War

"You think I'm a monster. I'm jello shots at a party. I just... remove inhibitions."

- War, speaking to Sam

War, also known as the Red Horseman, is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with Death, Famine and Pestilence.

Early History

 * "I was in Germany. Then in Germany. Then in the Middle East. I was in Darfur when my beeper went off. I'm waiting to hook up with my siblings. I've got three. We're gonna have so much fun together."

In 1914 and 1939, War was in Germany presumably for the First World War and Second World War. In recent times, War stayed in the Middle East. He was in Sudan before Lucifer summoned him. War is indirectly summoned/triggered by Lucifer's release from the Cage and appeared as a shooting star to River Pass, Colorado, causing the river to be polluted and destroy the town's bridge upon arrival. He then killed a local man named Roger and left him "buried in a ditch", using his powers to assume the man's form.

Good God, Y'all
When War, the Red Horseman arrived at the town, he caused people to hallucinate each other being demons and make them attack and kill each other. During this situation, Rufus called a wheelchair-bound Bobby Singer for help, stating that demons had infested the entire town. Unable to go himself, Bobby deployed Sam and Dean instead. Upon investigating, Dean and Sam ran into Ellen, and she took them to a safe haven in a small church, where multiple innocent bystanders lay low. One of these people was War, disguised as Roger, who wanted to experience the chaos he caused up close for his own amusement. Ellen informed the Winchesters that Jo and Rufus had been captured and that Jo was most likely being possessed by a demon. Sam decided to accompany Ellen in searching for Jo, while Dean stayed behind to protect the people.

Soon after leaving the church, Ellen and Sam found a nest of demons, although Sam was surprised to find that they had a fire going - "demons don't get cold". They prepared to enter but were stopped by Jo and other townspeople. They fought each other and Sam was taken, forcing Ellen to retreat.

A tied up Sam woke up to find that Rufus and Jo had black eyes but, to them, so did Sam. Rufus spilled Holy Water on Sam but nothing happened, so he forced salt into his mouth, but still, nothing happened. Back at the church, the survivors prepared for a fight by gathering and setting up ammo and weapons. Dean and Ellen talked about what happened with the demons.

Back at the hideout, Roger approached Sam, having somehow appeared there despite having been with the group at the church. Sam soon learned who War was and the the real Roger was dead. War revealed that he only needed to take out a bridge and implant a few hallucinations in order for the townspeople to turn on one another. He also told Sam he could see could see inside his head and knew that he still craved demon blood. War then turned his ring, causing blood to come from his head and then pretended to have been attacked to alert Rufus and Jo, who knocked Sam out. Back at the church, Dean deduced that the conflict was't demon-oriented, but that War was behind it all. He read aloud from Revelations 8:10:
 * "And there fell a great star from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon the river, and the name of the star was Wormwood. And many men died."

War went back to the church, and Dean soon realized who he was, only to watch him to turn his ring again and make everyone see Dean and Ellen as demons. The two were forced to flee to the place where Ellen and Sam were attacked. The survivors armed themselves and left the church while Dean fought Rufus until he managed to convince him that War was the problem, not demons. Jo learned the same from Ellen.

Later, Dean and Sam ambushed War as he was walking to his car and grabbed him. Sam pulled out Ruby's Knife (which he used to kill other "demons", who did not glow from the inside out when killed), though War was unafraid and taunted them, noting that they couldn't kill him. However, they knew this and proceeded to sliced off four fingers from War's right hand, including the one with his ring. War and his car vanished, and haven't appeared since. Brady would later describe him as a "withered husk" without his ring, and added that even if the ring were to be returned, War would still not recover.

Powers and Abilities
As a Horseman, War is a powerful being, possessing a great amount of natural power. However, as a Horseman, he requires his ring to focus his powers.


 * Immortality - As one of the Horseman, he has an infinite lifespan and is un-killable, though he can be damaged and weakened.
 * Illusion Casting - War could create illusions and hallucinations, which drove people to violence. He seemed reliant on his ring to do so, as he had to twist it to cause such an effect.
 * Induced Hallucination - War can manipulate reality, and even affect how people smell, hear and see him and others. This power has a radius large enough to affect an entire town.
 * Cosmic Awareness - As a horseman, War possesses an incredible amount of knowledge and understanding of the universe and its workings. He can understand concepts, such as War, the Apocalypse and human nature. Through the same trait, War is an expert manipulator, able create mass panic with barely any input from him.
 * Teleportation - War can go anywhere he chooses in the universe.
 * Electrokinesis - War managed to disable all forms of electronic communication in a town.
 * Super strength (possibly) - War can exert extreme levels of tremendous physical force, as he smashed a bridge in half (though it is unknown if he truly used physical strength to break the bridge and he was easily overpowered by Sam and Dean).
 * Super stamina - War requires nothing to keep him going.
 * Telepathy - Like his brother Famine, War could read peoples' minds and thoughts. However, unlike his brother, he did not require contact to do this, he just needed to look at them.
 * Invisibility - As a Horseman, War is naturally invisible and can only be seen if he wants others to see him, which allowed him to move unnoticed by the townspeople in River Pass.
 * Shapeshifting - War can alter his form at will, allowing him to pretend to be Roger, a human he killed and left in a ditch when he first arrived on Earth.

Weaknesses

 * Ring Removal - Without his ring, he can't manifest a physical form on Earth.
 * Physical objects - Anything serrated or jagged, or for that matter anything that can be implemented into a weapon, that can be used to pierce can inflict pain upon War's physical form. His physical body can be pierced and penetrated identically to how humans sustain infliction.
 * Primordial Entities - God and the Darkness can do anything to War.
 * Death's scythe - It is able to kill a Horseman.

Physical Appearance
War has a true form, but it's unknown what it looks like. After being released by Lucifer, he manifests by mimicking a human named Roger.

Personality
War is deceitful and highly intelligent. He likes to cause chaos indirectly from the shadows, manipulating humans with their own emotions and letting them take care of the rest. He is also shown to be a very good actor, able to fool everyone into thinking he really was Roger.

War has a very negative view of humans, seeing them as naturally vicious and not requiring a reason to fight and kill. Much like Famine, War believes only a little push is needed to cause people to murder. He is also somewhat sadistic, as he enjoys watching them kill each other.

He seems to have a good relationship with his siblings, as he describes them as having a lot of fun together.

War seems to be free-roamed, unlike his brothers, who are involved with Lucifer, and is therefore likely not spell-bound or at least, like his brother Death, able to resist the spell to an extent.

Appearances

 * Season 5
 * Good God, Y'all
 * The Devil You Know (mentioned only)

Trivia
Krieg
 * "Wormwood," the name of the star signifying the arrival of War in the Bible, is also the name of the plant that Dean points out as being associated with the restless dead in Houses of the Holy, Season 2.
 * Due to the times and technology, War travels in a red Mustang which represents his red steed.