Alexander Anderson

Manga/OVA Canon

Anime Canon

Alexander Anderson History Gallery

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 Teacher Father Beloved Mortal Foe (by Alucard) Catholic Christian God's Monster
Age	40s
Gender	Male
Species	Regenerator (Human) "Monster of God"
Status	Deceased
Affiliations	Iscariot (Vatican Section XIII) Roman Catholic Church Ferdinant Lukes
First appearance (manga)	Hellsing: Volume 1
First appearance (OVA)	Hellsing: Ultimate I
Japanese seiyū	Norio Wakamoto
English voice	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. In the English dub of the anime and OVA, he is portrayed as having a Scottish accent, though canonically his nationality is unknown. 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

Father Alexander Anderson has short, spiky silver hair (gold in the OVA), purple-ish blue 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 is shown to be an imposing, middle-aged man; lean with broad shoulders and very tall, being slightly taller than or as tall as Alucard.

He wears round glasses, a large purple-ish grey cassock (which has a blue trim and interior in the OVA), purple-ish grey trousers (grey in the OVA), black boots, a black shirt (black with blue trim in the OVA), a clerical collar, blue-tinted white gloves, and a gold cross (which often glows and appears as silver in the OVA) around his neck. On his gloves, there are inscriptions written across the crosses drawn on the back:

• The right-hand says "Jesus Christ is in Heaven."
• The left-hand says "Speak with Dead." This is later changed to "Speak with The Dead."

In the manga, these inscriptions change sometimes, in Anderson's later appearances his gloves read "Iscariot Section XIII," the Organization to which Anderson belongs.

Personality

He normally appears as a calm and collected priest; he works at an orphanage in the manga and OVA and acts very kindly towards the children under his care. His complexity in the manga is later demonstrated by his respect for Integra's conviction and for Seras' bravery. Specifically, he agrees to escort Integra to Hellsing Manor, because it would be impolite to leave a lady to walk there alone. Anderson tells the members of Iscariot to retreat from battle when Alucard releases his familiars, wanting them to live on and protect the Catholic religion; as he believed there are already enough souls in limbo.

Alexander's kind and twisted side.

Alexander Anderson is an ardent Catholic. He carries an obsession for what he believes to be his "crusade," and compulsively quotes passages of the Holy Bible as he speaks. 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." His behavior in the first volume 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 (like Integra) as a reference to the long history of hatred between the two.

In the first volume of Hellsing, some of Anderson's statements heavily imply a hatred for all non-Catholics. Anderson tells a pair of young boys that they should only engage in violence against "monsters and heathens," and comments to his superiors that it is fortunate that a large vampire population must be killing many English Protestants. Anderson resents the control of England over Northern Ireland, which he believes is Catholic territory, and states that it is his mission to kill those who opposes his God. Despite this, it is shown that he will become angry when innocent people are killed, despite their beliefs.

In battle, he is merciless and almost unstoppable due to his abilities. He has a habit of hissing during fights and often loses all control of himself much like Alucard. Despite this, he can stop himself and focus on his mission. He shows a greater sense of morality both in his treatment of the orphans under his care, his eventual assistance to Integra and betrayal of Enrico Maxwell (who becomes drunk with power and starts killing innocent humans). Anderson's hatred of non-Catholics doesn't seem to be as severe as he implies. When actually witnessing murder he becomes angry regardless of the victim, such as the police killed by Alucard and Maxwell's attack against England.

Relationships

Allies

• Heinkel Wulf and Yumiko Takagi: Anderson deeply cares for both Yumiko and Heinkel, as they were his orphans before. However, as they age, Heinkel and Yumiko both works under Anderson in Iscariot. Yet, Anderson's orders are to be ignored if Maxwell says so, which means that Heinkel and Yumiko both cares about their missions first and what Anderson wants second. However even so, Anderson is shown to be incredibly proud of his students, even if they defy his orders. When Walter stepped onto Anderson's remains, Yumiko was incredibly angered by his actions, which eventually led to her unfortunate death due to her being so blinded by revenge that she rushed at Walter without knowing what he is capable of. Heinkel later became Anderson's successor and had seemingly developed a rivalry with Seras Victoria.

Enemies

• Alucard: While the two starts of as enemies, their relationship becomes more and more respectful as time goes on. He also often loses control when he sees Alucard, disobeying every other from Maxwell to get a chance to fight Alucard. Both wished for a fight with a good atmosphere, as shown when both walked away during the museum incident after Seras intervenes. When Anderson was sent to deliver a message for Alucard, Seras, and Pip, Anderson barges into the room they are in and went for Alucard; before regaining control of himself, and tells them to go before he loses that control.
  
  He appears to have a form of respect for Alucard, shouting "The black peril comes!" while laughing as Alucard enters the Thames at the end of Volume 7. Alucard shows great respect for Anderson and goes so far as to compare him to the men who were able to defeat Dracula. This changes, however, when Anderson chooses to use the Nail of Helena on himself in order to become a monster that he believes will turn him into God's literal weapon. At this point, Alucard rules that Anderson, having sacrificed all of his humanity in exchange for power, is no longer worthy of destroying him and that Anderson must 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.
  
  In his final moments, Anderson consoled his grieving rival in his own way, telling him that devils do not cry. Anderson's final prayers lays upon Alucard.

• Enrico Maxwell: Maxwell was one of Anderson's students, and seeing him rose to incredible power made Anderson really proud of him. Anderson took care of Maxwell ever since Father Ronald introduces Maxwell to his new caretaker, Anderson. Though he constantly disobeyed orders from Maxwell, Anderson, in his own way, completes his mission in some way or another. Both shares an incredible hatred towards Protestant and Hellsing, and were planning on turning traitor to Britain by attacking both Hellsing and Millennium at the same time; destroying both and proving their superiority.
  
  However, it was Maxwell's decision to involve innocent civilians to this that enraged Anderson. Anderson states that Maxwell had became so drunk with power, that he had quit serving God; only thing he's serving is God's power. When Alucard's siege started and Maxwell fell from above, Anderson went towards Maxwell's location and breaks the tempered glass which shielded him from the ghouls. Only then Maxwell begged his teacher to save him, to which Anderson remains hesitant. When Maxwell dies, Anderson begrudgingly states that he's a daft fool. He then closes his eyes.
  
  Even then, he spoke of Maxwell's crying before teleporting to Alucard's location to engage in the death battle. In Anderson's final moments, He raises up his arm to the sunset as he hears the sound of his children crying, and then, more specifically, Maxwell's. It shows that even after what had happened, Anderson loved Maxwell dearly and was very proud of the boy. His decision to end Maxwell's life is something he wished that he would never do, yet it is necessary to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians.

• Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing: When Anderson met Integra, Anderson deeply has a burning hatred for protestants, so that applies to her who he had almost killed and she who he calls a "whore of babylon." Yet, when the next time they met Anderson saw her standing up to a fleet of Millennium Battalion, before Anderson saves her and laughs manically at her face with a bleeding nose. However, his laughing stops as he grows more intense, stating that Integra and all who're with her are their sworn enemies, and that only Iscariot will be the one's to defeat them; it is the only way.
  
  This shows a sign of respect, and Anderson later was the one who objected towards taking Integra hostage as he believes that they might as well as be rapists for going after a single unarmed woman. When Maxwell sent an order to the Armed Priest Vanguard to apprehend Integra immediately, Anderson does not like the order yet Heinkel remains persistent to do as Maxwell had wishes, before Seras Victoria saved Integra's life.
  
  In the end, as a sign of respect on Integra's behalf, she grabbed all the bayonets on the floor and stood them up in Anderson's final moments.

• Seras Victoria: Initially, Anderson thought no more of Seras other than a two-bit vampire; 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 true vampire, Anderson smiles manically and states that she's become into something dreadful, and that she should be ashamed of herself for taking on a human form. Seras grins in response. That is their last interaction with each other however, she was shocked to see her Master cry when Anderson perished.

Powers and Abilities

Human Regenerator
As Iscariot's "Trump Card," he is the single greatest warrior the Vatican can bring to bear, and the only known human being who can closely match Alucard's powers. 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, similar to Walter.
Abilities
Superhuman Strength: He has fought Alucard, who is unfazed from taking high-caliber bullets to the chest, to a standstill with his bare hands, staggering him and causing his nose to bleed with a single punch. With his immense strength, he threw his bayonets through a tektite composite panel, protecting Maxwell and bisected artificial vampires with a single blow.
Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: His reflexes are sufficient to allow him to react to bullets, although he prefers 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 a great speed.
Supernatural Durability and Endurance: 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 seemingly little effort, he could survive being shot by Rip's musket, which was strong enough to decimate fighter jets, followed by Alhambra's anti-regeneration cards which could cut through flesh and steel easily. This is all a testament to Anderson's fighting spirit which made Alucard deemed him as the worthy rival who can kill him. 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. He has 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.
Supernatural Accuracy: Anderson can throw his bayonets with great intensity and impossible levels of accuracy. He could crack hardened tektite glass and has skewered vampires, from Millennium's foot soldiers to Alucard himself. He could throw the bayonets so fast that an entire squad of Millennium's artificial vampires could not react to them at all. In the OVA I, the bayonets caused sonic booms that shatter windows. In his first encounter with Alucard and Seras, he accurately stabbed and incapacitated Seras with multiple well-placed bayonets.
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, summons two bayonets and bites 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 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 has a strong regenerative factor which he typically relies on in battle, and it easily heals 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 has its limits. Using the Jackal, which was specifically designed for use against strong regenerators like Anderson, Alucard is able to shoot out a huge chunk of Anderson's arm which doesn't regenerate.
OVA Manga	Bayonet 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).
OVA Manga	Bayonet Summoning: Anderson seems to have a limitless supply of bayonets that he can pull from, suggesting that he benefits from Hammerspace. It is unknown if the bayonets are concealed with some sort of holy power or can be generated by nano-technology in his clothing or body. Hirano claims something among the lines of Anderson being "4th-dimensional."
OVA Manga	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 OVA VIII, 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 can use Bible pages to seemingly teleport. He used this to leave his first fight with Alucard after realizing he did not have the 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

Monster of God
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 receives "Helena's 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, becoming a monster like Alucard, yet not a monster of the Devil's, but God's monster.
Abilities
Supernatural Strength: With hardly any difficulty whatsoever, Anderson could slice off Alucard's head and arm like it was butter. 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 the latter could react again. Superhuman Leap: After blocking Alucard's bullet, Anderson greatly leaped in the air before Alucard could react any further before throwing his bayonet accurately just at the center of Alucard's forehead.
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. 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 after.
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 becomes a humanoid composition of thorny plant-like vines, which he can manipulate. The thorns are most likely an allusion to the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. But this has never been confirmed by the author. These vines are particularly powerful, as they could stop the Jackal's bullets with ease and wrap themselves around his foes, causing injury. Anderson can spread these vines around him and fire a massive swarm infused with bayonets at his opponent. He uses 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 OVA VIII, Anderson could use it as a weapon to rip apart Alucard's shadows. Holy Fire Summoning: The vines can ensnare the target and generate flames. This fire is particularly effective against supernatural creatures as powerful as Alucard and Seras, as it defeated Alucard's regeneration abilities and ignited thousands of his familiars all throughout London. Anderson can infuse his bayonets with the 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.
Immortality
Similar to Alucard's so-called "immortality," while Anderson could not be killed by aging and diseases alike; there is a way to kill him. Essentially, his immortality is only biological, and that there is certainly a way to kill him. Unlike a vampires immortality, a Monster of God is not dependent on how many lives they've sucked or how many souls they've taken; there is, only one way to kill him and that is, to bore the bowel of his heart by any means necessary.

Equipment

Holy Bayonets

OVA Manga

His Holy Bayonets (祝福儀礼の銃剣,, Shukufuku Girei no Jūken, lit. Blessing Ritual Bayonet) 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. The bayonets could originally be destroyed by simple handguns, but later could withstand 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. It made its first and last appearance in part 2 of the Hundred Swords chapter or Volume 8 of the OVA. These explosive chains are simple, and were brought by Anderson to the Battle on London specifically to use them against Alucard, and was later used to fight his familiars. There is also a delay on-hit, meaning that it doesn't explode on impact.

Concept and Creation

Anderson was written into the manga in Chapter 4 as a foil to Alucard, where the story of the manga starts to unfold. His overall design and name was based upon a character in a Hentai manga Hirano had created several years before, stating that because the publisher never sent the manuscript back to Hirano, he created Anderson as revenge. Anderson was also already a character in the Crossfire series that was published in Hobby Japan's manga magazine "Comic Master." From the beginning, Anderson's death was already decided upon as Hirano cannot tolerate an ending where two rivals suddenly become friends. When drawing the "Monster of God" form of Anderson, Hirano mentioned how difficult it was to draw the thorns.

Name

When Anderson was introduced in the series, the panel showcasing the information of Anderson wrote his name fully in English as "Arexandraue Andersong." English Subtitles for the TV anime in 2003 rendered Anderson's name as "Alexander Andersong." It was not until Dark Horse Comic's translation of the Hellsing manga where Anderson's name was written as "Alexander Anderson." Booklet of the Hellsing OVA series and the ending of OVA 10 wrote Anderson's name as it is, but the Hellsing Guidebook rendered Anderson's name as "Arexandrave Anderson." In Hellsing OVA 4, his name is written like the Japanese pronunciation ("Andersen") though this is likely a mistranslation by the Japanese.

Trivia

• In Volume 1 of the manga and OVA I, Walter says one of his nicknames is Angel Dust Anderson, a reference to one of Kohta Hirano's hentai 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.

Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing in Dracula (1931)

• Anderson's design may be based on Abraham Van Helsing's appearance from 1931 "Dracula" Universal film, as both their hair, glasses and facial expression look alike.
• Anderson stabbing himself in the heart with the Nail of Helena adds a visual irony to his intent as it resembles a wooden stake through his heart, a commonly known method of killing vampires.
• In the Manga and OVA, it is implied when Anderson and Alucard met in Barick it is their first meeting due to Alucard being surprised at his regenerative powers. However, Dracula (Level 0 Alucard) taunts Anderson in OVA 8 and claims 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 Mehmed and Dr. Van Helsing.
• 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.
• 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.