History Main / TheWitchHunter

* In ''ComicBook/BlackMagick'', Aira is a witch hunting organization which kills those guilty of abusing magical powers. Unlike most examples of the trope, they explicitly state that magic itself is not evil and it is not their goal to kill all magic users, rather it is their duty to kill those who have succumbed to BlackMagic and used their powers to corrupt the minds of others.
* Silver Dagger and the Imperator, two of ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange'''s foes. The former is a genuine witch hunter, whereas the latter is more of a MageKiller.

* Hansel from ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}''. However, he is a vile and sadistic man who knows full well that the women he targets and executes are innocent. He's venting his frustration that he can't do anything to real witches, such as Frau Totenkinder, the one who tried to eat him and his sister; and he even murdered his sister when she started learning magic.
* ComicBook/JohnConstantine from the ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}''. He is a modern day sorcerer (or occultist) and fights other occultists for various reasons; either he just wants to save the day, for his personal gain, or just to show off who is the best sorcerer there is.
* Sir Edward Grey is a heroic example from the ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' and ''ComicBook/{{BPRD}}'' verse, who eventually got his own spinoff series, ''Witchfinder''. He's a 19th century British paranormal investigator who, among other exploits, killed a trio of witches attempting to assassinate the Queen--earning himself knighthood and the official title of Witchfinder from the Crown. Though he's initially biased against magic-users from non-Christian traditions (as shown in "Lost and Gone Forever") he quickly grows more open-minded. In any case, he only executes those who use magic for malicious ends.
* Rondel, the title character of ''ComicBook/{{Hillbilly}}'', is a purely heroic take on this trope, using [[WeaponOfXSlaying the Devil's own meat cleaver]] to hunt down the {{wicked witch}}es that haunt the hills. Most MagicIsEvil in this setting, and when Rondel meets an extremely rare [[GoodWitchVersusBadWitch good witch]], he recognizes that she's not a threat and leaves her alone.
* In ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', when Bruce Wayne was stranded in Puritan times, he got a job as a witch hunter, mostly using his forensic knowledge to help clear the names of innocent women accused of being witches. Ironically, the only real witch in the story is the girlfriend he meets there, Annie, who isn't evil. Unfortunately, Bruce's ancestor Nathaniel Wayne is the traditional religious zealot who targets any woman for being unusual. He hangs Annie before Bruce can get there.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' had Witch Hunter, a.k.a. Maria [=DeLorentti=], a member of the Seventh Sign, a secret organization dedicated to the eradication of evil supernatural forces. Unlike more traditional witch hunters, she hunted witches in a {{Stripperific}} outfit featuring a NavelDeepNeckline rather a BadassLongcoat and a nice hat. She still carried a {{BFS}}, though.
* ''ComicBook/Zatanna2010'': A group of generic witch hunters attempt to assassinate Zatanna in issue #15, under the belief that all magic is evil.

Let's say you live in a fantasy setting, but no, you aren't having it easy. [[DarkFantasy This ain't no happy-singing-rainbows-and-fairies kind of fantasy you've got here]], and there's a problem. Perhaps [[EvilSorcerer the resident wizard]] isn't too much into [[MentorArchetype helping upstart heroes]], or something has to be done with that "[[ReligionOfEvil persecuted religious community]]" at the corner before you [[VirginSacrifice run out of virgins]]. Or it could even be something a bit more [[EvilIsPetty mundane:]] maybe the local count thinks the mole on that kindly old lady's chin is ''really'' gross.

The Witch Hunter is the grim, broody, [[BadassLongcoat badass-longcoated]], and nice-hatted guy who is always prepared to lead a WitchHunt, but beware, for this guy, as much as he is [[WellIntentionedExtremist well intentioned]] and [[SoulsavingCrusader soul-saving]], often [[KnightTemplar leaves that pesky sort-them-out trade to the Lord]], and he tends to be [[PrinciplesZealot a bit creepy]] about [[LawfulStupid his principles]]. He can be seen handing out the TorchesAndPitchforks, and "BurnTheWitch" is his favourite solution. Due to these traits, a witch hunter is usually a perpetrator of VanHelsingHateCrimes either out of genuine hatred, or mere cruelty and profit; thus, when the Witch Hunter appears, he is usually a villain or (in settings where witches are actually [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil by default]]) a ''very'' dark AntiHero.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' [[http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor includes an Inquisitor class]]. The iconic Inquisitor could only look more like this trope with a burning heretic at her feet, though in personality and outlook she is a far cry from the stereotyped angry witch hunter and more of a kind-hearted scholar who happens to engage in the grim business of monster-hunting. The Inquistor class even has an archetype (class variant) ''called'' Witch Hunter, who drops some of the Inquisitor's abilities to counter beasts and discerning lies and alignments for [[MageKiller abilities aimed at arcane spellcasters]].

** The Witchers themselves can be considered Witch Hunters, though they are less "empowered by faith" and more "tried and true tactics and lore". They hunt and destroy the supernatural monsters that plague humanity, and also occasionally moonlight as warriors for hire, or sorcerer-killers.

* [[UrExample A notorious example from real history]] is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins Matthew Hopkins]], the original "Witchfinder General". During the UsefulNotes/EnglishCivilWar, Hopkins traveled through eastern England at the head of a team of self-styled witch-hunters; within two years -- from 1645 to 1647 -- he and his accomplice John Stearne caused the deaths of about 300 women, who were executed by hanging. Though Hopkins claimed to have a mandate from the English Parliament, this was probably a lie (the title "Witchfinder General" was his own invention) -- however, Parliament obviously tolerated his actions. As if that wasn't enough, Hopkins's book ''The Discovery of Witches'', which he published shortly before his death in 1647, helped to spread the witch-craze to the New England colonies, where it immediately sparked a wave of {{witch hunt}}s, up to and including the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s which still used Hopkins's methods.

* ''Manhwa/WitchHunter''. People with special powers unite in a battle against genuine witches.

* ''Film/TheSudburyDevil'': The protagonists, John Fletcher and Josiah Cutting, are NewEnglandPuritan witchfinders who travel around Massachusetts Bay Colony investigating allegations of devilry.

* ''Literature/{{Otherverse}}'': Witch Hunters are a form of Aware, those who have seen past the {{Masquerade}} and lost much of their Innocence, forfeiting protections against magic users and supernatural creatures. Any Aware that chooses to become a Witch Hunter is likely to be a fanatic in some form, and so they're infamous for not distinguishing between good and bad practitioners to the point most WouldHurtAChild. Most of the hunters that appear in ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' work for a Canadian Witch Hunter group called the Lighthouse, which organizes survivors of monster attacks, arms them, and deploys them in cells. The Hunters that appear in ''Pale'' have a shoot first and ask questions later policy, which leads them into conflict with essentially every protagonist and antagonist faction until they bite off more than they can chew by breaking into the Carmine Contest on the logic that supernatural forces are clearly trying to keep them out, at which point they are promptly conscripted into the contest and killed by the other contestants.

* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': Witch Hunters are a form of Aware, those who have seen past the {{Masquerade}} and lost much of their Innocence, forfeiting protections against magic users and supernatural creatures. Any Aware that chooses to become a Witch Hunter is likely to be a fanatic in some form, and so they're infamous for not distinguishing between good and bad witches to the point most WouldHurtAChild. Most of the hunters that appear in Pale work for a Canadian Witch Hunter group called the Lighthouse, which organizes survivors of monster attacks, arms them, and deploys them in cells. The Hunters that appear in Pale have a shoot first and ask questions later policy, which leads them into conflict with essentially every protagonist and antagonist faction until they bite off more than they can chew by breaking into the Carmine Contest on the logic that supernatural forces are clearly trying to keep them out, at which point they are promptly conscripted into the contest and killed by the other contestants.

Let's say you live in a fantasy setting, but no, you aren't having it easy. [[DarkFantasy This ain't no happy-singing-rainbows-and-fairies kind of fantasy you've got here]], and there's a problem. Perhaps [[EvilSorcerer the resident wizard]] isn't too much into [[TheMentor helping upstart heroes]], or something has to be done with that "[[ReligionOfEvil persecuted religious community]]" at the corner before you [[VirginSacrifice run out of virgins]]. Or it could even be something a bit more [[EvilIsPetty mundane:]] maybe the local count thinks the mole on that kindly old lady's chin is ''really'' gross.

While we are at it, Van Helsing, the {{Trope Namer|s}} for one of the above-mentioned tropes, hunted a vampire instead of witches, but even the standard ones are rarely above an occasional hunt after [[VampireHunter a vicious vampire]] or [[DemonSlaying demon]]. That said, witches generally have different connotations than most other classic monsters, due to the [[RealitySubtext uncomfortable reality]] of historical {{witch hunt}}s, which killed a lot of [[WidowWitch innocent people]]. Vampires and werewolves don't have that same historical baggage, and although you may the occasional FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire or heroic werewolf who is able to ResistTheBeast, they're still a lot more likely to be cast as AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. Therefore, the VampireHunter is typically a relatively uncomplicated hero in a way that the Witch Hunter is not.

* Heinrich Kramer, a Dominican monk and Inquisitor and the author of the ''Literature/MalleusMaleficarum'' (i.e. ''Hammer of the Witches'', 1486), a treatise on witches and a tutorial on how to conduct witch trials. Kramer was also responsible for the so-called ''Hexenbulle'', a papal bull which Kramer used to prompt several witch trials. He claimed to have led 200 witches to execution. Then again, there is little reason to believe his empty boasts; Kramer and reality were not always on speaking terms and he was regarded by many people who knew him as a paranoid loon even in his own lifetime. Additionally, Kramer was also a rampart misogynist who possibly viewed every female as being TheVamp (There's a REASON a non-zero amount of people compared him to Disney's portrayal of Frollo). That said, the ''Malleus'', much like ''The Discovery of Witches'' after it, caused great harm after it was taken up during the witch-hunting craze of the 1500s-1600s (the Pope had sanctioned witch trials after his book was released, but this wasn't acted upon then).

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurentius_Christophori_Hornaeus Laurentius Hornaeus]], AKA "The Evil Reverend from Torsåker", an extremely zealous witch hunter in 17th Century Sweden. Assisted by two "wiseboys", who claimed to be able to identify witches from otherwise invisible marks, and using methods such as dunking children in freezing water to make them testify against their relatives, Hornaeus managed to get 71 people (a tenth of his congregation) convicted for witchcraft and executed,[[note]] For comparison, the total number of people ever executed for witchcraft in Sweden is about 400.[[/note]] and he would most likely have continued if higher and saner authorities had not intervened. Hornaeus grandson Jöns Hornaeus, who wrote an account of his grandfather's life, claimed that people were still afraid to go near the house where "the Evil Reverend" had lived sixty years later.

* Several associations in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' do this, but given the rules of the setting, they are [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Arguing The Witches To Death]] with logic-fueled swords, and thanks to them, {{Fair Play Whodunnit}}s exist. ''[[WidgetSeries Umineko]]'' [[MindScrew is pretty weird]].

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

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[[WhoYouGonnaCall Who you gonna call?]] This guy.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' we discover that [[spoiler: Philip Wittebane, the man who would become Emperor Belos]], was a Witch Hunter before his arrival on the Boiling Isles. Given his history, he was most likely involved in the Connecticut Witch Trials. He even insists his title is "Witch Hunter General", a play on Matthew Hopkins' self-given title in real life.

While we are at it, Van Helsing, the {{Trope Namer|s}} for one of the above-mentioned tropes, hunted vampires instead of witches, but even the standard ones are rarely above an occasional hunt after [[VampireHunter a vicious vampire]] or [[DemonSlaying demon]]. That said, witches generally have different connotations than most other classic monsters, due to the [[RealitySubtext uncomfortable reality]] of historical {{witch hunt}}s, which killed a lot of [[WidowWitch innocent people]]. Vampires and werewolves don't have that same historical baggage, and although you may the occasional FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire or heroic werewolf who is able to ResistTheBeast, they're still a lot more likely to be cast as AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. Therefore, the VampireHunter is typically a relatively uncomplicated hero in a way that the Witch Hunter is not.

* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime'': The Whitecloaks (at least their Questioners) are now portrayed this way, with their introduction showing Eamon Valda burning an Aes Sedai at the stake after he'd mutilated her by cutting off both her hands. They also call Aes Sedai "witches" disparagingly.

While we are at it, Van Helsing, the TropeNamer for one of the above-mentioned tropes, hunted vampires instead of witches, but even the standard ones are rarely above an occasional hunt after [[VampireHunter a vicious vampire]] or [[DemonSlaying demon]]. That said, witches generally have different connotations than most other classic monsters, due to the [[RealitySubtext uncomfortable reality]] of historical {{witch hunt}}s, which killed a lot of [[WidowWitch innocent people]]. Vampires and werewolves don't have that same historical baggage, and although you may the occasional FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire or heroic werewolf who is able to ResistTheBeast, they're still a lot more likely to be cast as AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters. Therefore, the VampireHunter is typically a relatively uncomplicated hero in a way that the Witch Hunter is not.

* Heinrich Kramer, a Dominican monk and Inquisitor and the author of the ''Literature/MalleusMaleficarum'' (i.e. ''Hammer of the Witches'', 1486), a treatise on witches and a tutorial on how to conduct witch trials. Kramer was also responsible for the so-called ''Hexenbulle'', a papal bull which Kramer used to prompt several witch trials. He claimed to have led 200 witches to execution. Then again, there is little reason to believe his empty boasts; Kramer and reality were not always on speaking terms and he was regarded by many people who knew him as a paranoid loon even in his own lifetime. Additionally, Kramer was also a rampart misogynist who possibly viewed every female as being TheVamp. That said, the ''Malleus'', much like ''The Discovery of Witches'' after it, caused great harm after it was taken up during the witch-hunting craze of the 1500s-1600s (the Pope had sanctioned witch trials after his book was released, but this wasn't acted upon then).

* Several associations in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' do this, but given the rules of the setting, they are [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath Arguing The Witches To Death]] with logic-fueled swords, and thanks to them, {{Fair Play Whodunnit}}s exist. [[WidgetSeries Umineko]] [[MindScrew is pretty weird]].

* Silver Dagger and the Imperator, two of ''Comicbook/DoctorStrange'''s foes. The former is a genuine witch hunter, whereas the latter is more of a MageKiller.

* Hansel from ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}''. However, he is a vile and sadistic man who knows full well that the women he targets and executes are innocent. He's venting his frustration that he can't do anything to real witches, such as Frau Totenkinder, the one who tried to eat him and his sister; and he even murdered his sister when she started learning magic.

* In ''[[Comicbook/GrantMorrisonsBatman The Return of Bruce Wayne]]'', when Bruce Wayne was stranded in Puritan times, he got a job as a witch hunter, mostly using his forensic knowledge to help clear the names of innocent women accused of being witches. Ironically, the only real witch in the story is the girlfriend he meets there, Annie, who isn't evil. Unfortunately, Bruce's ancestor Nathaniel Wayne is the traditional religious zealot who targets any woman for being unusual. He hangs Annie before Bruce can get there.

* In ''Videogame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'', the Witch Hunters of the Eternal Flame are a fanatical faction bent on tracking down and exterminating anyone using magic or occult practices, as well as magical non-human creatures. The ones in the free city of Novigrad are responsible for the worst atrocities, but they tend to pop up all over the North, hunting down mages and other creatures deemed abhorrent by their faith - including those creatures and mages who are completely benign. They're unfriendly toward Geralt, the game's protagonist, because he's a mutant Witcher, but a combination of powerful friends and the fact that [[OneManArmy Geralt can butcher a dozen of them in less than a minute]] leads to them ''usually'' leaving him be.

* One of these guys, referred to as simply "The Witchfinder," plays a small but important role in the [[TheDungAges DungAges]] prologue of ''Literature/TheFestering''. He's less interested in actually finding witches (assuming any exist) and more interested in just having a lot of political and religious clout in the English town of Garth, accusing and executing people on a whim in order to instill fear in the locals. His main role in the story is having PatientZero for ThePlague executed and buried without treatment and study, thereby ensuring the disease will return to threaten future generations in Garth.

* Witch Smellers were found in some African tribes, and the hunts they kicked off could be devastating in their effects, but they didn't always have it their way. According to legend some Zulu witch hunters tried this on UsefulNotes/ShakaZulu. He outsmarted them and it ended [[KillEmAll badly for them]].

* ''ComicBook/TheUltraverse'' had Witch Hunter, a.k.a. Maria [=DeLorentti=], a member of the Seventh Sign, a secret organization dedicated to the eradication of evil supernatural forces. Unlike more traditional witch hunters, she hunted witches in a {{Stripperific}} outfit featuring AbsoluteCleavage rather a BadassLongcoat and a nice hat. She still carried a {{BFS}}, though.

* ''Film/{{Warlock}}'': Giles Redferne is a witch hunter [[FishOutOfTemporalWater transported from the 17th century]] to kill the evil Warlock who [[YouKilledMyFather murdered his wife]]. He's actually a pretty nice guy, going out of his way to save as many innocent bystanders who fall prey to the Warlock as possible. He only has his salt-coated whip, knives, and some limited knowledge of the Warlock's weaknesses to defeat him.