She only had one major appearance in Hellsing: Ultimate, but Rip Van Winkle and her homing bullets made quite the impression. The vampiric Nazi sniper was voiced by Maaya Sakamoto (Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell: Arise) and Kari Wahlgren (Saber in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works), and she remains a favorite among fans even today.
That said, there’s only so much her single (spoken) appearance in the ten-part Original Video Animation (OVA) series can get across. Some of the more interesting facts about her could be found through internet deep dives, while others were hidden in plain sight.
10 She’s Named After The American Folk Hero
Anyone familiar with American literature would quickly point out that Rip shares her name with Rip Van Winkle, the American folk hero. In the short story, Rip is a local layabout in colonial America who drinks some magical moonshine that makes him sleep for 20 years. He wakes up in a post-colonial America, confused by the now freed America and new world.
Aside from his name and a flintlock hunting rifle, something important that Hellsing’s Rip shares with her literary namesake are time-displaced. The Nazi vampire Rip never drank any special booze or slept for decades, but as the American Rip, she’s a person out of time. Rip is a vampire who stopped aging sometime in 1945, and she’s been mentally stuck in that era ever since.
9 Her Arc Is A Mini-Adaptation Of A German Opera
Before Genshin Impact popularized the title with its unlockable achievement, Hellsing: Ultimate gave the German opera Der Freischütz (i.e., The Hunter) some popularity. Rip’s stint in Hellsing is literally an abridged version of the German epic, and it’s anything but subtle. Der Freischütz told the story of Kaspar (read: Rip), a hunter who struck a deal with the demon Samiel (read: Alucard) for a magic bullet he uses to win a shooting competition.
A major divergence is that Rip never made a deal with Alucard, but she dies anyway. The anime ramps up the parallels by showing Rip sing bits of Der Freischütz, having The Major compare her to Kaspar, and playing a brief snippet of the opera during her fight against Alucard.
8 Her Life & Death Parallels Old Fairy Tales
Another piece of literature that Rip’s character and story share a lot in common with are fairy tales, especially Red Riding Hood. Hellsing hammered in this: Ultimate’s English-language voice director Taliesin Jaffe, who compared Rip to a child in a nursery rhyme in a (now-deleted) discussion with Wahlgren.
Jaffe described Rip as having a childish and playful naivety befitting of Red Riding Hood. Long story short, she’s happily oblivious to the world’s dangers until it’s too late. Unlike most other fairy tale interpretations, though, Rip gets devoured by the Big Bad Wolf (read: Alucard, who can take the form of a black dog) in the end.
7 Her Umbrella Acknowledges A Real WWII-Era Sniper Tactic
Since she’s a vampire, it isn’t too surprising to see Rip Van Winkle use a tacky yellow umbrella during the daytime. But given her military affiliation, wartime experience in World War 2, and her being a sniper, Rip’s use of an umbrella may be more than coincidental.
In World War 2, German snipers were known to use discarded umbrellas for camouflage. The trick was to remove the umbrella’s cloth and replace it with foliage and leaves, making it easier for the sniper to blend in with nature and, thus, harder for enemy soldiers to spot and kill. Rip never used her umbrella in such a way, but the homage is clear to history buffs.
6 She’s Probably 70-Years Old
Like everyone in the Last Battalion, Rip was once a normal human soldier who was scientifically turned into a vampire near World War 2’s end (i.e., 1945). Given her looks which haven’t really changed as seen in the prequel Hellsing: The Dawn (above), it could be assumed that she was turned when she was in her early 20s.
Since Hellsing is said to take place sometime during the ‘90s, Rip would’ve been the same age for the last 50 years. With some basic addition, Rip would be somewhere in her early to mid-'70s by the time Hellsing starts. Long story short, Alucard killed a senior citizen atop the HMS Eagle.
5 She (Probably) Fought Alucard In WWII & Never Recovered From The Trauma
When Alucard descends onto the HMS Eagle in a possessed stealth fighter, Rip Van Winkle loses falls into a fit of panic. As the soldiers take anti-aircraft measures, Rip rambles about the darkness that rides “a black iron horse” and is coming straight for her. The implication is clear: she somehow survived a deadly encounter with Alucard before and never recovered.
That said, this may seem weird to some since it’s hinted that only The Major actually met Alucard, while his soldiers probably only heard reports. Rip recognizing Alucard before he even landed only made sense after Hellsing: The Dawn, where she did meet him during World War 2. The problem is, their face-off never came to be since mangaka Kouta Hirano got lazy and stopped the prequel at Chapter 6.
4 She’s Been Called “The Sum Of All Of Kouta Hirano’s Fetishes”
Anyone who’s been keeping track of Hirano’s pre-Hellsing work in adult-oriented manga and general anime fanservice tropes could spot some recurring elements. Basically, the mangaka seems to have a thing for long-haired androgynous characters who wear glasses and gloves. Said person is a gunslinger who favors massive and/or long firearms is a plus.
With those in mind, Rip Van Winkle ticks all of those boxes. It’s for this reason why many speculated that she’s the culmination of all of Hirano’s interests of both the historical (specifically World War 2) and risqué kind. Bolstering this claim is how suggestive the vampire sniper tends to be drawn – even if her current scene doesn’t really call for such a mood.
3 Her Second Death Was Exclusive To The Anime
Technically, Rip Van Winkle died twice. The first was aboard the HMS Eagle, and the second was during the Battle of London. Since Alucard devoured her, she became one of his Familiars and was summoned to kill on his behalf. She and the other Familiars burned to death when Alexander Anderson stabs Alucard in the head. Interestingly, this fate is exclusive to Hellsing: Ultimate.
Alucard’s Familiars die the same way in the manga, but all that’s shown are nameless soldiers going up in flames. In Hellsing: Ultimate VIII, Rip gets a close-up when she burns, finalizing her death. The last scene in both incarnations is her musket, which is shown in a montage of every dead character’s signature item or weapon.
2 She Has The Longest Death In All Of Hellsing
Hellsing made a name for itself with its extremely brutal deaths, with Alucard unsurprisingly being the biggest contributor to the story’s massive body count. That said, most of these deaths are blunt; either someone gets blown in half by a large caliber gun, or someone gets decapitated excessively. Meanwhile, Alucard basically tortured Rip Van Winkle to death.
In the manga, it takes two chapters and roughly 20 pages for Rip to die. The closest to that is Alexander Anderson, who only needed one chapter to fade into ash before Walter stomped his face. In the anime, her death scene takes up roughly one-fourth of Hellsing: Ultimate IV, clocking in at around 10 minutes.
1 Her Death Caused Controversy
Not only was Rip’s death the longest, but it was the most controversial. In a story featuring Nazi vampires and some of the bloodiest anime violence of its time, that’s saying something. The controversy stemmed from how Rip’s death felt more suggestive than needed.
Many compared the Alucard scene to assault. Their dialogue and mannerisms also felt disturbingly sexualized, and the entire Last Battalion watching Rip’s needlessly dragged out the death as The Major waxed poetic didn't help matters.