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The horseman was a Hessian mercenary, sent to these shores by German princes to keep Americans under the yoke of England, but unlike his compatriots who came for money, the Horseman came for the love of carnage. When battle was joined, there you'd find him. He rode a giant black steed named Daredevil. He was infamous for riding his horse hard into battle, chopping off heads at full gallop. He had filed his teeth down to sharp points to add to the ferocity of his appearance. This butcher didn't finally reach his end...until the year of '79, not far from here in our Western Woods. They chopped off his head with his own sword. Even today the Western Woods is a haunted place, where brave men will not venture. For what was planted in the ground that day...was a seed of evil.
~ Baltus van Tassel describing the horseman and his past brutality.

The Headless Horseman, is the secondary antagonist of the 1999 horror movie, Sleepy Hollow, an adaptation of the late Washington Irving's 1820 Gothic Horror story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

The Headless Horseman was the ghost of a merciless Hessian mercenary who was infamous for chopping off his victims' heads. Following his death during the American Revolutionary War, the Hessian was brought back from the dead by Lady Van Tassel, who controlled him in order to accomplish her own plans of revenge.

He was portrayed by Christopher Walken, who also played Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, Bradford Whitewood Sr. in At Close Range, Frank White in King of New York, Max Shreck in Batman Returns, Vincenzo Coccotti in True Romance, Gabriel in The Prophecy series, Mr. Smith in Nick of Time, Colonel Cutter in Antz, Reed Thimple in The Country Bears, Salvatore Maggio in Kangaroo Jack, Cornelius Hatcher in The Rundown and King Louie in the 2016 The Jungle Book live-action remake. His stunts were performed by the martial artist Ray Park, who also played Darth Maul in the Star Wars franchise and Toad in X-Men.

Biography[]

In life, the Horseman was a Hessian mercenary, who was summoned by King George III and fought in the American Revolutionary War. However, unlike his companions who came for money, the Hessian came for his love of slaughter and spent his years riding into battle with his horse, Daredevil, cutting off the heads of American soldiers.

It was not until the winter of 1779 that the Hesse finally met the end of him.

A troop of Continental soldiers ambushed the Hessian in a clearing near the woods west of Sleepy Hollow, first shooting down Daredevil (much to the Hessian's dismay) and then opening fire on him.

Hesso managed to shoot the bullets and flee towards the trees where he ran into two little girls who were collecting firewood. The Hessian calmly told the girls to be quiet, but one of them ( Mary Archer) gave him away by breaking a stick, which then alerted the enemy soldiers to his location. Once the Horseman was trapped, he decided to sell his life dearly, killing several of his pursuers. However, one of the few still standing finally managed to stab him in the side, leaving him badly injured, and then decapitate him with his own sword.

After witnessing the Hessian's death and burial by soldiers, young Mary sold her soul to the Devil so she could resurrect the headless Hessian from the dead and use him to exact revenge on the Van Garrett and Van Tassel families for leading to his family returned to their rightful home in Sleepy Hollow.

During the beginning of the film, he was seen resurrected from the grave, but was headless, while later going around cutting off people's heads in Sleepy Hollow.

Upon his arrival, New York Police Constable, Ichabod Crane (the protagonist of the film), soon learned that the Horseman's Skull was stolen from his grave and was used to control him in committing the murders. Ichabod also learned that all of the victims (except for Brom Van Brunt, who was only killed by the Horseman in self-defense, since he wasn't chosen to be a victim) had special ties to the Van Tassel Family and that the argument was over the land rights and fortune that the Van Tassel Family inherited.

At first, Ichabod believed that Baltus Van Tassel was the one behind it since the latter inherited the fortune following the Van Garretts' death, but it wasn't when Baltus was killed by the Horseman following the deaths of Dr. Lancaster and Reverend Steenwyck. The next morning, Ichabod suddenly realized that Baltus' second wife, Lady Van Tassel, (who was actually a grown Mary Archer) was the one who controlled the Horseman into committing the murders, as she grew envious of the Van Garrett Family and the citizens of Sleepy Hollow for driving her out into the Western Woods as a child following her parents' deaths.

Near the climax, Lady Van Tassel summoned the Horseman again to murder her stepdaughter, Katrina, so that she could secure the entire fortune to herself, but Ichabod defeated her (with the help from young Masbath, whose father was a victim of the Horseman) and returned the skull back to the Horseman. After his head was restored back to its original form, the Horseman was free from Lady Van Tassel's control and decided to spare Ichabod, Katrina, and Masbath. After he reunited with Daredevil, the Horseman then spotted the unconscious Lady Van Tassel, who then recognized her as the little girl who betrayed him to his death years ago and was the one responsible for making him commit the murders. Without hesitation, the Horseman then angrily grabbed Lady Van Tassel, gave her a bloody kiss, and he and Daredevil galloped themselves back to Hell with a screaming Lady Van Tassel in tow, with the hope to make her pay for her crimes and fulfill her side of the deal with the Devil.

Personality[]

The first thing that stands out about the Horseman is his cruelty and savagery: he enlisted as a mercenary because he loved battle and slaughter; He sharpened his teeth to inspire fear, and went from combat to combat slaughtering soldiers.

Despite all these negative traits in life, the Horseman demonstrated unparalleled courage, storming into the fiercest battles, turning the tide alone with his one-man charges, coming to be considered a true threat, and fighting to the death in his final fight instead of surrendering. As can be seen, the Horseman can be bloodthirsty, but the Horseman is not a sadist or someone who kills anyone just because, letting the innocent live or those who have not done anything to them, and he has a crude code of honor: when he took The two Archer girls, he did not kill them so that they would not betray his presence, he simply asked them for silence.

As an undead, he completely lacks will, being more of a weapon than a conscious being, willing to kill whoever his master orders him to, even if they are children, but he still maintains his moral code: he only kills those he must kill and forgives those who are not his targets (except Brom Van Brunt for attacking him).

The Horseman's ability to forgive and not kill for the sake of killing was accentuated once he recovered his head and with it his free will, by not trying to harm Ichabo, Katrina or the young Masbath (although they had attacked him before) and, to a certain extent, way, thanking them for releasing him.

Whether when he was alive or dead, the Horseman feels true devotion to his faithful horse, Daredevil, considering him his best (and perhaps only) real friend.

Gallery[]

Navigation[]

           Sleepy Hollow logo|Villains

Book
Headless Horseman

Movies
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad: Headless Horseman | Brom Bones
Sleepy Hollow (1999): Lady Van Tassel | Headless Horseman | Reverend Steenwyck
The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow (2003): Headless Horseman
Headless Horseman (2007): Headless Horseman | Satan

Television
Main
Moloch | Henry Parrish | Hidden One | Malcolm Dreyfuss

Moloch's Servants & Horsemen
Ancitif | Andy Brooks | Demons | Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Conquest | Headless Horseman | Famine | Hessians (Gunthur) | War | Headless Horseman's Head | Gina Lambert | Lilith the Succubus | Order of the Blood Moon | Pied Piper | Serilda of Abaddon | Tree Monster

British Army
Abraham von Brunt | Banastre Tarleton | Benedict Arnold | William Howe

Hidden One's Servants
Pandora | Kindred

Dreyfuss Enterprises
Abraham von Brunt | Logan MacDonald | Helen Donovan | Jobe

Others
Atticus Nevins | Carmilla Pines | The Devil | Evil Frank Irving | Golem | James Colby | Katrina Crane | Leena Reyes | Mary Wells | Orion | Ro'kenhronteys | Solomon Kent | The Four Who Speak As One

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