Vampire hunter

A well-known and influential archetypal vampire hunter is Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a character in Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel Dracula, a foundational work in the genre.

It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was otherwise invisible[1][2][3] (and sometimes other supernatural entities as well); similarly for the dhampir.

In the case of the Sabbatarians, it was believed in some places that they needed to be fed meat from a sheep killed by a wolf (Bulgarian vâlkoedene); this would enable them not to fear the things that only they were able to see.

Other more recent figures include Buffy "the Vampire Slayer" Summers from the film and television series of the same name.

Vampire hunters have also appeared in video games, such as Castlevania (the occupation of the famed Belmont lineage), and The Elder Scrolls (with factions such as the Dawnguard).

These have included firearms with silver ammunition, appropriate religious symbols, crossbows that fire all-wooden bolts and even waterguns filled with blessed holy water in the movies The Lost Boys and From Dusk Till Dawn.

The image of the vampire hunter is often a mysterious and dramatic avenging hero, an eccentric extremist, a mad scientist, or sometimes a mix of these.

Vampire hunters have also popularly been depicted as hunting various creatures such as werewolves, demons, and other forms of undead as well.

Another common trope is hunters being forced to slay their loved ones or allies who have been turned into vampires.