.jpg){kind=link}
Selene is a character and the main protagonist of the Underworld film franchise, in which she is portrayed by Kate Beckinsale. The character is introduced in the first film, Underworld, as an elite vampire assassin known as a "Death Dealer" who hunts down the Lycans for allegedly murdering her family. She becomes attracted to a human named Michael Corvin and, upon discovering that her sire and adoptive father Viktor was actually responsible for the death of her family, defects from the vampire clan.
As revealed in the first & second films, Selene is born to a Hungarian family; her father, mother, her older sister Cecilia, and her baby twin nieces. Selene is estimated to have been born around the year 1383.
At some point, Selene's father is approached by a powerful warlord named Viktor with a commission to design and build a prison. According to the novelisations, Selene's father is well known as both a stone mason and blacksmith; and the commission involves the excavation of a new dungeon and prison under a fortress of Viktor's, as well as striking two unique keys for one cell in particular. Selene is around 6-7-years-old when work on the prison is completed.
Seven years later, at around the age of 13 to 14 years, Selene becomes an aunt to her older sister's twin daughters.
During the winter of Lucian's escape, about 6-years-later, Viktor fears that Lucian may know of William, the progenitor of all werewolves, (given that Lucian, whether he knew it or not, was now holding one of the keys to William's prison): To Keep the Location of William's prison a secret, Viktor kills everyone involved in the construction of the prison and anyone who may have visited or seen the fortress. One night, Viktor prowls into the farm of Selene's family, kills, and feeds upon them one-by-one. When he comes across Selene, however, he finds that he 'could not bear the thought of draining [her] dry', (as described by Kraven) '[Selene], who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja'.
That night, Viktor turns Selene into a vampire. She is 19 years old when turned. He leads her to believe that the culprits of the murder of her family are Lycans and that Viktor saved her from them. He claims to have been tracking The Lycans when they led him to her family's farm. With the strength of a vampire, Viktor tells Selene, she can avenge them all. Selene is the only survivor to have walked through the corridors of the fortress. Viktor does not kill her because of her resemblance to his deceased daughter and his belief that she is much too young to remember where exactly the fortress' location is.
Selene goes on to become a Death Dealer, fighting against the Lycans for vengeance. For the centuries that follow, (the better part of a thousand years) she serves under Viktor with blind loyalty, remaining in the dark about her family's murder by none other than Viktor himself.
On Viktor's orders, Selene exiles Andreas Tanis, the Coven's official historian. At some point, she also becomes the unwilling object of the romantic interests of Kraven, the Coven's regent.
Underworld[]
After a confrontation with the Lycan hitman Raze, she discovers what is supposedly a Lycan lair. She is angry when Kraven dismisses her claims, not knowing that Kraven is in league with the Lycan leader Lucian in a bid to take over the control of the vampire realm from the Elders.
She tracks down Michael Corvin, in whom she believes the Lycans hava an interest. Against the sacred laws of The Vampire Covenant, she and Michael, who is infected with the lycanthropy virus, fall in love.
She awakens Viktor from his deep slumber (torpor), believing that only he has the power to deal with the conspiracy between Kraven and Lucian. She then leads a mass assault on the Lycans' underground bunker.
After Michael is shot with silver nitrate by Kraven, Selene is forced to infect Michael with her vampire strain in order to save his life, thus making him the first hybrid. She also learns the truth about the identity of her family's killer from Kraven; she strikes Viktor down while the Elder is preoccupied fighting Michael. She then retrieves Sonja's pendant, carrying on her legacy.
Underworld: Evolution[]
In Underworld: Evolution, after Viktor's death, Selene and Michael go on the run from both Lycans and Vampires. They are confronted by Markus, the last surviving Vampire Elder. He is now a Vampire-Dominant Hybrid, due to his ingesting the blood of Lycan scientist Singe, which seeped into his chamber. As Markus attacks her, Michael intervenes and battles him to protect her.
After narrowly escaping Markus and the sunlight, Selene and Michael take refuge in a warehouse and begin a sexual relationship. Selene also finds that she has seen the pendant that Markus was trying to get, when she was a child. In order to find out why Markus was after the pendant, she seeks out Andreas Tanis. Tanis tells her the truth about her family's slaughter, (they were killed after Lucian began his revolution to keep William from being freed,) and reveals to her that, contrary to popular belief, Markus, not Viktor, is the original vampire.
He then sets up a meeting for her and Michael with Alexander Corvinus, Markus's father and the first true immortal. Selene is angered at Alexander for not removing the threat his sons, Markus and William, posed long ago. Alexander retorts by asking her if she would murder her own son. An interruption by Markus, in which Michael is seemingly killed, also results in Selene's memories of the fortress to be revealed to Markus through her blood. Alexander, dying from his son's attack, tells Selene that the only way to defeat Markus and William is to drink his legendary immortal blood, adding that she will become "The Future". Selene gains greater strength and new powers from Alexander's blood.
She and a squad of Alexander's Cleaners (who, like Michael, are Alexander's descendants through his third son) invade William's dungeon, trying to stop the threat. They arrive too late, however, and Selene is forced to fight Markus. Markus is shocked at the smell of his father's blood coursing through Selene's veins. Locking Markus in William's dungeon, Selene discovers that William infected all surviving members of the six Cleaners escorting her, all of which become Lycans.
Markus kills the last remaining Cleaners who are operating a helicopter which provides close air support/suppressing-fire. When it crashes, the rotors continue to spin dangerously close to those in the fray.
Selene fights Markus once more, and the Elder drives his wing talon through her chest. Selene, empowered by Alexander's ancient and pure blood, tears away the talon and drives it upwards through Markus's skull before throwing him into the moving rotor blades and killing him. After Selene defeats Markus and Michael defeats William, sunlight lands on Selene's arm, revealing that Alexander's blood has purged the vampiric weakness to sunlight.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans[]
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans is a 2009 American film directed by Patrick Tatopoulos. It is the third installment (chronologically the first) in the Underworld series, focusing primarily on the origins of some characters and the events leading to the vampire–lycan war, depicted in the previous films Underworld and Underworld: Evolution.
As shown in the film, the original werewolves were uncontrollable beasts, unable to retake human form once bitten. However, there was a single werewolf who gave birth to a human-looking child. This child carried a mutation of the original pathogen, permitting him to alternate between human and werewolf form. He was Lucian, dubbed by Viktor as "the first of the lycans".
The vampires used the lycans as slaves to be the guardians of their lairs during the daylight hours and labor during the night. However, Viktor's daughter, Sonja, and Lucian fell in love and she became pregnant. Lucian, the lycan leader, led a revolt after Viktor killed Sonja to prevent the blending of the species. The opening scene of the first Underworld film is then shown with the voice of vampire Kraven revealing to Selene that it was Viktor who killed her family, not the Lycans. Kraven adds that Viktor spared Selene's life because she reminded him of his executed daughter Sonja. Selene, unaware of the truth, dismisses Kraven's statement as "lies".
Underworld: Awakening[]
In Underworld: Awakening, Selene escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans, and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species. However, Selene and her two new allies; David (a young vampire) and Detective Sebastian (who lost his wife after being discovered as a vampire), discover a hidden conspiracy from rogue members of the Lycan clan within the humans' war against both species, and also finds that she has mothered a child with Michael, Eve, who was born during Selene's suspended animation.
Despite their never having met or become acquainted with one another since Eve's birth, Selene ultimately bonds with her daughter. Selene battles to rescue Eve and Michael, facing a 'Super Lycan', with abilities similar to her own including incredible healing rate and an immunity to silver. Eventually Selene kills the Super Lycan, and rescues Eve, who kills the Lycan doctor in charge, but when they go to rescue Michael (whom Selene had found and weakened the cryogenic tank of earlier), they find that he has already escaped and are unable to locate him, but Selene knows he will be hunted like Eve was.
Earlier in the film David offers her the opportunity to return to the vampire coven, in hopes she will consent to train a new generation of Death Dealers in response to both the human and Lycan threats, as many of their numbers are either in hiding from their enemies or dead.
Underworld: Blood Wars[]
Following the events of Awakening, Selene sends Eve away for her own safety with not even Selene knowing where she is. Selene keeps a lock of Eve's hair in remembrance and is hunted by the Lycans for Eve's location and the Vampires as a traitor for killing the Vampire Elder Viktor.
In response to the threat posed by new Lycan leader Marius, the Vampire Council agrees to grant Selene clemency in exchange for Selene training their Death Dealers to fight this new threat. David eventually convinces Selene to take the offer, but she is betrayed by Council member Semira and her lover Death Dealer Varga as Semira desires revenge for Viktor's death and mostly covets Selene's power for herself. With the help of David and Thomas, Selene escapes, but not before at least a litre of her blood is drained and Thomas killed.
Following Thomas' last wishes, David and Selene travel to the Nordic Coven where David is revealed to be the son of the Vampire Elder Amelia and her rightful heir. Selene meets Nordic warrior, Lena, who shows her the Nordic Coven's cocooning process, a process that enables them to access the "special place" between worlds and enhance their abilities. Shortly afterwards, Marius and his Lycans attack the Coven and Selene is defeated. Marius learns from Selene's blood memories that she truly does not know where Eve is and remembering that Lena told her the cocooning process starts with the Vampire submerging themselves in water, Selene submerges herself in a frozen lake. She is later retrieved by David and Lena and cocooned properly.
During the Lycan attack on the Eastern Coven, Selene returns with her powers enhanced by the cocooning, wearing the coat of a member of the Nordic Coven and with her hair having turned partially white. Selene leads the Nordic Vampires to the aid of the Eastern Coven and battles Marius, learning from his blood memories that he murdered her lover Michael and is using his blood to temporarily increase his own abilities (believing that Eve's blood will make this permanent). Selene uses her new speed to get behind Marius and rip out his spine, killing him. David is then able to use Marius' head to get the remaining Lycans to retreat.
Following the battle, Selene helps to treat the injured Vampires wounds and is elected one of the new Vampire Elders, alongside David and Lena, making Selene one of the three new leaders of the entire Vampire race. In a flash forward, it is revealed that Selene was reunited with Eve while at the Nordic Coven.