Ravens and Crows: Difference between revisions

Corvids (crows, ravens [[My Friends and Zoidberg|and]] [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|jays]]) are serious--andserious—and seriously creepy--wherevercreepy—wherever they show up. (Except for the [[Idiot Crows]].) In most of their fictional appearances, they are the go-to scary bird (at least when vultures aren't available), and are traditionally associated with death in some mythologies and cultures.

A group of crows is a murder; a group of ravens is an unkindness or conspiracy (and rooks are a building, jackdaws are a clattering).<ref>Poetically speaking, anyway; in ornithological terms, a group of birds is always a flock, regardless of species</ref>.

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 (note that some Old World crows are gray with black head and wings; in Eastern Europe, where this subspecies is ubiquitous, no troubles exist telling ravens from crows). There is little if any difference in how they are treated; however, ravens are more likely to cross over into [[Big Badass Bird of Prey]] territory).<ref>Technically, corvids are passerines, or perching birds; some raven species are the largest passerines in the world</ref>. They'll often have the behavior of a crow, but be called "ravens" because the word "raven" [[Rule of Cool|sounds more badass]].

Corvids suffer from a strange sort of form of the [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]. A single crow will probably be intelligent (and, if one of the bad guys, will also take an unnerving interest in the heroes). On the other hand, a whole murder of crows/congress of ravens will just be [[Zerg Rush|mindless animals possibly under control of something or someone external]]. Of course, [[One for Sorrow, Two For Joy|the significance of various numbers of corvids]] is the subject of some [[Older Than Feudalism]] superstitions. Sometimes corvids are shown more-or-less positively (although ravens are usually (but not always) more likely to be heroic characters than crows), and in this case their traditional characteristics are [[Dark Is Not Evil|portrayed in a better light]]. Heroic ravens are often wise or intelligent characters, while crows tend to be friendly tricksters or [[Plucky Comic Relief]].

[[Subverted Trope|On the other hand,]] crows (never ravens) are a ''staple'' of [[The Golden Age of Animation]], appearing in countless funny cartoon shorts set on family farms, where their role is to drive farmers nuts gobbling up their corn crops. Cartoon crows are always played for humor and aren't the slightest bit scary, though they can certainly be ''annoying'' to the farmers (and the occasional living scarecrow). They tend to be [[Screwy Squirrel]] tricksters -- and sometimes unpleasant racial stereotypes as well.

Crows and ravens tend to fall under the [[Trickster Archetype]]. [[What Measure Is a Non -Cute?]] is a matter of [[Your Mileage May Vary|some disagreement.]] For more creepy birds, see [[Feathered Fiend]], but also see the note on scavengers in [[Carnivore Confusion]]. See [[One for Sorrow, Two For Joy]] for magpies, closely related both in [[Real Life]] and in tropes. For black feathers used as symbolism, see [[Feather Motif]].

[[Shout -Out|Shout Outs]]s to [[Edgar Allan Poe]] are [[Never Heard That One Before|so commonplace as to be cliche]].

* Setsuna Sakurazaki in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is a crow [[Half -Human Hybrid|half]]-[[Obake|demon]], though she was born with [[Heroic Albino|albinism]], which caused her to get cast out of her tribe since white crows are seen as a bad omen. This shows up as angelic white wings that [[Winged Humanoid|sprout from her back]].

* The 1st ''[[Patlabor]]'' movie has a memorable scene involving Noah being menaced by a room full of sinister-looking, possibly mind-controlled crows in a [[Shout -Out]] to Hitchcock's ''[[The Birds]]''.

* Subverted in [[Plus Anima (Manga)|Plus +Anima]]. The main characters are all people with the ability to take on animal attributes, with the protagonist being a crow boy. However, far from being creepy or evil, he's an ''adorable'' [[Cheerful Child]].

* In the Korean [[Manhwa]] ''[[Ragnarok (Manhwamanhwa)|Ragnarok]]'' there's Muninn and Huginn, Odin's beholders. They are able to [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshift]] from crows with necklaces of eyes and fangs into human women.

* [[Ghost in Thethe Shell]] uses these as a metaphor for individuality: when Batou is debating [[Smug Snake|Goda]] on how a Stand-Alone Complex can be used to unite the people, we see an albino crow flying amongst a murder of regular crows.

* There's a lovely example of this in the first ending for ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]''. [[Villain Protagonist|Light]] is standing by water, surrounded by doves -- exceptdoves—except that his reflection is surrounded by crows instead.

* A solitary crow often appears alongside Black in [[Tekkon Kinkreet]], and in the [[Mind Screw]]-fueled climax {{spoiler|a single dove being overtaken by crows is used to symbolize [[Battle in Thethe Center of Thethe Mind|Black's mind being overtaken]] by the Minotaur.}}

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' has Karasu, a fighter in all black that claims he [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|likes to kill the things he loves]]. This is about the only time in the series [[Real Men Wear Pink|Kurama]] gets scared shitless.

* In ''[[Wild Wind (Manga)Fangs|Wild Wind]]'', Sukari is a shape-shifting messenger crow and has the personality to match.

* Satan has a pet crow named Malpha in [[Akuma Nana Eros]], and can give it a human form.

* Crow in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5 Ds5D's]]'' plays a deck of Blackwings, Dark-attribute monsters that evoke this. [[Dark Is Not Evil]] though, and he's a good guy who's a [[Friend to All Children]].

* Although the corvids in ''[[Kiki's Delivery Service (Anime)|Kiki's Delivery Service]]'' attack Kiki at first, she later learns from [[Reclusive Artist|Ursula]] that they are tame.

== ComicsComic Books ==

** As noted above, Poe shoutouts are common. This is subverted when Matthew gets on top of a bust to shout "'''Nevermore!'''", only to say that he took it from "Peter Lorre in that Roger Corman movie", not knowing that the movie is an adaptation of Poe's ''[[The Raven (Literaturepoem)|The Raven]]''.

* [[Duck TalesDuckTales (Animation1987)|Scrooge McDuck's]] [[Arch Enemy]] Magica de Spell had a pet raven. Who is actually her enchanted brother. [[Furry Confusion|Yeah...]]

* Nestor, [[Saludos Amigos (Disney)|José]] [[The Three Caballeros (Disney)|Carioca's]] friend from the Zé Carioca series.

* Raven from ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' (and its [[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|animated spinoff]]). She's a [[Dark Is Not Evil]] hero (when not being [[Grand Theft Me|possessed]] or [[Brainwashed and Crazy|mind-controlled]] by her [[Eldritch Abomination]] father) whose magical powers often use a corvid motif.

* Merlin from ''[[Dracula vs. King Arthur (Comic Book)|Dracula vs. King Arthur]]'' has this motif, including a pet raven by his side.

* Crows appear to be one of the few types of animal who can visit the Land of the Dead while still alive in ''[[Corpse Bride (Animation)|Corpse Bride]]''. 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 -- hetower—he uses their feathers and eggs for magical purposes.

* In ''[[Were Back a Dinosaurs Story|''We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story]]'']], the [[Big Bad]] is [[Nightmare Fuel|eaten alive]] by crows.

* In the movie of ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Prisoner of Azkaban (film)|Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' the scene of Buckbeak's execution has crows all over the area being just as sinister as they can be.

* In the new ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', 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.

* The crows in ''[[Dumbo (Disney)|Dumbo]]'' are at first derisive, then helpful (the [[Magic Feather]] was their idea).

*** Note that since they're the ones who come up with the "magic feather" idea that gives Dumbo the confidence to fly, they also count as [[Magical Negro|Magical Negroes]]es.

* Maleficent in ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' has a pet raven that appears to be the only thing she trusts or cares about.

* In ''[[Rango (Animation)|Rango]]'', a crow named [[Meaningful Name|Wounded Bird]] is a parody of the [[Magical Native American]] characters that appear in [[Spaghetti Western|Spaghetti Westerns]]s; however, he helps the title character on several occasions and is shown positively.

{{quote| '''Gandalf''': The Enemy has many spies ... beasts, and birds ...}}

* The evil queen Ravenna in ''[[Snow White and The Huntsman (Film)|Snow White and Thethe Huntsman]]'' uses a corvid motif, and is able to transform into a flock of ravens at will, while her minions change into a murder of crows when killed. However, some [[One for Sorrow, Two For Joy|magpies]] serve as Snow White's friends and allies.

* The witch in ''[[Brave (Film)|Brave]]'' has a raven or crow as a familiar.

* Mat from the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series is based on Odin and acquires a ring with ravens on it late in the series. He also has a [[Blade Onon a Stick]] with an inscription referencing "Thought" and "Memory", the names of Odin's two ravens. In the 11th book he even {{spoiler|becomes the Prince of Ravens through marriage}}. 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.

* [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[ThroughAlice thein Looking Glass (Literature)Wonderland|Through the Looking Glass]]'' invokes one from [[Nursery Rhyme]], and then it shows up to stop the fight in truth.

{{quote| ''Just then flew down a monstrous crow,<br />

As black as a tar-barrel;<br />

Which frightened both the heroes so,<br />

** Speaking of Lewis Carroll: "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" There is [[Riddle for Thethe Ages|no real answer]] but Lewis Carroll himself suggested: "Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is ''nevar'' put with the wrong end in front!"

* Due to the presence of Odin in the story, there are some in [[Douglas Adams]]' novel ''[[The Long Dark Tea -Time of the Soul (Literature)|The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul]]''.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Quoth the Raven]] in various ''[[Discworld]]'' novels. He isn't mean, but he isn't wise either -- reallyeither—really, he's just hungry.

* Subverted in [[CSC. LewisS. (Creator)Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', in which corvids are for the most part benevolent or jokers at worst. The wise raven Sallowpad served as a royal advisor for the Pevensies, as shown in ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'', while a pair of jackdaws are comic relief in ''[[The MagiciansMagician's Nephew]]''.

* ''[[Jonathan Strange and& Mr. Norrell]]'': John Usglass, the magician-king of Scotland and northern England, is known as the Raven King.

* ''Mattimeo'' features General Ironbeak, the raven leader of a flock of other [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] birds that attack [[Redwall]] Abbey. His second-in-command is a crow seer. Weirdly, they are the [[Carnivore Confusion|only birds of prey]] in the series who are [[Card -Carrying Villain|very definitely villains]].

* [[Neil Gaiman]] has the goddess Bird in [[Anansi Boys (Literature)|Anansi Boys]] portrayed as ravenlike.

** ''[[American Gods (Literature)|American Gods]]'' features Odin as an important character who, at one point, sends a raven to guide the protagonist, Shadow. The raven is able to repeatedly speak the name of the town where Shadow is supposed to go next, and nothing else... until Shadow tries to coax it into saying [[Edgar Allan Poe|"nevermore"]], at which point it replies "fuck you" and flies away.

** People are quite accustomed to them appearing on a battlefield to feast on the dead. {{spoiler|A bit ''too'' accustomed, when the [[Horde of Alien Locusts|Vord]] hide their [[Marionette Master|Marionette Masters]]s in a murder of crows.}}

* In [[Patricia aA. McKillip]]'s ''The Bell At Sealey Head'', once Emma opens a door to find [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Princesses|Princess]] Ysabo surrounded by a dozen crows. This proves to be part of a ritual which Princess Ysabo is bound to. {{spoiler|And in the end, they proved to be [[Involuntary Shapeshifting|transformed]] [[Knight in Shining Armor|knights]].}}

* In ''[[Dragon Rider]]'' by Cornelia Funke, the main villain, Nettlebrand, employs flocks of [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red-eyed]] ravens as [[Mooks]]. It turns out that {{spoiler|these ravens aren't real ravens at all, but enchanted crabs.}}

* One of Haruki Murakami's books, ''[[Kafka Onon the Shore]]'', features a teenager who gets occasional pep talks from his [[Imaginary Friend]], Crow. [[Mind Screw|Exactly what Crow is, and whether he's real or not, can be rather unclear to readers.]]

* Stephen Bauer's fantasy novel ''Satyrday'' centers on the attempts of the protagonists - an orphaned boy, the satyr who raised him, a fox-spirit, and a sympathetic raven named Deirdre - to combat a [[Owl Be Damned|malevolent owl]] and his plot to kidnap the Moon (who is a character in her own right). The owl has forced vast numbers of ravens to serve him, with some of them "[[Just Following Orders|just following orders]]" a bit too enthusiastically, [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|while others question the owl's regime]]. Deirdre is interested in persuading the other ravens to abandon the owl.

{{quote| '''Shopscat''': Think about it.}}

* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''The Hour of the Dragon'', [[Conan the Barbarian]]'s escape is plagued by a crow.

* Subverted in ''The Crows of Pearblossom'', a children's book by Aldous Huxley (yes, [[Brave New World (Literaturenovel)|that]] Aldous Huxley). The main protagonist is a perfectly agreeable mother crow trying to protect her eggs from a [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|rattlesnake]].

* Corvids in general, especially magpies and crows, are the resident [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] species in the fantasy novel ''One For Sorrow, Two For Joy'', in which they are mostly portrayed as either stupid, sadistic, or [[Ax Crazy]] and kill smaller birds [[For the Evulz|for fun]].

* The narrator of the ''Raven Mysteries'' by Marcus Sedgwick is a old raven named [[Never Heard That One Before|Edgar]], who is the [[Old Retainer]] for the mostly [[Dark Is Not Evil]] [[Darkness Vonvon Gothickname|Otherhand family]]. While he is rather grouchy and a [[Deadpan Snarker]], Edgar is apparently [[Only Sane Man|one of the smarter characters]], usually helping the family's children [[Hardy Boys Investigation|solve mysteries]].

* In [[Stuck (Literature)|Stuck At The Wheel,]] the gang led by The Shadow is named the Crows and their calling card is a black crow feather.

* In ''[[Krabat (Literature)|Krabat]]'', the boys are turned into ravens when they get lessons in (dark) magic.

* In ''[[Guardians of ga Ga'Hoole (Literature)|Guardians of ga Hoole]]'', crows are more antagonistic than the benevolent and helpful ravens, although both {{spoiler|are willing to help the owls in the battle during the last book.}}

* The title character of [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]' ''Barnaby Rudge'' has a pet raven, Grip, who repeats his words back. Yes, they are [[Truth in Television|known to do this]].

== Live -Action TV ==

* In ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'', Data dreams of a raven who leads him to Dr. Soong, who built him.

** It's revealed in a different episode that Dr. Soong liked dinosaurs, which suggests the raven might also be an android. (Because [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Dinosaurs|dinosaurs]] = [[Badass]] birds...)

** Rather Birds = [[Badass]] [[EverythingsEverything's Better Withwith Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs]].

** In [[Star Trek: Voyager]], Seven of Nine also dreams of a raven; in this case it's because her family's ship (upon which she had been assimilated) was called the ''Raven''.

* In the mythology of the [[Insane Clown Posse (Music)|Insane Clown Posse]], corvids are a means by which the dead watch and act upon the world of the living.

** See also a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVOGWhneqDk fan clip]{{broken link}} with video part from ''Crow''.

* In Ovid's ''[[MetamorphosesThe (Literature)Metamorphoses|Metamorphoses]]'' when Neptune chases Cornix, Athena turns her into a crow. Unusually in [[Greek Mythology]], this actually enables her to get away.

* Frederick Barbarossa is [[King in Thethe Mountain|asleep in a mountain]] until the ravens stop flying about it; he wakes every now and again, long enough to send a boy to check for them.

*** Not so important to note -- Thenote—The King was told at one point that Ravens were disturbing a scientist's work, and that they must be killed. Of course, that meant bad luck, so the King reached a small compromise - he got rid of all but 7. Since then, there are always meant to be 7 ravens in the tower grounds. They do, however, keep a few extra so they can easily get another if one dies.

*** Which is also where the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time comes from--thefrom—the ravens were disrupting the Royal Observatory at the Tower, and rather than take the risk of getting rid of the ravens, Charles II moved the observatory to Greenwich.

* Two Celtic goddesses of war, the Morrigan and the Badb, took the form of a crow or raven to watch over battlefields. The Morrigan, in crow form, was present at the death of Cú Chulainn, who she had a [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|complicated]] [[Yandere|relationship]] with.

* Similarly to the Book of Genesis, Utnapishtim of ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh (Literature)|The Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' sends a raven and a dove to search for land. The raven does not come back, causing Utnapishtim to realize that it found a place to rest.

* [[Wrestler/Raven (wrestling)|Raven]] (real name: Scott Levy).

* [[Wrestler/Sting (wrestling)|Sting]]'s "black with white facepaint" attire is nicknamed "Crow Sting" by fans.

** The book of Leviticus--whichLeviticus—which consists of laws and priestly codes--forbadecodes—forbade eating ravens as they were considered unclean.

** In the book of Job, God asks Job if he knows who feeds the raven when its young are starving--asstarving—as part of a longer monologue about God's place in the world. This is echoed in one of the Psalms, and Jesus also references this in Luke's gospel.

* A raven is the symbol of Morr, the god of death and dreams in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]''.

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]''.

** Ravens are commonly found as wizards' and sorcerers' [[Familiar|Familiars]]s. Raven familiars always have the ability to speak.

* [[Pathfinder]] has tengu as somewhere between kenku-[[Expy|expysexpy]]s and their original inspiration. Complete with [[Mythology Gag|a feat that allows them to appear as humans]] with [[Gag Nose|unusually big noses]], even.

* Raphael Raven in ''[[Yoshis Island (Video Game)|YoshisYoshi's Island]]''.

** The same character makes an appearance in ''[[Paper Mario (Video Gamefranchise)|Paper Mario]]'', and he apparently had a [[Heel Face Turn|change of heart]]: now Raphael lives peacefully with the Yoshis on Lavalava Island.

** The ravens in ''[[Paper Mario: theThe Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand -Year Door]]'' are of varying intelligence, but pretend to be dumb animals when someone else is around.

* Aya Shameimaru in [[Touhou]] is a Crow Tengu [[Paparazzi]] who publishes a rumor mill tabloid; if not an outright trickster, she's at least clever and annoying. On the other hand, there's also Utsuho Reiuji, a [[I Love Nuclear Power|nuclear-powered]] [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Three-legged_birdlegged bird|hell raven]] who's a bit more... [[The Ditz|straightforward]].

* ''[[Suikoden V]]'' has Raven, a [[Highly -Visible Ninja]] with real [[Jerkass]] tendencies. For bonus points, [[Private Detective|Oboro and the rest of his Detective Agency]] prefer calling him by the nickname ''Crow''. Despite his extreme distaste for the nickname, he has a unique rune called the Crow Rune, which allows him to become invisible to his enemies...but [[Weaksauce Weakness|only if he's indoors]].

* Soulblighter in Bungie's ''[[Myth (Video Game)|Myth]]'' series of games can turn into a murder of crows.

* One recent [[Nancy Drew (Videovideo Gamegame)|Nancy Drew]] game uses a flock of crows as an obstacle. Getting past them requires giving each crow an appropriately-colored trinket to distract it.

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' features Corvus {{spoiler|Umbranox, the Grey Fox, leader of the Thieves Guild, and former Count of Anvil. Fellow gets around}}. He's clever and dark-haired, but has little to do with [[Ravens and Crows]] otherwise.

* Crows are the original [[Goddamn Bats]] of the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' series and liable to [[Gosh Dang It to Heck|screw your crap up]] if you get distracted when flocked by them - "It looks like he was killed by a crow or something!" much? In ''4'', however, they're downgraded to harmless [[Money Spider|Money Spiders]]s.

* Every single enemy in [[Billy Hatcher and Thethe Giant Egg]] is made up of one or more crows. The [[Big Bad]] is also a raven.

* Haer'Dalis in ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] II'' tends to call the protagonist "my raven" for some reason. Possibly {{spoiler|due to his/her bloodline as the offspring of the Lord of Murder, Bhaal, which Haer'Dalis - being a doomguard - instinctively senses if not having been told.}}

* ''[[Mega Man Star Force (Video Game)|Mega Man Star Force]]'', in its third installment, gives us the boss Jack Corvus, the fused form of [[The Woobie|young]] [[Tyke Bomb|Jack]] and an extraterrestrial [[Omnicidal Maniac|planet-destroying criminal]], [[Energy Beings|Corvus]], who takes the form of a crow and works under [[Card -Carrying Villain|Mr.]] [[Complete Monster|King]]. After a good portion of the game's progress, Jack is successfully [[Defusing the Tykebomb|defused]], whilst Corvus, who only ever joined up with Jack [[For the Evulz|cause he thought it would be fun]], ends up destroyed by [[Anti -Hero|Rogue]], who was out to kill the remnants of Dealer. Jack was safe as he'd [[Heel Face Turn|defected]] moments before.

* ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 7'' has Wind Crowrang, the spiritual successor to Storm Eagle. He's a fast and agile foe, and one of the harder Mavericks to fight. He's mostly black and gray with yellow trim and highlights (though his beak is black), and his dialogue and fight quotes are riddled with caws.

** The original series had Tengu Man (''[[Mega Man 8 (Video Game)|Mega Man 8]]'', ''& Bass'').

* [[Dragon Age]] has the [[Murder, Inc.|Antivan Crows]], an organization of assassins, and of which [[Lovable Rogue|Zevran]] is a member. Interestingly, most times the player comes to an area teeming with some literal crows, the Antivan variety are not far behind.

* Crows can be seen in several places in ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]''; pecking at corpses in the intro, flying around infected water towers, and {{spoiler|being used by Alex Mercer as building material to [[From a Single Cell|regenerate]] after he failed to [[Outrun the Fireball]]}}.

* [[Bio Shock Infinite (Video Game)|Bio ShockBioShock Infinite]] gives us the [[Stealth Pun|Murder]] Vigor which summons a flock of crows, much like the [[Bee -Bee Gun|Insect Swarm plasmid]] in previous games. There's also Songbird, who is both [[Nightmare Fuel]] and distinctly crow-like.

* In keeping with the series' theme of using birds to denote important locations, ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'' has crows and ravens flying around towers which are under the Borgia's control.

* ''[[DemonsDemon's Souls]]'' features a giant crow named Sparkly, with whom the player character can trade "sparkly, twinkly" items.

** ''[[Dark Souls]]'', the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[DemonsDemon's Souls]]'' features a giant crow who is able to transport the player character between the Undead Asylum and Firelink Shrine.

* The [[Armored Core (Video Game)|Armored Core]] [[The Verse|'verse]] has [[Private Military Contractor|Ravens, managed by the Raven's Nest.]] And like a flock of Ravens, they're hired by any [[Mega Corp]] that can afford them to cause collateral damage [[Western Terrorists|(even terrorists can hire you to test out their new gear)]]. And guess what? Your [[Villain Protagonist|character]] [[Crapsack World|WORKS for these guys!]]

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

* ''[[Eight 8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'': Thief's patron ([[Trickster Archetype|trickster]]) deity takes the form of a crow.

* [[Squid Row]]: In [http://squidrowcomics.com/?p=1702 this] comic, the characters see a wild raven and discuss [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]] and [[Edgar Allan Poe]].

* [[Memoria (Webcomic2010 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 [[It Got Worse|get worse]], and they are attacked by an [[Zerg Rush|entire flock]] of ravens.

* [[Bird Boy]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20110301061949/http://bird-boy.com/volume-1-page-1 Rook men] helped a monster to hide the sun in an attempt [[The Night That Never Ends|to prevent day from coming]].

* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' gives us [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/3/21/ the Deepcrow].

* [[Archipelago]]: The [[Big Bad]] of this comic is The Great Raven, an ancient spirit, fearfully clever, terribly powerful, [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|trapped beneath the Earth with a magic seal.]]

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209183709/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3650 on a tree after Death went after its leaves] -- as—as Crimney switches from [[Shakespeare]]'s ''Sonnet 18'' to Poe's ''The Raven''.

* ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'': Dave Strider's apartment block is surrounded by quite a large crow population; one crow dares to invade his room and gets run through with one of Dave's katanas in an inventory mishap, but not before making off with his copies of Sburb. It's later prototyped into Dave's [[Spirit Advisor|sprite]], giving enemies in Sburb wings and a sword through the chest.

* [[There Is No Such Thing Asas Notability]], right? Well then! The [http://shifti.org/wiki/Xanadu_(setting) Xanadu] storyverse, where a large convention [[Goes Horribly Wrong]] ([[Gone Horribly Right|or right]]) when [[Becoming the Costume|costumes become real]], started after Eric Winters put on a Raven mask and [http://shifti.org/wiki/Xanadu_(story) turned into a bird] who is possibly a god.

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''

{{quote| '''Marge Simpson''': ''I don't want a flock of crows in our bedroom!''<br />

* Crows are the [[Screwy Squirrel|Screwy Squirrels]]s in ''[[The Fox and The Crow]]'' cartoons from Columbia and the ''[[Buzzy And Katnip]]'' cartoons from [[Famous Studios]] in the 1940s.

* This is where we mention Raven from ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', right?

* [[The Drinky Crow Show (Animation)|Drinky Crow]].

* Jose and Manuel, the Two Crows from Tacos in ''[[Looney Tunes (Animation)|Looney Tunes]]''.

* ''[[Jonny Quest (Animation)|Jonny Quest]]'' TOS episode "The Fraudulent Volcano". Dr. Zin has a pet raven.

* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two -Shoes (Animation)|Jimmy Two Shoes]]'' had a pirate with a raven instead of a [[Pirate Parrot]].

* Several [[Tom and Jerry (Animation)|Tom and Jerry]] shorts included a crow who was pretty much [[The Juggernaut]].

* [[Big Bad|Mumm-ra]] from ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|Thundercats 2011]]'' often turns into a crow in order to [[Hidden in Plain Sight|hide in plain sight]] or get around.

* Raven in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'' is a more malevolent version of the Native American trickster figure, capable of changing himself into a human or gargoyle-like form.

** Supposedly, they hold [[Due to Thethe Dead|spontaneous funeral gatherings]]. [[A Worldwide Punomenon|They even dress in black for the occasion...]]

** One owner took what so many [[Edgar Allan Poe]] fans hoped for and taught his raven to say '[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIX_6TBeph0&feature=related Nevermore]' (along with [[PacmanPac-Man|'wakawaka']]) .

* Crows have demonstrated their ability to make tools, in fact. Being among the most intelligent genus of birds, any one of the corvid species may be capable of pulling this off, but the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Caledonian_Crow:New Caledonian Crow|The New Caledonian Crow]] is the best known and documented. Don't believe me? Check out [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtmLVP0HvDg this video] depicting one fishing some food out of a plastic tube, using nothing but a bent piece of wire and a good dose of intuition.

[[Category:SherlockRavens Holmesand (Film)Crows]]