Donovan was a large, muscular man with dark skin and a bald head, with a scar running through his left eye. He had a very stout build and broad shoulders, with large hands and long legs.
Donovan was arrogant and did not hesitate to kill enemies fleeing from the battlefield.
He was a notorious pedophile as shown when he rapes Guts when he was still at a young age. He showed no remorse in any of his actions, and could be characterized by actions of excessive cruelty.
A subordinate of Gambino, Donovan pays his boss to have his way with Guts. Gambino, motivated by his grudge against Guts, agreed. That night, Donovan makes his move and pins a restless Guts down while breaking his spirit upon revealing his transaction with Gambino. This messes up Guts in both his aversion of being touched by another person and his inner conflict over Gambino selling him out. Sometime later, during a mission by Gambino and his men, Guts observes Donovan killing off stragglers from the opposing force before shooting him in the back. Guts fires another bolt into Donovan's open mouth and shoves his sword down Donovan's throat, killing him without getting any closure if Gambino was responsible until he had an altercation with his guardian years later.
