Seras Victoria

Seras Victoria (セラス・ヴィクトリア,) is one of the three main protagonists of the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano, alongside Alucard and Sir Integra. In both adaptations of Hellsing, she is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa in the Japanese sub and K.T. Gray in the English dub.

Seras was turned into a vampire by Alucard to save her from a would-be fatal gunshot wound in the chest, that he also caused while shooting the Pastor. From that point, she assists the Hellsing Organisation against the increased vampire attacks. Seras is a Draculina, a term used to refer to the female members of the Dracul bloodline, since she has been turned into a vampire by Alucard.

Appearance
Seras is initially an attractive young woman with blonde hair cut into a flare cut and blue eyes. Occasionally, her eyes assumed a red hue in moments of extreme rage or vampiric bloodlust. She had a fairly broad-shouldered torso, yet maintained a very voluptuous and buxom figure, which was further accentuated by the fact that she is considerably shorter than virtually all of her allies. Before becoming a fully-fledged vampire, she usually wore a yellow Hellsing uniform with a matching mini skirt, long white stockings, ankle fold brown boots, and brown gloves. Occasionally, her eyes assumed a red hue in moments of extreme rage or vampiric bloodlust.

As a fully-fledged vampire, her hair lightened to an almost platinum blonde color, and her eyes became permanently red. She continued to wear a uniform of the exact same style as before, but colored burgundy red instead of a yellow. Due to her obtained immortality, she now remains in her looks back in 1999. Upon fully embracing vampirism, nothing changed about her overall figure with the notable exception of her left arm. After losing the original one to Zorin Blitz, it was replaced by a mass of writhing black and orange shadowy matter that initially manifested as a whip-like set of tendrils. Shortly after transforming, however, she learned how to mold the shadow matter into the shape of her original arm. While the inking in the black-and-white manga of Seras' outfit is dark, in illustrations, the color of Seras' outfit remains the same as it as before the transformation into a full-fledged vampire in the manga.

Personality
Seras is a strong-willed woman and apparently had always been since childhood which is confirmed through her flashbacks. Seras is often considered a tomboy; a very brave, strong, and heroic young woman who, while exhibiting a wild temperament, is not afraid to question the orders of her master if they cross with her personal beliefs. Her devotion to morals and integrity is rather unusual, considering her horrid past. However, she is a loyal and trustworthy soldier who will diligently follow the orders of her commander, provided said commander has proven his or her worth.

Her level of maturity in comparison to the other characters is somewhat questionable; she seems to be the child the others could not be, yet possessing a sort of worldly maturity and superficial intelligence that most other characters lack, as well as a sort of 'nurture winning against nature' mentality, as opposed to most other characters. She's the "light that stands out from the darkness" (as stated by Kohta Hirano in an interview). Her past also mentioned that she was in trouble for attacking multiple kids at an orphanage she lived in as a child, so her childish behavior was a bit unexpected.

Her struggles to drink blood before she became a full-fledged vampire were also integral to her character development; before she drank Bernadotte's blood, she was a timid - yet, brave woman who was caught in an unfortunate accident where she would have to deal with the fact that she's no longer human, which, Seras definitely took a long time to accept. Eventually, she does accept it. However, it was because she was mad that Zorin Blitz had killed her lover in front of her, and insulted him right after, which sent Seras into madness. Also, her "berserk mode" is a very recognizable part of her -where her eyes turn from blue to red in an instant, and she's anything but the timid girl she used to be. It is then that her true strength as a vampire is shown, as she was able to kill multiple ghouls in an instant. However, she regretted it shortly after she woke up, realizing what she had done.

Seras also has a fear of losing more friends, which led to some pretty hasty decisions made by her, such as those involved in the Zorin Blitz fight. Upset and angered that Zorin's army of vampiric Nazi soldiers were chewing the Wild Geese, which she considers her friends, she brutally kills them and then goes totally blind with anger which Zorin uses to her advantage. Seras later was blinded by Zorin's scythe, finding that she is unable to regenerate her injuries due to having no soul inside her. When Jan turned all of the Hellsing Organisation Special Military Forces' members into ghouls, Seras' PTSD was triggered, reminding her of her D-11 team she had when she was still working with the London Police Department. She recalled how they had been turned into ghouls by the Pastor, which led to her freezing, letting them surround her as she couldn't bear the guilt of having killed one of her own. She lost control, killing all of the Hellsing members turned who turned into ghouls. She immediately felt regret after snapping out of it.

Allies

 * Pip Vernedead: Seras and Pip first meet after Walter hires professional mercenaries to fill in for the soldiers that had been killed during the Valentine Brothers' attack. Seras takes great annoyance when Pip calls her a "freak" and with great ease, takes down the target with a rifle. Her victory is short-lived when Pip points out that she had killed the "innocents" as well as the targets with her shot. Shortly afterward, Seras bursts into Alucard and Walter's conversation, complaining that Pip and the other mercenaries were "sexually harassing" her by singing a dirty song. TBC


 * Alucard: TBA


 * Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing: The two main heroines interact very well. Seras expresses great loyalty towards Integra and the two form a friendship that transcends the master and slave relationship that Integra has with Alucard. Seras joins Walter, Arthur Hellsing, and Sir Penwood as characters Integra can trust and openly show affection towards. Integra embraced Seras, pleading her to stop after she mercilessly attacked the Hellsing Military ghouls in a fit of rage rather than shouting at her head-on to stop. When Seras regains herself, she too is horrified by her actions. When Integra is ordered to kill the remaining ghouls, Seras expresses great sadness for her. Seras stays with Integra during the thirty years transitional period in the manga, where the two have grown even closer as companions. Seras teases Integra in a similar fashion that Alucard used to tease her, and Integra confesses some insecurities about her aging appearance. Still, once Seras senses that Integra is in danger, she was at her side in a moment's time. Her heroism is cut short when she realizes Alucard has returned.

Enemies

 * Zorin Blitz: TBA


 * Walter C. Dornez: Walter was highly respected by Seras and was also her mentor as an elder. Despite Walter becoming a traitor, Seras and Walter still genuinely care for each other and he was taken aback by her gratitude for him as the butler of Hellsing as they wished each other to take care in their final words of exchange despite officially being friends no longer. When Integra told Seras that Walter had passed away, Seras expressed sadness on her face.


 * The Captain: TBA


 * Heinkel Wulf: Seras and Heinkel formed a rivalry against each other much like their mentors Alucard and Anderson did. Seras became a full-fledged vampire and Heinkel a regenerator. Heinkel's silhouette can be seen standing in the background 30 years after The Major's attack on London.


 * Schrödinger: Seras has not interacted very much with Schrödinger at all, though she did seem rather embarrassed by Schrödinger greeting her during the meeting with the Queen. Mostly because he kept awkwardly staring at her.

Fledgling

 * Peak-Human Strength: As a former police officer, Seras is well-trained in hand-to-hand combat and can easily take down opponents using a combination of brute strength and technique, as in the case of Jan Valentine. Specifically, she put the vampire in a hold, preventing him from moving, despite his strength. She demonstrates some maneuvers and attacks, such as kicks and karate chops, that suggest that she is taught in some kind of martial art. Under extreme stress, she can go into a berserk rage and destroy a few dozen ghouls in mere seconds, as seen during the Valentine brothers' attack. Despite having a slight frame and little weight, she has phenomenal lifting strength and load-bearing abilities, but her limbs come under none of the normal strain from heavy weaponry worth several hundred pounds, and such objects do not crumble when carried. Furthermore, extremely high-recoil and normally turret-fixed weapons like the Hallconnen I and Hallconnen II afford no such problems to Seras, even though powerful muscles would afford her little help without a strong footing.
 * Peak-Human Speed: Seras can move and react at superhuman speeds, flicking Pip Vernedead before he could react, and more notably, despite being weighed down by part of the Hallconnen I, she was able to attack and kill a group of Millennium vampires.
 * Third Eye: This clairvoyant-like sense lets her penetrate illusions and see things from afar as well. This ability also gives her superhuman accuracy, as she was able to snipe Zorin Blitz from more than 600 meters away with pinpoint aim.
 * Regeneration: She has the regenerative ability of an average vampire. Her limit was seen when Zorin cut her eyes and chopped her arm off, which she was not able to regenerate from until after she drank Pip's blood.
 * Soul Absorption: A basic vampire ability. By draining a person of their blood, Seras gains dominance over their souls and inherits their memories and minds as they fuse together.

True Vampire
After being fatally wounded by Zorin's scythe, Pip tells Seras, who was blinded and crippled, to drink his blood so they can win together. She drains him of his blood and becomes one of the "true undead." Her transformation was completed upon her truly embracing her vampiric nature and enhanced her abilities while giving her access to higher-level powers; subsequent souls would thus serve only to increase her overall power level and regenerative abilities without changing the nature of her powers. Her severed left arm is restored as the same type of shadow-matter that Alucard can manipulate, and all of her abilities skyrocketed. It seems that upon becoming a full vampire, Seras has inherited some of Alucard's powers, and perhaps whatever modifications Hellsing had made to him as well. This is a manner consistent with vampire lore in popular culture.

After drinking Pip's blood, Seras displays a few changes. Not only are her powers enhanced, but it is also evident that she is no longer afraid to use them. Some of Pip's self-confidence seems to have rubbed off: after descending upon an armed party of Iscariot soldiers who are about to kill Integra, Alexander Anderson notes her change, declaring her an unholy creature. Seras, in response, calmly smiles and says that she's "not afraid of anything anymore", although she was shown to cower in fear when she fought against The Captain's werewolf form. In Chapter 85, Pip's spirit speaks to a wounded Seras after an assault from the Captain.

Anderson seems to regard her as a true Nosferatu who still conceals herself in human visage, and The Major calls her 'one of the fighters in the final tragedy of Walpurgisnacht'.


 * Superhuman Strength: She was able to easily demolish an entire squad of Millennium vampires with her bare hands in mere seconds. She was also strong enough to punch off The Captain’s arms when their fists collided, although it blew off her arms as well.
 * Superhuman Speed: Her speed skyrocketed after drinking Pip’s blood. She could easily dodge automatic gunfire from artificial vampires in a narrow hallway, while at the same time ripping them apart before they could react. Even Zorin could not handle her speed. Later on, she could keep up with The Captain’s human form on equal footing.
 * Superhuman Endurance: Seras survived getting slammed by The Captain in his fully transformed werewolf form, and from crashing down head-first to the main hanger from the zeppelin’s upper floors. Despite all this damage, she was able to get back up to dodge The Captain’s kick before she even began regenerating.
 * Enhanced Regeneration: Like Alucard, Seras has shown that she possesses the ability to rapidly recover from serious injuries within moments of receiving them. Immediately after becoming a full vampire, Seras was able to completely regenerate her damaged eyeballs that were previously slashed by Zorin's scythe. Later, during a battle with the Captain, the two traded blows powerful enough to almost completely destroyed each other's limbs. After Seras emerged victorious, her limbs were shown to have completely recovered to their undamaged state almost instantaneously. Curiously, although she was able to immediately regenerate her damaged eyes after completing her transformation, she never regenerated her severed left arm, having it permanently replaced by the shape-shifting shadow matter. It has never been addressed whether Seras was incapable of restoring the limb to its original organic form, or if she simply chooses not to regenerate it.
 * Enhanced Third Eye: She was able to dispel Zorin's illusionary magic at point-blank with a thought. (Zorin saw a mixed series of memories, memories contained within the minds of both Pip and Seras before Seras grabbed her and subsequently killed her.)
 * Enhanced Vampiric Resistance: Like Alucard, Seras rid herself of some vampiric weaknesses. Prior to drinking Pip's blood, Seras could not walk in the sun without a hooded jacket and overcast skies. However, after she does, she is able to stand in the sunlight and has a shadow, as depicted in Chapter 73. She was also able to resist the Nail of Helena’s holy vines and flames for a short period of time, and healed from the damage they inflicted.
 * Familiar Control: Seras can manifest Pip's soul as a dark servant called a familiar, from which she can coordinate with Pip in combat, with the latter giving her tactical guidance. She can also materialize Pip into the physical world, such as when he appeared to give The Captain a fatal blow.
 * Dark Composition: Seras’ amputated arm becomes a limb made of shadow matter, which she can manipulate in a versatile manner. This shadow arm can be solidified in order for her to be able to wield two guns at once, and in Chapter 85 it is shown that she can turn them into normal shadows, which snake along the ground similar to Zorin Blitz's tattoos and form them into sharp spikes for lethal attacks, potent enough to pierce through The Captain when Walter’s wires couldn’t. She herself turned the shadowy matter after The Captain fired a few bullets into her head, rendering the attacks ineffective and forcing The Captain to back away with her spikes. She was also able to use it as a non-lethal weapon against Iscariot. This becomes Seras’s main weapon of choice. 30 years after the Millennium incident, she has such control over her shadow matter that she can mimic Alucard's entire outfit by transforming it. She also covered the entire mansion with her shadow, in some kind of makeshift surveillance system, although it was with Pip's sentience, complaining loudly when Makube demonstrated his presence by ripping the wallpaper.
 * Flight: After she kills Zorin, Seras uses her shadow arm to make a bat-like wing. allowing her to fly to London at high speed.  In addition, her wings do not flap. Instead, she soars much like a bullet. She also used this ability to escape the Hindenburg II as it was blowing up.

Name
Seras' first name has many different variations, with "Ceres" being the most common one. However, there are some like "Celas" and "Selas". Also, "Ceres" is the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherly relationship. The "fertility" part is emphasized in her rather large assets, and "motherly relationship" is symbolized in her sweet, motherly personality. Furthermore, the Greek counterpart to Ceres is Demeter, the namesake of the Russian ship Dracula rides to Whitby in Bram Stoker's novel after he kills everyone on board. As he does with the Adler/HMS Eagle in the Thames, he jumps off the bow of the ship when it runs aground.


 * "Serás Victoria" in Spanish literally translates to "You will be victory". This is possibly a reference to the numerous themes of victory and defeat throughout the series.
 * On a side note, Seras' name is similar to 'Seraphim'; a six winged angel associated with light and purity.

Trivia

 * Seras' signature weapons, Hallconnen and Hallconnen II, are named after the main antagonist of Frank Herbert's novel Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. This is further reinforced by the appearance of the gun's "spirit" during dream sequences in the manga (and thus OVA) and episode previews in the anime, who bears a strong resemblance to Baron Hallconnen from David Lynch's film adaptation of the book.
 * A character similar to Seras was present in Hirano's earlier work, Hellsing: The Legends of a Vampire Hunter, called Yuri Kate, an employee of the Hellsing Organisation. She was assaulted and turned into a vampire by prototype versions Luke Valentine and Jan Valentine and rescued by a prototype of Alucard.
 * In the first anime, Seras refuses to drink blood until the vampire snuff film case; afterward, she regularly drank blood to keep up strength. All without any further change to her personality and appearance.