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After reading an interesting post on the "anti-midian" meaning of Seras' battle rifle/cannon thing, I would like to know what the motif of Vladimir Harkonnen from the "Dune" series has to do with her cannon?

Let me give you an example:

Alucard's awesome pistol "The Jackal" symbolizes Walter's future betrayal of Alucard because, in the Fred Forsyth book "The Day of The Jackal", the character The Jackal kills everyone who helped him make his forged documents and weapon as a way of covering his tracks as he tries to kill Charles De Gaulle. In the dream sequence where this motif is introduced, The Jackal comments, "Never trust the man who makes your own weapon," which foreshadows Walter's betrayal.

So since Seras has two huge cannons that bear the Vladimir Harkonnen name and she even talks to Harkonnen in a trippy dream sequence, what kind of symbolism or motif does Harkonnen have in relation to the Hellsing universe?

Cattua
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kevluv97
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  • Just an FYI to others: This was originally posted at http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/35743/13099 – Cattua May 18 '13 at 14:53
  • this is hellsing ultimate, right? because i sure don't remember seras talking to her gun in hellsing, or walter betraying alucard either. – acolyte May 22 '13 at 17:28
  • It is Hellsing Ultimate. If you haven't seen Hellsing Ultimate yet and liked the original TV show Hellsing, drop everything you're doing right now and watch it. Ultimate is a million times better than the TV series and is probably one of the best animes in existence. – kevluv97 May 22 '13 at 17:38

3 Answers3

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If you recall from the OVA and manga, during dream sequences, the appearance of the gun's so-called "spirit" bears a strong resemblance to Baron Harkonnen from the David Lynch adaptation of Dune. This is strongly implied to be a tribute/reference to the Dune series (or at least the movie).

The movie Baron

From the mango

From the animu

кяαzєя
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  • I gotta hand it to ya, you have a pretty solid answer. But I would also like to know if Harkonnen somehow ties in with any of the themes in Hellsing. Is it just a shout out to the movie "Dune"? I don't know, what are some specific things about Harkonnen that might have made Kouta Hirano decide to name Seras' cannon after him? – kevluv97 May 31 '13 at 02:12
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Seras Victoria experiences repeated visions of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen from the David Lynch film "Dune" claiming to be to be the spirit of her gun.

As far as I can tell, there's no canon [sic] explanation for the reason why it chooses to manifest itself in this particular way, aside from the fact that her gun is actually called The Harkonnen (which is itself a contraction of the formal name of the gun; e.g.

  • Hellsing Arms Anti-Midian Cannon" becomes "HAA Cannon" becomes "Harkonnen").

Seras Chased by Harkonnen

Although she is initially scared by the Baron's 'spirit' and runs from it on several occasion, it does ultimately provide a successful (and wholly accurate) warning that she is being targeted by a Rio S.W.A.T. team which would seem to indicate that there's more to her visions than mere introspection brought on by extreme psychological pressure.

senshin
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Richard
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Okay, this is kinda pushing it, but if you see on Westwood Dune series RTS (Dune, Dune 2/ Dune 2000, Emperor: Battle For Dune) (which, kind of, based on Dune universe, kind like Alternate Universe or something), you see that House Harkonnen, a faction in this game, is kinda... obsessed with firepower. Ludicrous Firepower and Armor, at the expense of speed and utility. Their ultimate weapon is a nuclear missile.

RBomber
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