The Hunter Becomes the Hunted is supposed to be about a situation where Character A, who has been hunting Character B, suddenly finds their roles reversed as Character B hunts Character A. The description, however, mentions the trope having roots in the Greek myth of Actaeon.
This trope has roots as far back as Greek Mythology, where a quite literal hunter, Actaeon, is transformed into a deer by Artemis after a case of Outdoor Bath Peeping and eventually torn apart by his own dogs.
This myth does not fall under the strict definition of the trope, instead it involves a third party, rather than the initial victim(s), hunting the hunter. So, I began wondering if the examples followed a similar pattern.
Correct Usage | 26/ 50 or 52%
- Characters.Criminal Minds Unsubs Seasons One To Five: [Paul & John Mulford] What happens when their latest victim decides to fight back. She fatally injures Johnny and stabs Paul In the Back, slowing him down enough for the B.A.U. to arrive.
- Characters.Exalted Spirits: [Luminata] Their main schtick is goading mortals into hunting them, leading them on a merry chase until the hunters tire. When this happens, the Luminata turns around and starts hunting down its would-be hunters.
- Characters.Marble Hornets: [Alex] What seems to happen from the initial entries. Alex goes out of his way to seek the Operator after encountering him once, and then in turn ends up getting stalked by him.
- Characters.One Hundred Bullets: [Minutemen] After years of being hunted by the Trust, they turn the tables and launch a full-scale attack which succeeds in destroying the trust.
- Characters.Scream Ghostface: [Detective Bailey] After being briefly knocked out while fighting Sam, Bailey comes to to find her gone, only to realize that Sam is now using a Ghostface costume and tactics to stalk and torment Bailey, just like he did to her.
- Fanfic.Vow Of Nudity: In The Savage Savannah, Fiora witnesses a hunting party prepare an ambush for a pack of sleeping axebeaks, only for an unseen axebeak sentry to jump onto the hunting leader from above and tear him to ribbons before he could react.
- Film.Halloween H 20 Twenty Years Later: At the end, Laurie turns the tables on Michael and starts hunting him down with an axe.
- Film.Hard Candy: Jeff was preying on Hayley, until she turns the tables and gets back at him in cruel ways.
- Film.Jaws: Provides a perfect example as Brody, Hooper and Quint set out together to hunt down the killer shark...only for the tables to turn when they don't have the means to beat this shark that defies everything they throw at it as it changes the hunt into a quest to survive.
- Film.Youre Next: Part of the big twist of the slasher formula. The masked killers are just three regular human beings, rather than some supernatural monsters or Implacable Men. Erin quickly turns the tables against them and traps, maims and kills all three of them, along with their allies.
- Music.Bruno Mars: "Natalie" is about the titular gold digger taking Bruno's money...and then he goes after her with the intent to kill.
- Recap.Andor S 1 E 3 Reckoning: Karn is waiting to ambush Cassian when he gets a *Click* Hello from Cassian, who's snuck up behind him. Things quickly go From Bad to Worse when the dropship is sabotaged and the speeder they think their targets are escaping in is actually booby-trapped.
- Recap.Better Call Saul S 3 E 1 Mabel: The guy who's been tracking Mike ends up getting tracked by him.
- Recap.Haven S 1 E 6 Fur: The members of the Haven Hunt Club are being killed by animals they've hunted and had stuffed.
- Recap.Mayr Neuschwabenland: In an abandoned colony, some abandoned Ahnenerbe soldiers stalk after a scavenger crew sent to find supplies and they slit one of their member's throats. However, the scavenger crew can turn the tables around and ambush them when they approach their helicopter, giving them an opening to escape.
- Recap.Ookamikakushi S 1 E 5 Runaway: After chasing Hiroshi around intending to curse him, the tables are turned on Issei when he finds himself being hunted by the scythe-wielding girl.
- Recap.Resident Alien S 2 E 14 Cat And Mouse: Peter hunts Harry throughout the episode. He manages to find out where he lives, only for Harry to hunt him instead, luring him into a trap.
- Recap.Samurai Jack S 5 E 3 XCIV: The Daughters of Aku spend the episode hunting down Jack. Unfortunately for them, Jack had time to heal and regain his resolve, and by the time they found him, he's already prepared to fight them in a battlefield of his choosing. Bonus points for ambushing them just as they ambushed him before.
- VideoGame.Aka Manto: After spending the entire game being stalked and hunted down by the titular villain, the good ending has you obtain the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi and hunt the Aka Manto down to kill it for good.
- VideoGame.In Silence: If the human players manage to unlock the armory and get the guns inside, then the monster will quickly find itself the one being hunted down as its intended victims start fighting back.
- VideoGame.Mitadake High: The students can always hunt down the killer, if they are better armed of course.
- VideoGame.Pac Man: Most of the time, Pac-Man is defenseless against the ghosts and has to run away from them at all costs. Any time he eats a Power Pellet, however, he can turn the tables, as now he can eat them instead to score bonus points. (Mr. Burns even quotes the Trope by name while playing Ms. Pac Man in an episode of The Simpsons.)
- VideoGame.Swallow The Sea: Once you become big enough, former predators become food to you. Yes, even the giant pink serpent which you spend some of the latter half of the game fleeing from.
- Webcomic.Athena Complex: Ironically enough happens to two of Artemis's servants. Artemis assigns them to kill the reincarnation of Poseidon, and they decide to chase and toy with him for fun. But just as they are about to deal a killing blow, the guardian of water takes over and completely turns the tables on them.
- WesternAnimation.Rabbit Fire: At the end of the short, as Bugs and Daffy continue to pull away posters saying "Rabbit Season" and "Duck Season" alternately, each trying to convince Elmer to shoot the other, they finally reach the final poster, which reads "Elmer Season". In the next shot we see Bugs and Daffy dressed as hunters, carrying rifles and "hunting for Elmers".
- WesternAnimation.Tales From The Cryptkeeper: In "Hunted", a Jerkass hunter is poaching in Africa and runs afoul of a supposedly mythical beast. Determined to catch this beast and make a profit, the hunter pursues it deeper and deeper into the jungle. Just when he thinks he has it, the beast springs its own trap to capture him instead. Turns out, the beast was once a Jerkass hunter himself and had been cursed. Forced to live in the wild, he learned to respect nature and its creatures. He regains his human form and passes the curse onto his captive to start the cycle over again.
Third Party Hunting the Hunter | 15/ 50 or 30%
- Characters.Death Note Light Yagami: Kira is a vigilante who hunts criminals, and then he quickly becomes the target for a nationwide hunt. Prey: Criminals Hunted by: Law Enforcement
- Characters.Fortnite Battle Royale: [Oscar] Oscar is a known hunter, engaging in the sport as one of his hobbies. Yet in the Immortal Artemis loading screen, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, is seen hunting him. Prey: ??? Hunted by: Artemis
- Characters.The Fox And The Hound: [Amos] His hunt for Tod during the climax ends with him being attacked by a giant bear. Adding to the irony is that Amos gets his foot caught in his own contraption that was designed to trap bears in the first place. Prey: Tod Hunted by: Bear
- Characters.The Magnus Archives Powers And Servants: [The Hunt] Naturally. The Hunt's disciples often seem to target other hunters, as seen with the werewolf going after the game hunters, the true-crime group hunting each other, and the monster hunters tracking down servants of other powers (or their own).
- Characters.Star Wars Theatrical Legends: [Podracer Pilots] The aptly named "Hitman" Beedo spends years being stalked by Elan Mak, the son of one of his victims. After repeated failures, Mak eventually hires a bounty hunter to capture Beedo for him. Beedo's ultimate fate is unconfirmed, but it's doubtful Mak wanted to capture Beedo just to give him a scolding. Prey: Father of Elan Hunted by: Elan/Bounty Hunter
- ComicBook.Fables: A short written story after the main series' end centers around Blossom who has become a Nature Hero living with both enchanted and regular animals. Her story tells of two ordinary men who plan on going hunting in the magic lands since they figure it's still just animals. Blossom shows herself to the men and warns them that she's "giving them a chance" to get out before she'll let the animals do what they want. The hunters insist they're in their full right to hunt, to which Blossom answers, "My, my, what makes you think you are the hunters?" She leaves them with that and the ending narrates how the enchanted animals of the forest are waking up that morning to the smell of fresh human meat just ready for their taking... Prey: Animals Hunted by: Blossom
- Film.Bad Day: Rebecca, who is on a mission to hunt down the mob that killed her daughter Lynn, in turn ends up being hunted down by a pair of agents. Prey: The Mob Hunted by: Law Enforcement
- Film.Das Boot: U-96 is on patrol to intercept Allied ships but winds up being hunted by destroyers left and right. The trope is used as the Tag Line in the English box art. Prey: Allied Ships Hunted by: Destroyers
- Literature.The Werewolf 1890: The werewolf White Fell selects and picks off her victims one by one until she marks Sweyn as her next prey. His twin brother Christian realizes he needs to be decisive to save Sweyn and goes after White Fell at once, confronting her with the promise she'll perish in wolf form at midnight. For the next three hours, White Fell tries to escape him and sufficiently wounds him to almost succeed, but her final strike backfires and ends her. Prey: Sweyn Hunted by: Christian
- VideoGame.Hitman 3: [Apex Predator] This mission puts 47 on the defensive as, for once, someone (11 ICA agents actually) is hunting 47. They can immediately spot 47 through any disguise and 47 cannot immediately identify any of them. Prey: ??? Hunted by: ICA Agents
- VideoGame.Hunt Showdown: Quoted word-for-word in one of the game's taglines, and a notable game mechanic. While the players themselves are Hunters, ostensibly tracking down undead and demonic monsters, they can also hunt other Hunters. Many players prioritise this over going after the boss monsters, in fact, as eliminating your competition early before they get supplied and entrenched is a good strategy. Given the game's minimal UI and lack of traditional enemy radar, you need to literally track down your enemies through the use of sound clues and evidence that they leave in their wake. Prey: Demonic Monsters Hunted by: Other Hunters
- VideoGame.Not Tonight: Officer Jupp is very eager to get all Europeans deported, specifically you. However, in the Golden Ending, he's persecuted by his own beloved anti-Euro government due to the French Galahad finding illegal Swedish furniture in his office and is deported himself to run a non-existent role in Siberia. Prey: Europeans Hunted by: The Government
- WesternAnimation.Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids: "The City Fox" is about a rich family moving into a working-class suburb and discover that their neighbours have a fox as a pet. The son and daughter of the family decided to gather their old friends from the country together and hunt the fox, but the fox manages to outsmart them and the police are called. The gang of rich kids sneak into the sewers to wait out the police stick-up and are still down there to this day. Prey: Fox Hunted by: Law Enforcement
- WesternAnimation.Red Hot Riding Hood: Wolfie starts out as the metaphorical "hunting" Red, before becoming himself "hunted" by Granny. Prey: Red Hunted by: Granny
- WesternAnimation.Tweetys Circus: Once Tweety opens the cage door, Sylvester spends just as much time trying to avoid being eaten by the lion as he does trying to eat Tweety. Prey: Tweety Hunted by: Lion
ZCE | 9/ 50 or 18%
- Characters.Air Gear The Sleeping Forest: [The Sleeping Forest] Their motifs, that was chanted several times in the earlier chapters.
- Characters.CKC Originals: [Iracundus] Enjoys inflicting this trope on others.
- Characters.Dexter Supporting Antagonists: [Raymond Speltzer] Just the trope name.
- Fanfic.The Just Series: Just the trope name.
- Film.Taken: Just the trope name.
- Literature.Gods And Monsters:
- Theron, by Athena.
- And the old τέρας captured by the Novem heirs.
- Literature.Savage: Trevor's entire story pretty much.
- Manga.Fukushuu Kyoushutsu: To everyone who bullied Ayana.
- Series.Animal Face Off: Polar Bear vs. Walrus & Bear vs. Alligator.
