The Major

The Major
Age	approx. 30's (biologically), approx. 80's (chronologically)
Home Planet	Earth
Nation	Nazi Germany
Nicknames	First Lieutenant Sturmbannführer Montana Max Battalion Commander War Machine
Race	Human (Cyborg)
Rank	First Lieutenant, Battalion Commander
Skills	Intellect, Leadership of Vampires,Limited Marksmanship
Superpower	Enhanced Durability Immortality
Teams	Millennium Organization
Team Mates	The Captain (Hellsing)
Weakness	Limited Marksmanship

The Major (少佐, Shōsa), called Montana Max by the voice cast and fans^[1] is the supreme commander of Millennium and the main antagonist of the Hellsing series.

Appearance

The Major is a short, plump man with blond hair and yellow eyes. His hair is oddly styled, with a longer section coming up and then down again in the front left side of his head, like a folded piece of paper. He is seen with a wide grin throughout most of the series, although there are a couple scenes where he is seen frowning. This grin is described as being "half laughing" and it is mentioned his cheek moves very little.

He is dressed impeccably, wearing an expensive white suit with a long matching overcoat, white gloves, glasses, and a black tie with a red gem on it.

In the Hellsing manga, the Major has blue eyes and metallic grey hair, the latter of which matches his entire outfit.

Abilities

Gifted Orator: Like his Führer before him The Major's main asset is his ability to inspire his troops with enthusiastic speeches. He can take almost any situation and spin it into a speech that will strengthen Millennium's morale for their next operation. Probably the best example of the Major's oration abilities is his famous "I love war" speech from OVA 4, where Millennium is preparing their assault on London.

Human Will: During a flashback, it is revealed that through sheer force of will, The Major was able to repel blood that would have turned him into a vampire, even causing it to form a circle around him. It is unknown if all humans are actually capable of this, or if The Major was one of few. After he is shot and revealed to be part machine, he claims it is his will that drives him, and claims a human's will to be "precious beyond all worth" and to be what defines a human, even going as far as to claim it is the one trait that puts humans above even angels.

Biological Immortality: As a cyborg, he's forever young. As long as the machinery powering his life functions is kept in good working order, he is effectively immune to dying of natural causes.

Master Strategist: The Major is an effective planner and strategist, developing complex plans to achieve his goals for over half a century. He accounts for the personalities and usual mannerisms of allies and enemies alike and never takes anything for granted - notably, he considers Integra and Seras to be high-priority threats simply because he knows little about their capabilities.

Weaknesses

Limited Marksmanship: The Major has some training with small firearms, apparently favoring pistols. Unfortunately, his aim is abysmal, leaving him unable to hit a target even if it is stationary and only a few feet away. 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 Doctor to mock his poor marksmanship and question how he managed to get into the SS^[3]. This is shown again during his final duel with Integra Hellsing, where out of his 8 shots, he only grazes the eye of Integra, despite her being at close range and actually approaching him, and then states "I finally hit something." ("I hit something for the first time" in the Japanese version).

Speeches

• I Love War - Reveals Personality, and demonstrates his ability to lead men into battle. Most famous of his speeches in the series.
• Views on Alucard - Reveals some of his backstory, and his views on Alucard and vampirism, particularly it's costs.
• Death Speech - His final moments, he reveals that he values his humanity over power, and explains that what makes someone a human is their will.

Trivia

• When he makes his first full appearance (in Hellsing volume three), the Major appears to be much slimmer than in future volumes. This is most likely because Kouta Hirano had not yet decided on a final look for the character.
• There are a few minor but noticeable inconsistencies in the Major's appearance towards the end of volume 10. In one panel, he has clearly lost half of his left leg, but in his very last appearance, it appears to be entirely intact. Also, the remains of his glasses are shown falling to the floor after Integra shoots him, but they are back on his face immediately afterwards.

• The prototype for the Major appeared in Hirano's earlier manga "Coyote". In the manga, he was mostly the same character with a few slight differences including being a lot slimmer, and being referred to by the name "Montana Max".

• Hellsing fans have adopted "Montana Max" as the Major's real name (including members of the OVA's English Dub cast), but as it has never been written in any of the dialogue, it is still considered unofficial.

• Before the reveal of the Major's true nature, some fans - and ADR Director Taliesin Jaffe - theorized that he was actually the incarnation/mortal disguise of a war god. They pointed to the Major's love of war, his apparent lack of a real name, his mysterious past, and his apparent immortality as clues, and the idea was briefly referenced in Volume 4, when Maxwell tells Anderson that the enemy of the Ninth Crusade was Mars, the Roman god of war.
• In the English Commentary of Hellsing: Ultimate IV, Taliesin Jaffe stated that the Major's "War Speech" was one of the hardest things he had ever directed, taking around three days to complete.
  • As an additional joke, Jaffe added a "Karaoke Version" of the Major's speech in the Limited ion of the DVD.
• The Major's infamous "I Love War" speech may have been inspired by the "Total War" speech given by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels in 1943 as the tide of World War II began to turn on the Axis powers.
• The Major's desire for a war-torn world is similar to the motives of Liquid Snake from the Metal Gear series. However, their motives differ; while the Major loves war for its own sake, Liquid Snake wanted to create a world which always had a place for soldiers like himself.
• According to Hirano, The Major is an Otaku.
  • At the end of Hellsing: Ultimate III (and also in chapter 21 of the manga), Major sings "Tough Boy" in German, which is one of openings from Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star). In this anime, seiyū Nobuo Tobita also voiced one of main villains in flashback from his childhood.
• Unlike Alucard and Anderson, when faced with a moment of utter despair and defeat, the Major chose to reject supernatural powers in exchange for his life and soul. This further strengthens his portrayal as Alucard's opposite, compared to Anderson's role as Alucard's foil/counterpart.

• Before 1941, the Major was a first lieutenant. It is unclear how he was promoted to his current rank, but it is possible the promotion came due to Major's successful involvement in the vampire project. If so, it's possible that he would have been promoted again when the research bore fruit, had Nazi Germany not been defeated.
• Although he failed to destroy Alucard, he supressed Alucard's blood interrogation power since Schrödinger is inside Alucard, leaving Alucard handicapped from interrogating future enemies.
• In The Hellsing Ultimate OVA, The Major is the only character to make an appearance in all ten episodes.
• Kouta Hirano confirmed The Major's motif is based on American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman on his own twitter.^[4]
• The degree of his cyborg-nature is uncertain. He was seen consuming beverages and food and bled when injured, so it can be assumed that a good part of his body was still biological. The circumstance that he still displayed a poor marksmanship, not enhanced by his artificial parts, suggests that his mechanical components were limited to lifesupport.