The Hunter: Difference between revisions
Adding to example
m (categories and general cleanup) |
(Adding to example) |
||
| (27 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
[[File:cushing.jpg|link=Hammer Horror|frame|[[Peter Cushing]], professional [[Christopher Lee]]-catcher]]
'''Demon Hunter:''' No. Because as long as I'm here, ''[[The Legions of Hell|they]]'' are the prey...and I am the hunter!
|'''''[[Diablo III]]''''', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}WByqPqwBrzs Demon Hunter trailer]}}
There is a group of beings that
▲{{quote|'''Survivor:''' We're going to die here, aren't we?<br />
▲'''Demon Hunter:''' No. Because as long as I'm here, ''[[The Legions of Hell|they]]'' are the prey...and I am the hunter!|'''''[[Diablo III (Video Game)|Diablo III]]''''', [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WByqPqwBrzs Demon Hunter trailer]}}
The prey of
▲There is a group of beings that [[The Hunter]] hunts. Maybe it's because of a [[Dead Little Sister|traumatic event in their past,]] maybe it's been [[Legacy Character|passed down through the family.]] Often, it's because those they hunt remind them too much of themselves, or the possibility of what [[The Hunter]] [[He Who Fights Monsters|could become.]]
The most common kind nowadays is the [[Vampire Hunter]], though [[Demon Slayer
▲The prey of [[The Hunter]] tend to be criminals or supernatural monsters. Whether [[The Hunter]] is a good guy depends on the alignment of said prey, although almost all Hunters have to wrestle with [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|fanaticism.]] If they fail to control that fanaticism, they'll eventually discover what happens to [[He Who Fights Monsters]].
▲The most common kind nowadays is the [[Vampire Hunter]], though [[Demon Slayer|Demon Slayers]] and [[Vigilante Man|Vigilante Men]] who target criminals are also common. [[The Witch Hunter]] is the least sympathetic variety.
▲[[The Hunter]]'s motivation is usually one of the following:
* The creatures are a danger to humans (or innocent humans); the desire to protect others is what drives The Hunt.
* The creatures are tortured souls who [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|Cannot Self Terminate]]. The only thing you can do is to put them ''all'' out of their misery.
* A supernatural authority says that some being shouldn't
*
* Just good old-fashioned prejudice or [[Fantastic Racism]]. Maybe there is just one type of monster with a bad rep that is the target, maybe
* [[Who You Gonna Call?|For profit]], claiming to be a professional.
Occasionally parallels [[Bounty Hunter]], although for
A Hunter with no fixed home is probably also a [[Knight Errant]]. Depending on the Hunter, may end up committing [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes]]. Not to be confused with a [[Left 4 Dead|zombie using the same name.]] See also [[Mary Sue Hunter]] for the [[Mary Sue|sue killing]] type.
For actual ''animal'' hunters, see [[Egomaniac Hunter]], who hunts for [[In Harm's Way|the hell of it]], [[Evil Poacher]] (who hunts endangered animals), and [[Great White Hunter]] (the Victorian ideal of hunter-as-[[Gentleman Adventurer]]). Any of these tropes may overlap with this one, however. For the 2011 film of the same name, see [[The Hunter (film)|''The Hunter'' (film)]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Vampire Hunter D]]''
Line 36:
*** Where they make friends with a bunch of demons. [[Defeat Means Friendship|After beating them.]]
** In fact, the only case they all actually work together is Demon City, where Kuwabara tagged along and Kurama and Hiei got sent in halfway to start working off their parole. Hiei flaked on the Chapter Black deal and didn't reappear until Sniper threw that truck at Yusuke, and the rest were just Yusuke with Kuwabara on the side in varying degrees of officiality.
** Shinobu Sensui was this by nature, though. He'd been killing demons in self-defense since he was a very small child; Koenma just gave him some structure. And then moral relativism and [[Go Mad
** Several minor characters appear to be this.
* [[Witch Hunter
* Subversion: ''[[Those Who Hunt Elves]]'' (in a T-74 main battle tank, to strip them naked....)
* Subversion: Seishirou from ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' hunts a certain set of vampires... {{spoiler|because he wants to become one.}}
Line 47:
* The Flame Haze of ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' hunt down the [[Demonic Invaders|Guze no Tomogara]] in order to protect the balance of the world.
** While that's the stated goal many of the flame hazes seem to be in it for revenge.
* Speaking of wolves, Quent Yaiden from ''[[
** Later on, it is revealed that {{spoiler|his family was actually killed by Darcia's soldiers, and the wolves had only been driven to his home because they were caught in the middle.}} It's an understandably tragic misunderstanding, especially considering that {{spoiler|it has long become his only reason for living. When Blue gains the ability to use a human disguise, he does not believe her when she tries to straighten things out. Nor does he (or any of the pack) enjoy Toboe's constant attempts to make peace between parties.}} And if you take it the right way, {{spoiler|this leads to Toboe's death near the end of the series.}}
* Scar from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has dedicated his life to killing every state alchemist and singlehandedly defeating the nation of Amestris, to avenge their genocide of Ishbal. Toward the end of the Anime, the Elric brothers take it upon themselves to hunt down and destroy all the homunculi.
Line 53:
* After the Eclipse from ''[[Berserk]]'', Guts becomes the Black Swordsman, dedicating himself to hunting down the demonic Apostles of the Godhand and putting them to the sword. He also seeks revenge upon Griffith for the betrayal that led to having the Brand of Sacrifice put on his neck and {{spoiler|the utter destruction of his last group of [[True Companions]], not to mention his lover being driven insane}}.
* Kurapika from ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' is dedicated to hunting down the Phantom Troupe, Genei Ryodan, (also known as The Spider, each member being a leg) the villainous [[True Companions]] who are responsible for making Kurapika [[Last of His Kind]].
** His vendetta reaps about four of the ten of them dead and their leader out of play for a considerable period. We visit them beating up a splinter group of the [[Big Bad
* Kuroe Kurose from ''[[Blood Alone]]'' was one of these before the series began, and it's something he tries not to bring up, especially considering his living with a vampire.
* The Exorcists in ''[[D
* In theory, this is the central responsibility of shinigami from ''[[Bleach]]'', freeing the tortured souls that have become Hollows so they can reenter the cycle of reincarnation and stop killing and eating people, but what with their having been at war basically since actual shinigami characters started to be introduced, we haven't really seen them do much of it.
* Shinigami of [[Yami no Matsuei]] are the government bureaucracy version of this; they manage to combine cop show tropes with
* ''Goblin Slayer''. He [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|slays goblins]]. And only goblins. That's about it.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Comic book/movie example: Blade (who also shows up in ''[[Spider
* One could argue this of [[Batman:
* Don't let the quote above fool you: [[The Punisher]] [[Determinator|relentlessly hunts]] after all criminals. He's an equal opportunity [[Vigilante Man]] and [[One-Man Army]].
* Ulysses Bloodstone was the premier monster hunter in the [[Marvel Universe]]. Following his death, the mantle passed to his daughter Elsa.
* Graveyard Shift from ''[[Scare Tactics (
* [[Green Arrow]] when Mike Grell wrote him was portrayed this way. Probably because Mike Grell is a big game hunter.
* In ''[[Hack Slash]]'', anti-heroine Cassie Hack is a [[Final Girl]] who has made it her mission to hunt down and deliver retribution to Slashers, a type of monster defined as the ones in gory [[Slasher Movie]]s who prey on teenagers, often created as the result of a failed government project. Ironically, this leads to her and her partner Vlad often discovering that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]. She has encountered a few famous Slashers via crossovers - including [[Child's Play (film)| Chucky]], [[A Nightmare on Elm Street|Freddy Krugar]], and [[Chaos! Comics| Evil Ernie]] - but seeing as [[Status Quo Is God]], conflicts between her and them have always been inconclusive.
* Um, The Hunter in ''[[
▲== Fan Works ==
▲* Um, The Hunter in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]''. Partially subverted in that his name is actually Jim Hunter, implying that Jeft chose to use him as a character because of his name. If he hunts anything specific (besides forest animals), we don't find out.
== [[Film]] ==
Line 78 ⟶ 77:
*** In fact, they're less Hunters and more Ghost Cops.
* Morgan, the protagonist from [[The Last Man On Earth]], spends his days hunting and staking the mindless, photophobic monsters known in-universe as vampires. {{spoiler|Unwittingly, he's also been depopulating Los Angeles of people that could be reasoned with despite being infected by [[The Virus]], since they, too, are nocturnal.}}
* ''[[The Boondock Saints]]'' are also [[Vigilante Man]] Hunters, combining this with a [[Mission
* A ''lot'' of Dracula adaptations turn Van Helsing from an [[The Smart Guy|aged professor of Medicine]] into this sort of character. The [[Hammer Horror]] Dracula films are arguably the main culprit.
* The ''[[Blade]]'' movies.
* Hans is the titular character in ''[[The Troll Hunter]]''.
Line 92 ⟶ 91:
* The title witchers of ''[[The Witcher]]'' are traveling monster-slayers for hire, gifted with unnatural powers.
* Though his specific reasoning hasn't been revealed, [[Colt Regan]] has mentioned on several occaisions the hunting demons is more than a job for him, it's what he does.
* The eponymous hero of [http://www.vachss.com/ Andrew Vachss]' "[http://www.vachss.com/av_novels/index_theburkeseries.html Burke]" novels is a Hunter by nature; having been raised by the state and horribly abused as a child, he has a pathological hatred of child molesters, but he doesn't hunt them full-
* The titular [[Exorcists]] are an entire organization dedicated to this work.
* Steel in "Eva Fairdeath" by [[Tanith Lee]]
* [[Two Words|Four words.]] ''[[Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter]]''.
* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]:
{{quote|
''"
* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''Without Remorse'', John Kelly is a retired Navy SEAL who goes on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against the drug dealers who murdered his girlfriend, a recovering prostitute who used to work for them. His persona while doing this fits the trope to a tee: he stalks each target, learns their habits, snatches them up and interrogates them to learn about the next target, then executes them.
* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden]] evolves into this, and the Knights of the Cross are these.
Line 104 ⟶ 103:
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Brimstone (TV series)|Brimstone]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Holtz embodies this trope.
* ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' features an organization called the Hunters, an evil offshoot of [[
* Dean and Sam Winchester from ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' and a large part of their supporting cast.
* Eric van Helsing in ''[[Young Dracula]]''.
* The protagonist of the television series ''[[Werewolf]]''.
* Sylar on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' hunts down and kills superhumans to [[Mega Manning|take their abilities]].
** And now Volume 4: Fugitives will have a character actually named The Hunter, a U.S. Government Black Ops leader whose job it is to hunt down Superhumans for Uncle Sam to send to Super Guantanamo.
*** That's the official plan, but Danko is also perfectly happy to use lethal force in liberal amounts too.
* [[Dexter]] for killers not otherwise brought to justice.
* ''[[
* Van Mcnulty from the ''[[Smallville]]'' episode [[Meaningful Name|Extinction]]. He hunts and kills anyone with superpowers, not caring if they are good or evil. Immediately after discovering Clark's secret ''and'' heroic career, Van attacks him with kryptonite bullets. After Clark defeats him and sends him to jail, he is [[Karmic Death|murdered by two superpowered foes Clark had defeated and jailed earlier in the series]].
** Technically they weren't jailed, they were thrown in the loony bin.
Line 122 ⟶ 121:
==
* "Soul of the Hunter" by Excess Pressure, though it's not clear in who or what exactly the protagonist takes lethal interest.
* The Ranger character class in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' is stereotypically [[The Hunter]]. Their "favored enemy" class ability gives them bonuses to finding and killing a specific category of creature. It is possible to [[Subverted Trope|subvert this trope]] by choosing favored enemies for reasons other than those of [[The Hunter]].▼
{{quote|''They killed all I treasured, now I make them pay!
** In the original AD&D, all rangers had goblinoids and giants as their enemy, owing to the [[Lord of the Rings|roots]] of the class, but with the advent of Second Edition, one could choose which kind of enemy their ranger was dedicated to taking down. One could even have a human ranger who had certain kinds of evil humans as a favored enemy, such as pirates, brigands or slavers, or in the case of Drizzt, a drow ranger who rebelled against his own evil kind. The original 3E removed restrictions on alignment, but you could not choose your own race as a favored enemy unless you were evil, which was thrown out for 3.5.▼
''Their bodies all broken shall scatter my way }}
** ''[[Ravenloft]]'' has Rudolph Van Richten (an [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] of [[Dracula|Abraham Van Helsing]] in concept), a herbalist turned monster hunter after his son was sold to (and turned) by a vampire, who later killed his wife in revenge. Not only does Van Richten personally go after these deadly evil creatures, but had several books published detailing the results of his research to give others the needed edge to kill the things. And on other monsters he met and had to fight in process, such as werevolves and liches.▼
* "Dragonchaser" by At Vance.
* ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning (Tabletop Game)|Hunter: The Reckoning]]'', an RPG by White Wolf where all the player characters are monster hunters who've been granted mystical powers and are driven by a new urge to protect mankind from the supernatural beings that live among us. They also have a tendency to be driven insane, and a lot of them (especially those of the Avenger creed) aren't fussy about whether the supernatural beings they hunt deserve to be slaughtered or not.▼
{{quote|''That's why call you the Dragonchaser''}}
** ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' has ''[[Hunter: The Vigil (Tabletop Game)|Hunter: The Vigil]]'', with similar themes (though arguably much better done). In HtV, player characters are generally bog-standard humans who become Hunters after some sort of incident breaks [[The Masquerade]] for them (although some have [[Defector From Decadence|some supernatural heritage they've denied]], and others have supertech developed to fight various types of monster).▼
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-F3n_G_0O0 "Godwhacker"] by [[Steely Dan]]. "It's about an elite squad of assassins whose sole assignment is to find a way into heaven and take out God," according to songwriter Donald Fagen:
* The Witch Hunters of [[Warhammer]] go after their prey (witches, vampires, heresy, the forces of Chaos...) with little more than [[Sword and Gun|their weapons]], their unshaking faith in Sigmar, and of course [[Nice Hat|their hats]]. Some are accompanied by a rabble of zealous henchmen, others work alone.▼
{{quote|''We track your almighty ass
** The Inquisition of [[Warhammer 40 K]] is this ([[Up to Eleven|on a much larger scale]]. Here the Inquisitor can essentially requisition entire planets, regiments of Guardsmen and even [[Space Marines]] if he so chooses, and often the dangers they hunt require that kind of firepower to destroy. The Inquisition is divided into three groups specializing in rooting out traitors and heretics, dealing with Chaos and learning about aliens to better defeat them.▼
''Thru seven heaven-worlds
''Me, Slinky Redfoot
''And our trusty angel-girls
''And when the stars bleed out
''That be the fever of the chase
''You better get gone poppie
''GodWhacker's on the case}}
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'':
▲** The Ranger character class in
▲** In the original AD&D, all rangers had goblinoids and giants as their enemy, owing to the [[The Lord of the Rings|roots]] of the class, but with the advent of Second Edition, one could choose which kind of enemy their ranger was dedicated to taking down. One could even have a human ranger who had certain kinds of evil humans as a favored enemy, such as pirates, brigands or slavers, or in the case of Drizzt, a drow ranger who rebelled against his own evil kind. The original 3E removed restrictions on alignment, but you could not choose your own race as a favored enemy unless you were evil, which was thrown out for 3.5.
▲** ''[[Ravenloft]]'' has Rudolph Van Richten (an [[Alternate Company Equivalent]] of [[Dracula|Abraham Van Helsing]] in concept), a herbalist
*** Also true for his two nieces and proteges, Laurie and Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove. The [[Player Characters]] could fit this Trope in Ravenloft too, depending on how the DM runs the campaign.
** ''[[Planescape]]'' has maruts, a type of [[Clock Roaches|inevitable]] whose job is to hunt down anyone who violates the axiom that "all mortals die"; they slay those who cheat Death itself. Now, in theory, any type of [[Immortality Seeker]] could be targeted, but nine times out of ten, they hunt liches.
** Also in ''Planescape'', the githyanki and githzerai are both descended from a [[Slave Race]] of the illithids; as a result, they often form bands called rrakkma warriors, who leave their planar fortresses on missions where they are not allowed to come back until they have slain a number of illithds equal to ten times the number of the band. (Most at least try to kill far more.) It's dangerous work, but among their own people, successful rrakkma are the most admired and most revered.
▲* ''[[
▲** ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' has ''[[
▲* The Witch Hunters of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] go after their prey (witches, vampires, heresy, the forces of Chaos...) with little more than [[Sword and Gun|their weapons]], their unshaking faith in Sigmar, and of course [[Nice Hat|their hats]]. Some are accompanied by a rabble of zealous henchmen, others work alone.
▲
== [[Video Games]] ==
Line 138 ⟶ 157:
* The Belmont family in the ''[[Castlevania]]'' games, as well as the Belnades and Morris families. The Belmonts are described as a clan of vampire hunters, but in the end it's only really Dracula (and his countless minions) that they wind up hunting.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'''s Ashrah is a demon who hunts others of her kind. She wields a holy sword that cleanses her of her demonic essence bit by bit with every demon warrior she kills with it, and she hopes to become completely purified and holy this way.
* As the name implies, Witch Hunters from ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] Online'' hunt rogue witches.
* ''[[Tsukihime]]'': The future Tohno(/Nanaya) Shiki becomes this, hunting down the 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors (some of the most powerful beings on the planet) for the sake of the vastly-weakened Arcueid. He is ''good'' at it.
** Arcueid herself. She's been chasing one single vampire for 800 years, killing any of the others who get in her way. Even before going after him, she hunted the Demon Lords, fallen True Ancestors.
* The Maverick Hunters of the ''[[Mega Man X]]'' series. Ironically, one of the organization's greatest hunters becomes a primary target of a similar organization, the Neo Arcadian military, in the [[Sequel Series]] ''[[Mega Man Zero]]''.
* The ''[[Hellgate
* [[
* ''[[
* Some characters in [[Girls Love]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Akai Ito]]'' and its sort-of sequel ''[[Aoi Shiro]]'' fits hunter archetype. [[Little Miss Badass|Tsudura]] and [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Uzuki]] from ''[[Akai Ito]]'' are part of an ancient clan of demon hunters (the "[[Demon Slayer|Onikiri]]"). {{spoiler|Tsudura is even ''the'' [[I Just Want to Have Friends|(unwilling)]] leader of it.}} From ''[[Aoi Shiro]]'', [[Plucky Girl|Migiwa]] is also member of similar clan, except based in the southern islands. [[Jerkass|Kohaku]] was turned into [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|immortal oni]] long time ago by [[Viewer Gender Confusion|her]] sorcerer foster-father, and now [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad|seek epic vendetta against him and his creations]]. Kaya is [[Back
** The most dramatic example of
** Oh, and hunters in this series are prone to all kind of moral problems that a hunter can expect to face in her career. [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes|Universally, they believe that all non-humans must be terminated]]. {{spoiler|It's strongly implied that Tsudura have [[Shoot the Dog|shot several dogs]]. Uzuki was [[Driven to Suicide]] [[My God, What Have I Done?|after she accidentally killed Kei]], believing that she's [[Not So Different]] from her quarries. Migiwa [[I Did What I Had to Do|destroyed the astral body of Yasumi]], rendering her comatose for the rest of her life. Both Kohaku and Kaya will not stop at anything to exact their [[
* [[Angry Black Man]] and recruitable ranger Valygar Corthala in ''[[
* The Demon Hunter class from ''[[Diablo]] III'' is a ranged class that is dedicated to [[Demon Slaying]]. They're typically recruited from among the survivors of villages ravaged by [[The Legions of Hell]].
* From ''[[The Witcher]]'' series, this is pretty much what a witcher is, a monster hunter for hire.
* Juliet, along with both her sisters and father, in ''[[Lollipop Chainsaw]]''.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The Hunters in ''[[Weregeek]]'' believe [[Tabletop RPG]] players are a menace to society, to be stamped out with deadly force. Fear the night...
* Both the Vatican and the Norse "Æsir" churches field specialist troops to hunt down and exterminate immortals in [[Cry Havoc]]
* Abner Van Slyk, professional vampire hunter of ''[[Hanna Is Not a
* In ''[[Errant Story]]'', the elven rangers are this, hunting down half-elves because the elves believe they all inevitably go [[Ax Crazy|murderously insane]]. {{spoiler|It's suggested, though, that some rangers will let them go if the half-elf in question isn't a danger.}}
* Parodied with Tiffany Winters of ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' and ''[[Magick Chicks]]''. Being an [[Expy]] of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy Summers]], she is dedicated to slaying vampire main character Layla DeLaCroix, who so far didn't notice [//pixietrixcomix.com/eerie-cuties/2012-06-27 any of these attempts]. Aside from this, the two of them end up becoming best friends (with no small amount of [[Les Yay]]). Her second bestie becomes, of course, Melissa (witch). She got a bit of double-think going on between all the conditioning, half-fought-off mind control and conflicting instincts, but doesn't ''really'' have anything against vampires, witches, etc.
* Jordan in ''[[
* ''L.A.W.L.S.'' comic has [[Perky Goth|Autumn]], [http://lawlscomic.com/a-bit-too-whedon/ The Slayer]
* "Vespiary Squad" in ''[[Girl Genius]]'', dedicated to dealing with, as the name implies, "wasps". Part of the problem with [[Zombie Apocalypse|slaver wasps]] is that aside of flying [[Puppeteer Parasite|Enslavers]] that are short-living and can be stopped by a thick mask, hive engines deploy Warriors to disrupt resistance and herd victims toward the engine. These things are a credible threat even to superhumanly tough constructs. Vespiary Squad guys [[Battle Trophy|wear their skulls]] over helmets. Ruxala who said "Protecting people from them is ''my'' job." so far is the only one being except Gil and Agatha who killed as much as 4 Hive Warriors on screen - except she didn't have one-touch-kill weapons, but scored 3 headshots (2 apparently ''[[Offhand Backhand|without looking]]'' at the targets) and 1 jumping head-''stab''.
== [[Web Original]] ==
Line 167 ⟶ 187:
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* First Gillecomgain and Duncan, then the Canmore family, from ''[[
* The Huntsclan from ''[[American Dragon
* Subversion: Elmer Fudd from ''[[
* Valerie Gray from ''[[
** There's also Skulker, who generally hunts rare [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghosts]]. During his first appearance, he made a comment roughly along wanting "to hang [Danny's] pelt at the end of [his] bed".
** Also Danny's parents, who are professional ghost hunters, and also happen to unknowingly supply him with all of his ghost hunting equipment.
* Hoss Delgado from ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* Dr Von Goosewing from ''[[
* In ''[[
* Jet from ''[[
** Crosses into [[He Who Fights Monsters|HeWhoHuntsMonsters]] when he attempts to massacre an entire Fire Nation village, men, women, children, elderly, bender or not.
* In ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Big Trope Hunting]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:The Only Righteous Index of Fanatics]]
| |||