Valkenhayn R. Hellsing

Valkenhayn R. Hellsing is Rachel's elderly butler and trusted adviser who has served the Alucard family line for generations. He is a DLC character in Continuum Shift and was released on Septermber 21, 2010 in Japan and September 28 in America for PlayStation 3 for $7.00, and ended up delayed until December 7 for Xbox 360. As an apology, Arc System Works had Valkenhayn's price cut to 320 Microsoft Points for one month until January 10, where he returned to the full 560 Point cost.

Information
Valkenhayn has been the butler to the Alucard family of vampires for centuries. 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, 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 CS he lost his temper after Hazama insulted Rachel, his voice deepened and his teeth sharpened into fangs.

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'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). In gameplay he has the ability to turn into a wolf.

According to the BlazBlue Material Collection, he is one of the Six Heroes and an exceptionally strong fighter. Due to the fact that he fought alongside Jubei and Hakumen against the Black Beast, Valkenhayn must be well over 100 years old. In a mural in Hakumen's ending in Calamity Trigger, it showed all of the six heroes (in the appearance of more simple forms) and Valkenhayn is the only one who fought the beast without weapons.

Furthermore, a more recent Material Collection revealed more information on Valkenhayn's past. He is a Beastkin like Jubei, Makoto, and Kokonoe, and as such has an extremely long lifespan. He once fought against Clavis Alucard as a rival, and the two became friends. Valkenhayn's loyalty to Clavis also extends to Rachel, whom he has a soft spot for to this day. When Clavis mysteriously vanished, he swore to help his friend's daughter in any way he could.

Material Collection Information

 * Hobbies: Planting Bonsai-trees
 * Likes: Pocket watches
 * Dislikes: Objects with no character

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.

Personality
Valkenhayn is a novel 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 unbelieveably brutal, utilizing slashing attacks and blows so powerful they look like they are intended to break the enemy's bones.

Powers and Abilities
Being one of the Six Heroes, Valkenhayn possesses exceptional skill and power on the battlefield. 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, Werewolf 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.

In Unlimited form, Valkenhayn assumes a new stance, reminiscent of Magneto in Capcom's Marvel fighting games. At the start of the battle, he oddly starts at a bit of a disadvantage as he begins each round with the Werewolf gauge depleted and slowly refilling as usual. Once filled up however, he becomes a truly dominating and savage beast where his gauge will refill even faster when depleted or almost instantly otherwise. He can immediately morph into wolf form after being knocked back by an attack and can also deal some serious damage in a singular, zipping combo. He also gains a hidden Distortion Drive in wolf form where he jumps on the opponent and slams them.

Movelist

 * Valkenhayn's movements.
 * Changes in Unlimited Mode.

Musical Themes

 * Howling Moon - Valkenhayn's Theme

Stages

 * Moonlight Castle -Halloween- - It is a great point of wisdom to find out one's own folly.

Trivia

 * Valkenhayn's last name "Hellsing" is a nod at a protagonist of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" (another reference to Rachel's surname Alucard) responsible for destroying the count, "Abraham Van Helsing". The wolf crest and name of the BGM track are likely indicating Valkenhayn is a werewolf. His name and the ability to turn into a wolf might be a reference to the modern movie "Van Hellsing", where the protagonist turns into a werewolf, if briefly. Another similarity to the movie is that the antagonist, Dracula, employs werewolves as servants.
 * Valkenhayn's Japanese voice actor has voiced characters in several vampire series, including both 'Vampire Hunter D' movies. In the anime adaptation of 'Hellsing' he voices Walter C. Dornez, who is also a butler.
 * He has voiced at least two other butlers - Walter from 'Hellsing' (as mentioned above) and Norman from 'Big O'.
 * Valkenhayn's design and role fit into the "Battle Butler" archetype common in anime.
 * Valkenhayn's birthday also falls on the same day as Respect for the Aged day in Japan, or at least it did until the date for the holiday was moved to the third Monday of September. This seems to be a joke on Valkenhayn's elderly appearance.
 * There is a scene in one of Taokaka's story mode paths where, after being insulted by Terumi, Valkenhayn is able to keep his calm. However, after Terumi insults Rachel, Valkenhayn breaks character as his teeth suddenly sharpen and his voice gets deeper visibly marking a growing rage.
 * Valkenhayn's Guilty Gear Counterpart is Slayer, in which both focuses on fast attacks but also with their personality of being well mannered gentlemen. Fans also find it VERY ironic as how Slayer is a vampire while Valkenhayn is the bulter to another vampire.
 * It is amusing to note that Valkenhayn had inherited Johnny's long pony-tail hair.
 * Valkenhayn's Theme "Howling Moon" can be heard briefly during Rachel's Help Me, Professor Kokonoe segment and Taokaka's Joke ending.
 * Valkenhayn's Drive name Werwolf is the german word for "werewolf".
 * In Valkenhayn's gameplay teaser video (via BlazBlue Radio), he has an attack similar to John Talbain/Gallon of the Darkstalkers series, who coincidentally is another werewolf character. In addition Valkenhayn also makes growl and howl noises similiar to John.
 * More interestly, one of his skins matches John Talbain greatly.
 * Also, his playstyle acts similar to John's, with many of Valkenhayn's wolf form attacks playing homage to John's Beast Cannon attack. Both Valkenhayn and John are also strong on offense and zoning, with low health as a primary disavantage.
 * Karas from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Cross Generation of Heroes(before he was nerfed in Ultimate All Stars) is similar to John and Valkenhayn as he was one of the best rushdown characters in the game with good attack range and speed, low health, deadly pressure and spacing. Also, Karas and John are often resented considered 'lame' becuase of their simplicity and placement on (top)tier, Valkenhayn is also considered broken as one of the best characters currently in Continuum Shift, but has yet to be hated.
 * Ragna is also a powerful rushdown character sporting the same possible 'cheapness' that Karas, John, and Valkenhayn have along with their low health as a counterbalance(e.g: using Belial Edge to extend combos greatly), but unlike the aforementioned three, Ragna is not nerfed but was reasonably buffed in Blazblue: Continuum Shift.
 * Valkenhayn is the only DLC character whose theme can actually be heard inside Continuum Shift.
 * Valkenhayn is also the only DLC character whose Astral Heat does not contain a large-scale projection of his image.
 * Valkenhayn is the only playable member of the Six Heroes that doesn't possess a Nox Nyctores.
 * When transforming into a wolf, somehow Valkenhayn's ribbon on the back of his hair ends up on his tail similiar to Dizzy. It is also worth noting that Noel's Japanese voice actor, Kanako Kondou, finds that cute.
 * Valkenhayn's Astral Heat "Blut Vollmond" translates to Blood Fullmoon.
 * When Valkenhayn is electrocuted, an outline of his werewolf form is shown.
 * All of Valkenhayn's attacks are in German (although the German that is used sounds broken).
 * In Teach Me, Miss Litchi: Reloaded, Taokaka calls Valkenhayn a 'butter'. He corrects her by stating: "My apologies madam, but I am not butter. I am, in fact, a butler." Some have been shocked that Valkenhayn is 'not butter', and is possible that such a dialogue is a reference to the dairy product 'I can't Believe it's not Butter!'
 * Most of Valkenhayn's attacks including his Astral Heat cause his opponents to bleed making him ironically the most savage fighter on Blazblue's playable roster.
 * Due to his relationship seen with Rachel Alucard (who is often compared to Remilia Scarlet), Valkenhayn could also be compared to Sakuya Izayoi from Touhou Project which are both servants of the vampire lady, and are related in some way to pocket watches, though these are just small relations.
 * Due to that, parodies of Youmu Konpaku from the same series being similar to Hakumen arise. Rather funny is that Sakuya and Youmu are considered to be similar to surrogate sisters in the small part of the Touhou fanon(due to similarities), and that Hakumen and Valkenhayn are close friends.
 * One of Valkenhayn's color schemes made him look like Ganondorf, the anatagonist of the Legend of Zelda series. It is also interesting to know that Ganondorf transforms into a boar while Valkenhayn transforms into a wolf.
 * Valkenhayn's Unlimited Form makes him wave his arms around in a similar fashion to Magneto in the Marvel Capcom crossovers.