Selene

Selene is a Vampire Death Dealer, sired by Viktor after he had slaughtered her family unbeknownst to her. She was born to Hungarian parents sometime in 1383. Later in the story, she becomes the first Vampire-Corvinus Strain Hybrid. Her lover is Michael Corvin, and they have a daughter together, Eve.

She is the main protagonist of Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Awakening. She is portrayed by actress Kate Beckinsale, and as a child by Lily Sheen. In Underworld: Endless War, her voice is provided by Laura Harris.

Selene (portrayed by Kate Beckinsale)

 "Selene's almost forgotten she's a woman, she's absolutely focused on revenge and killing, and she's really good at it. Then, she meets Michael, she starts to get a... kind of memory of what it's like to be human, and to be with humans. She's not completely human, but she is actually 'human' somewhere underneath there." ~ Actress Kate Beckinsale, on Selene.

Selene was born to a Hungarian family sometime in the year 1383. Her father was a well-known architect who helped design a fortress for a Vampire general, Viktor. The fortress was a dungeon intended for the imprisonment of the Werewolf William Corvinus, who was condemned for his bloody and destructive behavior. As a child, Selene had roamed the halls of the dungeon alongside her sister, and drew on its walls.

To keep the location of William's prison secret, Viktor killed Selene's entire family. However, he could not kill Selene, because she reminded him of his deceased daughter, Sonja, who he had killed after she became pregnant by a Lycan. Instead, Viktor made her a Vampire. He lied to her, telling her a pack of Lycans had killed her family, ensuring that she would never betray the species as Sonja had. In retaliation, Selene became a Death Dealer, and began to hunt and kill Lycans, intending to drive them into extinction. According to the Underworld: Evolution novelization, Selene was 19 years old when Viktor turned her.

Kraven, the Coven’s regent, was obsessed with her, although she did not return the feeling. He pursued her for years, but she constantly rejected him, bruising his massive but fragile ego. Under the orders of Viktor, Selene exiled Andreas Tanis, the Coven historian. Selene believed that Tanis was spreading lies, as Viktor claimed, although this was another false truth. For 600 years, Selene remained loyal to Viktor, never believing anything ill of him.

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Sonja

Sonja is a Vampire whose story is pivotal in the Underworld series. She is portrayed in the original Underworld by Jázmin Dammak, and in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans as an adult by Rhona Mitra and as a child by Olivia Taylforth.

Sonja (portrayed by Rhona Mitra)

Sonja, daughter to the powerful Vampire Elder, Viktor, was born in the year 1210, 3 years after the birth of the first Lycan. Nothing is known of her mother, Ilona, except that she died in labor. At a very young age, Viktor gifts Sonja with a pendant, which she wears most of her life.

An exceptional warrior and a member of the Vampire Council, Sonja is being groomed by her father for an eventual position as an Elder, although she seems very uninterested in the prospect. Viktor insists that Sonja attend Council meetings, and fulfill her duties to the Coven, but Sonja ignores him and spends her nights chasing Werewolves and guarding the castle. She trained alongside the Death Dealers growing up, and feels more loyalty to her duty as a Vampire warrior than as a Council member. Whilst it is never explicitly stated that she is a Death Dealer, she just as skilled and deadly in combat as any of them and performs all the usual duties of a Death Dealer.

At some point, Sonja meets and falls in love with a Lycan slave, Lucian. Lucian is also enamored with her, and the two begin an affair. How the affair begins is never explained, though Lucian and Sonja are both born in the same general time period, and so grow up around each other. In front of Viktor and the other Vampires, Sonja is cold and uncaring towards Lucian. In private, the two secretly wed each other, and spend their days together. Things begin to unravel when Sonja realizes she is pregnant, and that they cannot continue to hide their affair for long. Frightened of her father's wrath, Sonja makes plans with Lucian to run away together. Before she leaves, she agrees to give her seat on the Council to Andreas Tanis in exchange for his silence, and a key to release Lucian from his shackles.

Before Sonja and Lucian put their escape plan into effect, Viktor discovers the secret passageway the two have been using to meet in secret. The Elder begins to suspect that something is amiss, and he bites Sonja, drinking her blood and learning the truth of her affair with Lucian. Lucian is able to escape the castle with a small group of fellow Lycans, but Sonja remains behind. Lucian returns for her, but Viktor and the Death Dealers begin to fight them. Despite Viktor's ill treatment of Sonja and Lucian, Sonja refuses to kill him. Instead, she reveals her pregnancy to him, hoping that this will make him accept Lucian as her husband. Viktor is horrified. He captures both Lucian and Sonja, and condemns them to death for their affair.

Lucian is chained to the floor in a large empty room, while Sonja is tied to a stake. While Sonja watches, Lucian is beaten by Soren with a silver whip. Once Lucian's torture is completed, Viktor and the Council members leave the room. A hole in the roof is then opened, exposing Sonja to sunlight and burning her alive. Lucian fights against the chains holding him down and screams her name as she dies. Later, once the moon rises, he is able to take on his Lycan form, and escapes the castle with her pendant. Lucian continues to wear the pendant as a reminder of Sonja for the next 600 years, until his death at the hands of Vampire Regent Kraven.

Sonja's death is a catalyst for Lucian's personal vendetta against the Vampires, although the slave rebellion truly started because of a desire for freedom.

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Andreas Tanis

Andreas Tanis is a cowardly Vampire of considerable age placed in exile by the order of Viktor, one of the Vampire Elders. He is portrayed in Underworld: Evolution and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans by English actor, Steven Mackintosh.

Andreas Tanis (portrayed by Steven Mackintosh)

During Viktor's reign, Tanis acts as notary during meetings of the first Vampire Council and is often tasked with locating Viktor's headstrong daughter, Sonja. During one of his trips to find Sonja, he discovers she is having an affair with a Lycan servant named Lucian. Instead of informing Viktor, he warns Lucian to not give it away, making the Lycan aware that he knows. When confronted by Sonja, Tanis admits he remains silent simply for his own benefit and agrees to aid the lovers in exchange for Sonja's seat on the council. He gives the imprisoned Lucian a key to the shackles preventing him from transforming into his wolf form.

Things spiral out of control when Viktor learns of the affair and condemns both Sonja and Lucian to death, sparking a war between the Vampire and Lycan species. After the death of Sonja, Lucian escapes his fate and returns with a horde of both Lycans and Werewolves, whom he uses to defeat the Coven and drive away the remaining Vampires. As Viktor prepares to face the Lycan horde with his Death Dealers, he orders Tanis to take the other two Elders to safety. Tanis and the three Elders leave what is now Lucian's castle by ship.

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Amelia

Amelia is a Vampire Elder of considerable age and strength. She appears in Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, and is portrayed by Hungarian supermodel and actress Zita Görög.

Amelia (portrayed by Zita Görög)

Born in the early 6th century, Amelia was most likely bitten by the first Vampire, Marcus Corvinus, to help control the chaos created by Marcus’s twin brother, William, the first Werewolf.

Amelia supported locking up William in a coffin-like prison in a remote place where Marcus could not find and release him due to William's uncontrollable rage and Marcus's inability to accept that he could not control him. The capture of William could not have happened without Amelia’s help. She became one of three Vampire Elders ruling the Vampire Coven, alongside Marcus and Viktor. She was allied with Viktor, who sought to undermine Marcus’s authority in light of Marcus's relationship with William.

During the events of Underworld, she is at the end of her century long reign, and is preparing to go into hibernation for the next two centuries as part of the Chain, which assures that only one Elder rules during each century. Having returned from New York by way of Vienna just one day before she is to awaken Marcus, Lycans ambush her and her entourage on a train they are using to get to the ceremony at the Vampire mansion. Though guards from the mansion are supposed to assist her, she has been betrayed by the Coven regent, Kraven, who struck a deal with Lycan leader Lucian to kill all three Elders and gain control of the Covens for himself. She is bled dry by Raze, a Lycan henchman, as part of Lucian's plot to turn himself into a Lycan-Vampire Hybrid.

Amelia is seen at the beginning of Underworld: Evolution in a flashback sequence depicting the capture of William, as well as current day events on board the Sancta Helena. Amelia's body is found by the Cleaners, a group of human mercenaries responsible for hiding the war between the Vampires and Lycans, and is taken to the Sancta Helena, a ship on which Alexander Corvinus, the original Immortal, resides. Alexander lays Amelia's body on a table, surrounded by the bodies of Lucian and Viktor.

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Viktor

Viktor is a Vampire Elder who appears in Underworld, Underworld: Evolution, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. He is portrayed by actor Bill Nighy. He is the main antagonist in both Underworld and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Viktor (portrayed by Bill Nighy)

Viktor was a Hungarian general and warlord born sometime in the mid to late 5th century. According to Andreas Tanis, Viktor was a ruthless and cruel feudal Hungarian warlord, and is described as having ruled over his domain with an iron fist. As Viktor was nearing the end of his life, Marcus Corvinus, the first Vampire, came to him with an offer: Immortality in exchange for Viktor's military expertise and army in combating the Werewolves, spawn of Marcus's own twin brother,William. When Marcus turned Viktor, the general became a first generation Vampire and Vampire Elder, and his army became the forerunners of what would later be known as the "Death Dealers".

In 1202 A.D., the Vampires were finally able to locate and capture William. Viktor promised Marcus he would not harm William, despite the Werewolf's uncontrollable nature. In order for him to deal with the problem without breaking his word, Viktor had Amelia, the third Vampire Elder, deal with William. Viktor and Amelia finally managed to find William and the Werewolf was captured. Viktor then betrayed Marcus, giving orders to keep William as far away from Marcus as possible. Viktor locked William away in a fortress, where he could not harm anyone or create more of his kind. However, with the Death Dealers loyal to Viktor, Marcus could do nothing. Viktor kept two keys to William's dungeon; the smaller one he kept in plain sight as a necklace worn by his daughter, Sonja, where Marcus could see it. The larger one, however, he kept with him at all times, going as far as to have a bronze frame welded to his ribcage to hold within him, where Marcus could never see it, as Viktor knew well that Marcus would free William if given the chance.

The relationship between the two Vampire Elders was always strained. Viktor, with Amelia's support, undercut Marcus's power as ruler of the Vampire Coven, ensuring Marcus would never have the strength to free his brother. However, Viktor never staged an outright coup against Marcus, as he had been told that should Marcus ever die, all in his bloodline would follow him to the grave - including Viktor. To prevent this from happening, the Chain was constructed, a system in which only one Elder ruled while the other two slumbered. Viktor even domesticated a new breed of the Vampires' enemies, a humanized version of the Werewolves known as Lycans, which he used as watchdogs to guard the Vampires during the daylight hours. Eventually, Viktor was at the center of sparking a new war with the Lycans.

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Blood Moon

The moon passed through Earth's shadow on Oct. 8, 2014, marking a total lunar eclipse, the second of 2014, in a stunning blood moon. This Full Moon will be completely caught in Earth's shadow, known as its Umbra. At the onset of the eclipse, the moon will gradually become a rusty red color, known as a Blood Moon. It can be seen worldwide, but those in North America and South America will get the best view. The eclipse is expected to last about 80 minutes.

Marcus Corvinus

Marcus Corvinus is a member of the Corvinus Clan, the progenitor of the entire Vampire Nation, and the original Vampire Elder. He is the main antagonist of Underworld: Evolution, and is portrayed by Scottish actor, Tony Curran.

Born at some point in the mid to late 5th century, Marcus is one of the three known sons of Alexander Corvinus and his wife Helena, and the identical twin brother of William. Like his twin brother, William, Marcus inherited the virus in its active form, which had previously transformed his father into the first Immortal. Marcus shared a strong bond with his twin brother, whom he was closer to than anyone.

Marcus (portrayed by Tony Curran), and his brother William

According to the prologue in the Rise of the Lycans novelization, both twins, overconfident due to the knowledge of the fact that they were both immortal, would go out riding at night, with the belief that nothing could hurt them. They were wrong. While William was bitten by a wolf and became the first Werewolf, Marcus was later bitten by a bat, mutating his Corvinus Strain with bat DNA which resulted in him becoming the first Vampire and the progenitor of the entire Vampire species.

600 years later, in 1202 A.D., Viktor led a charge into a Hungarian village which William had previously passed through. Instead of finding only William, they found an entire village of newly turned Werewolves. Viktor's army (now the Death Dealers), including Amelia, subdued and severely injured William. Marcus pleaded for his brother's life, but he had been betrayed by Amelia and Viktor, who meant to lock William away for life. Viktor, thinking that if any of the Corvinus brothers were killed, the Immortal bloodline would eventually die (a lie told by Marcus), locked William far away from the reach of Marcus. Marcus then swore vengeance against Viktor and all those loyal to him, but was able to do little, as the Death Dealers were loyal to Viktor alone. 

As the army became the first Vampire Coven, the Chain was implemented, a system where only one Elder ruled while the other two slumbered in hibernation. Viktor, with the aid of Amelia and the Vampire Council, undercut Marcus's power, ensuring he would never have the strength to free his brother. Thus Viktor remained the true leader of the Vampires, going as far as to allow himself to be referred to as the "oldest and strongest" of them.

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LEGO: Vampire Bat

It's no secret that I'm a huge LEGO fan. In fact, you'll find several posts throughout my blog highlighting some of my favorite LEGO minifigures. So, keeping with this October's Vampire theme, here's the Vampire Bat:

Vampire Bat

Now, while I think he's adorable, and a must have (which I do) for all gothic LEGO-lovers... his official description leaves a little something to be desired:

"What a lovely day!”

The clever and stealthy Vampire Bat may be his monster master’s chief hench-bat, but he isn’t entirely thrilled by wicked schemes to eclipse the sun and plunge the world into eternal darkness. After all, he might be one of the children of the night, but that doesn’t mean he wants to spend all his time there!
In fact, the Vampire Bat actually loves being out in the daylight. Sunny days at the beach are his idea of perfection (though he does get a lot of sand in his fur and it’s not easy to see through the glare when your eyes are so well-adapted to the dark). Now that there are a bunch of human monster-fighters trying to foil his master’s plans, he’s secretly rooting for them to win!"

Uhm... no.

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Barnabas Collins

Barnabas Collins is a fictional character, a featured role in the ABC daytime serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971. Barnabas is a 175-year-old vampire in search of fresh blood and his lost love, Josette. The character, originally played by Canadian actor Jonathan Frid, was introduced in an attempt to resurrect the show's flagging ratings, and was originally to have only a brief 13-week run. He was retained due to his popularity and the program's quick spike in ratings, and became virtually the star of the show.

A defining feature of Barnabas' character development is his gradual but persistent transformation from a frightening creature of the night into the show's protagonist, who selflessly, heroically and repeatedly risks his life to save the Collins family from catastrophe.

In the 1991 NBC revival version of Dark Shadows, British actor Ben Cross played the role of Barnabas Collins. Alec Newman played the part in the unreleased 2004 pilot film. In the recent series of audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions, he is portrayed by Andrew Collins, while Frid returned to portray the role a final time in The Night Whispers. He is played by Johnny Depp in director Tim Burton's 2012 film, Dark Shadows.

TV Guide named him #8 in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.

Barnabas Collins (portrayed by Jonathan Frid)

Barnabas Collins was a member of the late 18th century Collins family, from the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine. He was the son of Joshua Collins (Louis Edmonds) and Naomi Collins. Barnabas' many cousins included Millicent and Daniel Collins. During the flashback, Barnabas intended to marry an heiress from Martinique named Josette du Pres (Kathryn Leigh Scott), but had a brief affair with Angelique Bouchard (Lara Parker), Josette's maidservant.

Upon Angelique's arrival in Collinsport for the wedding, Barnabas was determined not to resume his affair. The spurned Angelique, a practitioner of witchcraft, used a number of spells to manipulate Barnabas and his family and force his agreement to marry her. Barnabas discovered Angelique's duplicity, and shot her. With what she believed to be her dying words, she took revenge on Barnabas by summoning a vampire bat from hell to attack him. Barnabas fell extremely ill and died. Angelique survived and attempted to rescind the curse, but was unsuccessful.

Dark Shadows (2012) Movie Poster

Barnabas shortly thereafter rose as a vampire, and immediately strangled Angelique. Collins later frightened his aunt Abigail (Clarice Blackburn) to death, and left the hatefully fanatic witch-hunter Reverend Trask (Jerry Lacy) entombed alive in the Old House basement. Sarah Collins died of pneumonia after a cold night spent hiding in the woods from her deceased brother. Adding to Barnabas' grief, his mother Naomi committed suicide after discovering his secret. Barnabas blamed Angelique for the deaths of both his sister and his mother, and also blamed Lt. Nathan Forbes (Joel Crothers), who had told Naomi about him. Barnabas strangled Forbes, and attempted to transform Josette into a vampire. Josette was willing, if not fully cognizant of what this would entail, until Angelique revealed a vision of what she would become. Fleeing from Barnabas, Josette leapt off the cliffs of Widow's Hill to her death.

Unable to bear what he had become, Barnabas asked his father, Joshua, to destroy him. Joshua was unable to slay his son, and ordered servant Ben Stokes (Thayer David) to nail a cross to the inside lid of Barnabas' coffin and to wrap chains on its outside, forever imprisoning the vampire in a secret room of the family mausoleum at Eagle's Hill Cemetery.

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Claudia

Claudia is a fictional character in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. She is one of the main characters in Interview with the Vampire, the first novel in the series. She also features in The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, The Vampire Armand and Merrick.

Claudia (portrayed by Kirsten Dunst)

Claudia (her last name is never given) was a young girl who lived in the poor, plague-ravaged quarters of 18th century New Orleans. She lost both of her parents to the plague, and is first introduced as a crying child of five years old in her house, next to her mother's dead body. She is small and delicately shaped, with golden ringlets for hair and pale skin. She is found by Louis de Pointe du Lac, the protagonist of Interview with the Vampire, and begs him to “wake” her mother. Louis instead feeds on her, much to his self-disgust, and her life is temporarily saved by Lestat de Lioncourt, Louis' maker.

Claudia is taken to the vampires' townhouse in the heart of New Orleans, and there she is turned into a vampire by Lestat. Lestat tells her that she is his and Louis' “daughter” and that now that she is in their family, Louis can not leave them. Though Louis is at first horrified at the thought of a vampire child (and indeed he accuses Lestat of condemning Claudia to hell), he and Claudia become very attached, and the three form a vampiric “family” for decades.

Although the three vampires spend many years in happiness, Claudia begins to grow more and more detached, insisting on self-sufficiency and even gaining her own coffin so that she does not have to sleep with either Lestat or Louis during the daylight hours. Claudia becomes self-educated and philosophical under Louis' tutelage and also an indiscriminate murderer under Lestat's guidance. She would “appear to her victims as a little angel” and lure them to their deaths.

As the years pass, Claudia becomes increasingly dissatisfied with being constantly “dressed as a doll” by her two fathers, and her frustration leads her to kill a mother and daughter and leave them to rot in the kitchens of the townhouse. When her deed is discovered by Lestat, she flies into a rage and informs the two that she has been damned to a body never able to grow old, that she wants to be a grown woman and will never have that chance, and that she hates them both more than she ever thought possible.

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Louis de Pointe du Lac

Louis de Pointe du Lac is a fictional character in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. He began his life as a mortal man, and later became a vampire. He is the protagonist of Interview with the Vampire (the first book of The Vampire Chronicles). He also features in The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch The Devil, The Vampire Armand and Merrick.

Louis (portrayed by Brad Pitt)

It was in a tavern brawl that he caught the eye of the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, who fell "fatally in love" with the tragic Creole planter, appeared to him as an angel and offered him an alternative to his desperate, meaningless life. Lestat, upon seeing for the first time Louis' "fine black hair" and deep green eyes, and sensing his passion, was completely and immediately seduced not only by Louis's beauty, but also by his tragedy and human heart; "He seduced the tenderness in me." Lestat made Louis into a vampire, his immortal companion in 1791, and it was Louis with whom he would live, love, and kill for nearly a century to come.

However, Lestat was damaged from his own experiences in France and the Old World. He was not as gentle a tutor or as much of a friend as Louis would have liked, one of the central themes in Interview with the Vampire. An example of this is an anguished comment recalled by Louis in his memoir, where he muses: "I was thinking how sublime friendship between Lestat and me might have been; how few impediments to it there would have been, and how much to be shared."

While Louis and Lestat were often at odds with one another, they did eventually form an uneasy sort of truce, with Lestat gradually coming to regard his friend as a kind of soulmate, albeit one who resisted his "teachings" on killing and living life as a vampire. There was a certain element of sexual attraction implicit in their relationship, in the books after Interview with the Vampire Lestat refers to Louis as his lover.

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