"does a person count as religious if they believe, but have lost their faith?"
If the answer is "yes"? Alucard is more religious then Anderson.
"more religious" as in "more consumed, motivated, and driven by their faith, and by their faith alone."
Combat is Alucard's prayer, it's in the blood spilled and the lives lost. Vlad lived, fought, and killed for his faith.
And him consuming the blood, is him taking that entire prayer from god, and claiming it as his own.
So if you take every act of faithless faith, and tally it up as a religious point. Well...
I feel it's safe to call him the most religious character in Hellsing.
His relationship with it is complex, and runs deep. Furious resentment, but also a sense of self loathing with what he's become. Torn between two extremes.
(conflicted grin/scowl)
-Additional note-
Alucard's quote; that dedicating yourself to god, or dedicating yourself against, is all the same.
Prompts an odd realization, that in Alucard's own terms, he could never have held the weight of a human life.
Because Vlad had been dedicated and faithful to an all consuming extreme. Alucard is just the other side of that same coin.
"If Satanists do not believe in the devil, who does?" - "Christians."
But if Alucard expresses two extremes of monstrosity, here's the thing that really gets me.
Anderson is a monster of neither extreme.
"Instrument of God", sure. but the main things is; Anderson doesn't want to be human. He doesn't want emotion, fear, heart, or pity.
He becomes a monster because of a human desire to not be overwhelmed with conflict. It's the desires of a tired man expressed through faith (not because of faith) that turns him into a monster.
he works at an orphanage, he has kids he care about. Such as Maxwell. Who he strikes down in "the name of god", be he strikes down with a human heart. With pity, sorrow, loss, and love.
Emotions that aren't because of his faith. It's human, it's who he is. And his faith is just another aspect of that identity.
So through those terms? Anderson became a monster in the most human way possible.
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