Hunter of His Own Kind

"I never deal with what I am. I don't think about it. I just do my job, which usually involves me beating the crap out of things a lot like me. But I don't think about that."
—Hellboy

A trope very common for your Dhampir, Friendly Neighborhood Vampires, or Vampire Detective. This is where you have Group X which is Exclusively Evil. Then there's Character Y, who somehow has the powers of Group X but has a conscience, often because he or she is a Phlebotinum Rebel or a Half-Human Hybrid of Warring Natures. So, Character Y becomes The Hunter, allowing him to use his Badass powers for a good cause. Sometimes this turns out badly for The Hunter, when it is revealed that his targets actually aren't totally evil, and a case of Van Helsing Hate Crimes can result.

For some reason vampires seem particularly prone to doing this. Maybe it's because they like to turn their enemies out of spite.

See Also: Boomerang Bigot, My Species Doth Protest Too Much and Stages of Monster Grief. Contrast Monsters Anonymous. Compare Pro-Human Transhuman and Vampire Refugee.

Examples of Hunter of His Own Kind include:

Anime and Manga

  • Vampire Hunter D is one.
  • Abel Nightroad of Trinity Blood is a crusnik, a vampire who hunts and eats other vampires.
    • Although it is implied (in the anime) by their dialogue that the Crusnik see themselves as another race entirely, they do need the blood of vampires to survive. Abel is the only one of the three who actually makes it a point to hunt vampires. His sister isn't shown to hunt anyone (in fact, she's the empress of the vampires), and Cain doesn't care who he hunts/hurts.
  • Arcueid from Tsukihime is one of the few sane vampires, who has made it her mission to hunt and kill other vampires on Earth.
    • Also in Tsukihime, the head of Tohno family has the obligation to find and kill any family members who succumb to their demonic blood.
  • Alucard and his fledgling Seras Victoria from Hellsing.
    • Alucard is an interesting case; he's frequently as bad or worse than the vampires he's hunting, (maybe...) and takes far too much glee in killing them, often getting 'creative' in his methods.
  • The Shikabane Hime of Shikabane Hime are undead girls who hunt and kill other undead.
  • Both Robin and Amon in Witch Hunter Robin are witches who hunt other witches.
  • Setsuna in Mahou Sensei Negima is a half-demon who hunts demons. They asked for it, however, by kicking her out for her albinism.
    • Similarly, Mana Tatsumiya is also a half-demon who specializes in exorcisms.
  • Yusuke in Yu Yu Hakusho ends up being one when it's revealed he has a little demon in him towards the end of the series.
    • Hiei also qualifies. Ever since he could walk, he's been brutally slaughtering demons left and right, all because he enjoyed killing. Although for a time, his primary motivation was to kill all the ice maidens from his birthplace.
  • Darcia in Wolf's Rain is a villainous example, hunting the wolves despite being part wolf via a traitorous bloodline.
    • Blue Yaiden is one unwittingly.
  • The main character in Kei Kusunoki's Ogre Slayer.
  • In Macross/Robotech, Milia, a Zentraedi (or is that Meltran?) who is obsessed with defeating the human ace Max. When she is captured by Max, not only does she do a Face Heel Turn, she becomes his partner fighting the Zentraedi, but tends to shoot down her opponents with nonlethal shots when possible.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist the assassin Scar only targets alchemists, despite using alchemy himself.
    • Of course, Scar never identifies himself as an alchemist (as his religion considers it a sin) and brushes it off when people point out that his arm performs alchemy. Both anime and manga sees him gradually overcome this.
    • And Greed spends quite some time fighting other homonculi after his Heel Face Turn.
  • Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion is an artificially created Angel/Human hybrid who pilots an Evangelion to fight Angels.
    • And of course, the EVAs themselves are reverse engineered from the first two Angels.
  • Dark from D.N.Angel was described as such by Argentine.
  • Zero from Vampire Knight.
  • Saya from Blood: The Last Vampire, Blood Plus and possibly Blood C.[1]
  • Nagasawa from Dawn Tsumetai Te is immune to the worst effects of Nightshift, whose not-so-fortunate victims he must hunt down and kill using the very mutations that the Nightshift has given him. He knows it, too.
  • Both Merry and Engi from Yumekui Merry are nightmares who hunt other nightmares. That said, Merry just sends them back to the dream world, and Engi tries to avoid killing them, letting Merry finish the job when possible.

Comic Books

  • Andrew Bennett, from DC Comics' "I, Vampire" series in House of Mystery, was a vampire determined to hunt down the line of evil vampires which he, himself, had started.
  • Blade is a Dhampir vampire hunter.
    • Ultimate Morbius is a true vampire and Vlad the Impaler's brother. It is implied that he was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
  • X Factor began as a team that hunted down mutants. The general public didn't know that the team members were mutants themselves and that they are actually trying to help the mutants they "hunt" down.

Fan Works

  • Many a Mary Sue Hunter can fall into this by accident- one of the main criticisms of the genre (beyond "WHY DID YOU KILL MY CHARACTER I HATE YOU") is that said Hunters often end up being a Mary Sue themselves.

Film

  • According to one version of Blade Runner, the main character who hunts rogue androids is an android himself. If true, this is a rather dark spin on the trope. Basically, androids are detected by being tested for moral feelings, and reveal themselves to be amoral. As the androids turn out to be "tin men", this would mean that he is actually worse than his targets. The amorality is explained as resulting from lacking real childhood's and formative years of experience. There is at least one android in the film (two if you count the main character) who has/have memory implants of growing up with a family and loved ones (even if those loved ones died or left). They both show that they have a sense of right and wrong and the definite android is only even exposed after hundreds of times more testing than any previous android.
  • Hellboy is a demon who fights other demons and supernatural monsters. Sometimes the creatures he fights accuse him of betraying his kind, but he seems to be more worried about becoming like them.
    • Hellboy II: The Golden Army uses this in the opposite manner from the comic books—to make the monsters that HB fights more sympathetic, and to make HB resign from the BPRD.
    • Notably, in the first movie, he attempts to negotiate with the demon Sammael before resorting to violence.

Literature

  • Drizzt Do'Urden from Forgotten Realms is another poster boy contender considering how badly he breaks his vow to never kill drow elves.
    • He discards the vow in the third group of books after realizing its stupid to kill goblins and other evil monsters, but not drow.
    • His father too. More coherent than Drizzt, Zaknafein prefers to kill drows, because they are the most cruel creatures he knows.
  • While were at it, Jander Sunstar from Forgotten Realms and Ravenloft is yet another vampire hunter vampire.
    • Also from Ravenloft, Ivan Dragonov has continued to hunt monsters after contracting lycanthropy himself, using his bestial form as a weapon of last resort.
  • This backfired badly in the backstory of the sci-fi novel Candle, although it only becomes apparent towards the end. As one Hive Mind after another ravaged the world, seeking only to add more members to their ranks, a benevolent hive mind was created to protect the minds of those in it. It, too, sought to spread itself, initially as a counter to the other hive minds, until at last it became no different than them.
  • The eponymous Night Huntress, at least at first.

Live-Action TV

  • Athena from the 2000s Battlestar Galactica Reimagined is a Cylon who fights against other Cylons. And then there's Tigh, Tyrol, and Anders who were fighting against the Cylons for years, unaware of their true nature.
  • The title character of Angel is a vampire who hunts other vampires, and the character Spike also fits this description.
    • Connor takes this and runs with it. Not only did his adoptive father teach him to fight vampires and demons, he groomed him to fight his biological father.
  • Examples from Kamen Rider:
  • Eric Cord from Werewolf did this for the entire series.
  • Ruby on Supernatural is a demon who fights other demons and helps Sam fight them. Sam is arguably another example of this trope, because his Psychic Powers are caused by having been fed demon blood. Of course, it turns out Ruby is among the worst of the lot, and was driving Sam to his destiny to release Lucifer from his prison. Which he did.
  • In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Cameron is frequently tasked with hunting and destroying other Terminators. Most often she does this to protect others, but one episode involves her going into full-on detective mode to track down a Terminator she discovers entirely by accident, and then destroying it.

Music

Tabletop Games

  • Martin DeVries of Shadowrun deliberately became a vampire in order to hunt them on their own terms.
  • One of the potential racial backgrounds for the Shardmind in D&D 4e is Shard Slayer, a Shardmind which believes that, since their kind was born from shards of the living gate then a dead Shardmind's life force returns to it and mends the mends the gaps that allows the influence of the Far Realm to seep through. This mentality is taken to a logical extreme as Shard Slayers hunt down and kill other Shardmind and destroy unawakened shards in hopes of closing the gate back up.
  • A few examples from the New World of Darkness:
    • Vampire: The Requiem has VII, a mysterious group of Kindred who, for some unknowable reason, kill other vampires. Their minds can't be read and they can't be interrogated. Most vampires regard them as an urban legend; however, they do have a book that offers three possible backstories.
    • Mage: The Awakening has Banishers, mages whose Awakenings went horribly, horribly wrong. As a result, they view magic as something filthy and wrong with the world (they can't use it without feeling innate revulsion), and spend most of their time hunting down other Awakened and killing them to try and "heal" the world in their own way.
    • Hunter: The Vigil has the Lucifuge, a conspiracy made up of those who believe they carry the blood of Hell in their veins. They spend their days fighting against demons, their brethren who went over to the side of the Devil, and darker things still.

Video Games

  • Alucard from Castlevania definitely counts, being heavily inspired by D.
  • Rayne from BloodRayne.
  • Full-blood demon Sparda in the Devil May Cry back story turned against fellow demons and sealed them in their own world. His son Dante, a half-demon himself, carries on by hunting demons who sneak into our world.
  • In Sid Meier's Pirates, you have the option of only going after other pirates if you so choose.
  • Adell in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Of course, he's unaware that he's not human.
    • And Sardia the demon slayer in the first game.
    • The Prinny Extermination Squad in A Promise Unforgotten. They were supposed to be prinnies themselves, but there were too few skins to go around. This applies to their latest recruit, Fuka Kazamatsuri, as well.
  • The main character in the game Divinity 2: Ego Draconis is on their way to being initiated as a full dragon slayer when they get turned into a dragon. Your dialogue options allow them to protest this and act as if they still are a slayer until the slayer commander and their slayer buddies attack the main character.
  • Ashrah of the Mortal Kombat series is a demon who wields a holy sword that purifies her bit by bit with every one of her fellow demons that she kills. She hopes to become completely purified and holy this way.
  • Pretty much the biggest Reveal for Mega Man X is that Zero is the original Viral Maverick (meaning that The Virus originally came from him). Not only is this fitting for the trope, it also makes him the hunter of the race he unwittingly created.
    • X himself qualifies if you go by the Word of God since all Reploids (Repliroids, based on X's designs) and by extension, Mavericks/Irregulars stem from him.
  • Karg from Arc the Lad 4 says that he is going to do this when he finds out that he is a Half-Human Hybrid, but he decides not to later.
  • Balthazar from Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. He knows the Bhaalspawn aren't Exclusively Evil, but thinks they're still too dangerous, and he intends to kill himself last in a ritual designed to stop this from bringing Bhaal back. He actually works with some of the other powerful Bhaalspawn because they want to kill all the others except themselves.
  • Alex Mercer spends most of Prototype killing the viral monsters controlled by Elizabeth Greene up to Greene herself. Alex qualifies because he is the virus.
  • If he befriends or becomes the lover of The Warden in the original Dragon Age, Zevran Arainai becomes one of these in Dragon Age 2. In the seven years between the end of the first game and the point at which Hawke meets him in the second, he has sown chaos in the ranks of his former employers, the Antivan Crows, managing to assassinate one of the seven Guildmasters while simultaneously forging an alliance with two more as well as several other disaffected assassins.
    • Mage!Hawke in Dragon Age II frequently finds themselves hunting down Blood-Mages, berating them for their Well-Intentioned Extremist actions, pointing out that it's only made the situation worse and caused innocent Mages to suffer at the hands of certain Templars who see little difference between Apostates and Maleficarum.
      • Played straight if Mage!Hawke ends up being Templar-Aligned at the end of the game.
  • Demon hunters in Warcraft study and use fel magic in order to more effectively hunt demons. Since the magic is innately corrupting, many of them become partially demonic themselves, and may or may not retain their original noble intentions.
    • Death Knights, former slaves of the Lich King, use their knowledge of necromancy and Scourge tactics to fight the undead in Northrend. A lot of the more vengeful Forsaken fall into this category as well.
    • Wrathion is a black dragon that, due to the unique circumstances of his birth, is free of the Old God corruption that has taken over the rest of the Black Dragonflight. He's on a crusade to eliminate the tainted black dragons, and the rogue legendary Fangs of the Father questline is centered around helping him do this. By the end of the quest, he claims to be the Last of His Kind, though observant players have noticed there is at least one other black dragon (Sabellian) unaccounted for.
  • The Dragonborn in Skyrim is a mortal with an Aedric dragon soul who fights other Dragons.
  • In Dark Souls, the most common enemies the Chosen Undead will encounter are other Undead who have long since gone Hollow and insane.
  • Off-Road Velociraptor Safari. The driver is a velociraptor for no particular reason. Its motivation is not really explored, but the way it is beamed away when time runs out suggests it may just have nothing left to lose.
  • Raziel in Legacy of Kain, a vampire who, after being betrayed by his master Kain and executed on his orders, is remade as an Angel of Death by the Elder God and tasked with devouring the souls of his former brothers.
  • Warframe has a couple of interesting examples:
    • Zanuka, Alad V's robot built entirely out of warframe pieces and made to hunt warframes. Alad V taunts the player during his boss fight by claiming Zanuka is technically one of their own.
    • Nidus, a warframe created out of a special strain of the Infestation that helped the Myconian community become immune to it and fight back the Infested to harvest their parts for a living. Gameplay-wise, Nidus is extremly effective against agressive enemies that fight in large groups and respawn at a high rate, that is, the Infested.
    • Cressa Tal, founder of the Steel Meridian, a Grineer defector on a crusade to take down the Grineer dominions in the Origin System and help defectors like herself fight back or enjoy a new life free of violence.

Web Comics

A puzzler. All Sparks must die, yet I am a Spark. I will kill myself when my mission is complete, but now I can kill myself first. Tempting.

    • Also in the card game, there is a "vampire hunter" character that ironically is the only card that counts as "vampire".
  • In Chirault, Kiran is a demon, and employed by the demon hunter guild. That said, in Chirault "demon" is a pretty broad term, and Kiran's "species" of demon (horned humanoids) seems pretty rare. Many of the demons that Kiran kills seem to be non-sapient.
  • In Weregeek Joel attempted to turn one of the Hunters into a geek, with somewhat predictable results.
  • SCP Foundation; The Foundation is an organization devoted to the study, research, capture, and containment of beings and objects that are supernatural in nature, which pose a dangerous risk to humans, known collectively as SCPs; they range from relatively harmless ones, like a pizza box that create pizza, to world-ravaging monstrosities and Doomsday Devices. One of the highest ranking researchers in the organization, Dr. Alto Clef, seems to be an SCP himself. possibly even the Devil, or Adam (as in, from the Garden of Eden), or the Serpent (again, from Eden), or Archangel Jophiel (in which case he's his own SCP-001 Proposal).
    • The same might be said of any SCP with Object Class: Thaumiel (at least the ones that are living, sentient beings) as they are used to contain the malevolent SCPs.

Web Original

Western Animation

  • In Fern Gully, Zak, the human, plays this role for the nonhuman locals, though he doesn't actually hurt anyone, he just tries to stop them.
  • Danny Phantom is a half-ghost who fights other ghosts.
  • Generator Rex, Rex being an EVO, is employed to fight EVOs.
  • In the Backstory of Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, Shane Gooseman was the youngest and most advanced of the Artificial Human Supertroopers. When the 'troopers rioted, Shane was the only one to remain loyal. However, Earth Government only allowed him to live on the condition that he hunt down and kill his renegade ex-comrades—or bring them back to Earth to be sent to their deaths in cryo. Shane hates this hellish bargain, but can't see a way out.
  • Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters is a ghost that lives with the Ghostbusters and helps them against other ghosts from time to time.
  1. ↑ different girl mind you
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