Manga/OVA Canon

Anime Canon

Hellsing Family Butler Walter C. Dornez (ウォルター・Cクム・ドルネーズヘルシング家執事バトラー,, Worutā Kumu Dorunēzu Herushingu-ka batorā; OVA: Walter C. Dollneaz) is a major supporting character turned major antagonist in the Hellsing series created by Kohta Hirano. In both adaptations of Hellsing, he is voiced by Motomu Kiyokawa in the Japanese sub and Ralph Lister in the English dub. Daisuke Namikawa and Liam O' Brien, respectively, voiced young adult Walter, while Romi Park and Jessica D. Stone voiced his teen variant.

Though he served as Integra Hellsing's butler, he had still proved to live up to his nickname "Angel of Death (死神,, Shinigami; lit. 'God of Death')" with deadly razor sharp wires. He had a close friendship with both Integra and Hellsing Agency Trump Card, Alucard. He was a former active duty member of the Hellsing Agency and was employed as the family's retainer, until he betrayed them for the Last Battalion for a chance to fight the vampire Alucard.

Appearance

Personality

In his youth, he appeared to be belligerent, short-tempered, foul-mouthed, arrogant, and almost sadistic in his love of battle, as seen when he insulted and mocked The Major and gleefully sliced up SS soldiers. He would loudly brag and regularly insulted his opponents. He was greatly annoyed by The Major's lack of fear of him after seeing him easily kill several soldiers.^[8] In his old age, he has become the perfect model of an English butler: polite, diligent, brooding, dutiful, and intelligent with a dry, ironic sense of humor and a merciless disposition toward the enemies of his master. As an elderly man, not only does Walter serve primarily as Integra's butler,^[9] but he also made special weapons for use by vampires, Alucard and Seras Victoria.^[10] He appeared to have mellowed out a great deal externally, cutting apart his enemies with a cold precision rather than with the glee of his younger self, and delivering only ironic and dignified insults instead of simply swearing up a storm.^[11] He appeared to take great pride in being human, stating that it was something to enjoy for John Bulls, and that he no longer wished for prosperity, lacking even so much as pride.^[12]

However, later, after The Professor rejuvenated him, he stated how he had at last, finally become the Angel of Death.^[13] After he desecrated the remains of Alexander Anderson, he stated that man dies and turns into dust, so that dust has no need of a funeral,^[14] showing that he viewed humanity and mortality as weak, and all his sentiments to the contrary were likely part of his ploy to remain above suspicion. His disgust was directed towards weakness,^[15] pushing him to gain the strength he desired by any means. Later, Alucard claimed that the reason for Walter's betrayal came from the fact that he always wanted to best Alucard and hadn't let those feelings go.^[16][17][18] Indeed, rather than seeing old age as terrible and despising his own mortality, what Walter really hated was growing old and useless while never having fulfilled his deepest wish.^[19][20] Much like The Major, Walter seemed to want to end his life on his own terms rather than fade away and only seemed to disdain the idea of dying without finishing one's business.

Despite his secret disgust for weakness and morality, as morals could get in the way of desire, he did have a large amount of care and affection for Integra, who staunchly believed in honor/duty, and Seras, who still possessed compassion and goodness, as he viewed them as the only thing close to a real family he had. This was shown on many occasions, such as when Seras thanked him for everything he had done for her—and this actually made him break his true character for a brief moment to show that he truly appreciated her gratitude.^[21] When Alucard mockingly reminded him that, because of his betrayal, he had lost Integra and Seras forever and that now they're his (Alucard's) forever, this caused Walter to become incredibly furious.^[22] Later, after Alucard's seeming demise, he realized his desire for victory wasn't worth it and lamented what he had lost, realizing it was those same bonds he had seen as weakness that were what really mattered to him. On his deathbed, he smiled and thought of Integra and how they had come so far together, and though despite that his plan had failed, he still died happy because of her.^[23]

In spite of his ruthless betrayal of Integra, the rest of Hellsing, and throwing away his honor for Millennium, Walter did have a degree of moral standards. He showed far more viciousness toward Jan Valentine's degenerate butchering of Hellsing soldiers and vulgarity.^[24][25][26] He showed disgust for the experiments of The Professor and revulsion at the experiments on Mina Harker's corpse.^[27] Overall, Walter was willing to go to any lengths to achieve his desires but never took pleasure in the death and destruction he caused, nor did he do anything immoral beyond what was needed. This implies that Walter objected to and disliked causing harm with no practical justification while never going out of his way to indulge in sadism for its own sake.

Relationships

Allies

• Sir Arthur Hellsing: Arthur had deep confidence in Walter's ability, considering him to be the greatest soldier that Hellsing had to offer, stating, "...he is the strongest human of our existing militants in the field qualified to deal with such inhuman foes."^[28] However, Walter was highly critical of Arthur's perverted behavior.^[29] Though highly loyal towards the Hellsing family, Walter betrayed them for Millennium in order to fight Alucard out of jealousy.^[30]

• The Major: In the face of Walter's relentless insults, The Major remained calm and thought that he would be a great asset for Millennium.^[31] Eventually, in order to have a chance at fighting Alucard, Walter turned over to Major and Millennium, working closely with him to orchestrate the entire events leading up to the invasion of London.^[32][33] Walter's loyalty towards The Major was only for his own desires to fight Alucard. However, after screwing up the "once-in-a-lifetime" chance, The Major made it clear that he had no interest in Walter anymore and proceeded to move forward with the original plan.^[34]

Enemies

• Alucard: When he was young, Walter deeply envied and was jealous of Alucard. However, Alucard was then locked away by Arthur before Walter had the chance to fight Alucard at his prime.^[35] Over the course of a few years, Walter grew past his prime and was afraid to be sidelined into a literal butler.^[36][37] Walter worked with Millennium as a means to have a chance against Alucard—an alliance that dated back to 1944—so he orchestrated the whole Richard Hellsing fiasco, and Integra was forced to release Alucard.^[38][39] In the midst of the London invasion, Walter's age was regressed through a hasty operation by The Professor.^[40][41] Later, Walter made a grand reappearance in front of his former colleagues by desecrating Anderson's remains.^[42][43] Alucard, in response, noted Walter's hypocrisy and stated that when he was older, he was "trillions, quadrillions of times more beautiful."^[44] However, Alucard remarked, "Mind and body, you became death," to which Walter proudly stated that he had truly become the "Angel of Death."^[45]
  
  Walter told Alucard to stand up and fight, Alucard, in response, said to Walter that they were dogs and that dogs "did bark not for themselves."^[46] Integra eventually ordered Alucard to massacre Walter without an ounce of hesitation.^[47][48] At first, Walter had the absolute upper hand in the fight, as Alucard had run out of his souls to make use of. Until Luke Valentine emerged, which forced Alucard to go into trickery. Alucard eventually won the lousy bet Walter made, and Walter regressed back into a kid, to which Alucard also changed his appearance to mock Walter as he (Alucard) viewed this fight as a "child's play."^[49] Alucard knew of Walter's intentions, so he told Walter that he's "A scrawny little punk who hasn't changed a bit in the last sixty years."^[50] When The Major put his original plan forward in face of Walter's failure, Walter begged The Major to make him stop (drinking in the blood of over 3 million civilians) as he isn't finished fighting yet, to which The Major (along with The Professor and Alucard himself) told Walter that his fight was over and it was too late.^[51] Alucard stated "It'd take more than fifty, even five hundred years of trying for a pale-faced little shit like [Walter] to succeed!!"^[52]
  
  However, Alucard disappeared after accidentally drinking in Schrödinger, and in the face of Alucard's defeat, Walter reflected and questioned his satisfaction.^[53] Walter sacrificed everything—his life, faith, and loyalty—to just have a go at fighting Alucard. Later admitting that Alucard was right and he had wasted his life, even commenting that Alucard was also right about his appearance.^[54]

• Sir Integra Hellsing: Walter had always been a dear friend and trustworthy figure for Integra, acting as an advisor, protector, and occasionally emotional support.^[55] Having cared for her since she was a small child, Walter was protective of his employer but did not overstep his boundaries. Walter was outraged when Sir Hugh Irons not only commanded Integra to kill the reanimated corpses of Integra's soldiers but insisted that their current state was entirely Integra's fault, however, he regained his composure when Integra stopped him from commenting further on the matter.^[56] He acted as her escort to the museum when she was to have a meeting with Enrico Maxwell and looked prepared to defend her when Anderson arrived.^[57][58] Integra clearly trusted Walter with her life, as he was often used as her bodyguard rather than Alucard or Seras.^[59][60] For Integra, Walter was a father figure.^[61]
  
  When Integra and Penwood were ambushed, Integra showed no sign of distress or fear and was quite confident that Walter could handle her attackers with ease.^[62] Walter escorted her from the premises before more vampires could attack. When he was confronted by The Captain, he advised Integra to leave him behind to fight.^[63] Integra reluctantly agreed but ordered Walter to "return alive at all costs."^[64] When it was discovered that Walter had betrayed them, Integra was angered and questioned Walter's actions, after which Walter told her to not call him by his name.^[65] After an inner struggle, she ordered Alucard to kill him because "any forces which oppose [Hellsing] is to be crushed, no matter who they may be, no matter what they may be," this caused Integra to break and shed tears.^[66] However, in response, Walter stated that she was a master worthy of his service.^[67] Walter's last words were his farewell to Integra, bidding, "Farewell... ...My lady."^[68] Despite his betrayal, Integra was moved to sadness when Walter had passed away at last.^[69]

• Seras Victoria: Walter was highly respected by Seras and was also her mentor as an elder. Walter often cared for and encouraged Seras as the butler of the Hellsing family. Seras was very grateful for him and deeply pained when she was confronted by the reality of Walter joining Millennium simply to face Alucard in battle. Despite Walter becoming a traitor, Seras and Walter still genuinely cared for each other and he was taken aback by her gratitude for him as the butler of Hellsing as they wished each other to take care in their final words of exchange despite officially being friends no longer.^[70]

• The Professor: Upon first meeting Walter in Warsaw, he was dubbed an enemy by The Professor. However, upon Walter becoming a double agent for Millennium, The Professor was fine working with Walter in secret.^[71] This was shown when The Professor implanted a bomb in the Jackal that Walter would later give to Alucard,^[72] as well as The Professor turning the former into an Artificial Vampire despite the rushed process.^[73][74] 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.^[75][76]

Powers, Abilities, and Weapons

Human
Nicknamed "Walter, the Angel of Death" for his ability to eliminate opponents by freely manipulating specially made Monofilament Wires—even Alucard admired his skills.[77][78][79] Despite being a human, Walter possessed exceptional combat prowess, on par with or exceeding many supernatural beings. In 1944, Walter was able to skillfully dispose of armed and trained Nazi soldiers.[80] In 1999, during Millennium's initial assault on the Hellsing manor, he dispatched a large force of ghouls with almost inoculate ease and confidently engaged an Artificial Vampire.[81][82] Later, during the first attempted Millennium takeover of Penwood's military compound, he managed to defeat an entire unit of Artificial Vampires armed with automatic weapons without taking as much so as a single step forward.[83] Although he had retired from the front lines and maintained a gentlemanly and calm demeanor in his old age, he still had the greatness of those days oozing from his words, and in an emergency he would not hesitate to use his skills to destroy his enemies.[84]
Abilities
OVA Manga	Peak Human Strength: His strength was remarkable; as a fourteen-year-old boy, he was capable of briefly flooring The Captain with a headbutt to the face during their confrontation in Warsaw in 1944, a blow that was also strong enough to draw blood.[85] As an old man, with his wires, he was able to slice through multiple armed ghouls and Artificial Vampires clean.[86][87]
OVA Manga	Peak Human Speed and Reflexes: His speed and agility were great enough as a human that, even at nearly seventy years of age, he could dodge a barrage of bullets from multiple assault rifles at close range and in the tight quarters of a manor hallway.[88][89] He could also easily outmatch the reflexes of an entire squad of vampirized soldiers, as he cut an entire group of them apart during a betrayal by one of Penwood's subordinates during the beginning of the Zeppelin incident.[90][91]
OVA Manga	Peak Human Durability and Endurance: As a fourteen-year-old boy, he was able to withstand multiple brutal strikes from The Captain despite the fact that The Captain was under orders to kill him.[92][93] He was also able to endure a short amount of time with The Captain attempting to strangle him with both hands before Alucard intervened.[94] Additionally, he jumped out from an Allied bomber kilometers up in the air without a parachute and used his skill with his wires to keep him from falling to the ground.[95][96]
OVA Manga	Peak Human Accuracy: His accuracy and dexterity were also highly developed, as he could have controlled his wires with pinpoint accuracy, and at one point during the assault on the Vampire Production Program compound in World War II, he casually kicked a butter knife off of a table and at The Major's head, which would have struck him blade-first and presumably fatally had The Captain not caught it.[97]
Artificial Vampire
When he was turned into a vampire by Millennium, his body was restored to its physical prime, and he gained vast augmentations to all of his physical capabilities. His wires grew much longer, and Walter used them to easily slice down two buildings.[98] Formidable as his new form was, the rushed and flawed transformation procedure rendered his body highly unstable.[99] This manifested by his growing increasingly younger until he resembled his fourteen-year-old self.[100] The "rash surgery" that restored his body to its prime has caused him to suffer severe mental and physical exhaustion in order to maintain it.[101]
OVA Manga	Superhuman Strength: With his wires, he easily sliced buildings in two.[102] He could lift Alucard high in the air with his wires and smash him into buildings that broke concrete and steel—all done with just one hand.[103] He was later able to manipulate and control Baskerville, despite its massive size, and Luke, also despite his body at that time deteriorating at a fast pace.[104]
OVA Manga	Supernatural Speed and Reflexes: His reflexes far exceeded Alucard's. He skillfully caught Alucard in the arm, who was charging at Walter full force.[105] He was able to react and create mesh shields with his wire in order to block bullets sent by Alucard.[106] His abilities were such that he completely outmatched Alucard's Level One form during their fight in London, forcing Alucard to resort to trickery in order to gain the upper hand.[107]
OVA Manga	Superhuman Durability and Endurance: It should also be noted that Walter managed all this despite the fact that his body deteriorated throughout his entire fight with Alucard.[108] His unstable body also appeared to have had an unusual amount of resistance, despite the fact that his body was in a state of advanced deterioration during the time these abilities were demonstrated. He was also able to take a direct punch from Alucard head-on, which forced his body to regenerate.[109] Later, he was also seen taking several bullets from an Iscariot sniper rifle, including one to the head.[110]
OVA Manga	Regeneration: Unlike Alucard, however, he could not control when he would regenerate. The process of turning into an Artificial Vampire had taken a heavy toll on his body, as it had been hastily made and produced, which caused that every devastating hit he took would regress his age less and less.[111][112] The process had also been incomplete, as seen when he bled and coughed blood despite not taking any devastating hits, indicating that he would have died even if he had won his battle against Alucard.[113] Ultimately, his regenerative capabilities were also his greatest weakness.
Enhanced Senses: He had been able to detect, dodge, and block Alucard's Casull despite being covered in smoke.[114]
Monofilament Wires
Walter's primary weapons were a set of very long razor wires, which he controlled as if they were extensions of his own body. The wires were sharp enough to slice through steel and concrete with no trouble; he could use them to bind and restrain targets without damaging them. He could move objects without damaging them, being able to apply enough force to rip out one of Jan Valentine's mouth rings without damaging it, or to grab a packet of cigarettes. He was also able to hold several of the wires between his teeth without any damage to himself. The wires themselves could be used to attack from virtually any angle and seemed to hover around Walter himself in an omnidirectional manner during combat. He could cause drastic shifts in their positions with extremely small movements and even manipulate them without any apparent movement at all. The wires moved much more quickly than even Walter himself did and were extremely hard to see.
OVA Manga	Mesh Shields: Walter was able to weave the wires as he liked, creating mesh screens out of the wires to block bullets from Alucard, and each screen appeared to contain hundreds of individual woven threads.[115]
OVA Manga	Manipulative Puppetry: With his impressive skill, Walter used his wires on Luke Valentine and Baskerville to control them both like marionettes. Walter also used Luke's supernatural speed and Baskerville's devastating strength against Alucard while controlling them both. Both puppets were later disposed of by Alucard with his Casull.[116]

Weapons Made

In the series, Walter had created notable special weapons for the Hellsing Agency's trump cards. Reaching his golden years and not as deadly as he had been in his prime, Walter became a butler and manufacturer of the Hellsing Agency, constantly in the backseat in duties and was only needed in battle when he became pivotal.

• Hellsing ARMS Casull: The .454 Casull is the first custom handgun made by Hellsing, specifically designed by Walter. It's essentially a very large handgun, with a length of 39cm. It's chambered for the mighty .454 Casull round, which finds use primarily in hunting large game, such as deer and bears. Of course, these bullets are special, being made out of silver obtained from melted holy relics with an exploding property as well, making for a rather devastating cartridge against the legions of the night. The clips only hold about six rounds, chambering a seventh. The engraving on the frame of the gun (Hellsing ARMS 000001) indicated that it was the first custom weapon ever made by Walter C. Dornez.
• Hellsing Combat Pistol "Jackal": The Jackal was made after Alucard's first encounter with Anderson; in fact, it was likely specifically designed with him in mind, considering the "Jesus Christ is in Heaven" engraving on the side. Though the gun looked essentially the same as Casull, with the same overall length of 39cm, it was radically different, being made from pure silver and weighing 16kg. Obviously, no human could possibly have used this gun. The breech also faced the left instead of the right, though its clips could hold the same amount of bullets that the Casull's were capable of. The bullets were different as well, being slightly bigger 13mm, with a gold casing, a reinforced core for armor penetration, and each bullet was baptized. Of course, they still shared the same explosive quality.
• Hellsing Anti-Tank Cannon "Harkonnen": The Harkonnen was likely made at the same time as the Jackal. The 30mm Harkonnen Anti-Midian cannon was oversized, though Seras soon handled it like a normal rifle. Walter described the weapon as something that could function as an anti-tank rifle, eliminating all targets both on land and in the air. Later during the Valentine Brothers siege, Walter gave us some more details on the ammunition by telling Seras to fire the "Incendiary high-explosive rounds with VT fuse! Formula #4, the red one!" It was effectively an artillery piece scaled down to the size of a massive sniper rifle.
• Hellsing Anti-Tank Cannon "Harkonnen II": The Harkonnen II was made with the intention of attacking enemy invaders if Millennium had ever invaded the Hellsing manor, which they did. It had a gross weight of 345kg and sported a pair of 30mm auto cannons belt-fed from two large ammunition boxes carried on her back. Its maximum range was 4 kilometers and was used to destroy a barrage of Millennium's missiles in midair and even shot down one of their airships; the system was used to great effect against Zorin Blitz's invasion force, considerably thinning her forces and prompting a ground invasion. For additional firepower, the pair of cannons could double as a grenade launcher, launching two of the explosive incendiary grenades for wide-area field dominance, "Vladimir," one from each barrel.

Concept and Creation

One of Hirano's older works, The Tale of the Great Doubles, released in 1996, featured a character with similar designs to Adult and The Dawn Walter. For Walter's elderly design, the character of Mr. Ridgeway in Crossfire could be a possible inspiration.

In his betrayal, Hirano said that he was thinking he should make Walter betray Hellsing around the middle of serialization, purely over a "power-related" problem. The origins of his betrayal were going to be shown in "The Dawn," however, the story stopped halfway through. Hirano has since expressed his desire to write a continuation of The Dawn.^[117] Hirano also added that he thought it'd be fun to make Walter turn traitor, but remarked that "Walter's betrayal is a major turning point in the story, and also a very shocking one."^[118]

Name

Walter's middle initial, C., is pronounced in full in the OVA series as "クム (kumu)". "クム" also accompanies the "C" as furigana in the cover of chapter 71. This is the Japanese translation of the Latin word cum, meaning "with," as shown in the back cover of volume 4, which spells out "Cumm" (pronounced "Koom").

There is some dispute over the correct romanization of his surname, "ドルネーズ (Dorunēzu)," with the most common variants being Dorne, Dornez, Dornes, Dolneas, and Dollneaz. The back cover of the original Japanese version of volume 4 in which Walter's name is written with an added "D" and "Z" as "Walter Cum Ddollneazz," along with the booklets of the anime series. The original Japanese OVA liner notes booklets and all US editions spell it out as "Dollneaz", preserving Hirano's original name while simply removing what are perceived as "extra" letters. With the release of Volume 2 by Dark Horse Comics, Walter's last name is translated as "Dornez." The later-released Blu-ray boxed set of Hellsing OVA I-V also modified its spelling of Walter's name to list it as such as well.

Walter's epithet, "死神 (Shinigami)," which translates literally to "God of Death," are Gods that invite humans toward death in certain aspects of Japanese religion and culture. For English releases, it's often translated as "Angel of Death."

Trivia

• He harmed both the Valentine Brothers in two different ways; first, he cut off the younger brother's arm, and the older brother was stabbed with a pole in the heart by him.
• It is noted in his youth that Walter was something of a tobacco connoisseur who had a particular aversion to American cigarettes.

References

Character Navigation
Hellsing Agency Director(s) Abraham Van Helsing Arthur Hellsing Integra Hellsing Trump Cards Alucard Seras Victoria Staff Walter C. Dornez Dextely Alphensys Hellsing Agency Special Military Forces Pip Vernedead Wild Geese Deputy Wild Geese Round Table Council Hugh Irons Shelby M. Penwood Rob Walsh Irons IV Penwood III
Iscariot Agency Director(s) Enrico Maxwell Makube Trump Cards Alexander Anderson Staff Father Ronald Young Priest Armed Priest Vanguard Heinkel Wulf Yumiko Takagi Ninth Crusade
Millennium Project Director(s) Adolf Hitler The Major Scientist(s) The Professor The Occult Researchers The Werwolves The Captain Walter C. Dornez Schrödinger Zorin Blitz Rip Van Winkle Associates Tubalcain Alhambra Luke Valentine Jan Valentine Rheinhold Fortner Colonel
Miscellaneous Characters London Police Commander Vicar Richard Hellsing Chief Malfas Huger and Jessica Mark and Nepis The Pope Julia Edward Traitorous Bishop Ferdo Paciel The Queen Mrs. Victoria Mr. Victoria Dracula Mina Harker Arthur Holmwood Jack Seward Quincey Morris Jonathan Harker Crossfire Maxwell Anderson Aphram Unnamed Priest Ilyushin Mr. Ridgeway Abraham Van Rogh Tomily Fedeo Prototype Alucard Yuri Kate Hellman Hellman's Brother