Alucard

"The bird... of Hermes is my name... EATING MY WINGS! ...to make... me tame..."

- Alucard, Hellsing: Ultimate VIII.

Alucard (アーカード,) is the main protagonist of the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano.

He is the most powerful weapon of the Hellsing Organisation which works against vampires and other such supernatural forces. Alucard is no mere Vampire; it has been implied that he is the most powerful vampire alive and may be the most powerful character in the series, rivaled only by The Captain and Alexander Anderson. He is also Seras Victoria's Master and a very loyal servant to the Hellsing Organisation's leader; Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing.

The same actors for Alucard in the original anime, reprised their roles as Alucard in Hellsing: Ultimate; with the Japanese seiyu being Joji Nakata, and the English dub actor being Crispin Freeman.

Overview
Alucard has stated on more than one occasion that he can appear as whatever he wishes, and that the forms he takes on any particular occasion reflect no meaning or purpose. His hair length changes according to his release states from short to knee length. His teeth may also change from those of a typical human with slightly elongated canines, to large and triangular in a manner somewhat reminiscent of a great white shark.

Physical
He appears as a tall, long-limbed, broad-shouldered adult man of indeterminate but reasonably young age, as is commonly seen among vampires. Alucard possesses blood red eyes, which may glow when he is experiencing strong emotions. Though as stated above, he can change his hair as it's a part of his shadow. He commonly has short, jet-black hair and his bangs fall slightly in his eyes, with strands on the sides of his bangs framing his face in this form.
 * -|"Count"=

Alucard's physical body here is very inconsistent; some shots depict him as very lanky, and some depict him as being slightly wide. The most notably inconsistent part of Alucard's body is his arms. Alucard's level one form, commonly known as "Nosferatu", doesn't change that much in terms of physical looks. He was commonly seen in this form sporting long, black hair and a slender body. One of Alucard's alternate forms resembles a little child, which is often nicknamed "Girlycard" by fans. In this form, he is petite and slender with straight dark hair that drapes just below his shoulders. Alucard is also capable of appearing as he did during his reign as Vlad Dracula. In this form, his general stature is unchanged, save for being perhaps slightly bulkier. His face appears to age from that of a young adult to that of the middle-aged man that he was when he died, and he grows a short, full beard and mustache. His hair also increases in length to his mid back and becomes wild and unkempt.
 * -|"Nosferatu"=
 * -|Girly Form=
 * -|Vlad Dracula=

Clothing
His usual outfit is comprised mainly in a classic Victorian fashion. It includes a charcoal suit, leather riding boots, and an intricately knotted red cravat, covered by a full-length, red frock overcoat (similar to the duster coats often associated with cowboys) with cape. He also wears a wide, floppy brimmed red fedora and a pair of circular, heavily tinted, wire-framed orange sunglasses with goggle sidings. His gloves, which are engraved with the Hellsing seal (a pentacle decorated with occult symbols and several mottoes, reading: "Hell's Gate Arrested / Gott Mit Uns / And Shine Heaven Now") are also thought to be part of this mechanism and the source of Hellsing's control over him. (Alucard's distinctive gloves are visible in the vast majority of his transformations, even when Alucard himself is not in a humanoid form.) The first form Alucard had in the OVA was in a black straightjacket that kept his arms behind his back. He broke free of the restraints in order to protect Integra Hellsing from death. Alucard's appearance changed since then, but every now and then he goes back to this form. He has used it in his fight with Luke Valentine, his fight with Tubalcain Alhambra, when he attempted to board the Eagle and succeeded when he finally killed Anderson, and in his fight with Walter.
 * -|"Count"=
 * -|"Nosferatu"=

In the cover of Volume 9, Alucard's Nosferatu form's straightjacket is colored white instead of black. When Alucard was sent by Integra Hellsing to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with Seras Victoria and Pip Vernedead, he changed his form to what seemed to be a businessman. Only Alucard's clothes seem to change here, as his hair is as it was before Abraham Van Helsing defeated him. Alucard wears a dark grey suit with a long coat that he only wears over his shoulders, along with the goggle sided sunglasses he usually wears. He wears a black office shirt with a white vest on top of it, white pants, white shoes, a red tie, a white trench coat, and occasionally, a fuzzy white cap. However, the colors are quite inconsistent in the OVA. In the ending credits of OVA I, Alucard's girly form was shown with a green coat, fuzzy white cap, and a brown office shirt. There was also a flashback where Alucard's girly form had his iconic crimson and black color. His attire changes from his usual suit to a full set of gunmetal grey plate armor and a tattered black cape with red inlay and a high collar. He acquires a Broadsword, which hangs from one of three belts at his waist. He also appears more reserved and stoic. When Alucard first appeared, he wore clothing similar to The Captain's. It consisted of a dark red trenchcoat with a high collar, and many buttons placed around the trench coat. He also wore his orange sunglasses and the dark red fedora with a wide brim and many straps, along with his restriction gloves. His design was changed to his now iconic "Count" design in Chapter 4.
 * -|Brazil, Rio=
 * -|Girly Form=
 * -|Vlad Dracula=
 * -|First Manga Appearance=

Personality
Alucard fights with ferocity, and often extreme cruelty, rarely shooting to kill until his target has been completely disabled and humiliated. However, he does have some humanity left in him, as he is still capable of shedding tears and showing affection for those who are dear to him, taken by Alexander Anderson to mean that he is not completely lost.

As he is essentially immortal and invulnerable, Alucard is very egotistical. He freely taunts and belittles his opponents, often allowing them to inflict seemingly fatal wounds before healing himself and counterattacking. One of his favorite methods of fighting is to allow himself to be blown to shreds before simply flowing back together. An example is shown in Volume 2 when Alucard fights Luke Valentine. When Luke gains an advantage over Alucard, victory seems within his grasp. The tides turn when Alucard transforms a part of himself into a hellhound. Alucard then blows off both of Luke's legs with his guns before telling him to regenerate them, pick up his gun, and fight back. When Luke fails to do so, Alucard devours Luke, declaring him as little more than dog food. Alucard has expressed extreme disgust with the vampires he has been hunting for the last 100 years, especially when they kill without purpose. In Chapter 3 of the manga, (Murder Club), he lists the two vampires' pointless killing in his catalog of how pathetic they are. He has expressed his wish to fight an opponent that'll entertain him - one that'll end his long years of boredom. However, if the opponent fails to do so, they will be met with extreme suffering and humiliation from Alucard.

However, even with his incredible powers, it is possible to take Alucard by surprise, usually because of his arrogance. In his first meeting with Alexander Anderson, he assumed he had easily killed Anderson with a single bullet but was caught off guard when Anderson regenerated. Alucard also expressed deep disappointment that Luke was not a more worthy adversary. Alucard states that he wishes to find an opponent, a human opponent, with sufficient willpower to destroy him despite his strength.Underneath his arrogance, Alucard is deeply sad and appears to be envious of humans. Alucard also has great respect for humans who have the willpower to endure old age and death because he had none of these qualities when he faced death. All of these feelings are shown at various points throughout the series, such as when Alucard tells the Queen that she is that "same spirited young woman" from 50 years ago and that now she is truly beautiful. He became infuriated when Anderson stabbed himself in the heart with the Helena's Nail, as he viewed it as Anderson making the same mistake Alucard made. While facing off against Walter's younger, vampire form in chapter 74, Alucard said that Walter's old, aged body was "a trillion times more beautiful" than his new, vampiric one. Alucard is also capable of affection, as he shows a great deal of it to Seras and Integra on occasions. Notably, Alucard's past rival, Abraham Van Helsing, appears in Alucard's nightmares.
 * In conjunction, Alucard also holds a great affinity for humans who take pride in themselves, often expressing his desire to die by a human/mortal. He often shows respect for certain humans for their bravery, such as the mortal Iscariot members who fought to let Anderson reach him.

Despite his disgust for homicidal vampires, he is not entirely against becoming something above human. Rather, he believes it is something one must earn. Presumably, he views his own transformation as an escape from death and a cowardly action. He happily let Seras choose to become something inhuman (despite his self-reflection) due to her indomitable will and courage, for continuing to fight against the monsters in Cheddar and not giving up even when she was about to die. Several characters including Walter expressed extreme surprise by his actions in turning Seras into a vampire, to which he describes his actions; "out of character." In which, he responded by praising and recalls Seras' actions, describing her situation as a "hell like the bottom of a witch's cauldron." Alucard states that giving up is what kills people and that those who refuse to give up in a nightmarish situation like Seras, are entitled to trample upon humanity - which means that he believes that those who don't give up have every right to become something above humans, in other words, a vampire. Alucard's respect for someone who doesn't give up is also shown in Chapter 2 of Hellsing, in which, a young Integra was being hunted by Richard Hellsing and his men. He saw a young Integra refusing to give up and still trying to find her way out of the situation which no child should ever be in, and after seeing her bravery and seeing her stand up to Richard, he makes his move by saving the girl. To top it all off - he states that Richard's blood stinks, and he's unfit to become the Hellsing family's head. He also viewed Walter in the same regard for a time, even indirectly offering him immortality before Walter revealed his true colors.

Another important aspect of Alucard's personality is his relationship with God. As a human, he was raised by the Turks and was raped by the Sultan as a prisoner and as a child soldier. As a warrior, he believed that words alone were not enough to establish one's faith. Rather, he believed that the only way to attract God's attention was to accomplish deeds in his name, a belief shared by his rival, Alexander Anderson. In accordance with this belief, he never asked God for favors, but instead did many great and terrible things. He became famous and feared for punishing and impaling evildoers and those who opposed his methods in his own lands and abroad, for waging a war against the Muslims in hopes of bringing down "the New Jerusalem," and for sacrificing his troops and his people to achieve his own goals. He believed that if he and his men put forth great enough effort and sacrificed enough, God himself would intervene on their behalf.

His actions caused even his own people to fear him, and subsequently, only a small amount of his peasants and soldiers showed up to aid him in his last battle. When he lost his war and was taken prisoner by the Turks, he realized that he had failed and that his country, his kingdom, his people, his friends, and his family (his wife and his child) had all been killed because of his desire for revenge, greed, war, violence and power. Because of this, he felt abandoned by God, so he abandoned God in turn, and drank up the blood of his scorched and besieged homeland, thus becoming a vampire. Over the years, his hate against God deteriorated and he accepts the truth that it was his own hatred against those who wronged him in his youth that drove his actions, and that he used the name of God to mask his own hate and lust for power and battle. This is similar to how Count Dracula was portrayed in Francis Ford Coppola's film, Bram Stoker's Dracula, which Hirano has cited as one of his greatest sources of inspiration.

Abraham Van Helsing
Before Alucard became Abraham's servant, Abraham was Alucard, or Dracula's archnemesis. He was the reason his empire crumbled and he was the one who created a group of brave, strong men that caused his downfall. Abraham's goal was to end Dracula once and for all; to end further spread of evil.

However, after killing all of Dracula's servants and destroying his large empire, he finally got Dracula cornered and nearly killed him. Abraham, after punching, scolding, and insulting him, instead spares his life and brings his body to a place where he performs sorcery on Dracula's body to create the "Restriction" system to control his power, or got Dracula bowing down, and swearing to become his servant eternally after being saved by the man who defeated him.

Abraham, later on with his friends, created the "Hellsing Organisation", whose mission is to cleanse the world from evil. Abraham's son, Arthur renamed Dracula, to "Alucard".

Arthur Hellsing
Arthur Hellsing was Alucard's previous master before Integra Hellsing. Nothing is known about their relationship, although it's possible that Alucard respected him.

Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing
Alucard is extremely devoted to Integra Hellsing, his current master and the Hellsing Organisation's leader. In all versions of Hellsing, Alucard and Integra share a complex, but strict, "master and servant" relationship. Integra has been connected to him since her father's death. Arthur Hellsing named her the new head of the Hellsing Organisation, a decision that drove her jealous uncle to try and kill her. Using the air ducts, Integra snuck into the dungeons of the Hellsing estate's sub-levels (recalling that her father said she would find her "salvation" there, should she find herself in the face of death at the hands of her enemies) and found Alucard's corpse (Hellsing's "greatest legacy" according to Arthur) in one of the rooms.

Shortly upon discovering him, Richard finds her and shoots her. The bullet grazed her arm and the blood from her injury fell onto the corpse, awakening Alucard. He kills all the men in the room and severs Richard's arm before pledging his allegiance to his new master. After protecting her from Richard's final attempt to kill her, Alucard allows Integra to kill her uncle herself. In the television series, Alucard offered Integra to be a vampire shortly after his awakening, but only when she bravely defied him did he consider her worthy of his respect and servitude and fit to be the head of the Hellsing family. Alucard claimed that Integra "Hasn't changed, she is still so childish..." Even so, he describes her as his "beloved master", showing his undying loyalty to her.

Over the years, Alucard and Walter help her grow and mature into the leader and master she becomes. As such, Integra is the only person whom Alucard will obey. Integra is also one of few people whose life and honor Alucard will bother to openly protect. In Volume 2 of the manga (Hellsing: Ultimate III in the OVA), when Enrico Maxwell calls Integra a sow, Alucard appears and threatens to kill Maxwell for daring to believe he could leave England alive after insulting his master. In Volume 8, Alucard addresses Integra with his own title, calling her "hakushaku" ( 伯爵 ) or Count, meaning that he accepts her as his equal in power. ("Hakushaku-fujin" is the term for countess") After the 30 years he spent with killing the absorbed souls to regain control over Schrödinger's ability, he reveals his return to Integra first, as he manifests in Integra's room.

Seras Victoria
Seras Victoria is Alucard's first fledgling since Mina Harker. Alucard holds deep feelings of admiration towards his fledgling, Seras. He states to Walter and Integra that he turned her into a vampire on a whim based on Seras' own decision to live. He reveals to Walter that he finds her a fascinating creature and seems to admire her will to live despite the hellish events in Cheddar Village. As he watched her die, he apologized for shooting her and told her it was necessary, and while he watched her die with tears in her eyes, he actually went so far as to hold her hand. While he is frustrated with her refusal to drink blood at first, he was always confident that eventually she would drink and seemed quite proud of her when the time came.

Alucard takes on a role of a mentor and teacher to help Seras reach her full potential. As Seras lost her parents at a young age, her fondness and love for Alucard could be similar to a daughter's love for her father. Hirano said that the love they share could be something closer to the ties of family. When questioned about them having a father/daughter relationship, the author answered "There's no one way to distinguish how they (Alucard and Seras) feel about it (their relationship). We cannot just say it's father and daughter." One thing to keep in mind is the fact that Mina was his fledgling, until Alucard's defeat, which caused the curse on her to weaken (although his essence still remained inside her).

At times, Seras seems nervous and uneasy around Alucard, mainly due to his constant berating about her being a pathetic vampire during the early days of Seras' vampire life. She also strongly objects to Alucard's unnecessary cruelty towards human beings. While she does not partake in the slaughter of the SWAT team, she aides Alucard in his combat with Tubalcain Alhambra and later attempts to fight Alexander Anderson (though her attack is comically cut short). As the series progresses, her shy and nervous behavior towards Alucard loosens up a bit once she becomes a full-fledged vampire, and he addresses her by name.

During Alucard's fight with Anderson, Seras comes to his rescue in a desperate attempt to save him. After stopping the strike by Anderson, Seras' alarmed calls bring Alucard back from torpor. The last visage in his dream was Seras' face, ending the flashback and chapter with the words: "There is a voice. There is a voice calling out. It's...you?" Before facing Anderson, he compliments her: "Why so loud, Police Girl? Your voice sounds fine regardless; like fragments of shattered melody..." By volume 9, Alucard fully recognizes Seras' growth and tells her, "Go with our master. Go and conquer, Seras.” Later, he calls Integra and Seras good girls and his beloved master and beloved servant. In the end, Seras is the only one who has undying faith of his return.

It should be mentioned that Alucard's and Seras' behaviours switch somehow between the first series and the OVA.

Queen Elizabeth II of England
Alucard had previously met the Queen 50 years before the events of the Hellsing manga and OVA. Upon his return from Rio de Janeiro, they speak to each other as old friends. Alucard sees her as the "same spirited young woman he met fifty years ago," and that to his eyes, "time had made her even more beautiful." This is one of the few moments where Alucard and another character openly express affection for one another, as the Queen touches his face as she talks to him, and Alucard looks at her with a gentle and genuinely kind expression.

Alexander Anderson
Anderson and Alucard have an intense and fiercely competitive rivalry that borders on kinship; their remarkable similarities and nature as polar opposites fuel both their intellectual and physical combat, making him a perfect and worthy rival for Alucard, something Alucard himself thinks.

In their first meeting, Alucard thought nothing about Anderson. Constantly mocking him like usual. However, he did say that he was brave for not attacking him from behind, and instead fight face-to-face with a vampire in the middle of the night before saying that for a human, he's quite strong. But then, he called him quite stupid for that. This was before Anderson was revealed to be a Regenerator, which caught Alucard off-guard.

The relationship between the two grows as the series goes on. The two almost seem to live so that they can fight each other. When Anderson turns into a monster towards the end of the series and is defeated by Alucard, Alucard cries blood and shouts at Anderson, saying that they're both the same and he was just like that. The sense of respect between the two is most apparent when Anderson tells Alucard not to cry and points out that he (Alucard) became a monster so that he no longer had to cry. Unlike many other enemies, Anderson is the only opponent that Alucard has ever shown respect for in battle, and even states he would have let Anderson kill him when he had the chance as a human.

The Major
Not much is known about Alucard's interactions with The Major before the series, but the two hold a great deal of hatred for each other. The Major explains that his reason for hating Alucard is because he is "a monster with the trappings of a man", and The Major is "a man with the trappings of a monster". The Major also holds this grudge most likely stemming from Alucard's and Walter's attack on Millennium's headquarters during WWII and has vowed to exact revenge ever since.

Alucard, in some strange sense, seems to almost feel a sense of joy upon the return of the Major and the Millennium Organization, which is evidenced by him stating: "Excellent. I can't wait to destroy you again!" upon hearing the Major's declaration of war in OVA IV. Alucard seems to think of himself and The Major as "incorrigible warmongers" and the lust for battle never being enough for them. It could be possible that The Major reminds Alucard of his former life as Vlad the Impaler, and because of this, Alucard seeks to destroy him once and for all.

The Captain
Due to their limited interactions, it's unknown what Alucard really thought of him. In Hellsing: The Dawn, Alucard quickly departs after a very short 2v1 battle against the Captain, due to the fact that he noticed that the re-searches might escape if he does not go after him, but instead fight the Captain alongside Walter, so Alucard told Walter to distract him, while he go and kill the re-searchers. Alucard has also shown surprise to the Captain's lycanthropy, believing that his kind had been defeated long ago.

Luke Valentine
During the first fight between him and Luke, he was at first very impressed by Luke's abilities and comments his reflexes are amazing. Due to the fact that Alucard rarely praises his opponents, this could be considered a form of respect, similar to how he praised Alexander Anderson. While the battle goes on, Alucard asks for Luke's name again; he states the battle was the most fun he had in ages, and remarks that his skills are above that of even the most powerful vampires.

Once he transforms, however, and impatiently waits for Luke to regenerate his legs, he realizes that Luke is nothing but a spineless coward who ran away in terror when faced with an opponent more powerful than him. After Luke is eaten by the Baskerville, Alucard says he was nothing but dog shit. When Luke was used by Walter against Alucard, he once again praises Luke for his skills and states that his talents were wasted being inside Baskerville, implying that Alucard regretted not making Luke into a familiar instead of letting him rot inside of Baskerville. Alucard also states that dog shit would do in a pinch, after successfully fooling Walter into attacking his double which was Luke's body.

Before this battle, Luke had previously said that he had feared Alucard when he was a human, however, when he became a vampire - he admired him. Even so, after hearing the countless nicknames of Alucard, including one that said that he was "immortal", Luke began trying to prove to everyone that Immortality is nothing - but a myth. And to do so, Luke felt like he must defeat and surpass Alucard, and finally; he proves to the public that the vampire Alucard, is just an average vampire that isn't even worth calling a "legend". However, even then, Alucard himself said that "immortality" is rubbish, and that there's no such thing as a "true immortal".

Walter C. Dornez
Alucard and Walter are old and close friends, almost like brothers. Furthermore, Alucard commented on because of how many people they've killed over the years on their missions when Walter and Alucard was the organisation's trump card, Alucard described their relationship as "Blood brothers." Walter's first weapon was also Alucard's first ever weapon of choice, and had praised it throughout the years before the encounter with Anderson, in which, he asked Walter for a brand new gun and then, the Jackal was created and how it looked was already on Walter's mind, with "Jesus Christ is in Heaven" as the gun's inscription, as a mockery towards Alexander Anderson.

However, when Walter betrayed Hellsing, Alucard began to see him as a mere plaything, even going so far as to call Walter's younger vampiric body ugly and state that his elderly human body was "a thousand times more beautiful". Turns out, Walter has a growing grudge over the years when working with Hellsing, even during the events of The Dawn - because of Alucard's constant mockery and testing towards Walter, Walter holds a strong hatred towards him and wanted to prove to Alucard that he's his equal, or even, the one that'll put an end to Alucard. Walter thought that age is getting in his way, and because of Alucard's "immortality", he was jealous of him - he has an unlimited time to train and grow even stronger, while Walter doesn't and is fated to die of an old age - that's exactly why Walter betrayed Hellsing, to defeat Alucard.

Overview
The following are Alucard's powers gained from both his being a Vampire and years of occult research by the Hellsing Organisation. Alucard is an extremely formidable and deadly opponent who can cut down most supernatural enemies without releasing the seals that contain his true power. He sometimes lets his opponents damage him, then regenerate as a way to taunt them. He is a formidable combatant as he is Vlad The Impaler himself. He demonstrates several unique abilities as well as the ability to regenerate from virtually any injury.

Powers

 * Superhuman Strength: As a true vampire, Alucard is inherently strong. To start, his guns Jackal and Casull are far too unwieldy for a human to hold, let alone use, but he does both with ease. He has been seen going up barehanded against even some supernatural weapons and destroying them, such as Tubalcain's magic cards. Despite their armor, Alucard was able to disembowel and tear apart several police officers with one hand. The extent of his strength is unknown, though it appears to vary with the release state that he is in, as his black, jumpsuit-clad form has significantly greater feats of strength and durability than his other forms.
 * Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: Alucard is too fast for the human eye to follow, but other vampires such as Walter and Tubalcain Alhambra can keep pace with him just fine. Alexander Anderson, a regenerator, can also do this, near-matching him step for step and blow for blow in a fight. Alucard's reaction times are top-notch, letting him catch Rip Van Winkle's bullets with his teeth, despite a single one of these bullets penetrating an SR-71 blackbird multiple times while the plane was moving as fast as possible. It is also safe to assume that, same as his strength, his reflexes and speed can become more potent in other forms.
 * Enhanced Endurance: Alucard takes most damage without flinching or making a sound, quietly allowing the enemy to attack before retaliating tenfold. He can even attack after being torn asunder by bullets. After Rip Van Winkle crashes his Blackbird, he exits the craft without a scratch and easily destroys everyone aboard, even as they use high-caliber weaponry on him. He's been thrown through skyscrapers, bled excessively, and even Walter knows of no certain way to defeat him other than killing him again and again until he stays down.
 * Enhanced Durability: Alucard appears to have the ability to harden the surface of his body to the point where, in a direct clash with one of Tubalcain Alhambra's playing cards, he was able to shred it apart without any difficulty despite the cards having been demonstrated to be able to cut a depleted uranium cannon shell in half.
 * Combat Experience: In addition to his superhuman abilities, Alucard also possesses centuries of combat experience. While he usually relies on crushing his opponents with sheer power, he does at times use strategy. When he fought Alhambra, Alucard used shadow duplicates to distract him, allowing Alucard to close the distance between them and deliver the death blow.
 * Regeneration: Alucard has the ability to perfectly and quickly recover from any physical injury. He has been torn to shreds by conventional weaponry and holy weaponry designed to kill his kind and has survived all of it. Holy weapons, while they do affect him more, are regenerated all the same if not as quickly.
 * Extrasensory Perception: Alucard has senses that are not only sharper than a mortal's, affording him abilities such as perfect accuracy, but he has abilities that they completely lack. In particular, he possesses a 'third-eye' which allows him to see things from far, far distances. Though he never uses it to do so, he can likely see through things that fool human eyes, as Seras does when facing Zorin Blitz. This is not an inherent ability and must be used consciously, as Alucard was unable to see through Tubalcain's illusionary clones. Similarly, Seras was unable to see through Zorin's illusions until told outright that's what they were.
 * Dark Composition: Though he generally dons a corporeal, humanoid form, Alucard is made up of a highly variable otherworldly substance that is black in core and reddish on its edges. This can be especially seen whenever he takes heavy damage, the darkness being immune to conventional weaponry. Along with composing his being, it can serve as a weapon. Alucard is able to transform this material into virtually anything he chooses, like a puddle of goo.
 * Intangibility: Alucard has the ability to walk through solid objects, such as walls.
 * Immortality: It is unclear if Alucard is a true immortal, but he is at least biologically immortal, immune to disease and aging. Alucard has suffered all manner of injury to the most extreme degrees, only to reform himself. This seems to indicate structural immortality as well, but the vampire himself asserts that there is no such thing as a true immortal. This means his immortality is only biological, and there is a way to kill him. Anderson's talk of him being "alone" and his duel with Walter implies that after his seals are removed, his heart is vulnerable to being impaled, if not other forms of destruction, which would, in turn, destroy him for good. After absorbing Schrödinger, his immortality may have been augmented, but if so, it is not known how.
 * Hematophagy: As a vampire, Alucard has the ability to consume blood raw. He has long, conical fangs to assist in this job as well as a serpentine-like tongue. His feeding habits have been seen to vary: from the traditional neck-biting to simply ripping people to pieces and outright devouring them. Alucard doesn't seem to need blood to survive, however, if starved of it, he will enter an inactive death-like state.
 * Aestivation: Alucard will enter a dormant state if he goes too long without blood. It is unknown if he can be starved to death, as he goes decades without a drop of blood before a young Integra finds him. It is never made clear if this is unique to him or if all vampires can do this.
 * Hemokinesis: Alucard has the ability to manipulate blood . This ability seems to be limited to blood outside of the body, as he is never seen influencing the blood of enemies while they are intact.
 * Soul Absorption: By draining a person of their blood, Alucard gains dominance over their souls and very forms. He also takes on whatever knowledge they possess, as he was able to find out about Millennium by draining Tubalcain Alhambra of his blood.
 * Familiar Army3.pngFamiliar Control: Alucard can summon forth anyone he's taking the soul of at will. Whoever he absorbs, their powers are at his disposal. While Seras gives her familiar, Pip Vernedead, some free reign within her own soul, Alucard seems content to completely dominate everything living inside him. It is unclear if this is due to their individual wills or a lack of experience on Seras' part. It is unclear if Alucard is able to gain any familiars after consuming Schrödinger. During the battle of London, Alucard releases Level zero, his final restraint, and releases all souls that he possessed to roam freely, wiping out the entire Crusader and almost all of the Last Battalion. He has thousands, if not millions, of familiars including Alhambra and Winkle themselves. In the end, all of them have been slain.
 * Shapeshifting: Though form is of no particular importance to him, Alucard claims to be able to change into anything. He has changed into a child, several bats, an amorphous darkness , has several "default" forms , and can assume the form of a hellhound . It is unknown if he can take the shape of inanimate objects such as tables or chairs. In Ultimate 5, or chapter 34, Alucard was shown spawning multiple arms to hold Rip Van Winkle still while he's drinking his blood.
 * Mist Body: Alucard is capable of turning his body into some sort of dark reddish mist in order to render attacks against him useless.
 * Telepathy: Alucard is able to communicate telepathically with his fledgling, Seras. The telepathy doesn't seem to have a maximum range. He can also read the thoughts of others, if he wishes.
 * Teleportation: Alucard is able to vanish and reappear at a different location. The range in which he can teleport is unknown. He also can't cross large bodies of water this way as shown when he had to pilot a plane to the H.M.S Eagle and later take control of the ship in order to return to England.
 * Telekinesis: Alucard showed said ability when he was able to move the HMS Eagle to London overnight. Said ability was also demonstrated in the OVA when he knocked away two of the queen's bodyguards without even touching them, and how he slammed the door shut when the SWAT team attacking him in the hotel tried to escape. It can also be assumed that he used telekinesis to toss all of the SWAT team out of the hotel to impale them on flag poles.
 * Daywalking: Other vampires operate in the dark, because of a presumed weakness to light. Alucard, however, seems to have no problem with sunlight, only complaining that being up during the day is exhausting.
 * Weather Control: The ability to control the weather to an unknown limit, as demonstrated by the fog created when he returned to London aboard the H.M.S Eagle.
 * Hypnosis.jpgHypnosis: Alucard has the ability to control minds, doing so exclusively with Humans. The afflicted human will enter a euphoric, stupor-like state and their eyes will glow red. They will be pliant to all of Alucard's designs, doing and speaking as he wills. This hypnotic link is established through direct eye-contact and does not waver, even when Alucard's attention is elsewhere.
 * Gravity Defiance: Alucard, during his fight with Tubalcain, is shown not only to be able to stand vertically on a wall, but run backward up it. This would indicate some ability to defy gravity. Also, during Seras' first mission, Alucard is seen floating behind Seras.
 * Supernatural Detection: The ability to sense supernatural activity. In The Dawn, a prequel to Hellsing, Alucard knew the Captain was a werewolf the moment he saw him, and in the OVA, he could see the blessings on Father Anderson's bayonets as well as the holy barrier preventing their escape.

Omnipresence
After consuming Schrödinger accidentally and being lost within himself for 30 years, Alucard emerges with the Werekin's powers. He is both nowhere and everywhere. As people saw that Schrödinger couldn’t die when shot in the head, the reason behind this is due to people thinking of his existence and that he is able to escape death. The Major has stated that Schrödinger only exists for as long as he is aware of himself, however, Alucard didn't recognize himself during the events of the Battle of London, therefore, he disappeared and was gone for 30 years. Alucard, after he's back at the Hellsing Manor, explained that during the long 30 years, all he's been doing is killing all the souls inside of him when he absorbed the millions of people that died in London, except for one soul; Schrödinger's. So as long as Alucard is fully aware of his existence, he would be alive and can use Schrödinger's powers freely, however, if he does not recognize himself, he will disappear from reality itself and become "Nowhere". It is apparent that Alucard has this ability because he is able to appear within the Hellsing mansion as nothing but a shadow, not alarming Seras' familiar, shadow Pip, who covers the entire mansion.

Thanks to this Alucard is able to do this as well as being able to be in places where normally he could not do.

Control Art Restriction System
Being too powerful to be left on his own, his power is restricted by the "Control Art Restriction System (拘束制御術式,)" and has to be accessed by the "Cromwell Invocation". There are shown to be six levels of restriction and six corresponding states, with lower numbers meaning greater levels of power. He can often be heard stating what level he is releasing immediately prior to combat ("Releasing control art restriction to level two"). This is, perhaps, a requirement of the release mechanism, but this has never been confirmed and is likely a literary device. Another possible reason is that it is to unnerve his opponents as he goes into battle. Given what has been seen of his personality, this is quite likely. Alucard can release his power up to Level One by himself, but he needs his master's approval to release his final state - Level Zero, the lowest level, allowing him full access to his most devastating powers.

"Releasing Control Art Restriction Systems 3...2...1. Approval of situation A recognized; commencing the Cromwell Invocation. Ability restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent."

It is noticeable that Alucard's attire sometimes changes according to how much power he is using: as he charges up to engage in battle, first his sunglasses, then his fedora will disappear; in the manga, he also removes his arms from the sleeves of his coat letting it simply just hang on his shoulders like a cloak whilst he fires from underneath it. It has been posited that these articles of clothing are direct physical manifestations of whatever system Hellsing uses to control Alucard, with his leather straight jacket representing his true nature. His gloves, which are engraved with the Hellsing seal (a pentacle decorated with occult symbols and several mottoes, reading: "Hell's Gate Arrested / Gott Mit Uns / And Shine Heaven Now") are also thought to be part of this mechanism and the source of Hellsing's control over him (Alucard's distinctive gloves are visible in the vast majority of his transformations, even when Alucard himself is not in a humanoid form).

However, in Hellsing OVA II, in the flashback scene where Alucard recalls being beaten by Abraham Van Hellsing, Alucard is still seen wearing these gloves, despite the fact that he was not yet under their control. This is a continuity error, because when compared to the panel from the manga, it shows normal white gloves. In his final release state, Alucard reverted to his original form back when he was still Vlad III Dracula. In this form, he appeared as his former, 45-year-old self with a thick beard and mustache. He also wore heavy medieval armor with a huge tattered cloak and carried a Broadsword. However, he quickly returned to his normal form when confronted by Anderson. The enormous army surrounding him in this state, along with the souls of every single person he has ever drunk the blood of, accompanies this form as well.

Some fans claim that his "girly form" is the Hellsing family's doing. However, in Hellsing: The Dawn, chapter 4, Walter questioned Alucard's girly form and asked if he is still half asleep, to which Alucard answered "I can change my shape into anything. The particular form I take... it means nothing to me." It is clear that he chose this form of his own accord, simply because he can. Also in volume 9, Alucard also admits that "There's never any meaning in the form that I take".

The only real difference between each form is the preferred method of fighting. In his form as a young girl, he uses a Tommy gun, while in "Count" form, he uses his dual pistols, when in "Nosferatu, the no-life king" form, he uses his hands and shadows to fight, and in "Dracula" form, he primarily uses his Broadsword.

To sum it up, the release states are not just the markers of Alucard's growing powers, they also have an effect on his appearance and fighting methods as well. Up to level 1, Alucard usually takes his "Count-form", even with his new personality, he still takes the form he once had as Count Dracula. (It can be assumed that the vampire sees this form as the one which is fitting his monstrous being the most.) In this state, he usually fights with his guns, using his bare hands only against human targets or to finish off his vampire victims, often by impaling them.

In his level one form, he usually wears the black leather coat/straightjacket seen right before Integra released the vampire from his captivity in the dungeon of Hellsing HQ. This form is sometimes called "Nosferatu" or "the no-life king" as noted during his final battle with Anderson. This form seems to possess the rawest physical power when it comes to fighting hand to hand, as shown when he used it against Luke Valentine (implying that he was a very powerful opponent), Tubalcain Alhambra (whose powers amused Alucard), Alexander Anderson (when the priest was reinforced with Helena's Nail), and the vampirized Walter. In this form, the vampire seems to prefer fighting with hand-to-hand combat, however, he can also use firearms. It is only in Alucard's level one and level zero states that he uses Baskerville.

In Ultimate's eighth episode, Sir Integra issues the command "Release control art restriction zero. [...] Say the words and release your full power." However, Alucard's power is not unleashed until he incants the words written on his coffin, "The Bird of Hermes is my name, eating my wings to make me tame." This demonstrates what is called "the two-man rule", a protocol requiring the actions of two persons to advance, used in cryptography and nuclear weapons launches. Alucard remains at release-state zero for his final fights with Alexander Anderson and vampirized Walter Dornez. In release-state zero, Alucard appears, at different times, in all forms seen throughout the anime to that point. In the final minutes of his fight against vampire, Walter Dornez, Alucard adopts his form as a young girl to mock Walter's age-regression.

Forms

 * Level 1 alucard.png first form Alucard had in the OVA was in a black straightjacket that kept his arms right behind his back, he broke free of the restraints in order to protect Integra Hellsing from death. Alucard's appearance changed since then but every now and then he goes back to this form, he has used it; in his fight with Luke Valentine, his fight with Tubalcain Alhambra, when he attempted to board the Eagle and succeeded when he finally killed Anderson, and in his fight with Walter.
 * Girlycarddd.png World War II (September 1944, specifically), when he arrived in Warsaw, Alucard took on the form of a little girl, known as "Girlycard" by many fans. Although he changed his looks, Alucard didn't change his voice (at least, in the OVA. It is possible that his voice changed in the manga). In this form, Alucard wears a hat made of fur, a white suit including a long coat, and for a weapon, he has a Tommy gun.
 * Vacationcard.jpg Alucard was sent by Integra Hellsing to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with Seras Victoria and Pip Vernedead, he changed his form to what seemed to be a businessman. Only Alucard's clothes seem to change here, as his hair is as it was before Abraham Van Helsing defeated him. Alucard wears a dark grey suit with a long coat he only wears over his shoulders, along with the goggle-sided sunglasses he usually wears.
 * Vladst.jpgrd is Count Dracula, the King Of Vampires, which means when he was human he was originally Vlad The Impaler, a three-time Voivode of Wallachia. Alucard's Vlad form is his "original" form, and when he is using it he wears shining silver armor and a large black cape, which is red on the inside. In the English dub, he also gains a Romanian accent. In real life, Vlad had a beard, but in Hellsing, he does not. He does, however, have a lot of stubble when he transforms. Also, when Alucard returns to Integra Hellsing and Seras Victoria in London, Seras asks Alucard after he transformed into Vlad- "You originally had a beard, didn't you?" (In the English dub she just playfully points out that he grew a mustache).
 * Countcard.pngrd's most common form is his "Count" form, which is the same form described at the top of the page. It is possible that Alucard mimicked this attire from Abraham Van Helsing, who wore a similar uniform in Alucard's flashback in OVA 2. Alucard uses his "Count" form throughout the whole story of Hellsing, but only wears the fedora hat up to OVA 3, and the glasses up to OVA 4. Alucard sometimes manipulates this form; by increasing the length of the cape of his overcoat, even reaching his feet, or he simply wears the coat without having his arms through the sleeves and over his shoulders, as he does when he reaches the Eagle in OVA 4. Even though in "The Dawn" Alucard uses his form as a young girl, in the WW2 clips in the OVA 3 credits, Alucard is seen in his common "Count" form while being gunned down by Nazis, and regenerating shortly after. Alucard even reverts back to his "Count" form halfway through his second fight with Anderson, right after leaving his "Original" Vlad form. Interestingly enough, when he regenerates, so does his clothing.
 * Wtfisthislol.png form which is the least used appears to be his usage the Black hound of Baskerville's form. It appears as a large black dog with multiple eyes on each side of his face. Alucard is seen as the dog in the Hellsing opening as well as in the trailer for the Hellsing OVAs.

Before Hellsing
It is not known what Hellsing changed with regard to Alucard's/Dracula's original powers. However, the ghoul army formed by the devoured souls in Alucard may be one of these alterations. Dracula didn't use this ability against Prof. Van Helsing and his crew according to the flashbacks in the manga (and of course according to Bram Stoker's novel, which is a base of Hellsing). In addition, Van Helsing admitted that they had destroyed all of the vampire's servants (which means these servants can't re-appear in 1999). It is possible that through the occult, the Hellsing family managed to unlock Alucard's ability and allowed him full access to all the souls he had consumed, and made it possible to release them on the battlefield in Control Art Restriction System Level Zero. In the ending of Hellsing OVA III, which is a trailer of The Dawn, it can be seen that some of the WW-2 German soldiers are impaled much like the Millennium and Crusader infantry in the battle of London. Also, the Major seemed to know much about Alucard's release states. It's possible that Alucard may not have had these abilities while he was Dracula, but naturally got them later on, without Hellsing's interference, as Alucard expected Luke to summon his familiars during their battle. This contradicts the conjecture that this is exclusive to Alucard, however, it is yet to be revealed in the ongoing Dawn series whether these assumptions are true or not.

Identity
Alucard's true identity - that of both the historical Vlad Ţepeş and the fictional Count Dracula - is only hinted at in the earlier volumes. Such early hints include his anagrammatic name (Alucard is Dracula, reversed), the title of the series and the name of Integra's family, and the impalement of the GATE officers in volume 3. From there, the hints become much less vague, and his identity as the fictional Count Dracula is brought to light. In volume 4, a dreaming Alucard recalls his defeat at the hands of Abraham van Hellsing, which marked the beginning of his servitude to the Hellsing family. In volume 7, the narration alludes to the Count's arrival in London aboard the Demeter, from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. In volume 8, his full identity is made plain when Integra places his control level at zero and greets him with, "Welcome back, Count." Reverting to the body he had at the time of his "death" at age 44-45 (as the historical Vlad III's death occurred in either December of 1476 or January of 1477 and his birth month is unknown), he summons massive hordes of souls he had devoured during the centuries. These include his own Wallachian army, his slaughtered peasantry, the Turkish Janissary, war horses, and countless others. Throughout his battle with Anderson, Alucard frequently compares his rival to the man who defeated him a hundred years ago - Abraham van Hellsing.

Additionally, in Hundred Swords (3), the other protagonists are spoken of by Alucard - Abraham van Hellsing, John Seward (mistakenly written as "Jack" Seward in the manga), Quincey Morris, and Arthur Holmwood (Jonathan Harker is strangely omitted). The final chapter of volume 8 - Castlevania (1) - consists of a flashback of Alucard's life and "death" as the Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad III Dracula. Another indication that Alucard is Vlad is the fact that he frequently impales his victims; the priest and Leif with his bare hands in volume 1, the GATE officers in Brazil on flagpoles in volume 3, Rip Van Winkle with her own musket in volume 5, and hundreds of victims in London during the Millennium/Vatican siege.

Historically, Vlad Ţepeş was responsible for the deaths of between 40,000 and 100,000 of his enemies and various villains in his own country during his reign as the monarch of Wallachia (a major portion of what is now present-day Romania). His most well-known way of execution was impalement. For torturing people by impalement, it is alleged that his executioners learned how to have the victims placed so that the pikes, spears, or other shafts on which they had them impaled would pass most or all of the victim's vital organs, entering their lower nether regions and exiting near the back of their neck. In this way, the victims could be kept alive for days on end before they finally bled to death. When simply executing a person, they were typically impaled straight through the center of their torso, with the shaft entering their groin and exiting through the mouth.

Vlad was also known for his deeds as the Voivode of Wallachia, particularly the fact that any criminal, thief, etc. would be punished severely. When the Ottoman army attempted to invade Wallachia in the mid-15th century, they encountered several thousand impaled and rotting corpses staked on the banks of the Danube River. Historical records state that the Ottoman emperor saw his forces return shortly after, many of them sobbing and ranting that whoever had slaughtered all those people had to be the Devil.

Perhaps the best-known incident regarding Vlad's means of execution was the way by which he prevented the Ottoman Army from invading Wallachia again (following the fall of Constantinople) in 1462. Reports show that he had 20,000 captured Turkish soldiers and convicted criminals impaled and staked out on the borders of his capital city, Târgoviște. Mehmed II, the leader of the Ottomans (who was well-known himself for his use of psychological warfare), was sickened by the sight of the corpses outside the Wallachian capital and ordered his forces back to Constantinople.

Concept and Creation
Alucard's name was generally thought to be inspired by Castlevania's Alucard, however; this turns out to be wrong. It actually originates from a choose-your-own-adventure novel by Irish author J. H. Brennan, in addition; it's the same fake name Alucard had used in Rio. Alucard was also previously the main character of the prototype of Hellsing; which he created after wanting to do a story about gunplay. Back then, Alucard was depicted as a man wearing a trenchcoat up to his neck as some kind of neck-protector, and the rest of his body acts to block any damage including physical, and from bullets, to which, Hirano states that he tried to make an invincible character. However, he thought that he ended up looking pretty bad, and therefore; he switched to a long coat instead. He makes Alucard so powerful that he doesn't need any kind of bulletproof vest to cover him any more.

Alucard's design was said to be inspired by Eat-Man's Bolt Crank, and Trigun's Vash the Stampede. Moreover, Alucard looks exactly like Vash during the first few chapters of the manga, to which, Hirano has admitted that he drew inspiration for Alucard's appearance from Vash the Stampede from the manga and anime series Trigun (with a similar jacket and glasses shared by the two characters). This is most notable in Volume 1, back when Alucard's art design was vastly different from the rest of the Manga. Alucard's weight is confirmed to be around 0 kg ~ around 100 kg, and is about 6'6 ft tall.


 * In regards to Alucard's many forms, Hirano had stated that he no longer cares about being a woman, or a man; to which, Alucard eventually said a line relating to this in Volume 9 of Hellsing. Continuing, Hirano said that Alucard took so many lives; and therefore, those lives eventually altered Alucard's personal identity. The "Control Art Restriction System" comes into play to help suppress this. His initial personality is male, so he took that as his basic form.

Below the star on Alucard's glove, it has the German words, "Gott Mit Uns", which translates to "God With Us". Interestingly, those words were used by the German military until the end of World War II, and during the Nazi era by the Wehrmacht (the regular German army) whereas the Nazi Waffen-SS used "Meine Ehre heißt Treue", which means "Loyalty is my Honor", instead. It is stated in the official guidebook that the term "The Bird of Hermes is my name/Eating my wings to make me tame" etched on his coffin is his pledge of loyalty to serve the Hellsing family after his capture. So his coffin not only serves as his resting place, but it also serves as the promise and contract he made to the Hellsing family.

Alucard's guns, the Jackal and the Casull, are drawn pretty carelessly; and that's because Hirano had stated that he does not, in fact, care about being accurate, and it truly shows; in many of the sequences, after Alucard receives the Jackal, he is seen using it alongside the Casull in a dual-wielding style. The Jackal has a left-facing case ejector, something most guns do not have, and this makes it appear as though the gun was meant to be used with the Casull. However, Alucard is almost always shown in the Manga and the Anime holding the Jackal in his right hand and the Casull with his left, causing the case ejectors to face each other (which would throw spent shell casings into his face).
 * In addition, Hirano jokingly said that Alucard's Casull has an endless amount of bullets, saying: "They're all cosmoguns that can hold a million rounds".

Voice Actors

 * French Dub: Antoine Tomé
 * German Dub: Torsten Munchow
 * Japanese Dub: Jōji Nakata
 * English Dub: Crispin Freeman
 * Korean Dub: Eung-sik Min
 * Italian Dub: Lorenzo Scattorin
 * Portuguese Dub (Brazil): Affonso Amajones
 * Spanish Dub: Jose Manuel Vieira

Trivia

 * Interestingly, in the English commentary for the first Hellsing Ultimate OVA, Crispin Freeman notes that he was originally going to give Alucard a Romanian accent, but decided on an American accent instead. Most likely, the Romanian accent heard in the intro of the English OVA II, and the one in OVA VIII upon unleashing level 0 is what Alucard was originally going to sound like. It's also likely that Alucard is meant to have a Romanian accent in the manga.
 * It has been noted by some that during Alucard's flashback, Prof. Abraham Hellsing is wearing a similar red outfit to Alucard's usual dress.
 * This could have been the inspiration for Alucard's well-known "Count" form.
 * In some scenes of the manga, the pentagram on Alucard's gloves changes to a hexagram or sometimes disappears entirely.
 * Alucard has two Paganism references on him. The obvious one is the Pentacle symbol on his gloves. The second is his epithet, "The Bird of Hermes." Hermes was the Greek messenger god, noted for his winged sandals and ability to fly. Hermes was also noted for transporting souls to the Underworld, while Alucard, in contrast, devours them.
 * "The Bird of Hermes is my name/Eating my wings to make me tame" is also part of the Ripley Scroll, a medieval work about emblematic symbolism. George Ripley was an alchemist who lived around Vlad the Impaler's time and is also said to have known the formula to create the Philosopher's Stone.
 * At the end of the credits of OVA 1, Alucard's girl form is shown, but with a dark greenish-brown jacket instead of white and the hair is purple instead of black.
 * In the manga, Alucard's gloves hold an easter egg, as one of the words readable was "Excel Saga" which is the name of an anime/manga made by Rikdo Koshi.
 * Before becoming a vampire, Alucard's eyes were a bluish-purple in the OVA. However, in his famous portrait, Vlad Tepes has brown eyes. There are also historical records that describe him as having "threatening" green eyes.
 * The character Solomon from Genndy Tartakovsky's Sym-Bionic Titan cartoon is a visual reference to Alucard.