Hol Horse

Hol Horse is a minor, fictional character appearing in the Japanese manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, by Hirohiko Araki. The character is initially portrayed as an antagonist, but later shifts to a more comic role in the story.

Personality
Hol Horse is an arrogant cowboy but despite his arrogance, prefers to see himself as a "No.2 kind of guy" rather than a "No.1 kind of guy".

Horse is shown to respect power, as seen when he arrogantly believes that he could kill Dio Brando, but is easily convinced to kill the protagonists after Dio appears behind him using the powers of The World. 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, from the way he talks about Nena. He also vehemently denied that Thoth's prediction of him kicking a lady from behind would come true, as he had sworn to never hit women.

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 Dio used The World to effortlessly disarm his attempt at shooting him in the back. His independence was shattered, and he realized he had failed completely. This made Hol Horse dedicate himself to killing the protagonists to save himself from Dio's punishment.

Stardust Crusaders
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. Gail. He reveals to J.Gail that he was just using Nena, because women in love are willing to do anything for him.

Together they mortally injure Mohammed Avdol, believing him to be dead. He decides to run away after J. Gail is killed by Polnareff, Nena helping him to escape, as he is the kind of guy who only works with partners. Enya Gail 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 van confirming that he was not killed in her attack.

Afterwards, he escapes the protagonists and promises revenge on them, but doesn´t come back to fight them. He goes to Dio Brando to report on Alessi´s and Mariah´s defeat, but attacks Dio after he questions why Hol Horse doesn´t fight. He is surprised by Dio´s power and decides to attack the Joestar group with a new partner. He goes to the extent of kidnapping Boingo for assistance in dispatching the protagonists with Thoth. The joint assassination attempt on Jotaro Kujo by Hol Horse and Boingo goes horribly awry as Thoth's prediction backfires on them, ending with The Emperor's own bullets hitting Hol 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.

Stand
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, uncarefully attacking Dio Brando before he witnessed he would be better being his ally. As he understands that he may not be able to control some things, Hol Horse puts himself as the "Number 2" kind of guy, leaving leadership to however his partner may be at the moment (even if they were initially unwilling to cooperate at first).

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (SNES)
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.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future
The two playable versions of Hol Horse have different storylines, owing to his character development during the story. 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. 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 (Version with Boingo) is shown being capable to use his stand even after being de-aged by Alessi, implying he either was born or developed his stand at a young age.

Techniques

 * Mighty Gun


 * Glass Shower


 * Hanged Man


 * Super Mighty Gun


 * Wild West


 * Wooden Nickels


 * Pipe Maze


 * Absolute Premonition

Strategy
Predictably, most of Hol Horse's strategy revolves around utilizing his gun (The Emperor) to harass his opponents from the distance. He possesses no Active Stand, which renders him extremely vunerable 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 the 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 useable, 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.

Trivia

 * In Heritage for the Future, Hol Horse is one of the special characters that doesn't turn 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 you 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 F.F. With that idea in mind, one of the trailers for Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, Mista and Hol Horse are show together as rivals, with their battle named as "GUN AND GUN".
 * So far Hol Horse, Wamuu, Akira Otoishi, & Esidisi are the only minor antagonists to appear as playable characters in All-Star Battle PS3 game.