#H.P. Crowe

[b-skarsgard]

According to graphic designer Nikola Prijic, Bill Skarsgård himself submitted an excerpt from an H.P. Lovecraft poem titled “Despair” — a fitting match in all sorts of ways for 2024’s “The Crow” — as something his character Eric might have tattooed on his body. Prijic took the stanza from the poem that begins with “Evil wings in ether beating” and ends “in a cloud of madness,” laid it out in Procreate, and designed a custom stencil version that could be applied to Skarsgård’s back while shooting the Rupert Sanders film.

Rupert wanted his version of Eric to be a more modern version so he can resonate with the audience, with the kids today, so that’s why he looks like all these rappers that were really popular a few years ago,” Prijic told IndieWire. “He wanted to portray this guy who has been through a lot, who had this troublesome childhood, drug problems, alcohol abuse problems.”

“The Crow” wants to create that impression in a couple of different ways. Prijic cited Lil Wayne specifically as a visual reference for Eric’s more ornate tattoos, but he also wanted the number of tattoos to have a quality all their own. “He has a lot of shitty homemade, you know, ‘me and my friends are high and drunk’ tattoos,” Prijic said. “Some tattoos are really nicely done, but you have layers upon layers, this scratcher-style, homemade, I’m just doodling with a needle on my arms tattoos, and he’s probably letting his friends do the same.”

“The Crow” certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of bleeding, and the graphic design team and makeup team worked together to make one particular tattoo application look as painful physically as the impulse is emotional. “I always have to stick [my design] on a model in Photoshop and it helps me a lot. You get the opinion of the makeup artists and the director and then of course the actor, because if he doesn’t like it, you have to change it,” Prijic said.

The process was very collaborative with Skarsgård, who, in addition to the H.P. Lovecraft quote, asked for a zip code for a neighborhood in Sweden as a tattoo. It has nothing to do with Eric (who likely goes to the Afterlife before he leaves the United States), but it is this tiny bit of meaning encoded in a movie tattoo.

read the full article at the link

[whosxafraid]

Okay so uhm...addressing a real life....

Anon is back off again and I won't be turning it back on again for the foreseeable future.

The rest below the cut for those that want to know why.

I in no way, shape or form support the possible actions of a certain author. Those actions have not been proven yet as it is an on going investigation. But I want to make something excruciatingly clear:

Luka is not a facet of N.G. or a character created by him. I just use P.S. as he was in A.G. for Lukas primary face.

Do not come at me.

I'm not associated.

Leave me to my peace (and everyone else who uses actors as fcs that were in anything created by that author) with the same kind of respect you leave H.P. character muns to theirs.

Thank you in advance,

Crow

[colorful-white-ideas]

H.P Lovecraft does a special cameo on Eric's back.

We can read one verse of his poem " Despair" . La traduccion del poema " Desesperanza" aquí

" Evil wings in ether beating;Vultures at the spirit eating; Things unseen forever fleeting Black against the leering sky. Ghastly shades of bygone gladness, Clawing fiends of future sadness, Mingle in a cloud of madness Ever on the soul to lie"

Coincidence? I think not. Those tattoos are not as random as people believe. This Eric wear his emotions an toughts on his skin and in some way this tattoo foreshadows Eric's destiny in the movie .

Another verse of the poem says :

" Once, I think I half remember, the grey skies of November Quench’d my youth’s aspiring ember, Liv’d there such a thing as bliss; Skies that now are dark were beaming, Bold and azure, splendid seeming Till I learn’d it all was dreaming — Deadly drowsiness of Dis "

By reading the poem you can trace a paralelism to the crow story , the eternal suffering of Eric's soul after losing the ray of light in his dark sky (life) , Shelly.

I think the possible ending of the movie may be similar to the "ending" of the poem.

"Thus the living, lone and sobbing, In the throes of anguish throbbing, With the loathsome Furies robbing Night and noon of peace and rest. But beyond the groans and grating Of abhorrent Life, is waiting Sweet Oblivion, culminating All the years of fruitless quest."

He will stay " alive" forever consumed by his own pain and anger , waiting till the "curse" or the times end. Whatever happens first. There wont be a happy forever after in the after life for these two I think ... Could that be what Bill was referring to when , for the Squire magazine, he said he wanted a more " definitive end" ?

Is there an open ending? Eric will walk among the living helping others maybe? who knows.

I cant wait for this movie.

[diejager]

Can we get male reader! Crow? From your monster au? I just think it would be neat that crow could change into a masculine form once in a while (⁠ꏿ⁠﹏⁠ꏿ⁠;⁠)

Fun fact, in Crow, I made the reader gender neutral, but with a more masculine body! However, since most Eldritch Horrors I've seen - like those in H.P. Lovecraft's short stories (I have a book of his, I've only started reading The Call of Cthulhu) - are either ambiguous or male, the reader might as well be male, no?

[akdenide]

This is Leo! They are a tumblr user that I didn't follow until after I send this, but I saw its blog and thought xe seemed cool. Ze is something alterhuman, like me! I forgot which type though, I just woke up. Fox seems like someone I'd like to be friends with, crow has a very cool blog and overall seems quite nice. Right now I'm writing an ask in cats ask box to use voids pronouns for space. I'm switching darks pronouns mid sentence so I don't run out of things to write. Blood has a very cool set of pronouns, a few I may try myself. I wonder if no has ever played Minecraft, it's my favorite game. I also wonder if vix is into reading at all, if corvid is I recommend anything by H.P. Lovecraft, or for something simpler Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks. I hope feline has a nice day!

(i couldn't do the emoji ones because i'm on my laptop rn, soz hfjjgksj)

I just woke up.

With like 43 new notes and this ask.

Do you know how kind this is of you?? Thank you so much, truly. Do not worry if you haven't used all the set of pronouns I have, they're a lot. And if you do try them, tell me if you feel comfortable!

I do play Minecraft actually, but I have it on my switch at my dad's house. And I haven't read Lovecraft yet even if Call of Chtulu is in my list (I have to read school books ugh).

But I have the rpg book for Call of Chtulu! The one similar to DnD! It's very interesting, have you ever heard of it? I've seen a campaign in italian once called "Elevator of Madness", it was really really cool.

I'll also definitely search for that Minecraft book, Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks! I read almost everything and now I'm curious, but I have to see if they have it in my country, usually there are only Italian YouTubers who wrote stuff on Minecraft like LyonWGF and Kendall (i don't really like them) or (something i could read) A Noob's Diary.

Again I'd like to thank you so so so much for writing this ask and using my pronouns, it was a really nice surprise seeing this as soon as I opened Tumblr. And I woke up no less than 30 minutes ago!

I hope you have a really great day/night, thank you again for your kindness.

[waviermylove]

You got your H.P. Lovecraft

Your Edgar Allan Poe

You got your unkind of ravens

And your murder of crows

Catty eyelashes and your Dracula cape

Been flashing triple A passes

At the cemetery gates

'Cause you're so dark, babe

But I want you hard

You're so dark, babe

You're so dark

You're so dark

You're so dark, you're so dark

This song screams Wenvier vibes

[sapphic-scylla]

Why Dr. Takuto Maruki in P5R is Wrong and Why His “Perfect Reality” is Deeply Upsetting P.2

(This is a continuation of a hyperfixation rant that spoils a great deal of the ending of P5R and addresses mental trauma and therapy in great detail. So please, make sure you know what you’re getting into when reading this. Also, while I have played P5R many, many times and have experienced a pretty hefty amount of my own trauma and suffering in my own life, I’m not an expert on psychology and matters of the mind, so most of the thoughts on his mental state are purely perspective and opinion.)

If you want the rest of this rant, scroll my page and you’ll find it eventually.

The rest of this rant was spawned from an epiphany I had when traversing Futaba’s Palace again (which, if you know me well, you’re aware of my deep emotional connection to Futaba, her story, her experiences, and her entire personality; don’t worry, I’ll explain it in more detail in a future post).

The final nail in the coffin of me actively picking apart the reason why Maruki’s palace was an abomination was the existence of Futaba and the Necronomicon itself (which is Futaba’s persona.

The finality this brings to the truth of my beliefs is that, just as Joker and Crow were opposites of each other, Maruki and Azathoth are the antithesis of Futaba and Necronomicon for the following reasons:

Futaba’s persona’s power is the ability to distinguish the truth from from the lies. She also has the ability to manipulate cognition to work in her favor. Maruki’s works in counter to that in the way of being able to extend his cognition into the world and manipulate the world in his favor while covering the world in what can only be described as an illusion or a “lie” and actualize it as fact, forcing everyone to live in that lie.

Futaba’s and Maruki’s personas both wield tentacles (probably due to the Lovecraftian connection) and function as “vehicles” for their hosts to manifest their wills and desires out of. Not necessarily a deep and complex connection, but it definitely strengthens the metaphor.

Both Palaces manifested not out of a mind of evil, but out of a mind of trauma. Both lost someone dear to them, but sought different solutions. Futaba sought to see the truth behind her mother’s death, while Maruki sought to hide, bottle, and otherwise mask his own pain, so that he could “never be hurt by it again” while disguising it under the face of “she would be happier without me”.

Lovecraft (despite his DEEPLY problematic works due to his truly despicable outlook on life and the people therein) had a theme through the genre of his stories which perpetuated into the future of Cosmic Horror (which, thank god, is nowhere near as problematic). That theme is that nothing is ever as it appears and that monsters lurk everywhere, especially in the places that no one would ever think to look. You would never think your own reality to be a lie that you’re being strangled by or that such a conventionally attractive, easy-going therapist that only ever offers kindness and snacks would turn into a cult leader/world dictator, but here we are.

The Necronomicon, by H.P.’s definition, was the account which was carrying the names of all the “Old Ones” and details as to the means by which they were summoned, essentially branding itself as the deeper knowledge and the way to keep monsters restrained and controlled. Azathoth, as previously mentioned, is the Great Old One of Creation, Change, and Destruction. The weapon of most entities that Lovecraft created was madness or insanity i.e. the loss of one’s ability to control one’s rationality. Sound familiar? If you really think about it, despite Azathoth’s overwhelming amount of power in canon, he is still restrained by the power of the Necronomicon because he cannot spread his influence without the entities restrained by its pages, so as a result, the Necronomicon is the entity that holds Azathoth at bay by imprisoning and subduing his followers.

The brain, by itself, even under amnesia, continues its attempts to help its host body to recover its memories. Most people that suffer amnesia, even though the time varies, eventually rebuild the memories their brain collected across their lives. We saw that with Futaba. Though she did not have amnesia, she was able to recover her own memories of the trauma catalyst and the brain reworked itself from there (added note: the only thing the phantom thieves did in Futaba’s palace was lead her to her own truth. We did not change her heart. We merely helped Futaba fight her own demons. She came in, saw the light, fought, and left of her and her own shadow’s power). Given ample time, I firmly believe that, even if the Phantom Thieves had not stepped in or if we had failed, humanity WOULD NOT HAVE STAYED HAPPY FOREVER IN MARUKI’S REALITY.

THAT would have been the chain reaction event that would eventually drive the world to madness. One person would have recovered their true memories, then another, then another. All progressively shattering out of the rose colored glasses Maruki had dropped over the world and, in seconds, every single person would have caved into madness because they know what reality looks like and seeing all of the lies that we’re too real to be able to mesh their minds with? True and utter chaos. And as I said in my last post, the lid covering the sins that every utopia hides would spill out across the world like a tidal wave. And Maruki, still believing in his cause, would watch his own work shatter and bear sole witness to the world caving to a pain deeper and more profound than even he could possibly imagine.

On a deeper level, lies, no matter how well told they may be or how well concocted the may seem, always cave to the truth. Despite what we may understand, the truth of how events came about always breaks down even the most flawless, infallible lie. That’s how Joker gets acquitted. That’s how everyone shatters out of Maruki’s world. Even though Maruki believed his conceived “perfect” reality, each of our heroes mentions the idea that each of them knew the truth of that reality, but refused to believe it at the time because it was easier to live in a world where none of their problems existed. Yusuke returned to his old master, Madarame. Ryuji returned to the track team that scorned him. Haru returned to her dad who was not only dead, but a greedy CEO. Makoto forgot all of the lessons she learned from the dad who died fighting for what he believed was a just future. Even Futaba, seer of lies herself, forewent the truth, even though she had an incredible catharsis of the growth through learning that trauma and lies do not define how you live your life just because her mom was alive. Which is ignoring the truth and your problems. Which is ignoring your growth. WHICH IS CALLED REGRESSION. You know. As in “Prison of Regression”? YALDABAOTH’S PRISON? Same fly-covered turd, different shiny, gilded platter.

And to bank off of all of this and add even deeper context…

To pick on Joker and Crow a little bit, the reason they oppose each other is because while Crow’s persona can create anger, hatred, and tunnel vision in someone and create a malice towards one’s circumstances or drive them beyond rational thought, people miss what Joker’s capabilities are and why he stands toe to toe with Crow and even stands far above him in my opinion even though no one recognizes it in-game. Joker’s ability is to understand and connect. Joker’s power gives him access to the myriad of personas that sit in the Compendium. Each of them resonates with people that he comes into contact with and, despite it being put forward as the MEANS to connecting with people, that’s not the most important thing it does and that same power is actually the ENDS of his willingness to listen. He doesn’t gain the power to talk to people and connect, it’s from helping them thereby that he gains access to deeper power which then helps him connect, so on and so forth. Lifting them out of unfair circumstances and helping them regain their belief in their own free will. Notice the only thing Joker ever does is talk with confidants and help them weigh their options, only ever occasionally stepping in to change a heart or two and even then, in Mementos, he’s talking to the shadows and helping them see why their actions are causing themselves and other people’s pain. The difference between Crow and Joker is that Crow is so burdened by his own injustice that, as is said in-game, Crow only ever grows two personas. “One for his lies and one for his hatred” while Joker, open to pushing through his own pain and focusing on others rather than himself, gains access to the many and the myriad of personas that his heart was open to accepting and thus gains the power to kill a god of control and a god of actualization.

And even after all those two rivals went through together, even Goro Fucking Akechi. King Lies himself. The guy that built an ENTIRE LIFE off of the lies he told, the people he deceived, and the Pillar of Babel he built himself only to be thrown off of it by his own shadow at the end of his life. Even despite a second chance given by Maruki himself, Akechi rejected the second chance he was given because it would mean that he would never be living as himself. Despite how DEEPLY he would hate speaking the reality of it, Joker taught him that a life living behind a lie was a farce. Living under the thumb of something that could twist his ambitions and force him to regress back behind the fake persona that was Robin Hood? He would, without even a shadow of a doubt, rather have died facing the truth of himself behind that bulkhead instead of living a long and perhaps healthy life as a mere fabrication of what he really was.

Maruki couldn’t understand the TRUE struggle between these two gentlemen. How could he? He only ever thought he did. The true struggle was never about a simple rivalry. It was never about whose persona was better or whose power was more uncompromised or even about the power struggle between the Mysterious Leader of the Phantom Thieves versus the Brilliant Ace Detective. No. It was a friend offering a hand to a person who had gone off the deep end and was festering in deep personal conflict with themselves. And, at the end of that person’s life, the friend finally having the ability to connect with him and help him see how truly profound Joker’s care was for the guy that refused to reach back with any of his honesty. Maruki never understood that. Why not? Because how could the two most bitter of rivals and unlikely of confidants ever have come together in such an honest, pure, and deep seated conflict and yet form the most unbreakable connection that would stick with Joker for the rest of his life as a reminder of what it meant to truly be there for someone no matter how difficult it got or how much they pushed you away without having suffered so much to get where they were in the engine room of that ship. And Maruki was willing to take EVERY. SINGLE. BIT. of that growth and progression away with a single wave of his hand. As great as peace is, true bonds of friendship and mutual love and respect cannot be forged without conflict, suffering, and pain. The most tempered and sturdy swords CANNOT be forged without hours of heat so fervent, it would sear your flesh, and being molded into shape by a hammer.

Problems, struggles, addictions, suffering, and pain all meet at the same mouth of the same river of the human condition. If you do not keep going, leaning on friends and confidants for support and pushing through the inevitable rapids and rocks and waterfalls and deep water that you will slam into, you will start attempting to regress back where you came from. And despite how hard it seems to be ahead of you, it’s much harder to fight against the current along with everything else than to rush where the current will take you and maybe dodge the rocks and rapids if you keep looking where you’re going. And who knows? Rivers branch off. Deltas exist. You can direct your own path easier if you push with the current instead of against it. I’m never saying it will be easy, but fighting a current you can’t control and attempting to regress can take you places you never wanted to go.

Maruki almost learns this lesson too late. He almost gives himself to the next life and succumbs to his self-destructive tendencies and no lesson would ever have been learned. And in the end, when all is said and done, he finally understands. Not on the precipice of his crumbling monument to his anguish, but in the front seat of his own taxi-cab, driving the person that saved his life to wherever he may go next.

It’s okay to start your life over. It’s okay to push the reset button. Life is about mistakes. Every living being makes several every day. All of us stumble on the path to becoming ourselves. The only true error is refusing to grow and learn.

[gyunikum]

Hei, I´m looking for book recommendations for my book haul.

So far I got a classic, a non-fiction book, a modern classic and a finnish book translated into English.

You got anything funny or horror-related in mind you can recommend? Or a book you think everyone should read?

Would appreciate some input <3

Ohhh. For horror, I should recommend any of H.P. Lovecraft's stories. The prose is quite challenging to read, but the atmosphere is exceptional. And they should be taken at face value, no reason to go into the author's ideals and such.

Other than that, the books I would recommend with clear conscience are fantasy books, solely for the fact that these books I can still remember lol

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames (it's quite funny compared to the below two)

Ravencry by Ed Macdonald (the world building is insanely genius, this is my favourite, I wish someone would make a video game out of it)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Sacred And Terrible Air by Robert Kurvitz (originally in Estonian, but enthusiastic fans translated it into English. There actually is a video game set in the same world, which I also recommend playing even if you're not into video games. It's a point and click detective role playing game with unique style and lots of witty dialogues)

Thanks for the ask! May I ask what books you have on your list already?

[raincloud22]

You watch Italian horror and you listen to the scores, leather-clad and spike collar

I want you down on all fours, 'cause you're so dark, babe

But I want you hard, you're so dark, babe, i know you're nothing like mine

'Cause she's walking on sunshine

And your love would tear us apart

And I know I'm not your type

Cause I don't shun the daylight

But baby I'm willing to start

You're so dark, got your H.P. Lovecraft, your Edgar Allen Poe

Got your unkind of ravens, got your murder of crows

You're so dark, babe, but I want you hard

[thecursedmemoir]

You got your H.P. Lovecraft

Your Edgar Allan Poe

You got your unkind of ravens

And your murder of crows

Catty eyelashes and your Dracula cape

Leather-clad and spike collar

I want you down on all fours

I want you hard

[kaitlinj16]

"Got your H.P. Lovecraft,

Your Edgar Allen Poe,

Got your unkind of ravens,

Got your murder of crows,

You're so dark, babe,"

-arctic monkeys 🖤🖤

[xultraviolent]

You got your H.P. Lovecraft

Your Edgar Allan Poe

You got your unkind of ravens

And your murder of crows

[holdingthornsandroses]

x

"you got your h.p. lovecraft, your edgar allan poe, you got your unkind of ravens and your murder of crows. you're so dark, babe"

[para-psychopathology]

@wild-raven-and-crow thank you!!

before i recommend anything i really feel like i should say that lovecraft himself was extremely racist and it comes up a lot in his writing, so i can kind of understand if you don't want to read that.

with that said, some of the stories i liked most were "the thing on the doorstep", "the colour out of space", and the case of charles dexter ward (the same one as in the drawing lol, it's a bit longer than the others). and if you're interested in more of the eldritch horror elements then "the call of cthulhu" and "the shadow over innsmouth" are classics.

the h.p. lovecraft archive also has a bunch of his other works too!

from an idea i had inspired by "the case of charles dexter ward" where instead it's charlotte dexter ward :) or something.

mainly bc i liked the story, but was frustrated by the treatment of the women in it (i mean it's lovecraft :I) and i thought it'd be interesting to explore their perspectives a bit more (esp the woman who got married off to an immortal wizard??? you never hear a word from her?)

references: pose / fashion 1 / 2 / 3

[mascara-massacres]

You got your H.P. Lovecraft. Your Edgar Allan Poe. You got your unkind of ravens. And your murder of crows

Catty eyelashes and your Dracula cape. Been flashing triple A passes. At the cemetery gates

'Cause you're so dark, babe. But I want you hard. You're so dark, babe. You're so dark

[cafeacademia]

Honestly the writing isn’t terrible. On my scale they have been a solid 3.5-4 stars on the ones I’ve read so far. Couple of plot twists that you can kind of see coming and some things that have you screaming but like if you’re looking for a fast-mid pace reading of a book series this is definitely the one you should be reading.

Do you have any book recs to start off the new year with?? (Asking as if my tbr isn’t already super high 🤣)

Maybe I'll put it on my list for a quick read! It sounds pretty good, considering some books of that genre are um... Interesting? But we love them all the same lmao (I jest, I enjoy these as much as you).

Oh my god, now that's a question with a limitless answer 😂 my tbr is extensive too haha

Here's a little list of some of my recs! Ninth House Six of Crows Before The Coffee Gets Cold (wholesome, will make you cry) Vita Nostra XOXO (a rare romance amongst the dark books lmao) Anything by H.P. Lovecraft The Flat Share (I think you've already read that but it had to be mentioned)

It would be longer but we'd be here for a long time lmao

Do you have any recs?