Elliot Crow

"I was stabbed. But the person who did it, he got the wrong brother, so I need to warn them."

- Elliot Crow

Elliot Crow is the main protagonist of The Murder of Elliot Crow, the first book in the Chronicles From Those with Responsibilities. Elliot is a wizard whose powers are based on time.

Profile
In the first book, Elliot is portrayed as a teenage boy just trying his best to be normal. He's originally embarrassed that his mother is goth and over his father's somewhat easygoing and clumsy nature. He and his older brother also don't seem to talk much.

However, after it becomes apparent that there's a killer threatening his family, Elliot discovers a newfound desire to learn more about his family and feels disappointed in himself for some of the bad things he once said to his mother.

He's kind-hearted and has a few quirks of his own which become more prominent as the story moves forward.

Slomoe and Trinket had both noted that Elliot is particularly polite.

The majority of his problems are resolved through his own cleverness and ability to adapt. ie. During his battle against Miranda's shadows in the realm of mirrors, Elliot uses the key Toshi had given him to take the Sword of the Worthy from the magic mirror.

Appearance
Elliot is a fifteen-year-old boy with messy, dark brown hair and brown eyes. He seems to think of himself as being quite plain looking.

His father has apparently commented on more than one occasion that Elliot greatly resembles his mother, although their hair and eyes more closely resemble his father's.

Personality
Elliot originally wants to be as ordinary as possible and tries his best to stay in the background. Despite this, he does have some interesting quirks that do cause people to raise their eyebrows. He's unusually polite, sometimes overly so.

He has an interest in poetry, much like his father who is a writer, but he doesn't actually express any real interest until meeting Trinket. Before this point, he seems to have been quite reserved.

He's also quite hard working and determined, as evident of the fact that he constantly practices swordplay thinking it might help him in his efforts to save his brother.

Originally, Elliot denied that there was anything unusual about himself, despite his ability to sometimes predict things that haven't happened yet, or get strange feelings whenever something bad was about to happen. But he grows to accept his powers as a wizard of time.

Elliot also seems to have gained a taste for tea by the end of his journey and uses this to bond with his mother whom he had been very distant with previous to the story's beginning.

Trivia

 * A.R. Shanks has said that Elliot was a character that represented the desire people have to work really hard and succeed in their goals
 * Elliot is a Hebrew name that means 'lord is my god.'
 * Although Elliot is apprenticed to the King of Dreams, Trinket seems to have been more of a mentor for him as he taught him how to use a sword and was the one to first identify that Elliot was a wizard. He was also the one to first point out that Elliot had trouble believing in himself.
 * Gear is a lot like Elliot's opposite. While Elliot is unusually polite, Gear is unusually crude and blunt.
 * A.R. Shanks originally intended for the characters to each be symbolized by an animal, Elliot's animal was a crow, thus the name 'Elliot Crow.'
 * Elliot seems to be the only character in the series that seems to be able to understand Cairo
 * Originally, Elliot's name was 'Oliver' but his name was changed when A.R. Shanks decided that the name wasn't 'gothic enough.'