#anyways i have a waltnation discord ready to launch

[wheregoodthingsthrive]

This interaction got me thinking

I have complicated feelings enough about the Walter betrayal plot (due to plot holes, inconsistent writing, strange questions it brings up, etc.) but nothing gives me the complications quite like Sir Hugh Iron's expository role in the whole 'surprise he was evil the whole time' bombshell.

I have always found it strange how Irons - in the middle of a literal massacre and decades-in-the-making beat down - takes the time to exposit to us the audience a la Walsh that he was always suspicious of Walter's behavior and had enough evidence to imply that Walter set this whole series of atrocities up. And not in the recent past. No. Back in 1944, in Warsaw Poland.

And while this scene gives me my favorite transition shot in the entire show, it also gave me quite the frustration. I know he's technically theorizing (according to the wiki) but I find it really hard to believe that Irons had had this "bother" for so long and only just now put the pieces together in, what I consider to be, quite the leap. Irons brings this topic up when discussing a traitor in the round table - something that also mildly irritates me cause was it not the guy who literally tried to kill everyone in ep5 that Walter sliced down? - and yet he brings up Walter.

I would be remiss to argue that Iron's main qualm with Walter not being there when Integra needed him is not important. It's definitely the final and almost only nail in Walter's traitorous coffin but I find it interesting that Irons had issued this warning. It brings up some interesting questions for me:

Did Irons know Alucard would be her last resort?

How much then did Irons know about Alucard?

Why would he not have Alucard resealed? Or Walter disciplined? Or investigated?

The show (manga too but show especially) obviously wants us to AGREE with Irons' without doubt. Through explicit and subtle foreshadowing ALL THROUGHOUT ending 3, they make it a POINT to display a young, 14 year old Walter alongside Millennium and also just acting...strange.

SO sure let's say we agree with Irons that Walter had been betraying them since the beginning despite all of Walter's dialogue towards Millennium being the following:

"What are you lot lying doggo at this ungodly hour, having a soggy biscuit soiree...? Bunch of pansy Huns."

Usage of Huns, Jerries, etc.

"You're [the Major] the leader here -- fat ass?"

"You're a tub of lard as it is. Being pulled from one meal won't kill you."

Intense hatred of Nazism/Nazis

This entire interaction:

Sorry. I got sidetracked.

If we believe this and Irons had suspicions about the closest man to Arthur, to Alucard especially, to Integra, to the Round Table, to Richard, to Hellsing's data, research, work, artillery, etc. etc. etc. I mean c'mon Walter was THEIR GUNSMITH. And we all saw how that ended up.

But I find it so strange (and further proof that this plot twist was not completely thought through) that Irons KNEW or at least FELT HE KNEW that Walter was malicious and still entrusted Integra to him and never said anything, especially when discussions of a Round Table traitor started up (as far as ep/v 2 if I'm not mistaken).

Anyways this is going no where. Maybe I'll make a mega post about why the Walter betrayal does/doesn't make sense.

Good night gang I gotta write a paper in 20 hours.

Thank you @rotting-elks for jogging my brain