Dire Crowley inspired coloring ⊹︵︵︵ ⊹ 𝄞 ⊹ ︵︵︵ ⊹ interacts greatly appreciated ♡

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Leona and Jamil show just how powerful money can be, even in a world full of magic. And Leona is telling the truth- money can manipulate words, people, media. It has a frightening amount of power. It makes me think of Lilia’s line in Book 6 how any point in history can be “twisted” to fit a certain narrative.

Crowley is one greedy mf haha, but when you really think about it, his connections are rather frightening. The Asim’s, Olympus Inc, the Kingscholar’s, STYX. He knows just about every family and every company that controls the flow of money in the world, and has used money many, many times to play dirty

Riddle and Azul’s in depth explanation of transformation potions and their legality is extremely fascinating- and also a bit suspicious. Before Book 6, some were under the assumption that transformation potions were simply restricted on school grounds or in the hands of minors. But the possession and trade of such a potion is wayyy more restricted than we once thought.

Remember in the prologue when Crowley just casually took one? Of course, I doubt he cares much for the legality of it- but why would he take a potion so casually? Why did he have one on his person? Using such a restricted potion so casually makes me wonder if he has a stash of more- but then why would he have so many? Plus, Riddle specifically states that a transformation potion changes your physiology, which is obvious. But Crowley turning into a ghost means…losing his body. Ortho even confirms the nature of ghosts by saying they don’t have a corporeal body.

So just how familiar is Crowley with transformation potions to be willing to temporarily give up his BODY? We know Azul, Floyd, and Jade struggled immensely with turning into humans, but Crowley can move at extremely fast speeds in ghost form. So far, all I can think of is that:

•Crowley uses potions to hide some of his features (*cough* Revan)

•He needs potions to turn from bird to human, so he’s used to his body drastically changing. Thinking about him being the OG Diablo is fun, but Crowley does have Fae features, and some types of Fae can naturally switch between forms.

•Idk…he’s dead and already a ghost and actually uses a potion to appear human?!?!? I’m just throwing random stuff to the wall and see what sticks 🤣 interesting possibility tho…🫢

And finally, bird mimicry with the Pomefiore crew. I’ve made other theory posts going over this line too, but it’s very interesting how birds are specifically mentioned for vocal mimicry. Rook could’ve just left it at “beasts” or even just “animals” in general.

Crowley is a very eccentric vocal range, one that heavily depends on his mood. He lets information slip on purpose and is such a fast-talker that he easily manipulates others. Or rather, shove the work on them so fast that there’s no other choice but to do it haha. But comparing his voice in the opening prologue to his more silly moments, he can appear to be a completely different man when the mood or situation suits him.

All of this combined, doesn’t it feel odd?? Literally all of this new information relates to Crowley somehow, and I have a feeling it’s more foreshadowing. Book 6 is an absolute goldmine for *reminding* us in just how unknown the TWST world is. It also feels like trying to tell us to keep an eye out for these things, because it’s all going to come together in the end.

Hey, um- So I was rewatching the opening movie for TWST again (what else am I supposed to do with my free time lmao), and I suddenly got a bad feeling when watching the beginning. I am 100% sure that this opening movie and the prologue foreshadows A LOT of the end game to come, but this just cements it.

All the dorms in the mirror have this flame over them, perhaps symbolizing their destruction in the end game. It’s so ominous, how the camera circles around, showing that every single dorm is succumbing to this flame. And yet, Crowley continues to smile, and is stepping into the one mirror that is radiating pure light. The one mirror that appears to be safe, before turning into a bird and flying away 🤔 sir what do you mean by this, get back here

Rook is a…strange boy, to say the least. As Epel describes him, the more you know about him, the more mysterious he is. However, Rook is incredibly honest and true to himself. He genuinely believes in the beauty in the world. It’s fitting he’s part of the ‘light magic trio’ that includes Kalim and Silver.

I am certain that there is a purposeful parallel between Rook and CROWLEY. Sounds weird, but Rook is one of the many keys to getting a glimpse of Crowley’s true personality. I’d say it’s to the point that Rook and Crowley are two sides of the same coin. I went through so many chats, vignettes, main story, and events to gather info for this, so I’d like to think that there is a connection 😭

So I learn something very amazing today from @rahmareda-03 (thank you so much!) about the 2022 Twisted Wonderland Exhibition videos that show some of the concept art in the exhibition. I had no idea that there was a blink-and-you-miss-it shot of Dire Crowley's concept art, and I'd like to break it down.

We talked about how the concept art of Crowley had the same exact color palette as Malleus and Lilia, and lo and behold, he does. Some of my recent posts have been delving into this topi, so this concept art was a pleasant surprise.

What really interests me is Crowley's cape and climbing briars on his pant leg and sleeves. Now, the final designs of Diasomnia's uniforms have become a lot more subtle, but this capes design looks very much like Maleficent and Overblotted Malleus

The briar design is again similar to Overblotted Malleus, and is an overall callback to the briars in Sleeping Beauty. Crowley's feather motif is still subtly present in the cape, as the "flames" of his cape fall down in the shape of feathers.

But here's where I get a little confused: Each dorm has a themed 'border' around their concept art (e.g a lamp for a Scarabia dorm), and Diasomnia has the three good fairies. Crowley has the Three Good fairies on his concept art, just like Malleus and Lilia. So far, I can only think of three possible explanations: Crowley has originally a Diasomnia character, the staff members were originally meant to align with a dorm, or the fairies simply represented what Crowley was based off of, aka Maleficent's raven.

The first explanation has some merit, because Diablo was pretty iconic, but Crowley's design stands out a little too much to just be a simple uniform. His staff, hat, taller heels and flaming cape just make him look older and more distinct. Was the original design repurposed for the Headmage, or was this character always meant to be the headmage? I also lean towards the third explanation, simply because I believe Dire Crowley is based off both the Evil Queen's crow and Maleficent's raven .

This does bring forth another question of what Crowley's relationship with Malleus was supposed to be. Y'all should know of my Levan/Revan crack theories by now, but I am genuinely curious of Crowley's role, and why he shared the Diasomnia color palette and elements of Maleficent's design.

Of course, it's important to remember that this was CONCEPT art; I'm not trying to claim that this art is officially canon or anything haha. But I feel like examining the concepts reveals a lot about the 'origin' of a character in a lore-sense, even if many ideas were scrapped along the way.

In Book 4, Azul mentions a very interesting Japanese proverb: "能ある鷹は爪を隠す. A clever ( or wise, talented, skilled) hawk hides its talons. And honestly, thank you Azul, I love you so much for this. Because me, currently obsessed with Crowley, is tying everything back to him haha.

A lot of the time, a proverb's morals can be pretty ambiguous, but this one is sometimes referred to practicing humbleness, as in a talented person doesn't go out of their way to show off. But Crowley does quite the opposite, don't you think? We know nothing about his magic or powers, but his overall behavior is very greedy and conceited at times, and thinks very highly of himself and his kindness. However, I think this is exactly how Crowley hides his 'talons.'

Others hone in on the 'hawk' part of the proverb. The hawk is a hunting bird, so its cleverness is just as vicious. So others interpret the proverb as wise people know how to make others drop their guard down. Similarly, a talented person doesn't show off their abilities to their enemies, or don't show them off because they know the powers they're capable of. These interpretations lie closer to what a hawk does, and what I believe Crowley is doing.

He's silly, unreliable, and occasionally greedy, but he still runs a school of 'villains.' Crowley slips the information he wants out, and keeps everything else in. I don't know what he's up to, but there's something related to the Overblots and Grim. By acting helpless and conceited, no one takes Crowley seriously, or at least, us players. Vargas refers to him as 'kind hearted,' and Crewel says 'he always thinks about his students.' And I think these are also true among his malicious intents. But think of Book 6's moment, when Crowley was taken into custody. He was the most composed and calm we'd ever seen him. This, and the end of Book 6 brought some very interesting questions.

Crowley was called before PARLIAMENT due to all the Overblot cases happening under his watch, with people from Styx, Department of Education, and the Department of Magic. Crowley has some...shady stuff going on, and I believe in a vignette, he explicitly mentions he has activities he doesn't want the government to know about. But Overblot is meant to be extremely rare. This plus his shady activities is more than enough of a reason to fire or punish him in some way.

Yet he says the assembly saw no issues with the school's LEADERSHIP, aka him. And this is exactly where the proverb becomes relevant. If Crowley was as spineless as he wants us to believe him to be, he would've been fired eons ago. But with all these bigwigs and powerful people, not one was able to touch him? I believe he took out his figurative 'talons,' and considering how easily he blackmails Yuu, I wouldn't be surprised if he did so just as easily with Parliament, with a dash of threats too. He is (or heavily implied to be) a fae, after all, with likely hundreds of years under his belt. If anything, this was just an inconvenience. An annoyance. But nothing for him to fear his position at NRC.

One more thing I'd like to add is how his NAME is literally the proverb in a nutshell. YuuRei20 on Twitter demonstrates how his name is pronounced like the English word "dear (beloved, cherished)," instead of "dire (disastrous, ominous)." Without knowledge of his technical name, his name gives a very different impression. Even his own name is hiding its talons, which is insane to me.