Dullahan

Riding on a horse as black as night, the headless hunter known as the dullahan tracks down and takes the heads of those it deems unfit to continue living. When closing in for the kill, the dullahan first whispers its victim’s name, then swiftly collects its prize, casting a pall of dread upon all who witness the grim execution.

A dullahan manifests when a particularly violent warrior is beheaded and the warrior’s soul stubbornly clings to material existence (or is refused entry to the afterlife). Most dullahans return to their former homelands, where they can exact vengeance those they feel wronged them in life (or their living descendants). A dullahan’s concept of justice is swift and merciless, and once it has selected a target, it is unwavering in its cause. Perhaps even more than revenge on the living, a dullahan desires its own rotted head. An individual who wields the head of a dullahan is powerful indeed, for a dullahan will grudgingly serve such a master in the hopes of reclaiming its missing skull. Mighty fiends such as devils command dullahans to harvest souls or lead armies for them, while a mortal might use such an undead warrior to fulfill a personal vendetta. No matter its master’s rank or station, however, a dullahan won’t hesitate to kill its liege and reclaim its head when the opportunity presents itself.

Most dullahan lairs are abandoned, overgrown ruins or other dilapidated places where severed heads and other trophies line the walls. Some dullahans, on the other hand, are content to simply commit their foul deeds and leave the remains of their decapitated victims in the streets, strewn among a copse of dead trees, or unceremoniously tossed in a bog hole.