Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,921
edits
Hellish Horse: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (update links) |
No edit summary |
||
| (12 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:nightmar2.jpg|link=Dungeons and Dragons|frame| He even [[Farts on Fire|farts fire.]] ]]
{{quote|''Bad Horse! Bad Horse!''
''Bad Horse! He's Bad!!''
''He rides across the nation, the thoroughbred of sin!''
|''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''}}
AKA ''[[My Little Pony]]'' [[This Is Your Premise on Drugs|on acid]]; they not only cause nightmares, they sometimes ''are'' [[Incredibly Lame Pun|night mares]].
Line 16:
Often goes hand in hand with [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]], as well as [[The Wild Hunt]]. A subtrope of [[Cool Horse]]. No relation at all to [[Hellish Copter]]. See also [[Hell Hound]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* D's horse in ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]'' in at least one incarnation is actually some sort of cyborg, but can appear pretty monstrous. A memorable caption in ''Anime Insider'' had someone ask D what was wrong with it, and all he could say was "I don't know."
** According to the light novels his horse is a perfectly ordinary cyborg horse that can be bought from any livery stable in the Frontier, but D's influence will make it gallop faster and longer than any other.
*** Until it's inevitable demise from the wildlife or from D riding it too hard.
* A lot of playing with this goes on in ''Reign: The Conqueror'', an ''[[Aeon Flux]]'' style animated story [[Very Loosely Based on a True Story|loosely based on]] Alexander the Great. Alexander's horse is a demonic horse, and at least half the main cast if not more expect Alexander to go the [[Dark Messiah]] route, which would make the horse appropriate, but Alexander ultimately rejects that route.
** Alexander's horse, Bucephalus, really was an unstable horse, according to Plutarch. I would be surprised to learn that this was the first time he was described as a murderous horse.
* When ''[[Hellsing]]'''s Alucard pulls out his Soul Slave Army it includes horses. Big, undead horses made of shadows and blood.
* Entei from ''[[Inuyasha]]''.
* When Lantis from ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' first summons his spirit creature, we see that it's a big, black, wild horse. Bigger than the norm actually~
Line 31 ⟶ 30:
* Killbeat the lascivious and sadistic bicorn from ''[[Legendz]]'' Unusual in that she never serves as a villain's mount, instead she's a major villain herself!
* The horses in the anime short ''[[Franz Kafka|A Country Doctor]]'' look pretty damn [[Uncanny Valley|creepy]].
== [[Comic Books]] ==
Line 37 ⟶ 35:
* Caleb, the 19th century ex-slave turned ''[[Ghost Rider]]'', has one of these as his ride, as do other Riders of the same rough era. As befits the Ghost Riders, these horses are usually on fire.
* [[Conan the Barbarian]] once had to fight the Hell-Hordes of Chaos, led by Prince [[Fail O'Suckyname|Gaynor]] who rode steeds that inexplicably had beaks. [[I'm Melting|And melted in the rain]].
== [[Film]] ==
* The mounts of the Nazgul in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' look pretty monstrous (and later they upgrade to riding vulture/dragon "fell beasts") and have been specifically bred to withstand the Nazgul's presence.
* The Caretaker/old Ghost Rider in the 2006 ''[[Ghost Rider]]'' movie gets on of these: a burning horse skeleton.
* [[Rogues Gallery|The Scarecrow]] briefly rides around on a police horse in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|Batman Begins]]''. Due to the hallucinogens covering the area, the horse (and The Scarecrow) appears to be demonic from the point of view of a young boy.
* The Headless Horseman in ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]'' has a horse like this.
** The horse is especially... noticeable... in the [[Disney]] version of Irving's short story in ''The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad''.
* The spiderweb horse in ''[[The Brothers Grimm (film)|The Brothers Grimm]]''.
Line 50 ⟶ 47:
* In the ''Blind Dead'' horror series, the titular undead monks ride equally undead horses.
* The undead gunslinger villain of ''House 2'' rides a stop-motion skeleton horse to the climactic showdown.
* The Puca from ''[[
* ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' has the pa'li and the ikran, and if you're too [[Badass]] to be satisfied with those there's the {{spoiler|toruk}} and {{spoiler|palulukan}}.
* Odin rode a rare heroic example of one in ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]''. His horse, Slepnir, is a giant black horse with eight legs. Considering it was shown inside of a pillar of exploding light, it invoke this trope quite a bit.
Line 56 ⟶ 53:
* Jafar can be seen riding on one of these at the very beginning of ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.
* Snowball from ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==
* The Thestrals in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' as semi-examples, since they look like skeletons, only those who've seen death up close can see them, and to everyone else they're [[Invisible to Normals]]. However, [[Dark Is Not Evil|they're actually quite gentle and end up significantly aiding the main characters]].
** The baby thestral in the movie is [[Ugly Cute]].
* Spoofed a number of times in ''[[Discworld]]''. [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] tried to use a demonic horse, but his skeletal horse kept falling apart and his flaming horse kept setting fire to the stables. He eventually settled with the very un-Demonic <s>white</s> pale horse Binky. The new Death in ''[[
** Also played straight with Boris from ''[[
** The unicorn from ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Good Omens]]'', where the actual Four [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] trade in the traditional horses for hogs. Motorcycles, that is.
* Anor (fangs, claws, eats meat) and the Horse with the Twisted Horn from Mary Stanton's ''The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West''
* Susan Cooper novel ''[[The Dark Is Rising|Silver on the Tree]]''. Will and Bran are menaced by a terrifying skeletal horse.
* The Hrulgin (singular: Hrulga) of David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad]]'' universe definitely fall under this. They have claws and fangs, eat meat rather than grass, are intelligent but utterly insane, and travel in herds. Oh, and they're also ''evil''. Enough so that even the team's designated horse-empath reluctantly had to give up on taming one. Oh yeah, and they're all black, but that almost goes without saying...
* Interesting variation in the [[Old Kingdom]]
* Karsa Orlong from Steven Erikson's ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'', went and tamed a Jhag horse named Havok. Jhag horses have a tendency to eat people, so that is saying something.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'': ''Summer Knight'' has Harry making a voyage into Faerie and encountering an unicorn. But since this is the Winter quarter of Faerie, the unicorn has scales and a gigantic corkscrew on its head.
* In ''[[The Riftwar Cycle]]'', the Dark Elf leader Murmandamus rides a horse covered in red scales, whose main and tail are living flame. Naturally, its eye glow red too.
* In a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]'', [[Welkin Weasels]] features the dreaded [[Punny Name|manless horsehead]], the hovering head of a riderless horse which flies around eating people.
* [[Spellsinger]]'s M'nemaxa is a [[Cosmic Horror]] in the shape of a winged horse made up of suns, with dragonfly eyes.
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', rathorns (pronounced ''rath-orn'', rather than ''rat-horn'') are carnivorous armored unicorns matching many of these tropes, being fanged, double-horned (nose and forehead), red-eyed, and armored with ivory-like plates on head, neck, chest and forelegs. The armor plates continue to grow as long as the rathorn is alive, so the really old ones are also in constant pain and likely to smother in their own armor. They are notorious man-killers with really bad tempers, and are generally some combination of black and white, from all-black to all-white or various combinations.
* ''Quest For A Kelpie'' by Frances Mary Hendry has a [[Bonnie Scotland|Scottish]] girl [[Too Dumb to Live|seeking out a Kelpie to ride]] to grant a wish (see below to see why she [[Did Not Do the Research]] on that one).
* In "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention", [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] describes how [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] encounters a mysterious, silent "death-coach" drawn by noiseless, headless horses. Of course, Lord Peter ''had'' had a few...
Line 82 ⟶ 78:
* In the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' Drizzt novels by R.A. Salvatore, Jarlaxle has an obsidian figurine which he can use to summon a [[Punny Name|nightmare]] from the lower planes. Later on, he gives another figurine to his dwarf companion [[Ax Crazy|Arthogate]], allowing him to conjure a demonic, fiery [[Crazy Awesome|war pig hellbeast]] to serve as his mount. It should go without saying that this makes him the envy of every other height-deprived character in the series.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]'' (and its American adaptation, ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]''), has Barikion (Catastros), the black horse ridden by the dark knight Wolzard (Koragg). A normal horse at normal size, but can become [[Humongous Mecha]]-ish with an [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever]] spell (much as the Rangers themselves that year, instead of the usual machines.) There is also a good counterpart: Unigolon (Brightstar), a white unicorn ridden by the [[The Hero|Red Ranger]].
** He's mass-produced: A villain from later in the series has a ''chariot'' pulled by two of the mecha-horsies. The whole thing actually rides up from a pit in the ground that he creates.
== [[Music]] ==
* In the famous ballad ''Ghost Riders In The Sky'' a [[Cowboy]] sees a herd of Hellish cattle as well as damned souls of cowboys on
* The Nightmare, or [[Spell My Name with an "S"|rather]] "[[Everything Sounds Menacing in German|Nacht--mar]]" in ''[http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/423130 At Night It Comes]'' (naturally) by Lost in Oblivion -
{{quote|Breath of the thunder. Hooves of flame.
Down in the darkness you answer no name... }}
* [[Voltaire]]'s song ''Riding A Black Unicorn''.
== [[Mythology]] ==
* Sleipnir from ''[[Norse Mythology]]'', one of the oldest examples, had eight legs and other monstrous features, as well as a [[Shapeshifting Squick|pretty sick origin]]. Despite this, though, it was a relatively gentle and well-behaved horse.
* The Fairy Raed, also known as ''[[The Wild Hunt]]'', has appeared in various forms in European mythology. Generally, the horses being ridden where huge and black, sometimes with demonic features, and together with their riders, who were either the damned or [[The Fair Folk|Fae]], and hellhounds would hunt the living (or the dying, or the recently dead, depending on who you asked) and drive them to hell. Just seeing the Raed was bad luck, foretelling strife or plague. Depending on the time period and location, the leader of the Raed was either a lost soul or deity. Odin has been associated with the Wild Hunt.
** The wild hunt as also appeared in numerous works over the years, including poetry, fantasy novels, and videogames.
* Also appears in [[Celtic Mythology]] with the [https://web.archive.org/web/20090830223338/http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/scotland/folklore/kelpie.html kelpie], who was a beast that appeared to be a horse with shark-like teeth; if anyone mounted it, it would take them underwater and drown and eat them. Kelpies are said to inhabit only running water.
** Depending on the versions, it could turn into an attractive man/woman to make luring people into the water easier.
* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: The Eighth Task of Hercules was to steal the Mares of Diomedes, who had regularly fed them human meat. Some accounts say they could also breathe fire from their nostrils. At the end, Hercules himself killed Diomedes and fed him to his Mares.
Line 109 ⟶ 102:
* In [[Greek Mythology]] the sun god Helios has a chariot pulled by fiery horses - in case you missed that detail their names, Aethon, Aeos, Pyrois and Phlegon, will remind you, as they are Greek words and expressions relating to fire and light. Other sun gods of other indo-european religions share the sun-chariot motif, but much on the steeds isn't specified, an exception being [[Hindu Mythology|Surya]], whose horse is seven headed.
* The Four Horsemen of [[The Bible]].
* The Nuckelavee of Orkney folklore was an evil, skinless horse with yellow veins and black blood, often merged with an equally grotesque human rider so that the two were one being. Nuckelavee would [[The Plaguemaster|spread illness to crops, horses, and humans]] [[Breath Weapon|with its poisoned breath]]. The only way to escape it was to cross fresh water, which it refused to approach.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons
** In addition, Natara, Commander of the Infernal Charge of Avernus, has a black unicorn with bat-wings.
** A ''[[Dragon (magazine)]]'' article introduced the Equars, nine intelligent magical horses from the Outer Planes that represented different [[Character Alignment|alignments]]. They included the handsome, black Banecourser ([[Lawful Evil]]); the sickly, ratlike Roasinante ([[Neutral Evil]]); and the monstrous [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red eyed]] Charnalbalk ([[Chaotic Evil]]).
* Daemonic mounts in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** The Vampire counts in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' have mounts called Nightmares, which fits this trope (the exact look of the Nightmare can vary, since it's cobbled together out of corpses, but it tends to be at least ''vaguely'' horse-like). There's also the Felsteed, which is a winged Nightmare (and, in previous editions, was named exactly that).
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a creature called [https://web.archive.org/web/20090511064759/http://ww2.wizards.com/gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?&id=129659 Nightmare], as well as [
* ''[[Orpheus]]'' characters who have managed to become Orphan-Grinders can summon one of these as one of their abilities.
* In ''[[Rifts]]'', the Four [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] ride demonic horse-like mounts called Nether Beasts. Though Pestilence's Nether Beast looks like a giant beetle.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'' series the Inferno castle enrolls Nightmares - essentially horses / unicorns [[Recycled in Space|FROM HELL!]] True to their name, their very proximity lowers enemy morale and their attacks have a chance to send the enemy running away in terror.
* The summon Ixion from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' has been described as a unicorn on steroids, and that's fairly accurate. The horn alone looks more like something one would see on a can opener - [[Dissimile|a can opener from hell that's used for scalping tortured souls.]] Fittingly, Dark Ixion from ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' is an endgame [[Bonus Boss]].
* While not evil, Odin's Gestalt Mode in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' qualifies for this trope.
Line 133 ⟶ 124:
** In an early quest ("early" ignoring that the character's first 54 levels went by before the ''player'' is put in control) Death Knights gain an Acherus Deathcharger. Different color scheme, presumably different genealogy, different skin, but similar effect as the warlock mount. They also let out an ear-piercing shriek when summoned that can only barely be recognized as a neigh. Slightly different in that you catch the horse that gets horrifically converted into your undead mount yourself. [[You Bastard]]. {{spoiler|[[Mood Whiplash|For maximum comedy, steal the colt]].}}
** There is also Attumen's steed, not ANY better than your normal epic mounts, but it is a [[Bragging Rights Reward]] on its own as it has a very low droprate.
** Then you can have Invincible, Arthas' Deathcharger, which can fly too, and slightly faster than common fliers. But most of its value comes from merely owning it, which shouts "I KILLED THE [[True Final Boss|LICH KING ON 25-MAN HEROIC!]]".
* The [[Demonic Invaders]] faction in the ''Warlords Battlecry'' series have a unit called the "Nightmare". They look like normal horses, except for the [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]], the body covered with [[Spikes of Villainy|spikes]] and the fact that they lack skin.
** So they don't look anything like normal horses, then?
* Geryon from ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'' is a
* Ganondorf, unsurprisingly, rides one of these in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: Ocarina of Time''. Again in ''Twilight Princess'', where you have to face him in a horseback battle. He's a better swordsman than Link on horseback, but you've got Zelda and her Light Arrows to compensate.
** The game averts a potentially hilarious subversion. When Ingo took over Lon Lon Ranch, he originally intended to give EPONA to Ganondorf. Imagine seeing Ganondorf riding possibly the cutest horse in the ranch.
* Red Hare from the most recent ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]''. Looks quite hellish in the official art for the game with Lu Bu, but quite gentle in the official art with Guan Yu.
* A recurring enemy in recent ''[[Castlevania]]'' games.
* The first official boss in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' is the
** Later horse-type enemies would have either ghastly, spike-covered, crescent-shaped helms that obscured their skulls, or simply had tentacles sprouting from their manes. The latter tend to be particularly vicious, and were often actual ''demons''.
* Night Mare from ''[[King's Quest VI]]: [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow]]'', is a black pegasus which Alexander has to charm with a concoction including sulfur, brimstone, and a hair from either Beauty or Cassima (fantasy horses like maidens) for the [[Multiple Endings|best-ending sidequest]]. It also eats deadly nightshade berries for lunch.
Line 156 ⟶ 147:
* For a while in the more recent updates of ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', kicking was incredibly powerful. Biting still is. [[Killer Rabbit|Horses can use both attacks.]] And if you embark in evil territory, you can get attacked by skeletal and zombie horses, which are much harder to kill than living horses... {{spoiler|to say nothing of the potential for randomly-generated horse demons and [[Eldritch Abomination|Forgotten Beasts]].}}
* Shadowmere from ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games is an immortal, possibly undead horse with sleek black fur and glowing red eyes, owned by an ancient order of assassins.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', shortly after Agatha joins up with the traveling band they unwittingly bring back a demonic horse [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050404 that attacks the camp], and Lars is so terrified that all he can do is scream "Horse-horse-horse!" for several minutes while having a panic attack
{{quote|Horse! Pie! Horse! Pie! Horse! Pie!}}
* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' has a creepy black horse which stalks Ben Franklin II after he is raised from the dead. It turns out the horse is his intended mount, since Ben was brought back to be a Headless Horseman.
** Also,
* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' has [[King Mook|Mook]] the [[Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti|Bigfoot's]] steed Oomrok, a hulking unicorn with face like stretched-out [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason]] hockey mask. Described as being "like a [[My Little Pony]] designed by [[Frank Frazetta]]."
* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'' has a nightmare as [http://yafgc.net/?id=321 the closest thing to the real horse] orcs could procure. Naturally, it's more into raiding than [http://yafgc.net/?id=323 chatting], but a little abduction and wild run [http://yafgc.net/?id=332 is fine, too].
== Web Original ==
* Bad Horse, the leader of the Evil League of Evil in ''[[
** ''Supposedly'' like this? He's the '''Thoroughbred Of Sin!'''
* ''[[My Little Pony]]'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXoYK4b_q24 the movie].
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[My Little Pony TV Specials]]'': The pilot for the original series featured the [[Evil Overlord]], Tirac, that kidnapped some ponies and turned them literally into nightmare horses for his own chariot.
* ''[[Futurama]]'' plays with this by having a HoloDeck simulation gone wrong and the holographic version of Spirit, a pony Amy wanted but didn't get as a kid (because she [[Spoiled Brat|had too many ponies already]]) turn bad and grows
* Played for laughs when ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' did a sketch about "[[My Little Pony]]: Apocalypse Pony."
* Young Blood's skeleton horse in ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.
** Don't forget Fright Knight's freaky winged demon horse.
* Parodied with relish in (of all places) ''[[Rainbow Brite]] and the Star Stealer''. Stormy's horse Skydancer rages screaming through the clouds, causes lightning to fire off everywhere he stomps, snorts freezing rain, and has the obligatory Goshawk-red mad eyes and [[Badass]] attitude. Starlite (essentially a [[
* In ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]'', the human heroes ride ordinary horses, while Ookla the Mok rides an "equort," something that looks likes a cross between a horse and a bug.
* In a ''[[Simpsons]]'' episode, Mr. Burns tries to bribe Lisa with three beautiful ponies. When Lisa regretfully refuses, they reveal their true nature...
* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (animation)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' cartoon, Venger rides a Nightmare (''see'' '''Tabletop Games''', ''above'').
* In ''[[Mulan]]'', the horses ridden by the Huns (particularly Shan-Yu's) have demonic red eyes, thick black bodies, and, of all things, FANGS.
* Nightmare Moon from ''[[My Little Pony:
** [[Played for Laughs]] in the episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
** "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
** "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2
* In the ''[[She-Ra:
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [[Truth in Television]], at least in terms of behaviour: Zebras kill more zookeepers than any other animal.
* There's a mustang statue on the drive to and from Denver International Airport. Drive by this at night and you can get a good idea of this trope.
** This troper reckons it looks creepy enough during the day.
** It's called [https://web.archive.org/web/20120731031431/http://www.denvergov.org/DenverOfficeofCulturalAffairs/PublicArt/RecentInstallations/
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Our Ghosts Are Different]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
[[Category:Equine and Equestrian Tropes]]
[[Category:Index of Fictional Creatures]]
[[Category:Cool Horse]]
▲[[Category:Hellish Horse]]
[[Category:The Utterly and Completely Definitive Guide to Cool]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
| |||