Is Rip A Werewolf? The association between Rip and werewolves goes like this: in Volume 4, Schrödinger says that it would have been better to "leave it to us Werewolves" than to have sent Tubalcain. The Major asks "Where are the other Werewolves?", Schrödinger states that they're on their way. A few pages later, four shadowy figures (possibly representing a group) turn up, with Rip in the lead. Even later on, while Rip is dozing in the sunlight, a soldier is jealous of her because she's a strong enough vampire to out in the sunshine (well, with the protection of an umbrella and clothes that cover everything). He says "we're members of the monsters now, although we're rookies compared to them - they are Werewolves, they are war demons". Another soldier confirms Rip's identity as a Werewolf by saying "how can you call yourself a Werewolf when you're like this" while Rip is panic-stricken about Alucard. Throughout all this naming, Integra keeps calling them all vampires.. if one of the Hellsing lineage doesn't spot werewolves, then probably there isn't any werewolves.. but could Integra be wrong? Indeed, Rip's fangs could be wolf's teeth and her 'demon face' could be a partial transformation under the full moon. And don't get me started on Schrödinger (yet). There is a much more feasible explanation for the Werewolves of Millenium though. At the end of WWII, the Nazis created a guerilla force consisting mainly of specially trained Schutzstaffel (SS) and Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth). This organisation was called Werwolf, sometimes called 'Wehrwolf' - meaning 'defense wolf'. They were originally intended to protect the Alpenfestung (Alpine Fortress) or 'National Redoubt', the places in the mountains of Austria and Bavaria where the Nazis would make their last stand. However, the plan for a last stand was never really attempted, and the guerillas were first made into a terrorist organisation and then mostly disbanded in the last month or so of the war. The Werwolf did not die easily though. On the 23rd of March, 1945, Hitler gave his Werwolf speech, in which he urged every loyal German to fight to the death. The knowledge that the Werwolf had not been completely disbanded and the effects of Hitler's speech made it hard to decide which attacks in the final days of the war were really Werwolf hits and which were committed by lone Nazis or reminants of the SS. Werwolf tactics were sniping, arson, sabotage and assassination.. they were even said to string decapitation wires across roads. As for who they managed to kill, their most costly attack was a bombing that claimed 44 lives. They dispatched several important people, including a new anti-Nazi mayor and Field Marshal Montgomery's liason officer. The word 'Werewolf' is written in katakana in the manga. Katakana is a form of writing based on the sounds of a word - for example, my name would be written as 'Bi-ku-to-ri-ya' and my username would be written as 'Sa-i-fa'. Now I don't know if there is a Japanese (kanji-written) word meaning werewolf, but if there is, the using of katakana may suggest that Kouta Hirano meant the guerillas instead of the creatures. It is highly likely that Kouta Hirano chose 'Werewolf' to evoke these warriors, and in a storyline sense it's just as likely that the Major would name his special operations team in honour of Werwolf. Consider that Schrödinger wears the uniform of the Hitlerjugend who were associated with the group. An example of nekomimi, Hazuki the vampre catgirl from Tsukuyomi Moon Phase. Ah yes, Schrödinger. Another reason for the werewolf-as-species (mis)conception. This cute little boy has an animal's ears stuck on his head, but to what animal do they belong? It's likely that he is a cat hybrid, not a wolf hybrid. A very common character in both manga and anime is a catgirl (called nekomimi - literally 'cat ears'). A catgirl is a cat and human hybrid, humanoid apart from cat's ears, a long tail, fangs and sometimes paws. Usually they're secondary characters, mainly there to be pretty and amusing. They're so common that they're a stereotype, which is probably why Hirano-san aped the tradition by having a sinister catboy. I don't read much Japanese, but I have heard that he even says 'nyaa', the Japanese equivalent of 'miaow' and the call of the catperson. Later on in the manga, he genuinely miaows. When I hear of Schrödinger's cat, I reach for my gun." - Stephen Hawking (And Alucard, apparently.) What really does it for me is his name. The name 'Schrödinger' is recognised all over the world as part of the phrase 'Schrödinger's Cat'. This phrase referrs to a thought experiment cooked up by physicist Erwin Schrödinger. The idea was to place a cat in a box with a mechanism that had an exactly 50% chance of killing the cat within an hour. Until that hour is up, the cat might be in a limbo state between death and life. He never intended to actually do the experiment - he used it to show up something he thought was dodgy about the quantum mechanical theory, namely the idea that the nucleus of an atom can be both decayed and not decayed. A cat can't be both dead and alive, he said, so neither can a nucleus. Our Schrödinger might be the result of an experiment in quantum physics carried out by Herr Doktor. He does appear to be neither alive or dead, and as he says to Zorin "everywhere and nowhere". Is Rip Alucard's Fledgling? Rip is horrified as soon as she spots Alucard's plane. Alucard seems to have met Rip before, since he knows her name. There are also some similarities between their appearance. However, is that enough evidence to confirm them as relations? Personally, I don't think so. The way Rip looks probably owes a lot more to how Hirano draws vampiric characteristics and shading effects than any relationship with Alucard. As for storyline evidence, the way Rip and Alucard behave towards each other does not seem to suggest fledgling and sire. Rip does not seem to know Alucard. She identifies him as Samiel. Not Alucard, Dracula, master or sire but just Samiel - the Wild Huntsman from Der Freischütz. The way she describes him in her mad ramblings ("spokesman of madness", "(in/from?) that valley of terror, there is a demon, a hunter who is hunting", "a voice from there, a voice that calls me") suggests that she is not just using 'Samiel' as a metaphor but really believes that Alucard is the Devil Of The Hunt, and she behaves towards him as one probably would behave towards a Devil. Considering how filled with occult shenanigans the world of the Hellsing manga is, it's possible that a creature such as Samiel could exist and therefore not too far-fetched an idea for Rip to get into her head. Being turned into a vampire would reqire a huge change in lifestyle, and fledglings seem to have a bond with their sires (think of Alucard's telepathic link with Seras), so I doubt that any woman sane enough to become a Werewolf First Lieutenant would be likely to forget the one who turned her. Rip is eccentric and exuberant, but not insane. It is possible, though, that extensive experimenting could have changed her from the way she once was. Real vampires (hereditary vampires as opposed to gentically-engineered vampires) are rare creatures. They probably don't reproduce very often, so fledglings would be precious. If Alucard had somehow misplaced a fledgling, he wouldn't 'forgive and forget' or get into a sulk and give them the silent treatment. If Rip had been Alucard's fledgling, he'd probably have tried to convince her to join the winning side, been troubled enough by her condition to mention who she once was, or (more likely) made it obvious that he saw her as a disgrace to him and all hereditary vampires. But how did Alucard know Rip's name and the 'join the dead' quote? I suspect that it's Hirano's artistic licence that Alucard knows the quote, but we do know that Alucard met Rip during WWII thanks to Hirano-san's prequel to Hellsing, The Dawn. [Hellsing and Rip were created by and are copyright of Kouta Hirano.]

Home Gallery About Rip Van Winkle Washington Irving's Old Peculiar Rip's Survival?