Rip van Winkle is the main villainess of Hellsing: Ultimate IV, the fourth installment in the Hellsing: Ultimate OVA (original video animation) anime films that was released in 2008. She is also the main villainess of the fifth volume of the Hellsing manga written by Hirano Kouta, and makes a cameo in the supplementary manga Hellsing: The Dawn.
Introduction[]
Rip van Winkle is introduced as a woman who appears to be in her 20s or 30s. However, she is actually in her 80s; the vampire production program has de-aged her appearance to between 20–30 years. She is first seen firing one of her "magic bullets" at the Colonel who is attacking her boss, the Major of the Millennium organization. However, she is only seen in silhouette/shadow at first.
Events[]
Rip van Winkle is assigned by the Major to take over the SS Eagle, a British warship. She successfully does it after killing the vice-captain and his two subordinates, who had already surrendered the ship to Millennium. However, she does not know that the Major was only using her to lure the vampire Alucard into the ocean so that he would remain stranded there. Rip van Winkle summons her team of vampire soldiers to operate and maneuver the ship. As day approaches, Rip takes a nap on the deck while her crew wait inside the pilot's quarters as they cannot go into sunlight.
As night approaches, Rip van Winkle shoots incoming British fighter jets down. However, a large Sr-71 stealth jet comes hurtling from the skies at her. She is reminded of Samiel, the antagonist of Der Freischütz, her favourite German opera. She panics for a moment but later composes herself and manages to shoot down the Sr-71. However, Alucard, who is operating the Sr-71, holds the destroyed plane together with his powers and rams the plane into the SS Eagle warship.
Alucard kills all of Rip van Winkle's crew members and then advances towards her. She gains enough courage to face him, shooting him with her magic bullets, but Alucard brushes her attacks off and punches her square in the face. Her glasses fall off, and Alucard pins her against a wall. He injures her and drinks her blood fully. Elsewhere, the Major recites an eulogy for her in the Millennium's main Zeppelin airship, and several vampire soldiers salute her farewell.
Aftermath[]
Rip van Winkle is later resurrected as one of Alucard's zombies, known as familiars. Unlike the other familiars, Rip van Winkle and her colleague Tubalcain (who was killed earlier by Alucard) are not zombified. She is later destroyed in a fire along with Alucard's other familiars when Alexander Anderson, Alucard's nemesis, stabs him with a blessed nail.