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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are three deity-like beings who are the heralds of the Apocalypse and whose primary task is to ultimately execute the End of the World by means of their combined powers. The four are known respectively as: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The Horsemen are neither angels nor demons, but rather a separate kind of being that cannot be destroyed. Each possesses a special ring that allows them to channel and focus their powers (without which they are greatly hindered), and each, as tradition dictates from the Book of Revelation, travels in a car of their choice bearing the color of horse each is said to ride in the Bible (their choice of cars over horses being a sign that they have "gotten with the times"). The Horsemen are revealed to not truly be on either side, Heaven or Hell, but rather they are ultimately loyal to one another and their jobs for which they were created. After Lucifer rises from his cage in Hell, he seemingly takes command of the Horsemen (seemingly through the use of a binding spell to compel them to comply with his directions) and directs them in enacting his genocide against humanity. It is revealed however that at least some of the Horsemen resent Lucifer's use of them in his fight with God, ultimately revealing that he only has limited control over them. Their rings, unbeknown to all but a few select individuals, are the keys to Lucifer's original cage in Hell, and thus the Horseman collectively hold the key to sending him back into captivity.

General Information

General traits of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Supernatural Verse

  • The Four Horsemen seem to be set strongly on their assigned missions.
  • They are extremely powerful.
  • Their true origins currently are unknown, as is the method of destroying them.
  • It has yet to be confirmed whether, The Horsemen are High-Ranking Angelic figures or if they're Demonic figures with extreme amounts of authority.
  • Horsemen are immune to Sam's powers.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Antichrist as described in the book of Revelation are part of the apocalyptic destruction of Earth. They are generally described as War, Death, Famine and Pestilence (also described as Conquest or the Anti-Christ himself) - each riding a different coloured horse.

The Horsemen

"I have three siblings and we're so much fun together."

- War, from "Good God, Y'all"

Heralds of the Apocalypse and either very high level demons or something more powerful, the Horsemen had up until this point been relatively idle; existing in a sort of multiple existence all over the world where their specific elements preside. War describes his life before the breaking of the Seals as being all over the place, more specifically existing where every major war in human history has taken place. Now that Lucifer is free, they have begun to up the stakes and spread their powers across the Earth to turn it into Hell on Earth.

In Death Takes a Holiday Alastair remarks the Horsemen are well aware of Lilith's plans and "are jonesing for the Apocalypse".

Unlike demons or higher-tier demons like the Seven Sins, the Horsemen are virtually indestructible. The only way to destroy them would be to annihilate all war, famine, pestilence and death in the world. Though in The Devil You Know it is revealed that separation from their rings leaves them in a withered near catatonic state.

The Horsemen have a very slanted view of humanity and see themselves as just bringing out in humanity what is already there. Both War and Famine have said humans "only need a little push" in order to do horrible things, and both have surprisingly shown a level of disgust/contempt toward how easily corruptible humans are and what they can do. Pestilence prefers diseases to people, claiming that belief of disease being a bad thing is just because of sick people, and he can never understand why God has such love for man.

It is unknown if their human forms are constructions, illusions, or actual human vessels; Anna hinted that they may be using vessels when speaking to Castiel saying "The horsemen can go back to their day jobs" once the Apocalypse has stopped.

Each Horsemen also possesses a ring that allows them to channel and focus their power, and while it doesn't kill them, separating them from their rings is the only known way to drive them off. In Hammer of the Gods Gabriel revealed the rings are actually the keys to Lucifer's Prison and if the brothers can collect all of them and trick Lucifer back to the cage, they can be used to open and reseal the cage.

In Two Minutes to Midnight it is shown that Horsemen cannot be properly filmed, as when Dean and Sam are watching a camera for Pestilence they find him because his face is hidden with a static like distortion.

It also hinted that Lucifer may not have total control of the Horsemen as it is revealed in the upcoming episode The Devil You Know that Dean and Sam are instructed to find Death and Pestilence's handlers in order to acquire the rings. Lucifer said in Abandon All Hope... that the Horseman (Death in this case) are very demanding and it requires certain rituals and agreements to keep them happy and compliant. Their handlers are revealed in The Devil You Know to be more like personal attendants seeing to each Horseman's personal needs and overseeing some of their interests. Brady for example has been overseeing Pestilence's Croatoan trials while the Horseman has been setting the stage for the virus's release.

The Horsemen also have a very deep loyalty to one another that superseads any alligances with Lucifer, Pestilence wanted to kill the brothers in revenge for what they did to War and Famine. When a minion warned him they were under orders not harm the brothers Pestilence raised his voice to a demonic level sating if the Devil wanted them so badly he could glue them back together after.

War

Appearing in "Good God, Y'all", War arrived in Rufus' town in the guise of a well known resident who he had previously killed a few nights ago. In the Bible, he is said to ride a red horse but these days he "got with the times" and travels in a red sports car. Once in town, he destroyed the only exit from the town and then got to work on the people of the town by using his ring to generate hallucinations making the people believe that others around them had been possessed by demons. War hates acting directly because in his opinion the best way to cause chaos is to cause panic and let humans take care of the rest. Realizing that they could not kill War because the only way to do that would be to destroy all war in the world, the Winchesters instead cut off his ring finger, breaking the spell he had cast over the town and forcing him to depart. In The Devil You Know Brady reveales the Winchesters have reduced him and Famine to near catatonic states. His ring is gold with a red stone.

Famine

Famine appears in My Bloody Valentine as an old sickly man. Improvements in farming and agriculture have severely weakened Famine, resulting in his sickly and weakened state. Because of his weakened state, Famine can barely infect anyone by himself, forcing Lucifer to send lower level demons to the Horseman to care for him until his powers are fully regenerated. Despite his weakened state, he is still strong enough to resist an assault from a Demon blood juiced Sam and explains all the Horsemen are immune to Sam's powers. Like his brother War, he too possesses a ring that allows him to focus and direct his powers. His ring is silver with a black stone.

Pestilence

Pestilence first appears at the end of Hammer of the Gods when he bought flu medicine from a small drug store, and spread some disgusting mucus over everything. He drives a sickly green/white car with a license plate that spells "sick and tired". He is accompanied by a swarm of flies and has the appearance of a man suffering a heavy cold though this appeared to be a ruse for after leaving the drug store he straightens up and laughs while throwing the medicine away. His ring is gold with a pale green stone.

Death

Death didn't make a physical appearance in Abandon All Hope..., but his presence was released from its prison in this episode. Lucifer released Death with his ritual. Although not seen on-screen, Death showed up and caused the dead to rise from the grave in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. He made his first visible appearance in Two Minutes to Midnight, where he was seen in Chicago. After getting out of his white car, he walks down the sidewalk, where a man on his cell phone rudely bumps into him and collapses dead soon thereafter. Crowley later helps Dean track Death to a pizzeria, where Death makes a deal with Dean to give him his ring in exchange for him do all in his power to put Lucifer back into his cell. His ring is silver with a white stone.

Death is the eldest of the Horsemen and is older than most creatures can understand; he explains to Dean that to him the entire galaxy is still in its infancy in comparison to him. In a conversation with Dean he claims to know God by stating that neither entity can remeber Death's true age anymore. Death's iron reacts in the same way as Dean's pendant - glowing hot in his presence. Due to his age Death is very detatched from the rest of the world and does not really care that much for the Apocalypse and those involved thinking them to be little better than bacteria. Dean who is an important tool for the war is insignificant to Death in the grand scheme of the universe and he openly despises Lucifer who has him under his control through the use of a binding spell. In a similar manner to Gabriel, Death compares Lucifer to a spoilt child throwing a tantrum and despises the fact he is using him has a weapon in his squable with his father.

Family

  • Each other (kindred)

Appearances

Season 5

Notes

  • It has been implied that Lucifer holds only limited control over the Horsemen, and that they are not entirely pleased with abiding by his directions. For instance, when Pestilence is reminded that Lucifer does not want the Winchester brothers harmed by one of his subordinate demons in Two Minutes to Midnight, Pestilence openly shows disdain for Lucifer's commands, testily shouting that if Lucifer wants them so badly that he can "glue them back together" after he's taken his revenge on them for their actions against two of his brothers, War and Famine. The clearest sign of this yet, however, is seen during Dean's encounter with Death in Chicago, Illinois, where Death reveals that he never agreed to work for Lucifer and only does so because Lucifer has cast a binding spell that forces the Horseman to acquiesce to his directions (though this is limited as exemplified by Death's straying from Lucifer's plans at points). This may perhaps be the reason the other Horsemen are also working for Lucifer, albeit reluctantly as implied by Pestilence and Death.
  • The Horsemen collectively hold the original keys to Lucifer's cage in Hell and thus hold the power to reopen the cage and return him to captivity. The rings combine together to form a key-like device that presumably acts to control the opening and closing of Lucifer's cage. While the Winchesters were compelled to remove the rings of War, Famine, and Pestilence by force, Death willingly hands his own over to Dean in Two Minutes to Midnight in addition to giving him the instructions necessary to operate them to control the cage door, in exchange for removing "the leash around my (Death's) neck" by sending the Devil back to his cell in Hell.
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