Vampire

A Vampire (吸血鬼バンパイア ,) is a powerful demon created from a human virgin drained of blood by a vampire of the opposite sex, only for said vampire to offer their own blood in return. This resurrects the corpse as a newborn among the undead and perpetuates a lineage. The first ever vampire to exist was Alucard.

Within the Hellsing universe, there are two distinct types of vampires introduced: the aforementioned "true" vampires, and artificial ones created either through the FREAK chip or the Millennium Organization's experiments, both rooted in harvesting raw essence from true vampires.

Information
The term "true vampire" is used in the Hellsing series to define a formerly human being who has sucked blood of their own free will. The only vampire bloodline confirmed as true vampires in the Hellsing series is that of Alucard and his offspring.

The most notable initial ability of true vampires is their ability to transform their opposite-gender virgin victims into their offspring. Attempts to convert non-virgins or virgins of the same gender will result in the creation of a ghoul. In the case of a successful blood exchange, the virgin party, or "fledgling", will enter the first stage of vampirism. While lacking the higher-level powers of the "master" vampire, they still possess superhuman powers and a psychic connection with their master. They will also have the traditional weaknesses of vampires, such as varying sensitivity to sunlight. As with their masters, upon the consumption of a human's blood of their own will, the restrictions imposed upon the fledgling vanish and further abilities are unlocked, completing the transition to "true undead" status.

Vampires use a host of powers regarded as unholy to prey upon humans and accrue power. The undead priest seen at the beginning of Hellsing's first volume or episode created masses of armed ghouls hoping to use them as his army, and depending on the chronicle, used a form of enhanced speed, telekinesis, hypnosis, or a combination of the three to seize Seras and use her as a pawn in a gamble to escape death at Alucard's hands. Additionally, vampires classically are purported to have a high pain threshold and a measure of enhanced strength, properties many Hellsing vampires share. Agelessness from the point of infection and a need to sleep in a coffin or in contact with the soil of one's birthplace are also noted.

The exact limits of a normal vampire are unknown, as the only observable bloodline known so far is Alucard's. For example, Alexander Anderson used a massive amount of blessed bayonets during his first confrontation with Alucard, pierced his heart, cut off his head, and skewered it with another holy blade. He expressed, however, utter astonishment at Alucard's impressive regenerative abilities; given he is presented as an experienced hunter, it is safe to assume he had not encountered an equal to Alucard's abilities prior to the confrontation in Badrick. In addition, exactly how a human becomes a vampire without another vampire is unclear, but the only two known instances of such vampirism were Alucard (as Vlad III) at his execution and The Major after being critically wounded while defending Berlin against Soviet troops. In both these cases, they were at the brink of death, but the blood of the corpses around them congealed into a stream and called out to them at their lowest point. Vlad III gave in and drank the blood, becoming a vampire, but The Major refused to drink it through sheer willpower.

Even with these special characteristics, though, there are certain common characteristics and weaknesses. Elongated fangs and red eyes are amongst the most obvious indication, as is the thirst for human blood. They are unable to cross large bodies of water without means of external locomotion. "Holy" symbols, materials, and relics are often treated as highly dangerous, with silver, in particular, being lethal to most of them. Blessed Silver is even worse and may inflict extensive damage depending upon the blessings of the material and strength of the vampire target.

Alucard's Bloodline
Other abilities seen in this bloodline that are not observed in other vampires include a "third eye" capable of focusing images, allowing for superior targeting and the destruction of illusions, along with abilities typical to vampires on par, if not exceeding, every other example thus seen. Seras Victoria, in the midst of an emotionally destructive attack, briefly lost control of herself and entered a brutal berserk state in which she relentlessly killed her attackers. It is not known whether this ability extends to other vampires of her own or other bloodlines. She also was able to resist the holy flames created by the power of Helena's Nail for a brief time before the fire began to consume her.

The control of solid shadows is also indicative of this bloodline, to the point it allows for extended flight if used correctly.

In addition, even the feeding is likely to be unique for this bloodline. While other vampires turn their opposite-sex, virgin victims into vampires and their same-sex, or non-virgin ones into ghouls (as it is stated by both Integra and the vampire of Cheddar), Alucard and Seras Victoria have the ability to summon their victims' souls in the form of an independent familiar. These souls can even contain the victim's original personality (like it happened with Pip Bernadotte and Luke Valentine). It is not clear whether it is a decision of the vampire to keep the soul in the original state, if it takes time for the soul to lose its characteristics, or other unexplained factors.

Appearance
The stereotypical vampire looks include pointy, long ears and nose, pale skin with short, slicked-back hair, and a tall, long-limbed, lanky build. In Hellsing, however, the appearances of these vampires vary; with some having those stereotypical looks like the Cheddar Priest, and some looking young and relatively normal. In the original TV series, Helena was a true vampire that was over a hundred years old, yet still looked like a child; which means that the vampires' looks depend on when the person became a vampire, from a young or old age.

While vampires are known to have red eyes, some of them do not. Artificial vampires seem to keep their former eye color, but there are also true Vampires, such as Helena and Incognito, whose eyes are not red. In the TV series, Seras' eyes changed to red right after entering the first stage of vampirism, contrary to the OVAs, where her eyes turned red occasionally when she was raging and finally after she became a true Vampire.

Lists of True Vampires

 * Alucard - Alucard is the prime example of a true vampire. His powers greatly exceed those of "normal" true vampires such as the Cheddar Priest or Leif and Jessica, in part due to his maturity as a master vampire as well as to Hellsing's efforts on enhancing his powers. His offspring, Seras Victoria (and possibly Mina Harker (She) as well), possesses similarly enhanced powers such as the "third eye" and immunity to the effects of daylight. As Alucard is able to shrug off seemingly any damage and harm caused to him, the true extent of his power is not known.
 * Mina Harker - Mina Harker's corpse is the basis of Millennium's artificial vampire research, due to her sharing the bloodline of Alucard. It is stated that Alucard, as Dracula, drank her blood and she, his, thus making her a true vampire similar to Seras Victoria. However, her history and further relationship with Alucard are unknown, as is her status during the Hellsing storyline due to Alucard's ability to survive in hibernation for decades without consuming blood. However, the destruction of Deus Ex Machina most likely destroyed her remains completely.
 * Seras Victoria - Seras Victoria is, for most of the Hellsing series, a fledgling vampire of Alucard's bloodline. Even as a lowly servant vampire some of her abilities exceed those of the strongest artificial vampires, such as being more resistant to damage caused by blessed weapons and some degree of immunity to the effects of daylight. After drinking the blood of Pip Bernadotte, she becomes a true vampire, capable of overpowering Millennium's strongest combatants, Zorin Blitz and The Captain.
 * Cheddar Priest - The priest of the village Cheddar is a seemingly newly transformed vampire. He possesses no notable vampiric abilities beyond being able to create ghouls out of his victims and commanding them.

Anime only

 * Incognito - Incognito is an ancient vampire from Africa. His abilities differ from most vampires and at times prove to match even Alucard's powers. His unique abilities include the use of dark magic in conjunction with his grenade launcher and his ability to phase out of existence to avoid incoming attacks. His seemingly most powerful ability is to summon Sett, a malevolent god, to further increase his powers.
 * He was also the creator of the FREAK chips, a chip that was created to turn people into artificial vampires.
 * Helena - Helena is a true vampire woman with the appearance of a young girl, though in reality she was turned centuries ago. Although she prefers solitude and not being a threat to the general populace, which has made the Hellsing Organization all but ignore her existence, Incognito still perceives her as a potential danger to his plans, and ultimately devours her.

Overview
Vampires created through either the FREAK chip process or the Millennium Organization's special process are not subject to the bite of other vampires and are considered to be artificial. While clearly intended to resemble each other, these vampires are actually very different and hold their own unique characteristics; making them hard to confuse with each other. Weaker than traditional vampires, artificial ones are in a class of their own.

Most artificial vampires share the same traits, weaknesses, and powers, though some of them can be marked as special due to their own characteristics. Due to this, they all have their important role in the organization of Millennium, mostly as the leaders of special groups like Rip van Winkle, whose task was to hijack the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, or Zorin Blitz, who was ordered to attack Hellsing HQ and kill Alucard's fledgling, Seras Victoria. It is not known whether they have their special traits because their transformations were more successful than the others' were (and with this, they have some of their exemplar's, Alucard's powers), or they had these before their conversion into vampires (like Walter). Another possibility is that these individuals received their upgrades in an intentional manner, as they were all officers of one kind or another in Millennium.

Millennium Conversion Process
Millennium's initial vampire research was overseen by The Doctor, who experimented on prisoners of war during WW2, and was conducted at Millennium's facility in occupied Warsaw, Poland. These cells were created by an investigation into the desiccated corpse of Mina Harker. It appears that the cell process requires a certain degree of invasive surgery and bio-engineering. Initial cells were only slightly better than ghouls and had an extremely limited lifespan (less than eight hours after the procedure was concluded), but The Doctor was certain their potential to spread the infection could offset this issue. Thanks to advancements in the procedure over time, the finished model was much better than in its early stages.

One notable thing about Millennium's artificial vampires is that they lack the ability to convert others into vampires; all victims regardless of gender or virginity are immediately transformed into ghouls. It is possible that this deviation from typical vampiric processes may have been intentional, as it ensures that anyone who is killed by the artificial vampires becomes a mindless killing machine, posing no threat to Millennium and serving to spread their infection to others more quickly. Additionally, ghouls created by naturally born vampires die the moment that the vampire that turned them is killed. With artificial vampires, however, this does not occur; the ghouls will continue to live on their own if the vampire who made them is killed. This is also likely an intentional alteration on the part of Millennium to their soldiers, as it makes any incursion by Millennium that involves mass slaughter that much harder to contain. It also plays on the theme of "eternal war" as the numbers of undead monsters increase, the longer the conflict will be. It is also heavily implied that they cannot absorb souls by sucking blood, as true vampires can. They exhibit enhanced attributes such as greater speed, strength, endurance, and the ability to defy gravity. Though the only two confirmed natural vampires in the series greatly outclass artificial vampires in terms of physical prowess, with the first being Alucard and the other being of his bloodline, and as such it is difficult to tell how artificial vampires stack up to more garden variety vampires.

Artificial vampires share many abilities and weaknesses with true vampires. While they are highly resistant to conventional human weaponry, silver affects them to grievous levels. They still have penetrable flesh as well, as the Wild Geese demonstrated by very effectively slaughtering a large portion of Zorin Blitz's battalion with claymore mines and silver ammo loaded into normal weapons. As stated by Walter, they are only "bootleg-copies" of Alucard, and have no chance to improve themselves or transform into true vampires. Also, unlike a true vampire, most artificial vampires created by Millennium are only implemented with enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, and cannot tap into any familiars due to their artificial creation, and thus rely heavily on their weapons and teeth to finish opponents off. Their regeneration is also significantly less effective than that of true vampires, and they do not seem able to regenerate lost limbs as Alucard and Seras can.

During the artificial vampirization process, a tracking chip is implanted to track movements, combat data, health, etc. This chip can also be used as a self-destruct device by enveloping its host in blue flames, leaving no salvageable remains behind. It also seems to activate automatically when the host dies, as shown with Zorin and the Captain. However, none of the vampirized soldiers who died in the Millennium incident were consumed by flames, so it is possible that only top-level officers of Millennium have this "self-destruct" ability. All of Millennium's research, data, and materials related to the project are assumed to have been destroyed with the conflagration of the Deus Ex Machina.

FREAK Chip Conversion Process
Main Article: FREAK Chip

This process was only seen in the anime series. While similar to the Millennium Conversion, the vampires controlled by the "FREAK Chip" were infected through a biological computer chip capable of forcefully entering the human brain and altering them from within to resemble vampires.

A chipped vampire is a human who has implanted a FREAK chip. This chip effectively kills the body of the individual but sustains their mind and allows the user to continue to function beyond death. These individuals are similar to true vampires, though their abilities are limited and technologically based. It is thought that different levels of FREAK chips are available, importing varying degrees of power. The price for an upgrade, as well as the location and identity of the manufacturer/distributor, are still unknown.

A large number of chips loaded into a person could create an undead of greater power, though it would still be ultimately weaker than a true vampire, or even a true undead fledgling.

Millennium Process

 * Leif and Jessica - Leif and Jessica are two weak artificial vampires who first appear in OVA 1 and Volume 1 of the Hellsing anime.
 * Luke Valentine - Appearing in Hellsing: Volume 2, Luke and his brother were the first notable artificial vampires to appear in the series; he had excellent reflexes (as Alucard states), enhanced speed, which was rare even among vampires, and was able to regenerate the wounds inflicted by Alucard's silver-loaded weapon, the Casull.
 * Jan Valentine - The younger Valentine brother led groups of militarized ghouls against Hellsing Organization's headquarters, and succeeded in killing and turning many of the Hellsing personnel into ghouls. He was created with the intention of leading ghouls into battle in order to invade the Hellsing mansion.
 * Tubalcain Alhambra - Acting as the Millennium's local agent in Rio de Janeiro, Alhambra was also an artificial vampire believed to be powerful enough to confront Alucard. His speed and reflexes were also enhanced to the point where he could both keep up with Alucard and avoid his gunshots. His primary method of attack was a set of razor-sharp/explosive playing cards, which were powerful enough to cause Alucard damage that he could not immediately regenerate from without being in a release form.
 * Rip Van Winkle - As Millennium's First Lieutenant, Rip van Winkle's task was to hijack the cruiser Eagle and withstand the counter-attacks of enemy forces. Her musket's special, homing bullets were able to destroy helicopters and planes.
 * Zorin Blitz - As the leader of the task force attacking the Hellsing HQ, Zorin Blitz was under direct order to kill Seras Victoria. Zorin was able to make illusions relying on her power to read her victims' soul, and notably, her weapon was a large scythe that was sharp enough to slice a person in two.
 * Soldiers of the Letztes Battalion - The Letzte Bataillon consisted of Waffen SS volunteers turned into artificial vampires. Their experience and fearlessness combined with their superhuman abilities proved a formidable match to all.
 * Walter C. Dornez - Walter Dornez, a former Hellsing trump card, turned out to be a traitor and an ally to Millennium. During the Battle for London, he was turned into a newer prototype of a more advanced artificial vampire by the Doctor through a hasty operation.

FREAK Chip Process

 * Luke Valentine
 * Jan Valentine
 * Paul Wilson
 * Enrico Stivaletti
 * Leif and Jessica
 * Several Unnamed Vampires

Baobhan Sith
A Baobhan Sith (ブーバンシー,) (pronounced; baa'-van shee) is a female fairy that is prominent in Scottish folklore, in which, they appear as a beautiful woman who seduces their victim before finishing them off; similar to how the "Succubus" works. Typically, these baobhan sith were described as a "beautiful young woman who wears a very long green dress that conceals the deer hooves she has instead of feet." With only one baobhan sith appearing in Hellsing, specifically, the Hellsing TV series, there isn't much to say about them, other than how Integra noted that her ancestors had apparently wiped them off the planet, meaning that Abraham Van Helsing had probably fought with them.

Baobhan Sith(s) in Hellsing
Laura - Laura was a baobhan sith, who are a subcategory of vampire known as "the White Women of the Scottish Highlands." Her most prominent ability as a vampire is mind control or hypnosis; she is able to manipulate every non-vampire person into believing that she is the sister of Integra Hellsing. In reality, she was there to turn Integra into a ghoul, out of revenge; and loyal towards Incognito, who had ordered her to do so.

Overview
The abilities given when being a vampire, either true or artificial, completely vary from person to person, especially artificial vampires. For example, Jan and Luke Valentine; the two brothers are the complete opposite of each other - while Jan was given a strength beyond that of the strongest humans, Luke was given an impressive speed that even Alucard was quite impressed at. In addition, the anime expands on this more; especially the differences between Incognito's and Alucard's abilities, in which, Alucard's abilities mostly rely on his superior aiming skills with his weapon, brute force, along with his familiars; Incognito's however, mostly focuses on Dark Magic, to which he is extremely knowledgeable in it. To put it simply, all vampires' abilities vary from one person to another, however, one notable exception is Seras Victoria and Alucard; both of which had quite similar abilities to each other, though that is likely because Seras is a true fledgling of Alucard's. Despite this, they all have an ability they share with each other. The following is a list of said abilities.

List of Abilities

 * Superhuman Strength - Vampires are described as being able to tear apart humans as if they were wet rags and kill any man easily. If a vampire is starved, their strength is substantially diminished and only barely above that of a human of similar size. Particularly powerful vampires like Alucard and Seras Victoria are capable of eviscerating whole battalions of soldiers in a matter of minutes as well as causing considerable structural damage when at full strength. They can also challenge other dark creatures such as werewolves.
 * Superhuman Speed and Reflexes - Vampires are greatly faster than even the most trained human. With their supernatural speed, they can appear as a flash of light to the eyes of a human being, and they can easily dodge automatic gunfire.
 * Superhuman Endurance - Vampires are extremely resistant to conventional injuries, with gunshots to the head barely slowing them down. Decapitation or impaling their heart is often understood as the only real killing chance against a vampire, though Alucard is able to almost instantly regenerate from seemingly any damage with little to no effort. Blessed or silver weaponry is extremely effective against all but the most powerful undead such as Alucard or Seras Victoria.
 * Hematophagy: One of the most notable vampire abilities is to be able to drink blood, which is the main food for vampires, to an extent; the only thing that's good for them. Consuming blood allows the said vampire to gain more strength and as a result, become someone formidable. Especially for true vampires, once they consume one's blood; the victim's soul is taken and they gain a bunch of benefits for it, including regenerating a body part that was dismembered. However, Artificial Vampires seemingly do not need to survive with blood, however, most of them seemingly think that it just tastes good. True vampires absolutely need blood to survive.
 * Regeneration - Their immortality is rooted in the reservoir of souls which they accumulate by feeding on live prey. If a vampire is grievously wounded, it is one of their familiars that die in their place; their stolen life force is expended to heal their master's flesh, even regrowing lost limbs. Artificial Vampires' way of regenerating is different; they took noticeably longer, however, in addition to not needing a soul to regenerate. However, Artificial Vampires seemingly do not have the ability to regenerate a part of their limbs that has been dismembered, destroyed, etc., as Luke Valentine couldn't regenerate his legs.
 * Telepathy - A vampire can read and speak directly into the minds of those they have sucked blood from. This power was said to extend to all beings in the TV series, but is never used this way in the Manga or OVA.
 * Hypnosis- A Vampire can also manipulate the minds of weaker-willed beings, an ability Pip referred to as a "Sex Beam" (since the Hotel Clerk circa OVA 3 Alucard used his telepathic hypnosis on had a strangely blissful expression afterward).
 * Underling Authority - A vampire has the ability to create and command several different kinds of underlings, including Servant Vampires, Familiars, and Ghouls.

Weaknesses

 * Silver and blessed Weapons: Most vampires, as well as ghouls and werewolves, are susceptible to injuries caused by weapons containing silver, such as bullets or blades, or even coming in contact with it. Blessed weapons and holy artifacts are also extremely harmful to them. The exact requirements and effects of various blessed and/or silver-alloyed weapons are not explained.
 * Impaling: Most vampires can be dispatched through impaling the heart, which can be seen when Alucard finished off the Cheddar priest and later Leif. The heart is often presented as a weak spot for a vampire, and thus is a popular target against them. Potent religious artifacts such as the Nail of Helena are able to imbue a strong holy aura in weaponry to make it incredibly deadly against vampires, and presumably other "unholy" creatures. Though Alucard survived being staked through the heart by Anderson, it is implied that without his familiars, Walter staking him through the heart would have permanently killed the vampire.
 * Decapitation: A common way to kill vampires in lore and various media, is to remove their heads from their bodies. While never seen to destroy "True Vampires", it has been seen to dispatch artificial vampires. It can most likely do the same to true vampires, as Alexander Anderson expected Alucard to be destroyed after beheading him and Integra Hellsing mentioned it as a way to kill a vampire. However, it most likely only works on the weakest vampires, due to Alucard's immunity to it.
 * Blood dependency: Most vampires must take in blood in order to maintain their power. Even Alucard was reduced to a corpse-like state during his hibernation over many years after the second world war until rejuvenated by Integra Hellsing's blood.
 * Bodies of Water: Vampires cannot cross open bodies of water, which are implicated to be fatal to them.
 * Daylight: Some vampires, usually lesser ones, are harmed to some extent by daylight.

Other Weaknesses

 * The usual legendary methods of defeating a vampire are mentioned by Integra to also work in the Hellsing world including "Garlic, Holy Water, and Wooden Stakes". However, none of these are ever shown in practice in the series. Abraham Van Helsing attempted to use a wooden stake to dispatch Alucard, however, it didn't kill him, so its true effects on vampires, in general, are unknown. It's likely that Alucard is simply too powerful to be dispatched by regular means.
 * Most of these weaknesses are shown to be possible to build a resistance to, or overcome completely, given enough time and maturity into the Vampiric role, daylight being a prime example of a weakness that Alucard and Seras are both able to overcome.