Alexander Anderson (anime)

"Our mission is t' punish any heretic who would deny the word of God! We will crush yer unholy body and salt th' earth w' yer dust! Amen!"

- Alexander Anderson

Alexander Anderson (アレクサンド・アンデルセン) is a Vatican priest and agent of Iscariot.

Alexander is the Iscariot, or Vatican Section XIII's trump card. As Iscariot's ultimate weapon in the fight against the undead, he's a specialized human, being called a "Regenerator". With regenerative capabilities and a variety of holy weapons (including his signature blessed bayonets), his mission is nothing less than the complete destruction of all the demons of Hell. As this includes many of Hellsing's subordinates, Anderson is one of Alucard's greatest foes.

In the English dub of the Anime and OVA, he is portrayed as having a Scottish accent, and voiced by Steven Brand in the dub, and by Nachi Nozawa in the sub.

Physical
Father Alexander Anderson has short, spiky gold hair, green eyes, brown/tanned skin, a defined squared jaw, and light facial hair. He also has a large, wedge-shaped scar on his left cheek. he was depicted with prominent, sharp canines, possibly to heighten his resemblance to a vampire and make him a symbolic counterpart to Alucard, the "tame monster" of the Hellsing Organization. He is shown to be an imposing middle-aged man along as lean with broad shoulders and very tall, being slightly taller than or as tall as Alucard.

Clothing
He wears a circular wire-rimmed glasses (which later got destroyed in episode 7, but later came back in episode 13), a large white cassock which has purple trim, white pants, grey boots, a white shirt, white gloves, and a silver cross around his neck. On his gloves, there are inscriptions written across the crosses drawn on the back:


 * For the right hand, Jesus Christ is in Heaven
 * For the left hand, Speak with Dead (later changed to Speak with the Dead)

Personality
Alexander Anderson normally appears as a calm and collected priest. During battles, however, he reveals a darker side. He has an obsession for his "crusade" and compulsively quotes passages of the Holy Bible as he speaks, and also kills anyone who dares to get in his way, including humans such as; Gareth Henderson and multiple of Mason Fox's soldiers in episode 7. Alucard, in this version, refers to Anderson as a "dog of the Church" and is neither human nor monster. However, Alexander manages to impress Alucard because he never gave up even when both of his arms was blown off and still tries to kill him, which was probably the reason he spared him; He wants him to grow stronger and slightly sees him as a worthy opponent.

However, he does has a kind side. As a priest, when not fighting vampires, Alexander is kind, even strangers respect him, such as the woman who greeted him when he's leaving the train, to which, Anderson responds kindly with "God be with you, my child" with a smile in his face -the same line was also said to a woman that looks like a prostitute.

Beliefs
Alexander Anderson is an ardent Catholic. He is extremely determined to achieve his end, usually by whatever means necessary. His words and his constant quoting of scripture indicate a clear, almost fanatical obedience towards "the word of God". and, like Maxwell, displayed an immense hatred for Protestants. In the third episode of Hellsing, some of Anderson's statements heavily imply a fanatical hatred for all non-Believers. Anderson resents England's control over Northern Ireland, which he believes is Catholic territory, and states it is his mission to kill unbelievers.

Paladin Alexander Anderson's actions are vaguely relativist. He ignores his true mission, and instead focuses on the basic requirements of his crusade; thus, attacking Seras Victoria, Alucard and killing Captain Gareth of the Hellsing Organization, though Gareth was a human being and attempting to exterminate the same target as Alexander Anderson. While his orders from Iscariot specified the extermination of a single rogue vampire, he engages in combat with Alucard as well.

Enrico Maxwell
Though never interacted, at least on-screen, it can be assumed that Alexander is at least loyal to him, unlike in the OVA where he ends up killing Maxwell.

Alucard
Alexander, in this version, despises Alucard. He stated that even if vampires such as Alucard and Seras, even though they're allies with human and hunts down their own kind, they're still nothing but corrupted inhuman monsters. He states that it is his mission to rid the world of vampires, like Alucard. He insults Alucard for being inhuman; Ironically, Alexander is a Regenerator, which Alucard has pointed out; "you're less than inhuman, a pitiful defect, a failed science project.", to which, Anderson defends himself by saying that this technology is god's divine gift.

However, Alucard's actions in episode 7, is quite interesting; he chose to not kill Alexander when he had the chance to do it. The reason is not clear, but Alucard said that he had enough. Alucard thinks that Regenerators are not monsters, but they're not humans too; therefore, Regenerators like Anderson - is not allowed to kill him, only a human can do that.

Alucard reminds Anderson about the vampire he was fighting when he was still a human, in which, he points a gun at his own mouth, to not become a vampire, or a ghoul.

Seras Victoria
Though the two only interacted in episode 3, Alexander despises her; he condemns her, even though she's working with humans, to eliminate her own kind. Seras absolutely hates him, due to his actions on killing Gareth Henderson, who was one of the few people that was very kind to her.

The Hellsing Organization
Alexander despises them, Alexander doesn't care if they're human, this is shown when he carelessly kills Hellsing's Commander even if he's a human and multiple of Mason Fox's soldiers. Alexander also thinks that the Hellsing Organization is ants compared to the Vatican and this hatred for the Hellsing Organization also includes its current head; Sir Integra, who he threatens in episode 3.

Overview
As Iscariot's "trump card", he is the single greatest warrior the Vatican can bring to bear. Anderson possesses extraordinary strength, speed, senses, balance, coordination, and stamina, far above what is considered normal for a human. It is unknown if these abilities are a result of artificial, biotechnological enhancement or a combination of his natural skill and fighting experience.

Strength

 * Dongle.gifSuperhuman Strength: With his immense strength, he can slice a train in half using his 2 bayonets only with ease.
 * Superhuman Speed and Reactions: His reflexes are sufficient to allow him to react to bullets, although he prefers to take them head-on thanks to his regeneration.
 * Andersonbullets.pngSuperhuman Durability and Endurance: Enhanced by his regeneration, Anderson is very durable. He effortlessly shrugged off shots from a dozen automatic rifles (none of which pierced through his flesh), while Alucard has often been ripped apart by such weaponry, as well as from Alucard’s Casull - even a point-blank bullet was lodged in his skull and he was hit 2 times with the Casull in the torso. He could take several blows from Alucard who can easily tear apart human soldiers and vampires with single strikes and Anderson’s incredible endurance allowed him to keep run straight to Alucard even while having two of his arms shot off by The Jackal from Alucard.

Abilites

 * Alexanderregenerator.pngRegeneration: Father Anderson is a "Regenerator," meaning that he is able to restore body parts that are lost and heal himself. This is clearly demonstrated in episode 3; Alucard's bullet enters Anderson's head, but he recovers quickly and appears unscathed. This has raised some confusion over why Anderson retains the scar on his left cheek. The most likely explanation is that he received the scar before he received his regeneration ability (he was also shown in a flashback in the episode 7 with the scar, further proof of this). Thanks to his healing, Anderson is very durable. He is able to shrug off automatic-gunfire and even Alucard's explosive silver bullets with ease. Anderson claims that his ability is "the divine gift of God," but later states that it is due to "man's technology.", Alucard states that Anderson is less than human and a "failed science experiment." Though much stronger than the regeneration of average vampires, Anderson's healing is not without its limits. Using the Jackal, which was specifically designed for use against strong Regenerators like Anderson. during a battle in a subway. Alucard shoots off both of Anderson's arms with the Jackal and they don't regenerate (or regenerates much slower than usual). Anderson is forced to flee, and he is not seen again until the final episode where he is in a crowd watching Alucard fight Incognito. At this point, his arms have been restored.
 * AlexanderbayonetsAnime.pngBayonet Mastery: Alexander Anderson uses scores of blessed bayonets presumably made of silver. The blessed nature of the bayonets can sting vampires and negate their regeneration. He skillfully wields the bayonets with great dexterity in close-combat like swords and can also throw them with extreme accuracy (especially considering that he often throws the bayonets in large numbers, usually holding them between his fingers). The type of he uses most appear to be Austrian sword bayonets, with custom hand grips for an easier hold. In episode 7, it is shown that The Jackal is capable of shattering the Blessed Bayonets. In the same episode, Alexander uses his Bayonets to slice a train in half.
 * Scripture Manipulation: Anderson can summon a horde of scripture pages and use them for a variety of purposes:
 * Holy Barriers: Anderson can affix scriptures pages onto the walls of a building to erect a barrier to ward off vampires. Specifically, Seras was blocked from escaping as if there was a physical wall. In episode 3, Anderson can use the scriptures to purify the house and prevent the use of black magic.
 * Transportation: Anderson can use Bible pages to seemingly teleport. He used this to flee his fight with Alucard in the subway fight after having his arms shot off.
 * Ensnaring: Anderson was shown to use Bible pages in order to trap Alucard. Specifically, he used them to entangle Alucard's arms before slicing his head off.

Blessed Bayonets
His Bayonets are specialized, each of them being blessed and probably made of silver, making them highly dangerous to vampires. He wields them in close-combat like swords and often holds them between his fingers. He also throws the bayonets at his target, with stunning accuracy for a human. Some of the bayonets are shown to have hand guards in the manga and TV series. The type of bayonets he uses the most are similar to Austrian sword bayonets, with custom hand grips for easier slashing and stabbing.

They are shown deflecting Alucard's Casull gunshots, with only the Jackal shattering the bayonets.

Before Hellsing
Most of Alexander's history, before meeting Alucard, is unknown. However, we did get some of it and it was before he became a Regenerator; In episode 7, Duel: After he was disabled, he eventually gets up and tries to kill Alucard again after that time when he used to be in a military, giving up and tries to kill himself to not become a Ghoul and was absolutely terrified against a Vampire who looks like Alucard.

Voice Actors

 * French Dub: Emmanuel Gradi
 * German Dub: Oliver Stritzel
 * Japanese Dub: Nachi Nozawa
 * English Dub: Steven Brand
 * Italian Dub: Mario Zucca
 * Brazilian Portuguese Dub: Marcelo Pissardini
 * Spanish Dub: Carles Martínez Davó

Alexander Anderson Manga-to-Anime differences

 * Since The Captain is removed and Alexander himself being a Side Character, Alucard's rival is the Anime original villain, Incognito.
 * In the Manga, Alexander's past is unknown, he's a bit of an enigma. However, in the Anime, it was shown that he used to serve in the Military, and almost killed himself to not turn into a ghoul while fighting a vampire that looks like Alucard. However, it is unknown if this is canon or not, but most views it as not-canon.
 * Alexander's appearance is much darker in the OVA and manga.
 * Alucard considers Alexander a worthy opponent in the Manga, in the Anime, Alucard says that he's neither a Monster nor Human, therefore he cannot defeat him.