Integra Hellsing

Integra Hellsing
Hellsing character
Sir Integra Hellsing, as seen in the Hellsing TV series
First appearance	Hellsing volume 1
Created by	Kouta Hirano
Voiced by	Yoshiko Sakakibara and (young) Kaori Mizuhashi (Japanese) Victoria Harwood and (Young)Trina Dickson (English)
Profile
Notable relatives	Arthur Hellsing Richard Hellsing Abraham Van Helsing
Affiliations	Hellsing Organization Anglican Church The Convention of Twelve

Sir Integral Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing (インテグラル・ファルブルケ・ウィンゲーツ・ヘルシング, Integuraru Faruburuke Wingētsu Herushingu), more commonly, Integra Hellsing, is one of the main characters from the anime and manga series Hellsing. In both the TV series and OVA series, her Japanese voice is provided by Yoshiko Sakakibara and Kaori Mizuhashi (who plays young Integra), while her English voice in both is done by Victoria Harwood and Tricia Dickson (who also plays a young integra). Her prototype appears as a Nazi in one of Kouta Hirano's earlier works, HIANDLOW.

Sir Integra Hellsing is a 22-year-old noblewoman member of the Protestant Knights who is the head and last member of the Hellsing family, the Bureau Director of the Hellsing Organization, and the current master of Hellsing's vampire, Alucard. Integra is usually a collected individual, rarely allowing her emotions to get in the way of business. However, she is sometimes prone to fits of anger. The Hellsing family is "on a mission from God", and she values her duties to protect the United Kingdom and the Anglican Church above everything else. For her, failure is not tolerated, especially her own. She runs the Hellsing Organization with charisma and patriotism, and she is one of the few people who can stand up to the force of Alucard's personality and command his respect.

Name and title

Integra's full name is only used in the manga and OVA. In the TV series, she is referred to once as "Sir Integral Wingates Hellsing", but the main characters in particular usually call her "Sir Integra", "Lady Hellsing" or "Milady". Alucard often drops the honorific title, simply calling her Integra, although on one occasion he calls her "Miss Hellsing". Her first name, Integral, is often shortened to Integra (インテグラ, Integura).

Her surname, "Hellsing", is clearly an alternative spelling (possibly Anglicized) of "Van Helsing" (in fact, Kouta Hirano made a mistake in spelling the name). Interestingly, the booklet that comes with the first Japanese Hellsing DVD also states that "Hellsing" is an acronym for "Her Royal England Legions of Legitimate Supernatural and Immortal Night Guard". The origin of the name "Wingates" is unclear. It is an English name.

Biography

Born on October 27, 1977 into the prestigious and mysterious Hellsing family, Integra has been educated all her life to take the place of her father, Sir Arthur Hellsing, as Bureau Director of the Hellsing Organization. Integra's mother does not appear in her flashbacks, suggesting either that Integra never met the woman or that she died when Integra was very young. When she was 12 years old, Integra's father died and entrusted her with their family's mission to lead the Royal Protestant Knights and protect England, and asked his brother, Richard, to aid her.

Almost immediately after Arthur’s death, Richard Hellsing, jealous of Integra for inheriting the family headship, attempted to kill her. Integra escaped her traitorous uncle and managed to reach a dungeon in the mansion's sub levels, where her father had said she would find her salvation. She stumbled across the sealed body of a vampire upon entering it. Richard found her, cornered her, and shot her in her shoulder, spilling her blood across the floor of the room. The vampire, whom Arthur imprisoned 20 years earlier, awoke and licked up Integra's blood. Rejuvenated, it proceeded to kill her persecutors, thus saving her. Richard, desperate, attempted to kill Integra one last time, but the vampire blocked his bullet. Picking up a gun, Integra shot and killed her uncle, becoming the last descendant of the Hellsing bloodline. The vampire, whose name was Alucard, became her loyal servant.

Not long after, Integra was knighted and introduced to Vice Admiral Sir Shelby Penwood, a former friend of her father. Upon seeing Integra for the first time, Sir Penwood said that she was far too young to fulfill her duty. He revised his opinion during the actual storyline, in which he admitted that it was an honor to have met and served with her in his farewell message, prior to his death. His eventual sacrifice to destroy countless Millennium foot soldiers during the London invasion was just one of the many examples that helped solidify Integra's resolution about humanity's worth and continue her duty.

Young Integra was portrayed as a timid but willful girl seemingly intimidated by the supernatural who was forced to grow up abruptly when her treacherous uncle tried to kill her. When Alucard became her servant, she grew more confident and comfortable with her position as head of the Hellsing family and a Knight of the Round Table. Much like Seras Victoria, Integra experiences a coming of age, gaining experience and losing her remaining innocence as events unfold and the war begins, transforming into a leader with an iron resolution who does not flinch at the first signs of danger and who gains wisdom through dire losses and betrayals. The Major recognizes her change from a "beautiful Fräulein" (he goes so far as to apologize for calling her this) to the most dangerous enemy who stands in the way of his plans, calling her forth into his Zeppelin. Integra reaches the room where the Major is and she tries to break his glass dome but fails. She witnesses Alucard's disappearance and she raged against the Major and Seras, who after defeating the Captain uses her cannon to break the dome along with blowing half of the Major which reveals that he is a cyborg. Integra and the Major both gunned at each other and Integra gets her eye wounded but succeeds in killing The Major. She and Seras feel Walter passing away, the battle won, the two then fled from the giant Zeppelin. Thirty years later, Integra is now in her fifties. She engages Sir Penwood's grandson in a fencing match and exchanges words with the visitors from the Vatican. After they left, Integra laments that Alucard is taking too long to return, but Seras attempts to reassure her. When Integra goes to bed, Alucard finally appears and she offers him her blood.

Family

Integra's known family includes her ancestor Abraham Van Helsing, a Dutch meta physician and philosopher and one of the main characters of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Her father was Sir Arthur Hellsing, who died when she was 13 years old (12 years old in the manga), in 1989. While it was obvious that Integra did not have a normal childhood like any other girl her age, it was certain that Arthur loved Integra very much, and wanted the best for her. It was from him that she inherited her current position as Bureau Director of the Hellsing Organization and her seat in the Convention of Twelve. Her uncle, Richard, sought to kill her and take the headship of the Hellsing family for himself. This was prevented by Alucard, when he blocked the bullet that was fired at Integra's face.

There is a faint suggestion/assumption that she is not of full European descent. Her skin colour is slightly darker than that of other characters (a creamy tan), and in the anime (Order 10: Master of Monster), when Integra has her flashback scene, there is a photograph depicting an infant Integra being held by a woman (possibly and probably her mother) wearing a sari, suggesting that she may be of Indian descent, a possibility reinforced by that nation's historical ties to Great Britain, although that is not certain yet.

Skills and abilities

Integra is a superb fencer with fast reflexes and speed; she has been able to block Alexander Anderson's attack (volume 1 of the manga) and behead a Nazi vampire after a car crash that shook her. In volume 9, she's even shown to be capable of cutting down a vampire soldier attacking her head on, despite the fact that the heavily armed and battle-hardened mercenaries of the Wild Geese couldn't stand a chance against such enemies.

Her aim with a pistol is deadly accurate, as well. The anime displays her skill in Order 02: Club M, where she is seen shooting through the same hole on a practice target with what looks to be a Walther PPK (she also uses a Beretta 93R at one point). Another piece of evidence to suggest this is her ability to shoot Jan Valentine six times with the same pistol, with the bullets forming a cross on his face, although this is demonstrated only in the original anime. She shows similar abilities in the manga during Volume 6. But the best example of her skill with a pistol is shown in the first episode of the OVA when she empties a modified Sig-Sauer P226 into Alexander Andersons blessed bayonets, shatterring them beyond further use.

Very intelligent, Integra was able to determine the route Leif and Jessica would take and who their next targets would be by following their patterns, and she devised a strategy accordingly. She was also the first to guess what Jan's mysterious clue, "Millennium", was actually referring to (though Walter obviously knew and Alucard probably did as well). In spite of her talents, she is still fairly young and inexperienced as a leader, and thus unable to grasp or deal with the full extent of the Major's plans.

It is also speculated by fans that, just like her father and grandfather, Integra was educated in occultism and alchemy to be able to control Alucard's releases and to finish the process of building him into the "ultimate undead" (in the anime, this was made more obvious when Integra performed a ritual with Masonic imagery in Orders 11 and 12). In recent chapters of the manga, when Alucard releases his final control system, he does so after a speech given by Integra, but it does not appear that she has any direct control over this ability of his. Rather, he asks her to give him an order, then obeys it when she does. The magic involved in her releasing Alucard's control system appears to be non-existent in the manga.

Integra in the anime

The TV series changed numerous traits of Integra's personality. She is much colder, more serious and arrogant than her manga counterpart and a year older, being 23 years old when the story begins. She’s less likely to lose control and has a low tolerance of failure. Her family honor matters to her a great deal, probably even above her sense of duty. Her growing relationships with Sir Penwood and Seras Victoria are removed.

Her struggle to become a better leader and to face a war a grand scale as the sole human in the front is removed, since that part of the storyline is absent from the TV series. It is assumed that she is already experienced as the leader of Hellsing; instead she struggles with a ploy to destroy her Organization and the temptation to drink Alucard’s blood to become stronger. In the end, her people are killed, her organization and name framed by a traitor in the Round Table Conference, and she is imprisoned beneath the Tower of London when Alucard arrives to offer her his blood once more. Her response was left open to interpretation.

Integra is also notably taller, with shorter hair than her manga counterpart. Her skin is lighter and she wears a blue ascot with a golden cross pinned to its knot and an olive green suit.

Her rendition in the OVA is much closer to the original manga version, but portions of her lines and appearances have been removed. The most notable deviation is her first reaction to Seras Victoria. In both the TV series and the manga, Integra is first enraged at Alucard's actions in turning a vampire, then eventually comes to accept her; in the OVA, Integra welcomes Seras at the very beginning (the OVA skipped the part were Alucard told Integra about Seras). In the OVA, Integra's hair is longer, her skin is darker, her ascot is red with a silver cross pinned to its knot and a black suit. She is also easily notable as female in the OVA and manga, whereas her TV series counterpart is highly androgynous.

External links

• Integra Hellsing at the Internet Movie Database