And now, the objections - the opposition - the arguments made by people who oppose AxI.  After reading the extensive evidence for the pairing, those of you who deny it are welcome to add to the arguments against.  On this page I specifically refute each one that I'm sent (and you're welcome to offer a rebuttal).

All of these arguments are presented unaltered (except when things are omitted for brevity's sake, denoted by ellipses).  If anyone offers a refutation of AxI that I can't dispute, it will go up here as well, unchallenged.

Here's what I've heard so far.

---

Argument 1: It would be necrophilia, and that's just wrong!

To be technical, "necrophilia" is sexual attraction to dead bodies.  Alucard's not dead; he's undead.  And if you think it's wrong to be attracted to Alucard, there are a lot of fangirls ready to argue with you.


Argument 2 (shadow-chan): Integral is the only member left of the Hellsing household . . . At some point in time she will have to produce an heir.  As far as I know . . . the undead can't reproduce, aside from biting and turning humans and making more vampires.

So her sense of duty would be a very very big factor in keeping this romance from developing into anything permanent...we all know Integral's sense of duty...

Just because Integral has to have a kid with a human at some point, that doesn't mean she can't have a relationship with Alucard on the side.  She's not obligated to love the father of Hellsing's heir, just produce the heir.  (And besides, there's always artificial insemnation.)

Integral does not strike me as the type of person to have a polygamous relationship.  I would say, from her upbringing that she would find a human and stick with him, despite the fact that it's obvious she has feelings for Alucard.  Duty and upbringing would just steer her that way.

Integral certainly wouldn't be married to two people, nor would she have a deep and loving relationship with two people.  But she wouldn't get married to Alucard (he'd probably have an allergic reaction to the ceremony anyway), and we know she doesn't have to love the other guy.  So I'm sure she could find someone willing to get married purely for business reasons, with the understanding that she gets vampire lovin' on the side.

(Picked up by Elizabeth) Integra is a devout Christian, and would never marry and have a lover on the side . . . One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not commit adultery" and though Integra may get on the Catholic Church's nerves, she does not want to get on God's nerves.

On the artificial insemnation argument . . . I think she knows that she wants to give a child two parents, rather than just one, and she certainly knows that Alucard would not be an adequate father figure.

The Bible may look down on adultery, but there are plenty of examples of biblical patriarchs having wives that they love and then getting children through concubines.  Abraham is one.  So's Jacob.

Integra grew up with one parent.  And she hadn't even finished growing up before she was stuck with none.  She'd probably decide that if she could take it, then by golly her kid had better be able to take it too.

(Also, as Reed was nice enough to point out, if Alucard ends up vampirizing Integra, the whole "who will lead Hellsing when Integra dies?" question will be moot ^_~)


Argument 3 (drtristessa): You sold me on the idea of AxI sexual tension, but not on the idea that Integral would act upon it, or that the relationship would be particularly romantic. For instance, I think Alucard's offers of blood are mind games; while the fact that he's eager to turn her into a vampire means he respects her and places her above the level of unworthies who get themselves FREAK-chipped, he also has ulterior motives.

Along with the sexual tension, they care about each other as well.  Although Alucard's definitely playing mind games, it isn't out of malice; he messes with Seras' head a bit too, and he's doing that to force her to be stronger.  Check out manga exhibit 3, especially the line "One who is hit will stand up stronger."  He's playing with her head to build her up, more or less; while he certainly enjoys it, he doesn't have "ulterior motives" against her.


Argument 4 (drtristessa): Also, Integral is so obsessed with her duty and rank that I doubt she would want to risk losing control around Alucard (as might happen if they became lovers).

Her sense of duty only wavered for one moment in the anime: the helicopter ride with Walter near the end, when the copter is fired on and she says "That's enough, Walter.  I don't want to risk losing you too."  She may be obsessed with duty, but not at the expense of those very few people who are closest to her.

If she ends up admitting that Alucard is one of them, she could reach the point where she was comfortable "losing control" to a degree around him.  (Not that he'll be the dominant one in this relationship.)

Integral at this point certainly wouldn't be the one to make the first move, and there'd have to be some sort of transition between their current relationship and a full-blown romance, but that's for the fanfiction writers to sort out.  Meanwhile, the groundwork is laid.


Argument 5 (Elizabeth): You say that Integra would not be the one to make the first move. In my humble opinion, neither would Alucard. Though he does flirt with her, does he ever let his true emotions come through? He tries to seem as though he's just playing with her, and it works. Both of them are so proud that they would never admit to feelings for each other without the other admitting it first, if it so happens that they do have any.

I think Alucard's marginally more likely to make a first move than Integra.  But I did say "Integra at this point."  Neither one is quite likely to approach the other right now, but the fanfiction writers can work out ways of getting it to that point.

(Picked up by Prof. Alexei Yaruk) I disagree. Integra has already overcome many psychological barriers just to think of Alucard as a person rather than a mere weapon. She therefore is likely to reach a state of acceptance of her emotions first . . . and the point where she reaches true acceptance opens Alucard's way instantly. He can read her mind after all. Also if it is there Alucard has doubtless already accepted his end of the problem, 500+ years of practice, and practice makes perfect.

Okay, so we differ on the analysis of who'll act first.  But it really depends on what happens, which is up to Hirano-san (or the fanfiction writers).


Argument 6 (Elizabeth): Vampires are, by nature, creatures of Satan. . . . They're demons.  She's been taught this from birth.  Would you want a demon to be your boyfriend?

Some people would ^_~

Aside from that, though, one of the things shown on this page is that Alucard and Integra see each other as more than just "another human" and "another vampire."  Integra often treats Alucard as a person, despite her idea of vampires in general as inhuman monsters.  She may tell herself that he's inherently evil, but she's already stopped believing it.

(Picked up by Prof. Alexei Yaruk) Beliving it about him, yes, unconsciously at least.  However, admitting any interest in Alucard would force her to re-evaluate her most basic beliefs.  "Are all vampires really monsters or are some like Alucard men with monstrous characteristics?"  That level of intropsection is very painful, and she would need a sharp jolt of some kind to her psyche to force it to occur.

Alucard is a monster - but he's also a person.  Integra already has stopped dropping him into the category of "vampires, things to be hated."  Which basic beliefs does she have to re-evaluate, now?


Argument 7 (Laurel): Hellsing was not, I repeat NOT created for the inner-character relationships. It is all about really awesome vampires/priests/random undead things kicking the crap out of each other. Whatever "pairing" that was suggested, I am sure had nothing to do with ANY of the story plot. If you think about it the main ideas in all of the episodes are related to Alucard kicking the crap out of someone. The only reason people ended up being paired off is because it's fangirl nature to pair characters.

Two words for you, my friend: Pip, Seras.  They don't get paired off because it's fangirl nature - they get paired off because their relationship occurs in the story.

A well-rounded series isn't just about one thing.  Although Hellsing has lots of undeniably cool fighting, it also has strong and interesting characters which develop and interact.  In Order 04, for instance, Alucard's shooting the freak-of-the-day is almost an afterthought; the episode is mostly about Seras getting enough of a backbone to expose a traitor.  In Exhibit 12 of the anime evidence, she's shown walking almost walking in on Alucard and Integra on the balcony together.  This has nothing to do with fighting.  Neither does the romance of Pip and Seras.

Clearly, a series about big guns and bloody fights can still have interesting intercharacter relationships - even developing romances - that aren't just in the fangirls' minds.


Argument 8 (Katerna): Alucard is bound to the Hellsing family. This means that he would have to take orders from his kid. (This is something I know he would hate.)

Assuming they even have kids, Integral could still release Alucard from the bond.

(Picked up by Prof. Alexei Yaruk) Knowing what we do about the Hellsing family I think it is a pretty safe bet that they would not allow any sort of way for something as terribly potent as the midian Alucard to be "released".

Highlight for spoilers: She does, in volume 8.  Moreover, the background image of this site takes place after his release.

Argument 9 (Katerna): Alucard is a little too old for her.  She's 23, he's 567.

When you live forever, age loses some of its meaning.  A 14-year-old wouldn't go out with a 20-year-old, but a 60-year-old and a 66-year-old is nothing odd.  Give 'em a few thousand years.

(Picked up by Prof. Alexei Yaruk) But as of now [the age difference] is still quite great.

I should point out that Alucard doesn't act his age.  He has a certain wisdom and perspective that comes from being 567, but he also indulges in quite a bit of teasing and hitting-on-Integra and things that you wouldn't expect from, say, someone Walter's age.

Besides, as Ei was kind enough to point out, Walter looks his age.  Alucard looks like he's thirty.


Argument 10 (Michael Brockway): There's one major thing that isn't mentioned about a possible relationship between them.  From what I've read, virginity is a requirement to be transformed into a vampire, at least a real non freak chip one.  If any "relations" occurred between Alucard and Integra, that would prevent her from later becoming a vampire so they can be together...

The "virginity clause" is only a prerequisite for vampirism in the manga; in the anime the issue doesn't exist at all.  In the manga, though, you can always have her go vampire before they have sex; they could easily be together as a couple in love without shagging, you know.


Argument 11 (Michael Parks): As said in Order 05: Brotherhood by one of the Knights of the Round Table, Integra's job is to eradicate all vampires. That means eventually Alucard and Seras Victoria would eventually have to be killed.

In this incident, during the attack on the Hellsing mansion in Order 06, Integral tells the other knights to relax - "the real power of the Hellsing organization has yet to reveal itself."  One of them replies, "Of course you're speaking of the vampires whom you've trained to kill your own kind, despite the fact that your true mission is to kill them all."

This knight obviously only has a general grasp of how the relationship with those vampires works.  Alucard isn't "trained" to do anything (can you imagine how he'd react to that idea?), and neither for that matter is Seras; she's as much of a Hellsing employee as any of the other soldiers.

(Besides, the knight is trying to criticize Integra; nobody on that council is exactly on her side, and they're not above assuming the version of facts that blames her most.)

A person who would understand the job of Hellsing, probably better than any other, is Integra's dad, who says: "The task appointed to our family is to protect the Queen, Great Britain, and the Church of England from the machinations of these fearful creatures."  Integra's job is to protect England, plain and simple.  If that required killing Alucard and Seras, she would kill them.  She hasn't, so apparently it doesn't.


Argument 12 (Prof. Alexei Yaruk): All the examples you have given (with one potential exception) could be explained as more of a brother and sister relationship . . . Alucard tests Integra in the same way brothers tease sisters.

Except for the "you make my blood boil" and the "stirring in my loins" bits.  These aren't exactly things a brother would be saying to a sister, unless you're reading Angel Sanctuary or something.


Argument 13 (Prof. Alexei Yaruk): For several generations the Hellsing family have ruthlessly exterminated any supernatural threat to Britain.  After all that time they would have developed a true loathing for the creatures; by the time her father died Integra was already seven years of age.  It is common knowledge that almost all of a child's core values and beliefs are thoroughly ingrained by the age of five, after that point it takes serious level brain-washing to just suppress those core beliefs.  Now Integra may value Alucard as a comrade, a "brother in arms" if you will, but her integral prejudices would likely preclude any meaningful relationship beyond a professional level.

You make a rather interesting leap of logic here - that the extermination of supernatural threats has led Hellsing to "develop a true loathing" for these creatures.  Refer to Exhibits 8 and 11 of the anime evidence to see her smile at him, as well as the manga scene in which she gives Seras some of her own blood.  Indiscriminate hatred of vampires is more Alex's thing.

(Besides, if everyone's beliefs had been ingrained by their parents before age seven, why would there be any rebellious teenagers?)

My "interesting leap of logic" stems not from a lack of analysis but rather a desire to avoid a tedious lecture...Oh well, here goes.

Several generations of the Hellsing family have come and gone between the end of Dracula and the beginning of our story.  In that time the family as a whole appears to have held a sacred duty to protect England
from supernatural threats, Vampires in particular.  Over those years how many of their kith and kin have likely given there very lives to protect the populous of Britain from these supreme monsters?  I would say that "A Few" would be a reasonable, even conservative estimate.

Now knowing what we do about human psychology the grieving family would want to blame someone or something for the loss of their loved ones.  Lo and behold in these cases they have someone to blame, on
whom to vent all their rage and grief: the vampire responsible for the death.  Yet it does not stop there; if you have ever lost someone you care for you will know that the pain never fully leaves you.  Sharp pangs
will continue to surface for the rest of your life, albeit growing less frequent with time... among some few this pain would slowly transmutes to hate.  Hate for the creatures who had brought the loss to their family.
 
"If only there were no vampires my brother would still be alive."  Such thoughts and opinions would be voiced in front of the Hellsing youth. This would pave the way for similar thinking when they lost a uncle, sibling, or parent. Slowly the undercurrent of rage and pain builds until by Integrals time it it has become a familial hate of the creatures of darkness they hunt, one that the family passes to Integra in her turn.

As for the conditioning the south is the perfect example.  Most of the southern states are deeply religious. Why?  Because they train their children to be religious.  The "Core Values" I am talking about are usually very simplistic.  "God watches and judges us."  "The Bible is the word of God."  "Mommy loves me." etc.: concepts that need little other information to be understood.  They may not even really know what EXACTLY the Bible is, but they know it is TRUE.  If this assertion goes unchallenged to a certain point, usually around age five it becomes totally ingrained and is nigh impossible to change. The "rebellious teenager" phenomenon is most often seen in families that are relatively non communicative to begin with.  Also in the "Rebellious Teen" situation if you look more closely you will see things that the family agrees on quite strongly. Like the importance of religion in a great many cases. Take Integra as an example.  Her father was a deeply spiritual man, now as a grown woman Integra is deeply spiritual.  Coincidence?  I think the facts speak for themselves.

Your lecture is interesting and sensible, but fails to match the facts.  Yes, Integra has taken to heart her father's religious beliefs, but she does not indiscriminately hate vampires.  She's smiled at both Alucard and Seras; she has Seras drink some of her blood; she makes conversation with Alucard; she gives him two smiles in the anime, in which she only smiles three times besides her "you're about to die" smile.  No matter how much psychological evidence you build on assumed facts - plausible though they may be - you cannot deny the reality of shown facts, such as those I've just listed.

I personally am from a very close family, and my parents are two very faithful people.  It worries my mother a bit that I haven't taken their faith to heart, but I simply haven't been convinced, despite having been exposed to it without challenge from birth.  So I can't accept any of your discourse on rebellious teenagers, because my own situation refutes it ^_^


Argument 14 (Prof. Alexei Yaruk): How could [Alucard] have a bond of that kind with a human, a group who he freely admits to being unable to understand?

Sometimes things are all the more captivating because you don't understand them.  See Exhibit 3 of the anime evidence.


Argument 15 (Yet Another Alucard Fanboy, Tony): Integra has stated in the past that her top priorities are God and the Queen. If she would throw that away to be with Alucard she would be going against everything she stands for and everything she is. She would go from a strong woman to a weak little girl (and Alucard teases her weakness). I'm not saying that she can't love him, she probably does, but she knows better to act on it. Alucard on the other hand is probably the type who if Integra was to give in he would give her one last reminder as to who she is and then probably leave her to think it over one last time, in which reason would probably set back in. Also Alucard never comes off as a monogamous type. He's more interested in someone challenging his power than love. Granted he's very charismatic and debonair, but not romantic. At best the two are about the closest two beings can get to each other without having to involve, well, you know. They know each other inside and out and in doing so have absolutely no need to be intimate.

Why would being in a romantic relationship turn Integra into a "weak little girl"?  Why on Earth can't a woman, especially a strong woman like her, love and be loved on her own terms?

Alucard never seems particularly polygamous to me, either.  It isn't like he's run around with lots of females throughout the series.  He's not romantic in the classic sense, but that doesn't mean he can't or won't engage in romance.

(And I should point out that love ≠ sex/sexual intimacy.  You seem to be implying that at points.)


Argument 16 (Chibi Wan): Alucard may be simply seducing Integral to release him from his bonds as a gesture of love.  Take women in an office for example: if they do "something" with the boss (trying to keep it censored for the kiddie readers), they could get a promotion from him.  Once Alucard is released from his bond Integral may no longer have control over him.  Once you obtain the benefits, why stay for the responsibility?

If Alucard were trying a trick like this, wouldn't he be a little nicer overall?  Take the office woman example: If she were trying to seduce her boss, she wouldn't turn around and talk loudly about how incompetent he is in the break room.  (Unless she's really stupid.  Alucard deserves a little more credit than that.)

---

Any other logic you would like to bring to the case is welcomed and encouraged; please, send it along!