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You can't spell "knowledge" without "owl."
Wise Owl by Cornelis Bloemaert II

"#1: All owls must wear graduation caps at all times. Turtles, you can wear the bowlers, that's okay, but the mortarboard is standard-issue gear for the owls."
Tom Kenny on the laws of the cartoon universe

There is a long-running tradition of using owls as a symbol of knowledge. This might be because their eyes resemble Nerd Glasses, because they are silent and mysterious, because their heads appear as round as a bald old sage's, or maybe just because Owls Ask "Who?" Most likely, though, it's because of their importance in various ancient cultures, especially the Greeks, where the owl was the bird of Athena, the goddess of, among other things, wisdom. Ironically, Athena's bird was the owl not because the Greeks themselves saw owls as wise, but because Athena's patron city Athens (and its environs) swarmed with wild little owls.

In any event, owls are usually depicted as wise and honorable and serve as mentors, teachers or advisors. Be aware, though, that they tend to share traits with the Absent-Minded Professor and the TV Genius, so take their advice with a grain of salt. There is also a tendency for owls to act as narrators/storytellers.

Compare Cute Owl (no reason an owl can't be smart and cute, and in fact that trope often portrays an owl as adorably bookish), Ominous Owl (which may overlap if the owl is an Evil Genius), and Unwise Owl (which is the antithesis of this trope). Compare to Clever Crows and Brainy Pig. See also Noble Bird of Prey, Animal Stereotypes and Woodland Creatures.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • The mascot for the eyeglass chain America's Best is an bespectacled owl who tells people wearing glasses about the company. While he is somewhat snarky, he ultimately means no harm.
  • A short animation from Spainnote  features an owl trying to convince "Las Tres Mellizas" (the title characters of an animated series, also from Spain) why they should go to bed.
  • In a live-action 1970s Esso commercial for their auto service that has a takeoff of The Tortoise and the Hare, the tortoise makes a pit stop with an owl as his "mechanic."
  • There's a Geico commercial in which a wife asks her husband if he knows that there are some owls that aren't that wise. The scene then cuts to two owls in a tree — another wife and husband pair, and the wife chats about a co-worker of hers, but the husband just keeps asking "Who?"
  • The owl from the classic '70s animated Tootsie Pop commercial is the only one to suggest the application of the scientific method to the question. And then use that suggestion to get free candy.
  • The British pharmacy chain Rowlands Pharmacy used to have a an owl mascot called Rowland the Owl, he was introduced sometime around mid-way into the Turn of the Millennium, and during The New '10s he appeared quite a lot in Rowlands Pharmacy's marketing in which he also received The Merch, but disappeared sometime around the end of The New '10s for unknown reasons.
  • The owl in the ads for the medication Xyzal allergy relief encourages "Be wise all, take new Xyzal."
  • Wise brand potato chips are named after their company's founder, Earl Wise, and feature a stylized owl's eye on their bags as a Visual Pun.

    Animation 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Professor Hou from Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves is the leading archeological expert of Birdopia and the wisest of the characters. And he's an owl.
  • Professor Hoot from Happy Happy Clover appears to be one of the more intelligent characters in the series along with Rambler and Hickory. Professor Hoot even owns an entire book shelf of old and new books one containing the story of Santa Claus (Which he only allows for grown ups to read).
  • Kemono Friends: The library is run by a pair of owls, and treated as the main source of information by the characters.
  • In Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, the Fräulein Eule uses the Owl as their symbol for the connotations of knowledge and science. As a work, however, the frequent images of owls are a creepy Animal Motif.
  • In Negima!?, Yue (The Smart Girl) transforms into an owl as her suka/dud form.
  • Ash's Noctowl in Pokémon: The Original Series is said to be very intelligent in the episode in which he captures it, but it isn't really mentioned later.
  • In Tokyo Ghoul, Big Good Yoshimura is associated with owls. He serves as a surrogate father figure and wise leader to the other ghouls of the 20th Ward, and is well-respected for his knowledge. He doles out advice and information as need be, while guarding many significant secrets. His child, on the other hand, is the other trope, while his right-hand man is associated with Clever Crows. And all of them are ukaku-users.
  • The wolves in Wolf's Rain are creeped out by the owl of the Forest of Death because it doesn't have a scent (maybe it's a ghost), and its utterances don't seem to make sense. On the other hand, it turns out that they not only do make sense, but eventually lead the wolves and Cheza out of the forest to (temporary) safety.
  • In Yaiba, on their way to the Seven Orbs, Yaiba and the others met a huge, wise-looking owl and asked him for directions. He wanted to be paid. They eventually resorts to bind him and taking him with them.

    Arts 
  • The Lady of Shalott (Holman Hunt): A lamp near the Lady shows owls above sphinxes, suggesting wisdom triumphing over mystery. The lamp is extinguished, because the Lady has not done that.

    Comic Books 
  • Sandorst from The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw is a complete inversion. He is short-sighted, ignorant, and a terrible judge of character. His daughter Enna is thankfully smarter and more rational.
  • Otero and Liebber in Blacksad are both anthropomorphic owl scientists during the cold war.
  • The Owl in Daredevil is a crime lord known for his vast intelligence network. Sometimes he's specifically referred to as "seeing everything", which, of course, is fitting for a recurring enemy to a blind superhero.
  • In many Disney comics, a judge that both Donald and Mickey have dealt with is an owl (not certain if it is meant to be the same person, or if being a judge is just a thing that comes naturally to anthropomorphic owls) — which is obviously meant to be symbolic, as it is rare that the Funny Animals in the comics are easily identifiable as anything but generic "birdpeople" or "dognoses".
  • Owls are reoccurring minor characters in the Swedish comic Hälge. They are, however, not really wiser than any other inhabitant of the forest they live in, but lean more towards being wiseasses prone to making really bad puns.
  • In Pocket God, Klik's Spirit Advisor, Nox, is shaped like an owl.
  • Harvey Who, an extremely minor character from Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) series is a member of the Kingdom of Acorn's Secret Service. However, King Max portrayed him as a Cassandra Truth sayer, ignoring his advice and leading to the downfall of his kingdom note . He sees Max's son, Elias, as a worthy holder of the crown and is working to help him get it back.
  • The 2000 AD strip "Feral & Foe", a tongue-in-cheek Sword and Sorcery story, features the owlbore, a pastiche of Dungeons & Dragons' owlbear that sends its victims to sleep with a never ending stream of useless information.

    Comic Strips 
  • Paulus de Boskabouter: Oehoeboeroe is a very stoic owl, who usually remains solemn and calm at all times, providing words of wisdom and using very old-fashioned language.
  • Howland Owl from Pogo is actually a parody/subversion of the trope, as his idea of intelligence is using big words and spouting Little Known Facts.

    Fan Works 
  • In Imaginary Seas, Minerva, Athena's last remnant and terminal, takes the form of an robotic owl that looks half-finished with half its wire frame showing.
  • In Zelda and the Manacle of Cahla, Groo, Zelda's sidekick in the vein of Link's Exposition Fairies, is a talking owl who is something of an Insufferable Genius and makes a good parachute. He's actually a wooden figurine of her village's Guardian Entity brought to life. More specifically, brought to life with her late adoptive mother/aunt figure's spirit.
  • A different Zelda fanfic, a novelization of The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild, retains Zelda's status as a bookworm girl who loves to learn, and it expands upon Zelda's sealing power. Instead of it just being a sealing power represented by glowing gold power and Triforce imagery, she wields the power of an enormous ethereal spiritual figure called the Owl. It fits perfectly with her role as Link's intelligent guide throughout the story.

    Films — Animation 
  • The Secret of NIMH: The Great Owl. As in the novel, he is both creepy and wise. Being a mouse and thus the natural prey of owls, Mrs. Brisby is understandably nervous about going to consult him.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In the original version of Clash of the Titans, Athena gives Perseus Bubo a clockwork duplicate of her own owl companion built by Hephaestus, which becomes Perseus' guide.
  • The UK educational film Play Safe has an owl teach a robin and the child viewers how to avoid getting injured or killed by electrical equipment by well, playing safe, and being aware of the dangers of electricity.
  • The prologue for Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) shows that Sonic was initially raised by an owl named Longclaw, whom he describes as being like his Obi-Wan Kenobi... and true to form, she's (seemingly) killed by the end of the prologue, after sending Sonic to Earth to protect him from those who wanted to use his power for their own ends.

    Jokes 
  • A cartoon by the British cartoonist Bestie (whose work features on a whole range of greeting cards) has a mortarboard-wearing owl lecturing several smaller birds about how he doesn't drink or have casual sex. The caption reads: "The other birds suspected that Owl hadn't gone to university at all."

    Literature 
  • In The Adventures of Caterpillar Jones, the Great Owl is regarded as the creator of the meadow, and is very wise and powerful. It ends up being played with, as while he is wise and powerful, he grew up and learned like a normal owl and attributes Mother Nature with the meadow's creation.
  • Spoofed in The Adventures of Pinocchio, in which the Owl Doctor the Blue Fairy calls to determine wether Pinocchio is dead or alive is an utter Know-Nothing Know-It-All contrarian to anything his slightly less dense Crow Doctor colleague expresses, especially when Pinocchio cries in response to the Cricket's scolding and the Owl disagrees with the Crow's observation that if Pinocchio weeps it's a sign he's still alive, by rebutting that when the dead weep, they're just being displeased of dying.
  • In The Beginning After the End, Cynthia Goodsky's Familiar Avier resembles an owl, which befits her role and image as the Director of Xyrus Academy. In actuality, Avier's true form is that of a wyvern. Years later, after having been released by Goodsky to avoid being captured by the Vritra (and in the process avoiding the events that would lead to her death), Avier returns in order to establish contact between Arthur and the Hearth, the secret enclave created by the Lost Prince Mordain.
  • In The Belgariad, the philosophical and wise god Aldur has the owl as his totem. The sorceresses he taught, Poledra and Polgara, also favour that shape when they need to transform.
  • Subverted in the Doctor Who New Adventures novel Sanctuary, by David A. McIntee:
    "[The Doctor] is very much like the owl, I think," said Guy, half to himself.
    "Wise, you mean?" Benny had heard several people comment on such a likeness. Perhaps it was his eyebrows and keen gaze.
    "What has wisdom to do with owls? He is comfortable in the darkness, as they are, and I think he is equally as adept at hunting down prey in cold blood."
  • The Hank the Cowdog series has Madame Moonshine, the witchy little owl. She often provides magical assistance to Hank when it suits her, although she does have some odd mannerisms, like referring to him as "Hank the Rabbit."
  • Owls in the Harry Potter Verse seem to be unusually intelligent, at times seeming to almost be able to understand humans, and have the uncanny ability to find anyone in the world, as long as they have something addressed to that person. (Word of God says that wizards in hiding can enchant themselves to be untraceable by owls, though.)
  • Monster of the Month Club: Owl, the September Selection, is based on an owl and is very smart, getting smarter as he eats paper with new knowledge on it. Unfortunately, his ability to process new information is reduced when his glasses are removed.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In the kids' game show Raven, after all of the remaining series 5, week 3 warriors fail to win the challenge Demon Square on day 3, the eponymous character can only make this comment:
    Raven: I had hoped my warriors would be as wise as owls. Unfortunately, they are all as feather-brained as cuckoos.
  • One Saturday Night Live sketch features a commercial for The Bible reenacted with birds. The three wise men are depicted as parrots, confusing the boy reading it and upsetting his father when he claims owls would be more logical.

    Magazines 
  • OWL magazine, published in Canada, is a digest meant to get kids interested in learning. The name and mascot are owls, obviously playing to the owl's association with knowledge.

    Music 
  • Nightwish's The Crow, the Owl and the Dove has the following lines:
    An owl came to me, old and wise
    Pierced right through my youth
    I learned it's ways, envied it's sense
    But needed nothing it had
  • The original trope name ("Wise Old Owl") comes from a nursery rhyme:
    A wise old owl lived in an oak
    The more he saw the less he spoke
    The less he spoke the more he heard.
    Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?
    • This was later appropriated by the U.S. Army to encourage soldiers to keep their mouths shut (loose lips sink ships).
    • It was also written on the walls of the Owl Bar in Baltimore as a code for ordering alcohol during Prohibition — when booze was available, an owl lamp above the bar would blink.

    Myths & Religion 
  • Classical Mythology
    • Owls are the emblem of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom. They were also apparently very common in Athens; in several languages, "Carry owls to Athens" means doing something pointless. Though the last part may be referring to Athenian coins stamped with an owl motif — Athena being, as its name implies, Athens' patron goddess — rather than actual birds.
    • The Latin word for owl is "ibis", which is an entirely different taxonomic group of bird associated with an Egyptian god of wisdom. This probably came about when the Romans, like the Greeks before them, associated aspects of Athena/Minerva with Thoth/Djehuty.
  • Inverted in Finnish mythology, in which owls were seen as stupid animals. While the imported image of owls as a symbol of wisdom is now the more popular one, the Finnish word "pöllö" is still used to describe stupid people.
  • Inverted in Indian mythology, where owls are often portrayed as stupid because of their blank expression. Owls are also considered a symbol of stupidity in Japanese myth for the same reasons.

    Pinballs 
  • Magic Girl has a white owl watching from the top of the playfield.

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Dutch children's show De Fabeltjeskrant — also known as I fablernas värld ("In the world of fables") in Swedish — uses an owl called Meneer de Uil (Mr the Owl, originally enough) as a narrator.
  • Charlie Owl from New Zoo Revue wears a mortarboard, implying wisdom.
  • Hoots the Owl from Sesame Street possesses the skills of saxophone playing and singing the blues.

    Radio 
  • John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme features a sketch about how unfair it is that owls get stereotyped like this just because they look like they're wearing glasses—when those big, incredibly acute eyes are actually taking up most of their heads and leaving little room for their brains. The owl being interviewed this points out that the depiction of owls as really clever with poor eyesight is pretty much exactly of the truth.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • The wisdom-boosting spell in 3rd ed. and later is called "Owl's Wisdom". In a bit of Fridge Brilliance, Wisdom as a stat is associated more with instinct and savvy than actual knowledge, covering things like tracking and perception, much like how a real owl's brain works (see Real Life below).
    • Giant owls, along with giant eagles à la J. R. R. Tolkien, are among the few "giant animal"-type monsters to have been sapient in all incarnations of D&D. Some editions also feature normal-sized talking owls, a bird which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin; these are wise oracles of the forest that seem to be at least partially related to Fey.
    • Mystara: The hsiao are a Lawful race of giant owls with clerical (which, notably, are Wisdom-based) spellcasting powers.
    • Planescape: The Beast Lord of owls is one of oldest beings on his plane and is a part-time sage of godlike wisdom and knowledge. Noctral are Lawful Good supra-genius barn owls with 20' wingspan collecting (and dispensing to anyone capable of hearing) knowledge.
    • Spelljammer: Space Owls are normal-sized owls with genius-level intelligence and great longevity. They are often used as navigators on spelljamming ships, being able to memorize all the heavenly bodies in a crystal sphere and orient themselves without even a star chart. They are also often proficient in some other subjects, such as astrology, ancient history, animal lore, engineering and spellcraft.
  • Gamma World: A Dragon article on personality types for mutant animals suggested owl-people weren't any smarter than anyone else, but acted as if they were.
  • Magic: The Gathering:
    • Owls are almost exclusively associated with Blue, the color of knowledge and its application. Even owls meant to be more creepy than wise are still Blue, and have card effects relating to drawing and looking at cards (in flavor, the card deck is meant to represent the player's mind) and to casting spells (generally by making it cheaper for you to do so, by rewarding you for doing so, or by impairing your opponent's ability to do so).
    • Aven, the game's Bird People, normally resemble generic humanoid raptors. Many Blue aven, however — and in particular ones associated with magic or wisdom in some form — resemble owls instead.

    Video Games 
  • Dahlia from Angry Birds Stella is a rare example portrayed as a Gadgeteer Genius rather than a scholarly bookworm.
  • Blathers, the curator of the Museum in the Animal Crossing games, is knowledgeable in most, if not all of the things you donate, and in the early games would blather on about whatever fish, bug, or completed fossil you gave to the museum (his lectures were brought back in New Horizons, but made optional). There is also his sister Celeste, who runs the observatory in Wild World and City Folk and is the authority on all things related to astronomy.
  • In the Bayonetta series, Jeanne has her own version of the eponymous character's Crow Within technique called Owl Within, in which she transforms into a blood-red owl. It's very fitting for her role in the first game, as throughout the game she not only acts as Bayonetta's rival, but also as her mentor, reminding Bayonetta of the techniques she's forgotten and her role as an Umbra Witch. This could double with an Ominous Owl as well, since for most of the first game Jeanne acts as Bayonetta's enemy.
  • Castlevania: The series as whole sometimes features owls as enemies (including in combination with the Owl Knight), as well as pets/weapons of Maria Renard, familiars for Nathan Graves and Shanoa, and even a magical transformation for Charlotte Aulin. However, they count more as Ominous Owl. What does count here, however, is the presence of Stolas, a large, crowned owl-like creature, in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Inspired by the Ars Goetia demon of the same name, Stolas is described in the bestiaries as "An aged, wise owl", and "A wise, old creature said to have considerable intelligence". Both enemies are late-game enemies that summon other powerful monsters, and they also have the highest MP in the game — 9,999 in Aria, and 1,500 (still the most MP of any regular enemy; the next highest ones are at 999) in Dawn. They drop two different soul abilities, depending on the game — one, "God's Wisdom", is an intelligence boost; the other, "Concentration", enables you to sacrifice strength for an intelligence boost.
  • In the epilogue of the Cuphead DLC "The Delicious Last Course", the judge who sentences Chef Saltbaker to community service is an owl named "Honorable Judge Wise". And since Chef Saltbaker is shown to have a Heel–Face Turn as he atones for his crimes, the sentence handed down was very wise indeed.
  • The tarot card for human mage characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition features a flying owl, to reflect both their mystical nature and the fact that they have more formal education than the other five possible backgrounds. Their eventual headquarters Skyhold has running owl motif among them.
  • The language-learning Edutainment Game Duolingo's mascot is a Cute Owl named Duo. Duo even has a nightgown and monocle as a reward.
  • Eastshade: Several of the scholarly or philosophical characters happen to be owlfolk.
  • In Hotline Miami, one of the first masks that you unlock is that of an owl named Rasmus. While wearing the mask, secrets around the maps become easier to spot.
  • The wise leader of the Jitsu Squad is an andromorphic owl named Ramen, who serves as The Mentor to the heroes.
  • Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]: Peepsta Hoo dream eaters use a fairly sound strategy: scan an enemy for its elemental weakness and then ruthlessly exploit it with high-level magic and tuned attacks. A handy spirit to have in your party, but in nightmaresform...
  • In King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!, Cedric the Owl is intended to help guide the player through the game and offer insightful input. In practice he just hangs around annoying you, leaves when anything dangerous might happen, makes inane observations ("Graham, watch out! A poisonous snake!") and when he says something that actually could have been a useful warning, it's always too late to avert the catastrophe. The key here is he was designed to give information; he just sucks at it.
  • The Legend of Zelda:
    • The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: An owl serves as Link's guide, and owl statues give extra hints and backstory all throughout the game. This owl, in turn, seems to have been the inspiration for...
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask: Kaepora Gaebora, an owl who serves as Link's guide and advice dispenser. The wisdom part may be justified here as the stones scattered around Hyrule in Ocarina suggest that he was once one of the Sages, and ended up reincarnated. Hyrule Historia confirms that Kaepora Gaebora and Rauru, the Sage of Light are indeed the same person, watching over the Hero of Time.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has Zelda's father Gaepora, who is technically a human-like Hylian but has Big Ol' Eyebrows resembling his owl namesake and, along with the other teachers at the Knight Academy, robes resembling those worn by the Rito in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. He's also the most knowledgeable person in Skyloft about the old legends of Hylia and her battle against the demons on the surface (other than Fi, who was actually around when that stuff happened).
    • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
      • Kaneli, the owl-like elder of the Rito, is known for telling Rito children tales of the Champions of old and the ancient Sheikah Magitek. Despite his knowledge of those tales, he still ends up Entertainingly Wrong about Link's identity, assuming the latter is a descendant of the Hylian Champion rather than the Hylian Champion himself — of course, since Link was in suspended animation for a hundred years, that's not that unreasonable a conclusion. (And if Link has the Master Sword when he talks to him after beating Divine Beast Vah Medoh, Kaneli's reaction implies he connects the dots at that point.)
      • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion explains that the Zonai (an extinct civilization whose ruins can be found in the Faron region) used owls to symbolize the Triforce of Wisdom.
  • My World, My Way: An owl gives advice and a few spells to the heroine.
  • NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: Owl the owl serves as the game's Exposition Fairy.
  • Pokémon: Hoothoot and its evolution Noctowl, while not exactly Psychic-type, can still learn a lot of good Psychic-type moves. The Pokedex also states that they're very intelligent — Hoothoot's Platinum entry states that "some countries consider it to be a wise friend, versed in the world's ways," while Noctowl's Silver entry states that "When it needs to think, it rotates its head 180 degrees to sharpen its intellectual power." The second line of owl Pokémon Pokémon Sun and Moon's grass starter Rowlet has a notable aversion with its evolved form Dartrix. Dartrix is actually called a birdbrain, and is actually a Brainless Beauty obsessed with its appearance and often bungling things and then making them worse trying to fix them.
  • In Potionomics, a talking Owl with a wizard hat and beard is the former business partner of protagonist Sylvia's now-deceased uncle, who provides the tutorials for how to operate the potion workshop she inherited and teaches Sylvia skills such as how to "mental mulligan" a hand during the shopkeeping portion of the game.
  • In The Secret World, the hermit witch Cucuvea is popularly known as "The Owl," and has spent many centuries providing wise counsel and magical assistance to the people of Transylvania — and to you, when you finally meet her. For good measure, she's also capable of actually transforming into an owl in order to keep any eye on her enemies.
  • In Simon the Sorcerer, Simon meets an owl in a tree labeled "Wise owl" but instead of giving useful advice the owl turns out to suffer from dementia and can't finish a single sentence.
  • The Owl in SongBird Symphony has a reputation as "the smartest bird in the forest", and he lives alone in a sanctuary full of books and ancient artifacts. He guides the Player Character, Birb, on a quest to learn the songs of every bird in the forest in exchange for helping him find his real family. He's also the Big Bad, and a shockingly heinous one at that. His true goal is to use the power of music to conquer the forest, and he is willing to annihilate the entire Lyrebird race so he alone can claim ownership of it.
  • Barnshe from Temtem is a Mental-type owl which is the mascot of a university because it uses its mind as a weapon.
  • Transistor: Bailey Gilande's Subject image has her with an owl in her collar, fitting her image with intellgence, as someone who was statistically focused, on gathering information and worked as head of city archives.
  • Viva Piñata: Hootyfruity's encyclopedia entry jokes that it must be wise to be able to fly around trees in the dark without bumping into them, and its house is a stack of books.
  • In Warframe, the kingdom of Duviri is home to owl-like creatures called paragrimms that can be found perched on signs providing symbols for the nearby Enigma puzzles. The glint of their eyes makes it easy to spot the puzzles from afar, and solving these puzzles both makes the paragrimm flap its wings in approval and rewards the player with Enigma Gyrums, tokens that can traded at the merchant Acrithis for various decorations for your orbiter, including a paragrimm of your own. Paragrimms can also be found waiting for help from the Drifter in searching for their lost tomes, which is done through a minigame in which the player sees Duviri from bird's eye view and must hold the cursor over these tomes to collect them.
  • The owls found all over the place in ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal serve as Mr. Exposition.

    Web Animation 
  • In Helluva Boss, Stolas is a dedicated bookworm. And, like the Goetic demon that inspired his namesake and character, is particularly invested in astronomy and botany.
  • Mumei Nanashi of hololive is the Anthropomorphic Personification of Civilization who chose an owl motif. She's also prone to forgetting things, often being unable to remember what she just said moments earlier, and despite being the avatar of Civilization, has forgotten most of what Humanity has ever accomplished. She does remember that she was at one point quite intelligent and not as forgetful in the past, but has had her memory weakened over the ages.

    Webcomics 
  • In El Goonish Shive owls are related to the knowledge, albeit in a different way. "READ, or the owl will eat you".
  • Hark! A Vagrant knows what makes owls wise.
  • Heroes of Thantopolis Helene's cautious chief adviser takes the form of an owl, complete with eyes shaped like round spectacles
  • Political satire comic I Drew This pointed out the falsehood of this on one occasion:
    Owls have a reputation for being wise. But in fact, they're no smarter than they need to be. Larry King looks like an owl. But recently he asked the dumbest question anyone has ever asked on TV: "How can you out-and-out deny creationism, since if evolution is true, why are there still monkeys?"
  • In The Perry Bible Fellowship comic "Wise Shitashi", a samurai goes to a wise old Shitashi with news about an upcoming war, only to find that the owl is... not wise old Shitashi.

    Websites 
  • Mortasheen gives us the Bemzuul, which is essentially an owl with oversized, creepy-looking eyes. While not wise per se, it is capable of telepathy, photographic memory, and even Mind Rape. Bonus points for having a name derived from B.E.M., the acronym for "Bug Eyed Monster."

    Web Videos 

    Western Animation 
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Wan Shi Tong, the knowledge spirit who runs the greatest library in the world, is a giant, black barn owl (who crosses over into Ominous Owl territory when he gets mad). His name, 万知堂 (wànzhītáng) even means "He who knows 10,000 things." In the Sequel Series The Legend of Korra however, his self-imposed exile has left him poorly informed when it comes to human technology and he is easily swayed by Unalaq.
  • Olivia Owl in Birdz is the nerdy type.
  • In The Blinkins, Benjamin the Owl is the wisest creature in the forest and often helps the Blinkins if they need it.
  • The owl Zocrates from The Bluffers is not only named after an ancient Greek philosopher, he is even dressed like a stereotypical ancient Greek, complete with laurel wreath on his head.
  • Wanda Pierce from BoJack Horseman is a TV Executive who woke up from a 30-year coma. She is far from intelligent, but only because she is keeping up with the times from her old life. However, she has enough know-how to be in control and give the audience what they want.
  • In the Christmas Special Christopher the Christmas Tree is a young owl runs away from home because he's tired of being taunted for not being as smart as the rest of his family (he can't fly or even talk). His smarter brothers are even shown wearing mortarboards, playing into this trope.
  • DuckTales: Zan Owlson is a businesswoman possibly even more level-headed than Scrooge McDuck himself. She later gains the job of preventing Flintheart Glomgold from ruining his company with his inane schemes. After quitting from the company, she goes on to be mayor of St. Canard, where she successfully wipes the city of crime.
  • In the show Franklin the eponymous turtle's teacher, Mr. Owl, is a Great Horned Owl.
  • The family of owls from the Looney Tunes short "I Love to Singa" is a family of classical musicians — except for the youngest, who wants to be a jazz singer.
  • Virgil from Mighty Max isn't officially an owl — he's a "Lemurian fowl" — but he certainly looks the part, and has the intelligence common to popular portrayals of owls.
  • Mr Krbec and his Animals: Kukula the Owl resides in the huge library of the castle Kulikov. She's wise and well-read. She's often the target of Ruprecht's mischief. She's not pleased that Mr Krbec was not informed beforehand about the castle being haunted and warns Mr Krbec about Ruprecht.
  • Owlowiscious (pronounced the same as the even less phonetic Aloysius) in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic becomes the pet of Twilight Sparkle, and for a pet he's extremely competent, helping Twilight out at night when Spike is asleep. Enough so for Spike (a fully sentient dragonling who has been with Twilight for years) feels his position as "number 1 assistant" threatened by the owl.
  • There is a Noveltoons character, Ollie the Owl, who appears in two cartoons from The '60s. He is a Child Prodigy, complete with oversized eyeglasses. In his first appearance, he uses a detective kit to try and outsmart and arrest a bank robber (and he succeeds), and in his second he goes on a children's quiz show and ends up answering all the tough questions correctly, to the dismay of the TV studio. (They were hoping the contestant would not be able to answer the questions so the TV studio wouldn't have to give away the prizes and lose all their money... but all Ollie really wanted was a lollipop.)
  • The Owl House:
    • Hooty inverts this, which is actually more realistic than what most believe owl intelligence to be; owls aren't particularly smart compared to other birds and are known to make life-threatening mistakes while hunting. He does show some signs of intelligence, though, as he's the one to teach King about the different demons in the Boiling Isles.
    • Eda is known as the Owl Lady, and she claims it's because she's wise, although Hooty and King beg to differ. It turns out none of them were right. Credit where's due, though, she has a point; she is quite Street Smart and highly skilled at using magic.
  • Aloysius Owl in Terrytoons' Possible Possum series tries to avert from Possible's more outrageous schemes.
  • One of the teachers on Timmy Time is Osbourne, a kindly and patient owl. His son also attends, and clearly looks up to his father, emulating him whenever possible.
  • Good-guy leader Leoric from Visionaries has a magic staff with the power of Wisdom, manifesting as a talking owl whose advice usually take a scene change to figure out.
  • On Wild Animal Baby Explorers, Izzy the owl knows a lot of things, but isn't always a good sport when he gets something wrong, or has to admit he doesn't know something.

    Real Life 
  • The owl is the unofficial mascot of the high IQ organization Mensa.
  • The FFA (Future Farmers of America) has the symbol of the owl for the Advisor (a teacher that helps organize FFA activities). To quote, from opening ceremonies:
    Vice President: The Advisor?
    Advisor: Here by the owl.
    Vice President: Why stationed by the owl?
    Advisor: The owl is a time-honored emblem of knowledge and wisdom. Being older than the rest of you, I am asked to advise you from time to time as the need arises. I hope that my advice will always be based on true knowledge, and ripened with wisdom.
  • Purdue University's Online Writing Lab takes advantage of its acronym to draw a connection between its purpose as a knowledge base and research for professional writing and owls, which have been featured in some way either as an emblem or logotype for the writing lab.
  • Although owls are large-brained birds, they seem to be at the lower end of bird intelligence based on behavioral studies of captive birds and mostly failed attempts to train them for use in falconry. Owls in the wild have been observed to make life-threatening blunders not frequently witnessed of other birds, such as failing to avoid traffic on busy roads when hunting prey. This is because owls' large brains are optimized for extremely acute audio-visual sensory processing and not much else. Thus they're highly effective hunters, but they don't have what humans interpret as "intelligence".

 
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Alternative Title(s): Wise Old Owl

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Longclaw the Owl

Longclaw has a secret massage left for Sonic in his map long after she passed.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (24 votes)

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Main / TheOwlKnowingOne

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