A vampire hunter is someone who specializes in finding and destroying vampires and sometimes other creatures of dark fantasy as well.
Origin
With the exception of the Romanian belief that a dhampir, offspring of a vampire and its human partner, could be used to detect a vampire, there is no direct evidence that vampire hunters actually existed when vampire lore was common among the Slavic and Romanian people. However, the vampire hunter has found popularity in fiction and popular culture.
The most widely known example of a vampire hunter is Abraham Van Helsing of the novel Dracula and in other works of fiction adapting or modifying that work. Other more recent figures include Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the television show and film of the same name, and BloodRayne from the eponymous video game series and film. Also well-known are the Belmont clan from the Castlevania series.
As well as being knowledgable about vampire lore, vampire hunters in fiction are often armed with an eclectic mix of items and weapons which are designed to take maximum advantage of the monster's traditional weaknesses. These have included firearms with silver ammunition, appropriate religious symbols, crossbows that fire all wood bolts and waterguns filled with blessed holy water.
The organizational strength of depicted vampire hunters can vary wildly. Most hunter characters are in small groups working alone and in secret; the extreme opposite example is the British vampire hunting organization in Hellsing which is a part of the British government with a large number of troops, vehicle fleet and even loyal vampires at its disposal.
While predominantly depicted as human, examples of other types of vampire hunters also exist. Dhampiric figures, having a mix of human and vampire blood, are a popular form. Examples of this include D of Vampire Hunter D and Blade of the Blade series of comic books and movies.
The image of the vampire hunter is often a mysterious and dramatic avenging hero, an eccentric extremist, or sometimes a bit of both. A hunter may be a heroic figure, a lonesome avenger, or sometimes even a bounty hunter-style character, hunting Vampires for profit. Vampire hunters have also popularly been depicted as hunting various creatures such as werewolves, demons, and other forms of undead as well. Having vampire hunting become a family tradition handed down to future generations of a bloodline is a popular use of the archetype in fiction.
Popular Culture
- Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula' and its various spin-off's and reproductions
- Buffy Summers and many other characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film and tv series.
Anime/Comics/Manga
- Blade, a vampire hunter featured by Marvel Comics and a trilogy of films of the same name. Blade is a Dhampir, a half-vampire.
- Sound-Man, the Green Knight, and numerous other superheroes in the 'Superflous comic book series by Bon Comics
- The Hellsing Organization and Alexander Anderson from the anime 'Hellsing
Games
- The Belmont Clan and Adrian Farenheits Tepes a.k.a Alucard from the Castlevania series of video games. Almost all the main characters of 'Castlevania' could be called vampire hunters
- D, of the Japanese animation Vampire Hunter D, a dhampir.
- Donovan Baine, of the Darkstalkers'' series of video games, also a dhampir.
- Rayne from the video game series BloodRayne is a vampire hunter and a dhampir as well.
Literature
- Quincy Morris, Jonathan Harker, Dr. John Seward, and Arthur Holmwood assist Van Helsing in Dracula.
- Dr. Hesselius from J. Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire story Carmilla .
- Solomon Kane, a character appearing in many works by Robert E. Howard.
- Father Callahan from Stephen King's novel Salem's Lot and the The Dark Tower series.
- Victoria Gardella from the Gardella Vampire Chronicles series of historical novels beginning with The Rest Falls Away.
- Montgomery Quinnfrom the novels 'Nocturnes and Neon: A Tale of the Vampiric and Bleeding Twilight: A Tale of Quinn & the Moon-Chosen by horror/thriller author Joseph Armstead
- Harry Keoghand others with E-Branch in Brian Lumley's Necroscope series
- Jack Crow, and his Team Crow from the book Vampire$ by John Steakly, later adapted by John Carpenter for his movie Vampires.
- Anita Blake from the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, the Laurell K. Hamilton novel series. Also known as The Executioner, she eventually falls for the city’s Master vampire
Movies
- Derek Bliss, from the movie Vampires: Los Muertos, also presented by John Carpenter as a pseudo sequel to the first movie.
- Gabriel Van Helsing from the movie Van Helsing
- Edgar Frog, Alan Frog, and Sam Emerson from The Lost Boys movie.
TV
- Sam and Dean Winchester from the television series Supernatural
- Abigale Whistler and Hannibal King from the third film of the Blade Series, Blade: Trinity. Hannibal takes the form of an ex-vampire who was subsequently cured of his affliction and took up hunting out of a desire for revenge.
Other Links
- A board game from Milton Bradley called Vampire Hunter. Vampire Hunter is also the name of a novel written by author Michael Romkey