A few months ago I nursed a wild murkrow with a broken wing, and let it back into the wild after it had recovered. After a few weeks some murkrow started hanging around the forest near my house. I fed them for a while, and then they started to follow me around when I go out. Even a honckrow! They keep wild pokemon away, I’ve had problems with a hypno before this started but not anymore. Even attacked a burglar that broke in my house a month ago. Am I under the protection of a mafia of birds now?

Congratulations, but yes, you are.

Murkrow aren’t entirely unusual in this, but they’re notorious for it. If you save a murkrow’s life—and, given its reliance on its ability to fly, you very likely did in your eyes—it enters into a life debt with you. What that means is you saved this murkrow, so no matter what, unless you consciously attempt to anger it, harm it, or do wrong to it, then it will consider you to be a good person it needs to protect and reward until either it saves your life or until it dies.

The rest of a murkrow’s murder automatically shares its opinion of you due to the strong bonds between murkrow, and you’ve encouraged this sentiment to develop by feeding them.

For these reasons, the murkrow and honchkrow now feel the need to do good things for you, so you can expect to be protected by them for some time. They may even give you gifts they find, particularly shiny objects.

As a preemptive warning, don’t attempt to capture any of them without their consent, as this may be taken as an attack on their flock, which in turn will result in them switching from protecting you wherever you go to attacking you on sight. If you wish to catch any of them, approach the honchkrow and ask for permission first, then allow it to convey its message of consent to the rest of the flock. Catch only the members of the murder that approach you; do not catch just any murkrow or honchkrow.

Best of luck, anonymous, and enjoy your company!

So um, I think my Homchkrow is trying to make a Maifa? My Murkrow recently evolved into one and now it keeps on having these “late night” meetings in my backyard with other Murkrow and it getting to the point of being corncerning. They have like, trades between shiny objects & food. ONE time, they brought a Hoothoot and seem to start interrogation it! Luckily I crash into the meeting before they could possibly hurt it. What do I do? I’m afraid of my Honkrow will sent a hitman after me or w/e

Actually, this sounds about right for the average behavior of a honchkrow, anonymous. Luckily, honchkrow mafias tend to focus only on pokémon, meaning they don’t generally attack humans or rope them into their dealings. To them, humans are essentially godlike creatures: untouchable because they always provide. Thus, you can at least rest assured that your honchkrow will never actually be angry enough to turn its enforcers on you.

Unfortunately, I can’t entirely say the same about the neighborhood pokémon. You could try to continue interfering and explaining to your honchkrow that you’d prefer it if interrogations (or worse) didn’t happen—perhaps even make a deal with honchkrow involving food that will reinforce this—but frankly, you’ll have no guarantee that honchkrow won’t simply take its business to a place where you won’t be able to interfere or find out about its dealings. Honchkrow … tend to be a bit tricky like that.

Murkrow and Honchkrow

Murkrow
The Darkness Pokémon
Type: Dark/Flying
Official Registration #: 198
Entry: A crow-like pokémon native to the forests and mountains of Johto and Sinnoh. This wily pokémon is widely feared and loathed by many cultures, including those outside its home regions. Part of this may have to do with its tendency to collect shiny objects: it often steals from unwary travelers, which in turn provokes said travelers to chase after them. Should a human fall into this trap, the murkrow will lead them deep into the densest parts of their territories before flying off, leaving the human lost and stranded in the wilderness. Of course, a human would need to be pretty witless to follow a murkrow in the first place, given the fact that the entire species derives its name from the words “crow” and “murder.”

Bill, didn’t you once have to be rescued after following a murkrow? —LH

That was a fluke. —Bill

Of course it was. —LH

Honchkrow
The Big Boss Pokémon
Type: Dark/Flying
Official Registration #: 430
Entry: The evolved form of murkrow, by exposure to dusk stone. This giant crow-like pokémon is capable of controlling entire flocks of murkrow. When a massive scavenging job needs to be done or whenever nests need to be made, it issues a deep, booming cry to summon every murkrow within miles. Because the numbers of murkrow that respond to this call frequently block out the sun for minutes at a time, honchkrow is colloquially called the “Summoner of the Night.” Which, incidentally, is also a great and surprisingly unused name for a band.