War Horse: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Friedrich rides Topthorn on the day they all return to the war. At noon, the gun troop stops in a wood full of German soldiers to rest. A crowd quickly forms around the two golden Halflingers, but one young soldier (Rudi) pulls his friend (Karl) over to admire Topthorn. Karl doesn’t see anything special about Topthorn, but Rudi loves horses—he thinks they’re the best creatures God created. And finding a beautiful one in the midst of the war’s horrors is like finding a butterfly on a dung heap. Joey looks carefully at Rudi, who looks barely older than Albert was when Joey saw him last. All the soldiers seem to be getting younger, looking more like boys playing dress up than men.

Friedrich leads Joey and Topthorn down to the river for a drink, and Topthorn tosses his head in the water, showering himself and Joey with cool, refreshing drops. After they’re done resting, they resume hauling the artillery gun up the steep and rutty hill. Topthorn stumbles once or twice, and Joey gradually becomes aware of how hard his friend struggles to get up the hill. Then, Topthorn falls to his knees and cannot rise. Joey pauses, waiting for Topthorn to regather his strength, but instead his friend falls over, dead. Joey frantically tries to rouse Topthorn as Friedrich falls to his knees and places his ear to the horse’s chest. In his despair over the horse’s death, Friedrich begins to wail about how the war destroys everything good and beautiful, while Rudi tries gently to pull him away from the fallen animal.

Within a moment, the field veterinarian arrives and pronounces Topthorn dead as other soldiers gather to look on. He worried this would happen to Topthorn when he fell ill during the winter. Short rations, hard work, and continual exposure can kill the strongest horses; the veterinarian mutters to himself that the German Army treats machines better than its animals. As the soldiers bow their heads in a spontaneous moment of silent respect, Friedrich says, “He was my friend,” and removes Topthorn’s collar.

The sound of a shell whistling overhead breaks the silence, and when it explodes in the river, the area plunges into a chaos of screaming, running soldiers. Joey wants to flee too, but he cannot bring himself to abandon Topthorn. Friedrich tries to pull him away but cannot move the obstinate animal. Finally, Friedrich throws down Joey’s reigns and tries to flee toward the rest of the retreating soldiers. But he waited too long, and he cannot run swiftly enough. A bullet strikes him just a few paces away. His dead body rolls back down the hill and comes to rest next to Topthorn. Joey sees the manes of the golden Halflingers flying as they struggle to pull their gun to the relative protection at the top of the hill, then he loses sight of the team forever.