The Irish Dullahan (also Durahan, Gan Ceann) is a type of unseelie faerie. It is headless, usually seen riding a headless black horse and carrying his head under one arm. The head's eyes are massive and constantly dart about like flies, while the mouth is constantly in a hideous grin that touches both sides of the head. The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese. When the dullahan stops riding, a mortal dies. There is no way to bar the road against a dullahan--all locks and gates open on their own when it approaches. Also, they do not appreciate being watched while on their errands, throwing a basin of blood on those who dare to do so. Nonetheless, they are frightened of gold, and even a single gold pin can drive a dullahan away. The myth may have inspired the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The fey of the British Isles are commonly divided into a number of types. ... In mythology and in fiction, Faerie (see also fairy) is an otherworldly realm, home to the Fae or fairies, though many believe this place to be neither mythical nor fictional, but quite real. ... Beheading. ... Black cat, thought by some to cause bad luck (see superstition) Black is the shade of objects that do not reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum. ... Binomial name Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758 The horse (Equus caballus, sometimes seen as a subspecies of the Wild Horse, Equus ferus caballus) is a large odd-toed ungulate mammal, one of ten modern species of the genus Equus. ... For other uses of the word head, see head (disambiguation). ... GOLD refers to one of the following: GOLD (IEEE) is an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level (Graduates of the Last Decade). ... The word mythology (from the Greek μυολογία mythología, from μυολογείν mythologein to relate myths, from μύος mythos, meaning a narrative, and λόγος logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and... The Hessian Horseman in the Western Woods as seen in Sleepy Hollow. ... The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. ...

The Dullahan is portrayed in fantasy fiction and video games as a beheaded knight who carries his severed head under one arm while viciously attacking interlopers in the place that is haunted by the Dullahan. They also have some magic in their bodies, giving them magical swords or the ability to breathe fire from the severed head. Alternately, the Dullahan may be an animated suit of armor. For other definitions of fantasy see fantasy (psychology). ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic and sorcery are the influencing of events, objects, people and physical phenomena by mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ... Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century Look up Sword in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A man demonstrates his skill at fire breathing 65 fire breathers perform simultaneously at Burning Man 2005 A simple fire breathing torch Fire breathing is the act of creating a large flame by spraying, with ones breath, a flammable liquid upon an open flame. ...

Dullahan in Fiction

• In the Disney film Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a dullahan makes an appearance as the coachman of the Costa Bower. Upon the arrival of the Death Coach, the dullahan calls out Darby's name and orders him to board the coach. Darby reluctantly complies and is borne into the heavens on the way to the afterlife, but his life is saved by the wily King Brian Connors, who tricks him into wishing a fourth wish, negating them all and causing Darby to be ejected from the coach.

• In Treasure of the Rudras, Dullahan is a floating cuirass and the arm pieces of the armor, and appears as a common enemy in the haunted castle.

• In the Castlevania series, the Dullahan is typically one of the game's earlier bosses, carrying its head and attacking the hero with a lance. In later games, he's a headless knight, carrying a demonic shield inscribed with a face which acts as its head, or, he is a headless horseman riding the front end of an undead horse back and forth, while wielding a sword or spear. He is also in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness as a boss near the end of the game. The name is frequently mistranslated to transliterations or corruptions such as "Dhuron".

• In Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Dullahan is an incredibly difficult optional boss, appearing as a headless knight with a rather large sword - generally considered the most difficult in the game - and guards a powerful summon. Once defeated, this enemy may also be used as an attacking spell by a character with the correct class.

• This mythological creature also appears as an enemy in Lufia 2, however in the English version its name got mistranslated into Jurahan.

• In Vagrant Story dullahan is a type of animated armor, always without a helmet, and appears mostly in the Undercity section of Lea Mondé after you defeat him in the Wine Cellars.

• In Ragnarok Online, Dullahans are heavily armored monsters who remove their heads to use as a weapon against players. They are fairly difficult and appear in the fields of Niflheim, as well as in the town itself.

• Dullahan is a mini-boss in the game Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest atop Mt. Gale. He also appears in Final Fantasy VI as the boss in Daryl's Tomb in the form of a skeletal charioteer pulled by purple-flaming skeletal horses. They are also found in Final Fantasies III, IX, and XII.

• In Dragon Quest VIII, the Dullahans are like the ones in Castlevania. They appear as the enemies Dark Dullahan, Dullahan, and Hell's Gatekeeper.

• In Shining Force, sword-wielding creatures who serve once as a boss and afterwards as minions bearing the aforementioned resemblance also appear, but are more in purple color and fully centaur. They do not have obvious magical powers though they can put allies to sleep, poison them and carry the dreaded Doom Blade which can kill the foe instantly. Strangely they are absent from Shining force II.

• In the Monster Rancher series, there exists a monster named Durahan that's a hollow suit of armor specializing in strong attack and defense.

• The Dullahan is an enemy in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening. It is a hovering suit of armor whose only weak point is its backside.

• In Capcom's cult classic Gotcha Force, there are both Ghost Knights and an Elemental Knights that can be fought and/or used by players. Both of them are hollow, ghostly suits of armors (missing several pieces, so one can easily see that they're empty) that float around, and are completely without heads. The gigantic swords that they wield have their heads near the bottom of the blade and merged into the pommel.

• In the Squaresoft fighting game, Tobal No.1 for the Playstation 1, Dullahan appears as a possessed headless suit of armor in the game's dungeon mode. He has a very low life bar which allows the player to defeat him quickly but he also possesses a very high offense rate which also requires for the player to exercise caution when fighting him.

• In Disgaea Dullahans are the third level of the Dark Knight monster class.

• In the arcade game Ghouls'n'Ghosts, Dullahan is the first end of level boss. He appears as a large statue which sheds it stone skin as the player approaches. He then lifts his head from his shoulders, and carries it above and in front on his body as it spits fire at the player.

• In Saint Seiya, one of Hades' 108 Spectres wears the Surplice (armor) of Dullahan.

• In Shadow Man: 2econd Coming for PlayStation 2, the Grigori Sephiroth member Farduroth is heavily suggested to be Dullahan's true form. He is headless and wields a massive flaming sword made of a material called "nephilim".

• Dullahan is a minor character in Shrek the Third but is credited as Headless Horseman.

Darby OGill and the Little People is a Disney film released in 1959 set in rural Ireland at the beginning of the 19th century. ... Castlevania is a video game series, created and developed by Konami. ... Golden Sun ) is the first installment of a series of role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. ... Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is a RPG game with puzzle elements developed by Neverland and published in Japan in 1995 by Taito, and in North America and Europe in 1996 by Natsume and Nintendo respectively, for the Super Nintendo video game console. ... Vagrant Story ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. ... Armor or armour (see spelling differences) is protective clothing intended to defend its wearer from intentional harm in combat and military engagements, typically associated with soldiers. ... Vagrant Story ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. ... Ragnarok Online (Korean: 라그나로크 온라인), often referred to as RO, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by GRAVITY Co. ... Final Fantasy VI ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1994 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention, more commonly referred to as Shining Force, is a 1992 turn-based strategy role-playing video game for the Mega Drive/Genesis console. ... This article is about the Monster Rancher series. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Gotcha Force is a game for the Nintendo GameCube. ... Tobal No. ... Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (魔界戦記 ディスガイア; Makai Senki Disgaea, lit. ... Ghouls n Ghosts (大魔界村 Dai makai mura in Japan) is a platform game developed by Capcom and released as an arcade game in 1988 and for numerous other formats including Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and Sega Genesis. ... Serialized in Shonen Jump Original run January 1986 – December 1990 No. ... - #redirect Shadow Man (the movie) Shadowman (comics) ... The PlayStation 2 , abbreviated PS2) is Sonys second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. ... Shrek the Third is a computer animated comedy film of the Shrek series. ...

External links

• Anna's Irish folklore