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Strife, is a Nephilim and one of The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He is the rider of the white horse, whose name remains unknown. He wields two large handguns as his weapon of choice, but may also wield another unknown weapon that could be used for close combat.

Overview

One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Strife is the Rider of the White Horse. He carries the handguns Mercy and Redemption. Strife does not waste time when it comes to business, and will make examples of people to teach a lesson to others. This is evidenced by how he silenced the demonic hordes who taunted the horsemen as they delivered a message to Samael, by shooting off the leg of one of the demons who yelled "Kill the Riders!".

Abilities

As one of the last remaining four Nephilim, Strife is a very powerful warrior. He is an excellent marksman, his primary weapons being two pistols. 

His weapon arsenal includes:

Mercy - A black four barreled pistol

Redemption - A white revolver style pistol

Personality and Traits

Strife appears to have the worst attitude of the Four Horsemen, he has shown himself to be stubborn, impatient, sarcastic, and rude. He also has a short temper, evidenced by his constant arguing with Death, although his temper does not seem to be as short as War's temper. He is also disagreeable with others, going so far he challenges Death's authority. Unlike War or Death, he does not show any arrogance. He also does not seem to care about the other three Horsemen as he threatened to kill Death because he did not like his plan to catch those with the Grand Abominations. War and Fury laugh at him when Death threatened to cut his tongue out if he did not stop making sarcastic remarks, this could mean his relationship with War and Fury could be similar to his relationship with Death.

Speculation

One of Strife's revolvers is Mercy, a gun which War can acquire during Darksiders. It is mentioned that Mercy is Strife's revolver in the instruction booklet (p15 of the paper copy, p19 of the pdf version). The second revolver, Redemption is acquired by Death in Darksiders II.

War's version of Mercy may not be the original weapon but simply a copy, because Ulthane is seen putting the finishing touches on it himself, though he may simply have been repairing the genuine weapon. This explains the plot gap that Strife's last visit to Earth was with the other Horsemen during the Middle Ages to retrieve War after he killed many human soldiers.

In Darksiders II, Death acquires Strife's other revolver, Redemption, early in the game after activating the Cauldron and allowing the Makers to use their forge again. Death finds immediate use for the revolver and uses it to access the next area. Unlike the replica of Mercy in the original game, it is explicitly stated that Redemption is the genuine article, instantly recognized by Death as the gun used by Strife. Despite his questioning why it was there, Death is given no answer. One possibility is that Strife left the revolver with the Makers for safe keeping.

As the rider of the White Horse, Strife replaces his biblical counterpart, Conquest. What's more is that his sister Fury replaces the Horsemen Famine, so a possible name for his horse could be Conquest, due to the play on names the series creators perform. Another possibility for a Name would be something that literally "follows" after (a) Strife, just like Despair "follows" Death / Ruin "follows" War.

Trivia

  • He is the only horseman whose primary weapon is not some form of melee weapon.
  • According to Panoptos' claims, there is a certain friction between Strife and his brother Death as Strife 'warned' Panoptos that Death is "a sarcastic bastard." This is cemented by Strife holding a gun to Death's head when the latter ordered the younger three horsemen to stay behind while he searched for the culprits behind the attempts to enter the Abomination Vault.
  • Strife also isn't as loyal to the Charred Council which makes him similar to Death in a way, who tells Panoptos to ask War or Fury to carry out the will of the Charred Council in Darksiders: The Abomination Vault.
  • In the novel, Strife is said to be irritated by everything Death says, this makes him a little bit like War due to War being short tempered, and Strife is almost always angry at Death.
  • Death appears to have some dislike for Strife because it is stated that Death has complained to the Charred Council several times about his attitude and behavior.
  • If you look at Strife's revolvers in comic book where he says "It's a good thing Death's damn near invulnerable you, on the other hand..." you can see that both of his revolvers are quadruple barrel while in the games, only one of his revolvers is quadruple barrel and the other revolver is a single barrel; the comic book page can be viewed on Fury's page.

Notes

The first horseman and rider of the white horse is normally known as Conquest.[1] However, whenever the Four Horsemen concept appears in popular culture, the first horseman is most often identified as Pestilence instead. This identification with disease is due to the horseman carrying a bow, whose arrows were identified with Apollo and Artemis. In Greek stories, illnesses were believed to be caused by their arrows. The horseman is also often identified with plague for this reason. Darksiders deviates from both names, opting instead to call him Strife. Instead of a bow, the horseman's version in Darksiders appears to have had his weaponry updated, though he still fires projectiles. For more information see the corresponding article on Wikipedia.

Gallery

Sources

  1. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
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