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[unbloody]

how are you playing a character that has no dialogue or backstory?
i am using my imagination
also i've just been down bad for this guy for a while now
but in the interest of full disclosure, this character is 98% headcanon


summary for the canonblind
the bloody crow of cainhurst is an optional enemy in bloodborne who provides what is widely considered one of the most difficult battles in the game, though he does not qualify as an actual boss. he is only encountered as part of the "hunter of hunters" questline and fights very much like an extremely skilled player character would in pvp combat, making full use of his sword, pistol, numbing mist, quicksteps and dodges. his equipment and title imply some connection to cainhurst, but the vileblood queen's dialogue suggests that she no longer has or acknowledges any other vileblood servants, making the bloody crow's relationship to cainhurst rather enigmatic and unexplained.


headcanons
there's no shortage of fan theories surrounding the bloody crow's origins, some more likely than others — for example, i am aware of speculation that he was a scholar at byrgenwerth, that he was a cainhurst vileblood who betrayed the other vilebloods in order to work for the church, that he was a former student of gehrman's, and/or that he was a former student of eileen's, among other popular theories.

i'll be playing the bloody crow with essentially the simplest of all possible backgrounds for him: though he was born to cainhurst nobility and swore his oaths as a vileblood, the bloody crow became a hunter of hunters, choosing to abandon the castle and forsake his queen. he eventually went mad, presumably due to bloodlust, and by the time the player character encounters him, he is engrossed completely in the hunt. it is also likely that he was once able to enter the hunter's dream, but has since stopped dreaming. that being said, his liberal use of blood blades and blood techniques made him an odd hunter of hunters from the start, and one may wonder what motivated him to join the covenant to begin with — one may ponder whether or not he ever had any sympathy for hunters driven mad by the hunt, or if he was simply stifled by his life at cainhurst castle, and longed to hunt quarry more thrilling.


personality
even in his pre-frenzied state, the bloody crow is not an especially talkative man. it's not quite that he's stoic, but rather that he tends not to speak unless he sees a reason to grace someone with his voice, and he is unimpressed by most people. he is surprisingly eloquent when he does choose to address others, and has a slightly haughty, aristocratic bearing. it would be fair to say that he is downright unfriendly and tends to be (as most bloodborne characters are) frustratingly vague and hauntingly lyrical. that being said, he is practical at his core and valiant enough that he will defend others in need, even if he isn't keen on playing nice to those he's rescued. those who somehow develop a rapport with him may discover that he has a dry sense of humor and can even be affectionately teasing, though it should be noted that he doesn't exactly keep close friends. if circumstances require him to give his name, he may call himself wulfram or renwick; characters well-versed in etymology may notice that both names have crow/raven associations and neither are likely to be his birth name.

if you would like to interact with a fully canon-compliant crow, i'm more than happy to provide that, but he is dead silent to the point of not even making sounds of pain or exertion, and he will literally not do anything but try to kill you, which isn't very fun for rp


are you open to shipping or smut?
he will shoot you in the stomach


preferred threads
though i will not be writing romance with this character, i am definitely open to creepy shit, battling eldritch abominations, hunters and vampires of all kinds, having light dinner conversations with other serial murderers, escorting hapless maidens away from beasts, etc, etc. please note that i will be insanely slow, largely because i'm much more focused on another character right now, but i will probably get back to you if my notifs haven't been slaughtered by the nightmare.


offensive subjects
oocly, nothing in particular — i'm not too squeamish. icly, the bloody crow has nothing particularly good to say about cainhurst or the vilebloods in spite of his equipment and heritage (to be fair, he has nothing particularly good to say about anyone), so some of his dialogue may tend toward discussion of childbirth and pregnancy for obvious canon-related reasons. he is not broadly misogynistic towards women, but may say some mildly misogynistic things about annalise — you know, along the lines of alfred's "unclean wench" remarks, but i just want to present this in advance. i'm happy to avoid all of this if necessary.


appearance
he is attired in a blue-black crowfeather cloak, a silver helm, greaves, and gauntlets, all of which bear seemingly delicate engravings that may look somewhat grotesque upon further inspection — for example, the silver "mask" on his helm actually conceals a stylized grinning skull that obscures his face and jaw. beneath the helmet, the bloody crow has long, shoulder-length silver hair, porcelain-white skin, and a curious eye color that seems to shift between silver and red depending on his use of blood techniques (this is most certainly not because i'm too lazy to make further edits to his icons). if he has succumbed to his bloodlust, then his pupils will have collapsed and it will appear as though he has multiple irises, but you aren't likely to see his face in that state. the bloody crow is not only surprisingly young but might even be considered strikingly handsome or androgynously beautiful. one might detect a certain familial resemblance between the crow and lady maria or the plain doll, though he has no actual relationship to them worth mentioning. he is, however, somewhat shorter than either of them, being roughly 6'1" / 185 cm in height.


icon credit
his face-reveal, non-fanart icons are from professional illustrator kachiru ishizue. i have edited them for desired hair and expression accuracy, so the icons may no longer reflect her original work. as a result, i have no consistent pb for the bloody crow; his icons make use of various characters from ishizue's manga rosen blood and her work for "dark fantasy" music group elfensjón.


i can't take the bloody crow seriously when he's a sexy vampire animeboy
this is a valid criticism but i raise you this: bloodborne is a game where sexy vampires fight with katanas from fantasy japan
ok tbh if you want to suggest a better pb you totally can but i can only redraw/paint in certain styles so that's kind of half the battle here