My first thought was the first horsemen of the apocalypse, but I wasn’t putting too much stock into it right away. However, then I remembered that House of Lamine and Rose Tempest’s faction colors are black and red respectively. The black rider carries a pair of scales and is often connected to famine, while the red rider is associated with peace being stripped from the earth and people killing each other, in addition to holding a large sword. I will note Leda does use a sword, and her primary motivation so far does seem to be revenge, albeit one taken on someone she thinks death isn’t enough for. The horse for the rider is sometimes described as a fiery red. Sirocco can use magic, but we’ll have to see for now if his spell list includes any fire spells or if fire plays any thematic role for the Rose Tempest faction. Edit: While I was writing this, Buccaneer’s reveal videos dropped and I saw what could potentially be a burn scar. As for House of Lamine’s faction, the mention of famine did remind of one place in Fodlan that has explicit mention of famine: Faerghus. I’m not sure what it could all mean plotwise, but something definitely seemed up the more I dug down the rabbit hole. Famine is the scarcity of food, thus tied to hunger. Dietrich has been described as ever on the hunt for stronger foes, something he’s metaphorically hungry for. I have a feeling there’s something thematically deeper than a simple quest for a fight, but we’ll have to see.

I was a little less sure about Cai and Theodora and which one of them would be the white and pale riders, but then I looked at the faction colors. Essentially, the white rider represents conquest, as he bears a crown and a bow. Cai doesn’t use a bow, but his friend Peter does. Additionally, Cai’s faction, Wind of Ribeira, is thematically blue with white accents. Cai isn’t royalty from what we know, but succeeding in the Heroic Games is a conquest of sorts, with Cai going against his kindhearted nature, fighting only because he wants to save his father. Edit: a tiara is literally a type of crown, how could I have forgotten about Tiara? Lastly, there’s Theodora’s faction, Megaera’s Torch. At first, the crown aspect made me wonder if Theodora’s faction could represent the white rider since she’s literally a queen, but then I looked at her faction color and that’s where my bf and I started screaming. Megaera’s Torch as a faction’s banner seems to be yellowish-green in color, with pale accents. The pale horse is sometimes interpreted to be pale green, a mix of green and yellow, or some other color meant to draw connections to the dead. As such, Megaera’s Torch seems to be the faction that most closely aligns with themes of the pale rider, whose companion is said to Hades or the grave. It is mentioned Theodora’s father was assassinated, which may play into the motif. Additionally, Bonaparte’s armor is mainly green with yellow accents. There is also the question of the bandage on one of Theodora’s arms, but I don’t have enough context to explicitly draw a connection. The only other bandages we’ve seen so far that are similar is the bandages on Eshmel’s lance, and since they are the Herald of the Pale Raven, that raises a whole bunch of questions.