Hol Horse/History

A detailed chronological summary of the life of Hol Horse.



Background
At some point after 1983, Hol Horse is recruited by DIO and Enya the Hag. He is partnered with Enya's son, J. Geil.

Calcutta, India
Riding an elephant, Hol Horse arrives at Calcutta, India with Nena, a young girl whose marriage proposal he turns down while claiming to be thinking of her best interests. He meets with J. Geil and the two decide to kill Jean Pierre Polnareff while he is separated from the Joestar Group. The following day, Hol Horse confronts Polnareff with his Emperor Stand while J. Geil supports him with his Hanged Man. When Muhammad Avdol intervenes to save Polnareff, Hol Horse severely injures Avdol, believing him to be dead from the headshot he administered. After separating from J.Geil and the protagonists, Hol Horse catches up to Polnareff and Noriaki Kakyoin and learns that they had already killed J. Geil.

Knowing he could not handle the two Stand users alone, Hol Horse flees before he's intercepted by Jotaro Kujo and Joseph Joestar. Nena's interference, however, gives him a chance to escape, with the Joestar Group deciding to let him go.

Enya's Town, Pakistan
Hol Horse reappears in Pakistan in the same foggy city. He goes to Enya the Hag's hotel during her attempt on the Joestar Group's lives and is attacked by her as she considered him equally responsible for the death of her son, J. Geil. While seemingly killed by Enya's Stand, Hol Horse played dead until he was able to escape via the Joestar Group's vehicle, vowing to get his revenge later.

Later, while reporting to DIO on Alessi's and Mariah's defeat, he tries to attack the vampire when questioned on why he is not fighting the Joestar group. He is cowed by DIO's power and, broken, swears eternal loyalty to DIO and decides to attack the Joestar group with a new partner.

Aswan, Egypt
Hol Horse flies to Aswan to forcibly take Boingo with him for assistance in dispatching the protagonists with Tohth. On the way out of the airport, Hol Horse antagonizes a pair of men and makes them flee when he shoots one man's ear off. Afterward, he manages to convince Boingo to work with him. At first, Hol Horse is taken aback by Tohth's strange predictions but is ultimately convinced of their reliability after he kicks a woman to save her from a scorpion and is rewarded with a jewel.

Hol Horse and Boingo then stalk the Joestar Group in the streets of Cairo, knowing that Hol Horse must now put his fingers in Polnareff's nose which will somehow end up in victory. Polnareff does surprise Hol Horse and almost takes him out but Boingo distracts Polnareff, allowing Hol Horse to put his fingers in Polnareff's nose. As the rest of the group comes to Polnareff, Hol Horse is forced to hide in a corner and hold Polnareff at gunpoint to force him to lie. Polnareff tips off the group and thanks to his irritated nose, manages to avoid being shot by sneezing, making Hol Horse stumble out of his hiding place. Cornered, Hol Horse is saved when the two thugs from earlier try to run him down but their truck slips on spilled oil and crashes into the heroes instead. Hol Horse and Boingo retreat behind another corner and see that Hol Horse will shoot into a pipe at noon exactly and put bullets through Jotaro's head. Nervous and eager, Hol Horse ends up shooting too early into the pipe and Jotaro Kujo is saved when Polnareff sneezes again on his face, making him back out of the bullet's path in disgust. The operation goes horribly awry as Tohth's prediction backfires on them, ending with Emperor's own bullets hitting Hol Horse right in the face, just as he realizes the time on his watch was advanced. While severe, the bullet wounds stop just short of his skull with Hol Horse hospitalized for the remainder of the story.

Past
Hol Horse was apparently assigned the 'Emperor' tarot card by Enya the Hag herself before being assigned the mission to kill the Joestar Group. Hol Horse met with Devo the Cursed who criticizes his cowardice and threatened him to stay out of his way with the puppet possessed by Ebony Devil.

After he succumbed to DIO's power, he came across several women lying on the floor of DIO's Mansion, some of them dead with blood drained from their necks. He found a few that were still barely alive. At first, he wondered why he should get involved with these random women, but ended up saving three of them by carrying them out of the mansion and then shoving them into a taxi. He gave the driver money and ordered him to quickly drive away.

The Night Kakyoin Died
After Hol Horse is defeated while trying to assassinate Jotaro, he wakes up at a hospital realizing that the Joestar Group defeated him. However, he wonders why he's still alive since DIO kills anybody who fails him. He sees Boingo sitting on a bed beside him, and they assume that DIO must be preoccupied with fighting the Joestar Group. Hol Horse doesn't think the Joestar Group could defeat DIO, so he runs away with Boingo before DIO gets them next. Running on the streets of Cairo, Hol Horse and Boingo see Hierophant Green's Emerald Splash fire at a clock. Hol Horse looks at the direction where the attack was shot from and sees a bloodied Kakyoin lying on a water tower. He witnesses Kakyoin's last moments, understanding that Kakyoin discovered DIO's secret and wanted to let his friends know with his dying message. Hol Horse praises Kakyoin for being able to overcome his fear, unlike himself who gave up.

Hol Horse's Mission
Hol Horse has survived his ordeal during Stardust Crusaders and the heroes seem to have left him be.

In Cairo, Egypt, March 1999, an elderly woman begs Hol Horse to find her missing parrot. She looks at a photo of her son with Pet Shop and the missing parrot on his shoulders. Her son was an animal trainer who tried to escape from DIO and got killed by the vampire. After his death, his mother took care of his parrot. Hol Horse suggests her to ask the Speedwagon Foundation members to look for the parrot since they still drop in to check on her occasionally. However, he realizes that if the parrot got trained the same way as Pet Shop, then it might be a Stand user and the SPW would probably kill it if they think it's a threat. Hol Horse accepts the woman's request, not wanting to say no to a woman no matter their age, and heads into the city.

Hol Horse looks at his watch, complaining that it's eight tenths of a second off since it could give him bad luck. While walking by an alley, a boy warns Hol Horse that nobody can pass through that road without hiring him as a guide. Hol Horse summons Emperor and points toward the sky, shooting three bullets at two flower pots on the balcony of a building. He warns the boy to watch his head, but the boy doesn't understand since he can't see Stands and demands that Hol Horse gives him money so the boy can guide him. The flower pots fall and shatter on the ground, while the man who was watering the plants angrily threatens to punish his nephew. The boy who was trying to scam Hol Horse runs away in fear, wondering what just happened.

Reuniting with Old Allies
Hol Horse disappears into the building covered in fog. He calls out for Kenny G., asking if he received Hol Horse's signal and can give him a sign. Hol Horse then hears someone tell him to call off his Stand first. Hol Horse puts away Emperor, and the room starts changing due to Tenore Sax's ability. When Hol Horse gets up, he realizes he accidentally touched an outlet on the wall. He's worried until Mariah reveals herself, claiming that it wasn't her Stand that he just touched. However, she threatens that he knows what will happen if he tries to pull something. When Hol Horse retorts that he wouldn't harm a lady, Mariah responds that he should be settled down by now. Hol Horse asserts that a relationship like what Mariah and Kenny have together isn't his thing.

Mariah tells Hol Horse that Kenny won't be coming to see him since he doesn't like the cowboy, but he does have two visitors who want to see him. Oingo and Boingo have been freeloading with her and Kenny for a month so Mariah asks Hol Horse to take them with him. Hol Horse claims that he was planning to see Boingo anyways. As he's about to leave, Mariah asks if Hol Horse still has dreams. Although Hol Horse declares that he's too tough to have nightmares, Mariah retaliates that Hol Horse has been wearing three watches ever since he got shot in the head. She's been having constant dreams about DIO ordering her to defeat the Joestars, with Mariah being unable to do anything but grovel and apologize. The Speedwagon Foundation already told Mariah about all the terrible things DIO did, but she wonders why she still calls him "Lord DIO" in her dreams.

Hol Horse tries comforting Mariah by saying that even he fell for DIO's charms and that although they may be fools for falling for a conman's tricks, they're still victims. Suddenly, Mariah becomes enraged upon hearing that Hol Horse called her a fool and kicks him to the ground. As she stomps on him, Hol Horse's head touches her Bastet, causing his body to become a magnet. Darts from a dartboard fly toward Hol Horse as he tries running away. He shoots a door's lock and manages to hide inside the room, but ends up getting stuck to the pipes. Several swords fly toward Hol Horse but are stopped at the door before reaching his face.

Boingo peeks through the door and reveals that his Tohth already predicted that Boingo would join Hol Horse in this parrot hunt. Hol Horse says that he'd love to catch up with him but asks if he can get Mariah to deactivate her Stand. Boingo denies unless Hol Horse promises to never get involved with him again and to forget all about Boingo and Tohth. When Hol Horse complains that it's impossible for him to just forget something, Boingo threatens to push in one of the swords. Mariah shows up again and calls off her Stand, declaring that she was simply teaching Hol Horse a lesson for taking advantage of Boingo back then. Hol Horse reads the pages of Tohth, which narrates that Boingo and Hol Horse team up again to find the parrot. In order to do so, they have to go to Morioh in Japan.

Arrival in Morioh
Hol Horse and Boingo arrive in Morioh, but Hol Horse then inexplicably loses Boingo's trace. Wandering in the streets, he passes by Ryoko, wondering where Boingo went. He asks some schoolgirls if they've seen him but they start running away from him instead. Hol Horse complains about not knowing anyone in Morioh when he suddenly hears DIO's voice in his head. Suddenly, a driver resembling Wilson Phillips runs over several people on the sidewalk, as if he is following orders from someone. Hol Horse attempts to shoot the car, but continues hearing DIO's voice behind him. He trembles from hesitation as he tries calming himself down since DIO is already dead, but realizes he doesn't have the conviction to get over the vampire. Ever since he tried betraying DIO and gave into fear, he lost to him. The car gets closer to Hol Horse and he finally manages to shoot two bullets into the tire. However, that causes the car to launch toward him. He sees a glimpse of the driver, noticing that his eyes lack irises and instead have five holes in its place.

Before Hol Horse could do anything, the car instantly gets punched away from him. Hol Horse sees a boy with a pompadour and his Stand behind him. The boy tells Hol Horse that he saw him summon a gun in his hand out of thin air, realizing he must have the same kind of ability as him. Hol Horse notices that he's a Stand User and the two confront each other, prepared to fight face-to-face.

Hol Horse thinks to himself about Josuke's strength, determining that his ability must be a close-range power type, but prioritizes finding out whether Josuke is a friend or foe. Josuke mocks Hol Horse's fashion, wondering if he's a cowboy. Hol Horse retorts by asking if Josuke is the kind of person to pick his style based on what other people think, adding that Josuke doesn't seem like the type considering his hairstyle.

Hol Horse's remark enrages Josuke, so the cowboy quickly raises his guard. Suddenly, the driver from the car Josuke punched almost collides into Hol Horse from behind. Josuke uses Crazy Diamond to punch the driver in the face and then grabs the man by his tie. Hol Horse looks back at the car and is confused, as it appears to have a different design from when he saw it before. Josuke has a feeling he'll regret doing so, but heals the driver with his Stand, not wanting anyone to die during this accident.

Allying with Josuke
Hol Horse is stunned to learn what Josuke's true ability is, thinking to himself that Josuke reeks of danger. The crowd of pedestrians nearby assumes Josuke and Hol Horse caused the car to crash because of how they look, asking for someone to call the police. Meanwhile, Hol Horse takes the opportunity to flee while Josuke intimidates the crowd. Running away, Hol Horse thinks to himself that he would have no chance fighting Josuke one-on-one. He's also more worried about the other Stand User, which seems to have a remote-control type Stand that controlled the driver from far. Hol Horse surmises that the Stand User's motivation might be an inhuman urge to kill, just like DIO. Hol Horse declares that he has to hide and keep an eye on things from a safe distance so he can process everything he just saw. However, he is suddenly interrupted by Josuke who claims to have easily processed everything that happened already. Shocked, Hol Horse asks why Josuke followed him but Josuke just wanted to get away before his relative could show up at the accident scene. Hol Horse desperately tries running away and assumes Josuke is still following him until Josuke reveals that he simply hasn't moved at all because Josuke reverted the asphalt under Hol Horse's feet back into liquid.

While Hol Horse grieves over his boots, Josuke brings up Hol Horse's remark before about if Josuke is the kind of guy that bases his style on what other people thinks. That comment combined with how Hol Horse himself is dressed resonated with Josuke. The two introduce themselves to each other, much to Hol Horse's dismay as Josuke places his arm around Hol Horse's shoulder. Worried, Hol Horse wonders if Tohth predicted this too and wonders where Boingo is.

Hol Horse and Josuke continue walking together when they overhear a thug insult a young woman's hair. Josuke assumes they were talking about him and rapidly punches and kicks the car of the thugs. Hol Horse apologizes to Ryoko, asking if she got hurt anywhere.

Petsounds's First Attack
Josuke starts getting angry at Ryoko but Hol Horse interferes and says Josuke should cherish ladies instead of threatening them. He brings Josuke close toward him and whispers that he can tell how powerful Josuke's Stand is and that he shouldn't just summon it every time he gets angry, as Hol Horse doesn't want to keep getting caught up in Josuke's fights. Hol Horse asks Ryoko if she can understand his Japanese properly. Although he would like to apologize by taking her out for dinner, he has business to take care of. Ryoko is confused but Josuke explains how Hol Horse got separated from someone he came to Japan with. Hol Horse describes how Boingo is short and carried a comic book, asking if Ryoko saw him anywhere. She tells Hol Horse that he should ask at the (neighborhood police station). Josuke doesn't like that suggestion and hides behind a vending machine, causing Hol Horse to wonder if he's hiding from the cops.

Hol Horse leaves and enters the police station, feeling like he can finally concentrate and look for the parrot and Boingo. However, he thinks he might need Josuke's help to deal with the mysterious Stand. Inside the police station, Hol Horse overhears Inspector Hiraoka insisting that the car crash wasn't his fault. His co-worker tries to calm him down by getting him to sit and have tea, while Hol Horse is surprised to learn that the possessed driver was a police inspector. Hol Horse then looks outside and suddenly sees the parrot and its Stand. Before he could react, Hol Horse starts hearing DIO's voice back from when he was about to betray the vampire by shooting him. enter Hol Horse's body through his eye and mouth. Hol Horse finds himself unable to control his body and he is forced to point Emperor at Inspector Hiraoka's head from behind, in the same way he planned to shoot DIO ten years ago.

Hol Horse continues hearing DIO's voice, realizing that the parrot is making him reenact the events from ten years ago. Suddenly, he notices two sparkling cufflinks on Hiraoka's sleeve when a pedestrian signal behind him flashes green. The green light and the sparkling cufflinks evokes a memory of Hol Horse seeing Hierophant Green's Emerald Splash technique in the skies of Cairo when Noriaki was fighting DIO. At the time, a bandaged Hol Horse and Boingo were running away on the street when they saw the numerous Emerald Splashes above them.

Focusing on the different memory allows Hol Horse to escape from the Stand's grip and he pukes out the Stand's punched cards. Hol Horse leaves the police station, surmising that someone must have stolen the parrot to make use of its power. Just then, a group of four female chefs from a pastry shop walk out of their store, each holding knives. One of them slashes the neck of an elderly woman who had just arrived to pick up her order. Walking as if they're in a trance, the women all exclaim that they're offering everyone's blood to DIO. One of the women stabs Hol Horse in his side. He realizes his dilemma as he's up against an enemy he can't simply shoot with Emperor.

One of the possessed chefs lunges at Hol Horse with a knife and slashes him. During the struggle, Hol Horse is forced to shoot with Emperor, which alerts Josuke. The young man interrupts his conversation with Ryoko and comes to fight. Struggling on the ground, Hol Horse warns him that the women are being controlled. Thus, Josuke summons Crazy Diamond and rapidly punches all of the women at the same time although he pulls his punches as to not hurt the women gravely. The chefs are freed from the control of the enemy Stand and Josuke pretends that it was a life performance to reassure the onlookers.

Josuke quickly runs to Hol Horse and heals him. When Josuke asks what happened to him, Hol Horse reveals the parrot from Egypt is a Stand user that was trained under the orders of a man named DIO. Hol Horse assumes that DIO found the bird's recording ability useful as he couldn't go out himself during the day. Josuke feels dumb realizing that even a bird could have a Stand. He had been sensitive about it because he thought he was the only one with it, as if it was some kind of sickness. Hol Horse also reveals that their problem isn't the parrot's Stand itself but the person who is hiding somewhere and manipulating the parrot. Since Hol Horse doesn't want to kill the bird and let its owner down, he asks Josuke for his help. Josuke agrees, feeling that it's nice to be relied on.

Petsounds's Second Attack
Later, Josuke and Hol Horse stay in a tunnel to restrict the enemy's movement to attack again. Hol Horse summarizes what they know about the parrot's Stand ability so far. He and Josuke wonder how they can do something about the bird before it attacks them first. They think they might be safe since they're in the subway and the bird probably won't come flying there. Josuke asks whether they should go look for Boingo but Hol Horse thinks having Boingo with them would weigh them down and just be putting him in danger since he can't fight. Josuke suggests that one of them should try acting as a decoy when they fight the parrot, when suddenly, a helicopter starts whirring behind them. Hol Horse starts trembling and wonders if he was that worried about hearing DIO's voice again. However, Josuke reveals that he also feels terrified all of a sudden and that something doesn't feel right. Just as the duo realize they're already under attack, they turn around and see each other's eyes are affected by Petsounds's Stand. They hadn't heard any voices, but they realize that it was the sound of the helicopter which triggered the ability.

Several civilians start running away from the illusionary helicopter. Josuke and Hol Horse witness a man getting shot by several bullets, but when they go up to him, they notice his wounds are all gone. Although the helicopter isn't actually there in the subway with them, everyone being controlled by the Stand is forced to reenact the scenario that the Stand is replaying from the parrot's memories. Hol Horse realizes that the scenario they're reenacting must be that they are citizens or rioters being shot down by a dictator's army in Egypt.

To make matters worse, a kid in front of them is shot by an arrow from a crossbow all of a sudden. Josuke realizes that it's a real arrow and not an illusion. He uses Crazy Diamond to heal the boy but then Josuke is also shot in the back. After Crazy Diamond takes out the arrow, Josuke furiously runs toward the mysterious enemy, planning to take him down.

Enraged, Josuke dashes toward the enemy who shot at him with a crossbow. Hol Horse is stunned that Josuke was able to break free from the parrot's ability. The enemy shoots another arrow at Josuke but Josuke easily deflects it with his Stand, surprising the shooter. As he wonders who Josuke is, he continues shooting more civilians in the back. Suddenly, it appears as if Josuke is shot in the forehead. Hol Horse screams in fear, but Crazy Diamond had actually managed to grab the arrow in time before it completely pierced Josuke.

The wind from the illusionary military helicopter causes Hol Horse's hat to fall off. He cowers in fear from the helicopter shooting at him and the civilians. He tries calming himself down and goes to grab his hat but suddenly imagines that his hand got shot, creating a large hole and detaching a finger. He thinks back to the fear he felt when he confronted DIO, wondering if he hasn't changed at all since then. The thought of DIO returns him to his senses, as he realizes that the fear he is feeling right now is nothing compared to what he felt back then.

Regaining his composure, Hol Horse fires two bullets with Emperor. The bullets phase through the illusionary helicopter and zoom past Josuke, blowing off the enemy's ear and a fragment of his crossbow. Petsounds starts flying away, momentarily distracting Hol Horse and Josuke which allows the enemy to run away. Josuke uses his Stand to punch the fragment that fell off the crossbow. He thanks Hol Horse for leaving some evidence behind which would allow him to track the enemy down and tells Hol Horse to go after the parrot. Hol Horse recalls when Petsounds's owner told him that she thinks of the parrot as her own son. Thinking that the owner wouldn't want her "son" to cause several casualties, Hol Horse shoots Petsounds, blowing off one of his wings. He mutters an apology to the old lady, upset that he broke his promise with a woman.

The True Enemy
Later, Hol Horse and Boingo meet with Ryohei and Josuke. Ryohei tells Hol Horse, and Boingo about what happened to Koji Kiyohara after he was taken to custody. They investigated Kiyohara's home and found videos of him shooting animals to death, so they are planning to do a psychological evaluation on him. Furthermore, some victims still haven't regained consciousness from the incident, possibly due to shock. Hol Horse thanks Ryohei for the information and figures they should go look for Boingo's comic book next. He tells Boingo to stay in his hotel room until everything is resolved. After they leave, Ryohei suggests that Boingo should try looking for the book on his own, since it's something he treasures. Boingo appreciates his advice. Josuke is curious as to why Boingo is so desperate to get his manga back instead of just buying another one. He looks at a drawing of the book and suddenly realizes where he might have seen it before. Josuke tells Hol Horse that he'll meet up with him at the hotel later and leaves on his own.

However, Hol Horse follows since he thought Josuke was acting strange and surprises Josuke with Ryoko who has Tohth in her possession. He apologizes but asks Ryoko to give him back the book. Josuke asks if he could just listen to Ryoko since she has her reasons but Hol Horse refuses since Boingo needs it back. Since he doesn't want to cooperate, Josuke destroys a dumpster behind Hol Horse using Crazy Diamond and then restores the pieces to trap Hol Horse inside it. He tells Hol Horse that it will just be for a little while and then runs away with Ryoko.

Hol Horse uses Emperor to shoot the lid of the dumpster that Josuke trapped him in and kicks it open, freeing himself. Wondering where Ryoko went off to, he notices that her hairstyle looks familiar. He hears a clock chime and tries looking at one of his watches to see the time, but it is broken. The broken clock makes Hol Horse remember Kakyoin's death, which gives him a bad feeling.

Hol Horse catches up to Josuke and Boingo in a construction site, Boingo having been recently freed from the real enemy, a policeman named Kazuki Karaiya. Josuke tells Hol Horse that the parrot he "killed" is still alive, before they suddenly see what appears to be a bird zooming past them, as well as Ryoko running up the stairs. Hol Horse says he'll go after the parrot while Josuke chases Ryoko. Hol Horse catches up to the "parrot", but it ends up being a paper model of the bird. He sees someone standing behind him, whom he imagines is Noriaki Kakyoin before realizing that it's just Ryoko. Possessed by Petsounds's ability, Ryoko takes out a gun and points it to her head. Hol Horse tries to wrestle the gun away from Ryoko. Suddenly, Ryoko regains her senses but she inadvertently pushes Hol Horse over a ledge but he manages to hang on the ledge by a hand. Ryoko assumes Hol Horse did something to her but he explains he was just looking for a comic book, which reminds Ryoko that she saw Hol Horse in Tohth and that he is connected to DIO. She asks if he knows what happened to her cousin Noriaki, but Hol Horse stammers, unable to respond. Since he stays silent, she grabs the gun on the ground and points it at Hol Horse, demanding that he answers what he did to Noriaki.

Hol Horse ponders his options. He thinks of making excuses but realizes that Ryoko won't accept them. Thinking about the time he saved some women from DIO without understanding why, Hol Horse decides to follow his heart and be himself by acting "nice" to women. Thus, he reveals that he was once Kakyoin's enemy but that he failed to kill him. Surprisingly, Ryoko lowers her gun and helps him back up off the ledge. He tells her that the only way he can describe what Noriaki and his friends did ten years ago is that they saved the world. Suddenly, Hol Horse's forehead starts bleeding, fulfilling Tohth's earlier prophecy. Ryoko is surprised as to what happened, but Hol Horse says it's an old wound that never healed properly. However, now he has the feeling that it'll get better. Josuke and Boingo meet up with Ryoko and Hol Horse as the incident is resolved, with Josuke carrying Petsounds in his arm.