The Battle of London in Hellsing Ultimate has Alucard use his full abilities, which include summoning familiars. Let's take a look at them.
Alucard has a ridiculous number of familiars he can summon that will fight for him. They are not always well-defined and occasionally merge into one another, but it generally does not stop them from being effective.
The sheer number of Alucard's familiars is surprising given that the method of gaining a familiar is by draining the victim of blood, which results in absorbing their memories and, technically, their minds. The drained creature becomes a ghoul, but the mind of the person proceeds to live inside the vampire's own mind.
The Seras-Pip Connection
The consequences of that are not obvious. For example, when Victoria Seras also got herself a familiar in the form of Pip Bernadotte, it means that if she wishes for it, he can be manifested in the real world and fight on her side. But it also can be argued that Pip affected Seras' personality, making her more confident.
She does seem like a new person after draining Pip, which makes one ask, how does it feel to have thousands of familiars?
The number of Alucard's familiars is shown to be immense, which suggests that Alucard is not really one person but a collective organism with many minds trapped inside him. It might explain the number of eyes on him whenever he is using his powers. Alucard does not seem to be very stable either, which might be explained by how many people now live in his body.
We saw Alucard make familiars; for example, he clearly drains Rip Van Winkle more or less on screen, and he does the same with Luke Valentine offscreen, resulting in a familiar that is revealed later in the Battle of London. As for Alucard's love for dog-like monsters, that also seems to be a nod to a familiar, this time, the Baskerville Hound. That implies that animals can become familiars, not only humans and other vampires.
The Schrödinger Saga
Finally, it would be helpful to talk about another familiar, who Alucard made unknowingly, and that is Schrödinger. While absorbing blood, Alucard unknowingly also absorbs Schrödinger, who drained himself for that exact purpose.
He was meant to make Alucard disappear since Schrödinger exists simultaneously everywhere and nowhere when he recognizes himself. Being dead, he would not be able to recognize himself, which was supposed to leave Alucard nonexistent as well. However, Alucard manages to kill enough souls within himself to recognize himself, so eventually, he returns, with fewer familiars but, apparently, with Schrödinger's abilities.
It looks like familiars make Alucard stronger in the majority of cases, but they also make it difficult for him to realize himself when there are so many minds within his body.
The Battle of London in Hellsing Ultimate has Alucard use his full abilities, which include summoning familiars. Let's take a look at them.
Alucard has a ridiculous number of familiars he can summon that will fight for him. They are not always well-defined and occasionally merge into one another, but it generally does not stop them from being effective.
The sheer number of Alucard's familiars is surprising given that the method of gaining a familiar is by draining the victim of blood, which results in absorbing their memories and, technically, their minds. The drained creature becomes a ghoul, but the mind of the person proceeds to live inside the vampire's own mind.
The Seras-Pip Connection
The consequences of that are not obvious. For example, when Victoria Seras also got herself a familiar in the form of Pip Bernadotte, it means that if she wishes for it, he can be manifested in the real world and fight on her side. But it also can be argued that Pip affected Seras' personality, making her more confident.
She does seem like a new person after draining Pip, which makes one ask, how does it feel to have thousands of familiars?
The number of Alucard's familiars is shown to be immense, which suggests that Alucard is not really one person but a collective organism with many minds trapped inside him. It might explain the number of eyes on him whenever he is using his powers. Alucard does not seem to be very stable either, which might be explained by how many people now live in his body.
We saw Alucard make familiars; for example, he clearly drains Rip Van Winkle more or less on screen, and he does the same with Luke Valentine offscreen, resulting in a familiar that is revealed later in the Battle of London. As for Alucard's love for dog-like monsters, that also seems to be a nod to a familiar, this time, the Baskerville Hound. That implies that animals can become familiars, not only humans and other vampires.
The Schrödinger Saga
Finally, it would be helpful to talk about another familiar, who Alucard made unknowingly, and that is Schrödinger. While absorbing blood, Alucard unknowingly also absorbs Schrödinger, who drained himself for that exact purpose.
He was meant to make Alucard disappear since Schrödinger exists simultaneously everywhere and nowhere when he recognizes himself. Being dead, he would not be able to recognize himself, which was supposed to leave Alucard nonexistent as well. However, Alucard manages to kill enough souls within himself to recognize himself, so eventually, he returns, with fewer familiars but, apparently, with Schrödinger's abilities.
It looks like familiars make Alucard stronger in the majority of cases, but they also make it difficult for him to realize himself when there are so many minds within his body.
