Hol Horse

""Better to be No.2 than No.1", that's my motto!"

- Hol Horse

Hol Horse (ホル・ホース) appears in Stardust Crusaders; confronting the allies in the arcs Emperor and Hanged Man and Hol Horse and Boingo.

Hol Horse has the most appearances of a minor antagonist in Part III. Becoming familiar to his allies, he takes on a more comic role later in the story.

Appearance
Hol Horse is a man of average to above-average height and medium build. At his back he has light, neck-length hair. He has dimples in his cheeks and a cleft chin.

He wears mostly light-colored clothes with a dark undershirt and a wide-brimmed hat from which hang two long, thin, loose straps; and a loose, sleeveless top or a type of poncho, hanging below his waist in a rectangle of fabric of mid-thigh length.

Personality
Hol Horse is arrogant, somewhat cowardly, and a womanizer. He prefers to be a second in command rather than a "Number 1".

Hol Horse is shown to respect power, as seen when he arrogantly believes that he could kill DIO, but is easily convinced into killing the heroes after witnessing first hand the power of DIO's Stand. Though he considers himself a ladies' man, he doesn't particularly hold any respect for them as women and considers them more helpful as leverage or assistants in fights than romantic partners, based on the way he speaks about Nena. He also vehemently denied Tohth's prediction of him kicking a lady from behind would come true, as he had sworn to never hit women (although he later kicked said lady to save her from a scorpion).

He is not a very brave man, as he quickly loses his composure once he realizes he is outmatched. The most extreme case of this was when attempting to assassinate DIO, the vampire merely used The World's power to seemingly teleport behind Hol Horse and avoid his shot effortlessly without so much as even disturbing the cobwebs around them. His independence was shattered, and he realized he had failed completely. As a result, Hol Horse swore eternal loyalty to DIO.

Abilities
Hol Horse's Stand is Emperor; a handgun over the bullets of which he maintains control of a fine degree (in a style nullifying to the need for marksmanship).

Hol Horse partners with J. Geil of the Stand Hanged Man, and later Boingo of the Stand Tohth, who both complement his abilities well. He says that he prefers to operate with a partner.

Stand Tarot Card
Hol Horse's Stand represents the Tarot Card Emperor, which symbolizes the desire to rule over one's surroundings with strategies and long-term thinking. Its appearance in a reading often suggests that the subject needs to accept that some things may not be controllable, and others may not benefit from being controlled. Hol Horse tries to take control over the situations he's in through thinking how he would benefit from it, carelessly attacking DIO before he witnessed he would be better being his ally. As he understands that he may not be in total control of things as well as recognizing his own Stand's shortcomings, he prefers to be the number 2 guy in most working relationships.

Emperor and Hanged Man
He's introduced in India turning down a marriage offer from future partner Nena before revealing himself as a member of a tag team of Stand users with J. Geil. He reveals to J. Geil that he was merely using Nena, because women in love are willing to do anything for him.

Together they manage to severely injure Muhammad Avdol, believing him to be dead. He decides to run away after J. Geil is killed by Polnareff, as he is the kind of guy who only works with partners; Nena assists him in escaping. Enya the Hag decided to blame Hol Horse for the possibility that he deserted her son, using her Stand to injure Hol Horse and believes that she have killed him. After the protagonists defeat Enya, however, he steals their vehicle, confirming that he was not killed in her attack.

After escaping the protagonists, he promises revenge on them, but doesn't come back to fight them.

Shooting DIO?!
He goes to DIO to report on Alessi's and Mariah's defeat, but attacks DIO after he questions why Hol Horse doesn't fight. 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.

Hol Horse and Boingo
He goes to the extent of kidnapping Boingo for assistance in dispatching the protagonists with Tohth. The joint assassination attempt on Jotaro Kujo by Hol Horse and Boingo goes horribly awry as Tohth's prediction backfires on them, ending with Emperor's own bullets hitting Hol Horse right in the face. While severe, the bullet wounds stop just short of his skull, leaving him in the hospital for the remainder of the story.

In the OVA
Hol Horse also appears in the 2000 episodes of the Part III OVA, with his debut being in the two parter episodes "The Emperor and the Hanged Man" and "The Judgment", a straight adaptation of his manga debut. His last appearances are in the Enya the Hag two-parter episodes which adapt her manga chapters as well. Unlike in the manga, at the end of the "Justice" episode of the OVA, Hol Horse is rendered comatose but still alive, and does not hinder the Joestar group any further.

JoJo RPG (SFC)
Hol Horse appears multiple times throughout this game re-enacting most of his moments from the series. His final encounter with the player has him teaming up with Mariah to try and take Jotaro and the others down.

Heritage for the Future (PS1/DC/Arcade)
Hol Horse appears in the second revision of the game, and possesses two different versions of himself, one where he is allied with J. Geil and Hanged Man; and the other where he is allied with Boingo and Tohth, due to what happens to him in the story. While normal Hol Horse is readily available, Hol Horse's "Boingo" version must be unlocked via a code.

In the first version of the game (JoJo's Venture), a few sprites of Hol Horse can be found within the game's data, showing that he was at one point planned instead to debut in the first version.

Storyline
If he defeats the Joestar party while partnered up with J. Geil, the arrogant cowboy will turn on DIO (in his Shadow Form) and defeat him, though still admitting he prefers to be a second-in-command.

On the other hand, if the humbled Hol Horse partnered with Boingo defeats the party, DIO grants him a cash sum substantial enough for Hol to "live happily ever after", while Boingo decides to use his Stand to help people.

Hol Horse ("& Boingo" version) appears to be able to use his Stand after being de-aged by Alessi, implying he either was born or developed his Stand at a young age.

Strategy
As Hol Horse lacks an "active" Stand, pressing the Stand button has him fire a bullet that briefly stops in midair, moving in whatever direction the player inputs during this time. The delay is significantly shorter for the "& Boingo" version of Hol Horse.

Predictably, most of Hol Horse's strategy revolves around utilizing his gun (Emperor) to harass his opponents from the distance. He possesses no Active Stand, which renders him extremely vulnerable to chip damage (which having a Stand active would normally block) and forces the player take a more aggressive role, or at the very least avoid attacks instead of blocking them. His Glass Shower move is excellent for denying aerial attacks and forcing opponents backwards, while Hanged Man (normal Hol Horse only) can help Hol by stabbing his opponent in the leg and paralyzing them while they are on the ground.

While all of Hol's super techniques are very usable, the one that shines the most is his Dangan no Modou, which allows him to fire a bullet and freely control it with the joystick for a few moments. This attack is completely unblockable, and can be used repeatedly until Hol's super gauge is empty. This is a great way of finishing off an enemy who is playing defensively, or just equalizing an opponent who has more energy than you.

In summary, Hol Horse shines at medium range, as his close quarters attacks are less than impressive, and his bullets become easy to avoid from across the screen. Keep the pressure on with plenty of straight shots (be sure to mix-up between high and low to keep your opponent guessing) and use the Glass Shower to cover your tracks when they try to rush. Or just experiment with his moveset and make your own strategy, as his techniques allow for a great deal of flexibility depending on who your opponent is.

Techniques

 * Mighty Gun
 * Glass Shower
 * Hanged Man
 * Super Mighty Gun
 * Wild West
 * Wooden Nickels
 * Pipe Maze
 * Absolute Premonition

All-Star Battle (PS3)
Hol Horse returns as a playable character in the PS3 title. He was confirmed along with Avdol and DIO as one of the last Part III characters (not counting DLC characters Iggy and Vanilla Ice).

He is voiced by Houchuu Ootsuka in this game, who previously voiced young Joseph Joestar in the Capcom game.

Along with Enrico Pucci, Kosaku-Kira, Johnny Joestar, Koichi Hirose and Giorno Giovanna, Hol Horse is the only character who can use more than one Stand during a match as part of his moveset.

Besides the cast from Part III (not counting Vanilla Ice), Hol Horse has special intro dialogue with Guido Mista, wherein Hol Horse decides to see which one of the two is the faster gunman, a challenge that Mista accepts.

Moveset
Many of Hol Horse's moves in Heritage are similar in this game, though toned down for balance. He cannot call out J. Geil's Hanged Man whenever he wants in this game, instead he must throw a bottle of liquid into the air and shoot the airborne bottle, spilling the liquid onto the floor. Inputting the same command after that summons Hanged Man to briefly attack the opponent.

His HHA has him fire a volley of controlled bullets that repeatedly damage his victim. His GHA is similiar to his normal Hanged Man move, named "Me and J. Geil's Invincible Combo". Hol Horse tosses an empty bottle into the air and shoots it. If the opponent is caught under the rain of glass shards, Hanged Man appears behind the victim and stabs them in the back, immobilizing them. Hol Horse then fires a single shot that bounds around the still-falling shards before finding its way into the victim's head (reminiscent of how he and J. Geil first seemingly killed Avdol.)

Stardust Shooters (Android/iOS)
Hol Horse appears as one of the several PART III characters who posses a Metal Striker. His FINISH move makes his Stand, Emperor, appear and shoot several times at the defeated opponent.

Eyes of Heaven (PS3/PS4)
Hol Horse was confirmed for the game alongside Polnareff.

Unlike the previous game, Hol Horse's main color is now based on his anime appearance.

Touja_romajint
He is paired with Yukako Yamagishi in the Eyes of Heaven touja_romajint, but was eliminated in the preliminaries by Jotaro and Vanilla Ice.

Trivia

 * Though not initially planned, Araki threw around the idea of Hol Horse joining the protagonists during their journey, but opted out due to balance issues with Polnareff's similar character. Araki mentions this is part of the reason Hol Horse shows up multiple times throughout the story and why there is at least one group shot with Hol Horse present.
 * In Heritage for the Future, Hol Horse is one of the special characters that doesn't turn into his child form but rather, the boy that attempted to sell Kakyoin and Polnareff things during their fight against J. Geil. For his "Hol Horse And Boingo" form he seems to swap places with Boingo, and hides under the latter's box, although players can see a young Hol Horse's arm sticking out firing Emperor when using certain attacks.
 * Hol Horse is one of the three characters in the franchise to use a gun as his main weapon, the other two being Mista and Foo Fighters. One of the trailers for All-Star Battle references that, by showing Mista and Hol Horse as rivals, with their battle named as "GUN AND GUN".
 * So far he is the only minor antagonist to come back into the story after he's defeated, only to end up being defeated yet again.

Gallery
Manga=