Underworld Vampires and Lycans: Origins, Powers and the War

Underworld vampires are an organized, aristocratic species that lives in covens led by elders, and they keep a standing force of Death Dealers to hunt Lycans. In Underworld (2003), Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, is exactly that: a vampire Death Dealer who keeps hunting Lycans even though many of her kind believe the enemy is almost wiped out.

The hierarchy matters for the plot. Viktor, played by Bill Nighy, is the elder whose word is law, and Amelia is another elder who is killed by Lycans in the first film. With the elders absent, the coven is led by Kraven, and Selene wakes Viktor early to warn him about Kraven, though Viktor brushes her concerns aside. By Underworld: Blood Wars the structure has shifted to regional covens such as the Eastern Coven and the Nordic Coven, each with its own council and elders, and Selene is asked to train a new class of Death Dealers.

Can vampires give birth in the Underworld films? The films say yes. Viktor has a daughter, Sonja, and in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans she is carrying a child when Viktor puts her to death. David is the son of Thomas and the Grand Elder Amelia, which Vidar reveals in Blood Wars, and Eve is the daughter of Selene, a vampire, and Michael, a hybrid. Eve is a hybrid herself, so a vampire parent does not guarantee a purebred child.

One development is worth tracking across the sequels. At the end of Underworld: Evolution, Selene discovers that Alexander Corvinus's blood has made her immune to sunlight, which sets her apart from every other vampire in the later films.

Lycans are the werewolves of Underworld, a species that began as an enslaved workforce for the vampire coven and grew into its greatest enemy. Rise of the Lycans (2009), directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, shows that origin: Viktor keeps a line of enslaved Lycans bound to serve the coven, and the film is set centuries before the events of the 2003 film.

Lucian, played by Michael Sheen, is the pivot. He is born a Lycan but can take human form, so Viktor uses him as a trusted worker and go between for the others. His bond with Sonja is forbidden, and when Viktor discovers it, Lucian breaks out and pulls the free werewolves together into an army. By the time of Underworld (2003) he leads the Lycans in a hidden war, and Kraven kills him late in that film.

Lycans are also the species with the biggest physical range. Underworld: Awakening introduces a huge Super Lycan called Quint, and Selene only beats him by luring him into his weaker human form and killing him with a silver grenade. In the same film, Lycans have also moved into the human world: Antigen, a company run by Lycans posing as humans, is led by Dr. Jacob Lane. In Blood Wars the Lycans are led by Marius and have driven the vampire covens close to extinction.

The Lycan scientist Singe in the first film is a reminder that this species is not only claws. The Lycans have researchers, leaders and a plan, and that is much of why the war lasts across five films.

In the Underworld films, Lycan and werewolf describe the same family of creatures, and the useful difference on screen is control. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans shows wild werewolves roaming outside Viktor's fortress and growing more dangerous, while Lucian stands out because he is the first Lycan able to look human.

That ability to hold a human shape is what separates the Lycans the story follows from the feral kind. Lucian is a trusted worker and go between inside the fortress, and a later Lycan such as Quint has a weaker human form alongside his monstrous one. The first werewolf, William Corvinus, is the source of the line.

The films never publish a clean rulebook for the difference, so the safest reading is the one the story shows: werewolf is the base creature, and Lycan is the version that can take a human form, organize and wage a war. As an aside, the human form is also the weak point on screen, since it is the form Quint is killed in with a silver grenade.

The films tie both species to a common ancestor, but they show where the werewolf line began and say little about vampires. In Underworld (2003) the Lycan scientist Singe explains that Michael descends from a common ancestor of both races and could become a hybrid of the two.

On the werewolf side, William Corvinus is the first werewolf, and Marcus, the elder who awakens as a hybrid at the end of the first film, is his twin brother. Underworld: Evolution names Alexander Corvinus, the first immortal, as the father of Marcus, William and a third brother. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans adds the later chapter, in which Viktor keeps a line of enslaved Lycans and Lucian is the first able to look human. The full family history is on the Corvinus bloodline page, and the story in order is on the Underworld timeline.

The films give a clear answer on where the first werewolf sits in the family, but they give no detailed answer for where vampires came from originally. Marcus is among the elders who lead the vampires, yet no vampire creation scene appears in the five films.

The films show Lycans living for centuries, but they never state that Lycans are immortal, and they can certainly be killed. Lucian is the clearest evidence of a long life: he is an adult worker in Rise of the Lycans, which is set centuries before the original film, and he is still leading the Lycans in Underworld (2003).

The deaths on screen make the other half of the point. Kraven kills Lucian, Michael kills William in Evolution, and Selene kills Quint with a silver grenade. So, if you are asking whether a Lycan can be killed, the answer is yes, and a silver grenade is the method shown against Quint. If you are asking how long one can live, the honest answer is a very long time, with no official number from the filmmakers.

Hybrids are characters with both vampire and Lycan blood, and they are the biggest change to the war after the first film. Michael Corvin, played by Scott Speedman, is a human doctor in Underworld (2003) whom the Lycans track because he descends from a common ancestor of both races. After Lucian bites him, he could become a hybrid of the two, and Marcus awakens as a hybrid at the end of the film.

Evolution shows what that means in practice. Michael wakes in full hybrid form after seeming dead, and he kills William. Awakening then introduces Eve, the hybrid daughter of Selene and Michael, and Dr. Lane wants her DNA to strengthen the Lycan race. In Blood Wars, Marius wants Selene's help finding Eve because her blood could let him build an army of hybrids. The hybrid is therefore both a person and a resource, which explains why both sides chase Eve. David, a vampire who also appears in Awakening, is the son of Thomas and the Grand Elder Amelia, and his bloodline claim to the Eastern Coven shows how much the franchise cares about lineage.

The war runs from Viktor's fortress in Rise of the Lycans to the Eastern Coven in Blood Wars, with hybrids and humans changing its course along the way. Rise of the Lycans (2009) opens the conflict in the open after Sonja's death, when Lucian storms Viktor's fortress and appears to kill him, though Viktor is only sealed away in a long sleep.

In Underworld (2003), the war is hidden. Selene kills Viktor after learning that he killed her family, Kraven kills Lucian, and Selene and Michael flee as outcasts from both worlds. Evolution adds the ancient Corvinus brothers: Marcus kills Kraven and his men, and Selene kills Marcus by pushing him into helicopter rotor blades. Awakening changes the shape of the story, because humans learn about both species and start a mass extermination called the Purge. Selene is frozen in cryogenic suspension, and she wakes about twelve years later. Blood Wars returns to the covens, where the Lycans under Marius nearly finish the vampires before Selene tears out Marius's spine and the Lycans retreat. The ending leaves Selene, David and Lena as the new Elders. The five film order is listed under how many Underworld movies, and the status of any new film, which has no confirmed title or date, is on the Underworld 6 page.

In my opinion, Underworld Lycans are stronger in raw force and vampires are stronger in training and numbers, but neither species wins the war without a hybrid or a Corvinus on its side. That is a judgment call, and it comes from what the films show, so let me lay out the case.

The argument for the Lycans: they are bigger and more varied. Quint in Awakening is a huge Super Lycan, and Marius in Blood Wars leads a Lycan force that has the vampire covens close to being wiped out. The Lycans also adapt, moving from fortress labor to a company like Antigen that hides among humans.

The argument for the vampires: they have the hierarchy, the elders and the Death Dealers. Selene is the single best proof, since she is a vampire who kills Viktor, Marcus and Marius across three different films, and after Evolution she carries Alexander's blood, which strengthens her for the fights with Marcus and Marius. A coven with a trained assassin can beat a larger pack.

So, who is stronger? If you ask me, the better question is who has the best hybrid. Michael kills William in Evolution, and Eve is the prize in Blood Wars, so the species that controls a hybrid controls the war. That being said, the weak point on the Lycan side is clear on screen: the human form that Quint is killed in with a silver grenade. For a first viewing, start with Underworld (2003), and for a ranking of the films themselves, see Underworld movies ranked.