Crowley: Just Your Average 20th Century Fictional Bad Guy

Right from the start it's understood that Crowley (or formerly known as Crawley, because "he was thinking of changing it. Crawly, he decided, was not him" pg. 3) is the 'bad guy' in the book.

However he's a new breed of bad guy which can be seen in the beginning on pages 18 and 19 when the 'Deeds of the Day' are being discussed. Crowley goes for a more 20th Century approach to his bad deeds as he uses creativity and goes for as many people as possible. Meanwhile, Hastur and Ligur are "fourteenth- century minds."(pg 19) and would never use Crowley's methods as they tend to go for one person at a time.

This small portion of the book made me think of some of today's 'evil minds' from television and movies. They think quite a bit like Crowley and vice versa. When was the last time a hit crime show such as CSI had one simple murder, like a Hastur and Ligur approach? Not too recently. Lately TV has featured all sorts of creative plots that would be right up Crowley's alley. A series that I watched over break featured a bad guy that basically admitted that it's about creativity. I don't remember his exact words, but the point was that anyone can shoot someone, it takes creativity to have a guy choke on a hot dog or something similar to that.

Throughout the book, it becomes apparent that Crowley is able to blend in fairly well with modern society. He had Mr. Young thinking he was one of the doctors at the hospital when he was really there to switch one of the babies with the anti-christ. Today's fictional bad guys also have a way with blending in with society. If they didn't blend in, these hour crime dramas would take half the time because it would take half the time to catch the guy if you could find them easily. Some TV shows or movies will even have their bad guy be known for their ability to blend in with society, as a car mechanic, a secertary or even the UPS man.

By actions and appearance, Crowley proves to fit in with the standard 20th century bad guy as seen in television, movies and even read about in other books. He goes for the creative route when doing his bad deeds as opposed to going after just one person. Crowley may be seen as an 'odd bird' to some Londoner's, he blends in better than Hastur and Ligur since he has adapted to these new times.