, previously , is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Hellsing manga and anime series created by Kouta Hirano. A vampire devoted entirely to the current head of the Hellsing family, Integra Hellsing, Alucard works with the Hellsing Organization against other vampires and evil forces, fighting with ferocity and cruelty, sometimes only killing after a target has been disabled and humiliated, while frequently allowing enemies more than one chance to kill him (though only seeking to be killed by a human, having grown bored of immortality and life). Count Dracula was defeated by Abraham Van Helsing and became the family's loyal servant. Decades later, Abraham's direct descendant Arthur Hellsing gives the Count the codename "Alucard". Hellsing is set over a hundred years later, where Alucard and the Hellsing Organization are forced to fight the remnants of a Nazi battalion. Alucard also appears in the prequel series Hellsing: The Dawn, taking a female form alongside his partner Walter C. Dornez to end World War II in a fight against Nazis.
Hirano created Alucard as a strong individual who would be deus ex machina on his own, resulting in an easy defeat of most enemies. Alucard is voiced by Jouji Nakata in Japanese and Crispin Freeman in English. Critical response to the character has been positive for Alucard's dark traits such as sadism or supernatural abilities that make him stand out as excessively violent despite being the main hero. Alucard's design also stood out for being called "stylish", praising his outfits and weaponry. Alucard's voice portrayals by Nakata and Freeman were also met with a positive response.
Creation and development
Manga author Kouta Hirano created Alucard. In regards to his drawing him, Hirano claims he does not particularly care about accurate depictions of weapons in his manga and draws multiple type of angles like whenever Alucard shoots a bullet. In regards to Alucard's weaponry in fight, Hirano claims he simply has an endless supply of bullets. Initially, Hirano felt the manga had issues in terms of fighting because Alucard was too powerful. As a result, Father Alexander Anderson was created to be the only individual capable of being Alucard's equal. He thought about a character that could go against Alucard, and decided to create Anderson. Even if the Captain joined the battle between Alucard and Anderson, he does not think he would win. Even though the Millennium is the central evil organization, they are not strong enough to fight Alucard. Alucard does not struggle in his fights with organization Millennium. He easily defeats him. He loses when the Major got involved, but in the end Millennium was not really strong enough a character to be considered a rival.
The flow of the Hellsing manga was something that was decided on from the beginning. Multiple fans wondered if Alucard would form a relationship with his student Seras Victoria but Hirano did not find it possible. As a result, Hirano introduced the character Pip Bernadotte so he could stick him with Seras during the narrative. Meanwhile, Alucard would keep a deep bond with his master, Integra Hellsing, early in the story but he refrained from regarding it as a romantic style. That was an unwavering part of the unfolding story. For the prequel Hellsing: The Dawn, a dynamic was used between Alucard, Integra and Walter to act properly since Alucard was more active.
After manga volume 8, during series' climax, the author felt he "got a little hasty" and ended the long battle between Alucard and Anderson. As a result, he thinks Alucard's battle against Anderson had a better show of battle in comparison to the previous battle against Anderson were both fighters were nearly equals. The reason he thinks so is because he had a time limit for completion when he was drawing them. In regards to Walter's betrayal, Hirano decided to use him as a villain by the time Alucard, who had been sleeping underground, revived, to face Integra and claimed that despite the close experience both character has, Walter was still clearly weaker than Alucard.
Casting
Jouji Nakata voices the character in Japanese. Nakata recalls being praised for providing Alucard's emotions rarely explored and that his fans were from multiple demographies. Looking back at his career, Nakata said that Alucard was the one character he most enjoyed voicing and the easiest one to portray. He said that villain characters and ones with distinct personalities were easier than ones with not much personality as they can be shaped and changed up.