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Horse Returns Without Rider
- 111 statements
- 20 feature instances
- 11 referencing feature instances
| Horse Returns Without Rider | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider | comment |
A character sets out on horseback; later the horse returns alone. Cue ominous music as both the audience and the other characters realize something terrible has happened to the rider — perhaps injured, killed, or kidnapped. One common add-on is that the horse serves as a walking crime scene bearing clues to what happened. The horse may be injured, or its tack may be damaged. Another common add-on is inopportune conditions surrounding the ride: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, Hostile Weather, or the natives are restless and a lone horseman is a good target. The trope is most common is settings where horses are the standard mode of transportation, but it can equally occur where horseback riding is a recreational activity. While it can mishandled, the basic premise is accurate. A horse whose been on rides before knows the drill: you go out, then you return. At the stable there's food, water, and friends (horses are herd animals who bond with each other). Especially if the horse was spooked by whatever happened to the rider, they'll want to go home where they feel safe. In real life, the most common scenario is that nothing particularly "happened"—the horse was just Horsing Around or got spooked (horses spook easily), threw the rider, and ran off. The rider will return home on foot, bruised but relatively unharmed. In fiction, The Law of Conservation of Detail means that such mundane examples are uncommon. Compare other Stock Ominous Signs, particularly Ominously Cut Tether. If the horse is a Sapient Steed who can tell you what happened, then it's Sole Survivor instead—here the point is that it's ambiguous and thus ominous. Overlaps with Invulnerable Horses since by definition something happened to the rider but the horse is basically okay. Expect unmarked spoilers as to the riders' fates! |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_121ecdae | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_121ecdae | comment |
In Prey, the French trappers are attempting to trap the Feral Predator, and the scene focuses on two of them aiming their rifles at the ambush spot while there are others on horseback behind them. Suddenly, the horses start running past them riderless, or with the riders still on them minus their heads. Oh, Crap! ensues when they realize the Predator is right behind them. | |
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| Prey (2022) | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_1cbc1a59 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_1cbc1a59 | comment |
Dragonheart: Subverted when the knight-turned-dragonslayer Bowen and a monk named Brother Gilbert first meet. Bowen, who was on horseback, was chasing a dragon that landed at the bottom of a hillside on the outskirts of a village Gilbert was passing through. Bowen engaged the dragon in a fight, but soon after the dragon grew silent and Bowen's horse returned riderless, leading Gilbert to believe that Bowen was slain by the dragon. The dust stirred up by the fight starts to settle a little when Bowen appears with a dragon tooth in hand, as a trophy and proof of his kill, and he promptly calls his horse a coward for running away so soon. | |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_32c541e6 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_32c541e6 | comment |
Fullmetal Alchemist: A recon team sent by General Olivier to investigate the huge tunnel the homunculus Sloth emerged from is attacked and massacred by a monstrous Living Shadow (later revealed to be Pride). The only survivor to return is an absolutely terrified horse with a severed human arm still clutching its reins. | |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_34882659 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_34882659 | comment |
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The day after Ichabod Crane's encounter with the Headless Horseman, Gunpowder the horse is found near his master's home while Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared. Whether he fled Sleepy Hollow out of fear or was spirited away by the Horseman is left up to interpretation. | |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_3ac755dd | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_3ac755dd | comment |
Beauty and the Beast: While Maurice is riding his horse Philippe to the fair, the two are chased by wolves and Maurice ends up falling off, leaving him to seek shelter in the Beast's castle. Later, Philippe makes it back home. Belle realizes that something terrible has happened to her father and promptly takes off to search for him. This scene also occurs in the live action remake. | |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_752075f | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_752075f | comment |
Outlander: Jamie, Roger, and several other men go hunting for bison. The group splits up with Jamie and Roger headed in one direction and the others in another. While hunting, Jamie is bitten by a snake and rapidly begins to succumb to the venom. The other men, having failed to find any game, return to the homestead. When Jamie and Roger aren't home yet, everyone assumes that they found a good hunting spot, are camping out, and will return in the morning. However, Young Ian realizes that something is amiss when Jamie's horse returns home alone. A rescue party is sent out to find Jamie and Roger. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_752075f | featureApplicability |
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| Outlander | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7b2ce128 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7b2ce128 | comment |
Centaurworld: The plot of the first season revolves around Horse (an actual horse) having been separated from Rider (her rider) and is trying to return to her home dimension, hoping to find Rider again. However, Horse fears that Rider is already dead or, if she isn't, they won't remember each other by the time she makes it back. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7b2ce128 | featureApplicability |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7e9d1a6c | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7e9d1a6c | comment |
Frozen (2013): Soon after Elsa accidentally sets off an Endless Winter and retreats to the North Mountain, her sister Anna sets off riding her horse to find her, only for said horse to abandon her midway through her journey. When the horse manages to find its way back to Arendelle, Hans takes it as a sign that Anna is in danger and mobilizes a search party to find her. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7e9d1a6c | featureApplicability |
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| Frozen (2013) | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7fc78282 | type |
Horse Returns Without Rider | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7fc78282 | comment |
The Lord of the Rings Shadowfax returns to Rohan on his own after Gandalf lets him, and Theoden interprets this as the wizard having died, as he says when Gandalf returns. When Aragorn mentions having traveled with Boromir, Éomer asks about him. The last Éomer knew was that Boromir had set off on a long journey north, and that his horse came back without him. |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_7fc78282 | featureApplicability |
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| The Lord of the Rings | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_8f5b9e8c | type |
Horse Returns Without Rider | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_8f5b9e8c | comment |
The Valley of Gwangi: When the heroes are all riding out of the Forbidden Valley, Carlos the Mexican Roma is pulled from his horse by Gwangi, and the Allosaurus then eats him alive, thereby fulfilling the prophecy Tia Zorrina gave Carlos at the start of the film that Gwangi would kill him like his brother Miguel if he took anything from the Evil One ("anything", in this case, being the Eohippus Miguel stole from Gwangi and brought back to Carlos at the cost of his life). Tia Zorrina specifically mentions Carlos' horse when confronting the heroes to tell them about his fate. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_8f5b9e8c | featureApplicability |
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| The Valley of Gwangi | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_924bb56e | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_924bb56e | comment |
Dollhouse: In "Haunted", Margaret's death is discovered after her horse returns without her. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_924bb56e | featureApplicability |
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| Dollhouse | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_9591f30c | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_9591f30c | comment |
Time Bandits has a slightly nonstandard example. When the armored knights attack Evil, he sprays out clouds of smoke. A battle between them goes on inside the smoke, ending with the horses trotting out of the smoke riderless. When the smoke clears, the knights are revealed to have been killed by being impaled on their lances. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_9591f30c | featureApplicability |
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| Time Bandits | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_977c980a | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_977c980a | comment |
In Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, Godmother Elena delivers some Laser-Guided Karma to a king by arranging for two of his sons to simply disappear (onto paths that will put them through some Character Development) and sending the third son's horse home with its reins cut. Said son is The Unfavorite and the most likely to succeed on the quest, so this is just to make the king sweat a little and regret treating him so poorly. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_977c980a | featureApplicability |
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| Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_97bb943d | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_97bb943d | comment |
Gladiator: Subverted at the opening battle, where an emissary appears to be riding his horse back to the Roman lines, but once the horse arrived the emissary is shown to be missing his head. The chieftain of the Germanic army held the head then tossed it in the mud before the battle begins. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_97bb943d | featureApplicability |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_97bb943d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Gladiator | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_992414bf | type |
Horse Returns Without Rider | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_992414bf | comment |
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart: Kay—who is very incompetent—sets out with Guinevere. Soon after a Stealth Escort Mission sets out to follow them. They soon come across his horse, riderless, and showing signs of a struggle. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_992414bf | featureApplicability |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_992414bf | featureConfidence |
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| Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_a04b0ca3 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_a04b0ca3 | comment |
Tintin: The Seven Crystal Balls starts with Tintin coming to Marlinspike Hall. He's greeted by Nestor, who tells him that Haddock is away for a horse riding session. Then Haddock's horse arrives without Haddock on its back. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_a04b0ca3 | featureApplicability |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b30ae4db | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b30ae4db | comment |
Game of Thrones: In season 1, Benjen Stark is sent out beyond the Wall to investigate reports of troubling activity. Some episodes later, his horse returns in "You Win Or You Die", but the man himself is nowhere to be found. Early in season 2, Daenerys Targaryen and her ragtag khalasar are lost in the Red Waste, forcing her to send out her Bloodriders to scout for water and friendly settlements. In "The Night Lands", Rakharo's horse returns minus its rider; his head has been stuffed into the saddlebag, courtesy of a rival Dothraki khalasar. |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b30ae4db | featureApplicability |
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| Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b53b86fa | type |
Horse Returns Without Rider | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b53b86fa | comment |
The Princess Bride: Vizzini kidnaps Buttercup while she's riding. He invokes the trope by planting part of the uniform of an army officer of Guilder (who he's framing for her disappearance) on the horse, then sending it off. | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_b53b86fa | featureApplicability |
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| The Princess Bride | hasFeature |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_e9e265b6 | type |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_e9e265b6 | comment |
Fire Emblem: Awakening: Gerome's wyvern mount and Cynthia's pegasus mount are the same ones that their respective mothers used to ride. Both of them tell the past versions of their mothers how the future versions went off to war, and one day, the pegasus and wyvern returned alone, telling the children that Sumia and Cherche had died in battle. | |
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| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_ed8fbe28 | type |
Horse Returns Without Rider | |
| Horse Returns Without Rider / int_ed8fbe28 | comment |
American Girls: Kaya: Swan Circling set out to find some medicine for a sick baby. When it's dusk and she still hasn't returned, Kaya starts to worry. Then her horse returns without her, and the chapter ends on that cliffhanger. Some people go out searching and find her body by a stream. It looks like her horse broke through some thin ice, stumbled, she was thrown off, she hit her head on a boulder and that killed her. | |
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