| “ | I can sense it, Vampire... you and I both tread a bloody path. Since our roads have crossed here, now is the time for wicked bloodshed... Draw your blade and make war with Death, the red knight stained with blood! | „ |
| ~ War to Alucard |
War, also known as The Red Rider or The Red Horseman, is one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Overview[]
Riding upon the red horse named Ruin, the fearsome Horseman of War, who caused open warfare across the land of man. Unlike Conquest, the Horseman of War specializes in waging war between nations and people rather than internal strife. He wields a tremendous greatsword that glistens with blood and is physically the most powerful of the four horsemen.
Continually seeking out chaos and destruction, he would find unrest in small towns and great cities, and feeds fire to the flames of disgruntled commoners or unhappy elites and socialites that quickly escalate to full-fledged battles and sometimes world-covering wars. With every arrow shot, every bullet fired, and every sword swung, he grows stronger and stronger, feeding off of the world's chaos.
Description[]
He is often pictured holding a sword upwards as though ready for battle or mass slaughter. His horse's color is red and in some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery" red πυρρός, from πῦρ, fire). The color of the horse, coupled with the rider's sword, symbolizes the great bloodshed that must ultimately befall the world, and to some he also symbolizes divine wrath and spiritual warfare, making him even more formidable than he already appears.
The color red, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword, suggests blood that is to be spilled. The sword held upward by the second Horseman may represent war or a declaration of war, as seen in heraldry. In military symbolism, swords held upward, especially crossed swords held upward, signify war and entering into battle.
Personality[]
As he is a serious individual, War also has a deep lust towards conflict and battle, becoming greatly exhilarated by the prospect of having to face an opponent that can truly test his might. This makes War the more impulsive, wild, and reckless of the Horsemen much to the frustration of his fellow Horsemen.
While he is known to relish combat, he is also known to dislike winning through dishonorable or underhanded means. He is also known to despise using stealthy means to achieve his ends, preferring open conflict to deception or subtlety and especially hating the idea of assassinating a foe.
War is a very fierce, violent, and fearless warrior, unmoved by threats and leaps into danger without any hesitation, to the point where he can lose himself in the thrill of combat. Beneath his serious exterior, War has a lethally short temper and can be quite fearsome when provoked. Despite his honorable tendencies, he is phenomenally brutal in combat, often viciously beating or maiming his enemies, and can be quite vindictive if he has been wronged by an opponent.
Power and Abilities[]
As one of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, he is a very powerful entity. Among the Four Horsemen, War is said to be the second most powerful, behind Death itself. Since the concept and theme of war itself seems endless, the Horseman is seemingly an unstoppable rampaging juggernaut of destruction. He is physically the strongest with Immanuel believing that he is capable of defeating almost any warrior in combat.
His very presence instigates violence and bloodshed among mortals as he, in his own words, simply removes the inhibitions of humans and they would simply slaughter each other either for the pettiest of reasons or no reason at all. He was completely unaffected by the onslaught of attacks from the Global Occult Coalition during his path towards one of the towers of Babel that lay within one of the four corners of the Earth and was unhindered despite their best efforts. Even the combined might of Alucard and Seras were not enough to completely stop him. His energy projectiles are reminiscent of spectral warring attacks such as rains of fiery red arrows, a cyclone of spears, and malleable bullets that he can move like liquid.
Seeing that he embodies the very concept of war, he is an extremely adept combatant and is said to be the most skilled and powerful fighter amongst the Four Horsemen with only Death being his possible superior. War proved himself to be an extremely deadly fighter when he first fought against Alucard as War's methodically brutal ways of fighting always had Alucard on the defensive and his relentless barrage of attacks have even incapacitated the No-Life King for several moments. He also effortlessly defeated Seras when she came to her master's aid. War was even able to tangle with Dante and Derous simultaneously and could hold his own against them for quite a considerable amount of time.
Quotes[]
| “ | When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come and see!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. | „ |
| ~ Revelation 6:3-4 |
| “ | Violence will always be part of the nature of the world. No matter where you go, it will be there. You may try to suppress it, but you will fail. I should know. I grew up surrounded by violence. It became who I am. Don't bother trying to get rid of it. War and violence will just come back eventually. | „ |
| ~ War. |
| “ | The Ogre. The loyal right hand of Death, War will bring the apocalypse to others, pulling the end to world. | „ |
| ~ Immanuel |
