Transcend Force
From Anime Indepth
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The eleventh episode of the Hellsing anime.
Summary
Seras, sitting alone inside of a castle, is approached by a luminescent Paul Wilson (from ep9) who holds a woman who demands that he suck her blood, letting out passionate screams when he does. Paul, dropping the girl to the floor, tells Seras she wants this too, and the castle is then flooded with blood. Seras, awakening in her room, goes upstairs to find Alucard, but she stops at the balcony door, watching as Integra, wheelchair-bound, views the sky with Alucard by her side.
The next day, the Queen’s royal car narrowly avoids an explosion directed at a building in Trafalgar square, while at the mansion, Walter reports that this and a related incident at Cambridge, where numerous women were murdered or drained of blood, were likely performed by the missing SAS group, who Integra determines were transformed into freaks. Out in the front lawn Seras, after being distracted by another ghostly image of Paul Wilson, is told by Fargason that she is removed from the First Attack Unit and awards her the position of field agent for information retrieval. Fargason, pointing out the influx of new recruits, explains that an “irregular” member like herself affects morale, however, he gazes deep into her eyes and reminds her that, while they work separately, they are still members of Hellsing, and to take pride in that. As two men in suits depart Hellsing, and a partially burned sheet of paper rests in Integra’s ashtray, all she can say is “Royal Order.” Crossing the manor’s catacombs with her cane, she finds Alucard waiting, who asks if she wishes to mix her blood with his and become stronger. She passively asks why he doesn’t simply read her mind, with Alucard replying that he merely wishes to hear it from her lips. Integra declares that she has been given the Royal Order, causing Alucard some evident disturbance, and Integra further states she will perform the ceremony now. Alucard poses the question again, but she does not answer back.
The next day, Integra remarks that she is having the ceremony held at Hellsing, with Walter shocked to discover that the Queen is coming there. Seras, returning to the vampiress Helena’s rooftop hide-out intending to confess some of her feelings, realizes something is wrong and bursts through the door, only to discover Incognito in the shadows. Fargason, locating Integra in the catacombs, informs her that freaks have begun their attack on the Tower of London, the location of today’s Round Table meeting. Incognito, appearing before Seras with blood dripping from his face, drops a little girl’s shoe from his cloak and raises his MGL to execute Seras. Incognito is stopped, however, by Helena, whose form protrudes from Incognito’s stomach, trying to break free. Incognito pulls out a knife, however, and cleaves her head off, saying that he will “destroy everything” as he walks away. Helena asks Seras not to cry, that even beings such as them may walk the heavens. Helena, after telling Seras her comrades are walking into a trap, uses the last of her powers to burn down her home, and, at the Tower of London, Fargason prepares one of his unit leaders, Pickman, for fighting freaks, not just ghouls. As Hellsing rushes in, guns blazing, Walter discovers that no one has informed the military of Hellsing’s presence at the Tower of London, that the London Police are about to go into the same building as the SAS freaks and Hellsing troops, and that none of them are aware of the other.
At the altar for the Royal Order ceremony, Alucard reveals to Integra that the Queen isn’t coming, and that Integra must protect herself while Alucard goes to “have some fun.”
The news declares that those who are attacking the Tower of London are private soldiers of the Hellsing Organization.
Trivia
-So, what was the trap? Distracting Integra with the sacred Royal Order ceremony, someone was able to put Hellsing in a situation where they would be forced into a shoot out with the London Police, thus causing all those on the outside to believe Hellsing to be the terrorists. Now, whether this was instituted by the Queen or not is a matter of debate, as either the Queen intended to distract Integra, or someone used the royal messengers to deliver a false Royal Order message.
-Incognito comments that a vampire that does not drink blood can not fight him, and while it is easy at first to think he speaks of Seras (who took a few episodes to get to this point), but it’s also possible he speaks of the frail and infirm Helena, who seems to be one of the few vampires not on the run, simply because she does not drink blood, she is immortal, so the bloodthirst can only make her weary and weak, no more.
-The Royal Order to which Integra refers is the Royal Victorian Order, conferred upon those who perform personal service to the Sovereign. Integra mentions that her father received this honor as well.
-The two men in suits, who have appeared intermittently through the series when a mission is ordered or new information is revealed, are most likely direct servants of the Round Table or even the Queen herself.
-Seras dreaming of the river of blood (a common symbol) is likely a note of the bloodthirst she’s come to accept, which represents both the perceived loss of humanity and the lust that has come to replace it, as seen with Paul Wilson’s moaning woman. Seras is still not fully independent, as she still seeks a father/authority figure when in trouble, by the same turn, Alucard and Integra’s relationship appears stronger than ever, though the nature of it is far more speculative.
-This episode appears on the Volume 4 DVD, titled "Eternal Damnation," of Geneon’s release of Hellsing.
