Helena (Dead or Alive)
"Helena Douglas" redirects here.
Helena is a video game 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, she 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 assassin 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. This issue is never brought up again in the series to why she accused Ayane of the murder.
Dead or Alive 3
Helena is captured by Donovan and imprisoned. He tells her that the only way to obtain her freedom 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.
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. Bayman declines. That very 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 is about to be consumed by the flames of the burning buildings as Zack saves her, flying in with a chopper.
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2
Helena has returned to Zack island once again in order to find Zack and sort out a comprimise between the two to rebuild DOATEC.
Other appearances
Sarah Carter portrays Helena in the movie based on Dead or Alive, DOA: Dead or Alive. Here a nerd working for Donovan named Weatherby falls in love with her and later helps her stop Donovan's plan. A recurring joke in the film consists of Helena and others forgetting Weatherby's name, sometimes calling him Wallaby.
A spokesperson for Tecmo has recently stated the news that Helena might be in the next installment of the popular Ninja Gaiden series, but this has yet to be confirmed.
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. 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.
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. Helena's playability is aimed towards medium to high-leveled players.
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.
Trivia
- Helena is unlocked after completing story mode with all other characters in Dead or Alive 4.
- The security camera screens in Helena's end CG in DOA4 show various end CGs from other characters.
- Helena's half-sister Kokoro uses Piquaquan's sister art Bajiquan.
- Helena's storyline is most likely the definitive story that ties together most of the other storylines.
- Helena's favorite color is white.
- Helena's interests include the ocean, dolphins, collecting seashells, and swimming (going by her DOA3 ending).
References
- DOA2:HC Manual Zipped PDF Files.
- DOA4 Official Site
- IGN Itagaki Hawai'i interview
- IGN DOAX2 Changing Sequences article