History Main / MageHuntingMonster

* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': Cygors are giant minotaurs whose single eye is blind to everything except magic. To them, mages blaze brightly and irresistibly, and a cygor who spots a wizard will stop at nothing in its attempts to kill them and consume their soul.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The is how Lord Tirek initially worked. When he first escaped Tartarus and was in a weakened state, he could ''only'' drain the magic of unicorns and wasn't a threat to any of the other pony species. As he stole more magic however, he eventually got powerful enough to drain pegasi, earth ponies, and eventually even {{Physical God}}s like alicorns and even ''Discord''.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Psychneuein are wasp-like creatures of the Warp that are specialized predators of psykers, in whose minds they lay their eggs. They are drawn to areas of intense and untrained psychic activity, but will barely deign to notice non-psychic individuals.

* ''[[Franchise/StarWarsTheHighRepublic The High Republic]]'': The Nameless are [[AnimalisticAbomination enigmatic creatures]] that preyed on Force users, with one particular specimen known as the Great Leveler. Their presence alone is capable of causing fear-inducing hallucinations in Jedi and after feeding on them, reduce them to [[TakenForGranite brittle petrified husks]] with a look of terror on their faces. After Marchion Ro reclaimed the Leveler from a hidden vault, the Nihil weaponized them against the Jedi [[spoiler:and played a key role in the fall of Starlight Beacon]]. 150 years before the Great Disaster, a cult called the [[AntiMagicalFaction Path of the Open Hand]] weaponized them against ''all'' Force users.

* ''TabletopGame/HunterTheVigil'': One of Aegis Kai Doru's Relics, the Witch-Candle, is a metal candlestick adorned with the carved gargoyles. If a candle is placed within it and lit, any successful uses of magic, whether by witches or supernatural monsters, will cause the gargoyles carvings to come to life, climb off the candle, and single-mindedly attempt to kill the magicians that gave them life.

* In ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', some entities from the Abyss are drawn into reality to feed on mages' powerful souls:

Compare/Contrast MageKiller, where a normal human is the one going after mages. See also FoodChainOfEvil, for monsters that prey on other monstrous beings; both tropes describe magical predators of beings who are themselves more powerful than ordinary humans. This is also one possible reason why MagicIsAMonsterMagnet. Overlaps with SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious.

Contrast MageKiller, where a normal human is the one going after mages. See also FoodChainOfEvil, for monsters that prey on other monstrous beings; both tropes describe magical predators of beings who are themselves more powerful than ordinary humans. This is also one possible reason why MagicIsAMonsterMagnet. Overlaps with SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'': The in-game bestiary explains that the series-standard Bomb enemies were created as anti-mage weapons in this universe. In gameplay, most variants start passive and only become aggressive if they detect spellcasting nearby.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': ''Gholam'' can sense [[MagicByAnyOtherName channeling]], are immune to it themselves, and will attempt to kill any practitioner of it that they find. They were originally created for the express purpose of killing enemy channelers.

** "The Citadel": Mozenrath summons a thirdac, a magic-eating creature from another world, which he wants to use as a weapon against other magic users. Because the Thirdac targets everything that is even remotely magical, Mozenrath can't capture it himself, so he ensures that the thirdac sets its eyes on Genie and Carpet, forcing Aladdin to help Mozenrath capture the thirdac with a special collar. At the end of the episode, Aladdin has Iago free the thirdac and sicks him onto Mozenrath, forcing the sorcerer to quickly send it back to its home dimension.

* Both versions of ''TabletopGame/{{TORG}}'' have had the Mage-Killer, reptilian beasts who are immune to the direct effects of any magic aimed at them. As the name implies, they're usually summoned to assassinate troublesome wizards.

* Both versions of ''TabletopGame/{{TORG}}'' have had the Mage-Killer, reptilian beasts who are immune to the direct effects of any magic aimed at them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', this is how Lord Tirek initially worked. When he first escaped Tartarus and was in a weakened state, he could ''only'' drain the magic of unicorns and wasn't a threat to any of the other pony species. As he stole more magic however, he eventually got powerful enough to drain pegasi, earth ponies, and eventually even {{Physical God}}s like alicorns and even ''Discord''.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Vornskrs, Force-sensitive wolf-like predators, react very aggressively to other Force-users, and become hyperfocused on attacking them once they sense their presence; in ''Literature/TheLastCommand'', Talon Karrde makes use of this by using his two pet vornskrs to track down the Dark Jedi Joruus C'Baoth. This is also exploited in the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' series by the Yuuzhan Vong, who used vornskrs as one of the base organisms for creating voxyn, engineered monsters intended specifically to hunt and kill Jedi.

!!Examples

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Magerippers are a kind of small, swarming creatures that feed on the magic of other living beings. Swarms of magerippers who come across a wizard or a magical being will mob it ''en masse'' and start syphoning away their magical power, leaving them powerless and potentially killing them through physical damage as they try to wrestle it to submission.

* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': Marendar is a BioweaponBeast designed by the [[{{Precursors}} Great Beings]] to hunt down and destroy Toa in case they ever posed a threat. It only hunts Toa, not any other beings with ElementalPowers.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', this is how Lord Tirek initially worked. When he first escaped Tartarus and was in a weakened state, he could ''only'' drain the magic of unicorns and wasn't a threat to any of the other pony species. As he stole more magic however, he eventually got powerful enough to drain pegasi, earth ponies, and eventually even {{Physical God}}s like alicorns and even ''Discord''.

* The in-game bestiary in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' explains that the series-standard Bomb enemies were created as anti-mage weapons in this universe. In gameplay, most variants start passive and only become aggressive if they detect spellcasting nearby.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': Voidsent are ravenous fiends from the void, a world of eternal darkness, who are constantly starved of aether. As such, they continually try to cross the rift between worlds to feed on the denizens of other worlds and possess their bodies. Mages like thaumaturges and conjurers are especially tasty snacks for voidsent, as mages are required to possess more internal aether than other people in order to cast spells. Morno, a powerful succubus and the focus of the thaumaturge questline, immediately begins murdering and feasting upon every thaumaturge she can get her hands on once she's freed from her cage. Her taste for thaumaturges is so profound that [[spoiler:Cocobuki is able to lure her out of Cocobusi's body by allowing her to gorge upon his aether. This gives the Warrior of Light and the other thaumaturge guildmasters time to fight and kill her without harming Cocobusi.]]

* Aeorian Hunters in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' are biological weapons created by a society of [[NayTheist Nay-Theists]], designed to hunt spellcasters and servants of the gods like celestials and fiends. Absorbers can absorb magic and release it as a deadly attack, Nullifiers can innately cast Counterspell and Antimagic Field, and Reversers can invert the effects of healing magic, causing it to harm instead.

In fantasy, wizards, witches and assorted mages are usually some of the most powerful beings around, as their reality-bending arts allow them to easily overwhelm most foes or obstacles. However, threats can exist that will threaten even, or especially, such powerful individuals. One of these is the Mage-Hunting Monster, a creature that specializes in hunting and killing magic-users.

* ''Series/WizardsVsAliens'': The Nekross are an alien race which feast upon all magic, and who have come to Earth because they've consumed literally all other sources of magic in the universe. Naturally, they come into conflict with the wizards living on the planet. They're also immune to it, with only powerful spells affecting them.

** Mukhtars are reptilian humanoids who actively hunted and ate genies for centuries. They can sense magic and possess AntiMagic gadgets which allow them to nullify the power of their targets. The one who goes after Genie in "Genie Hunt" was hired by his former master to bring him back in servitude.
** "The Citadel": Mozenrath summons a thirdac, a magic-eating creature from another world, which he wants to use as weapon against other magic users. Because the Thirdac targets everything that is even remotely magical, Mozenrath can't capture it himself, so he ensures that the thirdac sets its eyes on Genie and Carpet, forcing Aladdin to help Mozenrath capture the thirdac with a special collar. At the end of the episode, Aladdin has Iago free the thirdac and sicks him onto Mozenrath, forcing the sorcerer to quickly send it back to its home dimension.

* ''Series/WizardsVsAliens'': The Nekross are an alien race which feast upon all magic, and who have come to Earth because they've consumed literally all other sources of magic in the universe. Naturally, they come into conflict with the wizards living on the planet. They?re also immune to it, with only powerful spells affecting them.

* ''Series/WizardsVsAliens'': The Nekross are an alien race which feast upon all magic, and who have come to Earth because they?ve consumed literally all other sources of magic in the universe. Naturally, they come into conflict with the wizards living on the planet. They?re also immune to it, with only powerful spells affecting them.

Contrast MageKiller, where a normal human is the one going after mages. See also FoodChainOfEvil, for monsters that prey on other monstrous beings; both tropes describe magical predators of beings who are themselves more powerful than ordinary humans. This is also one possible reason why MagicIsAMonsterMagnet.