Basic Trope: Owls are portrayed as mysterious and/or evil.
- Straight: Orson the Owl is a mysterious villain.
- Exaggerated:
- Orson is The Dreaded and/or is a Complete Monster.
- Owls are an Always Chaotic Evil species in the work.
- Orson is an Animalistic Abomination that takes a form that vaguely resembles an Owl.
- Downplayed: Orson is evil, but not necessarily mysterious (or vice versa).
- Justified: The main characters in the work are mice or other species that owls eat.
- Inverted:
- Subverted:
- Orson is believed to be evil, but he turns out to have been Good All Along.
- Alternatively, he turns out to be a Cute Owl or the The Owl-Knowing One.
- Orson redeems himself.
- Double Subverted:
- But despite being good, Orson is still mysterious.
- Orson is Creepy Cute, Cute Is Evil, and/or an Evil Genius.
- Or he undergoes a Face–Heel Turn later on.
- Parodied: The only thing that Orson ever does is Poking The Poodle.
- Zig-Zagged:
- There are some owls portrayed as ominous in the work, but some aren't.
- Orson changes sides constantly.
- Averted:
- There aren't any owls in the work.
- Owls are portrayed as normal.
- Enforced:
- The creator of the story fears owls, or at least believes they'd be good as a villain or ominous character.
- Good Animals, Evil Animals
- Lampshaded: "I can tell something dangerous is going to happen when an owl shows up."
- Invoked: A villain teaches Orson to be evil.
- Exploited: One character has a fear of owls, so another one dresses up as one to scare him.
- Defied: Orson decides to abandon any evil/ominous traits of his.
- Discussed: "But I thought owls were cute!"
- Conversed: "I wonder why owls are often portrayed as scary."
- Implied: Someone tells another to stay away from the owls.
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