Walter C. Dornez

Walter C. Dornez
Publication information
Publisher	Young King OURs
First appearance	Hellsing volume 1
Created by	Kouta Hirano
In-story information
Alter ego	Walter C. Dornez
Team affiliations	Millennium, Hellsing, British Crown
Notable aliases	The Joker, Shinigami (Angel of Death in english translations)
Abilities	Old Walter: wields high-velocity microfilament wires with incredible skill and precision, incredible speed, agility and reflexes, skilled tactician and knowledge of fighting supernatural creatures As Millennium's Weapon (so far): restored (possibly eternal) youth, previous abilities restored to fullest potential, regeneration.

Walter C. Dornez (ウォルター・C（クム）・ドルネーズ, Worutā C. (kumu) Dorunēzu) is a fictional character in the Hellsing anime and manga series created by Kouta Hirano. Walter is a member of a fictional organization called Millennium. He previously served as a member of the fictional Hellsing Organization, and also as the retainer of the Hellsing family. In the TV and OVA series, his voice actor is Motomu Kiyokawa, and the English dub is by Ralph Lister.

As a Hellsing operative

He was born in either late 1929 or 1930. The place of his birth is unknown. Walter has lived with the Hellsing family for perhaps his entire life. It is known that Walter was educated at Balliol College, Oxford (where Arthur Hellsing and Sir Hugh Irons were educated) after World War II, and read philosophy and politics. Hellsing: The Dawn records Walter and Alucard (in the body of a little girl) storming Millennium's base during World War II in Warsaw, Poland, and putting an end to their first attempt at creating an army of artificial vampires.[1]

In modern times, Walter serves primarily as Integra's butler and also makes special weapons for use by Hellsing's vampires, Alucard and Seras Victoria. However, he is still one of the organization's most capable operatives, wielding high-velocity monomolecular wires with incredible skill and precision. Walter's efficiency and power was so great that he earned the nickname the "Angel of Death," and even at the age of 69, Walter can still rip his way through hordes of the undead. In the manga, he also helps Integra make numerous difficult choices that Alucard occasionally poses, such as whether or not to kill innocent humans in order to achieve mission objectives.

His overall attitude during his pre-vampiric time seemed to be one of proud resignation to the fact that he was becoming old, and was not as effective a fighter as he once had been. When Alucard tells him how growing old must be terrible, Walter tells him that "If we cannot have our pride with prosperity, then we should reject such prosperity", enforcing the position that Walter is proud of being human, and would not embrace the prosperity of vampiric immortality because it would mean sacrificing that pride. Ultimatly however, it seems that his fear of becoming useless overcame his sense of pride, as his ultimate wish is to become "a shinigami [God of Death] in body, mind and soul". To this end, he attempts to destroy Alucard in order to prove his capabilities to himself.

As Millennium's secret weapon

In the latest developments of the main Hellsing storyline, Walter is captured by The Captain of the Millennium Organization during their invasion of England. He has gone through a similar process to the Major and the Doc's troops (although hastily conducted, according to the Doc), and now appears forty or so years younger, serving as Millennium's new secret weapon (when the Major sees the finished product, he remarks "It was determined 55 years ago that you would join us"). Walter himself does not add many more details, both affirming he was brainwashed to fight Hellsing, and that he is fighting of his own free will against Alucard. In Volume 9 of Hellsing, Walter has leaped from his perch on one of Alucard's stakes to confront him, crushing what was left of Alexander Anderson underfoot, saying that people become trash once they are dead, and that trash should not be mourned for. He then tells everyone he was brainwashed and rejuvenated. When Seras intervenes, Walter asks if she would like more the explanation that he is fighting of his own free will against Alucard. Enraged by his desecration of Father Anderson's remains, Yumie attacks him, but is easily outmatched and cut into pieces in a single move. After listening as Walter explains himself, Alucard criticizes his decision, saying that his old, aged body was many times more beautiful than his new, unnaturally youthful one. He also makes ironic use of the statement "If we cannot have our prosperity with pride then we should reject such prosperity". This comment was made by Walter, but referenced by Alucard to mock Walter's hypocrisy regarding his fear of becoming old and useless. Also, during Walter's brief fight with the Captain, the Major's dialogue seems to imply his previous remark meant he had made the choice to forcefully draft Walter into Millennium ever since witnessing his feats of power during WWII.

In the TV series, Walter is never artificially rejuvenated, instead saving Integra and then crashing in a helicopter. He later appears on a stretcher and mentions Alucard as "the true immortal vampire." However, the TV series does not follow the plot of the manga, as the Major and Millennium do not exist in it.

Recent events

In chapter 75 of the Hellsing manga, Sir Hugh Islands, the acting leader of the Convention of Twelve, comes to the conclusion that Walter had in fact been betraying his superiors for quite some time, even before the second coming of Millennium and possibly even since the days of the World War II. He mentions that he foresaw Richard Hellsing's attempted coup of the Hellsing Foundation and also Richard's assassination attempt on Integra, and had quite specifically warned Walter of it, charging him with protecting her; and yet, despite his warning, Walter was nowhere to be found on that day. Therefore it is suggested that Alucard's awakening was also orchestrated by Walter; his convenient absence left Integra with no other choice but to release Alucard, whom Arthur Hellsing (Integra's father) had purposefully sealed away, thinking him to be too dangerous to use as a weapon.

Walter's motive for forcing the release of Alucard, if true, remains to be seen. Other bits of evidence suggesting that Walter is a traitor include the Valentine brothers' mysterious knowledge of the location of the Hellsing mansion, Walter's suspicious memory lapse when Millennium resurfaces (he does not seem to remember storming and destroying Millennium's base in World War II, but claims that he does after Alucard prods him), and the strange omission of the fight scene between Walter and his apparent rival, the Captain.

In chapter 78, the battle between Walter and Alucard begins. Alucard lunges at Walter amidst a flurry of bats, reaching out to grab his face, but Walter easily severs Alucard's arm with his wires. The wires then wrap around Alucard's leg, and Walter tosses him into a building. Alucard then attempts to shoot Walter with the Casull, but Walter deflects the bullets with square, mesh-like barriers, formed from his wires. Alucard summons his hellhound, which Walter calls Baskerville, and it is sliced in two. Finally, Alucard aims the Jackal at Walter, but it explodes and maims his remaining hand; Doc is shown holding his remote control, which has a button marked "JACAL" (sic). Although we do not know exactly how long Walter has been betraying Hellsing, we can confirm that Walter's betrayal occurred before the beginning of the manga storyline, since Walter gave the Jackal to Alucard in volume 2.

On the last page of chapter 78, Luke Valentine emerges from the remains of Baskerville.

In chapter 79, Walter, using his wires like puppet strings, gains control of both Alucard's Hellhound and Luke Valentine, and uses them to attack Alucard. Alucard makes short work of the two however, and we are then shown Walter falling to the ground and coughing up blood. His wires, for the first time, go slack. It is implied that Walter's time is short as his conversion was a rushed and flawed process.

In chapter 80, Walter summons up the last vestiges of his strength and uses his wires to sever Alucard's arms and legs, to cut his torso in half, and to suspend him helplessly in the air. Walter once again falls to the ground, seized by pain. When he stands up, his age has regressed, and he appears as he did during Hellsing: The Dawn, as a 14-year-old boy. Walter then grabs a piece of rebar and attacks Alucard, impaling him through the chest. It is revealed that the Alucard that Walter had attacked was a decoy, created by Alucard from Luke Valentine's remains. Luke Valentine (supposedly) dies, and Alucard appears behind Walter. Alucard now appears as he did in The Dawn ("Girlycard"), although the reasons for this are as yet unclear (it is assumed that he assumed his form on his own accord, perhaps to psyche Walter out). Alucard punches Walter, taunting him with the true reasons for his betrayal; his fear. The battle continues with Alucard releasing his full strength, drinking up the blood of the entire city. As he does so, the manga spends a few chapters with other characters. Upon chapter 87, Alucard brags that he is victorious, and teases Walter about being the only servant to his mistress (Intrega) and having a servant of his own (Seras) which might be implied that Walter might be jealous of the lack of attention in the Hellsing Organization. Behind Alucard Schrödinger commits suicide, and drops his body into the blood that Alucard is drinking, the Major having stated that he planned to poison Alucard. After Alucard brags about Millennium's inability to defeat him, a voice states, "No, you lose, Alucard." Walter knows of this, and begs the Major to stop, to let him beat Alucard on his own. He slices Alucard in half, but Alucard simply laughs and continues to consume the city's deceased inhabitants. The major subsequently tells Walter that his entire attempt to defeat Alucard was utterly futile as Walter's abilities could never really compromise Alucard's health. He goes on to tell him that due to his betrayal and subsequent failure to kill Alucard, he has lost everything and his life has absolutely no value. At this point, Walter seems to give up as Alucard grabs the front of his shirt and mocks him for his failure.

In chapter 90, after witnessing Alucard's defeat and disappearance, Walter is left alone on the battlefield, with his transformation eating away at his body. He grabs Alucard's necktie as it floats through the air, and laughs in artificial triumph about how Alucard is dead. Immediately after, he is wracked by another bout of pain, and shouts "Is this really.... what I wanted?!" Shortly after, however, he's sniped by Heinkel Wolfe from atop a building further away, in retaliation to him killing Heinkel's partner, Yumie, and desecrating Father Anderson's remains. He tells her to keep shooting; to kill him. She gladly obliges him, shooting him in the left eye and in several other places. After running out of ammunition for both her sniper rifle and pistol, she charges him. At that point, Walter seems to have a change of heart, slicing off her left forearm and right leg at the knee with unseen wires. Walter says he won't die by Heinkel's hand and that he has to go. After bleeding profusely, he sends two strands of his wires into the grounded Millennium zeppelin, presumably to gain access to it. In chapter 93, Walter is seen in Doc's lab sitting on the floor. He tells Doc he doesn't know when to give up and that he, and everything he's created, is good-for-nothing; including himself.

In chapter 94, Walter tells Doc that all of the actions of Millenium have culminated in the cheap comedy that the evening has become. He says that all of it will come to an end, and he tries to stand up. He succeeds, but his right arm dissolves. He comments on what a terrible end it seemed he is coming to, and that Alucard was right. Doc then rants on about how his research will some day lead him to surpass even Alucard, but Walter tells him "rubbish", and that they will all die. Doc then tries to kill Walter with his remote, but Walter simply slices off his arm and leg, depriving him of the remote. Doc falls, but in mid-fall he tears off the curtain covering the SHI and it unveils the skeleton of Mina Harker. Walter then reasons that those remains have been the basis for all of the Doc's work, explaining that because Alucard (Dracula), was not killed, Mina was not cured of Alucard's curse, and a part of Alucard existed inside her. Therefore Mina was exhumed by the Doc, and researched until her remains were nothing but a ruin. Walter then tells Doc that all he has ever done was to bootleg copies of Alucard's imitation (Mina), reinforcing his position that the Doc and all of his work are but a cheap comedy. The flames of the burning zeppelin engulf Mina's corpse, and Doc is killed by a support beam falling from the wreckage of the zeppelin. Walter then reflects good spiritedly on how much he wanted to defeat Alucard, closes his eyes in a similar manner to Alucard, bids farewell to Integra as Alucard had done, and at last, as an image of his aged human body is depicted, smiling and relaxed, he is engulfed by the fires of the zeppelin. His passing is sensed by Integra and Seras, the former shouting out for him as he dies. He is momentarily grieved for by both, and then they leave the zeppelin as it crashes in a manner reminiscent of the Hindenburg disaster.

Powers and Abilities

Although a human for the majority of his life, Walter possessed tremendous combat skill on par with or exceeding many supernatural beings. During the initial Millenium assault on Hellsing, he dispatched a large force of ghouls with ease and confidently engaged an artificial vampire. As a 14 year old boy, he managed to hold his own against the Captain for a good portion of their fight, even managing to wrap his wires around the Captain's neck (though it didn't have much of an effect). Particularly, he was able to withstand punches from the Captain, even though an impact resulting from Seras and the Captain punching each other's fists at the same time blew off both their arms. This opens the possibility that Walter has some physical enhancement as a human; a punch to the head from the Captain would have killed any normal human and probably most vampires. Alternately, it is possible that the Captain's later enhancements were much improved over those from 1944.

His speed and agility are of particular note, and even in his old age he was able to dodge bullets from assault rifles. In his youth, Walter displayed great acrobatic skill and even as a senior citizen he still can perform exceptional feats of balance and coordination. His strength is also considerable, when the transformed Walter first appears in the manga, his micro-filaments wrap around several buildings and slice them in half, with no evidence of any physical strain on Walter's part.

Walter's primary weapons are a set of very long microfilament razor wires, which he controls as if they were extensions of his own body. The wires are sharp enough to slice through steel and concrete with no trouble though he can use them to bind and restrain targets without damaging them. When turned into an artificial vampire by Millennium, all of his abilities were restored to their full extent and augmented far beyond it. In his final battle with Alucard, he demonstrated previously unseen abilities with his wires, including stopping a high fall (slicing several buildings in half in the process), forming mesh shields to block bullets, and binding targets and controlling them as puppets.

Formidable as his new form was, the rushed and flawed transformation procedure rendered his body highly unstable. This manifested by his growing increasingly younger until he resembled his fourteen year-old self. At this point, he could no longer withstand bodily harm, and later his right arm crumbled apart. In his final moments before dying, he reverted to his original, aged body.

Name

Walter's middle initial, C., is pronounced in full in the OVA series as "クム" (kumu). "クム" also accompanies the "C" as furigana in chapter 74, Relics. This is the Japanese transliteration of the Latin word cum, which means "with". There is much disagreement over the romanization of his surname, with the most common variants being Dorne, Dornez, Dornes, Dolnez, and Dollneaz. This is confused even more by the addition of a second "d" in some variants of his name (i.e. Ddollneaz). But on the back cover of the original Japanese version of manga vol.4 Walter's name is written: "Walter Cumm Ddollneazz." The American manga release by Dark Horse reveals his name as "Walter C. Dornez" in Volume 2.