Lucian

Lucian is a fictional character and second-generation Lycan. He is the leader of the Lycan horde in the film Underworld and also appears in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans and in flashbacks in Underworld: Evolution. He is portrayed by actor Michael Sheen.

Background
Lucian was once a Lycan servant to the clan of the Vampires. At this stage, the Lycans were slaves to the Vampires, acting as their guardians during the daylight hours. In return, the Vampires locked them up at night, thus ensuring the survival of both bloodlines by not alerting the humans to their presence. They were treated like dogs, but Lucian had no complaints, although his high status among the servants may have contributed to this. He later helped defend the Vampires in the castle he served in against a horde of feral Lycans.

Lucian and the daughter of the Vampire Elder Viktor began a secret romance that eventually led to marriage and Sonja's pregnancy by Lucian. Viktor discovers this and condemns both of the lovers and their unborn child to death. Lucian is beaten with a silver-studded whip by Soren before Sonja is burned alive before his eyes. When night fell, the full moon rose and shone down on Lucian, allowing him to change into Lycan form and escape before Viktor could kill him. Before escaping he managed to take Sonja's pendant with him, the sole memento he would ever have of the love of his life. That night, the war between the Vampires and the Lycans began. After Sonja's death and Lucian's escape, Lucian raised an army of rogue Lycans and those who wished to fight against the vampires. His first accomplishment was capturing Viktor's silver mine.

Accordingly with Lucian's success, the Vampires began to demonise him. Lucian was the "most feared and ruthless leader ever to rule the Lycan clan", according to Selene in the opening of the first movie. Lucian had been a terrible and dangerous Lycan, and the major instigater of the war between the species. Vampiric lore says that the Lycans began the war almost a millennium ago. However, by the time the movie began, it was believed that Lucian's threat was over, and the Lycan himself was dead. According to the historical record The Fall of Lucian and His Army, written by Andreas Tanis (the Vampire's historian): "Of the scores of brave souls who entered Lucian's fortress, a single vampire survived; Kraven, who was richly rewarded for not only setting the great blaze, but for returning with evidence of the Lycan master's demise: the branded skin, cut from Lucian's very arm."

The quote tells of an incident in 1409, where a brave team of Death Dealers attacked Lucian's stronghold, and a great battle ensued. Kraven struck a deal with Lucian that night, returning to the Vampire coven with the branded skin from Lucian's arm while Lucian went into hiding.

Underworld
Six centuries passed before anyone began to suspect that Lucian had indeed survived. By that time, Lucian had formed an alliance with the exiled vampire historian Andreas Tanis. Tanis provided Lucian with ultra-violet ammunition to aid in the war against the vampires (the ammunition acted as an artificial sunlight that burnt vampires from the inside-out). In return Lucian provided Tanis with first-generation Lycans as guard dogs, and with a relatively comfortable existence.

Lucian's obsession with the Corvinus bloodline was later revealed to be a by-product of his desire to recombine the bloodlines, using a pure sample of the immortality virus, which he believed could be found in the blood of Alexander Corvinus' mortal descendants. Lucian found a scientist named Singe, and offered him immortality in return for cracking the genetic code of the Corvinus line. Lucian periodically sent out Raze, Pierce, Taylor, and Trix - his oldest and most trusted lieutenants - to capture members of the Corvinus family. At one point, Raze and Trix were sent to capture Michael Corvin, but were ambushed by three Death Dealers in the process. Raze killed two of them, Rigel and Nathaniel. The third, Selene, escaped after killing Trix.

Hearing of Raze's failure, and frustrated by his continuing failures with other members of the Corvinus line, Lucian decided to capture Michael himself. He personally acquired a sample of Michael's blood, infecting Michael with the Lycan virus and imparting his own memories to Michael. Until then, Lucian had appeared to be a vile and evil mastermind bent on the destruction of the coven and obsessed with the Corvinus line. However, as Michael came to terms with the visions he was experiencing, he began to understand the last six centuries from Lucian's point of view.

The first step in Lucian's revenge required the blood of Michael Corvin. Lucian knew that merely injecting himself with Michael's blood would not be enough; he needed the blood of a Vampire Elder as well because the blood of a vampire Elder would make him a powerful Hybrid. Lucian sent Pierce and Taylor to abduct Michael, and he sent Raze - and a team of fully transformed Lycans - to bleed Amelia, a Vampire Elder, dry. Before Raze could return with Amelia's blood, Kraven arrived, followed by Viktor and a horde of Death Dealers. Before Lucian could react to this turn of events, he was betrayed by Kraven, who shot him in the back with silver nitrate bullets that are designed to send the silver nitrate straight into the bloodstream, killing a lycan much faster.

He regained consciousness several minutes later, just in time to see Michael and Selene together. Finally understanding how history was repeating itself, and realizing that his part was finished, Lucian was almost prepared to accept his fate, until he saw Kraven. Weak and bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds Lucian crawled on his hands and knees into an alcove behind Kraven. Although he could not reach him in time to stop Kraven from shooting Michael, Lucian stabbed Kraven in the leg, and instructed Selene to bite Michael, rationalizing that it would negate the ill effects of the silver and finish his work to create a blending of the bloodlines. As Selene sank her fangs into Michael's neck, Lucian proclaimed his victory over Kraven. Kraven then shot Lucian in the chest with multiple liquid silver nitrate rounds, thus killing him.