The Hunter is a character that appears in Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. He was an independent hunter of indigenous origin[1] who operated in the vicinity of Fort Bailey in 1815.
Overview[]
The Hunter is a young man with long black hair tied to a pony tail and wears clothes made of smooth shiny leather. He always keeps an assortment of various hunting weapons such as knifes, bolas, axes or a bow on him, attached to various belts and loops, as well as herbal medicine in a pouch. He also kept a wolf-like dog as a hunting companion.
He was a common sight at Fort Bailey, being free to come and go as well as to walk freely inside the buildings including the main house. He also assisted in the fort's defense when it was besieged by hellhounds. While the fort's Chief Factor Rowland often invited him to sit at the table for a meal and also spoke his language, other residents of the fort such as James held racist resentments against him.
As he later revealed, he has already hunted the werewolves for many years and knew about the sisters since he dreamed about them as a boy. In the meantime he learned about the prophecy and the curse.
History[]
The Hunter first appears after Brigitte got caught in a bear trap. He approaches her intending to help and calls back his dog, when suddenly Ginger emerges and knocks him down with a tree branch, suspecting him to be up to no good. He gets back up and throws bolas at her that wrap around her head and make her stumble. While Ginger is kept in check by his dog, the Hunter frees Brigitte from her trap and treats her wound with herbal paste. After also freeing Ginger from the bolas, he leads the sisters to Fort Bailey. Already known at the fort, he has no trouble getting past the guard, who then also let's the two sisters in.
On the evening of the same day, a dinner is held in the company hall and the Hunter arrives a little later presenting the jaw of creature he recently killed. Wallace invites him to stay and James uses the opportunity to give him a mocking toast, praising the indigenous scouts of his former regiment for being cannon fodder. The situation then devolves into a quarrel between James and the Hunter when James questions his motives for being at the fort, suspecting him of planning to sabotage them with the help of accomplices from outside. The Hunter then pins James to the wall, holding a knife to his throat and then letting him go, telling him that he now only lives because he allowed him to.
Later that night, the fort is attacked by werewolves. In the commotion, Reverend Gilbert intentionally lures Ginger and Brigitte into a house with a werewolf, hoping for their deaths. The sisters can barely escape from the creature into a room and the Hunter manages to kill it with an arrow before it can breach the door.
On the next morning, Ginger is feverish from the bite she received from Geoffrey and dreams of encountering the Hunter outside in the hallway where the two make out after he treats her wound.
One day later, Ginger is outside trying to kill Geoffrey while Brigitte waits in their room. The Hunter enters and reveals to her that he knew her since he was a boy when he saw her face in dreams and prepared his whole life to meet and to protect her. The Elder told him that he and the sisters are tied together by fate. He then tells Brigitte that they need to meet the old woman so that she can show them the truth. Knowing that Ginger is turning into a werewolf and will become a danger even to Brigitte, he advises her to watch her sister carefully after she insists to stay and wait for Ginger.
After Ginger was expelled from the fort, she and Brigitte want to find the Hunter who is there only lead to a possible cure. Milo knows that his cave is up the river. When the two arrive at his cave[2] they find the Elder inside and are later joined by the Hunter who tells them more about the prophecy that connects the fate of the sisters to the werewolves. He then prepares Brigitte for her vision. After dreaming about killing Ginger with a knife, she wakes up again and it turns out that in the meantime Ginger killed the Elder while the Hunter was protecting Brigitte. He is now adamant that Ginger needs to die by Brigitte's hand or the curse will keep plaguing the land forever, revealing that in his own dreams, he saw himself giving his life to protect Brigitte so she could kill her sister. He seemingly can convince her to agree to this idea and both go back to Fort Bailey to set up a trap for Ginger who they expect to seek out her sister.
At the fort, the Hunter hands Brigitte over to the men. When it turns out Reverend Gilbert wants to burn her as a witch, the hunter stops him by shooting his hand with an arrow. Wallace then finishes Gilbert off with a cutlass and sets him ablaze. After Ginger returns, she can quickly dispatch the men at the gate and lets the other werewolves in. On the courtyard the Hunter fights the intruding creatures off to protect Brigitte. After he gets bitten and sees Ginger approaching he hands Brigitte the knife and reminds her that only she can stop the curse. After taking the knife, she suddenly stabs the Hunter who sinks to the ground and dies.