Alucard

Alucard (アーカード, arukaado ) is the main protagonist of the Hellsing anime and manga series created by Kouta Hirano. He is the most powerful warrior of the Hellsing Organization 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, as well as the most powerful entity in the entire series, even before obtaining relative omnipresence at the conclusion of the manga. Interestingly, in the ending credits of Hellsing: Ultimate X, he is listed as Sir Arucard, a mistranslation.

He is devoted to his master Integra and was close friends with the Hellsing butler, Walter C. Dornez. He also has feelings of admiration towards his fledgling, Seras Victoria. He is in both the TV series and OVA. (though he takes on a slightly lesser role in the TV series, where Seras Victoria takes on more of a narrative role). In the English dub of both series, he is voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Appearance


Like a true vampire, he stopped aging centuries ago, giving him an appearance of a young man roughly in his 20's or early 30's. He has short jet black hair and his bangs fall slightly in his eyes, with strands on the sides of his bangs framing his face. His eyes are blood red and have slanted pupils like a those of a cat, and they glow a brighter hue of red when his glasses are off. His hair length changes according to his release states from short to knee length. His usual outfit is comprised mainly in a classic Victorian fashion, including a charcoal suit, leather riding boots, and a flamboyant, intricately knotted red cravat, covered by a full-length, red frock overcoat (similar to the duster coats often associated with cowboys) with cape (At the beginning of the manga it was a full-length trench coat). He also wears a red fedora hat with a wide, floppy brim and a pair of circular, heavily tinted, wire-framed orange sunglasses with goggle sidings. Alucard's gloves have five pointed seals on them which limit the personal use of his powers. He has a vast range of supernatural techniques and is an expert gunfighter. As a vampire he possesses enhanced strength, allowing him to wield pistols that most would consider to be heavy weaponry or impossible for a human to safely wield (as Walter stated about the Jackal in Volume 2 of the manga and OVA). It appears that his clothing is part of his physical form due to the fact that when he regenerates, his clothing also repairs itself (an example being in OVA I where Anderson cut off both of Alucard's arms, but instead of just his arms regenerating, his arms and his sleeves regenerated entirely. Also, when the Cheddar Village vampire's ghouls peppered Alucard with bullets, leaving holes throughout his body and in his clothing, he returned to the state he was in before being shot by the ghouls as if he was never shot at all).

He appears in the same clothes that Sir Hellsing wore when he defeated Alucard when he was still Dracula. This is seen when Alucard has his flashback/Nightmare.

Personality
He fights with ferocity and often-extreme cruelty, rarely shooting to kill until his target has been totally disabled and humiliated. However, he does seem to have some small shred of humanity left in him, as he is still capable of shedding tears, taken by Alexander Anderson to mean that he is not completely lost. As he is essentially immortal and invincible, Alucard is very egotistical. He freely taunts and belittles his opponents, often allowing them to inflict seemingly fatal wounds before healing himself and obliterating his enemy. One of his favorite methods is allowing himself to be blown to shreds before simply flowing back together. It can accurately be stated that rather than killing his opponents, Alucard breaks them. 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 shoots off a part of Luke's leg 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.

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 he regenerated. Alucard also expressed deep disappointment that Luke was not a more worthy adversary. In the anime, he seemed concerned with finding a worthy opponent. In the manga however, Alucard states that he wishes to find an opponent, a human opponent, with sufficient willpower to destroy him despite his strength. With each failed attempt at his life Alucard restates his belief that “That which defeats a monster is always a man,” but the phrase could be interpreted on a more universal scale, i.e. “Only a human can rid the world of monsters,” a similar statement being said by Ferguson in the anime. This would imply that only one who retains their humanity can perform this task, of defeating a monster without another taking its place.

Underneath his cocky, arrogant attitude, Alucard seems deeply sad and is envious of humans, for they are blessed with the gift of death, while he himself is unable to die and must walk the Earth for eternity. He clearly regrets his decision to become an immortal monster, and has great respect for humans who have the willpower to endure old age and 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 becomes infuriated as Anderson stabs himself in the heart with the Helena's Nail in volume 8, as Anderson is making the same mistake Alucard made. While facing off against Walter's younger, vampire form in chapter 74, Alucard says 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.

Arthur Hellsing explains it the best in chapter 72: "For what they all seem to seek is to wage war, and endless desperate, blood-stained struggles. Things quite close to crying loudly. I do not think they desire those things at all. On the contrary: all of this is their way of shouting and begging for death."

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. 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. In the original Gonzo anime version (Club M), Alucard makes his discontent apparent, demanding to know the motivation behind their rampage.

Despite this, he is not entirely against immortality. Rather, he believes it is something one must earn. Presumably, he views his own transformation as an escape because he became one, in Anderson's words, so that he would "never have to cry again.” He happily gave Seras immortality (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. He also viewed Walter in the same regard for a time, even indirectly offering him immortality, it is worth noting that he believes that Walter "took" immortality rather than "earned" it.

Another important aspect of Alucard's personality is his relationship with God. As a human, he was raised by the turks as a prisoner(historically speaking ,Vlad Țepeș was taken from his home and raised by the Turk Sultan to serve as a guarantee that the Wallachian ruler would not rise against the Ottoman empire) contrary to the belief that Alucard was a knight who fought against the Muslim Turks to spread Christianity. As a warrior, he believed that words alone were not enough; that one must accomplish deeds in order to attract God's attention, 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 an feared for punishing 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, that God himself would intervene on their behalf. His actions caused even his own people to fear him, and subsequently only a small amout of his peasants and soldifers 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. Feeling abandoned by God, he abandoned God in turn. In a moment of perfect despair, he drank up the blood of his scorched and besieged homeland and became a vampire. It is therefore possible that after renouncing God and becoming an immortal monster Alucard (as Dracula) quietly invaded England with the intent of conquest, ultimately a way of avenging himself against God, whom he blamed for his own mistakes.

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.

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. For instance, in the Gonzo anime, when a young Integra stands up to Alucard after being harrassed by him in Episode 10, he proclaims "You ARE your father's daughter!", and then proceeds to bow to her, and apologizes for his disrespect.

Seras Victoria
Seras Victoria is Alucard's first fledgling since Mina Harker. As such, there is much speculation from Alucard's companions as to why he decided to change her. Alucard either seems confused by his own actions or rather has other hidden reasons as to why he turned Seras. He states to Walter and Integra that it was 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. While he is frustrated with her refusal to drink blood, he was always confident that eventually she would drink and seemed quite proud of her when the time came.

As stated by Hirano the relationship between Seras and Alucard is complicated. 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 their feeling of the love could be something closer to the ties of the familiship. 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 fledging, 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 loosen 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.

Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing
Integra is the Hellsing Organization's leader and current master of Alucard. In both 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 Organization, a decision that drove his jealous brother 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 that 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 a "beloved master", that shows his undying loyalty for 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 Episode 9 (Red Rose Vertigo) of the television series, Alucard is moved to shock and rage when Incognito implies that Integra has been killed. Rather than stay and fight, Alucard makes a hasty return to the Hellsing manor to kill Bubbancy before she could turn Integra into a ghoul. 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.

Walter C. Dornez
Alucard is Walter's closest friend. However, when Walter betrayed Hellsing, Alucard saw him as a plaything. He once tried to offer Walter immortality as he did with Seras. Even though Walter helped and even risked his life he betrayed them, which leads Alucard and Walter to fight.

The Queen
The Queen of England was a character that Alucard had previously met 50 years before the events of the Hellsing manga and OVA. Upon his return from Rio de Jainero, 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 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. Anderson is often referred to as the "Monster of God" while Alucard is the "Monster who rejects God".

The relationship between the two grows as the serises 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 season and is defeated by Alucard, Alucard cries. There is a sense of respect between the two because Anderson tells Alucard not to cry and points out that he (Alucard) became a monster so that he nolonger had to cry.

Before Hellsing
Alucard was once known as Count Dracula, also known as Vlad III Dracula, the son of Vlad II Dracul. Born in 1431, he later became known as Vlad Ţepeş ("Vlad the Impaler") and as Kazıklı Voyvoda ("the Impaling Voivode") by the Turks, gaining a fearsome reputation throughout the lands. He is arguably the first vampire that ever existed.

It is revealed in Alucard's flashback in Chapter 70 of Hellsing, that he was enslaved by Ottoman conquerors when he was a child ( make an exchange of Noble Children was often used for maintain peace between Turk and Christian Kingdoms ) and molested/raped by a high ruler. During the whole ordeal, he defiantly clenched a silver cross. When he became the Voivode of Wallachia, he launched an all-out war on the Turks which devastated both sides. Eventually, his troops were defeated, his people were killed (many by his own hands), and his homeland was set ablaze. Vlad himself was to be executed. However, before he was beheaded, he drank of the blood from the battlefield and became a true vampire. When he accepted the powers of darkness, the silver cross he had always carried with him shattered. Centuries later, in 1897, the events of Bram Stoker's Dracula unfold in the back-story of Hellsing. Abraham Van Helsing, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, and Jack Seward (Jonathan Harker, the last member of their group, is left out of the Hellsing version of the story) were able to defeat Count Dracula and killed those who served him.

He was given a new name, Alucard, by Arthur Hellsing. In 1944, Alucard, along with a 14-year-old Walter C. Dornez, is sent on a mission to Warsaw, Poland, to stop Millennium's vampire production program. They presumably destroyed the project, but its main architects escaped. Decades later, in 1969, Alucard was imprisoned in a dungeon in Hellsing manor by Arthur. According to Sir Hugh Irons, Arthur Hellsing came to believe that Alucard was "too powerful a drug to be used as more than the occasional medicine".

Present Time
Shortly after Arthur Hellsing's death in 1989, Alucard was awakened and resuscitated by Integra's blood. After wounding Richard, Alucard allows Integra to kill him, thus making her the head of the Hellsing Organization and a master worthy of Alucard's servitude.

As the Hellsing Organization's most powerful agent, he is sent to a village called Cheddar to exterminate a vampire. While there, Alucard meets Seras Victoria, the last survivor of the police unit sent in to stop what they believed to be an ordinary human murderer. When the priest-vampire takes Seras hostage to try to bargain with Alucard for his life, Alucard shoots through her chest to kill the vampire. He then gives her a choice; to die, or to become a vampire. Seras chooses the latter. Later, while exterminating ghouls in Badrick, Northern Ireland with Seras, he encounters Alexander Anderson of the Iscariot Organization. After wounding Seras, Anderson engages in a battle with Alucard and is seemingly killed with a single shot to the head. However, Anderson reveals himself to be a regenerator and heals from his wound. After demonstrating that the Casull's bullets have no effect on him, he stakes Alucard with multiple bayonets and decapitates him. He nearly kills Seras, but is stopped by Integra, who reminds him that he is outside Vatican jurisdiction. Anderson simply attacks Integra, slicing up her bodyguards but finding that Integra is not such an easy target. Before Anderson can make another move, Alucard regenerates and challenges him again. Seeing that Alucard can effortlessly regenerate from any wound inflicted upon him, Anderson retreats, vowing to kill all three Hellsing members at a later time.

Later, Seras and Walter are seen discussing Seras' need to sleep in a coffin rather than a bed. When Walter mentions how uncomfortable Seras appears to be with this, Alucard berates her for it, reminding her that it was her own choice to be turned. However, when she appears distraught by his lecture, he relents and tells her to "keep taking baby steps" for as long as she needs to. Then, Alucard is introduced to his new weapon, the Jackal, by Walter. After being taken through all of it's various accoutrements, Alucard declares the weapon to be perfect. His revelry is interrupted by the Valentine-brothers' ghoul army invasion of the Hellsing HQ. While Walter and Seras go to protect the members of the round table conference from Jan Valentine, Alucard goes to the basement to wait for Luke Valentine. After a short preamble, the two of them begin to fight. During the battle, it becomes apparent that Luke is no ordinary vampire; he can regenerate from wounds made by the Casull and is fast enough to dodge Alucard's bullets. Just when he becomes assured of victory however, Alucard laughs, regenerates, and expresses his delight with Luke's abilities. Alucard then releases his first restriction seal and launches a terrifying assault on Luke, who attempts to flee, only to have both his legs blown off by the Jackal. Alucard, who is under the impression that Luke is at least as powerful as himself due to Luke boasting, excitedly demands that Luke regenerate and continue the fight. Luke, scared out of his mind, can only scream "Monster!" at Alucard, who realizes that Luke is not as powerful as he had hoped. Disappointed, Alucard transforms his right arm into a massive, dog like head and contemptuously devours Luke.

When the invasion is over, Hellsing finds itself lacking in troops and hires mercenaries, who are doubtful of the actual authenticity of the Hellsing Organization's purpose. After phasing through a wall to make an impression on Pip Bernadotte and his mercenary band the Wild Geese, Walter reveals to Integra that the head of the Iscariot Organization, Enrico Maxwell, wishes to set up a meeting with her in a London art museum. Walter and Integra meet Maxwell at the museum, as well as his compatriot Renaldo. When Maxwell begins to insult Integra (going so far as to call her an "English sow"), Alucard appears and threatens to kill him for his disrespect. Maxwell responds by summoning Anderson, who approaches Alucard and ignores Maxwell's orders to stop. Alucard responds in kind, and just as the situation is about to become violent, Seras walks a group of elderly tourists between the two would-be combatants. Remarking that the moment has "lost its magic" due to Seras, Alucard stands down, with Anderson following suit. Later that evening, Alucard is seen reminiscing with Walter about Millennium's first destruction, and after an apparent memory lapse from Walter, remarks on how awful growing old must be. Integra then arrives and charges Alucard to find and destroy Millennium in South America, and to take Seras and Pip with him. Upon his arrival, he and Seras (still in a coffin) check into a ritzy hotel and plan to meet Pip later that evening to begin their investigation. However, Millennium strikes first; a SWAT team under the control of Millennium agent Tubalcain Alhambra storms the hotel. Having been told that Alucard and Seras are terrorists and receiving shoot-on-sight authorization, the SWAT team enters Alucard's room and shreds him to pieces with gunfire. Alucard, however, simply regenerates and butchers the unit. As Alucard finishes, he witnesses the last member of the unit commit suicide, and appears to be infuriated by it. When Seras objects to the slaughter of innocent humans, Alucard loses his temper and shouts at her that the rules of war do not allow for mercy to their enemies, regardless of who those enemies are. When she nearly starts to cry, Alucard, seemingly regretting his outburst, reiterates his point more gently. After receiving confirmation of his search and destroy mission from Integra, Alucard charges Seras to take both their coffins to the roof of the hotel. When asked what he himself will be doing, Alucard replies that he still needs to "check out", and as such he will leave through the front door.

Upon exiting his room, Alucard is attacked by the remaining SWAT members, and he proceeds to sadistically and brutally massacre them. After killing the last SWAT members by impaling them on flagpoles, he is engaged by Alhambra in person. After a brief battle which causes serious collateral damage in the observing crowd, Alhambra manages to hit Alucard with several of his razor sharp, ultra durable playing cards, which Alucard appears to have some difficulty regenerating from initially. The two of them make their way to the roof of the hotel, where Alucard releases his restriction seals and vanishes. After fending off an assault from Seras, Alhambra re-engages Alucard, only to have his knee inverted with a kick and his arm split lengthwise after a failed attempt to do the same to Alucard with one of his cards. Alucard then consumes Alhambra to gain information on Millennium's plans, but gains only the limited knowledge that Alhambra himself had on Millennium, and thus receives an incomplete picture of their plans. As Alhambra's remains burn, Pip arrives with a helicopter and escapes with Alucard and Seras.

Alucard and company then set up shop in a small Brazilian town after the fiasco in Rio, where from Alucard calls Integra to report in. He tells her that he is now aware of what Millennium is planning to do, and Integra orders him back to London after a small verbal jab from Alucard. When Seras and Pip return (apparently from buying groceries), they begin to brainstorm how to return to London when Anderson kicks in the door. He and Alucard exchange a few hard punches before drawing weapons. Anderson, however, simply stakes a set of release papers to a wall, explaining that the Vatican will be providing their transport home. In London, Alucard and company join a meeting involving the Iscariot and Round Table-management, presided over by Queen Elizabeth II herself.

After exchanging a tender greeting with the Queen, Alucard reports on Millennium's plan to use their newly bred vampire army to avenge their defeat during WWII. Immediately after this report, Schrodinger appears and sets up a video conference between Integra and the Major. After the Major states his intentions, Alcuard tells him it will be a pleasure to destroy Millennium again and blows Schrodinger's head off as per Integra's orders. Some time later, the Royal Navy receive reports of a Millennium hijacking of an aircraft carrier, the HMS Eagle. Integra, Walter, and Alucard journey to London to devise a way to recapture the ship. After listing and shooting down several possibilities, Walter comes up with the idea to use a modified SR-71 to get Alucard to the Eagle. Alucard then uses the plane to fly over the Eagle, well out of weapons range, and then to nosedive straight towards the ship before it can get it's engines started. The Nazi soldiers and Millennium first lieutenant Rip Van Winkle attempt to shoot him down, but Alucard simply covers the SR-71 with his own body, keeping it in once piece long enough to crash into the flight deck of the Eagle. As he moves to confront a terrified Rip, the Nazi soldiers attempt to kill him while Rip retreats. Alucard brushes off their attack and butchers the lot of them. He then moves to confront Rip again, who gathers her courage and attempts to blast him into the ocean with her magic bullets. Right on the verge of falling off the ship, Alucard casually catches the bullet in his mouth and shatters it. He then punches Rip, stakes her to a wall with her own gun, and devours her. After consuming Rip, he lets out a maniacal laugh as the Major prepares his troops to attack London.

Despite the strategy of stranding in the ocean (as vampires cannot cross water), he manages to use his shadow powers to take control of and sail the stalled ship. Alucard begins his journey back to London on board the Eagle as Millennium burns London, opposed only by an advance force of Iscariot led by Alexander Anderson.

He later communicates telepathically with Seras during the attack on the Hellsing manor by Millennium forces led by Zorin Blitz, prompting her to learn how to see through Zorin's illusions.



As the Vatican continues to fight the Last Battalion and murder the civilians of London, Alucard at last reaches London. Covering his arrival in a city-wide cloud of fog, he leaps from the Eagle (situated in the Thames river), and floats down between the Vatican forces and the Last Battalion, about to engage each other. When he lands, both Alexander Anderson and The Captain of Millennium move to confront him, each ignoring the other in favor of killing Alucard. Alucard shouts to Integra to give him an order, and she responds by ordering him to kill every one of Hellsing's enemies. To this end, she orders him to release Level Zero, Alucard's final and most devastating form. Every one of his enemies is overcome by dread as he initiates his release, sensing the horror that is to come, and they all attack him. Anderson and The Captain, seeing their attacks have no effect on Alucard, retreat while the Vatican and Millennium soldiers continue desperately to attack him. Ultimately, they are unable to harm him, and the shadow matter Alucard's body was reduced to during the joint attack on him envelopes his foes like a tidal wave. As the shadow matter spreads throughout the city, human bodies begin to rise out of it, revealing that Level Zero is in fact the release of all the souls Alucard has devoured in corporeal form. As the Last Battalion and the Vatican prepare for the onslaught, Alucard takes the form of Vlad III "the Impaler" Dracula, appearing as he did when he first became a vampire. His forces wash over the Last Battalion and the Vatican while Tubalcain Alhambra and Rip Van Winkle, now familiars, destroy the Vatican's air forces. As the one-sided carnage draws to a close, Alucard greets Integra and Seras, acknowledging his pride in Seras for finally becoming a true vampire. He is then attacked by Anderson in the middle of this reunion. Telling his archenemy to come and kill him if he can, the two engage in a duel, with Alucard in his Vlad Tepes form wielding a broadsword.

When Anderson backs off to throw his bayonets at Alucard, Alucard shifts back to his Count-form and draws his guns, introducing Anderson to the Jackal. Anderson charges Alucard again, only to have the majority of his left upper arm blown off by the Jackal. Alucard then leaps behind a swarm of his familiars, out of reach of Anderson, who is then peppered with Alhambra's cards and shot by Rip Van Winkle's bullet. Badly hurt, with the wound in his left arm not regenerating, Anderson pauses to catch his breath while Alucard mocks him with the seemingly impossible odds of actually killing him. Anderson, disregarding these odds, prepares to charge into the horde of familiars, with Alucard looking on approvingly. As Anderson cuts his way to Alucard, Alucard revels in the thought that Anderson might be the human opponent he has been searching for; the one who might actually kill him. Anderson is finally stopped by Alucard's familiars but just as they are about to kill him, he is saved by a group of the remaining Iscariot-priests led by Heinkel Wolfe and Yumie Takagi. These priests engage in suicide bomber tactics to provide a path to Alucard for Anderson, which he utilizes successfully. Anderson then reveals his trump card, Helena's Nail, and prepares to stab himself with it. Horrified, Alucard shouts to him not to do it, telling him that he had enough strength as a man to win and begs him not to make the same mistake that he (Alucard) made. Anderson declines, saying that he does not wish to be a man, but a terrible storm of heartless, tearless piety, and stabs the nail through his own heart. Alucard, beside himself with fury, walks up to Anderson and points the Casull at him, screaming at him for his foolishness, but Anderson cuts off the arm with the Casull and Alucard's head in one motion. His headless body then blows off Anderson's head in return. As the two of them fall back, their bodies catch themselves and start to regrow their lost pieces. Alucard's pieces reappear as their usual shadow matter, but Anderson's head regrows as a half human mass of thorny vines. Alucard then unloads upon Anderson, blowing off numerous chunks of the priest's body, but to no avail. He then shoots a Jackal round at the nail itself, only for the bullet to be stopped in mid-flight by Anderson's vines. Anderson, smiling, then leaps into the air and casts a bayonet at Alucard's head, impaling him and doing the first real damage to ever be dealt to him. Vines erupt from the blade in Alucard's head and set him aflame, burning his horde of familiars (which is just an extension of his form) as well.

Alucard then has flashbacks concerning his past (possibly his life flashing before him), and relives being sodomized by a Turkish high ruler and losing his war against them. These visions culminate in his decision to become a vampire as he is about to be executed. Fortunately for him however, Seras intervenes and grabs Anderson's blade, preventing the monster of God from cutting Alucard further. She is quickly consumed by the burning vines as well, but holds out, screaming for Alucard to awaken. As she is about to be overcome, Alucard regains his senses and takes hold of the blade as well. He sadly tells Anderson that, as a monster, he cannot win, and proceeds to somehow consume Anderson's vines and shatter his blade. As the vines dissolve, Alucard transforms into his jumpsuit form and charges Anderson. Anderson attempts to stop him with more vines but to no avail; Alucard plunges his hand into Anderson's chest, removes both the Nail and Anderson's heart, and rips him in half. As Anderson's pieces fall, Alucard closes his hand upon the heart and the Nail, destroying them both. Instead of gloating or laughing as with his other defeated foes, Alucard is overcome by grief and screams at Anderson for making the same mistake that he did and starts to sob under his breath. Anderson quietly laughs however, and says to Alucard "Monsters don't cry. And that's why you became one, isn't it? So you wouldn't have to." This gets Alucard's attention and he regains his composure as Anderson continues with, "When a man's tears dry up forever, they become a monster...so laugh...just as always." Anderson exchanges a few final words with Alucard and then crumbles to dust with a final, "Amen", echoed by Alucard.

The scene of mourning is then interrupted by a rejuvenated Walter descending from the sky onto Anderson's crumbling remains. Walter explains to his former family how he has betrayed Hellsing of his own free will, and Alucard tells him sorrowfully that his old body was far more beautiful than his new, immortal one. As he sadly kneels in Anderson's ashes, Walter shouts at him to stand up and fight. Alucard then asks Integra to reaffirm her kill order which she does, to the delight of not only Alucard, but The Major and Walter as well. As Integra and Seras leave to storm the Graf Zeppelin II, Alucard and Walter begin their battle. Walter initially seems to have the upper hand since most of Alucard's fighting methods are useless against him. When he is about to use the Jackal against Walter, the pistol is revealed to be made by Millennium as The Doctor uses his remote to destroy it. Alucard then creates a hellhound out of his body, nicknamed "Baskerville" by Walter, who cuts it in half. A disgusted and confused Luke Valentine crawls out of its body, much to the amusement of Alucard. The hound's corpse and Luke are both then hijacked by Walter's wires, and he begins to control them like puppets. As he uses them however, Walter's wires go slack and he coughs up blood due to his hasty transformation. Alucard then shoots the controlled Luke and dispatches the hound after being bitten in half by it. Walter then re-engages a regenerated Alcuard himself, cutting his arms and legs off, slicing his torso in half, and suspending him in the middle of the room with wires. After collapsing and regressing in age, Walter then picks up a piece of re-bar and impales what he believes to be Alucard through the heart with it. In actuality, it was only the body of Luke Valentine disguised as Alucard who, now in the form of a young girl, snappishly punches Walter. This blow causes Walter to revert back to his 14-year-old body, with Alucard theorizing as to the cause of his regression. Alucard then taunts Walter, telling him that he was afraid of becoming old and useless, and that his victory over Alucard would just provide a self esteem boost. Alucard then begins to absorb the blood from the deceased inhabitants of London and the two defeated militaries.

Alucard continues to absorb the city's dead as Walter vertically bisects him with his wires, which is as futile as his other attacks. Alucard then grabs Walter, who appears to have given up at this point, contemptuously mocks him and Anderson for their respective failures, and prepares to kill Walter. Unknown to Alucard, Schrödinger commits suicide as Alucard drinks the city's dead, combining his remains into the river of human blood flowing to Alucard. Alucard inadvertently absorbs his soul as he drinks, and when he does, The Major claims that Alucard has lost. The vampire arrogantly mocks him for saying so, but as he does, he sees the sun rise. As he gazes at it, he recalls that whenever he thought he was about to die, he saw the sun rise in just the same manner. This time however, for some reason, it seems more beautiful to him than ever before, and he starts to disappear as the Major explains to Integra what is happening. He explains that as long as Schrödinger can recognize himself, he exists everywhere and nowhere; but because he is absorbed by Alucard, he became a part of Alucard and was thus no longer a separate entity that could recognize itself. Thus, Alucard, now containing Schrödinger, can no longer stay in phase with the rest of reality and is becoming "a set of imaginary numbers", existing on some level but not in reality. Integra shouts an order at Alucard not to disappear, but as his numerous eyes continue to close, he tells Integra that there is nothing he can do, and bids her farewell as he closes his final two eyes. All that is left is a bloodstained Hellsing pentagram in one of the cobblestones in the street.

In the final chapter, Alucard re-appears in Integra's bedroom after a 30 year absence. He approaches a sleeping Integra and leans down, apparently with the intention of biting her. Before he can do so however, Integra wakes up and unloads a handgun into him, knocking him to the floor. The commotion alerts Seras, who kicks open the bedroom door and turns on the lights. The two women find themselves staring at Alucard, who is sitting up against the wall regenerating. Integra, now as an old woman, asks him to explain what he was doing this whole time, and he tells her that he was killing his own lives except for one so that he could exist with Schrodinger's powers. She asks him if he is hungry, to which he responds that, after 30 years of not eating anything, of course he is. When Integra regretfully comments on how old she is now, Alucard simply tells her that it is fine with him. She then smiles, bites her finger, and gives him a drop of blood as Alucard, having finally earned his right to immortality, licks.

Powers and abilities
Alucard demonstrates, in various incarnations of the series, an astonishing and overwhelming range of supernatural attributes; these include, but are probably not limited to:
 *  Immortality : This ability is rather ambiguous, as Alucard, himself has stated that immortality is a myth. However, what it most likely refers to is the human souls inside Alucard; it has been speculated that, when damaged by blow that would have killed or incapacitated him such as exceedingly holy weapons, the damage is instead directed to his reservoir of souls. Because this ability does not really grant him true immortality, it can be considered as pseudo-immortality. However, after "Monster of God" Anderson destroyed the rest of Level 0, Alucard was still able to regenerate on par with him. (This was on par with Alucard before releasing Level 0).  However, the "soul count" theory is just a fan theory, and has never been definitively proven. It was also speculated by Anderson that this was the reason for him not being able to kill Alucard. Alucard may have kept at least a few souls in his body to use for regeneration after releasing level 0.
 *  Advanced Regeneration : Alucard's ability to regenerate is considerably greater than any other vampire's. He has regenerated from a pool of blood and from being decapitated, blown to shreds by gunfire, incinerated completely, etc. When damaged to an extreme extent, his body simply turns into a shadow-like substance and reconstitutes. Exceedingly holy weapons have been shown to incapacitate him for a time, but even Anderson, augmented with Helena's Nail. could do no long term harm to him. While regenerating against Anderson, he became a shadow entity at one point.
 *  Superhuman Accuracy : Alucard has been known to hit targets at great range using handguns while looking the other way. He does this by using his so-called 'third eye'.
 *  Superhuman Strength : The extent is unknown, but Alucard can physically rip humans and vampires apart with ease. He can slice through Tubalcain's cards (which are sharp and strong enough to easily cut through a uranium shell moving at high speed, without the slightest damage done to the cards themselves). With just his bare hand, he was able to stab through Alexander Anderson, infused with the Nail of Helena, in the heart and kill him while the Casull did not have noticable impact on a human Anderson.
 *  Superhuman Speed : He can move faster than the eye can see, such as when he seemingly appeared to be a glint of light like artificial vampires have shown in his fight with Tubalcain. He's fast enough to keep up with a vampirized Walter Dornez, who was shown to be able to outpace bullets from machine guns when he was human.
 * Superhuman Reflexes : He has demonstrated the ability to catch bullets (both Rip Van Winkle's and ordinary ones). He easily caught Rip Van Winkle's magic bullet with his teeth (the same bullet which punctured a SR-71 moving down at Mach 3.2 speed several times in rapid succession and intercepted multiple missiles).
 *  Intangibility : The ability to pass through solid objects.
 *  Superhuman Agility : The ability to defy gravity to an uncertain limit. He is also seen leaping impossible distances and can walk up vertical surfaces.
 *  Shadow Manipulation : Manipulation of shadows into physical form, which he can then use however he wishes.
 *  Shape-shifting : Alucard can transform himself or parts of himself into bats, insects, snakes, hellhounds, other human forms including a little girl, an amorphous mass of darkness, and many other forms. Alucard has four known human forms, each with different characteristics and weapons. He also states that his form means nothing and that he can take any form that he chooses.
 *  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.
 * Illusions : The ability to cast illusions, such as when he tricked Walter into seeing Luke Valentine as himself.
 *  Teleportation : The ability to disappear and reappear somewhere else. He also has the ability to levitate.
 *  Telekinesis : In the manga, Alucard uses telekinesis to close a door on a fleeing SWAT officer. He also launched six SWAT officers into the air and guided them to flag poles where they were impaled. Alucard is later seen moving a broken down air-craft carrier from the Gulf of Italy to the Dover of London all in a little less than 40 minutes.
 *  Telepathy : Alucard can speak telepathically to his fledgling, [[.
 *  Mind Reading 
 *  Mind Control and Hypnosis : (fans sometimes call it the "Love Beam" after a remark from Pip).
 * Precognition : As a standard for a vampire, he has precognition, the ability to see into the immediate future, which allows him to predict the movements of the humans he's fighting. According to Pip, a vampire can easily dodge a bullet with their ability to predict human movements.
 *  Summoning : The ability to summon familiars, the souls of those whose blood he has sucked in a variety of forms that either sprout from his body or swarm around him as an army numbering in the millions. These familiars can also include animals such as horses and the weapons and abilities that the familiars possessed in life, but Alucard can only use this ability when Control Art Restriction System Level Zero is released. The familiars can come in two ways, one is similar to a ghoul, mindless and constantly moaning in pain, while the other is the soul manifesting exactly how it was when it was alive, personality, powers, and all. It's unknown if vampires have control of how they want their familiars to manifest, or if the soul loses its personality traits (although the former seems more likely).
 *  Bloodsucking : The ability to suck a person's blood and absorb their soul and, consequently, their knowledge and memories. (He learns more about Millennium after absorbing Tubalcain). He can also absorb blood through his clothes and skin, as he does with Luke Valentine's blood after his hell hound had eaten Luke's body. Alucard can draw in blood over vast distances (at least throughout the city of London).
 *  Hibernation : Alucard is able to survive long periods of time without consuming blood, but is able to fight at a usual level of strength after drinking even the smallest bit of blood.
 *  Immunity to Vampiric Weaknesses : His abilities and health are not in any way compromised by such things as sunlight or silver. In fact, it appears that the only weapons capable of harming him to any real extent are the most holy of Christian artifacts, such as Father Anderson after augmenting his abilities with Helena's Nail (a nail, which was from the True Cross, which crucified Jesus Christ, and was blessed in his blood) but even that did no permanent, or even lasting, damage.
 *  Supernatural Sense : 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).
 *  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.
 *  Omnipresence : At the end of the series, Alucard has acquired Schrödinger's quantum reality manipulation powers after absorbing him during the Millennium incident. This grants him the ability to exist wherever and however he wishes to. He can also exist in multiple places at once using this power, and he can appear in astral realms (being physically present in a person's mind for example). It also makes him completely immortal;   any alterations to his person by outside forces can simply be imagined away, including fatal injuries.
 * 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). Maybe by some process the Hellsing Organization made advantage of the terrifying amount of the souls restored in Alucard, 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 seem to know much about Alucard's release states. It's possible that Alucard may have not had this ability during 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 theory 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.)

In connection with this, it seems like that Alucard can't (or simply chooses not to) turn his same-sex male/non virgin victims to "walking" ghouls like other vampires. All the same-sex male/non virgin victims are restored as devoured souls, but they can be summoned on the battlefield. It's possible that a soul is taken in by a vampire only when the victim is allegible to be a ghoul, and that the vampire is required to order the ghoul to "rise", which Alucard may simply not want to do. The other possibility is that the ghoul-making ability of the Millennium's vampires is a weakened form of this soul restoration; they can't store the souls like their exemplar, Alucard, but they can use the zombified victims in combat. (This theory can be true for other vampires as well, if Alucard was the first vampire walking on the Earth.)

Weapons
Alucard is an exceedingly lethal combatant even when unarmed, due to his extensive supernatural abilities and strength, but he also uses various weapons in battle. These have included swords, machine guns, and traditional vampire-slaying tools such as stakes and crosses. Additionally, Alucard has two signature weapons, a pair of over-sized and overpowered handguns named the .454 Casull and the Jackal. In Hellsing: The Dawn, he wielded a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun. The ammunition for Alucard's Casull appear to be hollow point rounds, giving them even more stopping power.

Release States
There are shown to be six levels of restriction and six corresponding states, with lower numbers meaning greater levels of power. Under certain circumstances, Alucard can release some of his greater powers himself; a component of his restriction system called the "Cromwell Approval" seems to influence this. In the Gonzo anime's 8th episode, Integra is shown giving him permission to release to level one, the state where he is in a red version of the black straitjacket like garb he is shown in when Integra finds him in her youth.

Alucard is shown to be wearing a black leather jumper when he is at the Level One release state. Alucard 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. In the manga, Integra requests that Alucard's restriction system be released to Level Zero, the lowest level, allowing him full access to his most devastating powers. It is clear in the Gonzo series that Integra herself is in control of Alucard's release states, but in the manga she appears to have no physical control over his powers. Instead, a given release state appears to simply be an order like any other she might give:

"Releasing Control Art Restriction Systems three...two...one, 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 long sword. However, he quickly returned to his normal form when confronted by Anderson. The gigantic amount of armies that accompanied him in this state, along with the souls of every single person he has ever drank the blood of, accompanies this form as well.

It is debated whether his younger form shown in The Dawn is a 'state of release'. Some fans claim that the Hellsing family suppressed Alucard's powers, sealing them away into a much smaller body, in order to conduct scientific experiments on him, eventually making him into the vampire that he is in the manga. Others say that he chose this form on his own accord, simply because he can take any form that he likes. In a flashback scene in Volume 4 of the Hellsing manga, we can see the young Walter alongside an adult Alucard after the destruction of the Nazi vampire research program. In volume 9, in his 'Girlycard' form, Alucard also admits "There's never any meaning in the form that I take". This could indicate that Alucard's appearance is controlled primarily by himself. Also, in Hellsing: The Dawn, chapter 5, Alucard states, "You must find it entertaining, I can change my shape into anything. The particular form I take...it means nothing to me."

To sum it up, the release states are not just the markers of Alucard's growing powers, they also has an affect 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 just to finish his vampire victims by impaling them.

In his level one form, he usually wears the black leather jumper/coat seen on him right before Integra released the vampire from his captivity in the basement of Hellsing HQ. This form seems to be his most powerful one, since he used it against Luke Valentine (assuming that he was a very powerful opponent), Tubalcain Alhambra (whose powers amused Alucard), Alexander Anderson (when the priest was enforced with Helena's Nail) and the vampirized Walter. In this form, the vampire seems to prefer fighting in hand-to-hand combat, however, he can also use firearms. It is also likely that he only can summon the hound dog Baskerville in this release state.



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 45, 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, Jack Seward, 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.

Most of these revelations are not present in Gonzo's TV series. However, the final episode does feature a visual reference to Vlad Ţepeş, and Alucard refers to his name as being "a bit of an enigma" when speaking to Incognito before they fight. There are few obvious references to the character of Count Dracula. Also in the last few minutes of the anime's last episode Incognito is impaled. Impaling his enemies from groin to mouth was common practice for Vlad III The Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş, also known as Dracula). Additionally, upon Incognito's defeat, a close-up is seen of Alucard with half his face shrouded in shadow. When lightning flashes, the other half of his face is revealed to be that of the Impaler.

Historically, Vlad Ţepeş was responsible for the deaths of between 40,000 and 100,000 of his enemies and his own subjects during his reign as the monarch of Wallachia (a major portion of what is now present-day Romania). He was reputed to take an extreme sadistic pleasure in torturing and executing, particularly by impalement. For tortuing people by impalement, it is alleged that he learned how to have his victims placed so that the pikes, spears, or other shafts on which he 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, he would be able to keep impaled victims 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. This is paralleled by one of the end scenes from the final episode of the TV anime, where Alucard leaves Incognito's corpse-- impaled from groin to mouth-- hanging from the top of the tower.

Vlad was also known for slaughtering his own people simply to avoid war. When the Ottoman army attempted to invade Wallachia in the early 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 obsession with impalement was the means 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 prisoners of war 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.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese Dub: Nakata Jouji
 * English Dub: Crispin Freeman
 * Italian Dub: Riccardo Peroni(Anime), Lorenzo Scarrotin(OVA)

Trivia

 * Below the star on Alucard's glove it has the German words, "Gott Mit Uns". Translated to "God With Us"
 * In the original fan-translation of the Hellsing Volume 2, the translators incorrectly translated Walter's line referring to the Jackal, making him call it the "Joshua" even though the Katakana reads "KASURU", which would be the correct Katakana for "Casull". Since then, many fans have perpetuated the name, so much so that ADV (the Official European Distributor for the TV Series) called it "Joshua" on their Official Website, the Special Features, and the booklets on their DVD release. Regardless, this name is incorrect as it never appears in the Original Japanese version of either the Manga, TV series, or OVA, or any official Translations of Hellsing, not even ADV's, as they use Geneon's dub and subtitles.
 * 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 2, and the one in OVA 8 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.
 * In many of the sequences after Alucard receives it with 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). This clearly is an error on Hirano's part, as anyone with as much experience using guns as Alucard would know to face the case ejectors outwards; in the OVAs, this is exactly the case.
 * 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.
 * Alucard's red attire, arrogant nature, position as a hunter of demonic forces despite being a none-true human being himself and his trait of dual-wielding two unique pistols (one black, one white/silver) makes him similar to the Capcom Devil May Cry main hero Dante.
 * Hirano has admitted he drew inspiration for Alucard's appearance off of Vash the Stampede from the manga and anime series Trigun (with 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.
 * In some scenes of the manga, the pentagram on Alucard's gloves changes to a hexagram or sometimes disappears entirely.
 * Alucard's name is Dracula spelled backwards.
 * 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 about Vlad the Impaler's time and is also said to have known the formula to create the Philosopher's Stone.
 * Oddly during the final episode of the anime, during the brief moment when it shows half of Alucard's face as that of Vlad Tepes, his skin is paler than that of his vampiric self, despite this form being able to go out in the sun.
 * It is implied that Alucard might not ever truly be defeated. He is unable to die or be destroyed, but he can allow himself to enter a state of rest and peace, a "brief respite between [his] dreams", once he thinks he has found a strong willed mortal, worthy of being his opponent. After he tests his opponents and finds them worthy, he is comforted to see that humanity still persists and assumes his self-perceived place, as a "monster to be brought down by humans".
 * 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.

Forms

 * The first form Alucard had in 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 Dandy Man, when he attempted to board the Eagle and succeeded, when he finally killed Anderson, and in his fight with Walter.
 * In World War 2 when he arrived in Warsaw, Alucard took on the form of a 14 year old girl, known as "Girlycard". Although he changed his looks, Alucard didn't change his voice (at least not in the Japanese voice-over). 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.
 * When Alucard was sent by Integra Hellsing to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with Seras Victoria and Pip Bernadotte, he changed his form to what seemed to be a business man. 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.
 * Alucard is Count Dracula, the King Of Vampires and the first vampire in existence, which means when he was human he was originally Vlad The Impaler, a 3 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 (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)
 * Alucard'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 in through 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 after 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 "Girlycard" form, 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 half way through his second fight with Anderson, right after leaving his "Original" Vlad form. Interestingly enough, when he regenerates, so does his clothing.
 * In the 1st volume of the manga, Alucard wore a full-length trench coat that could be buttoned to cover most of his face just below eye-level. However, after receiving much criticism from readers saying he had too many resemblances to other characters outside Hellsing (Vash The Stampede in particular), Kouta Hirano redesigned Alucard with his current design.