The Crow In Popular Culture, Between Mythology And Literature

The raven is a beautiful species of bird that belongs to the Corvidae family, a group of the most intelligent birds. This living being is the most widespread among its peers. In fact, it lives in various areas of the planet: in the Arctic, in Europe and North America, in Africa and even on the slopes of Mount Everest.

This wide diffusion is due to its marked intelligence and its well-known opportunistic character, which made it possible to approach human settlements to exploit the greater availability of food in an environment almost devoid of enemy predators. Little by little, therefore, over the centuries, the crow has become a key element in popular culture, occupying a leading role in legends, stories and poems all over the world.

Since ancient times, the raven has been mentioned in many religious books, mainly the Bible. In it, for example, Noah uses a specimen of this species to search for land or control the retreat of the waters. On another occasion, it is always the ravens who save the prophet Elijah from hunger. The Eskimo tribes consider this animal a real deity.

Ravens in Norse mythology

However, it is the Viking peoples who have offered the greatest tributes to this species. One of the most famous, the Swedish king Ragnar Lodbrok, used a raven as his family’s coat of arms. It appears in a multitude of flags and shields, as it was associated with one of the main gods of Norse culture, Odin.

In Norse mythology, Odin is accompanied by two ravens : Hugin , who symbolizes thought, and Munin , who represents memory. These two animals have the task of informing the Lord of the Norse gods about everything that happens in his kingdom.

It is believed that they also identified themselves as a representation of the Valkyries, who were to collect the souls of soldiers who fell in battle and accompany them to the paradise of war, known as Valhalla . A connection with a typical attitude of crows who, after the wars, often feed on corpses left in the field.

Other European legends about the raven

For the Celts, ravens were also associated with battlefields and warfare, and especially with Morrigan, the goddess of death, who could take the form of a raven. This power was also possessed by Badb, goddess of war, who could also become a wolf. They both fed on souls through the wars of men, just as ravens did with corpses and carcasses.

These birds appear in many legends  of European cultures. For example, the ancient King Frederick Barbarossa is said to have been asleep with his army in the mountains of Kyffhäuser in Thuringia. He will wake up and return to the fight as soon as the crows stop flying around the top of the mountain.

Another legend concerns the origin of the black color, typical of crows. For the Greeks, it was Apollo who changed the mantle of these birds from white to black, to punish the crow he had asked to protect his mistress, Coronis.

The British monarchy, in danger because of the crows

One of the most curious legends is the one that says that England and its monarchy will fall the day there will be no more crows in the Tower of London. This is due to the fact that, for a long time, this place was used to imprison and behead the main enemies of the crown. The crows, attracted by the smell of the blood of corpses, would be a kind of symbol for the continuity of the monarchy in the British country.

Another legend says that court astronomer John Flamsteed complained to the king about the presence of too many crows interfering with his observations. Charles II ordered them to be eliminated but Flamsteed himself warned him that without the ravens, the Tower would fall along with the monarchy. From that moment, then, the ruler ordered that at least six ravens always be present in the Tower .

This animal, as you can see, is very important to the city and the history of London. When only one survived after World War II, Chancellor Winston Churchill ordered a repopulation in the Tower. From that moment they were integrated as  members of the army, with their own ranks and obligations. In short, there is really no limit to superstition.

The crow among books, poems and films

Crows appear in many literary works. They are the protagonists of a poem by Allan Poe, present in Aesop’s fables, in the novels of Charles Dickens and in books signed by Stephen King and Asimov. They are part of Erebor’s symbolism in The Hobbit and play a central role in the Game of Thrones series , where they become a communication channel and represent the Night’s Watch.

The crow also appears in blockbuster films such as Harry Potter . Probably, however, in the media the best known character is that of the James O’Barr comic that gave life to the famous film “The Crow – The Crow” in 1994. Directed by Alex Proyas, it saw the death of the protagonist  Brandon Lee, in due to an accidentally fired gunshot while filming the film.

Images: Brocken Inaglory, Diego Delso and Sigurður Atlason.