Seriously though, I don't understand Dire Crowley hate
Is he annoying annoying and useless? In some cases yes. Does he sometimes deserves slander? Yeah. But that doesn't mean he deserved a the vitriol hate that I've seen this far. Here are some statements that I've seen this far for the hate. I'll try to explain and reason that those statements aren't all right and there's a reason why:
He leaves all the work to Yuu and not taking care of them
Oh boy this would be long.... Like what, does Crowley let Yuuâwhose someone from another world mind youâdeal with the college's finances? Or does Crowley also forces Yuu too manage the payment of each of the staffs? Or does Crowley order Yuu to create a school curriculum for the upcoming semester? To answer those questions, no right. Since Yuu themselves are also (in a way) one of NRC staffs. Yes, sometimes Crowley forgot to pay Yuu their wages and needed to be chased down and that's deserved. But other than that, Yuu should work to earn their keep. Mind you that NRC is still one of the top Colleges in Twisted Wonderland and getting there is no easy fit.
This is a little scenario so imagine that you're a student who worked hard to have the opportunity at entering one of the world's top mage schools. You study your ass off and even work on your magic plus body to get to be where you're now. All of a sudden you heard that someone that comes out of nowhere started to attend. This person who doesn't even have magicâeven identityâstarted to attend classes with their weird creature just because the headmage says so. I don't know about you but I would be pissed off.
So, Yuu has to work to balance it off or otherwise it'll just lead to speculations that the headmaster himself favors this magicless person. Would it be hard for Yuu at balancing work and studies? Yes, definitely. But currently, what other choices do they have? They don't have any identity in this world or even income. Also, it's not like Crowley is giving work that is too complicated for Yuu. Most would be labour like cleaning and sweeping in certain areas or putting back books in the library. It isn't like Crowley only has Yuu doing all the labour work, he definitely has other staffs (mostly ghosts we've seen so far) to help with that. One example is during book 4, Crowley telling Yuu to tend the fire fairy so that NRC won't freeze. It's honestly a fairly simple task and the only reason you could messed this up is either you forget stuffs easily or you're a menace who wants all NRC to be frozen.
People also forget that Crowley has had given them tools like the ghost camera and magitool hammer. Basically, one of Yuu's other work is as photographer and if there are any items that's broken they'll just use the hammer. But for the hammer part I don't know if it's only works in Ramshackle. It doesn't helped that it's not even mention once in the main story.
Forces Yuu to be a therapist for the overblotters
This one annoys me so much because like stated previously no and it's stated that Crowley hired therapists for each of the overblotters. So why would he hired someone whose from another world to be their therapists? I understand if it's your Yuusonas or even OCs who took this role in your respective fics or scenarios, but in-game Yuu does none of that.
The only heart-to-heart talk attempt that Yuu in-game managed to do is in book 3 in the museum after Azul overblot and book 5 but it's more with Kalim and Jamil coincidentally hears their convo, so in a way it's still counts? There could be more since I could be misremembering stuffs. But after that there are no scenes where Yuu confront or have a heart-to-heart talk to the overblotters about what just happened. I mean why would Yuu do that and why would the overblotters let Yuu do that. Even if they did a heart-to heart convo it'll be a surface level exchange since they're practically strangers to one another. Yuu doesn't know the full-scope of their stories and vice versa. The ones who confront the overblotters are mostly their dorm mates and colleagues they've known for long while.
It doesn't mean that if Yuu isn't a therapists they don't matter at all. Yuu, in a way, helps face off the overblots. The game didn't really show us how they helped but I guess it would be helping Grim to fire off his spells by holding and guiding him. Even though not much of a heavy hitter, the fact that Yuu still stands their ground and does not run away like a wimp facing off this Bendy and the Ink Machine like monster, is a feat itself. The overblotters, also appreciate Yuu's efforts even though most of them showcase their thanks or appreciation in subtle ways (*cough* Leona *cough*).
Dire Crowley is annoying, useless, selfish, ignorant, uncaring and irresponsible
I've stated that in a way yes he could be annoying and useless but at the same time Dire Crowley in a way is.... responsible *Gasp*. Shocker, it's like he's doing his darn best at doing his job and keeping the school afloat. It's stated by Trein himself that Dire Crowley, working as head mage, is reliable himself. There's a reason why Trein could work in NRC till now when there are more options for him to go.
True he's selfish at fault, but isn't everyone in NRC kind of selfish? Why is Crowley the only one being accused of being selfish? Did he help and contribute to foster NRC's competitive nature? Yes. But so does the other teachers like Vargas, Crewel, Trein, and even Sam with his all "In Stock!" sales tactic. Like funnily enough those characters have opinions better than Crowley and even some (audience/readers/players) would thought they would care for Yuu better. In-game the only one I could see treat Yuu a bit better is Trein but that's because of the NBC Rollo event but outside of that he's pretty neutral with everyone. Crewel of course give praises to diligent students like Azul or Vil but he's still shouting "Stay! Puppies!" and would even wack them if they don't pay attention. Vargas would still force youâwhether you have magic or notâto build some muscles. Sam is the typical salesman that'll promote discounts here and there. Those staffs and teachers could at any time tell Crowley to change their curriculum or environment a bit to temper down their competitive behaviours, but they didn't and instead they encourage it to their students. I mean isn't it like how many schools, colleges, and universities work in real life? Even the most generous or nice schools would have a bit of competitiveness. There's a reason why if there are students with the highest scores or many achievements, their faces would get splattered around the school. NRC is like that too just with the addition of magic.
There are some that say he is ignorant and does not care for his students' well-being due to the many overblots. Is it suspicious? Yes. But whether it's suspicious or not, it's not like Crowley knows what's going on in each of the overblotters' heads. Mind you they (overblotters) each had their own problems even before going to NRC. So sooner or later all of them would've crashed out the way they did even if they didn't go to NRC. It's just that NRC managed to amplify thus fasten the process and the reason for that is something that we would finding out in book 8. Also do you think that the headmage would have the time to have a heart-to-heart sessions with each students one at a time? No right. It's the equivalent of your school's principal trying to check each students during their working hours which is just them neglecting their work as the principal and them wasting their time. Just like in real life, Crowley only involves himself during the aftermath and trying to not fan out the conflict. Him not being involved in the students everyday life doesn't mean he be full on neglecting them and the school. Some of them are royalties, billionaires, genius, prodigies and have a great potential for success, so they're basically his investments, why would he be ignoring those?
Yes him yapping about "how kind and gracious" he is could be annoying since he is anything but that. We don't really know why he always says this stuff but if we put on meta perspective, it's basically a unique anime-esque quirk. It's the equivalent of those haughty characters in anime that'll laugh out load "Ho! Ho! Ho!" or those characters that are sporty and always fired up that says "Youth!" (similar to Vargas but he always says muscle). So it's just a way to make Crowley memorable.
His Obsession with the School Image
I mean what kind of headmaster wouldn't be obsessed with their school's image. That's basically his job at making sure to promote people (especially those in power) to try and enroll in this school. Of course the overblots amplify this obsession more, but with a school that has a lot of cases for mischievous people that has done a lot of property damage and trespassing another person's privacy, I feel like cases other than the likes of overblots are already bound to happen.
There's also in-lore reason that I think Lilia once stated, about mages in the past being hunted down and persecuted by non-mages, similar to the Salem witch trials. So of course logically if you have a school that's highly specific for mages, isn't this a great chance to show the world that magic and mages aren't all that bad? It'll also help showcase that people with magic could help increase the quality of life in each of their respective kingdoms. There's a reason why Crowley is obsessed with Spelldrive competitions, whether interdorm and interscholastic, and SDC. Sure it's because of competitiveness with RSA (for interscholastic and SDC) but it's also to showcase the world that "Hey! These younglings have potential so they could be a good option to hire!đđŒ" to companies or organizations and such. This also helps with the 3rd year students getting some sponsorship and easily getting internships for when they get to the 4th year.
Dire Crowley is the Villain behind all of this. Overblots and Yuu not getting home.
Ok this one sure is understandable, especially if you're really into theories that'll have him as the main instigator for these events. But like I mentioned previously, the students already faced many of their own problems even before NRC. Whether their downward spiral happens or not it depends on the individual. For Yuu's case, currently it's still unknown but it's highly expected to be Crowley who summons them.
But if him being the main antagonist is one of the reason that someone truly hates Crowley to that extent... then that just lost on me? Shouldn't you be more interested rather than hate? Asking why he did this? Why did he need to do all of this? What's his end goal? Also, there are other antagonists that whether the stories explain their motivations and pasts or not, people still like them and even if some did dislike those antagonists they won't explain them in such a black and white manner.
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Funny thing is that this old crow is hated so much that even in many of the fanfics that I've read so far, Crowley is seen as much like a bumbling buffoon. It won't be a problem if it happens sometimes in one or two fanfics, but it happened over and over again. There's no effort at even trying to portray some depth to him compared to other characters. To be fair I have to blame the game since they've done a bad job at showcasing that this whimsical, funny and sometimes irresponsible crow have some depth to him. You truly need to read the lines and observe his interaction, design, and dialogue with a keen eye.
Also I don't know if it's just me but Dire Crowley's hate agenda is amplified much more after the English release of the game. Like pre-english release there are some dislike, but it's not all black and white. The hate I've seen so far only intensifies to not a funny degree and especially after book 7-7.5 is finished. Crowley then boils down to be "deadbeat dad" or "he for some reason got a baddie" it's kind of tiring and feels disingenuous with what we know of Crowley so far (even though there is so little).
In conclusion, learn to like the crow a bit more and maybe try explore more depth to his character. Other than that thank you for reading this far if you have thoughts, opinions, or stuff that I've missed please tell, it's been a while since I typed something this long especially on Tumblr.
PSâAlso Yana please don't make Crowley into Malleus' dad. Plus recommend me some good Dire Crowley fics if you know some.
