Abraham Van Helsing

Abraham Van Helsing (エイブラハム・ヴァン・ヘルシング,) was a minor, yet a character pivotal to the plot of Hellsing, a Japanese manga series created by Kouta Hirano, and one of the main characters of Dracula by Bram Stoker.

A Dutch doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "M.D., D.Ph., D.Litt., etc., etc." The character is best known as a vampire hunter and the arch-enemy of Count Dracula. He is an ancestor of Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing and was Dracula's arch-nemesis.

He was voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka in the original Japanese sub, and Curt Lowens in the English dub of Hellsing: Ultimate.

Physical
In the flashback of Volume 4 of the manga (OVA II in the OVA), Van Helsing is portrayed as a middle-aged man with a rectangular face and a stubble beard. He had blue eyes with fair skin. He was also physically strong, to the point where punching the now-weakened Dracula made him bleed. He had a short, brown hair slicked to the back, while two fringes sticks up resembling horns. He's strongly built, though of a medium height with broad shoulders.

Despite his established appearance in Volume 2 of the manga and OVA, he would later made a full appearance in the final volume of both series, in which Van Helsing's hair is now much longer; though slicked to the back, the fringes were removed and Helsing is now balding. In the OVA, they made it so Van Helsing's hair falls over to the right side of his eye, and much more thicker than the manga counterpart.

Attire
For how little Van Helsing made an appearance, and the fact that his coat and tie changes every time he appeared in; it's exactly hard to tell what he wore during the events of Dracula.


 * In his first appearance (Volume 4 and chapter 26 of Hellsing, or Hellsing: Ultimate II), Abraham wore a duster coat similar to Alucard's, however, the one Abraham wore is noticeably darker.
 * During the fight between Anderson and Alucard, Alucard recalls and names every person in the group which Abraham created in order to defeat him. Abraham appears, this time wearing a coat similar to Alucard's, though it isn't a duster coat and is just a normal, dark red long-coat.
 * In his last appearance, Abraham wore a duster coat similar to what he wore back on his first appearance in the Hellsing series.

For the more consistent parts of his clothing throughout his appearance, Abraham wore a white shirt covered by a grey charcoal vest and a black cravat (tie in OVA II), and is finished up by grey trousers and black business shoes. In addition to his similarities with Alucard's now Count form, Van Helsing wore a pair of white gloves.

Personality
As a man with a wide range of variety of titles in his name, Van Helsing is simply nothing but a genius. He's an expert at his field, first one to be noticing the existence of vampires as everyone around him calls Helsing crazy for believing a myth. He's competent and calm, he's experienced and cool, yet during the speeches he made; he comes across as "bumbling." Incredibly open minded, he becomes a perfect nemesis that contrast to the strong and powerful, yet egotistical and dumb Count. A philosopher and metaphysician, Van Helsing's mission simply is to defeat the Count; so he departs as soon as he arrives.

John Seward, his student described him: "He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows what he is talking about better than anyone else. He is a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy."

- Dracula by Bram Stoker, Chapter 9: John Seward's letter to Arthur Holmwood.

Novel Description
"An elderly Dutchman and a prominent scientist, Van Helsing's expertise in vampirism comes too late to save Lucy, but his skills save Mina from suffering the same fate. A former teacher and a friend of Dr. John Seward, Van Helsing is the intellectual powerhouse and leader of the group that takes on and ultimately defeats Dracula."

- Page 451, Dracula by Bram Stoker; EXTRA MATERIAL FOR YOUNG READERS

Early Life
Abraham was born into a Catholic Dutch family in the mid 1800s. As he came into adulthood, he married and settled down to start a family as he studied several fields of science, medicine, physics, and psychology. His family was wracked with tragedy when Van Helsing's only son passed away. The passing drove his wife mad to the point that she became dead to Abraham, yet his status as a devout Catholic prevented him from divorcing her. Abraham continued his academic studies to receive degrees and doctorates in several fields, including medicine, philosophy, and scientific study. In the course of his career, Van Helsing became a professor and took on students. Among these students is John Seward, who would one day become a doctor himself. During an incident involving a knife that had come into contact with gangrene, Van Helsing was cut and poisoned by it. Thinking quickly, Seward sucked the poison out and saved Abraham, a favor he wouldn't soon forget.

Events of Bram Stoker's Dracula
When the woman Seward cared most about, Lucy Westenra, fell ill with a mysterious disease, Seward sent a telegram to Van Helsing requesting his knowledge of rare and obscure diseases to help cure her. Remembering his debt, Abraham made great haste in coming to their aid. Upon arriving, Van Helsing was instantly able to see Lucy's ailment was that of a Vampire's bite, but wary that Seward and his companions would find it crazy, he refused to immediately tell them his diagnosis. Van Helsing had been learning about Vampires for quite a while, though the field of study is difficult to grasp for those who have no first-hand experience with them. In an effort to save Lucy, Abraham attempted several blood transfusions on the girl, but their attempts to save her were appearing for naught. Abraham then left for Amsterdam, giving them explicit instructions to watch over Lucy and her family. Instructions that never arrived with those to whom they belonged.

Upon returning, he found that Lucy had passed away from a wolf attack in the middle of the night, and had been buried. Despite the apparent death and burial, however, several reports began to come in of a beautiful woman matching Lucy's description attacking innocents in the night. Finally realizing he couldn't hide the truth any longer, Van Helsing confided in Seward, and Lucy's other suitors, Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood, about the Vampire's curse and that their dear Lucy is now among the undead. The men soon found Lucy and, after a heated confrontation, succeeded in killing her with a beheading, allowing Lucy to finally rest. At that point, Jonathan Harker joined the entourage after barely surviving an encounter with their previously unknown enemy. Now knowing his name, Count Dracula, the group set out to destroy the vampire once and for all.

Now in London, the horrid Count went to accomplish one of his goals, to take Mina Harker for himself. Having seen a photograph of her and Jonathan, Dracula found he desired her, and in the middle of the night, he succeeded in biting her. He proceeded to drink from her and feed to her his own blood, making her into a vampire as well, but bonding her to himself as his servant Vampire. Knowing time is short, and the only way to save Mina is to defeat Dracula, Van Helsing lead a frantic search for the Count. Due to her telepathic link to the No-Life King, they were able to use Mina to trace Dracula's steps, finally finding his whereabouts after putting her into a hypnotic state.

Events of Hellsing
The group finally followed the count back to his castle and confronted him for a battle just before dawn. After a fierce fight, Van Helsing cornered the count and was able to drive a stake through the No-Life King, defeating the Count by the light of the coming dawn. The wafer marks left Mina's flesh, a fact that Van Helsing took the opportunity to shout at the disgraced vampire. However, Abraham decided not to deliver the finishing blow to his felled foe, instead taking Dracula's now powerless form with him back to England.

The events of Abraham's life after defeating Dracula are unknown, but it is commonly known that he began research to tame his one-time enemy. Through science and possibly some form of sorcery, Van Helsing succeeded at his task and turned the once proud Count into a servant whom his family would later re-dub Alucard. The rest of Abraham's life is mostly unknown, though it is assumed that he settled down and had at least one other child.

Later, by Van Helsing's own hand or the actions of his child, an Organisation was established in England to research and combat these occult and demonic threats to humanity, such as the Vampire. At some unknown point, Abraham's offspring converted to Anglicanism, and had the family name Anglicized as Hellsing. The Organisation would eventually take on this name as well, and become officially sanctioned by England and the Church of England.

It is unknown if Van Helsing himself became the father of two boys, Arthur and Richard Hellsing, or if Arthur and Richard were Van Helsing's grandchildren. However, if a middle generation did exist, when this unknown Hellsing either retired or died, the reins of the Organisation were passed to the eldest child of Abraham.

Skills

 * Occult Knowledge: Abraham was an incredibly intelligent man, to an extent; he was a Doctor, Professor, Lawyer, Philosopher, Scientist, and Metaphysic. Also, without his intelligence and remarkable skills, the group would've likely lost to Dracula. Furthermore, with his knowledge of vampires and such, he was able to track down Mina Harker due to her telepathic link with the Count. His intelligence and knowledge also helped during his many experiments with the Count after he had been tamed, allowing him to be more powerful than before - however, for all eternity, he must serve the Hellsing family as their "Trump Card" or, their "lapdog". John Seward also described him as one of the most advanced scientists of his day, and an absolute "open mind".

Control Over Dracula
After defeating Dracula himself, without the group's knowledge, Abraham had secretly brought Dracula's body to his lab, where he does multiple experiments on the Count while making his own organisation - which is known as the Hellsing organisation. After Dracula realizes that Abraham had saved his life, he swore his life towards Abraham and his family and will likely serve their family for eternity.

Equipment

 * Wooden Stake and Axe: Abraham was shown having a Wooden Stake and an Axe (replaced by a pickaxe in the OVA) as his main weapon while fighting Dracula with the group. With his knowledge of vampires and such, he knew that the vampire's heart was its weakness - and he was correct to an extent; Dracula was caught by Abraham's Wooden Stake in the heart - however, it was not completely destroyed; which allowed Dracula to live for some time, while Abraham taunts him and belittles him - calling him a miserable "No-life King", but however, turns out, the final strike didn't put an end to Dracula and he was later experimented on by Abraham himself.

Appearance in the manga
The first time he appeared in one of Alucard´s dreams, Van Helsing made many allusions to Dracula when referring to Alucard e.g. "So what are you going to do now, No Life King?". At the end of this dream, Alucard seems to cry blood. The second time Van Helsing appeared as a silhouette after Alucard transforms into the "Count", this last one is the most direct reference to the novel in the manga, since this time, besides Van Helsing, Alucard mentions Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood, and Dr. Seward, although, mysteriously, not Jonathan Harker. He appeared for a third time in a flashback showing Alucard's previous deaths, now featuring Harker and Mina.

Trivia

 * His brand new appearance in OVA X may be inspired by Van Helsing's appearance in the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula, where Van Helsing's hair is grey, slicked to the back, and balding.
 * His appearance is decribed as "a man of medium height, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods." by Mina Harker in the novel.