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Magpies as Portents
- 106 statements
- 18 feature instances
- 18 referencing feature instances
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There are a number of superstitions surrounding magpies, black and white birds that feature in a lot of stories (especially in the British Isles). These include, as the rhyme indicates, that they are omens (for good or ill) of the future and that the bad luck of a lone magpie must be warded off with a ritual of some sort. Some of the "warding off bad luck" superstitions are quick and only require a simple salute, while others are a bit more eccentric, involving pinching, spitting or saying certain phrases. The idea that magpies are omens of the future has led to a flock of them being called a "tidings of magpies". Magpies are members of the corvid family and relatives of ravens and crows. The rhyme—in all its manifold variations—is also used on occasion for crows. (Australian Magpies, on the other hand, are unrelated songbirds that just happen to bear a resemblance.) Note: This trope is not about magpies per se, but about the association of certain numbers of magpies with good or bad luck, and the rituals for warding the bad luck off. Thieving Magpie is about magpies' compulsion to steal, particularly shiny objects; see also Creepy Crows and Clever Crows. Examples |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_1c4cbfe6 | type |
Magpies as Portents | |
| Magpies as Portents / int_1c4cbfe6 | comment |
Journey into Mystery (Gillen) begins with 7 magpies on a quest after the demise of Loki at the end of Siege. The seventh is the only one to make it to their destination. Also, Ikol (a magpie-shaped remnant of the old Loki) tells kid Loki the magpie rhyme at the beginning of the Everything Burns crossover, and sets the record straight about it. This becomes something of a theme for young Loki in later series, like Odin hearing "thunder, and the laughter of magpies" when Thor and Loki need him in the Original Sin tie in of Loki: Agent of Asgard. What can we say, the guy isn't only trouble, but also bad news. |
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| Journey into Mystery (Gillen) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_5435e86d | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_5435e86d | comment |
In Imajica someone lets a magpie into a house where a significant act of magic is about to take place. Someone else points out that this is terrible bad luck. No points for guessing what happens next. The bird isn't actually responsible, and the mayhem had been planned long before. Still, omenery. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_6700486e | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_6700486e | comment |
"Two Magpies" from The Fireman's album Electric Arguments features lines from the rhyme. Unsurprisingly, it's extremely catchy. | |
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| The Fireman (Music) | hasFeature |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_69de2e4d | type |
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In No Rest for the Wicked, November was teased for using the verse for ravens, instead of magpies. | |
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| No Rest for the Wicked (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_7e5196af | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_7e5196af | comment |
In the Troll Cops Homestuck AU, there is a pair of stories called "One For Sorrow", which has: | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_8017eca0 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_8017eca0 | comment |
Snow White & the Huntsman: Magpies are all over this film. One appears right before Snow White is to be led to the Queen and murdered, two appear later to lead her to her horse. Basically, any time something happens, either one or two magpies will appear to portend it, whichever is appropriate. Not that anybody comments on this. | |
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In The Crow, the rhyme is referenced (with blackbirds in the place of magpies) by Eric as he prepares to kill a bar full of thugs, and capped with a classic line. See also reference below to the film The Crow: City of Angels. |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_9acdda28 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_9acdda28 | comment |
There's a book called One For Sorrow, Two For Joy, by Clive Woodall, about more-or-less-anthropomorphic birds. It's a little like Watership Down, but with birds. The villains are magpies. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_9d34190a | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_9d34190a | comment |
The Elder Scrolls Ebonarm, a god of war worshiped in the Iliac Bay region, is followed by two ravens who portend his appearance on the battlefield. However, the "portending calamity" aspect can be averted once he appears, as he may deem the battle baseless and demand that it end. Nocturnal, the Daedric Prince of Darkness and the Night who is also associated with Thieves and Luck, is associated with ravens and crows. Ravens with the ability to speak sometimes act as her messengers. The Crow's Wood is a pocket realm of Oblivion associated with Nocturnal, and it is ruled by the Blackfeather Court, a group of sentient crows who consider themselves as the realm's rulers. |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_acc8ba9e | comment |
The beginning of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival compares the unsteady man, in whom good and evil are mixed, to a magpie, which is half black, half white. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_af6a4464 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_af6a4464 | comment |
In The Secret World, this rhyme is used as a clue in a quest to solve a long-ago murder mystery. To solve it, you have to be dead at the time. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_ba769699 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_ba769699 | comment |
Ebonarm, a god of war worshiped in the Iliac Bay region, is followed by two ravens who portend his appearance on the battlefield. However, the "portending calamity" aspect can be averted once he appears, as he may deem the battle baseless and demand that it end. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_c6da3ce2 | comment |
Ashe Corven of the movie The Crow: City of Angels references a variant of this rhyme as he's trashing the bad guys of a strip booth establishment where his second target is, using crows in place of magpies. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d578ce00 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d578ce00 | comment |
This is also covered in The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d68df17d | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d68df17d | comment |
A news discussion Top Gear once went on about how dangerous magpies are while driving because of gestures, but none of which the presenters could agree on which one was correct. Richard Hammond's was the most confusing; it turns out rather than picking one of the many variations to ward off bad luck, he chose all of them at once; adding to it each time someone mentions a new one to him. | |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d7c4626a | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_d7c4626a | comment |
Invoked in The Sandman (1989): In "Parliament of Rooks", Eve sings the rhyme while holding the infant Daniel. Abel finishes with the last line, then adds, "It's true, you know." In The Wake, the summons to Morpheus's funeral takes the form of a single magpie. |
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| The Sandman (1989) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_e6fc185d | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_e6fc185d | comment |
In Once & Future, also by Gillen, it's Doubly Subverted, Issue 13 opens with a magpie flight down and interrupting Bridgette's smoke on the care home's deck. Then the otherworld light show kicks off and it's joined by five other magpies and Bridgette recites two versions of old rhyme and asks if she's in for Gold or Hell, only to be told it's the latter. So Bridgette, being the pragmatic Monster Hunter she is (if pulled from a long retirment), shoots four of them and says now it must be either joy or mirth, only for one magpie to tear the throat out of the other and say she's in for Hell. | |
| Magpies as Portents / int_e6fc185d | featureApplicability |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_f6a54e75 | type |
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| Magpies as Portents / int_f6a54e75 | comment |
The rhyme is used in the Kingdom Hearts fanfic A Sorrow of Magpies in a What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic? kind of way. More specifically, the rhyme is as follows: |
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