| “ | I am no more callous than the moons. Why, they take young and old, lovers of virtue and vice. Fallen to disease here, famine there. A casual accident in the safety of one's home. Why should I avoid killing good people? I follow the path of the gods themselves by delivering death indiscriminately. To do otherwise would presume that I am greater than they. | „ |
| ~ Crow justifying her actions. |
| “ | You should have tried to be more awful, girl. I warned you that this life was not for you. | „ |
| ~ Crow to Tress. |
Captain Crow is the secondary antagonist of the Brandon Sanderson novel Tress of the Emerald Sea. She was a ruthless pirate living on the Spore Seas of Lumar. She was also a spore eater, meaning she had parasite aether living inside of her, keeping her from harm while slowing killing her. As the captain of a ship called the Crow's Song, she forced her crew into piracy, ruling them through fear and making them fugitives so that they would sail wherever she wanted them to due to having no other choice. Her ultimate goal was to meet with the dragon Xisisrefliel, who she hoped would cure her condition in exchange for a slave.
Appearance[]
Crow is on the shorter side but was well muscled and stout. She has tan skin and wears a long black coat open and a black feathered hat. She smells more like a plant than a person.
Personality[]
| “ | She was, it might be noted, a perfect example of why the word jerk needs so many off-color synonyms. One could exhaust all available options, invent a few apt new ones, and still not be able to completely describe her. Truly an inspiration to the vulgar poet. | „ |
| ~ Hoid describing Crow. |
Captain Crow is ruthless to the point of being sadistic. She is purely self-centered and makes it her mission to be as cruel to everyone as possible. As she shows pleasure at the pain of another person, she actively despises being kind in a way that does not benefit herself. She has never in her life ever loved or been loved and only understands the emotion well enough to exploit it. Additionally, she feels no remorse for the lives she ends and ruins, only focusing on how to further her own goals. While she does have a bit of a conscience, she almost always ignores it.
Captain Crow was a stubborn person with a strong sense of self-preservation, which was one of her main motivators. However, she had trouble taking fatal situations seriously, since she was already painfully dying. She was very intelligent and resourceful and could be manipulative and charismatic if she wanted to be, although she usually insulted others any chance she got.
Biography[]
Working as a Pirate[]
Crow was a pirate from a young age, becoming a skilled murderer. At some point, she became a gestator for an aether, essentially meaning that she had a parasite inside of her. Although the parasite protected her from outside harm by shooting vined out of her skin to prevent her death, it also drained her body of water, meaning she needed to drink water near constantly. Crow knew the aether would kill her eventually but held out for over a year. At some point she began a quest to find the dragon Xisisfiel, who she believed could cure her affliction.
Crow eventually became the captain of a ship called the Crow's Song, (although it probably had a different name before her takeover) making a man named Laggart her first mate. She worked with the ship's sprouter Weev to locate Xisis. However, when Weev tried to blackmail her, she killed him.
Crow was able to convince the crew to turn to a life of piracy to avoid being drafted in the King's war against the Sorceress. However, the crew was not willing to kill people, since this would make their sentence execution if they were arrested, or travel to the Crimson Sea to meet Xisis, since the Crimson Sea was too dangerous. In order to remedy these problems, Captain Crow had Laggart switch out the cannons they were using to the lethal one that set of spores and sunk ships. This made it so the Crow's Song sunk the first ship they attacked, killing everyone on board except for one man, who was allowed to escape so to tell the authorities, so that the crew would have no choice but the follow Crow. However, the man died of his wounds before telling anyone anything.
Working as a Deadrunner[]
While Crow's crew sunk the ship, a girl named Tress escaped and ended up on the Crow's Song. Although she initially wanted to have her killed, Crow eventually decided to give her a job cleaning the decks. She eventually decided to let Tress leave at the nearest port so she could tell the authorities that the Crow's Song had murdered an entire ship, thus forcing the crew members to continue working for or face the law. However, Tress asked not to leave the ship, and Crow let her stay.
Tress became the ship's new sprouter, and Crow planned to offer her to Xisis since she wasn't afraid of spores. Tress also wanted to go on the Crimson Sea for different reasons and managed to convince the rest of the crew to go along with Crow. Around this time, the Crow's Song attacked another, and Crow once again sought to sink it by switching out the cannon balls. However, for reasons Crow didn't understand, the cannon balls had been switched back. During the attack, one of the sailors on the other ship tried to shoot Crow in the head to avenge a friend of his she had shot. Crow responded by shooting herself in the head, showing her own crew and the enemy crew her invulnerability.
The Crow's Song made its way across the Crimson Sea, with many members of the crew being killed by the various storms, and the ship coming close to sinking several times. When they were close to reaching Xisis, a Crow's officers Fort, Ann, and Salay had a mutiny against her, helped by Tress. Crow easily defeated them, showing that if she needed to, she could easily murder everyone on the ship with her parasite. Shortly thereafter, she took Tress below the sea to meet Xisis. However, while Crow tried to sell Tress into slavery, Tress was able to turn the tables and sell Crow to Xisis. Crow spent the rest of her life serving the dragon.
Powers and Abilities[]
Crow was an exceptionally intelligent woman. She was skilled at planning ahead and tricking people into doing what she wanted by manipulating their reactions. She could be charismatic, but generally relied on intimidation and deception. She generally kept her motives hidden, which, along with her ruthlessness, made her unpredictable. Additionally, she was an incredibly skilled fighter, being able to single handedly take down her three hardened lieutenants during their coup.
Due to her parasite, Crow was immune to any external threat. If she was attacked, vines would burst out of her skin and stop the attacker. They also prevented her from being shot by catching the bullet. However, Crow could still be trapped or imprisoned, since the parasite only cared that she stayed alive, and not that she lived free.
Trivia[]
- Despite only being the secondary antagonist, Crow is present in the novel for a far longer time than its main antagonist, the Sorceress. She also ends up with far more clearly defined goals and characterization and develops a far more personal relationship with the novel's protagonist, Tress.
External Link[]
- Crow on the Coppermind
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