Hellsing Ultimate: Immortality and Humanity

THE THEME OF "ONLY A HUMAN CAN DEFEAT A MONSTER":

The fact is that monsters are slaughtering humans and humans (the Hellsing Org.) need to employ monsters to kill them.

Alucard says time and time again that only a human can kill him. However, he doesn't regard all humanity as the pinnacle of existence - just humans who are courageous enough to stand up to monsters. Not every human will qualify. Alucard just wants to be killed by someone worthy of killing him - a hero so to speak. Anderson isn't entirely human and Alucard still thinks of him as worthy. Seeing how humans are inherently weaker than monsters, they have quite a challenge on their hands to fight the monsters. He has huge respect for humans who can. He's also a monster that was bested and captured by humans, and he has grown to respect the ones who can show him strength and resolve. He is also portrayed like a loyal dog in some ways, as in, a dog that respects and is happy with a strong-minded Master.

A lot of his hatred of monsters seems to come from the fact that quite a few of them are pale imitations of himself, like the Valentine brothers.  "Only a human can defeat a monster" - it is ultimately proven untrue by the events of the show. Rather, the theme is more about the blurring of the line between humans and monsters. The very worst people are humans, and the greatest beings are monsters.

IMMORTALITY:

"To become a monster like me is to admit you were too weak to remain a human".

I disagree.  Fear of death is not a weakness.  All sentient beings are.  I'd argue that the will to live is stronger than anything. As Kenshin Himura has said, "One can die at any time. Living takes real courage".  Forget about the real historical Vlad; I'm talking about Hellsing's Vlad/Dracula:  Despite all the monstrous things he did, his life was full of misfortunes (was raped repeatedly as a child, wife and children were killed, lost his kingdom, everything). He himself was facing death, what was he to do?  Accept death as a human or wish to live as something else? He chose to live.

There are many humans who would turn down immortality if it meant they would live alone for eternity without their loved ones, or live in pain. Are they the strong ones? In my view, only people who have the will and the courage to persevere despite hardships (like Alucard and Seras) are the strong ones.

Alucard was once human, however due to certain things in his life, he threw away his humanity to become what he is today. He perceives this as his own weakness and thus, to some extent, considers himself less than a human.  This is why he ends up hating Anderson so much, because in a way, he saw his former "weak" self.

Alucard, Gilgamesh, Sun Wukong, etc. All these characters who strive for immortality have an interesting thing in common:  They share a great fear of death. That fear alone motivated some of them to master the magics. Alucard's desire for immortality and power was also motivated by the fear of losing what he had.  This is a very HUMAN reason to wish for power and immortality, considering that immortality has always been humanity's greatest dream.

Alucard believes that he was too weak to face mortality and found solace in immortality. But are humans who have the courage to live and die as humans the admirable ones?  I disagree.  We HAVE TO live and die as humans because we have no other choice realistically.  However, in a magical world where there is a choice to extend one's life and eventual immortality - and especially when gaining immortality in this world doesn't take away one's intelligence and autonomy - NOT choosing it is wasting one's life to me.  Also in Hellsing, it is reiterated that humans are superior to others, and that's the reason humans should not succumb to magical powers. But I see nothing wrong with accepting these powers in order to become stronger.

HUMAN SUPERIORITY:

Humans as a species are indeed ruling the Earth. We have accomplished things that other species could never dream of, and we never stop progressing. However, we are also the biggest monsters to one another and to other species. In the realistic non-fictional world, humanity as a whole is superior, but the individual humans are not. Being a human does not automatically qualify you as superior. Each human must be judged for who he is and what he is capable of. In the fictional worlds where non-human species such as vampires and aliens exist, humans are far from being the superior ones among them all. We are weaker than them physically and we are probably not any more intelligent than them. To declare ourselves "superior" is to claim that their powers (eg, immortality, regeneration, superhuman strength,...) are somehow "inferior". Truth is, they are not inferior. Objectively speaking, THEY are the superior ones that we might learn from rather than taking too much pride in ourselves that we become blind to our own limits. It is important to realize and accept our own limits. Besides mental capabilities, we aren't stronger than them in any other aspect. 

Alucard only regards humans' will to live and perseverance as superior because those are things that he has lost long ago, since having lived for so long, he has grown bored of most things and found no purpose in his life. He may not realize it, but his will to live and his mental strength are second to none: Although he may regret becoming a monster, I don't think he would choose to undo his choice even if time could go back. Through it all, he's still too stubborn to die. He could have drifted into non-existence when the Major "defeated" him, but he didn't. He wills himself into existence again. He is like Seras in that regard: Despite everything that happened in his past, he still clings to life.

Not only in Hellsing but in a lot of other fictions, the anti-immortality viewpoint is widespread. I believe that it is some authors' way of giving solace to themselves and to the human audience watching their fictions. Ultimately it's all a form of convincing oneself that one's own state is okay because there is no better alternative realistically.  More of my view on Immortality