Helena (Dead or Alive)

General CVG character
name=Helena Douglas


caption=
series="Dead or Alive" series
firstgame="Dead or Alive 2"
voiceactor=Karen Strassman ("DOAX2")
japanactor=Yuka Koyama
inuniverse=Fighting game character
nationality = flagicon|France France
bloodtype= AB
occupation = Opera singer
fightingstyle= Pi Qua Quan

Helena is a character from the "Dead or Alive" video game series created by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo.

History

Dead or Alive 2

Helena is the illegitimate daughter of Fame Douglas and his mistress Maria, a world class soprano opera singer. Seemingly distant from her father and his work, when he was murdered, Helena was hardly affected.

Helena followed in her mother's footsteps, becoming a famous opera singer in her own right. While performing at the Great Opera House, she was targeted by an unknown assassin (Christie) using a sniper rifle. Maria, who was present with her, spotted the rifle at the last second and dove in front of her daughter. Maria was killed instantly. The assassin fled, leaving Helena alone and covered in her mother's blood.

Helena set out for vengeance. While searching for the culprit, she discovered that the murders of her parents, and attempt on her own life are somehow related to the Dead or Alive World Combat Championship. Helena entered the tournament to discover the truth.

Although never explained in the series, Helena appears to have learned or known information pertaining to DOATEC, most notably the ill-fated 'Epsilon project' when she encountered Hayate suffering from amnesia.

During the tournament, she also encounters Ayane; in the encounter she accuses Ayane of being her mother's murderer. Ayane neither confirms nor denies having killed Helena's mother, after which a fight breaks out between the two.

Dead or Alive 3

Helena is captured by Donovan and imprisoned. Although Helena, the reluctant heiress, states that she is not in any sort of connection with the DOATEC, Donovan tells her that the only way to obtain her freedom and know the truth behind DOATEC is to win the third tournament.

In the meantime, Donovan assigns Christie to keep an eye on Helena and, should the need arise, kill her if she discovers too much. Helena soon confronts Christie; Christie admits that she is an assassin sent to kill her.

Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball

Just like the other girls, Helena came to Zack Island upon hearing from Zack that the 4th tournament would be held there, and becomes trapped on the island for 2 weeks.

Dead or Alive 4

In "Dead or Alive 4", Helena, as the daughter of former chairman Fame Douglas, takes control of DOATEC. She invites the assassin Bayman to the DOATEC Tritower in order to hire him to take out Donovan, but he declines. That night the Tritower comes under attack by the Mugen Tenshin ninja clan. Helena comes across Lisa, who admits she tricked the ninja into attacking to stop Donovan.

Helena finally finds out that Christie killed her mother and confronts her. The end result to their fight is left unknown, except that they both survive. In her CG Ending, Helena decides to go down together with DOATEC and subsequently sets the Tritower complex on self-destruct. Plagued by flashbacks of her deceased mother, she moves up to the helipad between the three towers that make up the complex. Meanwhile Ayane, Hayate, and Ryu Hayabusa are using ninpo powers to destroy the towers and the DOATEC security forces, while Kasumi battles her clone, Alpha-152.

Helena, willingly giving up her life, was about to be consumed by the flames of the burning buildings, when Zack suddenly saves her, flying in with a chopper.

Dead or Alive Xtreme 2

Remembering the debt Zack had saved her life previously, Helena goes to New Zack Island hoping that she and Zack can form an agreement to rebuild DOATEC.

Other appearances

Movie appearance

Sarah Carter portrays Helena in the movie based on Dead or Alive, "" as a much more down to earth person as opposed to her sophisticated self in the video games; her French nationality, Opera career and her mother's death have been ignored entirely, but since Helena's mother doesn't appear, it can be assumed that Maria's death has already taken place. The DOA tournament in the movie is the first she has entered. As she progresses through the tournament, she is introduced to a stereotypical computer technician nerd working for Donovan named "Weatherby" who harbors a crush upon Helena. A recurring joke in the film consists of Helena and others forgetting Weatherby's name, sometimes calling him "Wallaby". The two eventually form a couple at the movie's end during the time they team up to stop Donovan's plan. Helena doesn't leave the island after losing to Christie, most likely due to her status as Fame Douglas' daughter. In the movie, Helena bares a tattoo which is the "key" to finding the prize fund. She is also the only female character who accurately uses the same martial arts style in the film as her character does in the game (Pi Qua Quan).

Personality and gameplay

Helena is outwardly haughty and unconcerned with other people. She brushes off everyone else as not mattering to her, even other fighters in the tournament, as shown when talking to Kasumi in Kasumi's gameplay. She is rather overconfident, doubting other fighter's abilities and making sport of her fights. Above all else, she is obsessed with revenge against her mother's killer. She is very patient with her search, yet totally unrelenting. At the end of "Dead or Alive 4", Helena is shown developing suicidal tendencies, proving by her envy to die in a fire.

Helena's fighting style, Pi Qua Quan, is flowing and smooth (not sharp and solid like Karate); many of her attacks are graceful and move in a windmill-like formation. Her key stance is her "Bokuho" stance, from which she can execute a number of moves, and her mix-up game, execution time-frame, and air juggles are excellent due to her combo variety. However, she must be used in a combo-based fashion to execute sufficient damage, as her launchers and single strikes lack a high damage ratio. While her throws lack strength, they are some of the most quickly executed in the game, and can even be performed while in the aforementioned "Bokuho" stance.

DOATEC

The Dead Or Alive Tournament Executive Committee is the contributor to the Dead or Alive Martial Arts Tournaments. Fame Douglas was the chairman of it until his death after the first Dead or Alive tournament. DOATEC has been secretly conducting experiments on fighters (specifically Kasumi and Hayate) to create the "ultimate fighting machine". Helena did not want to be in any part of the DOATEC, but since she is the only living blood relative of Fame Douglas, she has no choice but to uphold and continue his position as chairperson.

References

* [http://64.78.9.175/media/games/12/manual.zip DOA2:HC Manual] Zipped PDF Files.
* [http://www.deadoralive.jp/eng/index.html DOA4 Official Site]
* [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/730/730809p1.html IGN Itagaki Hawai'i interview]
* [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/736/736954p1.html?RSSwhen2006-10-03_065600&RSSid=736954 IGN DOAX2 Changing Sequences article]

External links

* [http://www.tecmoinc.com Tecmo]
* [http://www.tecmo.co.jp Tecmo Japan]
* [http://www.deadoralive.jp/doax2/ DOAX2 Teaser Site]
* [http://www.doacentral.com Dead or Alive Central]
* [http://www.doatec.com DOATEC]