Rider

* Normal
* Centaurworld

“*I'm so tired of fighting. I want this war to be over. I want Horse and I to be together, and to go as fast and as far as we can because we want to. Not because we have to.*”
―Rider, from The Ballad of Becky Apples
**Rider** is one of the side-characters of Centaurworld. Horse is her best friend and warhorse, and the two spend the majority of the first season searching for one another.

**Spoiler Alert:** This page contains spoilers for the series finale. If you want to avoid them, be wary of this.

## History

Prior to the start of the series, Rider was raised in a small village where she is trained to be a warrior to fight in the devastating war that has ravaged her world. As she grows up, Rider befriended Horse as the two become friends together in the times of war.

### Hello Rainbow Road

In the present, Rider and Horse are seen fleeing together from a castle. Rider had acquired a piece of "the artifact", which is said to be able to end the war. She was tasked by the human army's General to retrieve it from the castle. On their way back home, the two discovered that their village was burned down to ashes, leaving them as the only survivors. Seeing the flames and destruction, Horse goes into a panic. Rider tries to calm her down by pulling on her reins to keep Horse's attention away from the destruction, then begins to sing a lullaby to assure Horse that they will be safe. Suddenly, the two were ambushed by a very large army of Minotaurs. Despite their attempts to escape and fight back, the Minotaurs quickly outnumbered and outflanked the two, leading Horse and Rider to be separated at end of a cliff. After a brief skirmish, Horse falls over the cliff while trying to recover the artifact from the enemy. With a bright glow, it transported Horse into Centaurworld, leaving Rider open to attack from the Minotaurs.

### From Fragile Things to Ride the Whaletaur Shaman!

Rider appears as a figment of Horse's imagination where the latter keeps addressing her to the Herd during her quest to return to the human realm, and at the same time, Horse often voiced her worries that Rider won't remember her when she returns.

### The Rift: Part 1

Rider reappears in the void where it was revealed that she never stopped looking for Horse, and has fought her way to the portal alone. While at first, she is unsure if Horse is the same horse that is once her friend, she immediately remembers her when Horse sang her lullaby as they celebrate their reunion together. However, when Horse was about to show her to the Herd to make sure she returns safely, the Mysterious Woman locked the portal and stole the key, leaving the two trapped with the Nowhere King, who manifested himself in front of them.

### The Rift: Part 2

Horse and Rider struggle to fight the Nowhere King, and was on the verge of defeat when the Herd, accompanied by Waterbaby, enters the void to rescue them. It was also here that she express confusion and bafflement at the Herd's attempt to fight the Nowhere King with Wammawink, who uses her magic to free her and Horse, Durpleton shooting tiny versions of himself, Ched smacking her head, Zulius burning everyone with his Hot Goss spell, and Glendale sucking a snake warrior into her portal.

Nevertheless, she and the group work together to fight the Nowhere King until they were all captured when Wammawink was thrown out of the portal. Once Wammawink returns to the void only to be captured by the king, the Mysterious Woman returns and used the key to fight the Nowhere King. Unfortunately, she was unable to bring herself to impale him, which culminates to her and Horse to impale the king themselves, resulting to his freedom.

Following the fight, Rider found herself in Centaurworld as Horse tries to reassure her that everything is going to be okay, despite being unnerved by the zaniness and ridiculous nature of said world. The celebration was soon cut short when the Mysterious Woman reappears to warn everyone that Rider had freed the Nowhere King using the key staff, and now that the king is freed, they must be on their guard since he will invade both worlds, which was connected again.

Now determined to end the war, Rider decided to return to the human realm in order to inform the general about Centaurworld and unite the two worlds to fight alongside each other but not before vowing to Horse that they'll meet again after the war ends, as she and Waterbaby departs to the human realm together.

### Horsatia Wighair Beansz?

Rider meets Becky Apples and the General for the first time.

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### My Tummy, Your Hurts

Rider receives information from Waterbaby about the Nowhere King's secret weapon.

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### The Ballad of Becky Apples

Against the General's wishes, Rider goes to the Nowhere King's minotaur stronghold on a clandestine mission with Becky Apples.

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### The Hootenanny

Rider and the herd prepare for battle, but are ambushed by the Nowhere King and his army of minotaurs.

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### The Last Lullaby

In "The Last Lullaby" Rider, Horse, And CentaurWorlds Army Fight the Nowhere King.

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## Physical Description

Rider is an average-sized girl with brown skin, dark brown hair tied in a bun in the back, and dark gray eyes with a hint of green. Her color palette is desaturated overall to fit the human world's barren, wartorn atmosphere.

For her attire, Rider wears a suit of armor with a scabbard that holds her sword on her left hip, a shoulder pauldron on her left arm, with a grey tunic and black leggings, and a dark blue cape hanging in her back, two belts on her waist, and a pair of metallic gloves.

By the end of the final episode, her hair has unusually grown back pink and cartoonish, perhaps due to the magical influence of Centaurworld. Her hair is still kept in the same hairstyle as before, and she dresses more casually.

### Design inspiration

According to lead character designer Evan Palmer, Rider's character design was partially inspired by the character Joan of Arc in the 90s cult classic movie *Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure* *.*

Another cited design inspiration was Goku, the protagonist of the *Dragon Ball* series.

## Personality

Rider is described to be a fierce yet compassionate warrior who wants to do anything to restore peace in her world that was ravaged by a never-ending war, and as shown during Horse's flashback with her, she is very caring towards her animal companion by treating her as a family.

Another side of Rider is that she is fearless and determined to protect anyone in need, which is best seen where she hasn't stopped searching for Horse all this time, and is brave enough to travel across the battlefield to find her again. Though this side has been overshadowed a few times when she's been caught off-guard and reacted with instinctual violence, such as when Leaftaurs startle and yell at her, so she points her sword at them, or before she recognizes Horse and once more reaches for her sword hilt, assuming the other to be a threat based on instincts she's developed during the war.

Finally, when it comes to her first impression with Centaurworld and the Herd, Rider shows her own comedic side where she is physically unnerved and confused at their presence to the point she draws her sword at an anthropomorphic leaf.

## Abilities

She is able to sing well, and seems to have an affinity for calming horses, and general battle skills.

* **Battle Skills:** Growing up in the war, Rider appears to have developed excellent fighting and combat skills. It can also be surmised that she holds knowledge about military strategy
	+ **Knife Throwing:** In The Rift: Part 1, Rider is able to throw a knife and embed it into a minotaur's back with relative ease.
	+ **Sword Skills:** Rider primarily wields a sword and appears to be good in a fight with it.
* **Warhorse Mastery:** Throughout the show, Rider continually shows herself to be good with horses, especially riding them, like her name suggests.
	+ **Horse Management:** Rider is able to calm Horse down with relative ease in Hello Rainbow Road, and shows herself to be capable of taking care of the warhorse.
	+ **Tricks And Horse-Based Battle:** In The Rift: Part 2, Rider is able to execute a perfect attack in which Horse launches her into the air to strike down their opponent.
* **Singing:** Rider is able to sing incredibly well, as demonstrated in her song "Rider's Lullaby" in Hello Rainbow Road.

## Relationships

### Horse

Her best friend and battle steed, the two developed a strong trusting friendship between each other, even to the point of love and are not afraid to show their vulnerable sides to each other. Horse and Rider also treat each other as equals, rather then as master and pet. Despite both of their desperations to unite, once they two find each other in the Nowhere World in The Rift episodes, Horse decides to focus on establishing an army back in her temporary home of Centaurworld to defeat The Nowhere King, whilst Rider travels back to the human realm to continue fighting in the war against the minotaurs. Rider recognizes Horse's dedication and smarts and comments that she is thinking like a warrior.

They later reunite in season 2 and happily team up to fight against The Nowhere King alongside both human soldiers and centaurs. One key moment is when Horse tells Rider that they need to kill her trusted leader, the General in order to defeat the Nowhere King, Rider is in complete shock and disbelief and blurts out that Horse is just a horse, shocked to hear her say such a thing, however the two quickly make up and Rider acknowledges Horse for her intelligence and for being her bff. Rider then feeling empowered decides to attack the Nowhere King, however was prevented from killing him by The General who stabs her, to save his life, as his life is interconnected with The Nowhere King. Horse and Rider share an emotional moment, with Rider on the brink of death as Horse cries for her best friend, later Rider is seen fortunately recovered from almost death in CentaurWorld, joined by Horse and Wammawink's herd, she also decides to enter the human realm, perhaps one last time to tell them to unite with Centaurworld again.

According to series creator Megan Nicole Dong in an interview, Horse and Rider's relationship was partially inspired by Link and Epona's bond in *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time*. Horse and Rider are sisterly soulmates who are like two halves of a whole, due to growing up together in the war from a very young age.

### The General

Before the events of The Last Lullaby, Rider was only briefly familiar with the General and did not recognize him until her first official meeting with him. She considered him as a superior and the final authority in the war against the Nowhere King, and was told that the Key was a critical part in securing a victory. According to a Q&A with series creator Megan Nicole Dong, Rider had so much respect for the General that she looked up to him as a father figure and idol. This idolatry is reflected by visual similarities in their character designs. She is eventually betrayed by the General when he literally stabs her in the back to prevent her from landing a killing blow on the Nowhere King.

### Wammawink

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### Becky Apples

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## Trivia

* Rider mentions during The Rift: Part 1 that she was held captive by the minotaurs and 'took care' of them during her escape. This implies that she was able to kill or best a camp of minotaurs in battle, speaking to her impressive fighting skills. Her nonchalance while speaking about this implies she has killed before.
* It's unknown if Rider's birth name is actually Rider, or if she got it from becoming a rider for The General's army.
* According to series creator Megan Nicole Dong, Rider and the General have some similarities in their character designs to reflect how much Rider idolizes him and considers him as a father figure.
* In the credits of The Last Lullaby, a fully Centuarworld-turned version of Rider can be seen with Horse. It's unknown if this will be her ultimate appearance in that world.

## Gallery

### Production art

Rider turnarounds by Evan Palmer, Lead Character DesignerRider expressions by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concepts by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concepts by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concepts of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concept of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concept of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concept of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concept of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistearly concept of Horse and Rider by Anthony Holden, concept artistDrawing of a completely Centaurworld-ified Rider, as seen in the finale credits
### Screenshots

Rider calming Horse during Hello Rainbow Road

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sbnV6JMH4g
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://youtu.be/7fiesC\_ey2Y