The Four Horsemen



The Four Horsemen is the name for a group of four men whose aims appear to become the dominant world power and usurp the Russian Federation and start a war on the United States. They are named after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is the player's objective throughout Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to uncover information on them and eventually eliminate all four. They all have some form of command role in their respective groups. Four Xbox 360 (There are no trophies for the PlayStation 3 version of the game) achievements are associated with them, as the player gets an achievement each time they complete a Veteran-level mission that a Horseman dies in, the only exception being The First Horseman, as it is not confirmed that he did die.

The First Horseman
The First Horseman is a somewhat mysterious individual who works for/with Al-Asad, though to what extent is unknown. He is apparently killed during the final fight in the capital, either during the battle or after the nuclear weapon detonates. The only visual reference to him is seen afterward in a photo showing all four Horsemen meeting.

Some theories of his identity include:


 * He could have been the driver of the car in "The Coup", with Zakhaev's son and president Al-Fulani, (which is likely, because all the Horsemen would have appeared in the scene and that the man driving the car is wearing the same clothing as the First Horseman in the picture above however we still would not know who it is or this could just be randomly generated).
 * It has been speculated that the First Horseman is a go-between for Al-Asad and the Ultranationalists, possibly also serving as a political or financial adviser to Al-Asad.
 * "The First Horseman" is also the name of an achievement in the Xbox 360 version of the game. This achievement unlocks when the player beats the level "Shock and Awe" on Veteran difficulty. It is possible that this horseman did not die as there have been assumed deaths before in this series, a good example of this is Imran Zakhaev.
 * It is also possible that the 1st Horseman is the man who Zakhaev negotiates with in "One Shot, One Kill". If so it is possible to kill him as well as injure Imran Zakhaev. And the man has black hair just like the first horseman in the picture of all four.
 * However, due to the time at which the player unlocks the achievement and the fact that the First Horseman is never explicitly stated or indicated to have been seen by the player, the strongest evidence appears to be that he was the one responsible for detonating the bomb in the level "Shock and Awe". Al-Asad may have ordered him to detonate the bomb, while he was hiding in Azerbaijan, via cellphone.
 * It has been speculated that he is the man with Al-Asad in the mission "Safehouse", and is possibly a decoy of some kind.
 * Another theory is that he is in fact the successor of Al-Asad as Makarov would be to Zakhaev and his son. This could mean he survived the events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and is currently leading the OpFor faction only briefly glimpsed in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, who use a similar emblem, and seem to use images of Al-Asad as if he were a martyr. If this is true, he could be the multiplayer announcer in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the OpFor and a possible character in future installments. This could also mean that he holds utter contempt against Captain Price for performing the execution of Al-Asad, just as Vladimir Makarov loathes at Price for "killing Imran Zakhaev."
 * Another theory while is that Vladimir Makarov is the first horsemen due to the fact that he was serving under Zakhaev during the events of Call of Duty 4. However it has no real support and is likely but is still a popular theory, and the First Horseman appears to be dead.
 * He could have been the person who was in command of the army in the city of Shock and Awe and was killed in the blast.
 * He could be Ivan Petrovich from Call of Duty 4: Nintendo DS
 * Another idea is that President Al Fulani himself who may have been a conspirator or Dictator of that country but was killed for some type of betrayal. This is unlikely because there is no hint from Price or Gaz that Fulani was in any way a conspirator.
 * It is possible the first horseman is not a person at all, rather the idea of the nuclear device itself or a signal of the OpFor/Ultranationalist power

The Second Horseman
The Second Horseman is Khaled Al-Asad, the leader of an unnamed Middle-Eastern nation following a bloody coup. He is an ally of Imran Zakhaev. He detonated a nuclear bomb in the capital, killing many of the invading U.S. forces, 30,000 as Shepherd later revealed. He is later killed by Captain Price in the twelfth mission "Safehouse". Zakhaev later deployed a large number of Ultranationalists to rescue him but it was too late. Beating this mission on any difficulty unlocks “Wrong Number”, while beating it on Veteran awards “The Second Horseman”.

The Third Horseman
The Third Horseman is Victor Zakhaev, the son of Imran Zakhaev. Victor is the commander of the Ultranationalist military forces on the ground in Russia. He committed suicide before he could be caught in the sixteenth mission, "Sins of the Father". The achievement “Desperate Measures” is achieved simply for beating Sins of the Father on any difficulty, while “The Third Horseman” is achieved for beating "Sins of the Father", and the previous mission “Heat”, on Veteran.

The Fourth Horseman
The Fourth Horseman is Imran Zakhaev, a Russian Ultranationalist and leader of the "Horsemen". He supplies Al-Asad with weapons, including a nuclear weapon. He was thought to be dead 15 years before the main events of the game, having been shot by Leftenant Price and Captain MacMillan. However he survives this encounter and only loses his left arm. He is killed by Sergeant John "Soap&quot; MacTavish in the final mission "Game Over". The Achievement “The Fourth Horseman” is awarded for completing said mission on Veteran.

Trivia

 * The Four Horsemen is likely a reference to the Four Horsemen in the Bible, warning the world of the apocalypse. Their names were Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death, and their colors (in the same order) were White, Red, Black, Pale and the riders carry a Bow, a Sword, a Balance (Much like the one that represents Modern day Courts), and a Scythe, and their powers being that the first has a crown, it spreads disease throughout the world, the next being to take away peace from the world, the third being to bring famine to the world, and the fourth being "over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth". It is unknown if each character represents each one of these evils.
 * The three Horsemen that can be seen in the game are all killed by an M1911 pistol, and all, but Victor are killed with Price's M1911 (Imran was killed by Soap, but Price gave him the M1911) and Victor Zakhaev killed himself with an M1911 pistol.
 * Al-Fulani, Soap, Captain Price, & Gaz are the only ones who saw all three named horsemen in person.
 * The titles of horsemen can be found in Modern Warfare 2 files. However, they are not present in game.
 * The intro of S.S.D.D. in Modern Warfare 2 shows a statue of Zakhaev on a horse, fulfilling his role as the Fourth Horseman.