The Bloody Crow of Cainhurst by Abhorrent Beast

Who is the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst?

At first glance, the Bloody Crow appears a total enigma, and rightly so. All we know about him is his name, and even that offers little in the way of identification. But if we look beneath the surface, we can glean quite a bit about his character. The first thing we have to do is determine his allegiances. First off, the most obvious (and painful) feature about him is his choice of weapon. Both his Chikage and his Repeating Pistol pack an incredible punch, capable of obliterating half the players health with a single hit. The “of Cainhurst” portion of his name is clearly literal, as high bloodtinge is the calling card of the Vilebloods. He is not just from Cainhurst, he is a true Vileblood, as evidenced by his drop of the highest Blood Rapture rune. Furthermore, he wears the Cainhurst Armor set, which states that it is “worn by the royal guards who protect Annalise.” However, there is one particular piece of his attire that changes his story drastically, his Crowfeather Cloak, signature of a Hunter of Hunters.

In order to analyse this fully, we will need to step back, and assess who the Hunters of Hunters (henceforth abbreviated as HoH for clarity) are, and what they do. The first thing about them is quite obvious. They kill hunters who have gone blood drunk and pose a danger to others, or Yharnam as a whole. Unlike regular beast hunters, who essentially rampage through the streets killing whatever prey they find, the HoH are much more selective and precise about their prey. After assisting Eileen, the only remaining HoH, defeat Henryk at the Tomb of Oedon, she quips that you must have killed Gascoigne, but cautions to “leave the hunting of hunters to me.” After being soundly defeated by the Bloody Crow, we find our friendly neighborhood bird grandma lying in a pool of her own blood, suffering from what looks like a mortal wound. The sight of this seasoned killer dying on the steps of the Grand Cathedral leaves the player expecting some other monstrous boss fight, like Vicar Amelia, Rom, or some other untold horror. Instead, we are confronted by a man. One dude, just standing there, waiting. Somehow, this is even more disturbing. The player engages, expecting something on par with Henryk, Yurie, or even Gascoigne. Instead, we get obliterated almost instantly. After beating him, Eileen gifts you her Crow Hunter Badge, passing the mantle of Hunter of Hunters down to you, and unlocking all her gear in the shop.

So what do we learn from all this? Well, for one, that the HoH mantle is hereditary, given from hunter to hunter since the group’s inception. Second, that more than one Crowfeather set exits at a time. Thirdly, that Eileen views him as blood-drunk, and is enough of a threat to merit being killed. Fourthly, that the Bloody Crow is quite capable of dispatching experienced duelists like Eileen, and clearly has experience killing hunters. Finally, that the HoH are quite old, and there have almost certainly been quite a few of them, both in terms of succession and multiple simultaneously. The set says that the HoH “dress as crows to suggest sky burial,” which itself is explained as “a virtuous native funeral,” given to the hunters the HoH kill as opposed to “a blasphemous Yharnam burial service.” These clues indicate that many of them share a foreign homeland, highly unlikely since the title is passed down from person to person, and it is almost certain that the hunter who receives the mantle next will be a Yharnamite. The badges are said to have been “crafted long ago” and now “no group recognises [the badges], except the messengers in the bath,” but Eileen still carries hers and recognizes its value.

A common conclusion is that the the Bloody Crow used to be a Hunter of Hunters, possibly even Eileen’s teacher, who went mad and/or joined the vilebloods. However, the support for this idea is definitely lacking upon closer inspection. Here’s why. For starters, the timeline on that doesn’t match up at all. The Cainhurst massacre and the Executioners are implied to be a century ago or more, from Annalise’s archaic speech patterns, Logarius’ mummified state, or the simple logic that the massacre must predate the Healing Church by at least a few years, there is no way that the Bloody Crow ever became a vileblood. To even further that, how could the Bloody Crow pass down the badge if he went mad, and was still alive? But wait, if the massacre at Cainhurst cut off all access to the castle, and that was centuries ago, how did he escape? How is he still alive when he must be an old man by now?

Well, let’s take a look at Annalise. Her aim, and thus the aim of the Vilebloods, is to collect Blood Dregs in order to conceive a child of blood. Blood Dregs, which look uncomfortably like ghost sperm, are found in “echo fiends,” a term for individuals with an unusually high concentration of Blood Echoes, namely hunters. Once we equip the Corruption rune, we are tasked with hunting dregs for Annalise, which can be gained by killing other hunters in PvP combat. In essence, we become a Hunter of Hunters, but not to prune the ranks and keep Yharnam safe, but to hunt them as beasts, as prey, killing them indiscriminately. If one of these hunters was out on a hunt during the Executioner’s blitz of Cainhurst, they probably would have been trapped outside, lost in Yharnam. So how did he survive so long? Well, Annalise is immortal, forcing Logarius to trap her and martyr himself, and even surviving a complete and total obliteration by Alfred and his Logarius Wheel. The other Vilebloods, on the other hand, were not so fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on how lucky you see as being trapped in a illusory room with a metal cage on your face for all time). The common thread? Annalise consumes dregs, whereas the others don't. Without anyone to give them to, the Crow could turn to consuming the dregs himself, prolonging his lifespan to inhuman levels. Why then, does Annalise discount him in saying that you and her are the last two Vilebloods? The answer is simple. Like Gherman saying that you will wake up and forget the dream despite Eileen and Djura explicitly alluding to it, the Queen ignores the Crow because she doesn't know he is still alive and has no way to know, the very same way Gherman has no way of coming in contact with any of the hunters who leave the dream.

So with all this information, let’s go back to the beginning. Who is the Bloody Crow? He began as a member of Annalise’s royal guard, wearing the Cainhurst armor and wielding the Chikage. He hunted hunters for Blood Dregs, and was good at it. Very good at it. Now if one were to seek a more ambitious target,  find the prey with the most possible echoes, who or what would that be? Hunters are a very good choice, since they spend most of their time killing, and thus accumulating echoes, but if you kill hunters... you’re loaded with echoes, and thus, blood dregs. The Vileblood seeks out and kills one of the Hunters of Hunters, and wears his trademark cloak as a trophy, earning himself the nickname of the Bloody Crow. On one of his expeditions out, the Executioner’s raid on Cainhurst destroys his home, and he is trapped in Yharnam. Bereft, he continues to do what he has done for so long, hunting down and killing various hunters, absorbing echoes and dregs over time, which keeps him alive. Years later, he confronts Eileen in the Grand Cathedral, and she barely escapes with her life, and eventually faces a challenge even he cannot surmount: defeating the immortal dreaming hunter.