An 18+ independent ask/fandom blog for Kohta Hirano's "Hellsing". I've got 20 years worth of thoughts and headcanons and this is where I want to share them! Adult content and dark themes present
Hey everybody! I've been busy with my new life, but some old fandom buddies are back in the fandom and I've got a fire under my ass for Hellsing! I'm going to be more active here so I hope some of you stuck around and are ready for some new content and we'll aged asks in my inbox!
You dont need a special reason to do anything in life. As long as you mind your lane appropriately, you can do what you want with your day. Including nothing at all. 🩸
Not everyone you encounter will want to be nice to you. Frankly speaking, you dont need those people. You may have to put up with them; for a grade, for a paycheck, for a roof over your head... But your emotions dont need to hinge on them. Better people await you, sometimes in the dark. 🩸
If you would indulge me since OC's are on the table - I'd like to mention my OC, Specialist Corporal Zemira Makhabi. She's a grizzled, cartoonish and potty-mouthed Hellsing trooper as well as a consutant on Judaism (which you can bet she and Alucard have some fun deep talks about) but I created her to have a type of attitude that would really challenge Alucard's ideals and throw some of his hypocrisies in his face. They have a very hot-and-cold, chummy-one-second-and-predator/prey-the-next kind of dynamic. One of these interactions, I am curious to your take on.
There is a scene in which Alucard is interrogating Zemira about what she intends to do with herself in the event she is turned into a vampire. Her response is to scoff and say "Swan dive onto the nearest stake, why?" And this answer really gets a raised eyebrow from Alucard. Zemira then insists that Alucard swear an oath to personally put her down, should she ever turn. This is, of course, rather unusual to Alucard’s perspective.
Herein lies the quandary: here is a human Alucard has come to somewhat respect and care about - in a fucked up, possessive, maledom kind of way, of course - who he has gone on record saying she would make a bad vampire, saying she would ask him to kill her if she turned. Kind of goes against the common image of vampires as intrinsically power-hungry and selfish. Me personally, I think that even if he does fully believe that humans who turn to vampirism are now lesser, unless Integra orders him to, he'd have trouble doing something like this - and even if she did, he wouldn't be thrilled about it. What's your take on this premise? If it was up to him, would he honor his promise? Or would he try to force someone like this to adapt to their vampirism, be it out of a sense of possessiveness or something else? This concept endlessly fascinates me, but perhaps you think it's rather simple. Really dig this blog!
Oh fuck yeah! Judaism has some really cool lore and mysticism. Is her name a reference to anything?
The one thing Alucard emphasizes when asked about Seras, and why he got so angry at the other vampires and at Anderson, is choice. He suffers the consequences of his poor choices, and the way he sees it, so do the others. After Mina, he has no sympathy for people that share this poor choice.
I think he'd agree to promise that if it ever came to that, he would ask her again if that's what she wanted. If Zemira were to come unto vampirism against her will, he would absolutely put her down if that's what she still wanted in the moment. I think he asked for orders to kill Walter because he didn't want to risk making the wrong choice and suffering further for it.
Because his lack of autonomy is a scapegoat for not having to make any decisions for himself beyond a surface level. He didn't choose to turn Seras, she did. He didn't choose to kill those human soldiers, Integra did. He didn't decide Anderson had to die, Anderson did. He didn't decide to kill Walter, Integra did. If he put Zemira out of her misery, it would be her decision.
Love this answer, and I'm so glad you think she's cool!
To answer your question, her first name is a simple reference to her love of music, as Zemira is a Hebrew word that can be translated as "song."
Her surname, however, is the big one. Makhabi is a Romanization of a family name that derives from the Aramaic maqqaba. It means "hammer," and is the direct link to the historic and Biblical Maccabees, from whom she is a direct descendant. The Maccabees were a famous group of Jewish guerrilla warriors who rose up in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire, and though they sustained great losses, they ultimately won, and forced the Greek empire out of Judea and won the nation a century of independence.
Zemira being a descendant of famous revolutionaries is directly relevant to her character. She's an anarchist to the core, and is very "no masters, no kings." I created her because Hellsing is so heavy on the themes surrounding authority and obedience, duty and submission, and so on. I wanted to explore what it would be like to have a character who has absolutely ZERO faith in authority figures, with actual damn good reason not to.
Zemira is a Jewish trans woman living in the UK with war and rebellion in her veins and a serious chip on her shoulder. She was that kid in class who said what everyone was thinking about how irrelevant what schools teach is and probably got in no end of trouble for it. She is among the few people with the stones to look Integra dead in the eye and dare to ask "why the fuck should I listen to you?" And she kind of has a point. Historically, people like her get thrown under the bus left and right. And so ensues the push and pull of her relationship with Tegs and Alucard both - them coming to understand that sometimes they need to meet their subordinates halfway if they want to honor them as people, while also making absolutely clear to Miss Rebel-With-A-Cause that her hyperindependence is harmful to both herself and those around them. Her rebelliousness and reactionary attitude is a survival tactic, but if she wants to heal and grow, she needs to unpack it.
In other words, to use Hellsing's BDSM allegory, if Seras is a service sub, Zemira is a brat.
I absolutely love her! I love the religious and historical context, the references in her names, and the brat reference. I love that you've made her unique and rebellious without using it as a crutch for character flaws. It's also awesome that you've built into her narrative character traits like her issues with authority while deliberately leaving space for her to grow and develop not into an unrecognizable version of herself, but a healthier and more functional version of herself. I can't tell you how many times I see oc's that are just "my oc acts like a brat and everyone just learns to deal with it" and it's sooooo boring, especially when its wildly out of character for canon characters to put up with extreme acts of disrespect or disregard.
As someone who has role-played in multiple formats over the course of decades, Zemira is 110% the kind of oc I would write with and want to establish a fleshed out story with!
If you would indulge me since OC's are on the table - I'd like to mention my OC, Specialist Corporal Zemira Makhabi. She's a grizzled, cartoonish and potty-mouthed Hellsing trooper as well as a consutant on Judaism (which you can bet she and Alucard have some fun deep talks about) but I created her to have a type of attitude that would really challenge Alucard's ideals and throw some of his hypocrisies in his face. They have a very hot-and-cold, chummy-one-second-and-predator/prey-the-next kind of dynamic. One of these interactions, I am curious to your take on.
There is a scene in which Alucard is interrogating Zemira about what she intends to do with herself in the event she is turned into a vampire. Her response is to scoff and say "Swan dive onto the nearest stake, why?" And this answer really gets a raised eyebrow from Alucard. Zemira then insists that Alucard swear an oath to personally put her down, should she ever turn. This is, of course, rather unusual to Alucard’s perspective.
Herein lies the quandary: here is a human Alucard has come to somewhat respect and care about - in a fucked up, possessive, maledom kind of way, of course - who he has gone on record saying she would make a bad vampire, saying she would ask him to kill her if she turned. Kind of goes against the common image of vampires as intrinsically power-hungry and selfish. Me personally, I think that even if he does fully believe that humans who turn to vampirism are now lesser, unless Integra orders him to, he'd have trouble doing something like this - and even if she did, he wouldn't be thrilled about it. What's your take on this premise? If it was up to him, would he honor his promise? Or would he try to force someone like this to adapt to their vampirism, be it out of a sense of possessiveness or something else? This concept endlessly fascinates me, but perhaps you think it's rather simple. Really dig this blog!
Oh fuck yeah! Judaism has some really cool lore and mysticism. Is her name a reference to anything?
The one thing Alucard emphasizes when asked about Seras, and why he got so angry at the other vampires and at Anderson, is choice. He suffers the consequences of his poor choices, and the way he sees it, so do the others. After Mina, he has no sympathy for people that share this poor choice.
I think he'd agree to promise that if it ever came to that, he would ask her again if that's what she wanted. If Zemira were to come unto vampirism against her will, he would absolutely put her down if that's what she still wanted in the moment. I think he asked for orders to kill Walter because he didn't want to risk making the wrong choice and suffering further for it.
Because his lack of autonomy is a scapegoat for not having to make any decisions for himself beyond a surface level. He didn't choose to turn Seras, she did. He didn't choose to kill those human soldiers, Integra did. He didn't decide Anderson had to die, Anderson did. He didn't decide to kill Walter, Integra did. If he put Zemira out of her misery, it would be her decision.
Things circle around endlessly. What effects you now will come back around someday. Good & bad. Regardless of which it ends up being, everything can be managed better than it was the first time. 🩸
You dont need to show up with medals or the latest trends. To the people who care at all, youre the whole package just as you are: a work in progress who's sincere. 🩸
finished designs for WHAT GREATER SIN! (in progress hellsing doujin with young!integra x bondagecard, plus all of my other hellsing art in the last 2-3 years)
No matter what you have to be to the rest of the world, you can still unwind as yourself with those closest to you. Dont forget to make extra time with them to brace yourself for having to put the masks on again later. 🩸
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