Why I Love Monster Hunters
I’ve always loved monsters. Every culture has some form of creature living in the shadows that not everyone believes in, but that they all secretly fear. One thing I love just as much as monsters, is the people that hunt them. Monster hunters are underdogs. They move in the same dark world as the creatures they kill. Outnumbered and weaker, they’re the monsters that monsters fear.
Back when I was in college, a popular role-playing game was Vampire: The Masquerade. In it, players got to play vampires that live among us, fighting other monsters and getting caught up in the politics of vampire clans. It was a cool game, but while my friends all wanted to play different breeds of vampires, all with their unique powers and limitations, I wanted to play a human vampire hunter. When they’d ask why, I tell them that the hunters are usually more interesting than the monsters.
A monster hunter has to be clever. As powerful as Count Dracula was, Dr. Van Helsing still tracked him down and killed him. Medusa could turn you to stone by simply looking at you, but despite the apparent impossibility of it Perseus took her head. In a face-to-face match, the monster always has the advantage. A hunter’s wits is their advantage.
Monster hunters have tragic pasts. What sane person would look at a creature that’s faster, stronger, near impossible to kill, and say, “Yeah, I want to take that on,”? The most common reason is tragedy. In Supernatural, Sam and Dean Winchester begin their lives as monster hunters after the death of their mother. In Blade, the murder of Whistler’s family led him to becoming a hunter.
They’re outcasts outside the law. Another popular motif with hunters is that they are shunned from the very society they protect. They might be considered crazy or as murderers, even monsters themselves. They can’t go back to a normal life because so one will accept them. While the vampire is living in a posh castle or penthouse, the hunter is living out of a car (likely stolen), probably committing petty thefts and scams just to eat.
They’re not always human. Not all monster hunters are human, some are creatures themselves or have supernatural powers. Blade, Vampire Hunter D, Anita Blake, they all have abilities beyond normal people. Sometimes they are the very monster they kill. Other times, like Hellboy, they’re something else. This causes a lot on internal struggles. Why are they protecting humans when they aren’t even human? Sometime, from sheer exposure to the supernatural or as a means to survive the supernatural, the hunter loses their own humanity, becoming something else. Often they hate themselves for it.
It’s easy to look at a monster as imagine the power and fun of being more than human. And while some stories focus on how difficult it must be to live as an immortal vampire or demon, I think it’s much more difficult to live as the hunter.
My favorite hunters include Abraham Van Helsing, Alucard, Vampire Hunter D, the Winchester Brothers, and Hellboy. Do you have a favorite monster or monster hunter? Is there a one you recommend I check out?
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About Seth Skorkowsky
Author Bio:
Raised in the swamps and pine forest of East Texas, Seth Skorkowsky always dreamed of being a writer. He gravitated to the darker sides of fantasy, preferring horror and pulp heroes over knights in shining armor.
His debut novel, Dämoren was released in April 2014 by Ragnarok Publications. Seth will also be releasing two sword and sorcery rogue collections, Mountain of Daggers and Sea of Quills, through Rogue Blades Entertainment in 2014.
When not writing, Seth enjoys tabletop role-playing games, shooting sports, and traveling the world with his wife.
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