Alucard (Japanese: アーカード, Ākādo; OVA romanized as Arucard) is one of the three main protagonists of the Hellsing series by Kohta Hirano, alongside Sir Integra and Seras Victoria. In the anime adaptations, he is voiced by Jouji Nakata in Japanese and Crispin Freeman in the English dub.
Alucard is the ultimate weapon of the Hellsing Organization, which defends humanity from vampires and other supernatural threats. He is fiercely loyal to the Hellsing family and obeys only their orders, often demanding, "Give me your orders, my Master" (命令オーダーをよこせ我が主マイマスター) until he receives clear instruction.
He is widely considered the most powerful vampire in existence, the result of a century of experimentation by the Hellsing family to create the "Ultimate Undead." Alucard has said he can appear in any form he chooses, and his various appearances reflect no particular meaning to him. Because he has absorbed so many souls, his identity has become fluid — though he typically presents as a man, his gender is essentially irrelevant to him.
His appearance is just as mutable: his hair length, eye color, teeth, and even physical body can shift at will. His pupils are usually blood-red but glow hot pink when he absorbs Schrödinger in the OVA. His teeth may shift from human-like to razor-sharp, shark-like fangs. Even his clothing regenerates with him, as it's considered part of his form. His arms may stretch unnaturally long, and his signature white gloves — marked with a magical pentagram and occult inscriptions — remain consistent across all transformations.
The symbols on his gloves include the phrases:
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Hellsing
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Hells Gate Arrested
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Gott Mit Uns ("God With Us")
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And Shine Heaven Now
These are surrounded by a Theban alphabet inscription that, when decoded, repeats the same phrases. The bottom of the symbol includes a square with lines resembling a ladder.
Alucard’s Forms
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Normal Form: His most common appearance — a tall, broad-shouldered man with short, jet-black hair. He wears a Victorian-style outfit: a red cravat, black suit with red buttons, long red overcoat with shoulder ruffles, and riding boots. He often wears a red wide-brimmed hat and round, tinted sunglasses.
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Restraint Forms: Alucard can release different levels of his power by lowering his "restraint levels," unleashing more terrifying forms.
Used when Alucard releases Level One of his power. He appears in a white straitjacket with straps across his body and has white hair, reflecting the time he was locked away without blood for 10 years. This is the form Integra first saw when she released him. He’s used this form in major battles — against Luke Valentine, Tubalcain Alhambra, Alexander Anderson, and Walter C. Dornez.
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Young Girl Form: A mysterious, childlike female form that hints at his complex identity and past.
This petite, childlike form features long, dark hair and an all-white outfit: white shirt, vest, tie, trench coat, pants, and shoes, sometimes with a fuzzy cap. Despite the appearance, Alucard's voice stays the same. This form highlights his ability to disguise or distort his appearance entirely.
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Count Form: A more traditional vampire look resembling the classic "Dracula" archetype.
Alucard’s form as the historical Vlad the Impaler. He looks older with a short beard and longer, wilder hair. He wears dark, medieval armor and a black cape lined in red. He also carries a broadsword at his waist. This form is more serious and stoic, showing the man he once was before becoming the vampire known as Alucard.
Powers and Abilities
Real Vampire
Alucard is an immensely powerful and terrifyingly effective being, capable of annihilating most supernatural threats without even accessing the full extent of his abilities. Often, he allows himself to be harmed—only to regenerate effortlessly as a means of psychological warfare. His powers stem both from his vampiric nature and the Hellsing Organization’s decades of occult experimentation on him.
Vampiric Abilities
Superhuman Strength
Alucard possesses colossal physical strength. His iconic firearms—the Jackal and the .454 Casull—are too unwieldy for any normal human to wield, yet he handles them effortlessly. He's destroyed supernatural constructs with his bare hands, such as Tubalcain Alhambra’s enchanted cards, and has ripped through armored humans as if they were paper.
Superhuman Speed & Reflexes
Alucard moves faster than the human eye can track. Only opponents like Anderson, Walter, and Tubalcain have managed to keep up. His reflexes are unparalleled—most notably catching Rip Van Winkle’s "magic bullet" between his teeth.
Durability & Endurance
Alucard can endure extreme damage without flinching. He’s walked away from being shot with heavy artillery, crashing high-speed aircraft, and being hurled through skyscrapers. Injuries that would utterly destroy lesser beings are nothing more than minor inconveniences to him.
Hematophagy
Alucard, like all vampires, feeds on blood. He can consume it directly, using elongated fangs and a serpent-like tongue. His feeding can range from traditional neck bites to fully devouring his victims.
Aestivation
If deprived of blood, Alucard enters a dormant state. He was found by Integra Hellsing in such a state after ten years without feeding, yet fully intact.
Hemokinesis
He can manipulate blood that’s been spilled—shaping it into weapons or constructs—though he cannot influence blood still within living bodies.
Regeneration
One of his most potent traits. Alucard regenerates from virtually any injury, even holy or silver-based damage. Though holy weapons slow his recovery, they never stop it entirely.
Sensory and Cognitive Abilities
Third Eye
Alucard has a supernatural "third eye" that enhances perception. He can see over long distances, detect enchantments, and even perceive supernatural identities. However, illusions—such as Tubalcain’s clones—can still obscure his sight if not actively using this ability.
Telepathy
He communicates mentally with his fledgling, Seras Victoria, across any distance.
Telekinesis
Alucard has demonstrated telekinetic control, such as slamming doors or launching enemies through the air. He even moved the HMS Eagle across the ocean with sheer force of will.
Teleportation
He can vanish and reappear instantly, though his range has limitations. Notably, he cannot teleport across large bodies of water.
Hypnosis
By locking eyes with a human, Alucard can enthrall them completely, rendering them compliant to his will. In this trance, their eyes glow red, and they enter a euphoric daze.
Physical Manipulation & Forms
Shapeshifting
Alucard claims that "appearance and shape hold no meaning" to him. He has manifested as a child, a young girl, a cloud of bats, a demonic hound, and pure darkness.
Mist Form
Alucard can transform into dark mist, allowing him to avoid physical attacks completely.
Dark Composition
While usually humanoid, Alucard is made of an amorphous, otherworldly darkness. This form is resistant to conventional weaponry and can be used as a weapon itself.
Intangibility
He can pass through solid walls or barriers at will.
Defying Gravity
Alucard has run up vertical walls, leapt incredible distances, and descended from great heights without issue.
Weather Manipulation
Alucard can summon and disperse fog, using it to conceal his approach, as demonstrated during his return to London aboard the HMS Eagle.
Immortality & Soul Absorption
By feeding on victims, Alucard not only consumes their blood but absorbs their souls and memories. These souls grant him enhanced knowledge and form the foundation of his immortality. Each soul acts as a reserve life—allowing him to regenerate from fatal wounds by sacrificing one.
Over centuries, Alucard accumulated millions of souls, making him nearly impossible to kill by conventional means. However, during the London Incident, the release of Level Zero separated these souls, rendering him vulnerable. Only one soul remained—his own.
Schrödinger’s Essence
After unknowingly consuming Schrödinger, Alucard was rendered non-existent—neither dead nor alive—due to Schrödinger’s quantum nature. Trapped in an undefined state, Alucard “disappeared.” Only after killing all other souls within himself did he regain individuality and returned after 30 years, now capable of existing “everywhere and nowhere.”
Familiar Control
Alucard can summon the souls he has absorbed as familiars. Upon releasing Level Zero, he unleashes all stored souls in battle—including:
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Baskerville: A demonic black hound with immense destructive capability.
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Tubalcain Alhambra: Wielding spectral playing cards.
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Rip Van Winkle: Wielding her enchanted musket that fires homing “magic bullets.”
These familiars are loyal extensions of Alucard’s will and are sacrificed as needed in battle.
River of Death
Upon fully unleashing Level Zero in London, Alucard flooded the city with a tidal wave of the souls he had consumed—an apocalyptic vision of death dubbed "The River of Death."
Control Art Restriction System
To prevent his overwhelming power from running unchecked, Alucard is bound by the Control Art Restriction System. Overseen by the "Cromwell Approval," this system gradually unlocks his power in stages:
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Level 3, 2, 1: Partial unsealing—can be done at Alucard’s discretion.
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Level Zero: Complete unsealing—requires his master's command and the recitation of the “Bird of Hermes” psalm.
“The Bird of Hermes is my name. Eating my wings to make me tame.”
This incantation symbolizes Alucard’s self-imposed restraint and loyalty to the Hellsing family. At Level Zero, Alucard becomes a walking apocalypse—unleashing every soul he has ever absorbed.
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