 ✓
| ||
| This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains. Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban. | ||
|
| “ | You're out alone on a Halloween night, you hear a moaning, know that something ain't right, dead men in black, ghostly women in white, the Headless Horseman is a terrible sight! And now you're scared, yeah, too scared to swallow, 'cause… There's something spooky in Sleepy Hollow! |
„ |
| ~ The movie's main theme. |
| “ | I daren't be around when the Headless Horseman comes back for his head! Things shall get really ugly for you live ones… | „ |
| ~ Nathaniel Wiley |
The Headless Horseman is the main antagonist of PorchLight Entertainment's 2003 animated film The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow, partially based on Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and acting as a sequel of sorts.
Appearance[]
Full appearance
Being from the 18th century, the Headless Horseman's clothes resemble those worn in that time period. In the cover, the Headless Horseman wears a green vest and a black cape with a red satin lining. Though much of his clothes are black, his cape is partially red and his vest is blue within the film.
When he's first seen, smashing his way out of his grave, he has long fingernails that can be seen through his gloves.
Biography[]
Background[]
Sometime between 200 and 300 years ago (based on some of the ghosts in Castle Van Tassel being this old, and his "death" occurring an unspecified number of centuries ago), the man that would become the Headless Horseman was born someplace in Germany.
Later in life, he became a mercenary, and later joined the Hessians, German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. During his time as a soldier, or perhaps beforehand, he gained incredible supernatural powers from dark forces.
As the war progressed, he faced elders who possessed magical powers of their own and ended up besting the Hessian, who was captured and executed via decapitation, but he still grew in infamy as the Headless Horseman, since his head was turned into a seemingly indestructible haunted pumpkin and was hidden in a patch of Sleepy Hollow, unbeknownst to all.
The Headless Horseman's haunted pumpkin.
The connection with his horse was apparently so great the two were buried together in the Sleepy Hollow cemetery. Nathaniel Wiley, an old veteran from the Battle of White Plains, died during the war or sometime later and his ghost was sealed in the pumpkin, indirectly or directly by the elders who had beaten the Hessian, possibly as a way to keep the pumpkin off the horseman's grasp.
Decades later, this event would serve as inspiration for Washington Irving's gothic story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which would immortalize the Headless Horseman for centuries to come. It's unclear how he was stopped then, but it's possible Nathaniel intervened in some way.
The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow[]
The Headless Horseman rises from the grave.
The film opens up on the Headless Horseman chasing after Ichabod Crane on his horse Gunpowder, the classic scene from the original story where Crane is eventually defeated by the Headless Horseman hurling his pumpkin head across the bridge and killing Ichabod, but this is revealed to be a recreation in a TV within the Sleepy Hollow museum dedicated to Washington Irving.
The Headless Horseman is first seen bursting out of his tomb as midnight approaches during Halloween Eve. Having been buried alongside his now zombified horse, the two ride towards the haunted pumpkin, sensing its location to retrieve it before midnight ended, or else he would have to try again on the next eve of his anniversary's death.
Meanwhile, the pumpkin had been used by two thieves as a way to hide an old and valuable manuscript, the original writing of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It had then been taken and was planned to be used for Halloween by two kids, Kate and Nick, the latter of whom was the direct descendant of Ichabod Crane, one of the Headless Horseman's past victims and the most infamous one.
The Headless Horseman leaps over a road.
Nothing was going to stand in the Headless Horseman's ways, as it jumped over cars and rode through Sleepy Hollow. Even as the kids tried to run away into the forest, the Headless Horseman's magic coursed through the trees, griving them a new twisted existence, with arm-like limbs and jaws with which to grasp the haunted pumpkin and retrieve it for their master.
The Headless Horseman threatens Leo for attempting to grab his head.
Kate and Nick tried to hide in Castle Van Tassel but it proved to be an inefficient hiding place due to the ghosts there, only made worse by the two thieves, Leo and Grunk, attempting to recapture the pumpkin so they could get the manuscript inside.
The Headless Horseman finally arrived at the scene and easily fended off the thieves and took down both children, using Kate as a hostage so Nick could give the pumpkin to him.
The Headless Horseman is destroyed.
While the Headless Horseman used the clock tower at the top of Castle Van Tassel as a reference, Nick handed it to him sooner than expected, which was actually a trick since midnight had already passed and Nick's watch said it was 12:01.
As he had put on his head way past midnight, the Headless Horseman was completely destroyed and his pumpkin head fell powerless to the ground.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | He was a Hessian, a merciless mercenary soldier who made a deal with dark forces so he would be unbeatable. Luckily, some of the revolutionary elders knew magic of their own. The Hessian was defeated and beheaded. And his head magically turned into a pumpkin, and so it has remained for centuries. | „ |
| ~ Nathaniel explains the Horseman's background. |
The Horseman skillfully cuts Ichabod's hat.
Much like other incarnations of the Headless Horseman, he has supernatural powers, but unlike most others which are ghosts or ghouls, this Headless Horseman is closer to some kind of lich, being a revived undead man who already possessed dark powers in life and has retained them in death, allowing him to survive the death sentence that made him headless. His magical powers are also much greater than usual.
Through his powers, his head became a pumpkin and was hidden in a patch of pumpkins, awaiting for the anniversary of the horseman's death and for the Hessian soldier to resurrect and find the pumpkin and regain all his unstoppable dark power at the stroke of midnight on Halloween Eve, where the pumpkin will become the horseman's real head once again, allowing him to stalk the Earth once more.
The Horseman, through his pumpkin, brings trees to life.
Even without the pumpkin, the Headless Horseman is still a threat, since he can see through the eyes of his haunted pumpkin and use his powers through it, such as when he animated some trees and gave them limbs to stop the ones carrying his pumpkin.
The haunted pumpkin heals after having its top section removed.
The haunted pumpkin itself seems to have magical properties of its own, such as being able to heal a hole at the top. When it's first interacted with, a thunderstorm starts brewing in the skies. It could be coincidental, but the storm doesn't lose any strength as the movie progresses and only disappears when the Horseman is finally gone, implying he has some control over the weather as well.
His powers also gifted him tremendous strength, enough to smash his way out of his grave and shatter his gravestone. Having been a soldier in his past life, he's also an expert swordsman, as showcased in the TV recreation.
Audio Sample[]
- The Headless Horseman's laugh through a reanimated tree as it captures Nick Crane.
Gallery[]
.png "PorchLight Headless Horseman (6).png (255 KB)")
.png "PorchLight Headless Horseman (14).png (212 KB)")
Trivia[]
- This Headless Horseman, though based on the original, treats the tale as a real-life event, with Washington Irving's manuscript only being seen as a legend in recent times, with parts of it being theorized to have actually have happened.
- Much like the original story, referencing the fact that the myth of the Headless Horseman originated in Europe, this incarnation of the Horseman was originally a German man, a Hessian soldier, and a mercenary.
- Unlike the original story where the Headless Horseman lost his head to an enemy cannonball, here it's revealed that he was executed by being beheaded.
- In some ways, this Headless Horseman seems to be influenced by the Disney incarnation, while also taking some inspiration from the version that appeared 4 years earlier.
- His grunts, laugh and other sound effects were provided by an uncredited voice actor (who doesn't even appear in the credits).
.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
