The old man fighting the Forces of Darkness

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I wanted to talk not about the monsters and devils of horror stories, but about the heroes fighting them. I took this picture from Where the Shadows Stalk of the Forbidden Gateway  gamebook series. This is Professor Charles Petrie-Smith, one of these heroes. In the gamebooks, he is the one asking your character for help when the story starts and he is a provider of vital information regarding the mysteries and dangers you must face. He is, in essence, the Van Helsing character of the series. He has many equivalent in other stories: Baron Vordenburg, Dr Samuel Loomis, the Persian, etc. Sadly, you don't see them much anymore in modern horror stories, in films or in literature. And I think it's a loss. Our fictitious world needs more Petrie-Smiths, especially when there is someone or something hiding in the shadows.