Note: The article uses events as described by the booklet of OVA X,[a] while simultaneously using the novel's description and interpretations of the characters.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing 《エイブラハム・ヴァン・ヘルシング教授,Eiburahamu Van Herushingu-kyōju, OVA: Sir Hellsing[4]》 is a minor, yet pivotal character in the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano, and one of the main characters of Dracula by Bram Stoker. He is voiced by Chikao Otsuka in the Japanese sub and Curt Lowens in the English dub.
A professor who was both tough and experienced, Van Helsing had a well-built physique. His face was in the shape of a heart and he appeared rough. His eyebrows were thick and high-arched, and he had short hair that was slicked back.[c][d] Van Helsing wore a long-sleeved shirt with a dark cravat under a black double-breasted suit, matching black trousers, and a pair of dark leather riding boots, covered by a dark, rugged duster coat along with a pair of thick gauntlet gloves.[e] In volume 8, his coat was replaced by a long coat, but it was soon replaced by a duster coat again in volume 10.[f]
Personality[]
As a man with a wide range of variety of titles in his name, Van Helsing was simply a genius. He was an expert in his field, the first one to notice the existence of vampires as everyone around him calls Helsing crazy for believing a myth. He was competent and calm, he was experienced and cool; yet during the speeches he made, he came across as "bumbling." Incredibly open-minded, he became a perfect nemesis that contrast with the strong and powerful, yet egotistical and dumb Count. Van Helsing's mission simply was to defeat the Count, so he departs as soon as he arrives. Adaptations of the novel have tended to play up Van Helsing's role as a vampire expert, sometimes to the extent that it is depicted as his major occupation. In the novel, however, Jack Seward requests Van Helsing's assistance simply because Lucy Westenra's affliction has him baffled and Van Helsing "knows as much about obscure diseases as anyone in the world."
Van Helsing's personality is described by Jack Seward in the novel:
"He is a seemingly arbitrary man, this is because he knows what he is talking about better than anyone else. He is a philosopher and a metaphysician, and one of the most advanced scientists of his day, and he has, I believe, an absolutely open mind. This, with an iron nerve, a temper of the ice-brook, and indomitable resolution, self-command, and toleration exalted from virtues to blessings, and the kindliest and truest heart that beats, these form his equipment for the noble work that he is doing for mankind, work both in theory and practice, for his views are as wide as his all-embracing sympathy." — Dracula, Chapter 9: John Seward's letter to Arthur Holmwood
History[]
Van Helsing was born into a Catholic Dutch family in the mid-1800s. As he came into adulthood, he married and settled down to start a family as he studied several fields of science, medicine, physics, and psychology. His family was wracked with tragedy when Van Helsing's only son passed away. The passing drove his wife mad to the point that she became dead to Van Helsing, yet his status as a devout Catholic prevented him from divorcing her. Van Helsing continued his academic studies to receive degrees and doctorates in several fields, including medicine, philosophy, and scientific study. In the course of his career, Van Helsing became a professor and took on students. Among these students is Jack Seward, who would one day become a doctor himself. During an incident involving a knife that had come into contact with gangrene, Van Helsing was cut and poisoned by it. Thinking quickly, Seward sucked the poison out and saved Van Helsing, a favor he wouldn't soon forget.
Dracula[]
When the woman Seward cared most about, Lucy Westenra, fell ill with a mysterious disease, Seward sent a telegram to Van Helsing requesting his knowledge of rare and obscure diseases to help cure her. Remembering his debt, Van Helsing made great haste in coming to their aid. Upon arriving, Van Helsing was instantly able to see Lucy's ailment was that of a Vampire's bite, but wary that Seward and his companions would find it crazy, he refused to immediately tell them his diagnosis. Van Helsing had been learning about Vampires for quite a while, though the field of study is difficult to grasp for those who have no first-hand experience with them. In an effort to save Lucy, Van Helsing attempted several blood transfusions on the girl, but their attempts to save her appeared for naught. Van Helsing then left for Amsterdam, giving them explicit instructions to watch over Lucy and her family. Instructions that never arrived with those to whom they belonged.
Upon returning, he found that Lucy had passed away from a wolf attack in the middle of the night, and had been buried. Despite the apparent death and burial, however, several reports began to come in of a beautiful woman matching Lucy's description attacking innocents in the night. Finally realizing he couldn't hide the truth any longer, Van Helsing confided in Seward and Lucy's other suitor, Quincey Morris, about the Vampire's curse and that their dear Lucy is now among the undead. The men soon found Lucy and, after a heated confrontation, succeeded in killing her with a beheading, allowing Lucy to finally rest. Now knowing his name, Count Dracula, the group set out to destroy the vampire once and for all.
Now in London, the horrid Count went to accomplish one of his goals, to take Mina Harker, Arthur Holmwood's fiancé, for himself. Having seen a photograph of her, Dracula found he desired her, and in the middle of the night, he succeeded in biting her. He proceeded to drink from her and feed her his own blood, making her into a vampire as well, but bonding her to himself as his servant Vampire. Knowing time is short, and the only way to save Mina is to defeat Dracula, Van Helsing leads a frantic search for the Count. Due to her telepathic link to the No-Life King, they were able to use Mina to trace Dracula's steps, finally finding his whereabouts after putting her into a hypnotic state.
Hellsing[]
The group finally followed the count back to his castle and confronted him for a battle just before dawn. After a fierce fight, Quincey Morris struck Dracula down with a bowie knife at the price of his life. Now battered and wounded, the powerless Count stands in a carriage with a wound on his chest. The wafer marks left Mina's flesh. Quoting a line in the bible, Van Helsing grabs a Wooden Stake and plunges it into Dracula's heart after he woke up; coughing up blood, Dracula awakes at the sight of Van Helsing waiting for him, he asks if he has been defeated or not, Van Helsing confirms this yet he notes that "no nightmares last forever."[5]
Dracula bleeds all over due to the Stake being plunged deeper to his heart by Van Helsing
Commenting about how all those who worked for him, his fiefs and his castle are now burned down and gone, even the "eucharist wafer" has vanished and that Mina would never be his, Van Helsing clutches his fist and slams the stake that was placed on the Count's heart, causing Dracula to scream in agony. Van Helsing then lashes out at Dracula after grabbing onto the Count's collar.[6] However, Van Helsing decided not to deliver the finishing blow to his felled foe, instead taking Dracula's now powerless form with him back to England.
The events of Van Helsing's life after defeating Dracula are unknown, but it is commonly known that he began research to tame his one-time enemy. Through science and possibly some form of sorcery, Van Helsing succeeded at his task and turned the once proud Count into a servant whom his family would later re-dub Alucard.[7][8] The rest of Van Helsing's life is mostly unknown, though it is assumed that he settled down and had at least one other child.
At some unknown point, Van Helsing converted to Anglicanism and had the family name Anglicized as Hellsing. Later, by Van Helsing's own hand, an agency with ties to the government was established in England to research and combat these occult and demonic threats to humanity, such as vampires.[9] The agency would eventually take on this name as well, and become officially sanctioned by England and the Church of England.
Alucard's Dreams[]
The first time he appeared in one of Alucard's dreams, Van Helsing made many allusions to Dracula when referring to Alucard. At the end of this dream, Alucard seems to cry blood.[10][11] The second time Van Helsing appears as a silhouette after Alucard was reminded of him when seeing Alexander Anderson's determination; besides Van Helsing, Alucard mentions Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood, and Jack Seward.[12] He appeared for a third and last time in a flashback showing Alucard's previous deaths, now featuring Holmwood, Mina, along with Morris' corpse.[13]
Abilities and Equipment[]
Abilities and Skills
Intelligence: Van Helsing was an incredibly intelligent man, to an extent; he was a Doctor, Professor, Lawyer, Philosopher, Scientist, and Metaphysic. Also, without his intelligence and remarkable skills, the group would've likely lost to Dracula. Jack Seward also described him as one of the most advanced scientists of his day, and an absolute "open mind."
Occult Knowledge: Furthermore, with his knowledge of vampires and such, he was able to track down Count Dracula due to his telepathic link with Mina Harker. His intelligence and knowledge also helped during his many experiments with the Count after he had been tamed, allowing him to be more powerful than before, yet the Count is bound as a servant to the Hellsing family with a vow.[14]
Control Over Dracula
After Dracula's defeat, Van Helsing took Dracula and saved his life. In return, Dracula was to be under the bidding of Van Helsing's family. With his extreme knowledge of the supernatural, Van Helsing experimented on Dracula so much so, that Dracula became the Ultimate Undead.[15] It was not until Helsing's son that Dracula was renamed "Alucard."[16]
Weapons
Wooden Stake: is a popular choice of weapon wielded by vampire hunters. Though only specific types of woods are capable of exterminating a vampire; the vampire hunter must impale the vampire in the heart with the stake. Notably, once a vampire sleeps in their coffin, a vampire hunter would take the chance to end the vampire with the stake by the heart or catch them off-guard.
Wooden Axe: When Alucard recalls the group of men that totally defeated him a century ago, a shot of Van Helsing and his friends flashes, each wielding varying weapons. Van Helsing specifically is shown to have been equipped with a wooden axe and stake.[17]
Concept and Creation[]
Stoker said that Van Helsing was "founded on a real character,"[18] which is iterated in the first Swedish and Icelandic edition of Dracula where he confides that "the highly regarded scientist, who appears under a pseudonym here, may likewise be too famous throughout the educated world for his real name − which I prefer not to mention − to remain hidden from the public, especially from those people who have learned firsthand to appreciate and respect his brilliant mind and masterly skill, though they no more adhere to his views on life than I do."[19]Max Müller, a German comparative philologist, has been suggested to be and is a strong contender for Van Helsing's model, but Stoker's notes for Dracula suggest William Thornley, Stoker's brother.[20]Ármin Vámbéry, a Hungarian Professor whom Stoker had met in London is also thought to be the model for Van Helsing.[21] Though intended at first to be of German descent, his ethnicity was switched to Dutch.[22]
Kohta Hirano chose the title Hellsing for the series because one of the main characters was a descendant of Van Helsing.[23] Though with many consistencies between the original novel and Hellsing's iteration of the events surrounding Dracula[g], Hirano said that while Hellsing isn't a direct sequel to Dracula, the events of the novel took place in Hellsing.[25]
Name[]
Both Bram Stoker and his father, Abraham Stoker, had the same first name ("Abraham") before Stoker then changed his name to "Bram." Stoker later bestowed his given name to Van Helsing; Robert Tracy, author of "Loving You All Ways," views Van Helsing as "an idealized self-portrait" of Stoker.[26] For his surname, there have been numerous suggestions as to where it originates; Dr. Hesselius, the fictional narrator of Sheridan Le Fanu's In a Glass Darkly and Van Helmont, an alchemist who is briefly mentioned in On Superstitions Connected with the History and Nature of Medicine and Surgery by T. J. Pettigrew - one of Stoker’s sources.[27][28]
In the novel, Van Helsing is a devout catholic, but since the Hellsing Agency is formally known as the "Order of Royal Protestant Knights," it's assumed that the family converted at some point, later adding an extra "L" in "Helsing."[h] However, it also may be a mistake on Hirano's part, as in Japanese, Helsing is romanized as "Herushingu (ヘルシング)." The same katakana is used to write "Hellsing." The booklet of the second OVA spelled his surname as "Hellsing."
Quotes[]
"All flesh is like grass. All human glory is like flowers. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord endures forever."[29]
"That's right. You lost. No nightmare lasts forever. Both your castle and your fief are gone. Your loyal servants are dead and gone too. Even her mark from the eucharist wafer has vanished. She'll never belong to you."[30]
"You've got nothing left now, Count! Miserable No-Life King! Everything you had is now gone!"[31]
Trivia[]
His redesign in volume 10 may be inspired by Van Helsing's appearance in the 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula, where Van Helsing's hair is grey, slicked to the back, and balding.[i]
He's also one of the few characters in the novel that is physically described in detail.[j]
Although not physically appearing in the Hellsing anime, Van Helsing was mentioned by Integra during the raid of the Valentine Brothers; Integra said, "The ordeals that the first master of the Hellsing family had to go through one century ago were much greater than this."[32] The line was derived from the manga but was said by Walter instead of Integra by the telephone.[33]
Alucard bows down towards a Hellsing Family master that could be likely Van Helsing or Arthur
In the ending sequence of the first OVA, the first scene shows Alucard bowing down to a member of the Hellsing family. The member in question is likely to be Van Helsing or Arthur, as they both share a close resemblance.[k]
↑Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Letters.
↑In later appearances of Van Helsing, his hair was redesigned to be longer and balding. Similar changes also happened in the OVA, but much more inconsistent within each subsequent appearance.
↑His skin was pale with a slight tan, his facial hair was brown, and his pupils were blue; two strands swept upwards make up a horn similar to Arthur's hair in the OVA.
↑In the OVA, he wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a black tie under a dark gray vest and red duster coat. His outfit was finished with a pair of dark gray trousers and brown boots, along with a pair of white gloves.
↑In OVA VIII, his coat appeared to be replaced with a long coat. His tie was changed into a cravat (which looks similar to Alucard's but black) in OVA X.
↑Dracula was stated in Hellsing to have gone to England in search of a woman he personally desired.[24] This didn't happen in Stoker's novel, as Dracula only wanted to go to England in order to spread his undead curse throughout the region.
↑It is unknown if Van Helsing himself became the father of two boys, Arthur and Richard Hellsing, or if Arthur and Richard were Van Helsing's grandchildren. Another generation between Arthur and Abraham would explain the change in name and Religion more clearly. However, if a middle generation did exist, when this unknown Hellsing either retired or died, the reins of the agency were passed to the eldest child of Abraham.
↑In the OVA, Van Helsing's hair is also long but has added fringes.
↑His appearance is described as "a man of medium height, strongly built, with his shoulders set back over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as the head is on the neck. The poise of the head strikes me at once as indicative of thought and power. The head is noble, well-sized, broad, and large behind the ears. The face, clean-shaven, shows a hard, square chin, a large resolute, mobile mouth, a good-sized nose, rather straight, but with quick, sensitive nostrils, that seem to broaden as the big bushy brows come down and the mouth tightens. The forehead is broad and fine, rising at first almost straight and then sloping back above two bumps or ridges wide apart, such a forehead that the reddish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart and are quick and tender or stern with the man's moods." by Mina Harker.
↑The shot was also a reanimation of a similar sequence in the promotional video of the OVA; there, it features Alucard and Integra instead.
↑Order 57: Wizardry (1) "Once, a vampire came to England. To get a woman he personally desired... The vampire sailed aboard a schooner. The schooner dashed from wave to wave through the fog at unbelievable speed. The entire crew was killed. And so, the ghost ship, fully laden with corpses and caskets, made port in London. Her name is the Demeter. In Russian, the Demitri." (Original Japanese: "かつてある吸血鬼が英国にやって来た自らが渇望する一人の女を手に入れるためにその吸血鬼がのり込んだ帆船は霧の中を波か波へととび移りありえない速度で疾走した乗組員を皆殺したしながらそして遂に死人と棺を満載した幽霊船はロンドンへ着港した船の名はデメテル号ロシア語でデミトリ号である")
