Driven

Personality
Integra's demeanor is usually quite calm and cool, and she tends to keep her emotions hidden. She will show annoyance, impatience, and arrogance, and although she can quickly become angry, she very rarely loses control of her feelings. Maintaining self-control is vital to her. In general, Integra faces adversity very calmly, either with varying degrees of detachment (she doesn't seem to care what others think of her as long as she gets her way) or of arrogance.

Being very self-assured, Integra is not afraid to show others - subordinates, colleagues, the undead, or anyone else - that she is usually better equipped than they are to handle situations. With an ace like Arucard to back her up, that's not particularly surprising, but he isn't the only reason for her demeanor. Integra is intelligent, capable, collected, and able to analyze situations clearly - overall, she can fully justify herself based on her own abilities. Having noble blood and a distinct, proud history also contribute to Integra's pride; in the company of the non-human, her pride in her lineage and humanity surges, and there's no doubt that Integra believes humans are superior to the 'monsters.' Integra usually does not allow her arrogance to cloud her better judgment, although there are several cases of her doing so.

Fear is another emotion that Integra rarely shows:

In these cases, Integra handles her situations with collectedness, her usual way of dealing with everything. But at key points she does lose control. For example, she is extremely distressed upon discovering that she has been betrayed by the Round Table, and Walter needs to warn her not to push herself so hard. It is at this point that Integra truly feels helpless. The circumstances surrounding this situation are extreme, however - her troops are being slaughtered by FREAKS, and the Hellsing family has been labeled terrorists. She is also still recovering from her surgery, which has left her extremely weak and highly succeptible to stress.

In spite of her unexpressive exterior, Integra is not always completely cold. Again, she does show fear and lack of control at times, especially when she feels completely helpless. Also, although she doesn't always treat those whom she associates with kindly, she does care for many of them; her relationships provide her with strength, both emotional and physical.

Integra has the tendency to overexaggerate her emotions, as when she puts excessive amounts of blame on herself for the deaths of Hellsing's soldiers in episodes 5 and 6. In this case, Integra feels overwhelming and slightly irrational feelings of guilt. She genuinely regrets her soldiers' deaths and holds herself accountable.

Being strong is necessary for Integra to survive; weakness and failure are not tolerated due to the precarious nature and danger of her job. Thus, strength has become engrained in her personality, although as a result, she has become overly harsh when dealing with failure, even ruthless in how she handles her enemies (such as the female reporter). Any type of failure - her own, Arucard's, others' - reflects poorly on her and Hellsing. Suppression of emotions allows Integra to best handle her job and others, and it leads her to often unrealistic, perfectionist attitudes for others and for herself.


Devotion
Integra is intensely devoted to Hellsing, England, and her religion. As a Knight of the Round Table, Integra's ties to her country and blood line (as she is of noble blood) are extremely strong. Likely, her father has instilled these beliefs within her, so that she is always aware of the responsibilties her birth has given her.

Integra can be overly dedicated to her beliefs, to the point where she puts faith in them without considering that they may let her down. Also, her self-assurance and arrogance may compliment this somewhat blind faith. The Queen, country, and religion are, in her view, truth; they are the standards of purity which must be upheld. However, she sometimes neglects to consider that behind these standards are fallible people. In episode eleven, she wonders how Hellsing could have been led into a trap; obviously, Integra could not have exactly predicted being betrayed, but although Arucard warned her about putting so much faith into humans (not explicitly stated this way), Integra nevertheless does so.

Her devotion to these ideals has also led her to potential conflicts; her responsibilities force her to give up her own personal interests in favor of fulfilling her obligations. It may be in her best interest to drink Arucard's blood to gain strength, but it would also go against her ideals and personal beliefs to do so. Integra's duties have also forced her to become a highly intense, focused person with high expectations and high standards. Frankly, Integra isn't the most likeable person. She has few relationships outside of those she works and lives with; most of these are purely impersonal, business relationships, too, and it's obvious that several people she associates with don't like her anyway. Loneliness is probably something Integra frequently experiences, given that she has no friends and lost her father, which is why her relationships with Arucard and Walter are so vital.

The memory of her father is another thing that Integra is highly devoted to; in the anime, she spends a great deal of time staring at his painting. She seems to look to her memories of him for support and guidance, as well as a standard she must aspire to. Integra is compared to her father by other Knights of the Round Table, and clearly, she is always aware that she must measure up to him. She deeply respects him, as well as loved him, and it his memory, as well as the rest of the Hellsing line, that she must never tarnish.


Mannerisms
One of Integra's 'oddities' is dressing like a man. Combined with her attitude, arrogance, and love for cigars, a viewer might have trouble identifying Integra as a woman. Although Arucard says that Integra is the same girl now as she was when she was thirteen, and although this is true to a certain extent, there is an obvious disparity between the past and present Integras.

The most obvious explanation would be that Integra, a female, is taking on a role traditionally held by men in a male-dominated society. Not only is she the youngest Knight of the Round Table, but she's also the only woman. In general, it is often difficult for men in power to accept that a woman could be their equal, if not more. Thus, by adopting the clothes and mannerisms of a man, Integra would be placing herself on a more equal footing with men. Of course, Integra can never become a man, and there's no indication that she would want to be one, but she can unexplicitly challenge the notion that she should be treated differently solely based on gender. (I should point out that I'm NOT suggesting that Integra is a feminist. Given the very female characters in the anime, there is no indication that Integra would treat women any different from men.)

Integra exudes strength, self-awareness, and capability, traits that may be enhanced by her male mannerisms. At the very least, she can throw off others by her looks, words, and actions, leading them to defer to her decisions and opinions.

Another explanation may be the lack of a mother figure to influence Integra's femininity, as well as growing up with primarily male influences- her father, Walter, and later Arucard. I don't really think this is a suitable line of reasoning, since it doesn't explain why Integra wore dresses when her father was alive, then suddenly switched to men's clothing.


Humor
Integra seems to have an odd sense of humor, at least when she shows any, which is pretty rare in the anime. In Order: 03 Sword Dancer, she remarks that if one's noble, then one can't go around sucking other people's blood. She laughs, finding her "joke" humorous. Although her observation is more or less true, it speaks more about her own responsibilities as nobility, perhaps even referring to what is suggested in her episode 11 conversation with Arucard. Most of the time, however, her humor involves baiting Arucard.


Abilities
Unlike the vampires, the Shinigami, and the priest, Integra has no extraordinary, superhuman abilities. Fortunately, she has Arucard, Walter, and Seras to protect her. However, Integra isn't completely helpless in facing the undead. She can use pistols, and her aim is extremely accurate. She frequently perfects her skill in Hellsing's shooting range. When the Valentine Brothers invade Hellsing, Integra uses this ability to stave off Jan with incendiary quick-silver bullets; all her six shots strike him in the head.

More indirectly, Integra, as Arucard's master, has the vampire to command, and she is also the only one who can release the final seal on his powers.


Strength
By far, Integra's primary strength lies within herself - in her own pride, convictions, and sense of honor. Even Arucard respects his master's strong will. In episode 10, he says that Integra is a fighter who will go for blood. Only someone with Integra's strength could take on the responsibility of running Hellsing at thirteen; only someone with her deep beliefs could face Richard as she did, without cowering or backing down from her beliefs; and only someone with her pride could stab herself in the neck to free herself of "tainted" blood.

Again, being weak is unacceptable to Integral. As Arucard suggests, this began when she was almost killed by Richard. Although she refused to give in to Richard, when he aimed his gun at her inside the cell, she seemed to accept her death. Yet not too much later, when facing Arucard, Integra realized that she could not simply allow herself to be killed without fighting back; doing so went against everything she was and valued. She passionately expressed to Arucard this pride in herself and her beliefs, and from then on, Arucard says, Integra could never give up at anything. Failure would remind her of this experience, in which she almost gave up and died as a result. Weakness cannot be shown, cannot be tolerated, and failure is equivalent to death.

Even though Integra derives much of her strength from her beliefs, her actions in episode nine are very interesting. Although it would mean almost certain death, Integra preferred that course of action, in spite of her obligations to Hellsing and her country. Furthermore, suicide is a sin. Yet Integra was unable to live with herself knowing that she had vile blood within her. It is this crucial event that suggests that Integra's pride and personal honor are, in the end, favored above all her other obligations. Integra's strength, then, is derived from an internal, personal sense of self, rather than mere dedication to institutions, however much she feels obligated to them.


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