above-mentioned ability of Bloodraven in skinchanging.]]%%May or does? |
| 157 | ** The Maesters of the Citadel also breed special white ravens who are only released to signify the official changing of seasons; one shows up at the end of A Dance With Dragons to show that winter has, in fact, come. |
| 158 | ** It's heavily implied that the unusual cleverness of the ravens may have something to do with [[spoiler:centuries of skinchanging by the greenseers, who used to speak through the birds]]. |
| 159 | ** Euron Greyjoy, one of the most eerie and depraved characters in the series, is known as the Crow's Eye, has crows on his personal coat of arms, and uses them in metaphors quite a bit. [[spoiler:It's also implied that he has some connection with Bloodraven.]] |
| 160 | * ''Literature/SorcererConjurerWizardWitch'' has a small flock of friendly ravens (the ones who live in the Tower of London and form part of the city's magical defences) and a much larger flock of murderous crows commanded by the Great Enchanter Zenf. It's noted that there isn't really an actual difference between ravens and crows. |
| 161 | * ''Literature/TheStand'': Crows are associated with [[BigBad Randall Flagg]]. Often, particularly in the film, but sometimes in the novel as well, a large, black bird is spotted hanging around during a dark time in the plot. The film even has him shifting into crow form in the end. |
| 162 | * ''Literature/{{Stuck}}'': In ''Stuck at the Wheel'', the gang led by The Shadow is named the Crows and their calling card is a black crow feather. |
| 163 | * ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'': |
| 164 | ** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': ''Crebain'' are crows apparently allied with the forces of Evil, serving as spies for Saruman. However, according to ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'', the ''crebain'' only temporarily served Saruman, and not with malicious intentions. The benign wizard, Radagast the Brown had borrowed them to his service, unaware of his treachery and them being as unaware as their benefactor, did their job well. |
| 165 | ** ''Literature/TheHobbit'': Averted with ravens, who have been long-trusted friends and allies of the Dwarves of Erebor, who used them as messengers. An ancient raven by the name of Roäc greets Thorin as King Under the Mountain. In a moment that leaves no doubt about them caring for the Free People and not about opportunistically filling their stomachs, Roäc counsels Thorin ''against'' going to war with the Elves of Mirkwood and the Men of Esgaroth over Smaug's treasure. |
| 166 | * ''Literature/LesVoyageursSansSouci'': Big Crow holds the position of Grand Sorcerer in the court of Séraphine Alavolette, Queen of All Flying Creatures. Coveting the position of Prime Minister, Big Crow and its flock ambush Golden Eagle during a trip and harass the larger bird until shooting her down, and try to put a curse upon the hermit who finds and takes care of the wounded bird of prey. |
| 167 | * ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': |
| 168 | ** 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. |
| 169 | ** Ravens are a symbol of the imperial family of the Seanchan, who are a particularly ruthless society of slaveholders that serve as one of the principal 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. |
| 170 | ** 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 spear 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]]. |
| 171 | * ''Literature/{{Wildwood}}'' by Colin Meloy: Prue's brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows. |
| 172 | * ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': Crows are among the minions of the Wicked Witch of the West, 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. |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 176 | * ''Series/{{Awaken}}'': Crows appear in the prologue, watching as the village burns. |
| 177 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E10FaceTheRaven Face the Raven]]" has the quantum shade, which usually takes the form of a raven. Averted in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E10TheEatersOfLight The Eaters of Light]]", where crows are actually helping the protagonists and the Picts, warning them of danger. At the end of the episode, one of the Picts asks the crows to remember a fallen friend named Kar. They have, ever since word they say since then ("caw") sounds very much like her name. |
| 178 | * ''Series/{{From}}'': Whenever someone comes across the felled tree that ends up redirecting them to the road into the town, there's always a murder of crows cawing away in the branches above them. |
| 179 | * ''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. Ravens, on the other hand, are normal domesticated messenger birds, but they have a bad rep because bad news arrive via them, hence the proverb: "Dark wings, dark words". |
| 180 | * ''Series/ElInternadoLasCumbres'': Crows and ravens are the series's {{Animal Motif|s}}. The plot involves an ancient secret society called "Nido del Cuervo" (Crow/Raven's Nest) accused of human sacrifices. Their members wear hooded cloaks and masks that make them resemble crows. A little girl sings, "evil black bird, the devil's servant" while jumping rope. Often a crow will land in the window to a room where something bad will happen. |
| 181 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'': In the fifth season, crows are symbolically linked to the murderous Crowe family, flocking about the body of their first victim, Wade Messer. |
| 182 | * ''Series/TheMunsters'' is about an [[MonsterMash ensemble of monstrous creatures]] conforming a NuclearFamily. One of the characters is a talking crow (voiced by Creator/MelBlanc). |
| 183 | %%* ''Series/QueensOfMystery'': Live crows, stuffed crows, mysteriously preserved feathers, and even animated faux-paper ones in the opening credits. |
| 184 | * ''Series/TheSandman2022'': "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E11ADreamOfAThousandCatsCalliope A Dream of a Thousand Cats]]": The Skull Bird is a crow except that its entire head, upper neck and parts of its rib-cage are devoid of flesh, leaving only exposed bone. It's the first creature the central character meets in her dream quest, and offers her directions to the King of Cats (aka Dream) but warns about the lethal dangers that bar her path. |
| 185 | * ''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. |
| 186 | * ''Series/UltramanTiga'': In one episode, Ultraman battles a race of aliens called the Raybeaks, a race of crow-faced humanoids whose creepy factor mainly comes from the episode's atmosphere. The real threat they present, though, is that they're slavers who use {{Shrink Ray}}s to seize humans and bring them back home to replace their dying SlaveRace of HumanAliens. |
| 187 | [[/folder]] |
| 188 | |
| 189 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 190 | * In her song "Things That Scare Me", Music/NekoCase recalls being stalked by a flock of black birds as a child. As an adult, she wonders whether they may have actually been trying to warn her to leave her town before it's too late. |
| 191 | * Towards the end of Darke Complex's song ''Intrusive Thoughts'' crows are mentioned to gather round the narrator's dead body. |
| 192 | * Gillian Welch's "The Way It Will Be". |
| 193 | -->''I can't say your name without a crow flying by'' |
| 194 | * Music/{{Katatonia}} have a few crow-like imagery on their album covers. |
| 195 | * ''Music/NautilusPompilius'': |
| 196 | ** In the song "Black Birds", birds try to hurt a girl (make her unhappy forever or, depending on your interpretation, literally peck her eyes out). |
| 197 | ** In the song "Walking on the Water", a black raven flies over the cross, and this frightens the apostle Andrew. |
| 198 | * "When Crows Descend upon You" by Music/APaleHorseNamedDeath. |
| 199 | * Music/{{Radiohead}}'s "There There" video has Thom Yorke steal some enchanted clothing from a tree in the woods, awakening some crows that chase and peck at him. Thom manages to outrun the crows, but not for long. |
| 200 | * ''Music/TomWaits'': "Flash Pan Hunter/Intro", from ''Music/TheBlackRider'', is a minute of a gloomy tune playing while crows caw. |
| 201 | [[/folder]] |
| 202 | |
| 203 | [[folder:Myths & Religion]] |
| 204 | * Myth/CelticMythology: |
| 205 | ** In Irish Mythology, the Morrigan (Or the related goddess [[ADogNamedDog Badb]].) sometimes appears in the form of a crow to warriors, warning them of their future downfall or death in battle. |
| 206 | ** The Irish and Scottish believed in the Sluagh, souls of the wicked dead who took the form of crows and devoured people's souls. |
| 207 | * Myth/ClassicalMythology: Ravens were the messengers of the Olympians, and were said to foretell bad luck. |
| 208 | * The Danish traditionally believed that a raven who ate the flesh of a chieftain fallen in battle would gain superhuman powers and intelligence. |
| 209 | * Myth/NorseMythology has probably the most famous example in Hugin and Munin, Odin's two ravens. Their names mean Thought and Memory, and their purpose was to fly out into the world every morning to watch the goings on in Asgard and Midgard, and at night return to Odin's shoulders and whisper to him all the secrets they've learned. |
| 210 | [[/folder]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | %%[[folder:Pinballs]] |
| 213 | %%* There's one hanging around outside of Creator/{{Gottlieb}}'s ''Pinball/HauntedHouse''. |
| 214 | %%[[/folder]] |
| 215 | |
| 216 | [[folder:Stand-up Comedy]] |
| 217 | * According to Creator/AislingBea, Creepy Crows were [[https://youtu.be/YLU6m1D_uWs?t=165 one of the hallmarks]] of growing up in [[CampbellCountry rural Ireland]]. |
| 218 | -->'''Aisling''': And it makes everything you do seem really ominous. You'd open the window and it'd be like ''"Blagh! bagh! bagh, bagh..."'' "Well, that seems a bit ominous." You know, you'd be [[BreadEggsMilkSquick standing innocently over a dead body]] in a field, and ''"Graa! Graa! Graa..." [jumps and looks around in surprise]'' |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 222 | * ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': |
| 223 | ** 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. |
| 224 | ** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Raven's Bluff is named after unusual local birds (big ravens that leave a curse if killed). |
| 225 | ** ''TabletopGame/NentirVale'': The Raven Queen is the goddess of death, fate and winter, 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. |
| 226 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': Simpathetics are fiendish beasts that resemble crows with mottled brown-gold feathers and blood-red eyes, which can literally suck the goodness out of anyone who lets the simpathetic touch them, as well as spitting gobbets of corrosive blood at anyone who they take a dislike to. |
| 227 | ** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': Zigzagged. On the one hand, Barovia is home to both Wereravens (the only Good-aligned species of werebeast in Ravenloft) and to Ravenkin (giant, spellcasting, talking ravens who are Good aligned, have some mysterious connection to the lost Barovian sun god Andral, and are dedicated enemies of vampires in general and [[ClassicalMovieVampire Strahd]] in particular), which thoroughly subvert this trope, although the Ravenkin's ability to spy through the eyes of normal crows can be used to play this trope straight. Played thoroughly straight with the Corvus Regis ("King's Ravens"), who are intelligent, talking ravens bred as spies by the lich-king of Darkon, Azalin. |
| 228 | * ''TabletopGame/{{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. |
| 229 | * ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'': The symbol of Ashwood Abbey is a crow with a twig in its mouth and an "A" on its chest. Said Abbey is a society of bored rich people who rape, kill and torture monsters for sport. |
| 230 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Mausritter}}'' uses crows as essentially a counterpart to {{Wicked Witch}}es. They can cast spells with their song, and and the factions list includes a coven of crows with goals like "kidnap a mouse farmer" and "capture a weather spirit". |
| 231 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': |
| 232 | ** There's a spell called ''blood crow strike'', which creates energy blasts in the shape of fiery crows. |
| 233 | ** Several sorts of {{psychopomp}} (the servants of Pharasma, the TrueNeutral [[DarkIsNotEvil death goddess]]) look, or can look, corvid (others exist that resemble other death-associated birds, such as whippoorwills and vultures): |
| 234 | *** The tiny nosoi often resemble crows with plague doctor-like face masks. |
| 235 | *** The vanths, warrior psychopomps also called the reapers or the angels of death and known for their emotionless and unapproachable personalities, resemble humanoid skeletons with the skulls and wings of crows. |
| 236 | *** The huge, powerful yamarajes appear part raven and part dragon. |
| 237 | *** Generally, winged psychopomps typically have black, crow-like wings regardless of the rest of their appearance. |
| 238 | * ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': The Court of Tears reside in the cursed city of Alhamabra in the heart of the Dark World, and drain the very possibility of goodness and hope from the Earth to fuel the wisp-lamps that hold back the Darkness. One of the common nicknames for Nobles of Tears is "Ravens". |
| 239 | * ''TabletopGame/ResArcana'': The Raven Familiar sits on top of a skull and passively produces Death essence. |
| 240 | * ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'': {{Justified|Trope}} with the Matriarch. A goth teen who became TheBeastmaster thanks to an ArtifactOfDoom, she commands endless hordes of ravens. [[FromNobodyToNightmare her threat is considered by the game to be on par with Iron Legacy]], a ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' {{Expy}} turned evil. |
| 241 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Summerland}}'': Occasionally, when travelers are out in the deep woods, the forest suddenly grows deathly quiet and a huge flock of rooks comes down from the sky, covering the trees in a mass of black feathers. They watch the traveler in silence for a while, and then act -- sometimes showing omens, sometimes aiding, sometimes viciously attacking. Then they leave. |
| 242 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': The raven is the symbol of Morr, the god of death and dreams. They're also associated with the Grey Wizards, which while [[DarkIsNotEvil not evil]] are still associated with darkness, shadows and secrets. Tzeentch, the Chaos god of change, mutation and backstabbers, is called the Raven God by some tribes and his demons bear strong similarities to corvid birds. Interestingly, his opposite Nurgle (god of disease, decay and stagnation) is called the Crow God by some. |
| 243 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Raven Guard and their homeworld have -- unsurprisingly -- ravens as their motif. The Raven Guard is known for being black-ops-esque unit and in one of the short stories, Shadow Captain Shrike manages to scare even an ''[[FearlessFool Ork kommando]]''. Their homeworld, Kiavahr, has enormous, carnivorous, and man-eating crows as one of its dominant predators. |
| 244 | [[/folder]] |
| 245 | |
| 246 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 247 | * There are several creepy ravens throughout ''Ride/TheHauntedMansion'' 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. |
| 248 | [[/folder]] |
| 249 | |
| 250 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 251 | * ''VideoGame/{{Armello}}'': Banes look like monstrous, semi-skeletal corvids wreathed in a sickly purple glow. |
| 252 | * ''VideoGame/ArrogationUnlightOfDay'' has a Raven-Demon ImplacableMan monster who likes to ambush and pursue you at several points. Luckily, despite looking scary with it's huge wings, [[WingsDoNothing said demon can't fly]]. |
| 253 | * ''VideoGame/BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg'': The enemies are evil crows that caused TheNightThatNeverEnds. |
| 254 | * ''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]] plasmid. |
| 255 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': Crows are common enemies, and are large, loud, and can hit hard if you didn't pay attention. And then there's Eileen The Crow, a [[HunterOfHisOwnKind hunter who hunts hunters]], she [[AnimalMotif uses crows as her motif]]. |
| 256 | * ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'': Crows 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 ravens/crows. |
| 257 | * ''VideoGame/CatPlanet'' features crows that will follow the player to try to kill them in the final section. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/ChainsOfSatinav'': The kingdom of Andergast suffers from a plague of magical crows that give the citizens nightmares. |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/DanceCentral'' gives the BigBad of the 2nd and 3rd games, Dr. Tan, a crow motif in the third game. His dystopian future residence is called the Crow's Nest, where cawing crows can be seen flying in the background, he has a giant crow statue in his throne room, and his dance crew is even called "Murder of Crows". |
| 260 | * ''VideoGame/DarkDevotion'': You might encounter an ominous crow with a faint red aura as you explore the ruins. If you approach it, the crow will transform into a Grim Reaper-like figure wielding a fiery scythe, and you will have a nasty fight on your hands. |
| 261 | * ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': There's a raven on the family crests you collect, and given that basically everything in DD is designed to be at least a bit creepy and unsettling, it qualifies. You can also have the Shrieker turn up in plot missions; this is a horrible, fast-moving OptionalBoss that's a hideously mutated raven with more eyes than is standard, and can be fought for loot - but if you can't kill it in four turns it flees. |
| 262 | * ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'': Crows appear throughout the series: |
| 263 | ** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'': Crows and Ravens are the symbol of the Goddess of Sin, Velka, whose influence on the actual game is mostly theoretical, but is probably just as tied to the raven that takes you to Lordran in the first place as she is to the HalfHumanHybrid monsters in the Painted World of Ariamis. The game also has a friendly (though unseen) talking crow Snuggly the Crow who trades rare and valuable items with you. |
| 264 | ** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'': Dyna and Tillo are two unseen crows who take up the same role as Snuggly from the previous game. There is also a friendly Crow Demon Weaponsmith Ornifex who forges weapons from Boss Souls. The only unfriendly corvid is the giant one who carries The Pursuer around Drangleic to harass you. |
| 265 | ** ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'': Pickle Pee, Pump-a-Rum Crow are the crows who trade stuff in this game. The game also sees the return of antagonistic crows in the form of the Corvians, implied to be the descendants of the Crow Demons from the Painted World. They show up in the base game and in the DLC ''Ashes of Ariandel'' in which you enter the Painted World. The Painting is rotting, which has had bad effects on the Corvians within. Some are forlorn wretches who do little more than wander about begging for an end to their misery. Others are vicious and agile fighters who have dedicated themselves to keeping the Painted World intact despite the rot, and they are some of the most dangerous enemies in the game. [[spoiler:One of the bosses in the base game, Pontiff Sulyvahn, is actually a Corvian from the Painted World.]] |
| 266 | * ''VideoGame/DeadByDaylight'': Ravens are very common wildlife throughout the settings, and they are always working against your best interests. |
| 267 | ** Ravens are commonly found perched throughout the map and fly away when people get near them, potentially alerting a nearby killer that a survivor is in the vicinity. |
| 268 | ** If a survivor hides in a locker for too long, ravens will perch on it and make noise, giving away their location. |
| 269 | ** If a survivor stays still for over a minute, ravens will circle overhead and noisily give away your location until you move. |
| 270 | * ''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 GothicHorror. |
| 271 | ** In the short story "Theatre Macabre: The Dark Exile" a playwright, who has unwittingly written a play about the exile of the three Prime Evils, reports how several actors who had auditioned for the role of Diablo himself met untimely and grisly ends, one of them being set upon by a murder of crows before his body had even grown cold, which was noted as being abnormal behavior for them. |
| 272 | ** Demon Hunters often have ravens as companions. While they are not evil, they are grim and forbidding, and frequently use demonic power against their demonic foes. They're also considered a bad omen by superstitious villagers and townsfolk. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/DieAnstalt'' has Dr. Wood, the living plushie Head of Psychiatry at the titular asylum...[[TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes and one of the patients]], being an emotionally unstable paranoid {{Narcissist}} [[spoiler:who eventually snaps completely and goes through AGodAmI in a surreal sequence where even ''[[PlayerCharacter the sockpuppet therapist]]'' appears to be swept up in his delusions]]. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/DualBlades'' and ''Slashers: The Power Battle'': Shin is an AxCrazy SerialKiller who can [[TheBeastmaster summon crows to aid him in battle]]. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fahrenheit}}'': Crows come up a lot; the first scene in the game after the opening monologue is of a crow flying over New York City and settling on a window sill [[spoiler: where a murder is about to take place]]. The ending somewhat implies [[spoiler: they're agents of the Purple Clan.]] |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' features murders of crows that tend to appear at plot-relevant moments, such as the Sole Survivor's emergence from Vault 111, the fight between Raiders and Preston Garvey's survivors in Concord, or the ''Prydwen'''s appearance over Fort Hagen. It's not quite spelled out in-game, but dialogue suggests they're artificial animals used by the Institute to spy on the Commonwealth since Ronnie Shaw mentions seeing them turn up shortly before the Institute attacks the Castle during the Minutemen's endgame. And they're probably a shout-out to Boston's [[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe most famous writer]] as well. |
| 277 | * ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'': The Crow Mauler is, naturally, a man with a crow's head and a spiked club where one of his arms should be. He is also one of the most dangerous enemies in the game, [[SuperPersistentPredator chasing you throughout the dungeons]] and being able to [[OneHitKill peck your head off and instantly end your run]], to the extent that the game warns you with "A terrifying presence has entered the room..." when he spawns. |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'': Henry, a HeroicComedicSociopath with a disturbing interest in bloodshed, is associated with crows, first appearing amidst them and being shown with one in his official art. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/{{Gekido}}: Kintaro's Revenge'' have TheDragon, Koji, whose appearance during his boss fight being based entirely on ravens. He wears all black, can summon projectiles shaped like ravens, and when his power's activated to the max [[PowerGivesYouWings he can sprout raven-like wings]] to attack you with. |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/GhostsNGoblins'': Ravens are a mainstay enemy of the series, appearing in blue and red varieties. |
| 281 | * ''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. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/HyperLightDrifter'': There's a cult of [[CartoonCreature birds]] resembling corvids or vultures. |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/JitsuSquad'' have the EvilWizard and {{Necromancer}}, Raven, who's a raven-man and one of the villains. He also inhabits one of the game's creepiest stages, Hellstorm Castle, which is [[NightOfTheLivingMooks infested with his zombie and skeleton minions]]. |
| 284 | * ''VideoGame/JimmyAndThePulsatingMass'' has [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Grimclaw]], a [[GiantFlyer humongous]] crow that was mutated into a [[BodyHorror malformed fleshy monstrosity]] by the Pulsating Mass. It serves as a OptionalBoss of the second Nightmare Zone (listed as ??? on the map). |
| 285 | * ''VideoGame/TheLastDoor''. Birds in general are a motif, but crows are especially worthy of mention. There are at least two scares involving them in the first chapter alone. |
| 286 | * ''Franchise/LeagueOfLegends'': ScaryScarecrow Fiddlesticks is entirely themed around this trope. Its ''Terrify'' ability projects a crow-shaped projectile that stuns enemies with fear, it occasionally makes creepy impressions of a crow call, along with any other country animals it's slaughtered, and its ultimate ability is ''Crowstorm'' in which a whirlwind of deadly crows circle around it dealing massive damage. |
| 287 | -->"...High above the rotten rows... cloth and metal. Teeth and crows!..." |
| 288 | * ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': Mount Satori, a supernatural mountain marked by a gathering of spirit-like beings on its summit during certain nights and numerous undead enemies on its slopes, is also home to immense flocks of crows constantly wheeling and circling in its skies and perching on its slopes and cliffs. Similarly, the Bottomless Swamp -- an area of sucking quicksand-like bogs, pools of deadly Malice, dead trees and giant stone skulls half-buried in the mire -- is home to a similar, smaller flock of crows that circles above it at all times. The crows' Compendium entry also notes that they're seen as birds of ill omen in Hylian culture. |
| 289 | * ''VideoGame/TheLongDark'': {{Subverted|Trope}} as a gameplay mechanic. Cawing flocks of ravens all in the same place definitely ''aren't'' bad news. Their presence indicates the presence of a body nearby. If the dead body is human, they may have non-perishable foods or tools on their person or beside them, and animal corpses can provide meat as well as hides and guts which can be collected and cured -- all of these are vital survival supplies. Crows themselves can drop feathers, useful for making fletchings for arrows. To find them creepy and hate them for it would be highly ungrateful. |
| 290 | * ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'': Raven Beak is a [[BirdPeople Chozo]] with a more raven-like head than the others. He's also a would-be GalacticConqueror wearing intimidating PoweredArmor who is [[CurbStompBattle easily able to overpower Samus Aran during their first encounter]]. |
| 291 | * ''VideoGame/MonumentValley'': The crows are the only living things other than the main character Ida [[spoiler:(and Totem)]], which makes them pretty creepy despite being fairly minor obstacles. |
| 292 | * ''Videogame/MysteryCaseFiles'': Ravens are the mascot of the Dalimar family, particularly Alister, the patriarch. He has a loyal raven servant named Tanatos who does his bidding and flocks of the birds surround the Dalimar's derelict Ravenhearst estate. Basically, if the birds ever pop up in the games, then the Dalimars are somehow connected to the story. |
| 293 | * ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Bastion's Halloween "Tombstone" skin swaps its usual songbird companion, Ganymede, for a crow. |
| 294 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': |
| 295 | ** The [[DarkIsEvil Dark-type]] Pokémon Murkrow is said to be a harbinger of misfortune and lead lost travellers astray. Its evolved form Honchkrow commands a whole flock of them and [[YouHaveFailedMe brutally punishes those who fail a task]]. |
| 296 | ** Corviknight, the flying-and-steel-type raven with body armor that’s said to be the dominant bird in Galar’s skies and scares off any challengers. They aren’t quite as mean beneath the surface as Murkrow, though. |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/{{POPGOES}}'': Stone the Crow invokes this trope by causing [[spoiler:Strings]] to FreakOut whenever they see him on camera, with taunting messages cropping up in an attempt of filling the player's panic meter. |
| 298 | %%* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'': Crows are all over the place in the series, although unlike other examples they can be relatively docile in some cases.%%So how are they creepy? |
| 299 | * ''VideoGame/{{Roki}}'': Ravens serve as the eyes and ears of the BigBad and harass [[WorldTree the Waytrees]]. Their presence often adds a sense of ominousness to an area and reminds players their movements are being tracked; driving them off is often necessary to progress through certain stages. Additionally, the DarkWorld in the final chapter features cages containing humanoids with crow skulls for heads that shriek threats at Tove when she comes near them [[spoiler:and are heavily implied to be transformed humans.]] |
| 300 | * ''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, and the quest issued to vanquish him is ''Great Raven of the Underground''. |
| 301 | * ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': Ravens generally illustrate the death and decay gripping Dubai - as Lugo says, "at least the ravens ain't gonna starve." They're often present when there's something off about a situation, such as Walker's choice between shooting a soldier or a water thief [[spoiler:which turns out to be a hallucination]]. And some show up on the EvolvingTitleScreen's penultimate scene, picking at the corpse of the sniper who was perched in the foreground. |
| 302 | * ''VideoGame/{{Strangeland}}'': The stranger encounters two talking Ravens in his journey. The first gives him information about Strangeland, the second only speaks to an old man who writes down everything it says. |
| 303 | * ''VideoGame/{{Sumire}}'': The Crow Queen and her minions try to prevent Sumire from accomplishing her tasks. |
| 304 | * ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': Utsuho Reiuji is a [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster Hell Raven]] who wields the power to manipulate [[AtomicSuperpower nuclear fusion and fission]]. Upon gaining this power, her first order of business was to convert an old version of hell into a nuclear reactor with the goal of conquering Gensoukyo. |
| 305 | [[/folder]] |
| 306 | |
| 307 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 308 | * ''WebAnimation/TheBackwaterGospel'': A flock of eerie-looking crows foretell the coming of [[TheDreaded the Undertaker]]. |
| 309 | * ''WebAninmation/NomadOfNowhere'': Crows appear to be the familiars used by the GreaterScopeVillain El Rey. In the season finale, El Rey talks through an entire murder of crows. [[spoiler: Fitting, as the Nomad is actually an animated scarecrow.]] |
| 310 | * ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': |
| 311 | ** One variant of [[TheHeartless Grimm]] is the Nevermore, [[GiantFlyer a gigantic raven]] with additional bat-like fingers on its wingtips, and the Grimm's trademark [[WhiteMaskOfDoom mask-like bony faceplate]]. |
| 312 | ** The [[AnimalThemeNaming Branwen]] siblings play with this trope. Qrow is Ruby and Yang's CoolUncle, and while he's [[TheAlcoholic often drunk]], [[DeadpanSnarker snarky and sarcastic]], [[spoiler:[[VoluntaryShapeshifting and can turn into a crow]]]], he's unquestionably a good guy and falls more under the CleverCrows trope... although he admits he got his name because crows are considered unlucky, [[spoiler:and his Semblance indeed [[TheJinx brings misfortune]] [[PowerIncontinence to everyone around him.]]]] Raven, on the other hand, ran out on her family to lead a BanditClan, is a SocialDarwinist who thinks that showing up to save her daughter Yang's life was an act of charity that can't be repeated, and is [[TheDreaded so intimidating]] that she got Yang's attackers to flee without saying a word. Even Yang's father Taiyang warns her that her mother is a dangerous woman. Fittingly, she wears a mask styled like a Nevermore skull. |
| 313 | [[/folder]] |
| 314 | |
| 315 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 316 | * ''WebVideo/FascinatingHorror'', a channel that covers real-world accidents and disasters, uses a crow as his icon. |
| 317 | [[/folder]] |
| 318 | |
| 319 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 320 | * ''Webcomic/{{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.]] |
| 321 | * ''Webcomic/AstralAves'' starts with two ravens appearing to the protagonists, launching an ominous prophecy and periodically reappearing. |
| 322 | * ''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). |
| 323 | * ''Webcomic/CrimsonKnights'': The EvilSorcerer Azalea has a magical raven that protects her from Farryn's second sight and who she can sic against enemies. |
| 324 | * ''Webcomic/CrowScare'' features [[http://crowscare.keenspot.com/d/20081113.html an enormous, homicidal crow]] as the titular antagonist. |
| 325 | * '' Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': |
| 326 | ** 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."]] |
| 327 | ** And his mother, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pandora Chaos Raven]]. |
| 328 | * ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': As Higgs leaves following his first encounter with Martellus the snowy slope is littered with the [[SnowMeansDeath corpses of at least thirty spark hounds]] that crows are alighting on and starting to eat making for an eerie backdrop. |
| 329 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': |
| 330 | ** The crows circling around Dave's house are pretty creepy, especially when their presence is combined in time with [[spoiler:the arrival of one of the meteorites destroying the Earth]]. |
| 331 | ** Crows are common in Dave's nightmares, in which he becomes a bird. |
| 332 | * ''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. |
| 333 | * ''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.]] |
| 334 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': |
| 335 | ** The Ssaelit religion sees crows as tempters and tricksters in a similar way to the way serpents are viewed in Christian iconography. This may have something to do with their being carrion birds and the Ssaelit beliefs concerning decay and death, or it might have something to do with the crow-like Senet in the khert that has been manipulating humanity for centuries and seems to have known Ssael himself. |
| 336 | ** The corpses of civilians in Grenzlan are picked at by crows and even the Lions of Mercy note there are more of the unsettling birds around than usual as they are shown tearing the eyes out of corpses. [[spoiler:Some of the crows turn out to be pymaricly altered to act as plod masks when they perch to put their eyes in front of a corpse's eye sockets, allowing wrights outside the city to attack the soldiers by puppeting the corpses of their victims]]. |
| 337 | [[/folder]] |
| 338 | |
| 339 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 340 | * ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Ed attempts to pull of a curse inspired by a comic book, which appears to be complete nonsense at first, but in the end of the episode "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS3E5ItCameFromOuterEd It Came From Outer Ed]]", a huge flock of crows appears and [[NothingIsScarier does something]] to the Eds as the episode ends. |
| 341 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicKey'': The Rook King from the episode of the same name is an evil anthropomorphic rook (a kind of bird closely related to crows) with sorcerous powers who keeps normal (non-anthropomorphic) rooks around as his minions. |
| 342 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': |
| 343 | ** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E11FamilyAppreciationDay Family Appreciation Day]]": The signs of the zap apples' ripening include, besides howling wolves and sudden lightning storms, huge flocks of crows flying in unnaturally precise formations. |
| 344 | ** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E4RockSolidFriendship Rock Solid Friendship]]": Pinkie Pie's arrival at Ghastly Gorge is accompanied by a murder of crows noisily taking flight, emphasizing the sinister nature of the place. |
| 345 | * ''WesternAnimation/ObanStarRacers'': [[BigBad Canaletto]] appears humanoid, but his head is bird-like, and it symbolises a bird of bad omen. |
| 346 | %%* ''WesternAnimation/TheSagaOfNogginTheNog'': Nogbad the Bad's minions. |
| 347 | * ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In Season 5, a murder of crows seems to taunt Jack after he [[spoiler:kills the Daughters of Aku, minus Ashi]]. |
| 348 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 349 | ** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E16WeekendAtBurnsies Weekend at Burnsies]]": Homer destroys 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. |
| 350 | --->'''Marge Simpson''': Homer, I'm very uncomfortable having a gang of crows in our bedroom!\ |
| 351 | '''Homer Simpson''': It's a murder, honey. A group of crows is called a murder. |
| 352 | ** 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. |
| 353 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'': The first installment dies a version of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "Literature/TheRaven" with the raven looking like Bart. |
| 354 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': Balthazar's pet is a raven, which can be pretty scary for Smurfs as a bird of prey, aside from the fact that Balthazar is one of the few truly competent and scary Smurfs' villains. |
| 355 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': In one episode, 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. |
| 356 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': Ravens are used as a symbol of (take a wild guess) Raven. Given Raven's demonic nature and all-around creepiness, that definitely results in this trope. |
| 357 | [[/folder]] |
| 358 | |
| 359 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 360 | * As well as being scavengers of carrion, crows are known for their large and visually striking funerals held for fellow crows and favored humans and pets. |
| 361 | * Throughout human history, crows and ravens have been known to follow large armies towards battlefields, as they've learned that, in the aftermath, there will be plenty of fallen soldiers to feast on. It's this reason they've widely become associated with death in many cultures. |
| 362 | * Eyewitness accounts mentioned crows cawing outside the Mayerling hunting lodge as the MurderSuicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Baroness Mary Vetsera was discovered. Prior to this, Vetsera also wrote a letter to her governess that mentioned "a large bird, some kind of raven" flying at her head as she crossed a threshold in the Hofburg (Habsburg imperial palace) to meet with Rudolf, followed by Vetsera picking up the skull Rudolf kept on his desk and examining it. The letter ended with Vetsera saying that if her mother or sister heard about it, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayerling_incident she would have to kill herself.]] |
| 363 | * For some, the high intelligence of real-life crows and ravens can be [[ItCanThink more than a little unnerving]]. Some have even learned to speak like parrots. |
| 364 | ** Do you think all crows look the same? They don't think the same about us. Though it becomes a bit of a self-inflicted and kinda justified case of the trope, crows can develop grudges towards humans who've treated them badly, and they ''can'' and ''will'' tell other crows about mean humans. In this way, a crow's grudge can be passed on ''for several generations'' within its family... On the flip side, crows will also remember humans who've treated them well. |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
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