Valkenhayn R. Hellsing

Valkenhayn R. Hellsing is Rachel Alucard's elderly butler and trusted adviser who has served the Alucard family line for generations, as well as one of the Six Heroes. He is a playable character starting with BlazBlue: Continuum Shift II. His life-force value is around 2,394,211.

Information
Valkenhayn has been the butler to the Alucard family of vampires for a great deal of years. He possesses a sharp wit and is concerned for Rachel's well-being. Valkenhayn seems to be worried about Rachel associating with things below her class (particularly Ragna the Bloodedge, although others might apply), but he usually acts in a sophisticated and gentlemanly manner. Judging from comments frequently dropped by Rachel, he seems to have once been a vigilante himself.

He has shown a savage temper on occasion, mainly seen during battle. During Continuum Shift he lost his temper after Hazama insulted Rachel, his voice deepened and his teeth sharpened into fangs.

Valkenhayn is also a unique Beastkin, being the only one of his kind, thus far, who is able to freely switch from being in a human form to a wolf form. As well as this, Valkenhayn is extremely unique in the fact that he exists outside of the Kotowari, being the only living being outside of it. Although the reasons for it are unspecified, it's implied that the reason behind it is that Valkenhayn was produced via Sorcery, which is, in a sense, above Magic and therefore does not obey the rules of being within the Kotowari.

Bloodedge Experience — Part 1
When Valkenhayn was in his 20's, he belonged to the group Immortal Breaker, alongside Relius Clover. The two were hired by the Mitsurugi Agency's Kīro Hikagami to assassinate 'The No Life King' Clavis Alucard as he posed a threat to the worlds order due to his incredible power.



Valkenhayn first appeared in the novel alongside Relius, when he sent Naoto Kurogane hurtling through the air and killed him twice, only to become furious that he could not kill the boy, he began to believe that Naoto was an immortal and prepared to kill him again until Relius stepped in and explained Naoto's situation; Valkenhayn looked at the boy once more and crushed his leg before sulking to Relius' side.

He later appeared again when attempting to capture Clavis in Naoto's apartment. After barging in through the door, exclaiming that he had finally found the vampire, he transformed into his wolf state and lunged at him, only to be caught and examined by Clavis; the No Life King marveled at Valkenhayn, claiming it had been a long time since he had seen a lycanthrope with his own two eyes. After this, Relius joined the fray and the duo dueled against the vampire, however, when Clavis decided it would be a wise time to leave, he fled the apartment with the two on hot pursuit. The apartment was completely abolished save for the kitchen.

Phase Shift
During the Dark War, Valkenhayn became one of the Six Heroes, leaving Clavis' and Rachel's side temporarily. He did not have a Nox Nyctores fashioned for him due to his ability to counter the Black Beast as they both existed outside of the Kotowari, leading many to have admiration for him. Eventually, after years of struggling against the monstrosity, the Heroes won, and Valkenhayn immediately returned to his masters side, only to lay Clavis to rest as his former rival passed on. His last promise to Clavis was to stay and protect Rachel. Valkenhayn remained there for a great deal of years until the events of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger forced Rachel to put him into action.

Personality
Valkenhayn is a noble gentleman: polite and courteous in all situations. Being a butler, he is extremely devoted to Rachel and does whatever he can to assist and protect her. His demeanor, however, belies a savage side which is only seen during battle or when he is pushed to the brink of his anger. He uses a fighting style that, while awe-inspiring, is unbelievably brutal, utilizing slashing attacks and blows so powerful they look like they are intended to break the enemy's bones.

Despite his calm behavior, he tends to lose his temper every time Terumi is concerned, whether it be when Rachel talks about it or when he fights him.

A much younger Valkenhayn was extremely impatient and quickly resorted to anger and fury should things not go his way, had he not have been paired with Relius Clover when the two belonged to Immortal Breaker, then Valkenhayn's rage would have inhibited him from a great deal of situations. Valkenhayn was also ill-mannered and rude, often clicking his tongue. It is quite clear and apparent that age has mellowed him out, yet should Rachel's well-being come into play, the younger, more savage Valkenhayn will appear.

Appearance
Valkenhayn takes on the image of the stereotypical butler. He is an elderly man who wears a dark, aquamarine suit adorned with gold trimming. His long, white hair is tied in a ponytail at the back. In his youth, he still wore the suit sans the jacket, but had brown hair. When transformed, he takes the shape of a big, silvery-blue wolf with a white mane (formerly his hair). On a comedic note, supplemental materials reveal that the pink ribbon used for his ponytail was a gift from Rachel, and the ribbon can be seen in his wolf form adorned on his tail.

Powers and Abilities
Being one of the Six Heroes, Valkenhayn possesses exceptional skill and power on the battlefield, so much that he fought the Black Beast unarmed. He was able to go against the Beast, the reason being that Valkenhayn is the sole thing who is outside of the Kotowari, not unlike the Beast itself. His gentlemen-like behavior and profession as a butler belies a much more savage side that appears to have aged well with him. Valkenhayn fights with brute strength and incredible speed, unleashing swift kicks and claw-like attacks. Valkenhayn's Drive, Wehrwolf focuses on his mastery over lycanthropy, allowing him to transform partially, halfway or fully into a beast wolf form to tear his opponents to shreds unrestrained. A small purple gauge right above his Drive gauge determines how long he can stay in wolf form, automatically returning to normal once it runs out. The gauge regenerates when he is in human form, but only when he is on the ground. When in wolf form, after Valkenhayn uses his command throw, the gauge fully regenerates and reverts him back to human form. Valkenhayn can morph between forms at will to take advantage of both for some devastating combo strings. While he gains incredible agility and speed, he is unable to block in this form. His Overdrive is Endless Wolf which increases the rate that his gauge is restored and slows down the rate at which it depletes.

Valkenhayn appears to possess the ability to teleport those that he lays his hands on. He also knows a mysterious and painful technique that helped to unlock Jin Kisaragi's hidden power after his abduction by Rachel in Continuum Shift. This technique, strangely, actually inhibited Jin from using Yukianesa for a time because it was his will to use the blade. In the end, Jin realized this and truly became its master (the 'hidden power' was probably referring to this fact).

Etymology
Valkenhayn as a name, is only existent in the BlazBlue universe. However, Valken is a male name of Ancient Scandinavian origin that has been known to mean Son of a Valkyrie but it has been argued that it shares an etymological route with the Middle Dutch word valk which means falcon. Both are seemingly referencing Valkenhayn's bravery and prowess on the battlefield; the age of both roots also suggests a reference to Valkenhayn's age. Hayn seems to be a corruption of the surname of Hayne which, in its most likely etymological root for Valkenhayn's case, derives from the Middle English personal name of Hain or Heyne which came from the Germanic word; hagano which apparently means awthorn, a word of which the meaning has been lost in the centuries.

Valkenhayn's last name Hellsing is seemingly a nod at the protagonist of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the character in question being responsible for destroying the count is Abraham Van Helsing. In a more modern interpretation of the character, in the movie Van Helsing, the protagnist based off the original Helsing first presented in the novel, turns into a werewolf, if only briefly; a final similarity to the movie is that the antagonist, Dracula, employs werewolves as servants in a similar fashion to Rachel 'employing' Valkenhayn.

Trivia

 * Valkenhayn's design and role fit into the "Battle Butler" archetype common in anime.
 * Valkenhayn's birthday falls on the original date for the Respect for the Aged day in Japan. This is a reference to Valkenhayn's elderly appearance.
 * Valkenhayn is the only DLC character whose theme can actually be heard inside Continuum Shift.
 * Valkenhayn is also the only Continuum Shift DLC character whose Astral Heat does not contain a large-scale projection of his image.
 * Valkenhayn is the only member of the Six Heroes that has not possessed a Nox Nyctores.
 * When Valkenhayn is electrocuted, an outline of his werewolf form is shown.
 * All of Valkenhayn's attacks are in German.