| Manga/OVA Canon | Anime Canon |
Seras Victoria 《セラス・ヴィクトリア, Serasu Vikutoria》 is one of the three main protagonists of the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano, alongside Alucard and Sir Integra. In both adaptations of Hellsing, she is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa in the Japanese sub and K.T. Gray in the English dub.
Seras was turned into a vampire by Alucard to save her from a would-be fatal gunshot wound in the chest, that he also caused while shooting the Pastor. From that point, she assists the Hellsing Organisation against the increased vampire attacks, and later becomes a close associate of Sir Integra and forms a romantic bond with Pip Vernedead. Seras is a Draculina, a term used to refer to the female members of the Dracul bloodline since she has been turned into a vampire by Alucard.
Appearance
Seras was initially an attractive young woman with blonde hair cut into a flare cut and blue eyes. Occasionally, her eyes assumed a red hue in moments of extreme rage or vampiric bloodlust.[11] She had a fairly broad-shouldered torso, yet maintained a very voluptuous and buxom figure, which was further accentuated by the fact that she is considerably shorter than virtually all of her allies. Before becoming a fully-fledged vampire, she usually wore a yellow Hellsing uniform with a matching mini skirt, long white stockings, ankle fold-brown boots and brown gloves.
As a fully-fledged vampire, her hair lightened to an almost platinum blonde color, and her eyes became permanently red. She continued to wear a uniform of the same style as before, but colored burgundy red instead of yellow. Upon fully embracing vampirism, nothing changed about her overall figure with the notable exception of her left arm. After losing the original one to Zorin Blitz, it was replaced by a mass of writhing black and orange shadowy matter that initially manifested as a whip-like set of tendrils. Shortly after transforming, however, she learned how to mold the shadow matter into the shape of her original arm.[b]
Personality
Seras is a strong-willed woman and has always been so since childhood which is confirmed through her flashbacks. Seras is often considered a tomboy; a very brave, strong, and heroic young woman who, while exhibiting a wild temperament, is not afraid to question the orders of her master if they cross with her personal beliefs. Her devotion to morals and integrity is rather unusual, considering her horrid past. However, she is a loyal and trustworthy soldier who will diligently follow the orders of her commander, provided said commander has proven his or her worth.
Her level of maturity in comparison to the other characters is somewhat questionable; she seems to be the child the others could not be, yet possessing a sort of worldly maturity and superficial intelligence that most other characters lack, as well as a sort of "nurture winning against nature" mentality, as opposed to most other characters. She's the "light that stands out from the darkness" (as stated by Kohta Hirano in an interview[12]). Her past also mentioned that she was in trouble for attacking multiple kids at an orphanage she lived in as a child, so her childish behavior was a bit unexpected.[13]
While she chose to be a vampire on her own accord, she still clings to the very last bit of humanity still left inside of her; oftentimes questioning what she's becoming. This goes so far that even multiple characters try to remind her that she's now a vampire, not a human.[14][15][16] Her struggles to drink blood before she became a full-fledged vampire were also integral to her development as a character. Because of Seras' stubbornness, Alucard was quite annoyed.[17] It was not until Integra ordered her to do so that she finally gave in to drinking blood[18], but until Zorin Blitz's provocation of Vernedead's death that she chose to finally drink a person's blood directly.[19] In moments of hopelessness, Seras, in a fit of rage; where her strength and capabilities as a servant vampire is shown.[20]
As a direct result of past trauma of her childhood and the events of Cheddar, Seras has a fear of losing people she considers important, even if they are just her colleagues. When Jan Valentine turned almost all of the Hellsing Military soldiers into ghouls, Seras was stunned. She was later caught in the foot by the ghouls and surrounded by them. She soon lost control, killing all of the Hellsing members turned who turned into ghouls. She immediately felt regret after snapping out of it via Integra who embraced, and pleaded for her to stop.[21] Upset and angered that Zorin's army of vampiric Nazi soldiers was chewing the Wild Geese, which she considers her friends, she brutally kills them and then goes blind with anger which Zorin uses to her advantage.[22]
After becoming a Real Vampire, she undergoes drastic changes as a character. However, remains as cheerful and clumsy as ever despite being more "battle-hardened" and "serious."[23][24][25]
Relationships
Allies
- Pip Vernedead: Seras and Vernedead first meet after Walter hires professional mercenaries to fill in for the soldiers who had been killed during the Valentine Brothers' attack. Seras takes great annoyance when Vernedead calls her a "freak" and with great ease, takes down the target with a rifle. Her victory was short-lived when Vernedead pointed out that she had killed the "innocents" as well as the targets with her shot. Shortly afterward, Seras burst into Alucard and Walter's conversation, complaining that Vernedead and the other mercenaries were "sexually harassing" her by singing a dirty song.[26] In the majority of events leading up to the war arc, the two had gotten closer and closer to each other; especially in Rio where they could be seen talking and laughing with each other.[27][28] By the time of Zorin's attack within the Manor, the two had gotten closer and closer.[29][30] However, when Vernedead dies at the hands of Zorin, Seras bursts into tears. Not until Zorin belittled Vernedead was she so angered that she went into bloodlust, drinking Vernedead's blood as a means of defeating them together.[31]
After drinking Vernedead's blood, a part of Vernedead now resides in Seras and he acts as her familiar.[32] As such, it is implied that the other characters can sense Vernedead's presence within her. The two remaining mercenaries of the Wild Geese salute Seras and address her as "Sir" before she leaves[33], and Integra realizes that Seras drank his blood without any knowledge as to what had happened at the mansion.[34] In Seras' fight with The Captain, Seras was severely outclassed and beaten up. Not until Vernedead awakens that she gets a boost of motivation and decides to not give up.[35][36] Vernedead's encouragement heavily helps Seras in her fight, especially nearing the end of the battle where she summoned Vernedead as a familiar to finish off The Captain.[37][38] Within the time skip, Vernedead is referred to as Seras' shadow and has covered the Hellsing Manor as a watcher.[39]
- Alucard: Out of all the other characters, Seras is the most subtle but distinct foil to her master Alucard and they contrast perfectly. In life, Alucard was a warlord that enforced order on his people and strove to destroy the enemies of that order.[40] Seras was a peacekeeper serving the public and desired to protect the people.[41] Both Alucard and Seras had hard early lives yet Alucard was consumed with rage and selfishly used God as an excuse to take out that rage on others, while Seras resolved to help others not have to face the same hardships.
Seras demonstrates great loyalty for him that transcends the actions of a slave obeying and serving a master. While she does not partake in the slaughter of the human GATE squad, she aids Alucard in his combat with Tubalcain Alhambra and later attempts to fight Alexander Anderson (though her attack is comically cut short).[42][43] As the series progresses, her shy and nervous behavior toward Alucard is quickly overcome once she becomes a full-fledged vampire and he addresses her by her full name.[44] In the end, Seras was the only one who had unwavering faith that Alucard would return after his disappearance at the end of the war.[45]
- Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing: The two main heroines interact very well. Seras expresses great loyalty towards Integra and the two form a friendship that transcends the master and slave relationship that Integra has with Alucard. Seras joins Arthur Hellsing and Sir Penwood as characters Integra can trust and openly show affection towards.[46] Integra embraced Seras, pleading with her to stop after she mercilessly attacked the Hellsing Military ghouls in a fit of rage rather than shouting at her head-on to stop. When Seras regains herself, she too is horrified by her actions. When Integra is ordered to kill the remaining ghouls, Seras expresses great sadness for her.[47] Integra was also the reason why Seras grew more comfortable with her nature as a vampire.[48]
Seras stays with Integra during the thirty-year transitional period in the manga, where the two have grown even closer as companions. Seras teases Integra in a similar fashion that Alucard used to tease her, and Integra confesses some insecurities about her aging appearance. Still, once Seras senses that Integra is in danger, she is at her side in a moment's time. Her heroism is cut short when she realizes Alucard has returned.[49]
Enemies
- Zorin Blitz: Upon meeting face to face, Seras stood her ground against Zorin until Zorin used her powers to dredge up Seras's memories, costing Seras an arm and her eyes.[50] After Zorin killed Pip Vernedead, she finally pushed Seras too far with her sadism, resulting in Seras drinking his blood and awakening as a full vampire before proceeding to decimate Zorin and all of her men in the fight that followed.[51][52] Seras's hatred for Zorin is revealed by Seras's claim that she would not drink Zorin's blood even if her survival hinged on it.[53]
- Walter C. Dornez: Walter was highly respected by Seras and was also her mentor as an elder. Despite Walter becoming a traitor, Seras and Walter still genuinely care for each other and he was taken aback by her gratitude for him as the butler of Hellsing as they wished each other to take care in their final words of exchange despite officially being friends no longer.[54] When Integra told Seras that Walter had passed away, Seras expressed sadness on her face.[55]
- The Captain: The Captain is Seras' silent, deadly adversary. Seras had a hard time facing The Captain but was encouraged by her familiar, Pip Vernedead, who finished The Captain off with the final blow for Seras.[56] When The Captain dies with a smile, Vernedead shares his thoughts about him looking like "a child who'd just had a smashing dream," to which Seras agrees.[57]
- Schrödinger: Seras has not interacted very much with Schrödinger at all, though she did seem rather embarrassed by Schrödinger greeting her during the meeting with the Queen. Mostly because he kept awkwardly staring at her.[58]
Powers and Abilities
Fledgling Vampire
| Fledgling | |
|---|---|
| As a former police officer, Seras is well-trained in hand-to-hand combat and can easily take down opponents using a combination of brute strength and technique. Under extreme stress, she can go into a berserk rage and destroy a few dozen ghouls in mere seconds. The following are what abilities Seras had before her full transformation as a Real Vampire, thus the release of her full potential as a vampire. | |
| Abilities | |
| Enhanced Strength: Despite having a slight frame and little weight, she has phenomenal lifting strength and load-bearing abilities, but her limbs come under none of the normal strain from heavy weaponry worth several hundred pounds, and such objects do not crumble when carried. Furthermore, extremely high-recoil and normally turret-fixed weapons like the Harkonnen and Harkonnen II afford no such problems to Seras, even though powerful muscles would afford her little help without a strong footing.[59] In moments of pure rage, Seras' strength was boosted and she was easily able to tear through armored ghouls surrounding her.[60] | |
| Enhanced Speed: Seras can move and react at superhuman speeds, flicking Pip Vernedead before he could react.[61] Despite being weighed down by part of the Harkonnen, she was able to attack and kill a group of Millennium vampires.[62] | |
| Hematophagy: As a vampire, Seras has the ability to consume blood raw. She has the ability to turn her teeth into sharp fangs which helps her suck her victim's blood.[63] As Seras initially refuses to drink blood at the beginning of the series, her body starts to gradually weaken when starved of blood.[64] Eventually after being confronted by Integra, she gives in to drinking blood (medical blood) that temporarily boosts her strength.[65] | |
| Soul Absorption: A basic vampire ability. By draining a person of their blood, Seras gains dominance over their souls and inherits their memories and minds as they fuse. Her full potential as a vampire was unlocked after doing so, as seen when she drank Pip Vernedead's blood which gave her an immense boost of power.[66] | |
| Regeneration: Seras has the regenerative ability of an average vampire. Her limit was seen when Zorin cut her eyes and chopped her arm off, which she was not able to regenerate from until after she drank Vernedead's blood.[67] Weapons blessed with silver, such as Anderson's bayonets, affect Seras. They are also regenerated slightly slower than regenerating injuries caused by non-holy weapons.[68] | |
| Third Eye: This clairvoyant-like sense lets her penetrate illusions and see things from afar as well.[69] This ability also gives her superhuman accuracy, as she was able to snipe Zorin Blitz and Jessica from more than 600 meters away with pinpoint aim.[70][71][72] | |
Real Vampire
| Real Vampire | |
|---|---|
| After being fatally wounded by Zorin's scythe, Vernedead tells Seras, who was blinded and crippled, to drink his blood so they can win together. She drains him of his blood and becomes one of the "true undead." Her transformation was completed upon her truly embracing her vampiric nature and enhancing her abilities while giving her access to higher-level powers; subsequent souls would thus serve only to increase her overall power level and regenerative abilities without changing the nature of her powers. Her severed left arm is restored as the same type of shadow-matter that Alucard can manipulate, and all of her abilities skyrocket. | |
| Abilities | |
| Superhuman Strength: She was able to easily demolish an entire squad of Millennium vampires with her bare hands in mere seconds.[73][74] She was also strong enough to punch off The Captain’s arms when their fists collided, although it blew off her arms as well.[75] | |
| Superhuman Speed and Reflexes: Her speed skyrocketed after drinking Vernedead's blood. She could easily dodge automatic gunfire from artificial vampires in a narrow hallway, while at the same time ripping them apart before they could react. Even Zorin could not handle her speed.[76][77][78] Later on, she could keep up with The Captain’s human form on equal footing.[79] | |
| Superhuman Durability and Endurance: Seras survived getting slammed by The Captain in his fully transformed werewolf form, and from crashing down head-first to the main hanger from the zeppelin's upper floors. Despite all this damage, she was able to get back up to dodge The Captain’s kick before she even began regenerating. She had also been repeatedly shot by The Captain's Mauser at point-blank range, later however retaliating with a smirk on her face.[80] | |
| Enhanced Regeneration: Like Alucard, Seras has shown that she possesses the ability to rapidly recover from serious injuries within moments of receiving them. Immediately after becoming a full vampire, Seras was able to completely regenerate her damaged eyeballs that were previously slashed by Zorin's scythe.[81] Later, during a battle with The Captain, the two traded blows powerful enough to almost destroy each other's limbs.[82] After Seras emerged victorious, her limbs were shown to have completely recovered to their undamaged state almost instantaneously.[83] Curiously, although she was able to immediately regenerate her damaged eyes after completing her transformation, she never regenerated her severed left arm, having it permanently replaced by the shape-shifting shadow matter.[84] | |
| Soul Absorption: A basic vampire ability. By draining a person of their blood, Seras gains dominance over their souls and inherits their memories and minds as they fuse together. Her full potential as a vampire is unlocked after doing so, as seen when she drank Pip Vernedead's blood which gave her an immense boost of power.[85]
Familiar Control: Seras can manifest Verndead's soul as a dark servant called a familiar, from which she can coordinate with Vernedead in combat, with the latter giving her tactical guidance. She can also materialize Vernedead into the physical world, such as when he emerges from Seras to give The Captain the fatal blow to defeat him.[86] | |
Dark Composition: Seras’ amputated arm becomes a limb made of shadow matter, which she can manipulate in a versatile manner. She turned the shadowy matter after The Captain fired a few bullets into her head, rendering the attacks ineffective and forcing The Captain to back away with her spikes.[87] She was also able to use it as a non-lethal weapon against Iscariot.[88] This becomes Seras’s main weapon of choice. 30 years after the Millennium incident, she has such control over her shadow matter that she can mimic Alucard's entire outfit by transforming it. She also covered the entire mansion with her shadow, in some kind of makeshift surveillance system, although it was with Vernedead's sentience, complaining loudly when Makube demonstrated his presence by ripping the wallpaper.[89]
| |
| Third Eye: She was able to dispel Zorin's illusionary magic at point-blank with a thought.[94] When Zorin again tried to use her illusionary magic on Seras, she instead saw a mixed series of memories, memories contained within the minds of both Vernedead and Seras before Seras quickly snapped out of it and grabbed her by the face, later ended up killing her in the process of ramming her onto the wall.[95] | |
Weapons
- Main article: Seras Victoria/Weapons#Hellsing Ultimate/Manga
| Harkonnen | |
|---|---|
Seras' preferred weapon is the Harkonnen 《ハルコネン, Harukonen》. With the Harkonnen in hand, Seras serves perfectly as long-range fire support. The Harkonnen is stated by Walter to have enough firepower to destroy nearly anything other than a main battle tank, as well as being superior to the majority of military weapons. Carrying this weapon, the vampirically-enhanced Seras serves perfectly as long-range fire support. Her immense strength also allows her to use the weapon while moving; sometimes, especially in the manga, she wields it with extraordinary ease, even firing over her shoulder.
| |
| Harkonnen II | |
|---|---|
| Seras uses the Harkonnen II 《ハルコンネンII》 to barrage Zorin's Zeppelin II in an overwhelming display of firepower. The ammunition containers are detachable, and Seras is seen using the Harkonnen II without them, though she quickly runs out of ammo. They appear to be both belt and magazine-fed; when they're first seen, they're belt-fed, however, in volume 10, she loads them with box magazines. They also appear to be locked-breech recoil operated, as the barrel moves when it fires and it has no gas tube. Described as an "explosive incendiary grenade launcher for wide-area field dominance," the Vladimir 《ウラディーミル, Uradīmiru》 is a set of muzzle-fired grenades that are part of the Harkonnen II weapon system. Seras uses these to deliver the final blow to Zorin's Zeppelin II. They are fired seemingly in a similar manner to most muzzle-fired grenades, however, the ignition seems to be primed with a live round, whilst most real grenades of this type are fired utilizing a blank round.
| |
Concept and Creation
A character similar to Seras was present in Hirano's earlier work, Hellsing: The Legends of a Vampire Hunter, called Yuri Kate, an employee of the Hellsing Organisation. She was assaulted and turned into a vampire by prototype versions of Luke Valentine and Jan Valentine and rescued by a prototype of Alucard. In creating Hellsing, Hirano thought about adding a female character that would make the dark series "warmer," so he added Seras Victoria who presented both oppurtunities, and he described as the "light that stands out from the darkness."[96] Hirano started the Hellsing storyline with Seras' point of view, before gradually moving to an all-out war without focusing on any specific character.[97] Hirano explained that the story first started from Seras' point of view, but later evolved to an all-out war with little focus on a specific character.[98]
When the story had progressed about 1/3 as a whole, seeing that a combo between her and Alucard wouldn't be possible, he added in Pip Vernedead to serve as Seras' partner.[99] Commenting on his relationship with Alucard, Hirano stated that it is something complicated, but close to the ties of a family; yet, it is uncertain how they truly felt about each other and that it can't be "master and slave" because Integra already fulfilled that dynamic for Alucard.[100] By the guidebook's release however, her relationship with Alucard is noted to be "master and slave" through Alucard.[101] With the conclusion of her drinking Vernedead's blood, Hirano never thought about the idea of her drinking anyone's blood and joked about it being unnecessary as Vernedead and Seras should live happily together with no interruptions as a "couple of fools."[102] Seras' signature weapons, Harkonnen and Harkonnen II are named after the main antagonist of Frank Herbert's novel Dune, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. This is further reinforced by the appearance of the gun's "spirit" during dream sequences in the manga (and thus OVA) and episode previews in the anime, which bears a strong resemblance to Baron Harkonnen from David Lynch's film adaptation of the book.
Name
Initially not bearing a name in the first few chapters and only exclusively referred to as "Police Girl," her name was revealed in chapter 6 as "セラス・ヴィクトリア," which is written as "Serase Victoria" in the panel. Her first name is most often translated as "Seras" (OVA booklets, Dark Horse release, Geneon US/Funimation releases of the OVA and anime), yet the guidebook spelled iterated it as "Serase" similar to the panel in chapter 6. Hirano remarked that Seras' name bears no meaning.
Footnotes
Notes
References
- ↑ Order 57: Wizardry (1) p. 10
- ↑ Order 06: Sword Dancer (3) p. 1
- ↑ Order 01: Vampire Hunter p. 29
- ↑ Order 47: Soldier of Fortune (3) p. 11
- ↑ Order 06: Sword Dancer (3) p. 6
- ↑ Order 43: Gun Bullet p. 13
- ↑ (French for "My Dear")
- ↑ Order 51: Last Mission p. 6
- ↑ HELLSING official guide book p. 012
- ↑ Order 01: Vampire Hunter
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate II
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/Play_Issue_045_2005_09_Fusion_Publishing_US/page/16/mode/2up
- ↑ Order 51: Last Mission
- ↑ Walter: Order 07: Dead Zone (1) pp. 5-6
- ↑ Alucard: Order 07: Dead Zone (1) pp. 6-7
- ↑ Integra: Order 26: D (2) pp. 8-14
- ↑ Order 07: Dead Zone (1) pp. 6-7
- ↑ Order 26: D (2) pp. 10-14
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa pp. 1-12
- ↑ Order 10: Dead Zone (4) pp. 6-10
- ↑ Order 10: Dead Zone (4) pp. 6-10
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VI
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VIII
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate IX
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Order 13: Balance of Power (3)
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate III
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate IV
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VI
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa pp. 1-13
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Order 55: Ogre Battle pp. 15-17
- ↑ Order 57: Wizardry (1) pp. 9-10
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate IX
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Order 80: Wolf Fang (1)
- ↑ Order 81: Wolf Fang (2)
- ↑ Order 89: Romancia
- ↑ [[Order 68: Castle vania (1)
- ↑ Order 01: Vampire Hunter
- ↑ Order 19: Elevator Action (6)
- ↑ Order 21: Age of Empire pp. 23-25
- ↑ Order 61: Wizardry (5) pp. 6-8
- ↑ Order 89: Romancia
- ↑ Order 89: Romancia
- ↑ Order 10: Dead Zone (4) pp. 6-10, p. 19
- ↑ Order 26: D (2) pp. 10-14
- ↑ Order 89: Romancia
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa
- ↑ Order 54: The Man I Love
- ↑ Order 55: Ogre Battle
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate IX
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Order 81: Wolf Fang (2)
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate IV
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate II
- ↑ Order 10: Dead Zone (4) pp. 6-9
- ↑ Order 11: Balance of Power (1) pp. 10-11
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa pp. 6-8
- ↑ Order 07: Dead Zone (1) pp. 5-6
- ↑ Order 26: D (2) pp. 10-14
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate I
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VI
- ↑ Order 03: Murder Club p. 20
- ↑ Order 46: Soldier of Fortune (2) pp. 13-14
- ↑ Order 46: Soldier of Fortune (2) pp. 1-2
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa
- ↑ Order 54: The Man I Love
- ↑ Order 80: Wolf Fang (1) pp. 12-13
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa
- ↑ Order 54: The Man I Love
- ↑ Order 55: Ogre Battle
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Order 80: Wolf Fang (1) pp. 12-13
- ↑ Order 81: Wolf Fang (2)
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate VII
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Hellsing: Ultimate X
- ↑ Order 57: Wizardry (1) pp. 7-8
- ↑ Order 89: Romancia
- ↑ Order 79: Warcraft (2) pp. 6-7
- ↑ Order 55: Ogre Battle pp. 17-18
- ↑ Order 57: Wizardry (1) pp. 7-8
- ↑ Order 88: Oblivion pp. 14-19
- ↑ Order 53: Yaksa pp. 11-12
- ↑ Order 55: Ogre Battle
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/Play_Issue_045_2005_09_Fusion_Publishing_US/page/16/mode/2up
- ↑ Beckett Anime Issue #89
- ↑ Beckett Anime Issue #89
- ↑ HELLSING official guide book Kohta Hirano Vs. Interviewer: Battle 03
- ↑ 2006 Otakon Panel
- ↑ HELLSING official guide book p. 022. "アーカードを介した主従関係 ではあるものの、何かと自分を 気にかけてくれる「主人の主人」 に、セラスは自ずと忠心を捧げ るように。"
- ↑ HELLSING official guide book Kohta Hirano Vs. Interviewer: Battle 02