Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The common perception is that the four horsemen are War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. That is certainly how the Highlander universe considered them. And, in order, named them Silas, Caspian, Kronos, and Methos. But consider the actual bible and the four horsemen described therein:
1. White horse, rider unnamed, but given a crown, and going to conquer, ambiguous whether he's good or bad
2. Red horse, rider called War, decidedly evil
3. Black horse, rider called Famine, decidedly evil
4. Pale/Green/Sickly horse, rider called Death and pestilence rode with him, decidedly evil
Now consider the four Highlander characters:
A. Methos, generally a good guy, historically came up with the plans for the various raids, was called "Death" by Cassandra
B. Kronos, intended to spread a viral pathogen through all of Frances in order to conquer the world, considered the leader of the horsemen
C. Caspian, more than a little insane, a cannibal
D. Silas, intellectually slow, is nice and kind to animals, actively enjoys killing people
So I would say that Kronos maps quite well to Pestilence.
However, there's some question about how best to match the other three.
I could say Methos is the Conqueror because he turned good in the end and that is the single horseman whose role is ambiguous on the good-evil continuum. Then maybe Silas is War because he likes to fight; and Caspian is Famine because he'll eat whatever.
In fact, I've seen this mapping in stories before. Thus, lets switch it around a bit.
Methos is War, because he planned all the raids. Silas is Famine because he likes animals more than people and would rather the people starve than hurt the animals. And that leaves Caspian as the Champion. Caspian who's crazy and quite possibly hears voices. Caspian who might have convinced his brothers that he was hearing the voice of God.
Kronos led, and Methos planned, but Caspian inspired and motivated the thousand year rampage.
And while it might be best to leave it at that, it might also be interesting to say Caspian was that millennium's champion against Ahriman. And maybe that is why Methos turned away from Duncan in his fight against Ahriman, because so many years ago, he gave his full support to the champion and look where that got him.
1. White horse, rider unnamed, but given a crown, and going to conquer, ambiguous whether he's good or bad
2. Red horse, rider called War, decidedly evil
3. Black horse, rider called Famine, decidedly evil
4. Pale/Green/Sickly horse, rider called Death and pestilence rode with him, decidedly evil
Now consider the four Highlander characters:
A. Methos, generally a good guy, historically came up with the plans for the various raids, was called "Death" by Cassandra
B. Kronos, intended to spread a viral pathogen through all of Frances in order to conquer the world, considered the leader of the horsemen
C. Caspian, more than a little insane, a cannibal
D. Silas, intellectually slow, is nice and kind to animals, actively enjoys killing people
So I would say that Kronos maps quite well to Pestilence.
However, there's some question about how best to match the other three.
I could say Methos is the Conqueror because he turned good in the end and that is the single horseman whose role is ambiguous on the good-evil continuum. Then maybe Silas is War because he likes to fight; and Caspian is Famine because he'll eat whatever.
In fact, I've seen this mapping in stories before. Thus, lets switch it around a bit.
Methos is War, because he planned all the raids. Silas is Famine because he likes animals more than people and would rather the people starve than hurt the animals. And that leaves Caspian as the Champion. Caspian who's crazy and quite possibly hears voices. Caspian who might have convinced his brothers that he was hearing the voice of God.
Kronos led, and Methos planned, but Caspian inspired and motivated the thousand year rampage.
And while it might be best to leave it at that, it might also be interesting to say Caspian was that millennium's champion against Ahriman. And maybe that is why Methos turned away from Duncan in his fight against Ahriman, because so many years ago, he gave his full support to the champion and look where that got him.