Selene

Selene is a fictional character from Underworld and Underworld: Evolution. She is the main protagonist in the films and is portrayed by Kate Beckinsale as an adult and by Lily Sheen as a child.

Curiously, Selene's age is stated in the novelization of the second movie as being roughly 600 years old, however, flashbacks in the first film imply she was originally supposed to be much younger. An official promotional booklet distributed with the original Underworld places her exact age at 127 years old in that film.

Background
Selene was born to a Hungarian family sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Her father was a well-known architect who helped design the fortress for a general named Viktor. The fortress was actually a dungeon intended for the imprisonment of the Lycan Elder, William Corvinus, condemned for his bloody and destructive behavior as a definite persona non grata for Viktor. After Lycans presumably killed her family, Selene was the only one left alive who had walked through the corridors of the fortress. However, she did not know that her family was slain by Viktor himself, and believed Viktor had saved her from the Lycans. The night her family was killed, she was made into a Vampire by Viktor.

She became a Death Dealer, fighting against the Lycans for vengeance. She was an object of the Coven's regent, Kraven's obsession, though she did not return the feeling. She also exiled the Official Historian, Andreas Tanis, on Viktor's orders.

Selene appears to be very serious and bitter as she rarely smiles. 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 movies, she is seen jumping from a ledge from at least 100 feet in the air and landing without injury.

Selene frequently demonstrates superhuman physical abilities. She uses super strength to pin Michael against a wall several feet off the ground, performs spectacular leaps, and strikes her enemies with tremendous force. She kills younger Vampires with just a few blows. She takes a shotgun blast to the abdomen without flinching and manhandles four police officers as if they were rag dolls. She also apparently has a large lung capacity, as humans needed SCUBA to make the dive while she did it with one breath. After fortifying herself with some of Alexander Corvinus' blood, she is able to lift people with one arm and go toe to toe with Marcus in his hybrid (half-bat) form. She has been slammed against stone walls, breaking the stones, but with no ill effects.



Underworld
After a confrontation with the Lycan hitman Raze, Selene discovers what is supposedly a Lycan lair. She becomes angry when Kraven dismisses her claims, not knowing that he 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, whom she believs the Lycans have an unusual interest in. Against the sacred rules of the covenant, she and Michael, who is infected with the lycanthropy disease, fall in love. She awakens Viktor from his deep slumber, believing that only he had 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 by a jealous Kraven, Selene is forced to infect Michael with her Vampire strain, thus making him the first lycan-vampire hybrid. She also learns the truth about her family's killer from Kraven, and she strikes Viktor down while the Elder is preoccupied with fighting Michael. She then retrievs Sonja's pendant, carrying on her legacy.

Underworld: Evolution
After Viktor's death, Selene and Michael go on the run from both Lycans and Vampires. They are confronted by Marcus, the last surviving Vampire Elder. As Marcus attacks Selene, Michael intervens and battles him to protect her. After narrowly escaping Marcus and the sunlight, Selene and Michael take refuge in a warehouse, where they share their feelings and have passionate sex. Selene discovers that she has a distant memory of Sonja's pendant from when she was a child.

In order to find out why Marcus wants after the pendant, she seeks out Andreas Tanis. Tanis tells her the truth about her family's slaughter and reveals to her that, contrary to popular belief; Marcus, not Viktor, is the original Vampire. He then sets up a meeting for Selene and Michael with Alexander Corvinus, Marcus' father and the first true immortal.

Selene becomes angry with Alexander for not removing the threat his sons, Marcus and William, posed long ago. Alexander then retorts by asking her if she would murder her own son. Marcus attacks and seemingly kills Michael, before drinking Selene's blood to gain her memories of the location of his twin brother's prison. Alexander tells Selene that the only way to defeat Marcus and William would be to drink his blood, adding that she would become "The Future". Selene gains greater strength and new powers from Alexander's blood.

Selene and a squad of Alexander's Cleaners invade William's dungeon, trying to stop the threat. They arrive too late, however, and Selene is forced to fight Marcus. Marcus is shocked to smell his father's blood coursing through Selene's veins. After locking Marcus in William's dungeon, Selene discovers that William has infected all the Cleaners, who are now becoming Lycans themselves. On the verge of being overwhelmed, she is saved by Michael, who was resurrected through his Hybrid powers. Selene battles Marcus once more, and the Elder drives his wing talon through Selene's chest. Selene, empowered by Alexander's blood, tears away the talon and drives it into Marcus' skull before throwing him into helicopter blades and killing him.

After Selene kills Marcus and Michael kills William, she discovers that she is able to stand in the sunlight. The pure Corvinus Strain from Alexander Corvinus fused with her Vampire strain, thus phenomenally enhancing her strength and healing to a level equivalent to that of a Vampire-dominant Hybrid, even being able to withstand direct exposure to sunlight.