Editing Headless Horseman

{{Era|Individuals}}{{WP-REAL|Headless Horseman}}
{{Youmay|the character|the [[The Headless Horseman|memory]] of Ratonhnhaké:ton}}
{{Quote|I found the Headless Horseman. The stories of his taking human heads are no fables. But he was a man.|Ratonhnhaké:ton|Assassin's Creed III|Database: The Headless Horseman}}
[[File:The Headless Horseman 3.png|thumb|250px|The Headless Horseman appearing in the Frontier]]
The '''Headless Horseman''' was purported to have been the malevolent ghost of a [[Jägers|Hessian soldier]]—possibly [[Gerhard von Stantten]]—who roamed the village of [[Sleepy Hollow]], [[New York]] on [[horse]]back with a pumpkin in place of his head. Though the spirit is reputed to have been a casualty of the [[American Revolutionary War]],<ref name="Note 1">The database entry "[[Database: The Headless Horseman|The Headless Horseman]]" in ''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' does not explicitly place the war in which the man fell as the American Revolutionary War. However, not only is this the popular setting in the real-life folktale, but he is cited as a Hessian, which historically among the colonial wars of North America only served in the American Revolutionary War and were absent from the Seven Years' War where Shay Cormac encounters him. In addition, Gerhard von Stantten, the Animi Avatar postulated by Erudito to have been the identity of the Headless Horseman himself, is described as having served in the American Revolutionary War.</ref> the phantom was apparently encountered by the [[Templars|Templar]] [[Shay Cormac]] at night during the [[Seven Years' War]] near the village's [[Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow|Old Dutch Church]]. Decades later, the [[Assassins|Assassin]] [[Ratonhnhaké:ton]] investigated reports of mass murders committed by the Headless Horseman and managed to catch a glimpse of him from afar. Despite the brevity of the sighting, he concluded that the Headless Horseman was nothing more than a mortal man.

==Biography==
During the Seven Years' War, the Templar Shay Cormac encountered a tombstone conspicuously mounted with a large pumpkin in the graveyard of the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow. Later that night, he was beset by a headless [[grenadiers|grenadier]] wielding a [[Naval Axe|naval axe]]. Forced to fend for his life, he fought the phantom but found him invincible. Only upon firing his pistol at the pumpkin at the grenadier's grave was he able to dispel the spirit.<ref name="ACRG">''[[Assassin's Creed: Rogue]]''</ref>

[[File:The Headless Horseman 2.png|thumb|250px|left|One of the Horseman's victims]]
Decades later in the midst of the [[American Revolution]], the British colonial frontiersman [[Daniel Boone]] shared with his friend, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton, the legend of the Headless Horseman which he found widespread throughout the [[United States]] as far as Kentucky. According to the ghost story, the Headless Horseman was a {{wiki|Hessian (soldier)|Hessian}} [[mercenary]] whose head had been blown off by a [[cannon]]ball. In Boone's telling, the Hessian did not perish, but rather persists as a headless man chasing down innocents on horseback around the battlefield in search for his lost head. In the meantime, he wears a pumpkin as a substitute for his head and decapitates [[Civilian|passerbys]] as though to vainly adopt their heads for his own. Although Boone himself had never seen the horseman, he claimed to have found the headless corpses he left behind.<ref name="AC3">''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' – [[The Headless Horseman]]</ref>

Ratonhnhaké:ton subsequently took it upon himself to investigate these rumors. Searching in the [[Frontier]], he eventually came upon a slew of headless bodies, just as Boone had reported. It was at that moment that he heard the maniacal laughter of a horseman from afar, wearing a {{wiki|jack-o'-lantern}}. Rather than attack the Assassin, the rider rode away. Though Ratonhnhaké:ton had caught but a glimpse of the horseman,<ref name="AC3" /> he recorded in his journal that the character was nothing more than a man, a mass murderer whose ''{{wiki|modus operandi}}'' involved beheading his victims and collecting their heads.<ref name="Database">''Assassin's Creed III'' – [[Database: The Headless Horseman]]</ref>

In 2012, [[Abstergo Entertainment]], a public front for the Templar Order, used the [[genetic memory|genetic memories]] of the [[Germany|German]] soldier Gerhard von Stantten as an [[Animi Avatars (third stage)|avatar]] for their [[Animus]] game console under the title "[[Hessian|the Hessian]]". The hacker collective [[Erudito]], in unveiling the truth behind each of the avatars, implied that von Stantten was the true identity of the Headless Horseman encountered by Ratonhnnhaké:ton. Aside from his Hessian origins, von Stantten was actually a psychopathic Templar hailed as an "unstoppable killing machine" by Abstergo.<ref name="AC3 m/p">''Assassin's Creed III'' – [[Abstergo Story]]: "Avatar biographies: THE HESSIAN_Hack"</ref>

==Behind the scenes==
===Real-life folktale===
The Headless Horseman is a reference to the character from the fictional short story "{{wiki|The Legend of Sleepy Hollow}}" written by American author {{wiki|Washington Irving}} and first published in 1820. Because of its popularity and its many adaptations, the story is often treated more as a folktale than the decidedly fictional story that it is. It is notable that the ending of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" implies that the Headless Horseman is actually the story's antagonist Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt in disguise as part of a scheme to scare the protagonist {{wiki|Ichabod Crane}} out of town rather than an actual ghost.

There are several identical elements between the Headless Horseman character in ''Assassin's Creed'' and its inspiration from the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", such as the origin story of the ghost being a Hessian fighting with the [[British Army]] in the American Revolutionary War who died when his head was shot off by a cannonball and the motif of a pumpkin head. Aside from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", the Headless Horseman has been a motif of [[Europe]]an folklore since the Middle Ages.

===''Assassin's Creed III''===
The Headless Horseman first featured in one of the Frontiersman Club missions in ''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' as one of the mysteries Ratonhnhaké:ton has to solve. Despite the brief encounter, Connor believes there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the Headless Horseman is a normal man on a killing spree. Interestingly, in Daniel Boone's account of the Headless Horseman, he technically describes the Headless Horseman as not a ghost but a living man without a head because he states that the "lad didn't die" after his head was destroyed.

===''Assassin's Creed: Rogue''===
In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Rogue]]'', Shay Cormac can encounter the Headless Horseman in the region of Sleepy Hollow in the [[River Valley]] area by visiting the graveyard of the Old Dutch Church at night. Unlike the Horseman's depiction in ''Assassin's Creed III'', he appears not on horseback but as a headless grenadier. He fights with a naval axe and [[bomb]]s like regular grenadiers but is almost invincible. He may only be killed by either being hung with a [[rope dart]] from a tree—ironic given the fact he is missing a head and neck—or by destroying the pumpkin atop his gravestone with pistol-fire. This pumpkin glows yellow if viewed through [[Eagle Vision]], indicating that it is a target objective. In addition, the horseman's shadow curiously indicates the presence of a head.

The canonicity of the depiction of the Headless Horseman here is dubious because it appears to be an {{wiki|Easter egg (media)|Easter egg}}. It is also anachronistic because the legend is set in 1790, and the Horseman is said to have died in the American Revolutionary War, fitting with his appearance in ''Assassin's Creed III'', but not in ''Assassin's Creed: Rogue'', which is set decades earlier in the Seven Years' War.

==Appearances==
*''[[Assassin's Creed III]]'' {{1st}}
*''[[Assassin's Creed: Rogue]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}[[Category:Individuals]]
[[Category:Hessians]]
[[Category:Legends]]
[[Category:Serial killers]]
[[Category:Mercenaries]]
[[Category:Anachronisms]]