Lycans

Lycans are a fictional breed of werewolf featured in the Underworld film series. Along with vampires, they are one of the two most dominant species of supernatural creature featured in the franchise.

Underworld Wiki
Lycans are a second breed of Werewolves created in the 11th century, descended from William Corvinus's Werewolf bloodline. Once normal humans who were infected by the first born Lycan or another of his victims, they are unlike the first breed in that they retain their human intelligence and personalities while transformed, as well as being capable to take human form. In this article, "Werewolf" will be used to refer to both Werewolves and Lycans collectively (except where otherwise noted), for when both generations need mentioning at the same time. Lycans are constantly at war with the Vampires due to their former status as slaves, and the Vampires begin a campaign to exterminate the entire species after the Lycans stage an uprising that nearly destroys the entire Vampire species in the 13th century. Vampire warriors trained to hunt and kill Lycans are known as Death Dealers.

Notable features
In the Underworld franchise, Lycans and Werewolves are biologically immortal transgenics, as opposed to supernaturally immortal demons of pop culture. However, as in pop culture, the Lycans in the Underworld franchise are also carnivores, meaning that they feed on meat. They have even been shown to be somewhat cannibalistic, as they will feed off of humans and Vampires, despite the close relation they bear to both species.

In the novelizations, the Lycans are warm-blooded and have high body temperatures. The novelizations also state that Lycans, in their Werewolf form, are colorblind. In their novelized Werewolf forms, Lycans foam at the mouths, much like a rabid animal. They also do not appear to have whiskers.

In all aspects of the Underworld franchise, Lycans are depicted as being highly allergic to silver. In the novelization of Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, their eyes are also shown to be sensitive to any glare of light off of a silver surface.

In the films, Lycans' eyes are shown to change into a cloudy deep blue when they are partially transformed. In the novelizations, their eyes are described as changing into a solid cobalt blue, the same as the original Werewolves. In Underworld: Endless War, they are shown to turn a feral yellow. In Underworld: Awakening, they are all shown with solid black eyes, similar to the Hybrid forms of Michael Corvin and Marcus Corvinus. This may have been either a production goof, or these individuals had been given some of Antigen's so-called "antidote".

As with all Immortals, Lycans become stronger and more powerful with age, both physically and socially. Other factors can also effect their strength; such as feeding. A well-fed Lycan will recover faster than a Lycan who has not fed for some time. Lycans who regularly overindulge will usually take mere moments to recover depending on the severity of the wounds. In contrast to Lycans who are turned, Lycans who are born, rather than becoming weaker with every generation, actually inherit the total sum of the strengths of both parents' Lycanthropy strains, and thus become stronger generation-wise.

Abilities
Lycans display inhuman physical strength, speed, reflexes, endurance and agility comparable to their vampire counterparts. These traits seem to apply to Lycans even when in human form, as Lucian was seen to be able to catch up to a moving car, and subsequently survive being hit by it head on. Even in their human forms, Lucian and other lycans also demonstrate other feats of superhuman strength, reflexes and agility, such as catching crossbow bolts in midair, jumping extremely high and overpowering both humans and vampires in physical combat. It is very likely that they can enter a state of hibernation and survive without blood or oxygen for centuries. They possess enhanced senses of smell, hearing and sight that are superior even to those of wolves, not just humans, and are also able to sense Vampires in close proximity to themselves. It should be noted that when in their Werewolf forms they are stronger than when in human form, able to break through solid concrete walls, and seem to be stronger than most young Vampires, as every hand-to-hand confrontation between the two races under normal circumstances has ended with a Lycan victory, the one exception being the Vampire Elder Viktor. Lycans can also use their claws and strength to scale sheer surfaces, having been seen to crawl along walls at great speed in pursuit of prey. They possess the ability to land on their feet without harm when falling from great heights, as evidenced by both Lucian and Michael Corvin.

Lycans also possess superb physical resilience and remarkable regenerative abilities: both Lucian and Raze are wounded by silver bullets and Selene's shurikens respectively, yet they bear no marks or scars when they reappear later. Their recovery abilities are hampered by the presence of silver in their bodies. However, to older Lycans, the silver is rarely fatal. Lucian displays the ability to force Selene's silver bullets out of his body through muscle strength, although it is mentioned in the first film that the silver is fatal if it penetrates the internal organs. Silver is the Lycans' only weakness, as they seem to be violently allergic to it. A new variation on this is the use of silver nitrate bullets to inject the silver directly into a Lycan's bloodstream. In Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, a wild Werewolf dies after taking two shurikens with silver blades from Sonja in the chest, whereas Raze not only survives four silver shurikens thrown by Selene but continues to walk in his human form with the shurikens stuck in his chest for quite some time in Underworld. This may imply that Lycans possess greater resilience and healing abilities against silver than their Werewolf predecessors, possibly due to the human portion of their genome, or it could be due to more exposure and acquired resistance to silver. Although originally Lycans could only transform at the full moon, it is explained that the older a Lycan becomes in age, the more control they can exert over their transformation, to the point that they can change at will, possessing full mental control of their wolf form. In their wolf form, Lycans also have access to powerful jaws and razor-sharp fangs and claws, making them deadly close-quarters combatants.

Generations
Lucian was born to an unknown captive Werewolf. Born in human form, Lucian's Vampire owner, Viktor, initially intended to slay the infant, but decided against it when he saw in Lucian the possibility of creating a new race of slaves - a new breed of Werewolf: Lycans. Viktor slew Lucian's mother and had him branded with Viktor's mark, then raised him as his own personal "pet". Lucian rose to become the Lycan ruler under Viktor's command.

Though most likely physically weaker than first generation Werewolves, Lucian possesses abilities superior to any descended from himself and can transform at will, unlike William Corvinus and his first generation Werewolves. Although he used his Werewolf form to great extent in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, unlike the other Lycans seen in Underworld, Lucian never transforms while engaged in combat, instead using such technology as wrist-mounted blades to engage his enemies. Despite this, by the time of Underworld, he is shown to possess an ability never seen in other Lycans: when he is shot with silver bullets, he is able to expel them from his body by forcing the transformation. He first expels silver from his body after Viktor kills his lover, Sonja; in a rage, Lucian expels silver bolts that were meant to prevent his transformation to lupine form. Although other Lycans die immediately after being shot with silver nitrate rounds, which release fatal amounts of silver directly into a Lycan's blood stream, Lucian survives for several minutes, long enough to convince Selene to infect Michael Corvin with Vampirism. Theoretically, Lucian has developed a resistance to silver over the centuries due to greater exposure than his compatriots, similar to how humans can develop a tolerance to arsenic over time.

Lucian, like William, fits into neither the first nor second generation of Werewolves. But given that he is a unique specimen, he doesn't warrant his own generation because he is the only known one to have lived. It is theorized that Lucian was born human and is able to transform back to human form because his mother was already pregnant with him when she was turned, so he did not inherit the full Werewolf gene.

Notes & Trivia

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