The Grand Professor (大博士グランドプロフェッツォル,, Gurandopurofettsuoru), known more by his nickname "Dok (ドク,, Doku)" or "The Professor (教授,, Kyōju; OVA: The Doctor)," is a major antagonist in the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano. He is voiced by Hiroshi Naka in Japanese and Marcelo Tubert in the English dub.

A brilliant physician, a dedicated scientist, and a true visionary of horrible ambition. His real name and identity are unknown. He is eccentric and is willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of his research. He is very loyal to The Major and the genius behind many of Millennium's projects, including his role in creating and training Millennium's many Artificial Vampires. He believes that vampire creation is a "miraculous science," and he is dedicated to his research, dreaming that one day he will be able to share his knowledge with the whole world.

Appearance

The Professor was an older and tall, lanky man with fair skin. With his pure-golden colored pupils, he had a yellow, straight, and middle-parted bob for hair. His arching eyebrows were tonally a darker shade of yellow than his hair. What type of species he belonged to was unknown, as it was never revealed whether or not he was a vampire or a cyborg. The Professor usually appeared dressed in a perpetually bloodstained white lab coat, an unusual shirt that revealed his lower torso, and glasses with an assortment of adjustable, multi-lensed spectacles. He wore four-fingered gloves with both his ring finger and pinky forced into the last one. This suggested he may have had Syndactyly, having his last two fingers fused together on each hand. In moments of extreme tension, he tended to bite down one of his fingers, hard enough to draw blood. This is a disorder known as "Dermatophagia."

Manga

OVA

OVA

Personality

The Professor was a mad scientist who worked for The Major. His loyalty was absolute, but that was only because of his interests within the vampire production program and interest in The Major's plan.^[3] He took his work very seriously and would take offense whenever someone insulted his creation.^[4][5] A perfectionist, he was incredibly disappointed that Tubalcain Alhambra had died and was worried that The Major would punish him for Alhambra's failure, yet The Major instead praised him in high regard.^[6] Unlike the rest of Millennium, he did not seek to die in a grandiose way.

Rather than seeking the last "hurrah" that the washed-up veterans of Millennium longed for, The Professor's interest ultimately lay within the creation of vampires and the advances of "science" that he loved wholeheartedly. At the thought of his failure and imperfection over the experiments, he wondered what was lacking and what was missing.^[7] He believed that his research and his "science miracle," which thrived upon numerous practices while advancing itself, would someday catch up and even surpass Alucard himself.^[8] In the end, he was confronted by his creation that belittled his product and ultimately killed him before he could escape and advance his research further.^[9][10]

Throughout the series, he kept mostly a smirky demeanor and was consistently seen besides The Major. In fact, his first ever appearance was with The Major himself, along with The Captain. He could, however, get annoyed, mostly by Schrödinger's actions. He also had a habit of stammering when excited.^[11] He was fascinated by The Major's ideas and plans and hated anyone who ridiculed or obstructed them.^[12]

Relationships

Allies

• The Major: The Professor respected The Major and had a heavy interest in his plan and hated those who would dare ridicule The Major.^[13][14] The Professor feared The Major and often fretted about his works, but The Major was all the same impressed by his talents and ingenious works.^[15] At first fearful, as seen in The Dawn, the relationship between the two developed, and The Major became The Professor's closest ally over the next several decades when they and the battalion escaped from Germany. During the conclusion of World War II, The Major was shot and beaten up in a fruitless defense against the Soviets in Berlin and was rescued by The Professor, who was implied to have also given his boss his cyborg body.^[16] The Major never underestimated him, and the two shared a lust for war, bloodshed, and violence.
  
  He teased The Major when he missed all 8 shots when attempting to execute a German Navy ally for insubordination, and the two shared the same sense of humor.^[17] He was also genuinely very concerned for The Major when he stood on top of the zeppelin commanding the army as his boss was putting himself in great danger, telling him to come back inside.^[18] He became mortified when an Iscariot helicopter was about to shoot his boss with a mounted rocket launcher, begging him to get back inside the zeppelin's safety while dodging scraps of metal before a rejuvenated Walter saved the situation.^[19]

• Schrödinger: They both constantly argued with one another.^[20][21][22] The two watched in glee at the violence of London on top of The Major's zeppelin as their boss commanded the Last Battalion as if it were an orchestra.^[23] As they both enjoyed war and excitedly anticipated for Walter and Alucard to fight near the end of the series, the two had much in common.

Enemies

• Walter C. Dornez: When they met, The Professor dubbed Walter an enemy to Millennium for infiltrating their bases. Walter later joined Millennium, therefore working with The Professor and establishing their alliances.^[24] He established a remote control for Alucard's Jackal, which could detonate the gun itself.^[25] Later, The Professor rushed the process of de-aging and turned Walter into an Artificial Vampire.^[26] As they didn't have the time to do so correctly, the process was heavily flawed; Walter would have died either way even if he had won his battle against Alucard.^[27]
  
  As the Deus Ex Machina was falling apart, The Professor argued with a wounded Walter, with the latter insulting The Professor's research. This infuriated The Professor, saying that Walter was, to him, nothing more than a "defective product" and that The Professor would surpass Alucard. Before The Professor could kill Walter with a remote, Walter dismembered him and, after explaining Mina Harker's origins, buried him under rubble, killing him instantly.^[28][29]

Powers and Abilities

Equipment

Remote Controls

In order to control his subjects and to oversee their actions, The Professor created a series of unique remote controls that could burn the subject into a crisp if they ever spill out the secret to the opposing forces.[35] The link connecting the remote control to the subject is with a mechanical chip referred to as a "Speech Chip" which The Professor could gain information from the subject.[36] Alucard's Jackal was also made with a special Remote Control which saw in use when The Professor detonated it in Alucard's hands as he fought Walter.[37] Rip Van's Remote Control[38] Jackal's Remote Control[39] Walter's Remote Control[40] Explanation of the "Speech Chip" embedded inside the target[41]

Concept and Creation

Along with Schrödinger, the prototypes of both characters are featured in Führer's Paradise. There, The Professor is referred to as "ベルクマン," which is transcribed back as "Bergmann."

Name

Although mostly referred to as "Dok" by other characters, his true title is "Grand Professor," which is notably said by The Major^[42] and Walter^[43] and can be seen on his name card within the guidebook.^[44] The nametag shown in volume 3 reads out "Avondale Napyeer" (although the text is difficult to read),^[45] but later spells out "Grand Professor" in volume 10.^[46]

Trivia

• According to The Major in The Dawn, The Professor is an excellent sauerkraut.
• Unlike most of Millennium's members, The Professor planned to live rather than seek death.
• He could be based on Josef Mengele, a similar sadist Nazi scientist.
  • Furthermore, the fact he, (along with the rest of Millennium), escaped to Brazil to continue his research may be based on a conspiracy theory surrounding Josef of the same nature.
• According to Hirano, The Professor is an Otaku.^[47]

Reference