Vampire hunter

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For the Vampire Slayers from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see Slayer (Buffyverse).

A vampire hunter or vampire slayer is someone who specializes in finding and destroying vampires and sometimes other creatures of dark fantasy as well.

Contents 1 General 2 List of vampire hunters in fiction 3 Other 4 Bibliography

[edit] General

With the exception of the Romanian belief that a dhampir (the child of a vampire and his human widow) could be used to detect a vampire, vampire hunters do not play a part in the vampire lore of Slavic and Romanian people. However, the vampire hunter has found popularity in modern 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" Summers 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 even waterguns filled with blessed holy water in the movies The Lost Boys and From Dusk Till Dawn.

The organizational strength of depicted vampire hunters can vary wildly. Most hunter characters are in small groups working alone and in secret.

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 (such as Alucard from the Castlevania series). Examples of this include D of Vampire Hunter D and the eponymous hero of the Blade series of comic books, movies, and television episodes.

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, although not usually, 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.

[edit] List of vampire hunters in fiction

• Abraham Van Helsing from Dracula and its various spin-offs and reproductions.
• Alucard (Dracula backwards) is a vampire from the Hellsing Organization, who, along with his servant, Seras Victoria, and (retired) old friend, Walter C. Dornez, hunt other vampires.
• Django from the Boktai game series is a Vampire Hunter who seeks revenge over Count Groundsoaking Blood for killing his father, Red Ringo. The sequel series of Boktai, Lunar Knights, also feature another vampire hunter named Lucian.
• Alexander Anderson works for the Vatican's secret Iscariot Organization (AKA Section XIII), who act like the Hellsing Organization, but are more fundamental, and serve to fight for Chrisitanity, as opposed to Hellsing protecting the Commonwealth. Iscariot is more radical and fundamental exterminating any humans who ally themselves with the undead. Other members include their leader, Bishop (later Archibishop) Enrico Maxwell and other assassins, Heinkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi.
• Angel from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff show Angel, the only vampire with a soul~ until the vampire Spike gains a soul and joins the rest of the cast in vampire hunting.
• 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.
• Buffy Summers, Slayers and other characters from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer film and TV series.
• Father Callahan from the Stephen King novels 'Salem's Lot and the Dark Tower series.
• Solomon Kane, a character appearing in many works by Robert E. Howard.
• The Belmont Clan, the Morris family 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.
• Blade, a vampire hunter featured by Marvel Comics and a trilogy of films of the same name. Blade is a Dhampir, a half-vampire.
• D, of the Japanese animation Vampire Hunter D, also 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 also a dhampir.
• Jack Crow, and his Team Crow from the book Vampire$ by John Steakly, later adapted by John Carpenter for his movie Vampires.
• Derek Bliss, from the movie Vampires: Los Muertos, also presented by John Carpenter as a pseudo sequel to the first movie.
• Anita Blake from Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series of novels.
• Gabriel Van Helsing from the movie Van Helsing. Van Helsing is a member of a large organization called the Knights of the Holy Order who protect mankind from an evil they 'have no idea even exists'.
• Edgar Frog, Alan Frog, and Sam Emerson from The Lost Boys movie.
• Geralt from the Polish Hexer series. He hunts vampires and all other kinds of supernatural creatures.
• Harry Keogh and others with E-Branch in Brian Lumley's Necroscope series
• Sam and Dean Winchester from the television series Supernatural
• Victoria Gardella from the Gardella Vampire Chronicles series of historical novels beginning with The Rest Falls Away.
• Sound-Man, the Green Knight, and numerous other superheroes in the SUPERFLUOUS comic book series by Bon Comics
• Abraham Whistler, 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.
• Steve "Leopard" Leonard, from the Cirque Du Freak books. (By Darren Shan)
• Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter, from the 1974 film of the same name.
• Peter Vincent and Charley Brewster from the film Fright Night and its sequel Fright Night Part II.
• Hoss Delgado of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is a spectral exterminator who claims to have confronted vampires, among other paranormal entities.
• Dr. Von Goosewing, an inept German goose that claims to be an expert, "greatest wampire hunter in ze vorld" in the Cosgrove Hall show Count Duckula.
• Carlisle Cullen and his father (Carlisle, previous to vampirism), a young shepherd's son who is turned into a vampire a few hundred years before the book took place, and is the father of Edward Cullen, Bella Swan's new boyfriend who is a vampire as well. From Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

[edit] Other

There is a board game from Milton Bradley called Vampire Hunter. Vampire Hunter is also the name of a novel by Michael Romkey.

One person claiming to be a modern vampire hunter is Seán Manchester of Highgate Vampire fame.

[edit] Bibliography

• Bruce McClelland, Slayers and their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2006).
• Jan Perkowski, Vampire Lore. (Bloomington, IN: Slavica, 2006).