The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Who Are They & What Do They Represent?

Mad lads on horses that look like they belong in a dark souls game, that was the intention and Markus the mad lad himself made it happen with his stunning art.

The thing i like about the 4 horseman is that they kind of make a loop such as: conquest leads to war which leads to famine which then leads to death or war leads to famine which leads to pestilence which, also, leads to death. Thus a wierd, most likely unintended, loop.

This is actually quite fascinating. It appears to me as if the horsemen following one upon another does have a specific significance. Conquest leads to war. War leads to famine. Famine leads to death.

The mythology was lost along the centuries but there were originally 5 horsemen. The 5th one was named Ryan. He'd condescendingly eat his yogurt standing over you during your lunch breaks.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett included the four horsemen. Pale was Pollution (because, it explains, pestilence had retired on the invention of penicillin) and they, along with War and Famine, had been killing time for the 6000 years of human history. But Death, who does what they are, had simply been working. This is my favourite interpretation.

It has also been said that they represent the four cycles of life. Prosperity, struggle, decline, death then repeat.

“Medusa let’s get stoned” that’s brilliant.

My favorite iteration of the Horsemen is in the novel "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. In it, they are shown as a biker gang.

Store up your food supplies before the third rider, as I'm pretty sure the second one is already here.

I remember Supernatural's interpretation of the horseman. Famine was a sickly looking man, bound to a wheelchair, and had body guards that represented locusts. Wherever he roamed, people became infatuated with anything and everything. Food, sex, drugs. etc. I would see how basically widespread addiction would also lead to an economic collapse as represented by the original white rider, Conquest. Further, War was imagined as like a racketeer personality that manipulated the hysteria and hallucinations of people that drove even good men to violence. It's more interesting to imagine the Horseman as living Omens, causing the apocalypse slowly but surely with their respective control over the minds and bodies of people and the physical land then directly bound to faith in my opinion.

Honestly, i wouldn't even be mad if Jesus yanked all the seals at once if he saw what humans are doing after the mad lad died for them.

Props to whoever did the beautiful graphics and animations. Especially loved watching the scales slowly tipping back and forth ✅

Fallout Shelter's version of the four horsemen was quite interesting. The quest was from what I can tell the longest in the game as it had 3 chapters. The horseman were simply created by one individual to represent different factions in the wasteland in hopes that they would inevitably wipe themselves out. Pestilence; an average Radscorpion, followed by those wishing to be iratiated as to be deemed worthy. War; A Raider chief with an ego suited in some power armor and fitted with a minigun, followed by raiders. Famine; A iratiated ghoul followed by other ghouls who wished to consume. Death; a molerat followed by a cult from another vault simply because of a typo in their manual making Death capitalized. (Ironic seeing as Death was the only one named.) What I found interesting about it was simply that each Horseman represented a different faction, but were treated as if each were a different religion. Towards the end of the quest line each faction followed by their horseman meet at the location of Death and seem to finish themselves off as was according to plan only with the help of the player. I doubt many people have played through the game and know what I'm talking about but I felt the need to mention it here as it was quite interesting and honestly made the game really fun for me as well as being one of the most entertaining representations I've seen of The Four Horsemen.

This automatically get a liked because so often "Conquest" is regarded as pestilence.

They’re the protagonists from Darksiders franchise

I like the Highlander-TV interpretation - that the Four were marauding early immortals whose rampages were so widespread and brutal that they burned into mytho-historical narratives and became the reason why these beings were spoken of in the first place.

The fact that they get customized Horse's is just makes them even more cooler

So when the metal band “Lamb of God” makes an album called breaking the 4 seals, we’re all fucked?

and as we all know, Death SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS, and his horse is named Binky.

Time Has taken its toll on you The lines that crack your face Famine Your body it has torn through Withered in every place Pestilence For what you've had to endure And what you have put others through Death Deliverance for you for sure Now there's nothing you can do