Sir Arthur Hellsing

Sir Arthur Hellsing (アーサー・ヘルシング,) was a minor character, yet plays a pivotal role in the original Hellsing manga. However, in The Dawn, he plays a much more important role; being one of the tritagonists alongside Alucard and Walter C. Dornez.

He was the head of the Hellsing family before Integra took on the role, and was the one who made his daughter, Integra, the head of the Hellsing Organisation officially, instead of his brother, Richard, whom he had distrust. An efficient, yet cocky leader; Arthur was well respected by everyone, and eventually, as he grew older; he became wiser and better understood the nature of vampires.

He was voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka in Japanese and John E. Breen in the English dub of Hellsing: Ultimate. Young Arthur in The Dawn's OVA adaptation, however, was voiced by Daisuke Namikawa.

Physical Appearance
A youthful, young man; Arthur was a man who looks similar to his father, Abraham Van Helsing; he literally looks identical, including the two little hairs that stick up which resemble horns. Abraham's facial features and hair, however, were brown; Arthur was a blonde man. He also had a thick eyebrow, slicked and short albeit - messy hair, and was a tall man with a normal build, unlike his daughter. He's also depicted with bright, yellow eyes.

Attires
Like all businessmen during the 1900s in England, Arthur dresses in formal clothing; which consists of a white long-sleeved shirt with an added either crimson or blue tie; along with a tortilla or red vest and covered with an open brown or crimson suit, which matches his dress pants' coloring and is finished with a pair of black business shoes. He's also sometimes seen with a pair of gloves, that are either colored brown or white.

General
Arthur was cocky and amorous as a young man, with women he'd invite over sometimes briefly interrupting important conversations, as seen in The Dawn. He also seemed sloppy, as the library was in a state of disarray as well as having dirty crockery stacked and strewn about the place. Furthermore, he's shown smiling during a serious conversation between the Round Table about the discovery of the Nazis working on something dangerous, and had they succeeded, they would've won World War II. Still, despite his cockiness, however, he ran the organization efficiently and was particularly wary about using Alucard for missions, utilizing the family servant sparingly and eventually not at all. In addition, his daughter is repeatedly compared to himself by the members of the Round Table about running the Organisation.
 * A prime example of Arthur being quite cocky, confident, and brash, is in the first two chapters of The Dawn; where he was seen smiling during a situation that could make anyone shiver, as they had recently found out that the Nazis are working on making their members vampires, to which, obviously panicked everyone in the room except for Arthur, and probably, Irons, too. Arthur was confident due to the fact that he had the most powerful vampire in the palms of his hands, along with a quite faithful, skilled, and dangerous butler dubbed; "The Angel of Death". Arthur was also quite vulgar.

Contrary to his cocky and perverted nature, he's surprisingly, on the inside, a smart man with a plan every time; considering that he had sent a 14-year-old Walter to deal with a dangerous mission, it can be assumed that he's also quite confident in his soldiers, and that's especially what makes Arthur a smart man, whose cockiness overshadows him. Integra stated that her father is her father, which implies that there is no comparison between the two.

In addition, he's an expert in vampires; and his philosophy taught Integra very well and made her understand vampires more, other than that they are just creatures who had betrayed God and sold their souls to become stronger. Becoming wiser as he gets older, he's very well respected; and gained a lot of features from his father, who's a legend amongst vampire hunters. As he grew older, he became much more mature than in The Dawn, which is obviously displayed during a flashback where he teaches Integra what a vampire is. He's a completely different person as an old man; Young Arthur was known to be lazy, cocky, and brash; while Arthur, now as an old man; is wise and calm.

Vampires
In General, Arthur does inherit some of Van Helsing's philosophical nature, and that's what makes him a genius and an eventual philosopher at an old age; being the one who understood vampires the most and eventually, completely changed Integra's view of vampires. He explains that what makes vampires scary is their own very nature; and if the said vampire does not realize their true nature - no doubt humanity will be in danger if not for the experts. Vampires consider themselves "invisible" due to the fact that they have enormous power at the palms of their hands; if they wished to lay destruction upon humanity, they can do so with ease. Simply, close-range fighting with vampires is considered "suicide", with a chance of winning smaller than 1%, especially against a vampire that realizes their capabilities - to an extent.

Ghouls
While older Arthur was much wiser than his younger self, it is true that young him was a little philosophical, despite his visibly brash and cocky demeanor, he's a born genius. He described ghouls are "failures who've unsuccessfully attempted to become full-fledged vampires; nothing more than "Living Dead" that feast upon corpses", which is true. Ghouls, in nature; are considered stronger than a zombie; yet miles worse than a vampire, artificial or not. Arthur continues, saying that despite its undoubtedly superior physical strength compared to that of even the strongest humans alive; they're just, too slow. Calling them a bunch of mindless fools, their brain's reaction time is just stupid compared to the stupidest person alive; in general, they're idiotic and mindless, without a doubt - as they are just corpses, after all. While ghouls are considered "failures", they're still monsters - which basically means that they can't be killed easily. Arthur states the problem while fighting a ghoul; it's that you must hit the heart or the brain with any type of weaponry; and even then, if you're attacked and eventually killed, devoured by a ghoul; you become one yourself.

"1 turns into 2, which soon doubles to make 4, which turns into 8, 8 then turns into 16, 16 into 32, 32 into 64; 64 into 128, 128 into 256, 256 into 512, 512 into 1024, 1024 into 2048, 2048 into 4096, and so on."

Arthur said that they just keep growing and growing in size, and describes it as an "endless plague'. Because of the fact that ghouls just keep growing in size; if the culprit is not found, they will lose WW2 without a doubt; and every sacrifice made will be in vain.

Early Life
Little is known about Arthur. He is the oldest son of Abraham Van Hellsing and had a younger brother named Richard Hellsing. When he was a young man, he became friends with his future colleagues Sir Hugh Irons and Sir Shelby M. Penwood. He would eventually succeed as the Hellsing family's new head.

Hellsing: The Dawn
During the events of The Dawn, he assigned 14-year-old Walter C. Dornez and Alucard to destroy a vampire research facility in Warsaw, Poland to stop the Nazis from deploying experimental Ghouls into battle. If allowed to continue, the Ghouls would keep growing infinitely, as defeated human infantries would have become ghouls. Despite doubt from members of the Round Table, Arthur was sure that Walter would succeed in the mission. According to Sir Hugh Irons, Arthur came to believe that Alucard was "too powerful a drug to be used as more than the occasional medicine", and Alucard was sealed and locked in the Hellsing Mansion's dungeon in 1968.

20 Years Later
Over the course of the next 2 decades, Arthur had a daughter named Integra. In 1988, Arthur contracted an incurable disease. On his deathbed, Arthur entrusted Integra as the new head of the Hellsing Organization, much to his brother's displeasure. In the Anime, Arthur teaches Integra how to be a great leader and what a "vampire" is. And when he was on his deathbed, he asks his brother, Richard Hellsing, to be a guide for Integra and support her, explaining that he has so much to tell Integra if only he had lived longer. He then coughs blood and passes away.

Integra Hellsing
Arthur cared deeply for his daughter, teaching her the ways of the Hellsing organization, the whys and whats of demons, and grooming her to take his place. Despite her young age, he trusted her over his brother Richard Hellsing and declared her his heir on his deathbed.

Integra was present at her father's deathbed. Arthur entrusts Integra with the protection of England and the Protestant church. When Integra finds Alucard in the dungeons, she mentions how she "imagined that there might [have been]... a knight who'd protect [her] from the bad guys." Considering that Arthur Hellsing was a knight of England, it could be implied that Integra was longing for someone like her father to protect her from harm. Throughout the manga and OVA, we learn that Arthur Hellsing went to great lengths to ensure Integra's protection and safety. In addition to freeing Alucard, we discover in Vol. 6 that Arthur trusts Sir Penwood with his daughter's life. Integra says, "While he was alive, Father would often tell me: 'Whenever you need a favor, ask Sir Penwood.'" In Vol. 9, we discover that Integra remembers conversations with her father on his deathbed. She immediately remembers his comment on how vampires "look like terribly pitiful children who might simply break down and cry feebly," when Alucard is forced to kill Anderson.

Her father is shown as both an affectionate parent and a mentor figure. Through his teachings, Integra learns of the true purpose of the Hellsing organisation in their war against the vampires and also learns what the vampires are capable of.

Richard Hellsing
While the two brothers had a seemingly normal relationship when Arthur was alive, it was all just an act; however, Arthur was wary and worried that if Richard had been Hellsing's headmaster, Hellsing would probably collapse, which means that he had known his brother more than his brother knows himself. Furthermore showing his distrust over Richard was the fact that he had kept Alucard's existence secret, yet; he told Integra Alucard's whereabouts before he died. This also means that Arthur was predicting the future, and had considered who should become Hellsing's new headmaster after he passed away, and was also making a hard decision.

While the decision made Richard incredibly angry at his brother, stating that he had waited 20 years for his brother to die just for him to crown his daughter as Hellsing's official headmaster, Arthur does love his brother. He trusted him dearly and pleaded for Richard to care for his daughter after he passed away, which shows that he truly does consider Richard as his younger brother.

Alucard
The two's relationship may be a bit complicated on Arthur's part, as he considered Alucard's power a "drug", and therefore, locked him up in a basement starving for a total of about 20 years. Despite this, Arthur somewhat does still trust Alucard; trusting him with his daughter in case she's in danger, but only where there's "no hope left". Arthur was also noted to be the one who gave the Count, the name "Alucard" and was, despite locking him up for 20 years; respected by him, meaning that he understood why Arthur had locked him up, or that the contract with Abraham was still active, and that's why he's still willing to serve the Hellsing family despite what Arthur did.

Walter C. Dornez
Arthur thought highly of Walter, being the one who gave him the nickname; "the Angel of Death" when he was still just fourteen, which is considered young. In addition to his respect for Walter being visibly enormous, Arthur was so confident about Walter's skill that he called Walter the strongest human of the Hellsing Organisation's militants in the field qualified to deal with inhuman forces, including Ghouls and Vampires. Arthur eventually sent Walter on a mission with Alucard to destroy the secret project the Nazi was working on, in addition; the Round Table members doubted that he could do it, stating that Walter was too young, as he was just a child. Arthur, however, was reluctant and confident in the boy's skills. Despite this, what Walter thought about Arthur is unknown, as he never talked about his opinions on Arthur in the series.

Sir Hugh Irons and Sir Shelby M. Penwood
The trio are best friends, probably since they were children. Hugh Irons and Arthur were close colleagues with somewhat conflicting personalities. While Irons was all work and business, Arthur took an interest in chasing women and trying new things to complete missions, deploying the young Walter C. Dornez even against the suggestions and opinions of The Convention of Twelve. According to Integra Hellsing's flashbacks, Arthur and Shelby Penwood had much the same relationship his daughter and the man would have. In particular, both had the tendency to ask for expensive and ridiculous items such as new guns or helicopters. Aside from that, the two were good friends. Back in the day, the trio were literally inseparable; going out, partying at bars at night, visiting historic locations, and simply walking down the streets of London.

However, despite this; the two have a friendship that one could simply dream to have, and despite the comparisons to Arthur that Integra had gotten, his best friends do care about his daughter - simply because it's one of the only things that reminded them of their late, dear friend. Their personality may conflict, but they have a strong friendship that lasts forever; Irons visiting the grave of both Shelby and Arthur proves this, even more; he visited them after he had officially retired. In addition, Shelby's grave was placed next to Arthur's; and it can be assumed that when Irons would die, his grave would be placed next to Arthur's, too.

Trivia

 * Arthur's eyes have, in different media, been one of three colors brown, yellow, and finally blue.
 * Arthur was in his 30s in 1945 and he was also older than Walter, who was 69 in 1999. That would mean he was in his 60s when he had Integra and died in his late 70s.