The Headless Horseman vs El Charro Negro Blog
(Headless Horseman art by Diego Lorenzo)
(El Charro Negro art by Garvel)
“Now I know what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what.” - Salmon Rushie
The Headless horseman, the haunting spirit of Sleepy Hollow.
El Charro Negro, Mexico’s demonic deal maker.
The idea of the dead walking among us has always been a terrifying concept. Stories about ghosts and evil spirits have been told all over the world by many cultures. And these two tales of once men turned to horse riding ghouls roaming at night are some of the most iconic in their respective lands, opening up the question of who would in a fight to the afterlife they will never achieve in a cultural clash of Halloween versus Day of the Dead.
Before We Start…
For El Charro we’ll be going through any of the stories that we (though realistically only Ultra) could find, which mostly consists of tales from websites and videos as well as “encounters” with him, although only if they’re consistent enough with his main story. All content used will be linked here. We also didn’t use “Las Leyendas” for El Charro despite using visuals from there.
For the Horseman we’ll be focusing on the American version of him, that means no Dullahan or other Headless Horsemen stories. We'll be covering the original The Legend of Sleepy Hollow book, among its Disney and Tim Burton adaptations (1999’s Sleepy Hollow). We figured they should be counted for the sake of giving the Horseman more to work with and cause they’re the most popular and faithful (for the most part) versions of him. Also it’s our blog, we can do what we want so deal with it.
Background
Headless Horseman
"With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop, He's out lookin' for a top to chop
So don't stop to figure out a plan, You can't reason with a headless man"
The tales of a horse riding monster with no head are quite popular among the people of Sleepy Hollow, New York. Not much is known about him, but it is highly believed that he was once a Hessian Trooper who bit the dust during the Battle of White Plains when a cannonball knocked his head clean off, leaving only a headless corpse for his comrades to bury. It is unknown how, but the Trooper rose from his grave, now existing as a malevolent ghost seeking for his head. So you’d better pray you never come across the fury of The Headless Horseman.
El Charro Negro
(art by PiloKmil)
The story begins in Puebla, Mexico, in the late 1800s, with a man born to a poor family who wanted to become a charro at all costs. He desired to be able to go to the biggest parties and dress in the most luxurious outfits there were, but he couldn’t. He’d go to such lengths as to starve himself just to buy some better boots. However, it all went downhill once his family passed away. With no other options, he stopped praying to the one above, but to the one below; and in one (un)lucky night coming back home, El Diablo appeared to him and offered him riches that even in three lifetimes couldn’t have been spent, all in exchange for his soul. From this point, the man began partying, drinking, and lovemaking as much as he could with his acquired riches, but soon realized his youthful beauty started fading, and that he had begun rapidly aging. Reminded of what would happen to him once he died, he ran off wearing his most luxurious suit with his most noble horse and holding a singular bag of coins. This act of cowardice infuriated El Diablo, who appeared to him and told him that he and his steed would be cursed to not only go to hell, but at night to go and collect the debt people had with El Diablo and to take his place. So beware at night, lock your doors, and never, EVER, accept any offer from a horse riding man, as who knows if you might be the next person to take the place of El Charro Negro.
Experience & Skill
Headless Horseman
Thanks to his past as a soldier, it's safe to say the Horseman has some form of military experience, considering how notable his horse riding and fighting skills are. However, to what extent it's unknown.
El Charro Negro
Despite all Charro Negros being different people, each one possesses incredible mastery at the skill of “charrería”, likely coming from the first Charro’s live, whose length varies from story to story with a year being the most consistent. With this horsemanship, regular charros are highly skilled enough with their lasso to the point that they’re able to tie up moving animals from their own stead.
Equipment
Headless Horseman
Horse
What would a Headless Horseman be without his trusty horse? While little is known about it, it has been described as a goblin horse in the book, and in the film it seems to follow the same undead physiology like its master, considering it seems to be unharmed by musket fire. It can also jump quite high.
Sword
The Horseman’s most common choice of weapon is a sword, perfect for decapitating his unsuspected targets. It also has the strange ability to cauterize the wounds of those who fall victim to his blade.
Axe
His second favorite weapon option is an axe…and that’s kinda it, there’s nothing special about it. But hey he at least has 2 of them to dual wield. So cool!!!!
Jack-o’-Lantern
By far the Horseman’s most signature part of his appearance is his flaming Jack-o'-lantern head. If needed, he can throw it as a projectile, something Ichabod Crane learned first hand when he met his demise at the hands of the horse riding spirit.
El Charro Negro
The Infernal Horse
(art by HanoOide)
Once a troubled horse that could only be tamed by the alive Charro, the Infernal Horse was cursed with the same fate as his owner after trying to kick El Diablo several times. Now as a cursed spirit, the Infernal Horse will follow whatever orders El Charro gives him, and even shares several abilities with him, such as shapeshifting, teleportation & pyrokinesis (it once turned into a dog and, respectively, bigger than any horse). Once anyone accepts El Charro’s offer and gets on top of it, they will be unable to get down and will be dragged into hell.
Charro Costume
As one of the most formal suits in Mexico reserved only for celebrations and the rich folk, El Charro Negro wears a black suit made with some of the finest fabrics and is covered in gold throughout the entirety of it. Of course, now as a spirit, El Charro’s suit is of demonic origin, and likely a part of his physical body now.
Bag of Coins
(art by Diego Gallegos)
By far El Charro's most traditional piece of arsenal, the bag of coins contains some of the most pure gold out there. But it all comes at a hefty price, as once an individual accepts the offer, their soul will be sold to El Charro, and will start rapidly aging until their eventual death, whether by natural causes or interference from El Charro.
Lasso
El Charro became proficient with the lasso before his death and now carries it everywhere as a spirit, he’s used it to damage people with high accuracy, tie them up, and to herds groups of animals. Many artistic interpretations show his lasso on fire.
Revolvers
(art by Sorcerer’s Skull)
Shockingly, there were a total of three separate stories where El Charro possesses/uses revolvers; although it doesn’t seem like a particularly used part of his kit. This art goes hard, feel free to screenshot.
Guitar
(art by Nemi)
An instrument El Charro uses to lure women into a false sense of security. He’s really good at playing it.
Black Rose
Nothing more than a calling card El Charro leaves before his arrival to an already cursed victim.
Abilities
Headless Horseman
Undead Physiology
(art by Grivetart)
Being dead sure has its perks. The Horseman’s second chance at life not only gifted him with a handful of magical powers, but also a pretty sturdy body. He can easily shrug off gunfire, getting stabbed and even getting caught in explosions.
Sleepy Hollow
The town of Sleepy Hollow has been described as a place where strange and odd stuff seem to happen. These phenomenons are believed to be the cause of some mysterious power that haunts the town.
While some theories exist for the cause of this, it is believed that the Headless Horseman is the cause for the existence of this mystical power.
The results of this are said to be the citizens falling victim to trances, visions and nightmares, seeing strange sights, among them being shooting stars and meteors very often, and hearing music and voices in the air.
Teleportation
Brom Bones stated that the Horseman disappeared in a flash of fire right after their race had ended.
Fire Manipulation
(art by Moragot Bodharamik)
The description of the Horseman’s teleportation feat, including him strengthening a fireplace’s fire, suggests some limited manipulation of fire.
Shapeshifting
In one encounter with the Horseman, he was said to have turned into a skeleton after giving a Sleepy Hollow resident a lift. While this is just a theory, this could also imply he can turn into a normal human too considering he was trusted enough by said resident, or at least didn’t look odd enough to not be trusted. This could also be supported by the fact he challenged Brom Bones to a race, without him questioning the Horseman’s appearance.
Sound Manipulation
Again, the clap of thunder that is mentioned after his disappearance in the shapeshifting feat also suggests some limited manipulation of sounds.
Weather Manipulation
The Horseman has shown some form of manipulating the weather, judging by how he was able to control fog to blow out some torches. There was also some awfully convenient lighting and wind a little before one of his appearances, though him solidly being responsible for that is unknown.
El Charro Negro
El Charro Negro’s Curse
Ever since being cursed in the late 1800s, El Charro Negro has passed on its curse across every single one of his victims (except women) who accepts his offer, and in doing so, the previous Charro will be put at rest eternally in hell.
Immortality
El Charro is a hellish spirit forever cursed to wander the world of the living, and has been doing so for over a hundred years. He cannot get tired, age, or get damaged by conventional means, he was even unaffected by a shotgun blast; although as a literal spirit of hell, holiness can affect him and has demonstrated to hurt him.
Fire Manipulation
(art by Don Diego)
By far El Charro Negro’s most consistent ability throughout his tales, El Charro constantly manipulates fire, whether it’s by setting objects on fire, manipulating already lit fire to extinguish itself, or straight up setting himself and his horse on fire when dragging people to hell.
Shapeshifting
(art by CellsArt)
El Charro constantly changes his form to better suit his victims, although he most commonly prefers a very handsome man. He and his horse can change size to become larger than they reasonably should be. Weirdly enough, El Charro has turned into a very large serpent more often than you’d expect.
Soul Manipulation
(art by Erick Lainuz)
El Charro’s offers will take the soul of the one unfortunate enough to accept it, but he isn’t allowed to take it without permission. In one story, it’s implied he linked/turned the souls of living people into pigeons, but there’s no real way to know for sure.
Teleportation
(art by Huesped-Fantasma)
El Charro’s tales mention him appearing and disappearing into nothingness, or at least when out of view, usually by a very convenient fog. He also has the ability to teleport freely from Hell and the world of the living.
Dream Manipulation
(art by Armando Zamora)
After an encounter with them, El Charro tends to appear in people's nightmares in order to get them to accept his offer or do his bidding.
Threatening Aura
Even before encountering El Charro, his victims feel uneasy for no apparent reason, and animals are easily frightened off by his presence.
Charisma
While not something supernatural, El Charro has an insane charismatic level, which, when combined with his other abilities, makes him capable of making women fall for him in short conversations. He’s also been able to convince people to give up entirely on life.
Miscellaneous Abilities
A list of some of El Charro’s less used and/or noteworthy abilities:
Weather Manipulation: Has created fogs darker than the night itself and really strong winds.
Death Manipulation: Has killed people with just a touch.
Disease Manipulation: Has made people fall ill and suffer chronic diseases.
Darkness Manipulation: Manipulates the darkness of himself to hide his face.
Sound Manipulation: Is able to talk to people from far away distances as well as creating a sound “like one of an avalanche”.
Temperature Manipulation: Has drastically lowered temperature in his encounters, even on hot summer days.
Age Manipulation: Implies he could revert a person’s age.
Lightning Manipulation: Has caused lightning to strike.
Technology Manipulation: Has turned off lights and vehicle engines.
Supernatural Knowledge: Able to know an individual’s name, occupation, birthday, desires, and home without any prior interactions.
Curses: Has cursed objects, such as a necklace, into giving its wearer his deepest desires, although it guarantees your impending doom at the hands of El Charro.
Telekinesis: Has shown to be able to affect objects without being anywhere near them.
Body Puppetry: Can manipulate the bodies of people whose souls belong to him.
Illusions: Has shown people their own desires in his hands.
Time Travel: Made it so a man who had spent minutes-hours in a cave time travel to years later once he got out.
Invisibility: Killed one of his dealers while only he could see El Charro, also made his family invisible while it was being inspected.
Feats
Headless Horseman
Overall
Came back to life
The most famous haunt of Sleepy Hollow
Likes to terrorize its inhabitants
Killed Ichabod Crane
One of the most famous Halloween Monsters
Power
Decapitates his victims with one swing
Speed
Durability
(art by Mike Henderson)
Unharmed from getting shot and stabbed
El Charro Negro
Overall
(art by NOD 346)
Cursed by El Diablo himself.
Has terrorized Mexico for over a sentry.
One of Mexico’s most popular myths.
Tricked countless people into selling their souls.
Has passed on his curse to thousands of men.
Power
Could possibly downscale El Diablo, who:
Speed
The Infernal Horse has outran a delivery van and a Toyota Celica from the 70s (104 MPH)
Brought a man to his own home in 30 seconds from “the other side of the town”.
Durability
(art by Pedro Rodriguez)
Isn’t fazed by setting himself ablaze.
Weaknesses
Headless Horseman
The only real weakness we've seen from the Horseman is the inability to enter churches and the fact you can supposedly escape him if you were to cross Sleepy Hollow's bridge. Whether that's true or not is debatable, since 2 of the 3 instances of a character crossing said bridge is because the Horseman let them, and with Ichabod he still managed to kill him by throwing his head at him.
El Charro Negro
Due to his demonic origin, El Charro is extremely weak against anything holy related. He won’t go anywhere near churches, he’s been threatened by holy water, and praying lures him off. Even just being near a church starts to weaken him.
He also won’t take the souls of people who won’t accept his deal, although he’s shown no problems in doing it the good old fashioned way.
Furthermore, despite having existed for over a century, every Charro Negro is a different soul, meaning he doesn’t have as much experience as you’d expect him to.
Art
Verdicts
Stats
While both ghost riders are seemingly portrayed as entities impossible to kill, they have their limitations, and in sheer raw power, the Horseman takes it. While Charro did have supernatural feats beyond any regular man like knocking down doors and seemingly having the strength of 3 men, it doesn’t compare to the Horseman surviving that windmill explosion. “But what about that river feat?”, well, there’s several problems with it; firstly, was performed by the Devil, meaning that at best, el Charro would only be able to downscale, which even then, can be debated upon, and secondly, even if el Charro did scale to it, the context and creation feats as a whole are vague, and can be debated whether they’d scale to his own power.
On the other side of factors, the Horseman’s steed just couldn’t compare to Charro’s own in speed, as the best feat it has is being vaguely compared to the speed of the wind, in comparison, the Infernal Horse has outran vehicles on several different occasions. Of course, the speed gap, while definitely a problem, won’t likely be that big of an issue due to the fastest types of horses already being in the range of 50 MPH, which would be around a 2x speed difference.
Arsenal & Abilities
Arsenal wise, the Horseman had Charro beat quite easily at close range, with actually offensive sorts of weapons with his sword and axes. Meanwhile most of Charro’s arsenal isn’t fit to fight burly rather trick his victims, but he did possess longer ranged options thanks to his lasso and revolvers that just don’t rely on throwing his own weapons, albeit would be less effective than the Horseman’s weaponry due to his physique and stats.
In terms of abilities, these 2 have quite a few. While Charro does indeed have more variety, a lot are either useless, won’t work or Horseman also has. Teleportation, fire manipulation, weather manipulation etc. are powers both share for example. Moreover, Charro’s death touch, infecting Horseman with some illness, messing with the temperature and reverting his age wouldn’t really work thanks to the Horseman being well dead. Although that doesn’t mean Charro doesn’t have any abilities to counter the Horseman, with one of the main ones being his telekinesis, which is more than likely able to, at the very least, remove Horseman’s weapons from him as it’s demonstrated to be strong enough to completely halt regular humans’ movement and push around large rocks/boulders.
However there is one game changing ability Charro has: his deal making. Now you might think, why would this work? Wouldn't the Horseman outright just refuse it or ignore it? There's no reason for him to accept it in the first place. But when combined with the seemingly supernatural knowledge of what Charro's victims desire the most, it makes it easier for him to strike a deal with the Horseman. But with what you may think? That's easy: his head. Remember, the Horseman's entire reason he rose from his grave was to find his head. While Charro wouldn't actually be able to obtain it, it shouldn't be an issue tricking the Horseman with an illusion. All of this means that the Horseman would be left with a deal he would not refuse, which would allow Charro to take control over his soul. It should be noted that the first thing Charro almost always does when approaching his victims is trying to strike a deal with them. It’s his main thing after all.
Tertiary Factors
To put it simply, the Horseman possesses much more useful skills, training, and experience in actual combat than el Charro, all thanks to the Horseman’s previous life as a trained soldier. Although don’t count el Charro down on this, as he’s smarter and, despite not being combat oriented, has over a hundred experienced years of tricking people despite his curse being passed onto others, this is evidenced by how, seemingly, all Charro’s have incredible skill at charrería when only the first one had any sort of experience and them being able to recall events years-decades apart when they, realistically, would’ve already passed the curse on to. And on one last note, he has one specific advantage thanks to his past, that being the fact that charrería, and charros in general, are people experienced with rogue large animals, meaning that, stats aside, he’d more than likely be able to deal with the Horseman’s horse with his lasso.
Horses
Of course, we’re talking about two horseback riding monsters, so who would we be if we didn’t talk about their own undead beasts. As stated in stats, the Horseman’s horse is likely stronger by scaling to his rider and the Infernal Horse being twice as fast. But that’s not the end of their importance, as while both are supernaturally superior, Charro’s Infernal Horse sharing abilities with his master and being linked to them gives them a huge step up against the Horseman’s steed, which appears to only have a better physiology than regular horses.
Conclusion
This debate fundamentally comes down to one singular question, can el Charro Negro trick the Headless Horseman into a deal? As if both were to fight to their final death, the Horseman’s superior power would overwhelm el Charro despite all his advantages and win.
Basically, this is a very debatable topic that would also depend on how you think the fight would start. Siding with either of them would be fair. However we decided we should reach a conclusion anyways instead of going with inconclusive.
Ultimately, we decided the fact that Charro’s best chance of winning is almost always his opening move helps him slightly more. Like we mentioned, thanks to his supernatural knowledge he will definitely know what the Horseman desires, which would land him a sure victory. Charro “approaching” Horseman first sounds a bit more right too, though this still falls under how you think the fight should start.
All in all, while the Horseman has more advantages that can land him the win, his very specific desire means that Charros has everything he needs to strike a deal that the Horseman just can’t refuse, which would allow Charro to use his more useful hax on him. The winner is El Charro Negro.
Headless Horseman
Advantages:
Stronger
More skilled, trained, and experienced at combat
Better close ranged weapons
Resists most of Charro’s abilities…
Disadvantages:
Slightly slower
Less abilities
… but not all
Could be tricked into a deal
No head?
El Charro Negro
Advantages:
Slightly faster movement speed
Smarter
More abilities…
Better ranged weaponry
A deal with the Horseman would give him the win
Wins the beauty contest
Rizz
Disadvantages:
Weaker
Less combat oriented
… but most are useless and/or the Horseman resist them
Machismo
Final Tally
Team Horseman (0)
Team Charro (2) - Ultra27, JustADude
Comments
Post a Comment