Jon Solo Sebastian 10/21/2025:

Yesterday, we talked about a fun and happy vampire with an addiction to numbers and math. Today, we’re going a little darker, but not quite the traditional path of Vampirism. Have you ever seen the film Underworld starring the talented actress, Kate Beckinsale? The story is essentially about a war between vampires and werewolves, and while some of the sequels to the first film were good, the first in the series is the best one. It’s a dark and gritty film with some John Wick-like fast action.

Selene

Kate Beckinsale plays the main character, a Death Dealer, named Selene. Contrary to what social media and media tell the world, men love badass women in movies, television, and in real life. When it comes to fictional storytelling, the main issues come down to writing and delivery, which is why it sometimes seems like a character gets bad mouthed on the internet. As far as I know, Kate Beckinsale, AKA, Selene, never had to deal with that type of discourse.

So, who is Selene?

Like many stories, both fictional and historical, the main character is a pawn in someone’s war. Selene is no different. Before being turned into a vampire, her father was an architect who designed a fortress for a vampire named Viktor. Viktor was one the highest ranking vampires of the time, and he had commissioned Selene’s father to design and build a prison for a werewolf named William Corvinus. When the prison/fortress was complete, Viktor killed Selene’s family in order to keep the location a secret.

He couldn’t bring himself to kill Selene due to her reminding him of his long deceased daughter. This is ironic because he killed his own daughter after she fell in love with and was impregnated by a Lycan. One might think he wouldn’t have a problem killing her, but his daughter betrayed him, so that’s how he justified what he had done. Viktor decided to turn Selene into a vampire. He then lied to her by telling her Lycans murdered her family. His plan was two-fold: the lie guaranteed her to forever be a thorn in the Lycan’s side, and he believed it would thwart her from betraying him like his own daughter had. This gave Viktor a powerful and loyal soldier in his war against the Lycans. For 600 years, she fought for him and the vampires, and essentially looked at Viktor as a father figure. Of course if you’ve seen the movies, you know the shit hits the fan, and things get a little nuts, but it’s a fun ride, and Selene is by far one of the best vampires on screen.

Aside from her being a bad ass vampire, I like how she’s almost like the terminator, or even like the traditional “slayer” from the Buffyverse. The mission is what matters. She is a soldier, and her focus is revenge, and war. She’s all business and doesn’t have time for feelings or fools. Things begin to change for her upon meeting Michael, and she slowly starts to let her guard down.

“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.

Bad ass woman, vampires, werewolves, swords and firearms, and a centuries-old war in the night… what’s not to like about Underworld and its main character: Selene?

Who do you think would win in a fight? Buffy Summers, or Selene?