The Captain

The Captain (大尉, Taii) is a character in the Hellsing series and a member of the Millennium forces and the Waffen-SS. The Captain is the Major's silent, stoic adjutant and bodyguard. The Captain is a natural werewolf, able to transform at will and fight in either human or werewolf form. Just as Alucard is Hellsing's trump card, and Alexander Anderson is Iscariot's, the Captain is Millennium's trump card.

Appearance
The Captain is a tall man on par with Alucard and Anderson. He has snow white hair, bloody red eyes, and somewhat tanned skin. Unlike The Major and Lieutenant Rip Van Winkle, he still wears a full uniform in the main story, which consists of an overcoat similar to the green DAK (Deutsches Afrikakorps) Greatcoat with its neckguard constantly turned up and an M43 officer's cap emblazoned with the Totenkopf symbol. His trousers are a darker shade of green and he wears boots. Underneath his coat, the Captain is shown to be extremely muscular. His wolf form, like his hair, is white and fur can manifest along his body even in his human form.

Personality
The captain is mostly an expressionless man, not speaking a single word throughout the entire series. It is unknown why this is so, whether he is simply taciturn or unable to speak. His exact personality is hard to place, though he is utterly obedient and monstrous in battle. Even in battle or enduring pain, the werewolf's expressions do not change much. His most expressive moments were during the final battle when Alucard releases all his seals, surprising and alarming The Captain and when Seras finally kills him, in which he smiles widely.

His death indicates that he might not have completely willingly been on Millennium's side nor does he enjoy his own existence. A familiarized Pip Bernadotte remarks that despite his stoic demeanor, the wolf has a "flair for the dramatic", whilst he and Seras face the Captain down.

History
The Captain fought a fourteen year-old Walter C. Dornez as well as Alucard during an attack on Millennium's main research facility in Warsaw during World War II, about 50 years ago in the prequel manga Hellsing: The Dawn. He squared off with Walter and managed to resist his wires, then choke him into submission before the fight was interrupted by Alucard. Alucard, on the other hand, backed out after getting kicked in half by the Captain, and left Walter to fend for himself while chasing after the Major. It is believed, based on information in the main storyline, that Walter came to an agreement with Millennium and left the compound, having seemingly aided in the destruction of the early undead soldier project. However, there is no official word that explicitly confirms or denies this yet. Later in the same year, the Captain participated in the infamous Malmedy massacre on 17 December, during the Battle of the Bulge. (Based on a photograph in chapter 82.) From a photograph taken on the 20th, he and the Major were still in the Ardennes area. (On the back cover of volume 3.) He would ultimately travel with the rest of Millennium to South America and stay in hiding for decades. Over 55 years later, the Captain was sent to retrieve Walter for a certain process, during the invasion of England in 1999. As Walter and Integra Hellsing attempted to drive back to Hellsing HQ, Walter spotted the Captain blocking the road and approaching them. Walter then urged his master to flee, and attacked The Captain with his wires. The Captain caught them in his hands, and it looked like it would lead into a great duel, however, the battle was not shown. The Major had other plans and the Captain brought Walter to Millennium carrying out their agreement that was forged decades ago. Later on, The Captain leaped from the Major's zeppelin to confront Alucard with Alexander Anderson. He was surprised to see Alucard's 'counter-attack', and backed off for the time being.

Although he was seen in chapter 68 "Might and Magic (2)" with long strands of hair forming on his face, chapter 74 "Relics" shows The Captain swiftly shooting Heinkel Wolfe in his human form. It is revealed in chapter 76 "Finest Hour" that he deliberately shot through her cheek to spare Heinkel's life. The Captain attempts to directly communicate with Heinkel by making gestures with his head, which is interpreted as a warning to not interfere with the fight between Alucard and Walter. After tossing Heinkel a first aid kit, he leaps up into the air and departs. This scene has been a subject of interest to many fans. The Captain, a werewolf with incredible strength, speed, and the ability to regenerate, would have no need for a first aid kit, and hence, no need to even carry one. Hirano's intentions in making The Captain spare Heinkel remain unclear though it may simply be that Hirano intended to show that The Captain was more noble than his comrades, and/or had some sense of chivalry for fellow warriors. Another part of The Captain that some fans might notice is that he does not talk as much (or probably doesn't talk at all like the other characters would), and this could've shown that he might have been raised like a wolf or was human and lost his ability to talk when he was young.

At the end of chapter 81, The Captain confronted Seras Victoria and Sir Integra, who stormed The Major's zeppelin. In chapter 82, The Captain allowed Integra to pass, even pointing out the direction of the bridge to her, then engaged Seras in a gun battle, which ended with him transforming into a werewolf. In chapter 84, he stood in a two-page spread, facing Seras in the form of a monstrously large wolf. The Captain then flew toward her in a similar way to Alucard's Baskerville familiar and dealt a powerful blow to Seras, ricocheting her off a wall and the ceiling. He swiftly changed into his bipedal werewolf form and kicked her down through the floor of the Hindenburg II and onto the ground below, jumping down to follow her. In chapter 85, he displays even more of his mist-like abilities, as even after being dealt what would appear to be a fatal blow from Seras' shadows, The Captain just dissolved into mist only to reform, standing atop her shadows, unharmed. He then gave Seras a silver tooth, by which means she could have the possibility to kill him. In chapter 86, he continued to trade blows with Seras, until Seras managed to stop one of his kicks by biting and holding his leg in her mouth. This gave Pip Bernadotte (now Seras' familiar) the chance to thrust the tooth with a silver filling from a concentration camp prisoner into The Captain's chest. The chapter ends with The Captain's dog tags falling to the floor and splitting in half. The Captain then falls to the floor dying, he lies still while a smile slowly creeps on his face. He is then shown laughing, almost like a child released from a dream, before his body bursts into flames like previous Millennium members. In the 94th chapter we see his broken necklace as a shrine possibly.

Overview
Much like the other two trump cards, the Captain fights with little regard for the damage done to his own body. This is likely because of regenerative properties and because, as evident by the fight with Seras, he does want to die. He is very agile in battle and uses his iron skin to stop lethal enemy attacks in their tracks. He does not taunt or jeer at his opponents, only glaring menacingly and intensely at them with his eyes. And like the other trump cards, his strength is unparalleled, with only a few being close to matching him in sheer might.

Powers

 * Lycanthropy: It is stated by the Major in Hellsing: The Dawn that the Captain is a natural werewolf. He possesses the ability to change from his humanoid form into a large white wolf. The wolf is a considerable size, standing taller than Seras at it's shoulders.


 * Superhuman Accuracy: Hans can accurately aim a weapon and hit a target without looking at them, as seen when he badly maims Heinkel.


 * Superhuman Strength: He is strong enough to bend steel bars and shatter limbs with a single kick. He was able to compete with and overwhelm Seras several times during their fight in London, in one case smashing Seras through the floor with enough power to nearly destroy her morale leaving her to state he was too powerful. He casually kicked away a missile that Seras tossed at him with enough force to completely bend the entire casing. He was able to kick off Alucard's head, something that not even Anderson can do with several punches and vice versa.


 * Superhuman Speed: The Captain has displayed phenomenal speed. In Hellsing: The Dawn he was able to surprise Alucard with his massive speed and delivered a devastating kick to Alucard. Later, in London, after injuring Heinkel Wolfe, he traveled across the city with astonishing speed appearing as a bolt of lightning.


 * Superhuman Reflexes: His reflexes are similarly enhanced and are much faster than most vampires, as he could easily dodge automatic gunfire.  He was able to avoid Walter's wires in The Dawn and dodge a kick from Seras traveling at high speeds just exiting a cloud of smoke. He could also dodge her dark tendrils with ease, remaining untouched by them through the duration of the fight. One of his most impressive feats in the series is the fact the Captain was able to intercept monofilament wires that Alucard in his powered up form stood no chance against. These feats, which warriors like Alucard and Anderson have not been seen accomplishing, imply that his overall speed and reflexes exceed them.


 * Superhuman Durability/Stamina: His iron-like flesh can mostly withstand Walter's wires, which can easily slice solid steel, even as they are tightened around his bare neck, although his fingers were shown to be bleeding slightly while holding them in his hands. He can fall great distances without sustaining any damage, seen when he is deployed during the great battle in London. He withstood a large nearby explosion from a missile that left him completely unscathed.


 * Regeneration: The Captain has potent regenerative ability, as he quickly regenerated his mutilated hand in The Dawn as well as many other injuries sustained by Walter including having half his head shredded by wires. During his fight Seras, he was impaled by her shadows, but easily reformed via mist. Only silver causes him to truly bleed and finally be killed.
 * Biological Immortality: Hans appears exactly as he does fifty years ago during The Dawn. This would indicate he has biological immortality. However, he is not a true immortal, as he is vulnerable to silver if resistant to everything else.


 * Mist Form: He has the ability to take on an invulnerable and intangible mist-like form, which allows him to evade attacks, even ones designed to pin and trap. However, he is unable to deal any damage until reassuming some sort of corporeality. This form can become semi-tangible which allows the wolf-head to cause damage.
 * Mist Shield: Hans has the ability to use his mist abilities to fend off attacks. He does so whilst fighting Seras, abruptly halting the progress of her tendrils.Hansmistbarrier.png


 * Shapeshifting: The Captain can turn, at will, into a half-man, half-wolf creature and a monstrous huge wolf. In this form, he can stretch to great lengths. He can also turn his body into sentient smoke and manipulate it at will.

Abilities

 * Formidable Combatant: The Captain is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant with decades, maybe longer, of experience and an expert in the use of weapons. His marksmanship skills with his guns and grenades rival that of Anderson and Alucard. He also has some expertise in dealing with occult and supernatural forces. Although natural in most traits, the Doctor has apparently done some work on him to an unknown extent, due to the fact that the Captain does have the same chip inside his body that Millennium's vampires possess, which activated upon his death.

Weapons
In addition to his natural abilities, the Captain possesses two modified Mauser C96s with incredibly long barrels, a combat knife and a large amount of Model 24 stalk hand grenades.

Trivia

 * Fans have taken to naming The Captain Hans Günsche (ハンス・ギュンシュ) after his prototype character from one of Hirano’s original Doshinshi "Desert Schutzstaffel". It is important to note, however, that this name is only a fan name, as it has never actually been used in the Hellsing manga or OVA series to refer to The Captain in either the dialogue or any of Hirano’s written word. The name only appears once in Hellsing, spelled “Hance Ginshuu”, which would come out to “Hans Günsche” if it were written in katakana. However, this appearance of the name is written in a chapter where The Captain doesn’t make a single appearance, and is written amongst a random garble of text along with “KamFPGruppe” “Hitler” and “HaiddAdolf”. It is for this reason that it should simply be taken as a random bit of English, and that until Hirano writes a name near The Captain’s picture, in the dialogue or mentions his name in an interview, The Captain's actual name is not known.
 * In chapter 5, The Captain had his right arm blown off by Alucard, but he quickly regenerated it and transformed into a "wolf-man". Although this might seem to imply that all of Millennium's officers and top soldiers are lycanthropes, the term used for their elite soldiers is a reference to the historical Werewolf forces, with The Captain being the only actual 'werewolf'. Also, in chapter 5, the Major makes a pun alluding to this difference when questioned by his officers about The Captain being enough defense against Walter and Alucard.
 * The Captain is the only known person who has been able to intercept and catch Walter's Monofilament Wires, further indicating his impressive senses and heightened speed.
 * Several facts about this man were revealed in later chapters of "Hellsing:The Dawn". In chapter 4, after waking up and exiting his coffin, Alucard immediately sensed that The Captain was neither human nor vampire, and remarked that he thought his kind had been defeated long ago.
 * Despite his normal composure, he felt fear and dread (though it could just be a moment of surprise) like everyone else in London, at the time when Alucard released his level 0 restriction.
 * The Totenkopf on his cap is drawn incorrectly as opposed to other SS officers in Hellsing.
 * The Captain holds the second highest rank in Millennium, implying that he is second in command.
 * Although The Captain is famously completely silent, it is possible that he speaks once throughout Hellsing. In Hellsing: The Dawn, when Walter confronts The Major in 1944, both the Doctor and The Captain react to Walter dropping the Hellsing Organisations name, with a second dialogue bubble placed before The Captain, implying he is speaking. However, it is possible the Doctor is saying both lines, and the bubble is merely oddly placed.
 * It is speculated that the Captain was never willingly in the service of Millennium, due to his behavior throughout the series. Most agree he could have easily killed Seras Victoria during their battle, but desired death, going so far as to give the younger vampire the tools to kill him. It's also possible he was holding back. They also point to his sparing of Heinkel as an act of rebellion against the Major, and his pointing the direction for Integra as another.
 * Despite the Totenkopf on his cap, the Captain seems to wear full Afrika Korps uniform, including the sage green pants of the early '41 forces. The fact that the Afrika Korps was renowned as being virtually the only German army group that did not commit widespread atrocities may be further evidence to the idea that the Captain never served Millennium willingly, especially since it is so radically different to the Waffen SS uniforms almost every other Millennium character wears. It is also the only Heer (Army) uniform seen in the series, in direct contrast to the paramilitary Waffen SS uniforms.
 * Due to the fact that The Captain has displayed many powerful feats such as falling several hundred feet from the sky without any visible injuries, splitting Alucard in half with only a kick, effortlessly pummeling Seras in his human form, and catching Walter's monofilament wires which Alucard himself had no defense against, it is possible that The Captain is the most powerful character in the series in terms of raw strength, reflexes, and speed; although this is only a theory.
 * Given all evidence throughout the series, The Captain seems to have been a member of the Wehrmacht, who where members of the German military, but for alternative reasons than beleiving in the Nazi ideology, such as being unwilling to fight fellow countrymen.