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You think I'm a monster. I'm jello shots at a party. I just... remove inhibitions.
War, speaking to Sam
in Good God Y'all

War, also known as the Red Horseman, is a powerful entity and is also one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with his brothers Death, Famine, and Pestilence. He manifests physically on Earth by taking on human form. He personifies the concept of war.

History[]

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.
— War
in Good God, Y'all
Supernatural-The Arrivial of War The Horseman

One of the destruction caused by War; with the town's bridge and the river to be polluted upon War's arrival

It was implied War exists wherever the phenomena itself occurs, which means he was there when man first made war on each other.

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 destroyed 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.

Season 5[]

Sympathy For The Devil

After Lucifer ascends from his cage, War's presence is made known and has an effect given the successful North Korean nuclear weapon test.

The End[]

In the alternate future where Lucifer was the victor in the Apocalypse and conquested Earth, President Palin bombed Houston in an act of war, highly likely a reference to War making the humans kill each other.

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 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 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 wasn'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.

War'sFalter

War's defeat.

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 Sam proceeded to slice off four fingers from War's right hand, including the one with his ring, while Dean held War. The ring fell to the road, where Dean picked it up. 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. Even after his human form was defeated, his essence lived on in the form of his phenomena because war itself can't be killed.

Powers and Abilities[]

War induces hallucination

War makes people see demons

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.
  • Omnipresence - As a concept and force of nature, War exists whereever his phenomena occurs, like Germany, the Middle East, etc.
  • Induced Hallucination - War can manipulate reality, and even affect how people smell, hear and see him and others, 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. This power has a radius large enough to affect an entire town. His effect also apparently made veteran hunters forget that normal weaponry cannot kill demons.
  • 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 to 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. However, it though it is unknown if he truly used physical strength to break the bridge, as he was easily overpowered by Sam and Dean and never put up any resistance against them.
  • 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[]

  • Dependency - War flourishes and thrives on war, the phenomena affects the abundancy of his power and the lack of it would flush him out of existence altogether.
  • 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 can kill a Horseman's physical embodiment, but not their attribute.

Physical Appearance[]

War has a true form, but it's unknown what it looks like. After being summoned by Lucifer, he manifested 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[]

Trivia[]

  • War is the first known representant/incarnation of the concept of war, the second being the Greek God, Ares.
  • "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.
  • Due to the times and technology, War travels in a red Mustang which represents his red steed.
    • War's "red horse" is a 1966 Mustang because the 1964 1/2 year didn't have a "fastback" option. A floating "corral" around the Mustang horse on the grill and the lack of chrome on the sides indicates that it's not a 1965 model, the lack of "forks" on the sides indicates it's not a 1967 model, the presence of the "air scoops" indicates it's not a later than 1966 model.
  • War talks about the Irish killing each other. The actor who plays War, Titus Welliver, later appeared in Sons of Anarchy as Jimmy O'Phelan, the leader of a Real IRA group.
  • War was the fourth character, after the Reaper, Acheri and Chuck, to materialize their own body without needing to possess another person to manifest on Earth.
  • It can be implied by War's backstory, that he was responsible for thousands of wars throughout time, including modern military conflicts.

Lore[]

Horseman of War

War

In apocalypology/studies of the end times, war is understood to be given power of conflict over a fourth of the earth. It is neither human or spirit, but a consequence of sin in the world. It will ride on a red horse wielding a flaming sword, turning nation against nation.

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