The magician is, as the name suggests, a character skilled in the use of magic. The type of magic the character is able to use and the specific tradition that he or she follows depends on the genre and setting. The flash-bang style of magic found in most role-playing games, for example, has no precedent in real world mythology, and is therefore ill-suited for some games, but works well for super-hero or high fantasy settings. While every magical tradition has its own rules, taboos, and philosophies, members of the magician archetype are not priests. They gain their magical abilities through knowledge, and even those who access the power of otherworldly entities do so by learning how to placate, command, or negotiate with those entities, not through worship of or faith in them.

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The monster hunter’s role in fiction is pretty self-explanatory: He fights monsters. Some people fight supernatural baddies because it’s their destiny, some because it’s their job, and some because they just keep running into to the damned things. It should be noted that we’re using the term “monster hunter” in its purest sense, meaning people who actually fight and kill, banish, or capture monsters. A character whose primary goal is discovering, proving the existence of, or classifying monsters and spooks doesn’t really fit into this archetype.

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