A list of characters from Monster Hunter International. UNMARKED SPOILERS AHEAD for the entire series.
Main Characters
The main protagonist of the series, Owen Zavasta Pitt, or "Z," as his friends call him, is one of the Chosen Ones, capable of using artifacts of tremendous mystical power and having a destiny that can shape the fate of the world. In short, he drew the short straw of destiny.
Raised by a harsh, militant father to be prepared for anything, Owen rebelled by becoming an accountant, one of the most boring jobs he could think of. However, destiny decided to call in on his short straw and Owen wound up killing his deranged boss by tossing him out of a fourteenth story window. His boss happened to be a werewolf at the time and Owen came very close to dying.
Waking up in the hospital days later, Owen gets a warning from Agents Myers and Franks of the MCB and a job offer from Earl Harbinger. Realizing that his incredible experience was real and certain that he wouldn't be able to readjust to the "normal" world, Owen decides to make good on Earl's offer and joins Monster Hunter International.
It's a hard calling, but a good calling. And things only serve to get far more complicated for Owen.
- Ambiguously Brown: Owen's heritage is decidedly mixed—his mother is from Eastern Europe and his father Auhangamea Pitt is Polynesian.
- Badass Bureaucrat: Owen was an accountant in his civilian life before killing a werewolf and joining MHI. While relatively new to the field, describing it as his "first real job" after college, he continues this line of work in addition to being a Chosen and a member of Team Happy Face, MHI's heavy-hitters, throughout the series which takes place over the course of several years.
- Big Eater: Owen is able to eat very large amounts of food in one sitting—a habit engrained upon him in childhood by his mother. According to Julie, Owen has a habit of overdoing it at buffets. While trying to convince Russian hunter Ivan Krasnov and his men to join the siege, Owen eats an entire roasted pig.
- Big Guy: Many Monster Hunters tend to be physically intimidating, but Owen stands out on his team. He's several inches over six feet tall and weighs about 300 pounds at the time of the first book, with a significant percentage of it being muscle. While most Hunters carry subguns or rifles, Owen carries a customized Saiga-12 automatic shotgun named Abomination.
- Chosen One: Owen "drew the short straw" when it comes to destiny and has a crucial role in fighting the Old Ones. Played with in that there are *multiple* mystical factions, each with their own specific criteria for a specific Chosen and that there's a "new" Chosen One for Owen's faction every five hundred years.
- Deadpan Snarker: Owen has a fairly strong sarcastic side that tends to get more pronounced when he's stressed or when he's speaking with someone he's not particularly fond of.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: When visiting Appleton, Owen is deeply uncomfortable when he's seen by the patients as a hero, as he describes himself as "not particularly brave," and that it's noble men like Trip Jones who are the real heroes.
- Unstoppable Rage: Owen's usually rather friendly, but he was trained from childhood by his father to be prepared to *survive.* When pushed too far, Owen's temper gets the better of him and he unleashes terrific pain and suffering upon his enemies.
One of the most important figures in Monster Hunter International, a company her family has run for over a century, Julie operates in the field and behind the scenes, hammering out contracts. Raised to be a Monster Hunter from a very early age, Julie has never known anything else. Comfortable with most weapons, Julie specializes in sniper rifles, acting as her team's sharpshooter.
- Badass Bookworm: Julie left Monster Hunter—temporarily—after the Christmas Party and attended college. She eventually got a degree in art history. She is also an expert sharpshooter.
- Friendly Sniper: Julie is her team's sharpshooter and is among the more personable of the Monster Hunters in general, and especially among the Shacklefords.
- Mama Bear: Is this in Monster Hunter Guardian.
Monster Hunter International (MHI)
The group of bounty hunters that Owen and Julie are a part of. Consisting of the survivors of paranormal encounters, these badasses kill paranormal forces and collect the PUFF (Perpetual Unearthly Forces Fund) bounties afterwards.
Monster Control Bureau (MCB)
A secret federal agency that's dedicated to the concealment of the paranormal, no matter how many witnesses need intimidating (or even outright killed) to do so. This group also acts as the ObstructiveBureaucrats in the setting, meddling in the affairs of MHI, though they'll often set aside their differences should a situation becomes dire enough.
