Alexander Anderson

Manga/OVA Canon

Anime Canon

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Alexander Anderson
Aliases	Father Anderson Paladin Anderson Hit Man Anderson Bayonet Anderson Killing Judge Anderson Angel Dust Anderson Monster-killing Paladin Kill-em all Ideologist Iscariot's Trump Card Iscariot's Joker Judas Priest Judas Assassin Agent Anderson Freak of Nature Cathedral Knight The Regenerator God's Monster Teacher Father Beloved Mortal Foe (by Alucard) Catholic Christian
Age	40s
Gender	Male
Species	Regenerator (Human) "God's Monster" (Monster)
Status	Deceased
Affiliations	Iscariot (Vatican Section XIII) Roman Catholic Church Ferdinant Lukes
Manga Debut	Hellsing: Volume 1
OVA Debut	Hellsing: Ultimate I
Seiyuu	Norio Wakamoto
Voice Actor	Steven Brand

Father Alexander Anderson《アレクサンド・アンデルセン神父, Arekusando Anderusen Shinpu》 is a major antagonist in the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano. He is voiced by Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese sub and Steven Brand in the English dub.

He is an expert monster hunter and the arch-rival of Alucard. He lives in Italy, operating an orphanage outside Vatican City. Anderson's body is genetically modified to be a Regenerator, a superhuman able to fight supernatural creatures. He serves as the foil to Alucard, as an antagonist and type of anti-villain in the series, both in the anime and the OVA series.

Appearance

Alexander Anderson was depicted as a high and imposing, middle-aged man; reclined with ample shoulders and extremely high, being comparatively taller than or as high as Alucard. Anderson had short, spiky silver-colored hair, bright purple eyes, tanned skin, a defined squared jaw, and light facial hair. In addition, there is an extensive, wedge-like scar on his left cheek. His attire included round, wire-rimmed glasses, a lengthy purple cassock overcoat over a pitch-black cassock with a clerical collar, a long gold cross necklace, matching black trousers with a pair of black boots, and white gloves tinted blue. On his gloves, there were inscriptions written across the crosses drawn on the back; the right hand said "Jesus Christ is in Heaven," while the left hand said "Speak with Dead"; this is later changed to "Speak with the Dead" and in his last few appearances, "Iscariot Section XIII."

Manga

OVA

OVA

OVA

Personality

Alexander Anderson was an ardent Catholic. He was an ordinary priest who spent his days taking care of the children at Ferdinant Luke's Catholic children's home in the vicinity of Rome. He was a man who was both tender toward the children, but hateful toward the infidels, and this is the source of his madness. He carried an obsession for what he believed to be his "crusade" and compulsively quoted passages from the Holy Bible as he spoke. He was 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." His behavior was depicted as an intense Catholic priest who went as far as calling Integra "Babylon," as a reference to the Whore of Babylon and displayed an immense hatred for Protestants as a reference to the long history of hatred between the two. In battle, he was merciless and almost unstoppable due to his abilities. He had a habit of hissing during fights and often lost all sense of control over himself, much like Alucard. Despite this, he was able to stop himself and focus on his mission.

Some of Anderson's statements heavily imply a hatred for all non-Catholics. Anderson told a pair of young boys that they should only engage in violence against "monsters and heathens" and commented to his superiors that it is fortunate that a large vampire population must be killing many English Protestants. Anderson resented the control of England over Northern Ireland, which he believed was Catholic territory, and stated that his mission was to kill those who opposed his God. Anderson remarked that everything he does is to serve God and stated that treachery happens often in a war, and when it's against heathens, they should be praised for doing so. He planned with Maxwell to attack both Hellsing and Millennium with a flank and perfect timing, but was seemingly mad and angered over how Maxwell did his treachery because he believed that Maxwell had stopped serving God and only serving his own power.

Alexander's kind and twisted side.

However, a smile came to his face for a moment when he thought of the children in the orphanage. For Anderson, those who he taught meant everything to him, but his mission of exterminating monsters wouldn't disappear. He showed a greater sense of morality both in his treatment of the orphans under his care, his eventual assistance to Integra, and his betrayal of Enrico Maxwell (who became drunk with power). His complexity is later demonstrated by his respect for Integra's conviction; specifically, he agreed to escort Integra to Hellsing Manor because it would be impolite to leave a lady to walk there alone. Anderson told the members of Iscariot to retreat from battle when Alucard released his familiars, wanting them to live on and to protect the Catholic Church and religion as he believed there were already enough souls in Limbo.

Relationships

Allies

• Heinkel Wulf and Yumiko Takagi: In his lifetime, Yumiko and Heinkel were important figures for Anderson; for Yumiko and Heinkel, he was essentially their father figure, for Anderson, they were his adopted children. Though Anderson was the leader of the Armed Priest Vanguard, he often went on solo missions and left the Vanguard in the hands of Heinkel and Yumiko. When Walter stepped onto Anderson's remains, Yumiko was incredibly angered by his actions and confronted Walter hastily resulting in her untimely death, resulting in Heinkel's rage. Heinkel later became Anderson's successor and had seemingly developed a rivalry with Seras Victoria.

Enemies

• Alucard: Immediately after their intense encounter in Badrick, the two started an intense rivalry that would inevitably catalyze a death match between the two. Anderson promised that the next time they saw each other, he'd kill him for sure as he began a hefty preparation. As a counter to Integra's Alucard, Maxwell called upon Anderson to even the situation, only for Anderson to lose control at the mere sight of Alucard, immediately regretting doing so after. The tension was broken down after Seras, disguised as a tour guide, led a mass of elderly people to ease the tension. In their next encounter, Alucard and Anderson traded blows before Anderson told Alucard the location of a Vatican jet on standby for them and remarked that they should go while "[Anderson] can still control the urge to kill the lot of [Alucard, Seras, and Vernedead]." In the midst of the Millennium invasion and Maxwell's crusade, Anderson shouted "The Black Peril comes" as Alucard entered the battlefield. Teleporting in the middle of a standoff between the Ninth Crusade division and the vampirized Waffen SS alongside The Captain and Alucard—once Alucard was ordered to release Level Zero, Anderson claimed that something terrible is about to happen if they do not defeat the monster, after which, when Level Zero is fully unleashed, Anderson realizes why Alucard wouldn't die and why he couldn't kill him.
  
  He soon realized that this was his only chance to kill Alucard for good and ordered the Armed Priest Vanguard to retreat back to Limbo as he headed to Alucard's location. Once there, he attacked Alucard, who called Anderson "[his] beloved mortal foe" and told Anderson to "put an end to the interstice of this, [Alucard's] dream." In battle, Alucard showed great respect for Anderson and went so far as to compare him to the men who were able to defeat Dracula. This changed, however, when Anderson chose to use the Nail of Helena on himself in order to become a monster that he believed would turn him into God's literal weapon. At that point, Alucard ruled that Anderson, having sacrificed all of his humanity in exchange for power, was no longer worthy of destroying him and that Anderson had to be killed. Alucard had previously stated that he would be proud to die in battle against Anderson, but clearly, Anderson forfeited that right by turning himself into a monster rather than remaining a human.
  
  As Alucard stared at his defeated rival, who had chosen the worst possible means of ceasing their humanity, he saw in his eyes deep disappointment and sadness, that this man, who he once thought was the one to defeat him, no longer had the right or chance to do so. Defeating his only nemesis, Alucard was in despair; however, Anderson's final prayer fell upon Alucard as he told him not to cry and remarked that he became a devil because he (Alucard) didn't want to cry, telling him to smile instead. Consoling Alucard, Anderson bid his final amen. Alucard smiled as he uttered: "Amen."

• Enrico Maxwell: Maxwell was personally raised and tutored by Anderson after Ronald welcomed Maxwell to the orphanage. He was intrigued by Maxwell's statement, which claimed that he would "become great and look down on all of them." Since then he became Anderson's most prized student, becoming the head of the Iscariot Agency in order to further his true goals and intentions. Though he worked under Maxwell, Anderson often times went rogue and went beyond Maxwell's orders. Both shared an incredible hatred towards Protestants and planned to double-cross Hellsing and Britain with the intention of eliminating both Millennium and Hellsing while declaring superiority over Protestants.
  
  However, when the time came and Maxwell betrayed the United Kingdom by massacring its civilians, Anderson double-crossed Maxwell as he viewed Maxwell's treachery as not an act under God but to serve his own power and only used "God" as a cover to mask his ulterior intentions. When he broke the protective tektite composite glass that shielded Maxwell, he watched and only bid farewell to his student's plea for help. He then called Maxwell a fool begrudgingly and proceeded to fight Alucard, not before ordering his Armed Priest Vanguard to retreat back to the Vatican and remarking that "Maxwell's crying." Though becoming a crucial instrument that led to Maxwell's miserable death, his death spurred Anderson. The last voice Anderson heard during his death was the children at the orphanage crying but questioned if it was Maxwell's.

• Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing: Anderson hated Integra for her Protestant background and her being the leader of Hellsing, an organization which he considers "inferior" in comparison to the Vatican's Iscariot; he goes as far as to call her the "Whore of Babylon" and almost killing her in Badrick. However, Integra was soon saved by Anderson in an act that was questioned by his peers, defying Maxwell's orders in return; he explained in an intensifying manner that it is they, Iscariot, that has the right to defeat Hellsing and no one else, respecting Integra's bravery and stated "No mistaking it. She, this woman, and all with her... are our sworn enemies! Our arch-enemies!"
  
  After securing Integra, they were ordered to take her into custody; Anderson objected, stating "Forcing our will as a group on a single unarmed woman. We might as well be rapists." Later, he agreed to walk her back to the Hellsing Manor safely, much to the chagrin of the Armed Priest Vanguard, as he explained that Maxwell's way of doing things "was too clever." However, much to Anderson's dissatisfaction and dislike, they were ordered to immediately restrain and apprehend Integra. But then, Integra was saved by the newly transformed Seras. In the end, as a sign of respect on Integra's behalf, she took all the scattered remnants of the bayonets used in battle, placed and stuck them to the floor, and lined them up as a sign of respect, as Anderson died after his battle with Alucard.

• Seras Victoria: Initially, Anderson thought less of Seras, constantly mocking her in a way and such, almost killing her before Integra had saved her life. When Anderson saw her full transformation into a Real Vampire, Anderson smiled and remarked that she became into something dreadful; she should be ashamed of herself for taking on a human form, he beamed with joy because, for him, the more powerful the enemy is, the more worthwhile it is to defeat them.

Powers and Abilities

Human Regenerator
As Iscariot's Trump Card, he was the single greatest warrior the Vatican can bring to bear and the only known human being who can closely match Alucard's powers. As a Regenerator《再生者リジェネレーター, Rijenerētā》, Anderson possessed extraordinary strength, speed, senses, balance, coordination, and stamina, far above what is considered normal for a human. Because of his abilities and religious beliefs, he was often involved in top-secret, solo missions within Iscariot, and tended to leave the command of the Armed Priest Vanguard, of which he was the leader, to two of his disciples, Heinkel Wulf and Yumiko Takagi.
Abilities
Superhuman Strength: He had fought Alucard, who was unfazed from taking high-caliber bullets to the chest to a standstill with his bare hands, staggered him, and caused his nose to bleed with a single punch. With his immense strength, he threw his bayonets through a tektite composite panel that protected Maxwell and was able to bisect Artificial Vampires.
Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: His reflexes were sufficient to allow him to react to bullets, although he preferred to take them head-on thanks to his regeneration. He caught Alucard off guard with his speed during their first fight and blitzed Millennium's Artificial Vampires with his bayonets. During the Battle of London, he clashed with Alucard equally and sliced through his army of ghouls at great speed.
Superhuman Durability and Endurance: Enhanced by his regeneration, Anderson was very durable. He effortlessly shrugged off shots from a dozen automatic rifles (none of which pierced through his flesh), while Alucard had often been ripped apart by such weaponry. He had also shrugged off shots from Alucard's Casull—even at point-blank range, leaving the bullet lodged in his skull. He could take several blows from Alucard, who can easily tear apart human soldiers and even vampires with a single blow. Anderson's incredible endurance allowed him to keep on plowing through Alucard's massive army of ghouls despite having his arm nearly shot off by the Jackal. With great effort, he survived being shot by Rip Van's Magic Bullet, which was strong enough to decimate fighter jets, followed by Alhambra's anti-regeneration Playing Cards, which could cut through flesh and steel easily. This was all a testament to Anderson's fighting spirit, which made Alucard deem him the worthy rival who could kill him.
Superhuman Accuracy: He could throw his bayonets with great intensity and impossible levels of accuracy. He cracked hardened tektite glass and had skewered vampires, from Millennium's foot soldiers to Alucard himself. He threw the bayonets so fast that an entire squad of Millennium's Artificial Vampires could not react to them at all. In his first encounter with Alucard and Seras, he accurately stabbed and incapacitated Seras with multiple well-placed bayonets. Later, the bayonets he threw in retaliation to Alucard's offenses caused sonic booms that shattered windows.
OVA Manga	Indomitable Will: When his left arm was almost torn off and him being covered in wounds while facing Alucard, who had just stepped behind all his familiars, Anderson stood up, summoned two bayonets, and bit onto his half-torn left arm, stating that his left arm's just torn off and that's all. He then stepped forward against Alucard's familiars and, with his incredible willpower, made it halfway until Heinkel and others saved him from near death. Pain Suppression: With his indomitable will, Anderson was able to ignore the massive pain stemming from his half-torn left arm before dashing against Alucard and his army of familiars.
OVA Manga	Regeneration: Anderson had a strong regenerative factor, which he typically relies on in battle, and it easily healed damage from automatic gunfire and high-caliber rounds. Most notably, he was shot at point-blank in the head by Alucard's Casull (which fires massive, explosive bullets) and regenerated a few moments later. Integra calls it biotechnological regeneration that surpasses any known nanotechnology. However, Anderson's healing factor still had its limits; using the Jackal, which was specifically designed for use against strong Regenerators like Anderson, Alucard was able to shoot out a huge chunk of Anderson's left arm, which doesn't regenerate.
OVA Manga	Bayonet Mastery: Alexander Anderson used scores of blessed bayonets. The blessed nature of the bayonets could sting vampires and negate their regeneration. He skillfully wielded the bayonets with great dexterity in close-quarters combat like swords and could also throw them with extreme accuracy (especially considering that he often throws the bayonets in large numbers, usually holding them between his fingers).
OVA Manga	Bayonet Summoning: Anderson seemed to have a limitless supply of bayonets that he could pull from, suggesting that he benefited from Hammerspace. It is unknown if the bayonets were concealed with some sort of holy power or could be generated by nanotechnology in his clothing or body.
OVA Manga	Scripture Manipulation: Anderson had the ability to summon a horde of scripture pages and used them for a variety of purposes. Holy Barriers: Anderson could 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 the OVA, Anderson used the scriptures to erect a divine barrier around himself when clashing with Alucard, which set all of the pages on fire. Transportation: Anderson could use Bible pages to seemingly teleport. He used this to leave his first fight with Alucard after realizing he did not have the necessary equipment to kill him, and again when trying to ambush Alucard in their final fight. He also used this to appear before Integra when she was attacked by Millennium's vampires.

Helena's Nail

God's Monster
The Nail of Helena was Anderson's trump card in his fight against Alucard, and he called it a weapon that could make his dream of being a living weapon of God's come true. Alexander Anderson received the nail from Section III Matthew, the Vatican's relic retrieval division. By imbuing himself with the Nail's power, Anderson gained peculiar thorn-tendril-based powers and became a monster created by God. He also lost his sense of self until his heart was destroyed, after which the Nail's effects were lost.
Abilities
Supernatural Strength: His physical strength was significantly boosted, being able to slice off Alucard's head and left arm with hardly any difficulty; the latter of which broke Tubalcain's playing card in two, and blocked bullets with his body without gathering any damage to his physical body.
Supernatural Speed and Reflexes: In particular, Anderson's speed increased considerably. He was able to easily slice off Alucard's arm and head before the latter could pull the trigger on his gun right after Alucard charged at him in anger. Later on, Anderson jumped above Alucard and impaled his head before Alucard could react.
Supernatural Durability and Endurance: Anderson was able to shrug off combined barrages from Alucard's Jackal and Casull with little effort and healed the damage to his mangled arms quickly. Anderson's tolerance for pain increased massively, as even after his heart was crushed and half of his body was ripped from him, he could still live on for a short while.
OVA Manga	Enhanced Regeneration: Anderson's regeneration jumped to supernatural levels, on par with Alucard's. He could regenerate his arm that his human regeneration could not heal and could even restore his head, which was completely blown off by the Jackal.
OVA Manga After successfully impaling Alucard in the forehead with his bayonet, Anderson summons holy fires to incapacitate Alucard	Holy Vine Manipulation: Anderson's body became a humanoid composition of thorny plant-like vines, which he could manipulate. These vines were particularly powerful, as they could stop the Jackal's bullets with ease and wrap themselves around his foes, causing injury. Anderson could spread these vines around him and fire a massive swarm infused with bayonets at his opponent. He used this as a final attack against Alucard and his remaining army of familiars, and it took considerable effort for Alucard to get through this. All of his familiars were ensnared and roasted to death by the vines' flames, but this eventually allowed Alucard to get to Anderson and kill him. In the OVA, Anderson could use it as a weapon to rip apart Alucard's shadows. Holy Fire Summoning: The vines could ensnare the target and generate flames. This fire was particularly effective against supernatural creatures as powerful as Alucard and Seras, as it defeated Alucard's regeneration abilities and ignited thousands of his familiars throughout London. Anderson was able to infuse his bayonets with vines to generate the flames; this let Anderson raze the London capital by creating wildfires bigger than city blocks. If Seras hadn't intervened to help Alucard while he was set ablaze by holy fire, it would have been enough to finally and truly kill him after destroying his familiars, as his bayonet would've reached Alucard's heart.
Immortality
His immortality was only biological; after becoming a monster, the only way to kill Anderson was to destroy the bowels of his heart.

Equipment

Holy Bayonets

OVA Manga

His Holy Bayonets《祝福儀礼の銃剣, Shukufuku Girei no Jūken, lit. Blessing Ritual Bayonet》 were specialized, each of them being blessed, which made them highly dangerous to the supernatural and negated their regenerative capabilities. He wielded them in close combat like swords and often held them between his fingers to throw the bayonets at his target with stunning accuracy. Some of the bayonets were shown to have hand guards in the manga; the type of bayonets he used the most were similar to Austrian Sword Bayonets, with custom hand grips for easier slashing and stabbing. The bayonets could originally be destroyed by simple handguns but later withstood shots from the Casull, indicating that Anderson had their durability greatly increased for later use.

Mine Chain

OVA Manga

These "Mine Chains《爆導鎖, Bakudōsa, lit. Sequential Blast Sword》" were explosive bayonets brought to battle by Anderson. These explosive chains are simple and were brought by Anderson to the warzone specifically to use them against Alucard. They were later used to fight both Millennium Soldiers (when saving Integra) and later against Alucard's familiars. There is also a delay on-hit, meaning that it doesn't explode on impact.

Concept and Creation

Anderson was created by Hirano and introduced in the manga to serve as the foil for Alucard. Anderson, along with the rest of the main Iscariot members, was also a character brought back from Crossfire by Hirano. As a result of the manuscript for Angel Dust not being sent back to Hirano by the publisher, Hirano wrote in Anderson as revenge; Anderson's character was inspired by a character with a similar name from Angel Dust, although written in slightly altered Katakana and different design. Anderson's nickname "Angel Dust" is a reference to his previous work. When drawing the "God's Monster" form of Anderson, Hirano mentioned how difficult it was to draw the thorns.

Angel Dust

Crossfire

Hellsing

As the resolution of Hellsing is ultimately death, Anderson's fate was decided since the beginning, as Hirano couldn't tolerate an ending where two foes suddenly become friends and live happily ever after. However, at the end of the series, he remarked that the final battle between Alucard and Anderson was severely rushed as he was under deadline, and thought that he should've given Anderson more space in retrospect. Since then, Anderson has been noted to be one of Hirano's favorite characters.

Name

His name was first written as "Arexandraue Andersong." English Subtitles for the anime rendered Anderson's name as "Alexander Andersong." Dark Horse Comic's translation of the Hellsing changed Anderson's name to "Alexander Anderson"; the booklet of the OVAs and the ending for OVA X follow. The guidebook spelled Anderson's name as "Arexandrave Anderson." In Japanese, his last name was originally spelled out in Crossfire as "アンダーソン (Andāson)," but this was altered to "アンデルセン (Anderusen)" for Hellsing.

Trivia

• Anderson's choice of weapon, his bayonets, are referencing the knife put on the end of a rifle, literally meaning Anderson is God's Gun.
• Alucard taunted Anderson and claimed that the two of them had fought both 500 and 100 years ago. It is a likely metaphor for Anderson being the third nemesis of Alucard, the other two being The Sultan and Abraham Van Helsing.
• The thorns that form his "God's Monster" transformation were most likely an allusion to the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ before his crucifixion.
• Norio Wakamoto voicing Anderson's lines ("If anyone does not love the Lord, Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Our Lord come. Amen.") in English is memetic for how poorly he had spoken them.
• In the English dub of the anime and OVA (along with his dialogues in Dark Horse's translation of Hellsing), he is portrayed as having a Scottish accent, though canonically his nationality is unknown.
• Walter said one of his nicknames is Angel Dust Anderson, a reference to one of Kohta Hirano's older works, Angel Dust, which featured an Anderson prototype. This was changed to Dust to Dust Anderson in the English dub because of the fact that "angel dust" is a popular term for PCP, a drug with hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects that causes abusers to become a danger to both themselves and others.