Selene (Underworld)

Selene
Underworld character
Kate Beckinsale portrays Selene.
First appearance	Underworld
Created by	Kevin Grevioux Len Wiseman & Danny McBride
Portrayed by	Kate Beckinsale Lily Mo Sheen (Child)
Information
Species	Human (originally) Vampire (formerly) Vampire-Corvinus Strain Hybrid (currently)
Gender	Female
Occupation	Former Death Dealer
Family	Unnamed father (deceased) Unammed mother (deceased) Unnamed sister (deceased) Unnamed twin nieces (deceased) Viktor (adoptive father, deceased)
Spouse(s)	Michael Corvin (lover)
Children	Eve (daughter, with Michael)
Nationality	Hungarian

Selene is a fictional character from the Underworld film series. She is the protagonist of Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Awakening. She is portrayed by Kate Beckinsale and also by Beckinsale's daughter, Lily Mo Sheen, in Underworld: Evolution in flashback scenes as a child.

Creation

The Marvel Comics character Selene inspired the vampire Selene seen in Underworld.

Selene was created by Kevin Grevioux, Len Wiseman, and Danny McBride. According to Kevin Grevioux, Selene is based loosely off of the Marvel Comics character of the same name.

Her name also derives from the ancient lunar deity Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia.

Fictional character biography

As revealed in the first film, Selene was born to a Hungarian family. Her father was a well-known Blacksmith and Architect, when both his daughters were children, he was commissioned to design a fortress for a general named Viktor. The fortress was actually to serve as a dungeon, intended for the imprisonment of the Werewolf, William Corvinus, condemned for his bloody and destructive behavior and to keep Vampire Elder Markus under Viktor's control.

After the aftermath of Lucian's escape from Viktor, Viktor feared that Lucian may know of William, the progenitor of the Lycans: To keep the secret of William's prison from being known by Lucian, Viktor personaly killed everyone involved in the fortress' construction, and anyone who may have been-to or seen the fortress. One night, he prowled onto the farm of the fortress' architect and his family killed, and fed upon them one-by-one. When he came across Selene, however, he found that he 'could not bear the thought of draining [her] dry', (as Craven described it,) '[Selene], who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja'.

That night he turned her into a vampire, leading her to belive that the culprits of her family's murders were Lycans; she was led to believe that Viktor had saved her from Lycans he claimed to have been tracking and led him to her family's farm; and that with the strength of a vampire, she could avenge them all: After Lycans had purportedly killed her family, Selene was the only one left alive who had walked through the corridors of the fortress, as Viktor believed that she would have been much too young to remember where exactly the fortress' location was.

She would go-on to become a Death Dealer, fighting against the Lycans for vengeance on the atrocities she believed they had committed against her family; for the centuries that followed, (the better part of a thousand years,) she would serve under Viktor with blind loyalty, remaining in the dark that her entire family had been slain by none other than Viktor himself; and that Viktor had only let her live because of her resemblance to his deceased daughter, though Viktor grew to love her as his own through the centuries.

On Viktor's orders, Selene would exile Andreas Tanis, the Coven's Official Historian. At some point, she would also become the unwilling object of Kraven, the Coven's regents romantic interests.

After a confrontation with the Lycan hitman Raze, she discovered what was supposedly a Lycan lair. She was angry when Kraven dismissed her claims, not knowing that Kraven was in league with the Lycan leader Lucian in a bid to take over the control of the vampire realm from the Elders.

She tracked down Michael Corvin, who she believed the Lycans had an interest in. Against the sacred rules of The Vampire Covenant, she and Michael, who was infected with the lycanthropy virus, fell in love.

She awakened Viktor from his deep slumber, believing that only he has the power to deal with the conspiracy between Kraven and Lucian. She then led a mass assault on the Lycans' underground bunker.

After Michael was shot by Kraven, Selene was forced to infect Michael with her vampire strain, thus making him the first hybrid, a Lycan dominant hybrid. She also learned the truth about her family's killer from Kraven, and she struck Viktor down while the Elder was preoccupied with fighting Michael. She then retrieved Sonja's pendant, carrying on her legacy.

In Underworld: Evolution, after Viktor's death, Selene and Michael went on the run from both Lycans and Vampires. They were confronted by Marcus, the last surviving Vampire Elder. He was now a Vampire-Dominant Hybrid, due to the blood of Lycan scientist Singe, which had seeped into his chamber. As Marcus attacks her, Michael intervenes and battles him to protect her.

After narrowly escaping Marcus and the sunlight, Selene and Michael take refuge in a warehouse and start a sexual relationship. Selene also finds that she has seen the pendant that Marcus was trying to get, when she was a child. In order to find out why Marcus was after the pendant, she sought out Andreas Tanis. Tanis told her the truth about her family's slaughter, (they were killed after Lucian began his revolution to keep William from being freed,) and revealed to her that, contrary to popular belief, Marcus, not Viktor, is the original vampire.

He then set up a meeting for her and Michael with Alexander Corvinus, Marcus's father and the first true immortal. Selene was angered at Alexander for not removing the threat his sons, Marcus and William, posed long ago. Alexander retorted by asking her if she would murder her own son. An interruption by Marcus, in which Michael is seemingly killed, also results in Selene's memories of the fortress to be revealed to Marcus through her blood. Alexander, dying from his son's attack, told Selene that the only way to defeat Marcus and William would be to drink his legendary immortal blood, adding that she would become "The Future". Selene gained greater strength and new powers from Alexander's blood.

She and a squad of Alexander's Cleaners, (who, like Micheal, are Alexander's descentants through his third son,) invaded William's dungeon, trying to stop the threat. They arrived too late, however, and Selene was forced to fight Marcus. Marcus was shocked by smelling his father's blood coursing through Selene's veins. Locking Marcus in William's dungeon, Selene discovered that William had infected all surviving members of the six Cleaners escorting her, all of which have become Lycans themselves.

On the verge of being overwhelmed she was saved by Michael, who was revived by his Hybrid powers and the helicopter the Cleaners used-which provided support fire with a machine gun until Marcus pulled it out of the sky, causing it to crash and kill the last two Cleaners but leaving its blades spinning.

Selene fought Marcus once more, and the Elder drove his wing talon through Selene's chest. Selene, empowered by Alexander's blood, tore away the talon and drove it up Marcus's skull before throwing him into helicopter blades and killing him. After Selene defeats Marcus, and Michael defeats William, sunlight lands on Selene's arm, showing that Alexander's blood has taken away the vampiric weakness to sunlight.

Selene briefly appears at the end of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, which was also the opening scene of the first Underworld, with the audio from the scene where Kraven tells Selene that it was Viktor who murdered her family, rather than the Lycans, and that Viktor spared her because she reminded him of the daughter he condemned to death; Selene replies to Kraven, "Lies."

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 two of her 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 clans, and also finds that she has mothered a child with Michael, Eve, who was born during Selene's suspended animation.

Despite never had a chance to know each other since Eve's birth, Selene ultimately affectionately bonds with her daughter. Selene battles to rescue Eve and Michael, facing a 'Super Lycan', with abilities similar to her own including incredible healing abilities 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, (who Selene had found and weakened the cryo tank of earlier,) they find him already escaped and are unable to locate him, but Selene knows he will be hunted like Eve was.

David also offers her the opportunity of returning to the vampire coven, in hopes she would train some of the members into Death Dealers in offensive against both the humans and Lycans, as many of them either in hiding from their enemies or dead.

Skills and abilities

She is proficient with many weapons, both medieval and modern. Modern firearms that she uses include the Walther P99 and a variety of automatic machine pistols. In both films, she is seen jumping from a ledge at least one hundred feet and landing without injury.

As a Vampire, Selene frequently demonstrates superior physical abilities. She uses superhuman strength to pin Michael against a wall with one hand to his throat several feet off the ground, performs spectacular leaps, manhandle four police officers, strike her enemies with tremendous force, and kill younger Vampires with just a few blows. She moves with incredible celerity, able to move between streets and run across hallways appearing as nothing more than a blurred image. She has superhuman physical endurance and healing, able to take a shotgun blast to the abdomen without flinching, recover after being burned by sunlight, and was slammed against stone walls, breaking the stones, but with no ill effects. She also has the ability to hold her breath for long amounts of time, as Humans needed SCUBA to make an underwater dive in Underworld: Evolution.

After fortifying herself with Alexander Corvinus' blood, her abilities increase and she goes face to face with Markus, the first Vampire, in his hybrid form. She also displays advanced healing capabilities as she was able to withstand Markus sending his wing talon through her chest and seemed to be completly unaffected by it. After she receives Alexander's blood, she is also able to withstand direct sunlight. She is also powerful enough to battle a near-unbeatable Super Lycan. During her last fight with him, she shows her incredible strength by ramming her arm right through his chest, a feat previously unseen by vampires. Another example of her immense strength is shown when she tackles a moving van causing it to crash in a parking lot. She also possesses an immunity to werewolf bites that would be deadly to normal vampires.

In other media

Selene appears in the video game Underworld: The Eternal War. Selene is the third-person shooter throughout the missions.

Production background

Beckinsale at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2006

In 2003's Underworld, Beckinsale became known as an actor and stated that it was markedly different to her previous work and Beckinsale has said she was grateful for the change of pace after appearing in "a bunch of period stuff and then a bunch of romantic comedies." "It was quite a challenge for me to play an action heroine and pull off all that training when [in real life] I can’t catch a ball if it’s coming my way." The film received negative to mixed reviews but was a surprise box office hit and has gained a cult following.

In September 2003, shortly after the release of Underworld, production companies Screen Gems and Lakeshore planned to release a prequel as the third film following Underworld's sequel, Underworld: Evolution. Kate Beckinsale, who portrayed Selene in Underworld, expressed interest in reprising her role for the sequel and the prequel.

In 2006, Beckinsale reprised her role as Selene in the successful vampire sequel Underworld: Evolution, directed by her husband. It was the first time she had "been involved with a movie from the moment it’s a germ of an idea right through the whole editing process." Her daughter had a small role as the younger Selene, and took direction well: "I didn’t think she would take either of us that seriously. We both envisaged a situation where it would be kind of like trying to get her into a snow suit. She suddenly became highly professional ... She said, “Could you call me Selene?” I certainly don’t insist on being called Selene, so she didn’t get that from me."

In a June 2006 interview, When asked if Kate Beckinsale would reprise her role as Selene in the prequel, Wiseman said, "It will be in the time period before, but it will overlap into the creation of her as well. We're in the process of seeing how far we go with that."

In the actual film, Selene appears briefly at the end. Beckinsale did not film new footage, a scene from Underworld was used to bookend the film. Beckinsale also provided a monologue for the beginning of the film.

"It’s like putting your wedding dress on, or putting your school uniform on, it’s like a time-warp feeling."

—Kate Beckinsale, about her return as Selene.

Beckinsale returned to the role of Selene for the fourth installment of the vampire franchise Underworld: Awakening. She "wasn’t intending to do another one" but was convinced by the quality of the script: "You really want to see stakes that mean something in these kind of movies. Otherwise, it really is just lots of explosions and people running around in tight clothes."

Publication history

Selene appears in the non-canon novel Underworld: Blood Enemy, written by Greg Cox. Selene is responsible for the death of renegade Lycan Leyba, tracking her down after Leyba's forces attack a Lycan weapons deal and are responsible for the deaths of both the Lycans and another member of Selene's team. During the confrontation with Leyba, Leyba briefly reflects that Selene's eyes are like 'hers' (Sonja's), but Selene never learns the meaning of this comment before she kills Leyba. Leyba's goals remain a mystery to Selene.

Selene also appears in the IDW Publishing Underworld series. Selene is portrayed as having the same characterization as seen in the film. Selene also appears in the sequel novelization series for Underworld: Evolution. The only novelization series of Underworld she hasn't appear in is the novelization for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Reception

While reviewers generally received the first film negatively, criticizing the overacting and lack of character development, a smaller number of reviewers praised elements such as the film's stylish Gothic visuals, the "icy English composure" in Kate Beckinsale's performance, and the extensively worked-out vampire-werewolf mythology that serves as the film's backstory.

A few scenes of Underworld: Evolution were shown in a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, in July 2005; however, these scenes did not contain any plot spoilers of the new script, with attendees only being informed about the new hybrids by production designer Patrick Tatopoulos. The previewing was well-received as hundreds of fans waited hours to see a clip of the film as well as Kate Beckinsale and the other stars of the movie.

Due to the impact of the films, action figures for Selene were created, all designed by Mezco. Their size is 5 inches in scale. They all come with display base and accessories.

See also

• Woman warrior
• List of women warriors in folklore

External links

• Underworld Official Website
• Underworld Evolution official Website
• Selene at the Internet Movie Database
• "Selene," Underworld Wiki