Bram Stoker's Dracula VS. Hellsing's Dracula

The author of Hellsing explicitly stated that his inspiration came from Bram Stoker's "Dracula". This is originally a novel published in 1897.  There have been many movie adaptations of the novel to date.  The three most notable ones are 1931 "Dracula", 1977 "Count Dracula" and 1992 "Bram Stoker's Dracula".  I have watched all 3 movies and read up on the novel.  Here are my thoughts:

Bram Stoker's original novel:

In Bram Stoker's original novel, Dracula sails to England to buy the estates that he has signed a contract for. It's implied he is planning to take over England before his plans are foiled by the vampire hunters, and forced to retreat back to Transylvania. He specifically targets Lucy to hurt the heroes. Dracula and Mina have zero sexual attraction:  Dracula turns Mina into a vampire to get back at the group of men who are hunting him. Simple as that.

"Dracula targets Mina Harker because he thinks she is his reincarnated wife from his previous life, that probably committed suicide when she learned false reports that he died while fighting the Ottomans. Mina falls madly in love with him despite being engaged to Jonathan Harker as well as Dracula raping and killing her best friend Lucy. She wants to be with him for all eternity and begs him to turn her into a vampire, but he is initially reluctant".  Doesn't this sound familiar?

Except that in the original Bram Stoker's novel, there is never anything romantic even hinted between Dracula and Mina. In fact, he specifically attacks her to punish the vampire hunters for thrashing his resting place, threatens to kill her and her husband if she so much screams for help, feasts on her blood and forces her to drink his, afflicting her with vampirism. In turn, she is repulsed by his appearance and is mentally disturbed for the attack she endured.  She does, however, expresses some pity toward the Count, specially when he dies, but that is it. In fact, she was portrayed as a stronger female character in the original novel than in most adaptations that came afterward: she goes from a very determined young woman that helps the heroes hold it together and track Dracula down to a weeping, hysterical damsel in distress that is often in love with Dracula in movies.

1931 movie:

The 1931 movie  generally stays faithful to the novel and casts the best actors as Dracula and Van Hellsing. I love how Van Hellsing is portrayed in this movie: inquisitive, wise, no-nonsense scientist-detective! Still, it cut out too much interesting/important stuff from the novel. How Van Hellsing defeats Dracula involves a great deal of planning which the movie didn't show.  One of the absent scenes is the one in which Van Hellsing fights and kills the Dracula brides. Also, because of the time, they could not show any gory or sexual scenes at all.

1977 movie:

The 1977 "Count Dracula" movie is the closest adaptation to the novel I've ever seen. Although the Dracula actor does not appear as intimidating and menacing as the 1931 version, he stays faithful to the original storyline and characteristics.  I particularly take interest in some philosophical points he brings up to the vampire hunters, such as:  "The cross is an instrument of torture",  "Why do you hunt me?", "What is the difference between me drinking blood and your cooked chicken?" - to which the vampire hunters have no satisfactory response to.  +1 to Dracula.

1992 movie:

This movie adaptation completely turns Dracula into a tragic romantic figure who becomes a vampire out of anger at the death of his wife, and subsequently does everything for "love".  [ IMO, making Dracula that way is so... lame, although being able to love one woman for 400 years is admirable ].  In Hellsing, we see that Dracula is made of much stronger spirit than that:  He never gave up even in death!  He was raped repeatedly as a child, but he rose in rank and power; he conquered nations.  He turned into Dracula only at the very end when he was decapitated. History has it that after Vlad's wife committed suicide, he did not give up; he got out there and lived and kept fighting. Not any one single event made him lose hope but rather, a combination of events.

In 1992 movie, Mina follows Dracula willingly. And Abraham van Hellsing has a slight crush on Mina. Mina ultimately prove herself to have no backbone. She is shown to love Jonathan Harker but then takes in immediate interest in Dracula as soon as he says he is a prince (despite him acting creepy as fuck on first meeting). First, she betrays Jonathan, then she betrays Dracula, then when Dracula is dead, she returns to Jonathan. This reminds me of Twilight when Bella diddles back and forth from one guy to another between every scene. Confusing as shit when one moment Mina professes undying love for Dracula then the next, she helps the Van Hellsing hunters kill him.  She simply goes with the flow, swings with whoever is the winner.  Sure, she's a Victorian woman who "had no choice" but this is a damn headache, a weak typical boring character. She is nothing compared to the thunderstorms that are Integra and Seras in Hellsing Ultimate!


HELLSING

Best Dracula/Alucard character design and personality. Period.

Only in Hellsing do you see an atheistic take on vampirism: It is said that Vlad turned into a vampire "by his own power".

The series definitely adheres closely to Bram Stoker's novel but also seems to follow the 1992 movie somewhat:  It is said in manga vol 7 that Dracula traveled to England to "obtain the woman he desired."  However, in the scene where Van Hellsing defeated Dracula, we see Mina cling to him with a horror expression on her face - unlike in the 1992 movie where she fell in love with him.

In Bram Stoker's novel and the movies, Dracula's henchmen are useless. LOL ...  Different from all the movies in which Dracula is shown to have very low power, in Hellsing, Dracula apparently had soldiers and servants (all were killed by the Van Hellsing group). The biggest difference in how Van Hellsing defeated Dracula is that - in Bram Stoker's version - he "killed" Dracula BEFORE dawn. In Hellsing, it looks more like an open combat that ends AT dawn than a sneaky attack. If this was the power level of Dracula before he became Alucard, it's totally believable that a man could defeat him.

Of course Hellsing's author added his own creative touch to the tale:  mirror, Science, alchemy, and all the powers that Alucard later gets.

I like how Van Hellsing is portrayed in the 1931 movie.
I like how Dracula is portrayed in the 1931 and 1977 movies.
I like how Mina is portrayed in the 1977 movie.

Hellsing Ultimate: Life Eternal - Seras Victoria

“Giving up is what kills people. Those who refuse to give up are entitled to trample upon humanity”.

The reason Alucard saved Seras speaks to the depth of both his and her characters:  For Alucard, he only respects humans who are persevering despite everything, because that’s what he considers the defining (and best) trait of humanity. He admired the fire in Seras and offered her a chance to thrive over the rest of humanity.  For Seras, she proved her character from the moment she jumped at that opportunity without the slightest hesitation.

An interesting thing to note:  Alucard has the "Improbable Aiming Skills" that enable him to hit any target without even looking (you can see it in his fight with Luke Valentine). He could have just shot the priest and spared Seras. But he wanted to take her, that's why he shot both of them. So... he took advantage of the situation to force her to make a choice.

Since then, Seras follows him without questions and shows great loyalty to him - without taking a moment to observe what kind of person her master is. Is this blind loyalty?  I think either Seras was unaware of Alucard's abilities or she didn't mind that he was an opportunist.  Nonetheless, I think she could conclude that she's alive because he was there at the right time.

Notice that Alucard only offered her his blood after she displayed great loyalty to him: in the encounter with Anderson where she brought his severed head along with her despite being severely wounded herself. The scene in OVA 1 where Seras refused to drink blood is poignant when you realize that her motivation to live for many years was her family's death and her feeling that she needed to remain strong. But a vampire is a servant until they drink blood. So... despite being in a fatal encounter with Anderson in OVA 1, Seras' instinct was to resist drinking the blood because she now has a parent figure in a time when she feels extremely vulnerable. It partially explains Alucard's shocked response: a vampire that didn't want to walk alone was a rare thing for him to witness. Seras had "parental issues" as hers died a violent death at a young age. I think it's similar to her having "daddy issues". Alucard is like her adoptive father. She is very loyal to him and certainly holds some affection. But that affection does not stretch romantically. There isn't anything that suggests romance between these two to me. She just seems to be devoted and loyal.

Since then, Alucard never told Seras to drink blood again because (1) he was betting on her survival instinct and (2) if she didn't step up, she didn't deserve to thrive over the rest of humanity. Then Pip comes along, bringing out her hidden backbone and she brings out his hidden heart of gold. She supports him, and he strengthens her. In OVA 9, she pulls Alucard back from the brink of death, and he finds the will to fight again.

Alucard sees in Seras something that he had lost long ago: the will to live.

And Seras finds in him something that she had been longing for: a real family.

The role of Seras Victoria is to relate to us, the viewers: a normal police girl, 19 years old, innocent of the world despite going through childhood trauma. She wants to live; she would rather live as a vampire than die. She does not see immortality as a weakness. She represents humanity's greatest dream. She serves as the average-human connection to Alucard to offer us insights into his character. Very few of us would probably relate to a powerful nobility figure like Integra. So there needs to be something, some character, that makes readers think, "This could be me, I would do the same thing and/or feel the same way she does". And that is Seras for you.

Stronger than romantic love, stronger than time - Alucard and Integra

First of all:  I love the ways female characters are portrayed in Hellsing! They are not the typical shoujo girls we so often see. Both of our main females are strong-minded women who kick serious asses. (And what does that say? Alucard has good taste! LOL).

The relationship between Alucard and Integra is very deep and complicated to explain; what is obvious is that Alucard would never let anything happen to Integra and Integra would never let anything happen to Alucard.  Not a word of love is spoken between these two; it's all in their actions. They pretend to keep a business-like facade around each other but in the end they can't enjoy life without each other; they are soulmates.

Let's go back in time a bit:  After being defeated by Abraham Van Hellsing, Alucard was experimented on (probably for decades) and used only once in WWII, then was sealed in the dungeon for 50 years. He did not have much of a life in those 100 years until Integra released him.  Then, by keeping him by her side instead of sealing him again, Integra has allowed him the chance and the time to assimilate with humanity again. Ten years being around humans, Alucard himself admits that it mellows him out. Serving Integra, he also gets lots of freedom - to the point that he feels comfortable trolling his Master (:D) and acquire his own vampire servant!  Needless to say, the previous Hellsing Masters did not allow Alucard this much freedom. It is this kind of humane interaction that enables Alucard to start returning to the light at the end of the series.  Integra and Seras (subconsciously) act as his anchors to humanity (and his connection with Seras pulls him back from the brink of death once again).

Alucard's loyalty to the Hellsing bloodline:  I think that he was mainly bound to Abraham and Arthur by magic and respect, while he truly has a bond with Integra because she treats him like a human being, which explains his undying loyalty, and more. Can you imagine Abraham and Arthur yelling, "Don't disappear!" when Alucard was disappearing? I can't. XD .. Integra is also the first Master who never calls Alucard a "monster".  Because at the very least, he is family to her.  Alucard's devotion to Integra is way different from to others.  Because she is interesting, he likes hanging around her. [ Again, I wish there were flashbacks about how Integra grew up under the guardianship of Alucard and Walter! ].   While it's true that one of the reasons Alucard serves Integra is to kill his boredom, the bond between them is deep, genuine without any pretense.

Seras and Integra are basically the same in the beginning: They met Alucard as young girls in distress who were in the run from an enemy they weren't supposed to fight (for Integra, it was her own human family; for Seras, it was vampire and ghouls when she was trained to fight humans). Alucard chose to save Integra's life and made her his Master.  Integra and Seras were lost children who had no choice but to rely on a vampire to survive at a time when they were extremely vulnerable.  There's no doubt now:  Both of them see Alucard as the most important person in their lives.

When Integra was a young impressionable child, her father taught her that vampires were fearsome creatures and there was nothing worse than them.  But then her own experience shaped her views:  While her human relative was trying to kill her, a so-called monster came to her rescue and, together with Walter, brought her up.  Given such unique childhood experience, Integra does not care about Alucard's vampirism (or Seras' for that matter).  The day he saved her and knelt to her is the day he became her knight, her savior.  Integra is shown in few instances in denial of Alucard's vampire nature because of her feelings for him (which doesn't necessarily mean they are romantic; she cares for him).  I am 100% sure that Integra will NOT have Alucard locked up again after her death.

Their bond isn't exactly platonic, either.  There is a subtle mutual romantic attraction between them but for some reasons, they choose not to pursue it. There are a lot of scenes that suggest that to me (eg, every moment between them is tender despite the craziness that's going on in the background, how he jumps to her defense even in conversation, how she welcomes him back, etc). But then, there are scenes that indicate she cares a lot about her soldiers in general including Walter.  It cannot be put into clear words. I think that her love for Alucard expands beyond the possibility of romantic.  Alucard is the only person who's there for her through thick and thin - the only one whom she can trust and rely on.  Alucard is her knight in shining armor, her loyal bodyguard, and will do anything to protect her life and honor, and brings out her best leadership qualities.

The moment that really defines how they feel about each other is in the final chapter: "Romancia":  Alucard did not have to come back after Schrodinger but he did anyway because he loves Integra.  30 years is a freaking long time and not many people can say that they can go that amount of time (or even longer) without talking or even seeing a certain person and somehow their bond does not fade one bit.  This is truly everlasting.  When Alucard comes back, Integra tells him, "You took too long", to which he apologizes.  She is upset about him taking so long to return because more than half her life is now gone and she cannot spend as much time with him as she otherwise could. There is no better expression of love than (implicitly) saying that she wants to be with him for a lifetime!

Alucard as Dracula might have kept multiple "brides" and lusted after Mina Harker (despite having had minimal to zero interaction with her).  But with Integra, it's a whole different level:  He knew her since she was a child, watched her grow into the woman she is today, lived under the same roof for 10 years.  He never treats anyone else the same way he treats her.  With Integra, he has found love beyond lust. 

Their relationship is complex because of feelings that they've developed as a result of all of the things they've been through together and the combinations of circumstances that keep them from exploring those feelings. These circumstances include their species, their master-servant relationship, Integra's duty-desire conflict, her pride of being human, and Alucard's man-monster struggle.  Their love has already transcended time and romance.  I wish to see that they transcend species as well!

In the end, Integra says, "Okaeri" ("Welcome home") and Alucard responds with, "Tadaima" ("I am home") - it reminds me of how Kaoru greets Kenshin when he returns.  Like Kenshin, Alucard has found home.  And Integra has found her true family.