Underworld (film)/Characters
Selene
The main protagonist of the series. Selene is a vampire and one of the best Death Dealers in the Fur Against Fang war, believing that her family were slaughtered by werewolves. She was turned by Viktor because she reminded him of his deceased daughter Sonja. She is a skilled marksman and fighter, making her probably the most prominent Badass in the series.
She has a change of heart when she falls in love with human turned werewolf Michael Corvin, and is responsible for turning Michael into a Hybrid Monster. She finds out that Viktor killed her family, and she kills him by slicing his head in two. In Evolution, she learns her family built William's tomb, hence why Viktor killed them, and becomes a true immortal after drinking Alexander Corvinus' blood, and kills Marcus.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Selene used one to slice Viktor's head in two.
- Subverted in Evolution when Selene uses a downed helicopter's propeller to kill Marcus.
- Action Girl: Although, creator Len Wiseman instructed Kate Beckinsale not to use Sarah Connor or Ellen Ripley as a basis for her role; but Officer Bud Wight instead.
- Anti-Hero: Type III.
- Badass
- Badass Longcoat: Of the leather variety. In Awakening she makes a point to break into a store so she can get a new longcoat. This one isn't made of leather, so she ditches it when she comes across a leather one.
- Battle Couple: With Michael.
- Bottomless Magazines: Played with. She does reload, but not as often as she should.
- Capulet Counterpart: First she is a merciless werewolf killer, but then becomes a heroic badass and girlfriend to a werewolf.
- Cute Little Fangs: First seen when she bites Michael to make him a vampire. Awakening shows the first time she uses them to drain a person, who had just shot her in the head. It heals the wound, and rejuvenates her.
- Dark Action Girl
- Dead Little Sister: Her entire family was brutally murdered.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Towards Michael in the first movie.
- Fan Service: Most of Selene's outfit are made out of leather.
- Genetic Memory: Selene has forgotten memories of her life before her family's slaughter, which prove to be a key plot point in Evolution. Justified, she's over 600 years old.
- The Gunslinger
- Guns Akimbo: Her preferred fighting style.
- Hell-Bent for Leather
- Hot Amazon
- Hot Chick with a Sword: Though swords are not her main weapons, she briefly uses one to chop off Victor's head.
- Hot Mom
- Ice Queen
- Immortal Hero: As a vampire she can be killed, until she drinks Alexander Corvinus' blood and becomes a proper immortal.
- Lady of War: Who said gunslinging can't be elegant?
- Mama Bear: Though she was surprised to learn she had a daughter, she unsurprisingly becomes very protective of her.
- Like A Daughter To Me: To Viktor for most of her existence as a vampire, until the events of the first movie.
- Meaningful Name: Selene means "moon".
- Not So Stoic
- Of Corsets Sexy: Selene wears a corset over her catsuit. The sequel implies that the corset has an actual function: being bullet-resistant, which comes in handy when the character gets buckshot straight to the chest. The corset comes away with only minor damage, and Selene just gets pissed off.
- Promotion to Parent
- Really 600 Years Old
- Self-Made Orphan: She achieves this trope after she kills Viktor.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Selene and Michael, mirroring Lucian and Sonja's romance.
- Super Strength: She shoulder-checks a van in the third film and flips it.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Hurting or killing Michael can result in Selene decapitating you or having your body ripped to shreds.
Michael Corvin
A descendant of Alexander Corvinus, Michael is an ordinary nurse until he becomes the target for the Lycans to create the first vampire/lycan hybrid. He is turned into a werewolf by Lucian and later is bitten by Selene to heal him from gunshot wounds. He is turned into a hybrid, becoming one of the series' many badasses. He becomes Selene's boyfriend and currently one of two people to still be alive in the series, the other being Selene.
- Badass
- Battle Couple: With Selene.
- Body Horror: Michael's transformation into a hybrid looks quite painful.
- Demoted to Extra: In Awakening.
- Hair of Gold
- Hospital Hottie: Is a medical intern in the first film, before he goes on the run with Selene.
- Hybrid Monster: He turns grey and he gets Black Eyes.
- The Lancer
- Lightning Bruiser
- Living MacGuffin: In the first movie.
- The Lost Lenore: Implied in the theatrical cut, confirmed in the director's cut. His wife was killed in a car crash, he became a doctor afterward and moved to Prague (the supposed setting) for a fresh start.
- Lego Genetics / Magic Genetics: Michael is the only descendant of Alexander Corvinus who has the same blood type as his, allowing Lucian and Selene to turn him into a vampire/werewolf hybrid.
- Nice Guy
- Non-Action Guy: For the majority of the first movie, until he becomes a Hybrid Monster and Took a Level in Badass.
- Not Quite Dead: Michael is seemingly killed by Marcus, but is revealed to be alive.
- Promotion to Parent
- Put on a Bus: In Awakening, Michael is seemingly killed, but revealed to be frozen in Antigen's labs, only to escape and disappear.
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Transformation Trauma
- Unfazed Everyman: At first, doesn't last long...
- Unskilled but Strong: When he becomes a hybrid his unprecedented strength and healing abilities allow him to fight some of the most dangerous beings around. His lack of training bites him in the ass more than once though.
- Unwitting Pawn
- Wolf Man
Eve (Subject 2)
A young Hybrid Monster who Selene finds after awakening 12 years after the purge of vampires and lycans. Actually the daughter of Selene and Michael.
- Badass: Takes after her parents.
- Creepy Child: When in her hybrid form. Not to mention the first kill she does involves ripping a lycan's head in two.
- Its head? Eve nearly tore the entire thing in two.
- Cute Bruiser
- Genetic Memory: Can see through the eyes of her parents, and they can do the same in return.
- Hybrid Monster
- Ill Girl: She spent her whole life in a lab and has never drank blood before.
- Living MacGuffin: The lycans plan to extract her genetic code to make lycan clones.
- Purposefully Overpowered: Fights the Big Bad of Awakening whilst her mother fights The Dragon.
- Possibly justified. Her father Michael is a Lycan/Vampire hybrid, shown to be incredibly strong and resilient, even capable of regenerating after spending several hours effectively dead whne he's killed by Marcus. Selene, her mother, is a possibly invulnerable Vampire/Immortal hybrid. Eve is the first person to unite the Lycan, Vampire and Immortal bloodlines.
- Unskilled but Strong: Can rip a transformed lycan apart with her bare hands but obviously has never been in a real fight. Like father, like daughter.
Lucian
The first Lycan born with the ability to turn back into a human. Lucian falls in love with Sonja, a vampire, and they become Star-Crossed Lovers. When Viktor finds out, he has his daughter executed via sunlight, kicking off the war between vampires and lycans. Lucian fakes his death with help from Kraven and spends the next few centuries trying to find a descendant of Alexander Corvinus who has the right blood to create the first Hybrid Monster. He succeeds in turning Michael into one with help from Selene, but is gunned down by Kraven.
- Anti-Villain: Type IV. By the end of the first movie, he is a villain only by virtue of being on the opposite side.
- Badass
- Badass Beard
- Badass Longcoat
- Big Badass Wolf
- Big No: When Sonja dies.
- Evil Brit: At first seemed to be, until it turned out he was a good person.
- Go Out with a Smile
- Large Ham
- Michael Sheen
- Mr. Fanservice
- Only Sane Man: Only sane Lycan.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: He is the first Lycan born as a human with the ability to turn back into his human form.
- Papa Wolf: Literally.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: His speech to his fellow lycan slaves fits this trope.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
- "WE CAN BE SLAVES, OR WE CAN BE LYCANS!"
- "I'LL KILL YOU! ALL OF YOU!!!"
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Lucian has killed generations of Alexander's descendants to find one whose blood can mix both werewolf and vampire blood, in order to avenge his dead lover and unborn child.
Viktor
The Big Bad of the series. Viktor is one of the three Vampire Elders, and the foster father of Selene. Having Fantastic Racism against Lycans, Viktor went to great lengths to either control or kill them including killing his own daughter Sonja when she became impregnated with a vampire/lycan hybrid.
- Badass
- Badass Longcoat
- Battle Cry: In Rise of the Lycans - "KILL THE DOGS!"
- Delayed Causality: Viktor's death invokes this trope, which Viktor staring blankly at Selene before the top part of his head slips off.
- Diagonal Cut: His cause of death.
- Dual-Wielding: After losing his sword he whips out a pair of hidden daggers from his sleeves.
- Fantastic Racism: Viktor despises the werewolves, and considers a hybrid to be an abomination.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Viktor hid the keys for William's tomb in plain sight, one being a necklace owned by Sonja, and the second hidden inside his own body.
- Hoist by His Own Petard / Idiot Ball: Viktor's plans keep coming back to hit him in the face. He creates an army of lycans; they rebel. He kills Sonja and her child; Lucian makes a new hybrid. He turns Selene into a vampire; she kills him. What a tangled web we weave.
- I Did What I Had to Do
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Sonja and Selene both suffer this. Viktor is shown to be devastated by having to kill Sonja.
- Large Ham
- Manipulative Bastard: Viktor managed to fool all the vampires into thinking that he is the first vampire in existance, imprisoned William in prison for all time and went to extra lengths to ensure Marcus couldn't stop him - which failed spectacularly.
- Offing the Offspring: And then he has the audacity to accuse Lucian of doing the deed to his face, knowing damn well that Lucian witnessed the murder himself and, being physically chained, was unable to even touch her.
- Parental Substitute: Was this to Selene for centuries, until the first movie.
- Smug Snake
- The Starscream: To Marcus.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In his view, everything he did was to protect the species and the coven.
Amelia
The second of the Vampire Elders. Hardly anything is known about her, making her a bit of a Flat Character. However, she aided Marcus and Viktor catch William and sided with Viktor to imprison him forever.
- Badass: As seen in Evolution.
- Dark Action Girl
- Dark Chick
- Doomed by Canon
- Lady of War
Marcus Corvinus
The third Vampire Elder, and son of Alexander Corvinus. He was bitten by a bat and became the first vampire. With his lycan brother William out of control, Marcus recruited Viktor, Amelia and their army to catch his brother, only for Viktor to double-cross him and take control of the vampires and imprisoned William forever. In the second film, he is turned into a hybrid and vows to free his brother and rule the world with a new series of hybrids.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Is this VERY briefly, William gets his head ripped off, Marcus screams his name, and is promptly killed by Serene.
- Affably Evil: While he gets the idea to rule the world with hybrids, his main goal is to reunite with his beloved brother.
- A God Am I: Intends to create a new race of immortals, with himself as their God.
- Badass: He can bring down a helicopter just by pulling on a rope. However, it leads to his Karmic Death.
- Bigger Bad: He's possibly worse than Viktor.
- Bat Out of Hell: He has large bat wings in his hybrid form. Whether or not he had these beforehand is unknown.
- Blood Brothers: Marcus and William have a strong bond. They had a third brother who was only human and presumably died years ago.
- Genetic Memory: He can see the memories of others by drinking their blood. Selene, Kraven and Andreas Tanis all become victims to his ability. However, this is revealed to be a trait of all vampires by Rise of the Lycans.
- Helicopter Blender: Selene pushes him into the spinning blades of a downed helicopter.
- I Hate You Immortal Dad
- Lineage Comes From the Father
- Self-Made Orphan: Kills his father, Alexander Corvinus, claiming that a God has no father.
- Sibling Team: Marcus and William.
William Corvinus
Alexander Corvinus' second son, and the first werewolf. Unlike lycans, William could never regain his human form and was imprisoned by Viktor in a tomb, which was built by Selene's father.
- Big Badass Wolf
- The Dragon: To Marcus.
- Off with His Head: Michael wrenches William's jaw open to breaking point, and then rips his upper head off.
- Perpetual Motion Monster: Once he's out of his coffin after over 600 years of imprisonment, he's at full strength. He clearly wasn't in suspended animation.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Viktor would've preferred to kill him had he not agreed with Marcus to keep him alive.
- Sibling Team: William and Marcus.
Alexander Corvinus
Where It All Began, Alexander Corvinus became the first true immortal after his village was ravaged by a plague which he was able to mold into what gave him his immortality. He then fathered three sons, Marcus, William and a third son. Marcus and William were bitten by a bat and a wolf, becoming the first vampire and werewolf, leading to the rest of the events in the films. The third son remained human, but carried the Corvinus Gene that would later lead to Lucian's quest to find a descendant who could adapt to vampire and lycan blood.
- Almighty Janitor: He's been cleaning up the chaos the vampires and lycans have been causing for centuries.
- Cleanup Crew
- Cool Boat
- Go Back to the Source: Selene and Michael visit Alexander, as does Marcus shortly after.
- The Older Immortal: The oldest character in the films.
- Passing the Torch: To Selene and Michael.
- Where It All Began
Sonja
The daughter of Viktor, and Lucian's lover. The two were the original Star-Crossed Lovers, Sonja becoming impregnated with the first hybrid. Viktor was distraught when he found out and regretfully had her executed via sunlight, kicking off the war. Lucian stole her necklace, actually one of the keys to William's tomb.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Poor Sonja.
- Death by Origin Story
- Doomed by Canon
- Faux Action Girl: Despite being leader of the Death Dealers, Sonja needs to be rescued a lot.
- The President's Daughter: She was due to inherit Viktor's status as an elder someday.
Kraven
Viktor's Dragon, Kraven is in charge of the old coven during Viktor's slumber. A Smug Snake and a Manipulative Bastard, Kraven helped fake Lucian's death to become a hero among the vampires, and to keep Lucian's plan under wraps. Their ultimate agreement is to eliminate the vampire elders, so Kraven can rule the vampires and Lucian can create the hybrid. Kraven has a thing for Selene, despite being in a relationship with Erika.
- Blatant Lies: Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He does this to everyone (Viktor, Lucian, Erika).
- Dirty Coward
- The Dragon: To Viktor.
- Jerkass
- Karmic Death: Kraven has his head blown off by Marcus whom he tried to kill seconds earlier.
- Large Ham: Kraven's reaction to Erika telling him that Michael is a lycan is downright hilarious.
- Manipulative Bastard
- Meaningful Name: The word "craven" means "coward".
- Mr. Fanservice
- Non-Action Guy
- Smug Snake
- Stalker with a Crush: He's quite obsessive over Selene.
- The Starscream: To everybody.
Raze
Lucian's closest friend and a Scary Black Man. He became a lycan in Rise of the Lycans and helped Lucian fight back against their vampire supressors. He has a rivalry with vampire Soren going back to their earliest days. And yes, his voice is actually that deep.
- Badass Baritone: Raze's deep voice is actually that deep.
- Badass Normal: Back when still human. First thing he does when confronted with one of the wild and feral Werewolves? Punches the damn thing down.
- The Big Guy / The Lancer: To Lucian.
- Creator Cameo: Raze is played by Kevin Grevioux.
- Scary Black Man
Andreas Tanis
Formerly the historican of the vampire coven, Andreas Tanis was exiled on Viktor's orders, by Selene, for telling "malicious lies". Which as Selene later points out, means he was telling the truth.
- The Exile
- Mr. Exposition: Well, he is the vampire historian.
- The Smart Guy
- Techno Wizard: Built weapons for Lucian after he was exiled.
Kahn
Selene's Black Best Friend, Kahn is the weapon's specialist in the coven and head of security. He clashes with Kraven, and is just as suspicious of him as Selene is. He is a skilled marksman and inventor, replicating the lycans' sunlight weapon with silver bullets which can harm lycans on the genetic level.
- Badass
- Black Best Friend: He's the only vampire Selene gets on with without any hostilities.
- Black Dude Dies First
- Nice Guy
- Techno Wizard
Erika
Kraven's one-and-off girlfriend, Erika is pretty much used by Kraven for sexual tension and he treats her like dirt whilst pining after Selene. Erika discovers Michael is a lycan and tells both Selene and Kraven. Erika ditches Kraven and frees Selene from her imprisonment to get back to Kraven. Her fate afterwards is unknown. In the novelization, she and Selene have a somewhat tenuous friendship, and it's mentioned that she left the mansion and "wondered if Viktor liked blondes."
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She gives this up eventually.
- Cute Little Fangs: While clinging to the ceiling. And hissing like a deranged cat.
- Friend Versus Lover: Selene, who is her friend and love interest for Kraven (although Selene doesn't want to be).
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Erika never appears in Evolution aside from a flashback cameo, so it's assumed Marcus killed her when he destroyed the coven.
Singe
A scientist lycan, Singe has spent years trying to find the right carrier of the Corvinus strand, and is at his wit's end. Lucian delivers him Michael's blood and he is proven a carrier. Singe is sent to help retrieve Michael from the vampires but is captured by Selene and forced to reveal Lucian's plan and Kraven's treachery. After Amelia is killed, Viktor punches him to death. His spilt blood leads to Marcus turning into a hybrid.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- His blood turns Marcus into a hybrid.
- Selene recalls Singe mentioning the hybrid's creation and follows his advice to turn Michael into a hybrid.
- Mad Scientist Laboratory
- Megaton Punch: Viktor delivers one that kills Singe instantly.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Singe is a skilled scientist in biology, genetics and medicine, not to mention espionage.
- Engineer Exploited For Evil: He's a bit tired of doing his experiments, but still is a mad scientist by chaining Corven family members up.
Soren
Kraven's minion and once Viktor's bodyguard. Little is known about him, but he has a rivalry with Raze. He uses a pair of whips in battle, and is killed by Raze.
- Evil Minions
- The Rival: To Raze.
- Whip It Good: Enhanced by combining it with a dose of Dual-Wielding. Of note, his whips appeared to be silver and razored
David
Introduced in Awakening, David is a survivor of the Purge. The Idealist of the film, David aids Selene, willingly helping her and Eve escape the humans and lycans. He believes the vampires should honour their predecessors and fight back, being at odds with his father Thomas.
- Back from the Dead: Killed by lycans, but is resurrected by Selene when she pours her immortal blood into his body.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: He is at odds with his father Thomas, the local Well-Intentioned Extremist, who wishes to hide away to survive instead of fighting back.
- The Idealist
- The Lancer: To Selene since Michael is unavailable. Shared with Detective Sebastian.
Detective Sebastian
The first human since Michael to become a prominent character in the films. A police detective who pities the vampires and lycans, Sebastian teams up with Selene to take down Antigen to save Eve and avenge his dead vampire wife.
- Badass: He single-handidly launches a one-man assault against Antigen, kills a guard with a rocket launcher, helps stop a van carrying off Eve, and tries to fight the Big Bad, and survives with the intention to cover Selene.
- Black Best Friend: Carrying on Kahn's legacy.
- Driven to Suicide: His wife, a vampire, killed herself so he would not have to see her be murdered during the Purge.
- Fair Cop
- The Lancer: To Selene, shared with David.
- One-Man Army
- Supercop
Doctor Jacob Lane
Chief scientist at Antigen, Jacob Lane kept Selene, Michael and Eve as test subjects to find an antidote. Actually a lycan hoping to create an antidote to silver.
- Big Bad: Of Awakening.
- Mad Scientist
- Slashed Throat
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He comes off as one, wanting to protect humanity from lycans and vampires. Turns out he's a lycan, and what he wants is to wipe out vampires and have lycans become dominant.
Quint
A Big Badass Wolf known as a Uber Lycan, Quint kidnaps Eve so Dr. Jacob Lane can use her to create an army of lycans, actually being Lane's son.
- Big Badass Wolf: A huge lycan.
- The Dragon: To Dr. Lane.
- Insert Grenade Here: Selene shoves a grenade into Quint's body just as he heals his wounds.
- Slasher Smile: Quint does this in his Uber-Lycan form...twice.