Even in our normal, mundane reality, horses are amazing—it’s no wonder, then, that so many horses are also found in our ancient myths, legends, and modern fantasy tales. Whether they’re magical or not, these equine beauties are often vital to the hero’s quest, making it possible to reach hidden lands, slay hideous monsters, or just carry enough supplies for a month’s worth of second breakfasts.
Though we couldn’t possibly compile a complete list of fantasy horses (The Lord of the Rings alone would take forever to catalog), we’ve attempted to corral our favorites into one place. Like the Mustang on the plains, or the feral ponies of Chincoteague, we’re sure a few have escaped our snares, so let us know those we missed in the comments!
Bela—The Wheel of Time Series
Obviously when you have an epic as sweeping as the Wheel of Time, you’re going to have at least a few noble horses to carry our heroes through their trials and tribulations. Our favorite is Bela, a brown mare who belongs to Tam al’Thor, Rand’s adoptive father, and has been ridden into several adventures and battles. More interesting than her on-page action, however, is a certain fan theory… could Bela be the Creator in disguise?
Epona—The Legend of Zelda Series
In the Celtic-Roman pantheon, Epona was the protector of horses, and a goddess of fertility. The Legend of Zelda series pays homage to the goddess with Link’s horse Epona, who (like other characters in the series) recurs in several games. Link first meets the wild foal in Ocarina of Time, and learns how to play a song to calm her. The song allows her to recognize the older Link later in the game (ah, time travel), when he saves her from the jerk who owns the ranch.
Honorable mention: in Morgan Llywelyn’s The Horse Goddess, Epona is a young horsewoman whose deeds are already being sung, but who is far from being an actual deity.
Pegasus—Clash of the Titans
Pegasus is the son of Poseidon and Medusa, and is a freaking horse with wings. In traditional Greek mythology, he’s captured by the hero Bellerophon, who needed to fly in order to defeat the Chimera. During the Renaissance, it became more popular to tell the story with Perseus as the Pegasus-tamer, and lo, several hundred years later we got Clash of the Titans, with Perseus and Pegasus facing off with a Kraken. Poseidon also had a second horse-son, Arion (with either Demeter or Gaia, accounts vary) who is lauded as the swiftest horse in all of Greek mythology.
Tír na nÓg—Into the West
In Irish mythology, Tír na nÓg is a mystical island—the “Land of the Young”—accessible in one story by a nameless magical horse. The 1992 film Into the West, Tír na nÓg is a wonderful white horse who ends up living with two young boys and their father in a tiny Dublin apartment. As you can imagine, this is not an ideal arrangement. When the horse is stolen, the boys head out on an adventure to rescue him, and ride into the West to set him free. And if you were guessing that the film’s Tír na nÓg is no ordinary horse, you are correct.
Artax—The Neverending Story
Like Jesus and Harry Potter, Artax’s place in this pantheon, and his ultimate importance, is defined by his death. Until that moment in the Swamps of Sadness, Artax was just your ordinary noble steed. But then, as you watched him succumb to despair and mud, a whole new era in your childhood was most likely born. A dark era, in which good did not always win (at least, not right away) and you were forced to contemplate the idea that a horse could be so depressed he’d rather die than go on.
Brego—The Lord of the Rings (films)
Appearing only in Peter Jackson’s films, Brego was a horse of Rohan and belonged to Théodred, the son of King Théoden. After Théodred is mortally wounded in battle, the horse becomes wild, and refuses all other riders. When Aragorn meets him in the stables, he sings to him in Quenya to calm the horse, then allows him to run free, saying Brego has “seen enough of war.” It’s a sweet moment, and also allows Aragorn to prove his awesomeness by out-horse-personing the Rohirrim. But wait! After Aragorn is presumed dead following the battle with the Warg-riders, it’s Brego who finds him, and allows him to ride to Helm’s Deep to warn everyone of the approaching Uruk-hai. From then on, Brego is Aragorn’s horse.
Yfandes—Valdemar Saga
Yfandes and the other Companions in Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series are not technically horses—they are magical beings who just happen to look exactly like horses, but with bright blue eyes, pure white coats, and silver hooves. GLAM HORSES. They form lifelong bonds with their chosen Heralds, often extending to a psychic or telepathic link. Vanyel—hailed as the greatest Herald-Mage throughout most of the series—has a fittingly awesome Companion in Yfandes, who waited ten years for the right partner to come along.
The silver—Game of Thrones
When Khal Drogo presents his young bride Daenerys Targaryen with a beautiful snow-white horse, it’s the first indication that he might not be the barbaric monster that we’ve assumed. It still takes time, but as Dany learns to speak his language, and begins asserting herself in their marriage, we realize that Drogo respects her, and the two (eventually) form the best partnership on the show. It is not customary for Dothraki to name their horses, so Dany refers to the steed only as “the silver.”
Spirit/Swift Wind—She-Ra: Princess of Power
Princess Aurora’s horse, Spirit, is already a great companion – he can talk, he’s loyal, and he’s far more interesting than Bow. But even better, when Aurora transforms into She-Ra, Princess of Power, Spirit becomes Swiftwind, a badass talking winged unicorn, with telepathy. In your face, Battlecat.
Goliath—Ladyhawke
Goliath doesn’t have any magical powers, but he displays an extraordinary level of loyalty. Not only does he just roll with it when each of his humans repeatedly turn into a wolf and a hawk respectively, but he also puts up with a whiny Matthew Broderick! In our own world, Goliath’s role in the film kicked off a wave of interest in Friesian horses, because look how pretty!
Bad Horse—Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
The role model of Dr. Horrible and super villains everywhere, Bad Horse rules the Evil League of Evil with an iron hoof. He has a terrible death whinny, a trio of cowboys who sing his lines for him, and he loooooves murder. He’s the Thoroughbred of Sin, and we will never cross him.
Binky—The Discworld Series
After he had some problems riding a skeletal horse (bits kept falling off), and another horse with a fiery mane (it kept setting his robes on fire), Discworld’s personification of Death settled on a real living horse named Binky. Binky is pure white, and sometimes leaves a trail of glowing hoofprints. Even though he’s normal in most respects, working for Death has rendered him ageless. And sharing in Death’s hyperreality means he can just ignore lesser realities, like time and physical distance.
Bree (short for Breehy-hinny-brinny-hoohy-hah)—The Horse and His Boy
Bree, a talking horse of Narnia, was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Calormen, where the animals don’t speak. Being the only talking horse has made Bree a bit full of himself. At first this comes across in the Peabody and Sherman-esque relationship between him and the titular boy, Shasta, but, this is a Narnia book, so Bree spends the second half of the book learning humility through a series of encounters with lions… who all turn out to be The One True Lion. Real subtle, Aslan. Bree also shares a name with the town featured in The Fellowship of the Ring, which was home to The Prancing Pony.
Li’l Sebastian—Parks and Recreation
“But wait!” you cry, “Li’l Sebastian was a real miniature horse, not a fantasy horse!” Yes, he was a real miniature horse, but now he is the brightest angel in all of Horsey Heaven, which qualifies him for this list. Also, he is always in our hearts.
Shadowfax—The Lord of the Rings
And finally, we could only end this list with one horse, right? He’s Gandalf’s BFF. He shows us the meaning of haste. He is truly the Lord of All Horses.
…but wait. Shadowfax may well be the Lord of Horses, the Son of the Firstborn of the Meara, and the chosen steed of the greatest wizard of Middle-earth. But he’s no goddamn Bill the Pony.
So this list screams someone who watches media, not reads it.
Ahem. Companions, from the Valdemar series. There’s like fifty stories by now about the magic horses…
If you don’t accept them because they are Guardian Spirits, then the Shin’a’in Battlesteeds, which can be trained like dogs to follow at the heel and walk backwards in their own tracks to fool pursuers.
There is also the Ranyhyn of Thomas Covenant, who know when they are needed so always appear in the nick of time. Literal powers of plot, it’s like a race of Shadowfaxes.
David Eddings likes them too, with Horse, in the Malloreon , which is brought back to life by determination alone, and is the personal steed of a god, and Faran in the Elenium/Tamuli, who is far more intelligent than he lets on, but keeps his world renowned sour disposition because that’s what he thinks Sparhawk expects of him.
Oh, and if we’re doing movies … Maximus, from Tangled, who can track better than a bloodhound, is about as stoppable as the Terminator, and fences with a sword in his mouth. He eventually becomes Captain of the Guard.
— Ummmm about that Artax
Artax got depressed and gave up on life in a story book swamp of sadness drowning and abandoned the protagonist Atreyu to walk the rest of the way alone and depressed.
Jesus died via crucifixion at the command of Pontius Pilate outside of the city of Jerusalem to qwell an angry mob of residents who demanded his death even though Pilate found him guilty of committing no crime.
I don’t get the similarity — please expound
@1
The Companions from the Valdemar series are not *technically* horses, but we did include Yfandes!
I have a deep and abiding love for Bansh, Re Temur’s loyal mount throughout Elizabeth Bear’s Eternal Sky trilogy. Also for Greatheart from Robin McKinley’s “Beauty”. who followed Beauty to the Beast’s castle, stayed there with her the entire time, and even trusted her enough to approach the Beast when she urged him to.
I must nitpick–the image you picked for Yfandes is actually Gwena, Princess Elspeth’s Companion (400-odd years after Vanyel and Yfandes). But you see one mystical blue-eyed white telepathic horse, you’ve seen them all.
@3 Arrgh, so you did. My screen kept paging past it and I even double checked.
Oh well, they are so prominent they deserve the attention ;)
I’m pretty sure Maximus is a homage of sorts to Jolly Jumper, Lucky Luke’s horse. He can play chess, count, and even fish. He’s also learned to sleep on the move.
Other Robin McKinley horses worth noting: Talat from The Hero and the Crown (his bond with Aerin is one of the many great things about that book) and Sungold from The Blue Sword.
@@.-@, I was coming here specifically to mention Bansh. Great horse, great books.
What about Winter’s Tale’s Athansor?
Hmm, I seem to have a preference for horses that are magical, intelligent but don’t talk a lot, and have some agency of their own in the story. :)
Tiger’s stud in Jennifer Roberson’s Sword-dancer series.
Roach in the Witcher books & games. (Well, to be fair, Geralt just gives that name to whatever horse he happens to be riding.)
@@.-@ Dumpling! I heart that horse, too.
Peachblossom from Tamora Pierce’s Kel books.
How could you forget the magic horse in A Winter’s Tale ?????
Man, every horse in the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. Moonlight, Darkness, Peachblossom, Cloud (yes, a pony, but she has horse sense), Spots….they’re all great!
Nothing to add to the list — Bela and Artax are already there. Great list.
You’ve mentioned some of my favorites, but I had to include a couple more. The chestnut mare from Patricia Briggs Dead Heat acts just like a really nasty mare should. And what better weapon to be used against the fae than a killer Arabian mare? Also have to note Daemon, the demon-possessed, infatuated horse from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls.
What about Comet, The Superhorse from DC Comics?
Got to give some love to Sandor Clegane’s Stranger, ” He was gentle as an old gelding with his master, but otherwise he had a temper as black as he was. She (Arya) had never known a horse so quick to bit or Kick”
Just here to chime in on Shadowfax, and Talat from The Hero and the Crown, and Bree and Hwin from The Horse and His Boy. Also, I really love Into the West–everyone who hasn’t watched it should do so ASAP. On as large a screen as possible. Do not watch this one on your smartphone!
And it’s not a fantasy, more a mystery/romance (with a fairy-tale castle, and a circus…), but I must mention Mary Stewart’s Airs Above the Ground. The scene where the aged horse reveals his Lipizzaner training by doing his “airs above the ground” in a hillside meadow is hands down the most magical horse-focused scene I’ve ever read or seen. I agree with the Amazon reviewer who says that that scene gives her chills whenever she re-reads it or even just thinks of it. (I regret that this is a bit of a spoiler if you haven’t read the book, but there’s no other way to indicate what a great scene this is. And anyway, more than one Amazon reviewer explicitly mentions it.)
Since you have Zelda in the gaming arena, I would also like to add Argo from Shadow of the Colossus. Anyone who has completed it knows what scene at the endgame I mean when I say it was very emotional.
My beloved Irish who I always felt was my own dear Valdemar Companion, from the series. Here she is when she was 24 years old.
I put in a link since I can’t see the image I tried to post.
Irish
I’d add Blue from Sheri S. Tepper’s The Revenants (and also the later book whose title escapes me for the moment).
How has no one mentioned Able’s horse in The Wizard Knight?
Don’t David Webers’ War God Series has the Sothoii Coursers and their wind riders. Similar to the Companions mentioned in the Valdemar Series, but they are intelligent horses.
Also how can you skip Houyhnhnms from Gulliver’s Travels. The ultimate horse society.
Don’t forget the Warhorse of Esdragon series by Susan Dexter. I loved him in the Wind Witch (although I could have done without the use of the word ’tis, that affectation killed the writing).
And the Night Mare Imbrium, named for one of the “seas” on the moon “Mare Imbrium” (Latin for sea of rains).
@12, Well, technically a pony is a horse, just under a certain height (121 cm as I know, but it might differ in some places, I suppose) :)
I’m all hands in for Bela, and also all the ones that got mentioned from the LOTR (really, if Shadowfax would have been left out, something would have been very wrong), but I feel that if more than one were allowed from the same book(s), then Mandarb (Lan’s warhorse) also deserves at least an honourable mention, and for that matter, I suppose Aldieb (Moiraine’s white mare), too.
I’d also like to mention Miramis, Mio’s horse from Astrid Lindgren’s “Mio, my son”, a white steed who had a golden mane and tail during the day which turned silver at night. He did not actually do anything very special except willingly leaving his herd and becoming Mio’s horse when the king asked the herd if there is anybody who would, but he carried Mio and his best friend Jum-Jum (and I have not the slightest idea why in English versions you know Jum-Jum as Pompoo, of all things) everywhere, even to the dark land of the evil knight Kato Mio is destined to fight with.
Another horse from the myths worth mentioning is definitely Sleipnir, the offspring of god Loki (in the form of a mare) and a stallion named Svadilfari. Sleipnir had eight legs and the most important of the Norse gods, Odin, rode with him.
If we can include an 8-legged horse like Sleipnir, I’m adding Li’l Sebastian from Parks & Recreation.
*mournfully hums Mouserat’s “Goodbye Li’l Sebastian”*
Horses in Constance Ash’s books.
Definitely expected the Ranyhyn to make the list. Also, what about the horses from Krull? Twelve year old me was very impressed with them. On the creepy side, the Mari Llwyd from Susan Cooper’s Silver on the Tree gave me nightmares.
Wooo Bela :)
The last line of this article takes the cake though :)
Morgaine’s Siptah from Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine and her bacon-loving nightmare horse-analogues from the Finisterre duology.
Oh, also not magical (though not by any means ordinary), I just could not leave unmentioned. Gallant and Sureblood, the Ryshadiums from Roshar :)
Another huge thumbs up vote for The Ranyhyn. They were the first thing that I thought of (even before Shadowfax) when I saw the title of the article.
The Ranyhyn,all the way. Not only do they know where they are needed, they know it before you know it. And how many of them you’ll need. But you had better remember to bow before you take a ride.
Corr from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races.
Don’t forget Dag’s chronically cantankerous horse Copperhead, from Bujold’s Sharing Knife series. Speaking of Bujold, there’s also Miles Vorkosigan’s horse Fat Ninny.
I do like who was included on this list, yet there were some glaring omissions also. Where is The Black from Walter Farleys The Black Stallion series? How about Black Beauty? Both classic famous horses from literature.
“What about Comet, The Superhorse from DC Comics?” — Technically not a horse; he’s a centaur who was cursed to lose his human torso, but he retains his human mind.
Since horses from movies are acceptable in this thread, my choice is Felipe, from the Disney animated “Beauty and the Beast”, who is the best character in the film, and the only one with any common (‘horse’) sense.
What about the Witcher??? Roach is always reliable and there for Geralt. I don’t think I read anything about him here.