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Ravens and Crows: Difference between revisions
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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]].
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