Four horsemen are said to appear before the end of the world, they are the bringers of the apocalypse will cause chaos on earth before its end.

Four horsemen

The first of the four rides a white horse, and the most speculation surrounds him. He goes out into the world wearing a crown and with the intent of conquest, and it is assumed that he is evil based on how he is introduced as part of the group that is very clearly evil. But still, he is different from the other three in some way, and everyone has a different take on what he truly is. Some claim that he is the antichrist, others say he is representing civil war, and another belief is that he is Christ himself, the second coming. That he could be there to sort out the wicked from the good.

Riding atop the red horse, is the second horseman of the apocalypse; war. It is pretty clear from his large sword the fiery color of his steed that his purpose is only for one thing; the killing of men, by men.

The third horse is black and the horseman who rides it represents famine. With him he has weighing scales, which were often used to weigh bread before it was distributed during famines. He also seems to be the only horseman who speaks. It is not indicated that it is famine speaking, but the voice that comes from the general direction of the four speaks of bread, wine and oil; things that would only concern him.

The final horseman, riding the ‘pale horse’ that insinuates something like the color of a corpse; is death. Though in some versions he carries a scythe (suggesting that he himself is the grim reaper) in most he carries nothing with him, and is instead followed by Hades.

With them comes the destruction of the world, and with them leaves all that was in it.

Adieu, my friends. Adieu.
-Black Widow

You remember being knocked out, hit over the head or perhaps in the chest with something large and heavy. Or maybe… maybe it just felt large when it hit you, perhaps it was very small. You might have been shot. You remember bleeding, yes, and a disturbingly cold feeling creeping from your insides out; but you do not remember what happened after that. All you know is that you’re awake again, and this place is very musty and dark. It’s soft though, like a cushion of some kind is underneath you. Which means that though you remember last being on a floor, it is not a floor that you are currently lying on.

buried alive

You move your hand slightly to the right and are startled when it hits something silk and soft. You wonder for a moment if there could be another person lying next to you and it is their dress you have grazed with your hand. You again touch this area and push down, but instead of flesh underneath the silk you feel more cushioning. You move your left hand and experience the same. You try to sit up but before you can even reach a thirty degree angle your head connects with more of this soft cushioning. You push your hands up against it and slowly begin to realize where you are.

The musty air, the lining of the inside of this box that you are in. They all must have assumed you were dead. They must have buried you alive thinking that you had gone to the other world. Panic sets in quickly and you begin using up what little air was left in the confined area. You scream and you bang on the ceiling of your coffin with all of your might but there is no way out.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

scarecrow

According to Freud, the subconscious was simply a holding tank for all of ones repressed desires and emotions. Jung agreed with him on this point, but also believed there was another level beyond this ‘personal unconscious’ called the ‘collective unconscious’. In this collective unconscious (something that all humans shared) are archetypal figures drive us to go through stages of life, some of which might include being nurtured, accepted, courted, wed, and becoming prepared for death. These archetypes he claimed, are innate and universal, which is the reason why it is not hard to find similarities in all ancient folklore across the globe. It is why we tend to have the same symbols for the same things, and have similar rituals.

The scarecrow costume is one of these archetypes. No, not just something to scare away the crows from your fields or to follow Dorothy skipping down the yellow brick road. The scarecrow represents ‘the shadow’ archetype. The shadow, in dreams is a dark and terrible figure because the shadow is the side of yourself that you do not wish to show to others. All nice people have dark inner thoughts that they choose not to acknowledge or act upon because they identify with this mask of being ‘nice’, likewise all mean and nasty people have a shadow that is nice, which they also choose to ignore. We all have the capacity to be good or bad, but once you make up your mind to be a certain way in society, the shadow is what you have left behind.

The scarecrow is a fearful figure because for most of us, it is all the bad inside that we never want to see. It is only natural that this figure would come up in movies or print as something undesirable ranging from someone with no self confidence who wishes that he only had a brain (wizard of oz), to someone who acts upon his want to see others minds destroyed by fear (batman begins). So the next time that you see a scarecrow in film, books, or even your own dreams, you have a little insight as to why the writer (or your own mind) has put it there.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow