King Crow, a 1995 illustrated book by Jennifer Armstrong and Eric Rohmann, tells the story of a king and a corvid. Having been captured in battle, a good king called Cormac receives aid from a crow, which brings him news and makes it appear that he has unusual abilities. Can Cormac use this trick to regain his throne and his freedom?
This book includes the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Gender: The crow's gender is not revealed. It's only referred to as "the crow".
- Androcles' Lion: The crow helps Cormac because he pulled an arrow out of its wing.
- Blind Seer: Cormac loses his sight to a head injury during the battle and spends most of the book locked up. The crow visits to tell him news. Cormac mentioning these events make the soldiers and the enemy king think that Cormac can tell what's going on in some mystical way, given that he hasn't received any (human) visitors.
- Clever Crows: Cormac's helper. It's the one that actually comes up with the idea to restore Cormac to his throne and Cormac is dependent on its news for most of the book. This gets taken up to fantasy levels as its smart as a human and can talk too. It seems to be a feature of the book's world, because Cormac reacts without surprise when the crow talks with him.
- Dirty Coward: Bregant's soldiers run away as Cormac's army arrives.
- Disney Villain Death: Bregant, Cormac's enemy, slips and falls from the tower.
- Evil Will Fail: This is Cormac's final "prophecy" in a nutshell — Bregant's position is not secure (something Bregant himself seems to have doubts over) and he will be defeated.My visions have told me the fate of all tyrants such as you. Beware the knife at your back, the mole at your feet, and the weapon that breaks in your hands. You will never be safe.
- The Fettered: Cormac, being a good king, is bound by some rules. Lampshaded by Bregant:"You won't murder me. You can't! That's not the way King Cormac rules."
- The Good King: Cormac is a good person and a good king — wise, compassionate, and peaceful. Bregant only gets him into battle to begin with by constantly harassing his subjects.Once upon a time, there was a good and wise king named Cormac, and his people loved him.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Bregant beats Cormac initially by getting some of his generals to switch sides. Later though they switch back upon believing Bregant is about to fall.
- Intellectual Animal: The crow is not simply clever, but smart as a human.
- Rule of Three: The crow visits Cormac three times.
- Self-Disposing Villain: As Cormac himself seems to acknowledge that he would not kill his adversary even when Bregant's soldiers have fled and they are one-on-one, Bregant has to perish in some other way, so he panics, slips from the tower, and plummets to the ground below, dying on impact.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Cormac's "prophecy" of Bregant's fate seems to be this. Bregant is so scared by the "prophecy" and Cormac's words after that he tries to run, causing him to slip and fall to his death.
- Talking Animal: The crow is capable of human speech and talks to Cormac at length.
