#crowleyfacts

Crowley is often assigning tasks to Grim and the prefect:

・cleaning up after Phantom Bride

・acting as a gopher and looking out for infiltrators during Fairy Gala

・babysitting Grim (with the reasoning of having them act as attendants to the Glorious Masquerade group)

・record keeping for Port Fest

・record keeping for Vargas Camps 1 and 2

・helping the Starsending team collect wishes (even allowing them to break the rule of "no using magic in personal disputes")

・Investigating a rash of suspicious incidents in which students are being hurt

Crowley seems to often forget that Grim and the prefect are there, and how much they do not know.

He does not inform them about Halloween, and might have forgotten about them completely during Spectral Soiree. ("I was JUST debating whom I should ask to check on that dorm!")

Crowley doesn't seem to have much affection for Ramshackle, calling it dilapidated, old ("ah, I mean, this historic building?") and decrepit.

In Book 4 he provides Grim and the prefect with a smartphone to share between them, and they also share a single Wishing Star during the Starsending, with Crowley reminding them that the two of them together count as a single student.

Crowley will claim that he is "diligently searching" for a way to send the prefect home, but Grim seems unconvinced.

The prefect asks him outright if he is actually doing so in Book 4 and Crowley responds, "Why, I'm expending every effort!," claiming that he will be spending his winter break expanding his investigation to a tropical land.

When Grim asks to go along in his vacation Crowley responds, "But that would spoil my delightful getaway from--ah, ahem!" and then explains that it will be so dangerous that it is best if he handles it alone.

Hello hello! Oh noo I think I forgot to put this in his information sheets! You are very right!

This gets into katakana, one of the three written alphabets used in Japanese, which is for foreign loan words. The Japanese word for "cat," for example, is 猫 in kanji and ねこ in hiragana (both pronounced "neko"), but if you wanted to use the English word you could write, キャット ("kyatto").

There are some limitations in adapting words from English into Japanese: "R" and "L" sounds, for example, don't really exist, which is why Silver's name sounds like it ends in "ah" instead of "R" in the audio.

In this way Crowley's name, “Dire”, should actually be written as ダイア(“daiah”) in katakana.

But Yana has retconned the word “dire” to be pronounced as ディア (“dee-ah”), and this is the exact same pronunciation as the English word “dear” 👀

(Here is a collage of JP-server players commenting on this very thing!)

We don't really see "Dire" written in English on JP, so as far as the average JP-server player knows, Crowley's first name is "Dear"!

From a JP-server perspective this means that Crowley’s name is being pronounced as something like “beloved” while secretly meaning “disastrous," and this falls in line cleanly with one of the game's many themes of things not being what they seem 👀

Crowley is the headmage of NRC, entrusted with the school by an unnamed chairman.

He seems to have authority over who is able to attend and who cannot, independent of the school's official selection process:

In addition to refusing to allow Ortho enroll as a student (until Book 6), he turns Grim and the prefect into janitors upon their arrival, assigns them a punishment for fighting, threatens to expel them (and Ace and Deuce) if they do not acquire a magestone in the prologue and then promotes them to two halves of one student, all without conferring with anyone else (on screen).

Crowley seems to take a lot of pride in NRC, delighted by compliments from NBC about how the school has flourished under his guidance.

He is also pleased when the school is asked to help with Port Fest, saying, "He insisted upon having our school--and not Royal Sword Academy!"

(Crowley seems to dislike how the school is constantly losing to RSA in competitions like the VDC and Spelldrive tournaments.)

Crowley's age has been questioned by both Ace and the faculty in-game, and he ignored them both times.

Crowley says that while ghost cameras may have been invented when Ace's great-great-grandmother was a child, he would "hardly consider them 'super old'..."

While we know Crowley has been working at NRC for multiple decades we do not know how long, exactly.

There seems to be a theme of significant things happening 100 years ago:

It is how long the dark mirror has been selecting students for NRC, how long NRC has been competing against RSA, how long the Watchman of the Island of Woe has been operating as a formal organization under the name "STYX," and how many years worth of exams Azul reviewed in Book 3.

Crowley explains that as the Dark Mirror is one of NRC's most prized magical artifacts and the Mirror Chamber is strictly off-limits to outsiders regardless of circumstance, with the special exception of Halloween (during which photography is prohibited).

No one is allowed to enter the mirror chamber without Crowley's permission, though the fairies during Fairy Gala manage to steal an important magestone from the chamber seemingly without his knowing.

During Spectral Soiree Crowley explains that breaking the mirror would break the spell that was cast over the school, but he still asks the students to refrain from smashing it as it is possible the kidnapped students would never return and "the Dark Mirror is EXTREMELY valuable."

We have been told that only those the Dark Mirror recognizes as possessing exceptional magical aptitude can enroll at NRC but it seems that Crowley can overrule this condition, i.e. the prefect and Ortho, neither of whom can use magic (and, from Book 6, Ortho is an official student on his own, independent from Idia, while the prefect is dependent upon Grim).

Crowley describes the Dark Mirror as "beside itself with joy" and "delighted to be regarded wit such respect and care" during Halloween, but Malleus seems unconvinced.

Lilia comments, "Maybe it's too shy to smile without being embarrassed."

Crowley tries to get the Dark Mirror to return to prefect to their home, but the Dark Mirror declares there is no such place. Crowley says that he is "intimately acquainted with the origins of every student" who has ever enrolled at NRC, but the prefect's homeland eludes him.

It seems that things you carry with you when traveling via the Dark Mirror can get "spirited away" if you are not careful.

Crowley recommends that students send any possessions that they absolutely cannot afford to lose by post rather than risk carrying them back.

Vargas explains that magic mirrors come in all kinds, but ones that can identify the nature of your soul are rare. He says he had never even seen one before coming to NRC.

Jamil says that he is skeptical that the Dark Mirror actually selects students based on that at all.

(In the original game the face in the Dark Mirror disappears, but it was left in for EN. EN also had visual issues with the "No Photography" signs during Halloween and Ace's sprite not changing when he was possessed (corrected in an update), so this may have been an EN-exclusive mistake.)

The students of NRC will often complain about Crowley: Idia says "Some headmage he is" when Crowley leaves the opening ceremony to deal with Grim and the prefect (a sentiment that Jamil agrees with) and Grim makes a similar comment during Phantom Bride.

Also during Phantom Bride, Riddle points out that any scandal that breaks out at the school would be Crowley's responsibility and not that of the students when Crowley attempts to blackmail them into rescuing Idia with the threat of public backlash.

Riddle is also unimpressed with Crowley at the end of Tsumsted, as is Leona.

Leona falls asleep during a long speech from Crowley, for which he is apparently infamous: Sam also reflects on how Crowley can talk for a very long time, and Jack comments both on his lectures and on how his Port Fest speech is mostly lies.

Crowley takes credit for sending the tsums away at the end of Tsumsted and Jack comments, "Yeah, whatever. I bet another hole just happened to open."

When Crowley lets "a bit of fame go to his head" during Halloween Jack comments, "The headmage didn't even do anything..."

When Crowley reveals that he is receiving money from Azul in Book 3 Jack says, "With teachers like this, no wonder our students are the way they are."

(Crowley seems equally unimpressed with Jack, call him "principled and tedious.")

Vil comments on Crowley's tardiness in a vignette, agreeing with Idia about the uselessness of one of Crowley's assemblies, while unnamed students in the lecture hall audibly bemoan having to listen to him and say they wish they could go back to their dorms.

Floyd comments that Crowley is "always gone when the work starts," and Crewel confirms this, saying that Crowley "runs away in a panic whenever there's trouble."

When the Firelit Sky group leaves for the fireworks festival Crowley sees them off, saying, "if there's any trouble during your vacation, I want absolutely nothing to do with it!"

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Rook composes a flattering poem about Crowley during Phantom Bride.

Despite all the examples of Crowley seemingly being very interested in money, there are just as many where he is not as stingy as he could be:

Visitors to school during Halloween tour the campus free of charge and Crowley gives away multiple VDC tickets so that the members of NRC Tribe can invite friends and family, despite how they are "hot commodities" that he could presumably sell.

Crowley also buys Sam's entire stock of goods for seducing Eliza during the Phantom Bride event (including tuxedos for the remaining suitors), fairy dust for the Fairy Gala event and club equipment for the winning teams of Vargas Camp.

Costs pertaining to expenses such as setup and food supplies are all charged to the school during Port Fest, with half of profits donated to the restoration of Craneport.

Upon Azul's recommendation Crowley voluntarily decides to give the rest of the profits to the students themselves, even encouraging them to host a post-festival celebration with whatever money is leftover rather than trying to keep any for himself.

Crowley also gives the prefect and Grim funds that are mentioned during Glorious Masquerade.

The prefect in the novel seems to be receiving a regular allowance from Crowley in exchange for the repairs they make to Ramshackle but it might never actually be confirmed if game-prefect is also regularly receiving money or if the "funds" Trein mentions were specifically so that the prefect and Grim would be able to buy souvenirs during Glorious Masquerade.

They do, however, mention buying souvenirs in other events, so it is possible that they are receiving money from Crowley regularly: Grim talks about buying gifts during both Harveston and Firelit Sky.

He mentions that Grim and the prefect are "racking up" living expenses and food expenses, so it is possible that things the prefect and Grim purchase are being billed to Crowley or the school, in much the same way that Azul bills clean-up costs to Leona when Jack breaks a bottle of durian juice.

In the beginning of the game Crowley says that the prefect and Grim need to pay for their own food, clothing and incidentals, so it is possible that he is providing them with the funds to do so.

Crowley may have a vested interest in Pomefiore/the Fairest Queen over the others and, possibly, in Vil: when the seven statues are toppled during Halloween Crowley speaks of the flagrant disrespect overall at first, but the only one he comments on specifically is the fairest queen, saying, "The Fairest Queen's statue, lying prone like some common pauper?!"

Crowley has said that he loves "sparkly things like gems and precious metals!" and Vil will sometimes fill the area he is in with sparkles.

This may be related to why Crowley is stunned speechless upon seeing Vil at the start of Halloween (Vil: "As you should be").

Crowley is delighted by his own decision to put Vil in charge of production for the VDC after seeing the team rehearse.

Vil says, "But of course. What do you take me for?" and Crowley responds, "What I've always taken you for: a leading global talent--no, correction--the houswarden of Pomefiore, our campus' most historic and beautiful dorm."

Vil may be less inclined towards Crowley than Crowley is towards him: when Crowley tries to retire Malleus into the hall of fame in Book 2, Vil says the decision "reeks of some kind of unconscious bias," which he despises.

(Crowley might be fond of Spelldrive in general: he has a voice line about staying up late to watch it on TV.)

Crowley reacts dramatically in Book 2 when discussing Riddle's overblot, randomly yelling aloud and surprising Grim.

In an interview from the fanbook Twst composure Ozawa Takumi comments that Crowley is her favorite character and she loves his "play-acting," and I have never been able to get over it.

There is very clearly much going on with Crowley that we do not know, and the question of how much is "play-acting" and how much (if anything) is not is fascinating.

During Halloween, for example, Jade says, "Is there some reason (Crowley) wouldn't want the police sniffing around? A secret he doesn't want them to unearth, perhaps?"

And Crowley's secrets come up again in Book 4: when Azul is pretending to be hypnotized, Jamil asks him if he happens to know Crowley's secrets. Azul says that he does: he knows one thing that Crowley would never want others to learn.