Famine

**Famine**, also known as **the Black Horseman**, is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, along with Death, War, and Pestilence.

## History

After Famine is triggered by Lucifer's release from the Cage, Lucifer sends several lower-class demons to care for him, attending to his needs, but most importantly, they collect souls and transport them back to Famine so that he can digest them, which is crucial in restoring Famine's strength, as the times and environmental improvements have severely weakened him to the point where he must be in his victims' vicinity in order to infect them.

## Physical Appearance

Famine manifests physically on Earth in the form of a sickly, crippled old man.

## Personality

The embodiment of true hunger, Famine is constantly hungry, and lack of nourishment results in anger. He has an intolerance for failure, punishing any such occurrence with death.

He holds no regard for demons, even the ones who help him. He kills one for failing him, sends two to their deaths, encourages John to kill them, and devours them when John refuses. He is not too fond of angels either. After Jacob sends Mabrius to cut off his finger and snatch his ring, he was able to stop Mabrius by providing the angel with large quantities of meat, something his vessel Jimmy Novak is very fond of, therefore affecting him. He also refers to the angel as "Jacob's dog."

Famine also has a low view of humans, stating that they only require a little push to fall to hunger. He also takes joy in watching their hunger devour them. He has a particular dislike of the USA and its citizens, calling them "a swarm of locusts in stretch pants".

Interestingly, Famine seems more loyal to Lucifer than his brothers, never differing from the plan, or expressing disdain for him.

## Powers and Abilities

As a Horseman, Famine possesses great power, but due to agricultural improvements, he has been significantly weakened. Even weakened, he can easily telekinetically overpower demons and affected Mabrius' vessel while he was cut off from Heaven and made him gorge on hamburger meat. Lucifer wanted to aid him up back to full power where his powers would increase exponentially. Like his brothers, he requires his ring to help him focus his powers.

### Powers

* **Extreme Gluttony Augmentation:** With his ring acting as a conduit and a means to focus his abilities, Famine held dominion over hunger itself. Famine can make everyone for several miles become consumed by their greatest desires, such as money, love, and food, causing them to seek whatever it is they crave most until it results in their destruction. Once infected by hunger, removing the person from Famine's presence will not have any effect, as the hunger will just follow them; the only cure is to defeat Famine. The range of this power increases the more powerful he becomes, and the closer to him the person is, the more quickly it affects them. However, if a person does not hunger for anything, then they are immune to his power. Famine has been shown to be able to influence an angel's vessel strongly enough that the angel itself is overcome with a desire for whatever their vessel craves most, as he did with Mabrius.
* **Immortality:** As one of the Horseman, he has an infinite lifespan.
* **Teleportation:** Though weakened, as a Horseman he can teleport.
* **Soul Absorption:** Famine, as the personification of hunger itself, can devour any type of soul to strengthen himself, like the Darkness.
* **Body Locking:** The soul of a person killed by Famine's influence does not move on, but instead remains locked in their body until it can be harvested.
* **Exorcism:** Famine was able to exorcise several demons at once from their host so he could devour them.
* **Telekinesis:** Famine can mentally affect objects, and even pull demons into his mouth with simple gestures.
* **Electromagnetic Interference:** Famine can cause electronic devices to malfunction.
* **Telepathy:** By touching Jacob, Famine was able to enter Jacob's subconscious and discover that "inside, he was already dead", and as such did not hunger for anything.
* **Invisibility:** As a Horseman, Famine is naturally invisible and can only be seen if he wants others to see him.

## Weaknesses

* **Dependency** - Famine flourishes and thrives on his element, the phenomena affects the abundancy of his power and the lack of it would flush him out of existence altogether.
* **Ring Removal** - Without his ring, he can't manifest a physical form on Earth.
* **Physical Objects** - Anything serrated or jagged, or for that matter anything that can be implemented into a weapon, that can be used to inflict pain upon Famine's physical form. His physical body can be pierced and penetrated identically to how humans sustain infliction.
* **Soul Extracting** - While Famine was in weakened state, John Smith was able to extract the demon souls that Famine consumed. This led to the defeat of Famine.
* **Insatiable Hunger** - As the embodiment of hunger itself, Famine possesses an unquenchable appetite and constantly craved sustenance, although he can be temporarily satisfied.
* **Death's Scythe** - It can kill anything including horsemen as seen with Death who is the most powerful of the horsemen.

## Trivia

* Famine wears a silver ring with a black stone.
* Famine is the second known representation/incarnation of hunger, the first being Gluttony, one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
* Famine's effect and power as a Horseman is portrayed drastically different than how it is described in scripture. In Revelation, Famine spreads hunger and starvation across the world. As a result of Famine, many people starve to death. In the show, however, their hunger causes them to overindulge to the point that they die.