| “ | In the absence of light, darkness prevails. There are things that go bump in the night, Agent Thatch. Make no mistake about that. And we are the ones who bump back. | „ |
| ~ Trevor Bruttenholm |
Professor Trevor Bruttenholm is a former hunter and later occult researcher and director of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense and foster father to the cambion Hellboy.
Overview[]
The professor is an accomplished academic, hunter, and leader. He was well known by many paramilitary organizations like Hellsing or Libra to where he also became very acquainted with the leaders of said organizations as well.
He is a very close familial friend of Integra Hellsing, head of the Hellsing Organization, and Klaus Von Reinherz, head of Libra, as he was involved in several business trips relating to the occult or supernatural with their parents, becoming something of a father-figure to them as he is with Hellboy whom he adopted after rescuing him at the end of World War II.
History[]
Background[]
Bruttenholm was born 1916 to Catholic family in England, who used to be generations of hunters of the supernatural. While he used to hunt monsters such as vampires as a younger man, he also decided to study the occult in order to fight the supernatural in a more effective way. He graduated from Miskatonic University in 1943 and was almost immediately recruited by Professor Ian Thatch, the leader of the British Paranormal Society, as recommended by Trevor's uncle Simon Bruttenholm.
Under the command of Professor Ian Thatch, Bruttenholm, alongside several other researchers, uncovered Projekt Ragnarok, a secret occult plan of the Ahnenerbe, the occult branch of the Nazi government, and the first of a much grander yet nefarious scheme conducted by the Nazis called the Rite of Solomon. This particular project was led by Grigori Rasputin and its goal was to summon the 'gate' that would open and release the Ogdru Jahad, in order to assist the Nazis in winning the war. The project was also meant to be held on the British Isles.
Adopting Hellboy[]
With collaboration from both the United States and the United Kingdom, they employed the British Paranormal Society, in which Bruttenholm would serve as the expert of occult knowledge, which would attack the Nazis. Unknowingly to the Society and the allied, Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, a member of Projekt Ragnarok managed to give false intelligence to them, which led them to a wrong location at an old church in England. Unknowing of this false information, Bruttenholm, alongside a squad of American soldiers and two other occult experts, were waiting for the confrontation.
While Rasputin and the Nazis gathered on an island of the coast of Scotland and performed the ritual to summon the creature that possessed the key, but said creature appeared in the English church where Bruttenholm and his team were stationed. The creature of was an infant cambion from Hell, which scared most of the soldiers, who wanted to kill it immediately. Bruttenholm intervened, claiming that the creature was just a child. He approached it and noticed it was a boy and decided to christen the young Cambion as "Hellboy".
World War II[]
While most of the members within the British Paranormal Society were killed or defected, from the ashes arose a new organization to maintain the peace which became the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Their facility was established in Fairfield, Connecticut, where Bruttenholm and Ian Thatch decided that the young demon would be a ward of the organization. The success of the mission was enough to warrant Franklin D. Roosevelt to call in Bruttenholm over to the United States. Upon arriving, he was surprised that he was being recruited to be part of the Office of Strategic Reserve, an Allied intelligence agency created to combat the supernatural war forces conjured by the Ahnenerbe.
Upon joining the OSR, Bruttenholm met and befriended Arthur Hellsing of the Hellsing Organization and Nicholas Romanov of the Order of the Silver Cross. Led by the great Joe Colton, the professor was made aware of the Rite of Solomon or Projekt Endstation, an ancient occult ritual that could be used to change the nature of thaumaturgy (magic), and how to distribute supernatural powers among to the human population. The Rite is intertwined with six other projects that when destroyed will disable Projekt Endstation. Professor Bruttenholm already dealt with one of them which was Ragnarök. His incredible knowledge over the occult was more than welcomed among the members of the OSR.
Professor Broom, as he was nicknamed by William Blazkowicz, would join Zeke Poole of the Howling Commandos in a bomber squad after receiving intel regarding the Nazi's work over Projekt Bundeslade in France; according to the professor, Herman Dietrich, who is overseeing the project, was likely informed of Ragnarök's failure but also its benefits such as summoning demons. Thus, they opted to engage in a similar endeavor but one pertaining to a more powerful demonic force. Despite destroying the church where the project was being held, the ritual was complete and a grotesque infernal creature was summoned from the depths of Hell, one that Bruttenholm labeled as a fallen angel. They lost a few of their teammates in the ensuing battle with the creature, until Zeke was able to destroy it with a bullet that lodged Professor Broom's cross in its face.
Director of the B.P.R.D.[]
He would eventually served as a director for B.P.R.D., after Ian Thatch returned to field work. Ironically the same would happen to Bruttenholm later on, as he too would leave for field work and was replaced by Thomas Manning. In 1980, Bruttenholm met with Richard Hellsing as he was conducting a joint business operation between the Hellsing Organization and the B.P.R.D. It was also at that time where he met a four year old Integra Hellsing, where as the years go by Integra would insist on joining her father on his 'business' trips only to end up under the care of the professor at the headquarters of the B.P.R.D. alongside Klaus, a childhood friend of Integra. She would learn much from him as the two developed a close father-daughter relationship.
At some point in time, the B.P.R.D. was involving in the search for the fabled Fountain of Youth and were in a race against time to find it before what was left of the Nazis found it first. Reaching the temple that held the Fountain, the elder professor was captured along with Hellboy, Sallah, and Thatch. Walter Donovan, an American businessman in league with the Nazis, shot Broom to force Hellboy to retrieve a cup of the fountain's water in order to save his adoptive father's life. Hellboy passed through the lethal traps of the temple, and eventually returned with the water, which was used to heal Professor Broom's fatal gunshot wound. His drinking of the water from the Fountain of Youth also explains why Broom had aged considerably slower than humanly possible.
Personality[]
Trevor Bruttenholm is described as a man of great genius and of even greater heart. He was known for being compassionate and a sympathetic man, and built himself a reputation of helping others. In addition, the professor was known to be an immaculate mentor, helping the enhanced agents of the bureau control their powers and became a great father figure for everyone, most notably Hellboy.
Coupled with his compassionate nature, Broom is also an academic with an elastic mind who’s able to see the world beyond the veil and embrace a form of unorthodox knowledge in which he excels. Integra Hellsing even claims that he is possibly the greatest living expert of the occult, on par with Constantine himself, with extensive knowledge over many fields, facts and characters connected to the supernatural; in his youth he was also a trained agent and a fast thinker, able to deal with immediate threats putting at use his encyclopedic knowledge.
Broom preferred the diplomatic approach, but knew when to be forceful when needed be, yet only did so if it was the last resort. His compassion and mentorship was greatly respected by many, even Lucian Salvatore himself when he not only displayed no fear whatsoever in the presence of Lucian and his clan but also spoke to the lycans as people than treating them as monsters. All in all, the professor had quite the influential presence to where whenever he spoke everyone in the room would listen.
