Who are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

It was prophesised, that at the end of days, when four of the seven seals open, these riders will enter upon our Earth, bringing forth the Apocalypse and with it, the devastation of humankind.

A tale from the bible that has made its way into modern day, mainstream culture, appearing in games, books, and films. The four horsemen are symbolic warnings of death and destruction when the time came to pass judgement on the inhabitants of the world.

But who were these riders and what did they represent?

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Written by Jason Collier
Narrated by Adam Marsdin

[grimdolo]

I just call them Bob, Doug, Jeff, and Gordon.

[benparrish]

Warren Worthington the 3rd Angel/Archangel is the most underrated X-Men character & WWthe3rd is the best Horseman "Death" of Apocalypse

[BarbarosaAlexander]

Having read Discworld, obviously Death is the most badass. But, as per Good Omens, War is a close second.

[rdeye]

The Pegasus constellation, the Centaur constellation, Cygnus constellation is the flaming Sword, Sagittarius constellation with the Bow and death is the planet Mars (maybe Saturn)? When they are all in the same quadrant of the sky it is time of the Great Tribulation. Woe unto mankind.

[jamestipton]

Finally a usage of the Catholic variant of the Bible.

[kodytiffany]

Personally I am not a believer of the 4 horsemen... simply because Horses are not ridden in many modern armies as far as I know.
I do think of them as the 4 Harbingers or 4 Omens of Ragnarok (easier to spell compared to the A word).
As to my stories... Tungsten or Darkales makes the most sense for me to connect them too... but that is to obvious given both being connected to death so much.
Instead I think I will use the idea to make a certain nation seem more dangerous and to give me room to work with them in my own way.
Carthak is a nation created by Tamora Pierce and if you want the cannon version vs mine check out her many Tortal books as there is about 5 or 6 series connected to that universe.

My version pulls from the most current version of Cannon plus about 10 years. That is to make any child that I might want more character from to be old enough I can do something with them.

So Carthak is a USSR sized chunk of starting to recover from decades of famine Jungle and desert like area. Think Midle East but bordered by ocean and Jungle and Mountains
It has an ancient and Brutal culture of Blood and conquest with just a dab Civil prowess from its even more ancient "prehistory". Despite the lore feeling like it needs a clear BC factor; its calendar is more like old school Japans where its based off dynasties rather than singular events like christ. 4000 years of history at least.
At a point of 10 years later. Its recovering from Civil upheaval akin to the fall of roam; so by saying a couple decades later you immediately get how tumonious it is constantly. the power struggle is yet fully settled and all the relief they need to to return to settled and steady is not close.
The 4 Horsemen in this case refers to the 4 main leaders to the collective rebeling factions; Each Horsemen= 1 Warlord vying for the final throne call. The Current leader is the faction of compassion and kindness and ultimately the most fair and generous leader possible. The other 4 are tyrants wanting utter control while the current leader wants a UK like set up of King and Parliment. Not perfect sure but miles beyond how good any tyranny or dictatorship it would otherwise be.
Their lead deity is one that is simply called the Trickster and his Daughter the Grave Yard Hag. Both are chaotic Neutral at best for alignment; but border line Chaotic evil.
To better understand them read the Immortals and Tricksters Choice Duet. Each covers the them some what in the case of the Immortals its book 3; in the case of Tricksters Choice Duet its both books. One is the GY hag and the other her father that you learn about; both by Tamora Pierce.

[kodytiffany]

Stephen King= Death
David Bowie= Famine
Tim Curry= Pestilence
Heath Ledger= War
There ya go now they have identity for people to incision on horses. Your Welcome.So Tim Curry came forth to spread the pestilence of conquest and ingulf the world in his shadow... For he was fear "IT" self and knew no equal; riding away on Silver he stole from the lone ranger.
Then came Heath Ledger that found all of this Funny and just wanted to make the rest of us laugh at the hypocricty of the World. Two-faced as his Horse was it was Harley the threat it could of been. So it Red to much into "IT".
Then came David Bowie who had to feed his Goblin Army; people only having 13 hours to take Wheat food they could back from him. The leader of his Goblin Army was Major Tom and he only wanted to return home so he starved himself Eating. His horse was named Ashes and it only wanted to return to ashes so its hunger could end.
Last but not least came the Crimson King itself Death; Riding on the Pale horse known as Walter O'Dim or in some places as Randal Flagg or in others as Merlyn. King brought with him all the ways a person or monster could die; only those surrounded by 19 roses and between 12 doors with their 17 keys holding onto 7 parts of Gan will survive him... for beware he comes blowing the Horn of Eld bringing forth all the Ghost riders in the sky that might play that marching tune... singing this is the day your gonna die.

I hope you got all the references because I gluted it with them.
I would of never linked Pestilence and Conquest... now that connection was what I was most surprised by.
The numbers in Kings thing are not all referencing the same point of the story. So I will point out their meaning here...
19= The main crew of the Dark Tower runs into this number constantly and it holds cosmic power for the group that can be good or bad.
12= for each spoke of the great wheel of the connected beams of power. Each beam connected to spokes
17= Rolands personal childhood friend groups version of 19.
7= Just a mentioned lucky number not anything more.

[flobbertdobson]

Patton was war, a general who thought he was the greatest generals reborn. Oppenheimer was death and even claimed such. Same time period there's another 2.

[LordLazaruss]

There is also a fifth horseman now called Woke.