Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|"''And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."''|'''[[Book of Revelation|Revelation]] 6:1-8'''}}

 

 

 

* Conquest - Bow and Crown - White

Some Bible historians identified them as some historical figures of the time the Bible was written.

 

 

The only one of these actually ''named'' in the Bible is Death; the others are only identified by the horses they ride. The other names come from the tasks and powers they are assigned. The exact nature, role and purpose of the Horsemen has been the subject of centuries of theological debate - Conquest, for instance, is thought to be either a figure of incalculable evil, perhaps [[The Antichrist]] or [[Satan]], setting out to conquer the world; or, he could be a benevolent being like Jesus or the Holy Spirit, and his "Conquest" or "Victory" could be the beginning of the final triumph of Good over Evil. The other four horsemen don't trigger quite as much discussion, but they aren't universally agreed upon either. Don't be surprised if the writer forgets about how they're not supposed to show up till the very end of the world.

 

 

== Anime ==

* ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'': The final [[Big Bad]] was Apocalymon, and he was responsible for the creation of a four member [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] called the Dark Masters, whose arrival heralded the twisted reformatting of the Digital World into a brutal, lifeless place of oppression; while none of them are actual horsemen or horses, they can be construed as thematically connected to the Four Horsemen. They consisted of [http://wikimon.net/Metal_Seadramon MetalSeadramon] (probably Famine), [http://wikimon.net/Pinochimon Pinocchimon] (most likely Pestilence), [http://wikimon.net/Mugendramon Mugendramon] (War), and [http://wikimon.net/Piemon Piemon] (Death).

* [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men villain]] Apocalypse appropriately has had a rotating cast of minions under the names of the Four Horsemen, whose job was to wreak havoc in his name as a way of culling the weak from the strong. Several heroes have been brainwashed into serving him; Angel becoming Death and later Archangel is the best-known example. Most of his Horsemen join him by choice, however; in that case, Apocalypse recruits each one via a [[Deal with the Devil]] (like telling Autumn that he'd give her more attention than her neglectful parents to covince her become Famine, or offering to heal the [[Ill Boy]] Abraham Kieros and then making him War).

** Another Death, in an alternate reality, was [[Deadpool]].

** Recently, after the M-Day event, Gambit was basically handed an idiot ball by the writers and voluntarily joined Apocalypse to become the new Death. Not only was it questionable logic, but he ended up turning into a mutant Drow: black skin, white hair, and, ahum, "Death Gas." Supposedly he's gotten better.

*** [[Rimshot|He couldn't get any worse!]]

* [[The DCU|DC Comics]] recently introduced their Four Horsemen of Apokolips, tying them into Jack Kirby's New Gods mythos as primordial deities of the aforementioned evil planet, with the Horsemen themselves being mere vessels created to contain a fraction of their power.

* In ''[[Strontium Dog]]'', the Satan-figure created four beings modelled on the horsemen to watch over the desert of despair.

* In Archie's ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures]]'' series, the Four Horsemen made an appearance in a long miniseries of comics {{spoiler|and eventually [[Killed Off for Real|killed]] the Turtles' friends/friendly rivals, the Mighty Mutanimals (which included fan favorite Mondo Gecko)}}.

* ''Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse'' reveals that the Four Horsemen arrived a long time ago, but they liked drugs, sex, and junk food too much to bring themselves to do the whole "reap a quarter of the population" bit. Wormwood keeps them supplied with cocaine, hookers, cheese snacks, and a penthouse suite so that they stay too distracted to trigger the Apocalypse.

* In ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]: The Fury'', they make an appearance. {{spoiler|And a timely one, as Hellboy is busy battling the creature intended to bring about Ragnarok. The four end up [[Cool Versus Awesome|squaring off]] against a reincarnated [[King Arthur]] and the Knights of the Round Table.}}

 

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* A movie called ''Horsemen'' is about a group of serial killers who model themselves after the four horsemen. Dennis Quaid must solve this murder!

* A film about the Holocaust is called ''The Fifth Horseman Is Fear''.

* ''Come And See'', a Soviet war movie, was influenced by the verses about the Horsemen, especially Death. Also, during the film, the protagonists have to endure illness, guerrilla and hunger during the Nazi invasion. Death is... well, everywhere.

* The villains in ''[[The Crow|The Crow: Wicked Prayer]]'' were a biker gang/cult that model themselves after the horsemen.

* In ''[[Elf]]'', the four rangers of Central Park show up to destroy Santa Claus for putting them on the naughty list. The way they are depicted make them seem like they actually are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

 

== Literature ==

** Later in the novel, a group of [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels|Hell's Angels]] tags along, calling themselves Grievous Bodily Harm, Really Cool People, Cruelty to Animals and No-Alcohol Lager (he changes his name every time he thinks of something else he hates, and finally ends up as People Covered In Fish).

{{quote|'''Biker:''' "'Ere, you're Hells Angels are you? What chapter you from then?"

*** This is something of a subversion: {{spoiler|after gathering together, the Four Horsemen decide they like the world too much and decide to try and save it from being destroyed. Hey, the prophesy just says they'll ride out; nothing in there says ''against who''.}}

*** In one of his better bits, when Twoflower meets the Four Horsemen, he teaches them to play Bridge. I bet War is an overbidder...

** Two of them even started families. Death has his adopted daughter and her daughter with their own series. War married a Valkyrie and they had at least three children together; sons Panic and Terror and daughter Clancy.

* The ''[[Shannara|Heritage of Shannara]]'' books have Walker Boh fighting Shadowen demons who deliberately modeled themselves after the horsemen.

* ''The Pale Horse'' by [[Agatha Christie]] features a pub with Death's horse from the Book of Revelation on the sign with multiple references to this trope. Not surprisingly, the place specializes in death-for-hire, in the form of {{spoiler|murder by clever heavy metal poisoning}}.

* The late Charles L. Grant's ''Millennium Quartet'' introduces one Horsemen per novel.

** The Incarnation of War is accompanied by four horsemen of the Apocalypse: Conquest, Slaughter, Famine, and Pestilence. War also rides a horse called Were.

* Larissa Ione's ''Lords of Deliverance'' series features four siblings as people chosen to be the horsemen. [[Anti-Anti-Christ|They mostly reject their roles and try to help the world instead of destroy it]]. Famine is a girl and [[Arranged Marriage|betrothed]] to [[Satan]], which she hates because she has a human boyfriend.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', though there they were called "Gunmen of the Apocalypse," and they were actually computer viruses that had infected both the Navicomp and Kryten- who happened to envision his struggle with the virus as a Western.

** It is explicitly stated that the Horsemen of the Bible were actually inspired by this Immortal group.

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Methos}}:''' I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed '''ten''' thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it. {{spoiler|Cassandra}} was nothing. Her village was nothing. Do you know who I was? I was Death. Death — Death on a horse. When mothers warned their children that the monster would get them, that monster was me. I was the nightmare that kept them awake at night.}}

* ''[[Charmed]]'' featured them once, though they decided to go the biblical route and had Strife instead of Pestilence, as mentioned above, and War seemed to be their leader (as opposed to Death in most other media, assuming they even have any sort of hierarchy). It's hinted that any powerful evil warlock may be chosen by the Source to serve as a Horseman, and have done so repeatedly in the past.

** They are responsible for every disaster that happens in the world. And they have their own agency.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' introduced the Four Horsemen in the 5th season as servants of Lucifer preparing the world for the apocalypse, with their steeds replaced by cars.

** War was introduced in the second episode of Season 5, and he drove a ''red Mustang''. He [[Let's You and Him Fight|gets people to divide up]] and [[The Chessmaster|start killing each other]] with a [[Master of Illusion|twist of his ring.]]

* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Londo Mollari refers to his three, much-hated wives as "Famine", "Pestilence", and "Death". The viewer is left to infer that Londo is, by exclusion, [[Foreshadowing|War]].

* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' featured the four horsemen Famine, Pestilence, Death, And... The Other One. They mostly sit around, bored to tears, playing Travel Scrabble and listening to Famine complain about how hungry he is. All except for Death, who is dead.

 

== Music ==

* [[Johnny Cash]]'s "The Man Comes Around" is a song about the apocalypse which makes direct reference to this at the end:

{{quote|"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|And Hell followed with him.]]"}}

* The line "seven horses seem to be on the mark" from the Doors' song ''Love Her Madly'' is most likely ''not'' meant to be a reference to the Apocalypse, but some people think it is anyway. The song is about being in love with a girl who is leaving (or at least threatening to). Maybe that is the end of the world to some people?

* [[Metallica]]'s "The Four Horsemen".

** Though they replace War with "Time". Wonder why.

* Saviour Machine, who explicitly wrote songs about the Book of Revelations, wrote a song called "Behold A Pale Horse" which describes the terrible state of the world after The Horsemen ride out.

* The [[Manowar]] songs "The Warrior's Prayer" and "Glory, Majesty, Unity" both talk about 4 mysterious riders who challenge and defeat the combined mights of several armies.

* Running Wild's "Apocalyptic Horsemen", like many songs from their earlier days on darker (or downright evil) things, portray them in a positive light.

* They are featured on [[Judas Priest]]'s ''Nostradamus'' [[Rock Opera]].

* They are portrayed on the cover of [[W.A.S.P.|WASP]]'s album ''Babylon''.

* The Hold Steady mention them in 'Cattle and the Creeping Things': "don't it all end up in some revelation? with 4 guys on horses, and violent red visions. famine and death and pestilence and war."

* The cover of [[Muse (band)|Muse]] album [[wikipedia:File:BHARCOVER.jpg|Black Holes and Revelations]] has the horsemen sitting at a table, upon which are their miniaturized horses.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

 

== Religion ==

** "I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer....And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.....I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!'...I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth." from Revelation 6; the opening of the seven seals.

*** Some Biblical Archaeologists have theorized that Revelation is actually intended as a coded message to the Jewish people to resist the attempts by the current Caesar (usually believed to be Nero, but some think it may have been Caligula) to enforce worship himself on their people and to pray for the destruction of the Roman Empire, that a Jewish kingdom may be built from the ruins. In this theory, the Horsemen are actually allegories for the four most powerful enemies of the Roman Empire.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The fourth [[Sourcebook|World Book]] for [[Rifts]] primarily concerned the arrival of the Four Horsemen to Earth (Africa, precisely), and a war between a gathering of heroes and an [[The Empire|Empire]] of demons and monsters to keep them from merging together to form a demon capable of wiping out the entire planet.

** Green Ronin's ''Advanced Bestiary'' has a set of Four Horsemen ''templates,'' envisioning the 4Hs not a monsters in their own right, but as possessing spirits. It can be a little weird seeing Death as CR 7.

** ''[[Pathfinder]]'' has the Horsemen as the nigh-omnipotent leaders of the [[Neutral Evil]] daemons. All represent the end of life in some form or another. [[Psycho for Hire|Szuriel]], the Horse(wo)man of War; [[Horror Hunger|Trelmarixian]], the Horseman of Famine; [[Plaguemaster|Apollyon]], the Horseman of Pestilence; and [[The Chessmaster|Charon]], the Horseman of Death (representing the inevitable death of old age). There is also a ''fifth'' horseman, the Oinodaemon, whom the others overthrew.

** It's highly dubious that "Hades" is being anthropomorphized as a horseman in the original passage. Presumably, they needed something to keep the theme intact, and [[Lampshade Hanging|that's kind of how it's treated in-universe]]. The Forgotten (the Threshold associated with Hades, representing Death by Chance) originally didn't have an association with a Horseman until one of them began talking about a vision of a Gray Horseman who represented them. Sin-Eater culture as a whole went, "[[Sure Why Not|Um... 'kay.]]"

* In ''[[Deadlands]]'', the now-un-[[Sealed Evil in a Can]] "the Reckoners" were revealed eventually to be the Four Horsemen.

* In the [[Ghostbusters]] RPG, the adventure module "ApoKERMIS Now!" has the Four Frog-Riders of the Apo[[The Muppets|Kermis]], who are meant to {{spoiler|keep the party going until the world ends. Their names are Feast (in charge of the party's snacks), Merry (in charge of the party's music and atmosphere), Cheers (in charge of any drinking going on at the party), and Dancer (in charge of the dancing).}}

** Until you [[Fridge Brilliance|realize]] that one of the core principles of Famine is an overwhelming hunger - but that "hunger" and "craving" don't always refer to food. Slaanesh's role as the god of both lust and addiction slot quite nicely into the pattern.

 

* The [[Turn-Based Strategy]] ''Warlords'' series and it's [[Spin-Off]] ''Warlords Battlecry'' include the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse as [[Demonic Invaders]]. Rather unusually for the trope they really don't get along with each other. War and Death are particularly hostile against each other after a failed [[Villain Team-Up]] in the third ''Warlords'' game. The campaign in the third ''Warlords Battlecry'' centers around the Fifth Horseman: Destruction.

* Curiously, the primary adversaries of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' fit into these archetypes. Atris as Pestilence (having fallen to [[The Corruption]]), Sion as War ([[The Brute]] who deals with every problem with his lightsaber), Nihilus as Famine (a hole in the universe that is eternally hungry) and {{spoiler|Kreia}} as Death {{spoiler|(her ultimate goal is to destroy the Force, and through it all life).}}

* The ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' series maintains the full stable as part of its pantheon of demons. While their given names are White Rider, Red Rider, Black Rider, and Pale Rider, they are identified in the Compendium as the proper representations of Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. As the world is almost always ending in the SMT franchise, the presence of these guys is almost expected.

** They first show up in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]''. Unfortunately, they're a bit late to the party as the world [[The End of the World as We Know It|already ended]]. Luckily, [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|Tokyo survived]] as the world in between the past one and next one, albeit now it is ball-shaped.

** In ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon]]'', the player can encounter the horsemen in special battles on a new moon or as part of various sidequests given out by the game's resident [[Louis Cypher]]. The catch is that they are directly referred to the reward items gained from beating them (i.e. The Crown of Victory for beating the white rider, The Sword of War for the red, etc.).

** ''[[Strange Journey]]'' features them again, as hidden bosses each in a different sector of the Schwarzwelt. They can be fought and summoned using the Fiend Converter.

** Beyond the main four, there are also several other signs of the apocalypse that can show up depending on the game, such as Trumpeter (the trumpeting angel signifying the beginning of the apocalypse), or Lady Harlot (the Whore of Babylon herself).

* You fight them in the game ''[[Hexen]] II''. Interestingly, Death is only the ''second'' boss you fight.

** Same reasoning as in ''[[Nethack]]'' below. The very fact that you're ''fighting'' them makes War the heavyweight (while having the most straightforward fighting style).

* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has a group of elite bosses named after the Four Horsemen, but they're actually extra-dimensional pseudo-alien invaders in giant floating egg suits with only vaguely thematic powers.

** Though they do not actually make an appearance, they are heavily referenced to in the [http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Deathcon_II 2011 Deathcon II quest], where the player must arrange statues associated with the Horsemen and place them on plinths. Also, [http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Horses Horses the Chicken], the pet of an NPC named Frank who helped found the Horsemen Clan, has transformations based on the Horsemen's attributes.

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has the Four Horseman in Naxxramas, a group of Death Knights who are the final boss fight of the Military Wing of the raid. It's generally agreed that each one is based off a classic horseman, though people aren't entirely sure which.

* These guys show up twice in ''[[Civilization]] IV'', once in the "Omens" official scenario, and again in the [[Fall From Heaven]] [[Game Mod|mod]].

* ''[[Darksiders]]'' has [[Player Character|you]] play an incredibly pissed-off War in an [[The End of the World as We Know It|Apocalypse]] gone awry. In this setting however, Famine and <s>Pestilence</s> Conquest have been replaced by Fury and Strife.

* Web RPG ''[[Adventure Quest]]'' recently began to introduce the concept of a Demipower group (weaker than gods or the beings who control the elements, but higher than any normal human and most Avatars) known as the Riders, specifically designed to destroy (or, unusually, create) worlds. War is a fightable boss who becomes stronger as the fight goes on and his HP drops, with Pestilence being alluded to in a cutscene when someone suggests smashing the altar that serves as their power source (it didn't work). The heroes eventually break War's altar... {{spoiler|by having two draconic gods breathe on it simultaneously. }} It knocks out one of the summoners and still leaves War with enough power to fight you a second time.

* Although they are named after demons, the Elemental Lords of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' are clearly meant to be analogues of the Horsemen. They do help end at least one or two civilizations on the planet, to boot.

* The [[Meaningful Name|Sin's City]] mission tier in ''[[Superhero City]]'' presents the Four Horsemen (Conquest, War, Famine and [[The Smurfette Principle|Death]]) as villains for your hero character to fight. Conquest has the power to instill the desire to rule over all things in humans within his vicinity; War, to instill bloodlust; Famine, to instill hunger to the point of the victims [[Extreme Omnivore|eating anything]] ([[I'm a Humanitarian|including human flesh]]); Death, to drain the life-force from everything in her immediate area.

* The Revelation Pack DLC for [[Motorstorm|MotorStorm: Apocalypse]] adds in four new vehicles themed on War, Pestilence, Famine and Death. They are represented by the Molotov Uradna-66 (a [[Mighty Glacier|racing big rig]]), Jester Arclight (a sprint car converted into a [[Jack of All Stats|buggy]]), Voodoo Acheron (a skeletal [[Cool Bike|custom chopper]]) and Falfer Tombstone (a [[The Big Guy|monster truck hearse]]) respectively.

 

== Webcomics ==

* The "Meanwhile in..." Saturday filler arc in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has Satan send the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse out to destroy the world. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) they run into the Four Horsemen of Inconvenience: Indigestion, Insomnia, Impotence, and Incompetence. Death is left impotent, Disease can't get any sleep, Famine's stomach hurts, and War fell off his horse and broke his arm. They don't feel much like destroying the world after that.

* ''[[Subnormality]]'', in its usual [[Anvilicious]] yet hilarious splendour, brings us [http://www.viruscomix.com/page433.html The Four Horsemen of the Atheist Apocalypse]. ''Tiptoe... through the tulips...''

* ''[[And Shine Heaven Now]]'''s universe has the ''[[Good Omens]]'' Horsepersons as their horsemen, except for Death, who is from ''[[Sandman]]''.

** Death has also filled in as the Ghost of Iscariot Yet to Come when she had some free time, and War appears to Pip Bernadette as the spirit of his new weapon, Scarlet, to try to claim him as her own.

** And even before that, Death appeared to explain to the readers that a time paradox was about to happen, due to Integra's maternal grandfather being killed in the past.

* ''[[Masquerade (webcomic)|Masquerade]]'' has this, with the Deadly Sins for added flavour!

 

== Web Original ==

* [http://twitter.com/Its_Death And] [http://www.twitter.com/Its_Famine now] [http://www.twitter.com/its_war they're] [http://www.twitter.com/Its_Pestilence on twitter].

* [[The Nostalgia Chick|Team NChick]] did this to themselves for laughs. Lindsay (the Nostalgia Chick) is war because she's apparently scary when she's angry, Elisa (The Makeover Fairy and Dr. Tease) is Death, Nella is Pestilence and Kali (the puppy) is Famine.

* [[Virtual Pet]] website Chicken Smoothie released a series of horses themed after the Four Horsemen for Halloween in 2011. Unusually for a website normally aimed at younger kids and preteen girls, the designs of the four horses were surprisingly grotesque, especially [http://static.chickensmoothie.com/archive/image.php?k=89994B911982C7BAA8CEDD3E32B63814&bg=aac4da Pestilence.] They were explicitly identified as "not for the faint of heart" when they were released.

* [http://www.keiththompsonart.com/pages/four_horsemen.html A modern take on the Four Horsemen].

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''A Claymation Halloween'' featured the Horsemen on sabbatical: Famine, Death, War, and... Bad Dentures.

* In ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' Season 4 {{spoiler|Charles Xavier (Death), Storm (Famine), Magneto (War) and Mystique (Pestilence)}} are taken complete control of by Apocalypse to be his "four horsemen" guarding his nodes of power across the earth so he can enact the grand finale battle for the series. And turn everyone into mutants. Each of the controlled mutants representing one of the four horsemen of Apocalypse. Calling it the Apocalypse makes it sound like it's a time and not a person. Unfortunately Rogue was stopped from touching Apocalypse or things would have gone very differently (or Rogue would have been turning everyone into mutants instead).

* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' had a My Little Pony commercial based on their four horses.

* Pestilence appears during an episode of ''[[Squidbillies]]'', to usher in the end of days. Amusingly, the Cuyler's aren't impressed by him, and actually mock him.

{{quote|'''Early:''' War, Famine, Death, and grasshoppers. One of those don't quite belong, do they?}}

 

== Real Life ==

* A drink called "The Four Horsemen" is made of [[Gargle Blaster|equal parts Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Johnnie Walker and Jose Cuervo.]]

** Toss in some Wild Turkey bourbon and it becomes "The Four Horsemen Go Hunting".

** A different drink with the same name is composed of Jaegermeister, Goldschlaeger, Rumple Minze and Bacardi 151. This is the "I have too much blood in my alcohol stream" version.

[[Category:Biblical Motifs]]

[[Category:Ensembles]]