“ | Few visit the Endless Parapet, but for the brave I offer a brief diversion of my own design. | ” |
— Horace, Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment |
Horace is a character in Specter of Torment and King of Cards. In the former game, he offers Specter Knight the option to play a minigame with him; in the latter game, he is a Joustus champion that King Knight must beat.
Appearance[]
Horace is a large suit of armor that may or may not be headless. He is found sitting on a bench equipped with a lantern that creates an electric barrier, as well as confetti for those who beat his trial.
His appearance is based on the Dullahan, a creature from Irish Mythology associated with death, which is often depicted as a headless suit of armor.
Personality[]
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Story[]
Specter of Torment[]
In Specter of Torment, Horace can be found to the left of the rail section, where 'Edge Farmer is located. He hosts a minigame, and unlike Mona's Potion Juggle minigame, the player is not required to pay any fee in order to play it.
In the minigame, Specter Knight has to climb to the top of a room before an electric barrier touches him. If he falls below the bottom of the screen, runs out of health, or touches the barrier, the minigame ends immediately. The level layout is randomly "scrambled", meaning the order in which the level parts appear doesn't follow a specific pattern.
Reaching the top awards the player with 1700 gold. If the minigame was completed before in the same file, only 200 gold is given. No money is lost if Specter Knight dies in the middle of the minigame; the only thing that happens is that Horace congratulates the knight, but tells him that his efforts were not enough.
King of Cards[]
In King of Cards, Horace can be found on the balcony to the right of the room where the Liquid Samurai is located. He is the champion of the Tower of Joustus. Like the other champions, he has a special ability he can use during the Joustus match against him. Horace's ability is called Chrono Shock, and it allows him to skip over King Knight's turn if the latter takes too long to make a move. On King Knight's turn, a line of electricity slowly extends across the top of the screen from Horace's portrait and makes its way to King Knight's portrait; if it reaches King Knight's portrait, Horace gets to use Chrono Shock and steal King Knight's turn. The only way to circumvent this is to make a move before Horace has a chance to use Chrono Shock.
Minigame Strategy[]
As the level order is randomly generated, it is best to run the minigame multiple times to get used to the stage layouts. Aside from the obstacles, various enemies can be encountered, such as Blorbs, Boneclangs, Divedrakes, Wizzems, Goldarmors, and Floatsomes.
While it is not required, having the Judgment Rush Curio and Rail Mail are recommended in order to increase Specter Knight's mobility, allowing him to pass through corridors and enemies faster. The Chronos Coin is also useful to slow down Horace and the electric barrier. However, using Curios should be done sparingly, as there aren't many sources of Darkness to be found, although some specific points will have large Darkness Jars, and any enemy left behind will perish and automatically award a small jar of Darkness to Specter Knight.
Joustus Deck[]
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Horace | Propeller Rat | Rat King | Fairy |
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Tadvolt | Lunkeroth | Sumo Goldarmor | Charflounder |
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Hermittack | Birder | Clockameleon | Rail Rider |
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Planto | Floatsmall | Flarey | Axolongl |
Dialogue[]
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Trivia[]
- His model in the game's files is soberly named "Mini-Game Knight".
- Viewers during a developer's stream joked about Horace's armor being occupied by one or several smaller creatures. When doing his portrait art for King of Cards, Yacht Club Games visual artist Nick Wozniak started drawing a face in the shadows inside Horace's armor.
Nomenclature[]
Language | Name | Meaning |
---|---|---|
English | Horace | Sounds similar to "horse", which may be a reference to the Headless Horseman. |
French | Horace | - |
Italian | Horace | - |
German | Horaz | Horace |
Spanish | Horace | - |
Japanese | ホラティウス horatiusu |
Horatius |
Russian | Гораций Goratsiy |
Horace |
Brazilian-Portuguese | Horácio | Horace |
Korean | 호레이스 holeiseu |
Horace |
Simplified Chinese | 贺拉斯 hè lā sī |
Horace |
Traditional Chinese | 賀拉斯 hè lā sī |
Horace |