Major (Hellsing)

"He smiles at you in the form of a young girl, or pulls at your heartstrings in the form of a weary veteran. So many faces a monster has, and all of them stolen, all of them lies. I despise him. Every cell in my body called for his annihilation. So I destroyed his kingdom and cast him down into the dust. Fitting that it took a man with the trappings of a monster, to slay a monster with the trappings of a man. He was a casualty to my will. "My enemy is not human. My enemy is less than a human." Since the earliest dawning of mankind, this is the battlecry...it just happened to be more literal in my case. That battlecry...those thoughts are running through your mind right now, aren't they? I planted the seeds of this war half a century ago...now, show me what has blossomed."

- The Major's speech to Integra and Seras. "I love war."

- The Major's catchphrase.

The Major, also referred to as Montana Max, is the main antagonist of the manga series Hellsing and its OVA adaption Hellsing Ultimate. He is the supreme commander of the Millennium Organization who seeks to plunge the world into an endless state of war.

He is voiced by Nobuo Tobita in the Japanese version of the OVA, and Gildart Jackson in the English version.

Appearance
The Major is small, plump and unprepossessing in expression to his sadistic personality; his unpleasant smile is a mask that hides the monster within. He commands with a good-natured attitude that can quickly dissolve into savage sadism or grandiose elation. In the manga, assuming the information given by the corrupt priest who was interrogated by Enrico Maxwell is correct, then the Major was between 26 and 27 years old in the year 1941 (just after participating in Operation Barbarossa), thus placing him in his late eighties during the Hellsing series. Given these values, he was probably born somewhere around 1913 or 1914 (being 26 or 27 in 1941).

History
A former first lieutenant of the SS, Adolf Hitler issued a special order (#666) placing him in charge of a top-secret project, the main focus of which was the perfection of an artificial vampirization process. The success of this project would allow the Nazis to utilize vampires in battle and turn the tide of the war in their favor. The operation was attacked and shut down by a young Walter Dorneaz and Alucard in Warsaw, Poland, in 1944. However, the defeat proved to be only a minor setback, as the Major and his subordinates managed to escape to South America unharmed. There they resumed their research.

Although other Nazi officers with higher ranks accompanied Millennium to their South American hideout and attempted to exert their authority, the vampire officers loyal to the Major quickly executed them. Depending on the translation used, the Major is a either the sub-commander or the founder of Millennium, as well as the leader of a Werewolf special force.

The original purpose of the Nazi vampire research was to ensure Germany's victory in World War II and to create a Reich that would last for a thousand years (hence the name "Millennium"), but the Major claims that he has "no purpose". He states that he simply wishes to start an endless war. In his famous "I Love War" speech, he elaborates on his love for all facets of war, regardless of which side is winning. While addressing Integra Hellsing's question as to his specific goal, he says that he has no goal. He explains that while others settle on no means in obtaining their goals, he will settle on no goals in obtaining his means.

In the final chapters, the Major and Integra Hellsing duel to the death. As the final battle starts, the Major's left side is blown off by Seras' attack, revealing himself to be a cyborg. After this discovery, Integra debates whether he was a monster or not, since he wasn't literally human. The Major responds by saying that he was human for as long as his will existed, regardless of his body. His reason for despising Alucard is that, though the Major is a human who looks like a monster, the vampire is a monster who looks like a human, and that was something that he can never forgive. Shortly afterwards, Integra ends the Major's cruel life once and for all with a single bullet to his head.

Personality
The Major is a surviving Nazi leader, secretly making an army of Nazi Vampires.

His defining trait in the series is a complete and utter obsession with war. By his own admission, he loves war in any and all of its aspects; even being on the losing side or having his own life at risk provokes nothing but glee and excitement. His insane devotion to war is evident in the sheer fondness with which he regards the havoc Millennium wreaks upon the world, as well as his cavalier approach to death, which was passed on to most of his forces through his speeches. Despite being a former Nazi, the Major does not care for the reasons behind his wars. Even during World War II, his enthusiastic work on the Millennium project was solely to ensure that he could wage war forever.

Contrasting his fanatical love of war, the Major is very calm and soft-spoken, almost always speaking in a polite and amused tone. Additionally, despite being a warmongering individual, he is an incredibly horrible shot with a gun. This is shown when he tried to execute the captain of the Deus Ex Machina for insubordination, and ends up missing all 8 shots from his pistol at point-blank range, causing the Doc to mock his poor marksmanship and question how he managed to get into the SS. This is shown again during his final duel with Integra Hellsing, where out of his eight shots, he only grazes the eye of Integra, despite her being at close range and actually approaching him.

His true nature is apparent to all, however, as he is often seen with a sinister smile and a mad gleam in his eyes. The Major freely admits his own evil while mocking the righteousness of his enemies; when he crashes the Queen's meeting in Volume 4, he mocks both Integra and Maxwell's beliefs while claiming that Millennium has no goals beyond wanton destruction and slaughter.

Despite being a self-proclaimed monster and madman, the Major is very proud and protective of his humanity, which he defines as his willpower and "soul". During the fall of Berlin, he rejected the temptation to drink blood and ensure his survival by becoming a vampire, even though he seemed to be on the verge of death. It is this pride that leads to the Major's campaign against Alucard, who he views as a monster and an inherently inferior being for sacrificing his humanity for power - a sentiment ironically shared by Alucard himself.

Quotes
"My friends, it has often been said that I like war. My friends, I like war... No, friends, I love war! I love holocausts. I love blitzkriegs. I love defensive lines. I love sieges, charges, I love mop-up operations, and retreats. Wars across prairies, in streets, in trenches, in grasslands, in frozen tundras, through deserts, on the sea, in the air, I love every act of war that can occur upon this earth. I love blasting the enemy to smithereens with artillery salvos that thunder across the lines of battle. My heart leaps with joy whenever a soldier is tossed high into the air and cut to pieces by well placed sniper rounds. And there is nothing like a tank operator using a Tiger acht acht (88) to destroy enemy tanks. And the feeling that comes when a soldier runs screaming from his blazing tank only to be mowed down by heavy machine gun fire, is such an exquisite feeling. Like when ranks of infantry brandish their bayonets rushing into the enemy line. It moves me deep within my heart to watch a fresh recruit stabbing over and over into the bloated chest of a long-dead enemy. The sight of deserters being strung up from a street lamp is an irresistible pleasure. And there is nothing more arousing, than the sounds made by prisoners of war dropping like flies, screaming in agony as they're mowed down by ear piercing schmeissers! When a band of pitiful resistance fighters makes their final stand with nothing but small arms, only to have their city smashed to atoms block by block by 4.8 ton bombshells, (tone suddenly softens) I'm in ecstasy. I love it when my forces are ravaged by a Russian armored division. It's so sad to see towns and villages that were supposed to be defended at all costs, being laid to waste, their women and children being raped, and killed. I love to be squashed under the heel of the British and American war machines. The humiliation, as my men crawl around like vermin, ducking the jagdbombers flying overhead. Gentlemen... All I ask for is war, a war so grand as to make Hell itself tremble. Gentlemen, I ask you as fellow brothers in arms, what is it that you really want? Do you wish for further war as I do? (Voice begins to raise) Do you wish for a merciless, bloody war? A war whose fury is built with iron, and lightning, and fire? (Dramatically raises voice) Do you ask for war to sweep in like a tempest, leaving not even ravens to scavenge, from this Earth!?"

- The Major displaying his love of war.

"Very well. Then krieg is what you shall have. We are a clenched fist, ready to strike down all who oppose us, with our might. But... After enduring over half a century wallowing in the darkness, for us, a simple "ordinary" war will no longer be sufficient. (Raises voice) We need a MASSIVE war! A war beyond any other that man's history has ever known! We are but a single battalion... The remnants of a defeated army numbering less than a thousand strong. However, I believe that each of you old warriors is equal to a thousand of their sickly soft children! We represent a force that could easily defeat an army of a million and one men! It is time for them to awake the ones who sent us screaming into oblivion, and who now lie sleeping. Let's drag them out of bed by the hair, and remind them of what we are! We will remind them of what it feels like to live in fear. We will remind them of the sound our jackboots make against their throats. We will remind them, that there are more things between Heaven and Hell than are dreamt of in their philosophy. Our Kampfgruppe of one thousand vampires is going to burn this world down to ash. Yes, my friends! Soon, Europe's charred remains will illuminate the night sky! I have brought you all back just as I promised I would. Back to our favorite battlefield. Back to our beloved war! ...At last, the sea lion has crossed the ocean and is heading up the hill. Attention, all soldiers of the Millennium Battalion! This is a message from your commander. …Friends... let’s bring them hell."

- The Major's second part of his speech to the Millennium Battalion.

"All variables are falling dutifully into place, doctor. He is rebuilding his castle brick by bloody brick. Victory is mine now. He wears the guise of a man, but I never thought of him as one, or even as a vampire, for that matter. He is king and castle both; his dominion - the river Styx, the untold dead he's drowned in it - his subjects. What cost, victory? What ploy will leave him in the dust? These questions run through my mind every waking moment. Thoughts of him even invade my dreams leaving me crying out for bloodshed. And now, at long last, our war has dawned. I bring all that I am to this fight, body and soul, but is it enough? How can our arsenals compare? He can change form, summon familiars, bend men to his will, and the taste of human blood brings him life anew...and these powers, he can call upon as quickly as a man might blink! But I take the stage with nothing. Why, do you ask? Because I am a human being. To be a vampire, to taste life eternal and wage war throughout the centuries, what a perfect existence! ...But that, is a bridge too far. I cannot embrace undeath! Vampirism is brilliant. One can quaff another's soul like a vintage Ice Wine and steal everything that defines them. My heart, my soul, my life they belong to me. Sharing one's life with another, and they with you, losing one the borders of oneself in the great sanguine sea. To gain by losing, what a delicious irony! It is the bliss of acquiesce. It is the bliss of...surrender. And so I say, "To Hell with you! What's mine is mine alone. Every hair, every drop of blood...I am me. I am me. I. Am. Me! You are ruin, made flesh, made beautiful. You are loved, and so I despise you." That is why you are my foe, my dazzling Count. You are the most precious thing: A worthy opponent. An arch enemy. A king upon which to wage war! What you call "Victories" are nothing more than the opening salvos of a battle fifty years in the making. Our decades of preparation, they were all for this moment. The last battalion, the ninth crusade, Father Anderson, the faithful Captain, and duplicitous Walter, all of them were steps leading to the pyre on which Alucard will burn. He has no choice but to release his final restriction, and set loose his true form. At last he will stand alone atop the battlements. Would it be Anderson who dispatches him, or Walter who carries the day? I think he'll destroy them both.He is less than a man, but also much more. A century ago his reign of terror paralyzed London. 500 years ago he held back the Ottoman Empire. If that great river of blood meets his lips, the game is lost. He'll knock aside the chessboard like a petulant child. Life and death; he's cheated them both for centuries! How does one go about slaying such a force of nature? Do you cut through wave after wave of thralls on the battlefield, and take his head like one of the Teutonic knights of old? Nein! He'll simply summon more of his stolen blood. But that could work in my favor...because my enemy's greatest strength is also his achilles heel. Tyrants have always been especially susceptible to poison."

- The Major's speech on Alucard and Vampirism.

"Deny it all you want. My humanity is not in question. I still have that one trait that puts us in ascendance even above the angels. It is my will that drives. The vampires you were so happy to keep in your employ, without the lifeblood of others to keep them going they would shamble to a halt. If it's a monster you want, look no further than Alucard and this little one playing at immortality. Don't mention me in the same breath as that fraud. So long as I am propelled forward by my own unadulterated will, I am heir something Alucard can only steal. Even if I were reduced to nothing more than a brain in a jar, synapses firing in a sea of pure thought, I am human just like you are. Within me rests a human soul, and a human's will, precious beyond all worth."

- The Major to Integra and Seras about his humanity.

"It was a great war..."

- The Major's last words.

"(high pitched laugh) I finally hit something. Ah, excellent... This was exactly...what I hoped my war would be."

- The Major's final words in Hellsing Ultimate.

Trivia

 * In his prototype character in another one of Kohta Hirano's earlier works called Coyote, he was named Montana Max.
 * He shares the same name with Montana Max from Tiny Toons TV series.
 * He considers Alucard his true enemy, but he actually wants the complete annihilation of England and the world too and a war that will continue forever.