Urien

"My anger will calm only when I am proven to be the true emperor!"

- Urien

"Don't worry. I'll end you quickly. (案ずるな、手短に消してやる)"

- Urien (Street Fighter V)

Urien (ユリアン) is a video game character from the Street Fighter series, first appearing in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact. He is a ruthless former disciple of the Illuminati, resenting the supremacy that the organization entrusted to his malevolent older brother, Gill.

Appearance
Urien has a similar appearance to Gill, having exactly the same physical build (i.e. that of a Greek Olympic athlete) with dark bronze skin tones and short, metallic white hair. On his forehead, he has a small jewel crowning it (similar to a Bindi), and his shocking animation reveals it to be embedded directly into his skull. He also wears a simple loincloth.

In his pre-match introduction in the Street Fighter III series, he appears as a lighter-skinned man with short blonde hair and wears a light brown (white in his 3rd Strike ending) business attire; he then sheds the suit, his skin darkens to a bronze complexion, and his hair turns from blonde to metallic white.

Many of his alternate colors are similar to those of Dhalsim, in that they change his skin color as opposed to his costume's color. This ability to change skin and hair color could be the result of his control over metal. In his time over sprite, he reverts back to his normal state as his skin becomes pale.

In Street Fighter V, Urien wears his business attire as his primary outfit with minor changes; the suit is gray with white pinstriped designs, he wears a partially unbuttoned purple button shirt and no tie. His skin, hair and the blue gem on his forehead still remains in his transformed state. If the player holds specific buttons as a match is about to begin, Urien will incinerate his clothes and fight in his loincloth as in Street Fighter III. When this is done, any alternate costume additions to his head or face such as longer hair or sunglasses will be retained.

His first alternate costume has him wearing sunglasses and his business attire, but it is purple, without the button shirt, white shoes, and a long white scarf draped over his neck. His second alternate costume is his classic attire in Street Fighter III.

Personality
Urien's personality can be best described as tyrannical and authoritative, much in contrast with the benevolent and compassionate nature of his brother Gill (Though in reality Gill's far from a good person and is quite fanatical). Urien's nickname in the Street Fighter III series is even "The Treacherous Disciple", alluding to his status as the Judas to Gill's Jesus. Urien frequently displays sadistic tendencies, and takes a lot of pride in becoming the "True Emperor". Urien also dismisses the cryogenically preserved brains of his predecessors as "ugly and stupid" and "a mass of junk with no ability to take positive action".

Urien also renounces any noble traits and elements associated with leadership, regarding them as worthless, and instead seeks fear and subjugation through his reign, much like a despotic, oppressive, totalitarian, and domineering tyrant. Accordingly, he screams phrases such as "crush", "destroy" and "kill" during most of his special attacks, which - along with their names - highlight his violent and destructive nature, and also points to a lack of self-control stemming from emotional instability.

In Street Fighter V, a younger Urien maintains his tyrannical behavior and even antagonizes his comrades and associates, calling Helen a 'rat' and chastising her for plotting behind his back. Urien displays a level of shortsightedness when he tries to kill Nash on a whim after defeating him, despite Urien's very own technology being used in Nash's resurrection. Urien's patience runs thin when dealing with those he deems 'Commoners', as shown when he throws an Aegis Reflector at Rashid for so much as touching him.

Concept
Urien's design draws on his relationship to Gill: if Gill can be compared to Jesus Christ, Urien can be considered Judas Iscariot, whom his title even references.

Like Gill, Urien shares a few inspirations with him, being based on Yuda from Fist of the North Star and the Pillar Men from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Mirroring Gill, he also draws similarity to a character found in the Super Nintendo RPG Tales of Phantasia, being that of the key character Reisen, the Magitechnology scientist and advisor to the Kingdom of Midgards who drove Dhaos into antagonism, explaining Urien's association with weaponry and scientific pursuits.

However, Urien's own design bears resemblance to the antagonist Replicant Roy Batty from Blade Runner fame, the Marvel character Adam Warlock, the crazed technocratic ruler Trevor Goodchild of the animated series Æon Flux, and famous WWF wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair; furthermore, his enjoyment of suits, the culturally memetically famous quotes of Crush, Kill, Destroy!, and megalomaniacal desire of ruling with an iron fist may refer to the concept of "The Man", the derogatory societal term of "The System", and how those that follow it in this context are also derogatorily referred to as "robots".

His Roman based attacks and imagery also invokes the familiarity to the infamous Roman Emperor Caligula; not only given names potentially rife for ridicule, but also to their emotional instability, as Caligula grew to be known as an insane, fiendish, scandalous, vituperative, indulgent and abusive tyrant to his peers and the populace, claiming himself as the incarnation of Jupiter to having at one point forcibly thrown a section of a crowd into a pit of carnivorous animals for his amusement. On a minor note, Roman statues were often colored than the common thought of them being plainly white, as the Romans saw the plain marble as the statues being tastelessly lifeless, while Roman political culture often perceives insanity as one aspect of poor government.

Gill
Urien positively dislikes Gill due to the fact that his older brother won the election of being President of the Illuminati, and when the two fought, Gill purposely threw the match so that he can be emperor, which made Urien upset.

Kolin
Kolin and Urien appear to have an antagonistic relationship, though she refers to him deferentially as "Lord Urien". Urien is disdainful of Kolin's project with Nash, referring to him as her "mud doll".

Balrog
Urien paid Balrog in exchange for Operation C.H.A.I.N.S. The boxer would then work for him after the fall of Shadaloo but would plan to one day betray him. Balrog is currently unaware of the part Urien played in manipulating him and Shadaloo and causing Bison's death.

Background
Supplementary material on Urien's backstory notes that, unlike the other candidates for the leadership of the Illuminati, who are kidnapped and brainwashed into doing their bidding, Urien and Gill were born to parents who were long time members of the cult. Both his parents are said to have been candidates to the presidency of the cult; being holders of Ph.D(s) in their respective fields. It is noted that his mother, an olympic level athlete and a doctorate in Sports Dynamics was especially a favourite to become the President.

Urien became a potential candidate for the presidency at the age of 6 along with his brother Gill. After this the brothers were separated from their parents and were made to undergo constant genetic modifications, training and monitoring sessions. During this period, Urien learned to manipulate both his ki and the elements of the Earth, merging them together in his aura. He also learned to perform the Aegis Reflector, one of the 66 secret arts described in the lore of the Illuminati. At the age of 22, the management chose Gill as the president due to his greater strength and charisma over Urien, sometime before the events of Street Fighter III.

Street Fighter V
On October 2015, a datamining of Street Fighter V ' s PC beta test revealed fighter data and character meshes of Urien, Dhalsim, Juri, Ibuki, Alex, Guile and Balrog. Urien and the rest of the characters (except for Dhalsim who was confirmed earlier as a default fighter) were later officially confirmed as DLC on December 5th, 2015 at the PlayStation Experience. His trailer was released on September 7, 2016.

Character Story
In his prologue story, Urien is in the Illuminati laboratory with Dr. Woo inspecting the G Project's progress. He inspects the creation Eleven as Woo states that a duplication capability has been implemented to it and that it is with this creation that the strongest warriors can be mass-manufactured. Urien requests to fight Eleven so he can deem its worth. After defeating Eleven, Urien remarks that Eleven is nothing more than a failure as Woo nervously apologizes. Urien tells him to accelerate the program to improve its potential which he agreed as he thought about his own plan.

Then, Urien meets up with Gill's secretary, Kolin, who is under the name Helen, and wants to know her report. Helen reveals to him about Shadaloo led by M. Bison and his plans for world domination about Operation C.H.A.I.N.S. She also informs him about their plans to restore the corpse of Charlie Nash and she needs him to provide the empty vessel 11 in his laboratory. Urien becomes concerned to her actions and remarking her obsessions to revive the mud doll. Helen tells him that Charlie's desire for revenge against Bison and his combat skills will serve their purposes perfectly. Urien knows that the council would be pushed but it has a price to be made to comform to his designs and is not definitely cheap. Helen was impressed to his conducted research is doing well beyond what was agreed from the councils as Urien angrily shuts her up telling her that she shouldn't fail her own concerns behind the council and he agrees to give her the empty vessel that she needs her desire to revive Charlie which she appreciates the offer.

In the abandoned S.I.N. building, Urien realizes that another of M. Bison's vessels is in someone's hands only to be confronted by C. Viper who questions him and she mistakes of him being the next potential leader of S.I.N after Seth (despite Urien actually holds the Vice President of Illuminati). When C. Viper continues her interrogation at him, Urien manages to hit her with Aegis Reflector as she dodges his attack as he continues using a multiple of Aegis Reflector forcing her to escape as Urien calls her a useless bug and he decides to name the place within the abandoned S.I.N. building.

At China, Urien pays a downpayment cash to Balrog to deliver the data of Operations C.H.A.I.N.S in exchange for his service and gives him the reward for his desire after he defeated Necalli. Balrog notices a blank check which Urien replies that it's none of his concern. Balrog accepts the payment and remarks him for being such a big job and knowing a big deal to sweeten the down payment. That remark causes Urien to get snapped in rage and scolds Balrog for questioning the terms of agreement, forcing both of them to fight. Balrog is no match against Urien as he tells Ed to use his power but Urien dispersed it and became interested to see Ed has inherited Bison's Psycho Powers as Balrog wants to know how he knew of their true plans and Urien coldly leaves stating not to make this incident happened anymore while walking away his thoughts are nothing more but to take down Shadaloo out of its misery and he will wait for it.

A Shadow Falls
Urien is against Shadaloo and its plan of the seven Black Moons to enhance Bison's Psycho Powers. He has an associate named Helen who recruits a revived Charlie Nash, Juri and Rashid to stop Shadaloo's plans. Urien arrives at the location where Helen and the aforementioned fighters meet, harshly reprimanding Helen for devising plans without his knowledge. He calls Charlie a "clay doll" and announces that he came to test Charlie's ability since Urien helped revive him for the purpose of using him against Bison. Urien and Charlie fight and Urien wins, but attempts to inflict further pain on Charlie before Rashid steps in and holds him back, saying that Charlie has had enough. Urien calls Rashid a "commoner" and commands Rashid to get his hand off of him, unleashing an Aegis Reflector that causes Rashid to back away. Helen insists that Urien calms down, and he leaves, telling them that he "will be watching [them] all with great amusement."

Later on, Urien criticizes Helen for her failures when he becomes aware of Charlie's inability to kill Bison.

2nd Impact
In Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, Urien is introduced as the younger brother of Gill, who bears an intense grudge against him, stemming from an inferiority complex. Like Gill, he too is subject to genetic modifications and training programs under the Illuminati. His inferiority stems mainly from his emotional instability. Being the second strongest member of the Illuminati, Urien originally holds the position of the Vice President of the organization during the tournament of Street Fighter III 2nd Impact, outranked only by Gill who serves as the President. Urien stakes his claim to the Presidency by challenging Gill to a match in order to prove his superiority. Gill purposely throws the match and Urien is made the President. Immediately after, Urien learns that the President is outranked by the Emperor in the hierarchy of the organization, his recently promoted brother Gill.

Urien is also in charge of the Illuminati's crisis management unit, the G-Project, which works on the basis of human body remake theory. This unit is responsible for the mutations to a Russian national, Illia, more commonly known by his code name, Necro. Urien also spearheads the creation of Twelve, and many similar clones.

3rd Strike
During the events of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Urien longs to overthrow Gill by creating his own army of super-soldier clones with the G-Project. He also kidnaps one of the children under Chun-Li's care to subject her to genetic modifications. He however agrees to let the child go, if the legendary street fighter, Chun-Li, fights him for his amusement. After a brief spar Chun-Li manages to defeat him and rescue the child. Ken also encounters Urien during the tournament as he attempts to uncover more about the Illuminati.

What happens to Urien after the events of the Third World Warrior Tournament is yet unknown. His 3rd Strike ending shows that he took leadership of the Illuminati and destroyed its preservation facility, where a weakened Gill was resting, declaring the beginning of an era "After Urien". Gill's own ending, however, shows an entirely different outcome, implying that he actually survived.

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Urien appeared in Capcom Fighting Evolution as a playable character.

Street Fighter × Mega Man
Urien is one of the bosses of Street Fighter × Mega Man.

UDON comics
Urien appears in UDON's Street Fighter comics as a henchman of Gill, during his early days, he and Gill were training for the control of the world, the two would often talk about who should control the world, during the final match of the tournment that would lead to the control of the Socality, Urien had gained the upper hand on Gill, however, he was stunned to see that Gill had transfomed into a master of fire and ice, as he is defeated by his brother Gill, he tells Urien that ruling the world is not about being a tryrant, but a savior, after being speared by his brother, he ends up being Gill's right hand man.

At some point, he and his brother had made a deal with Shadaloo for the control over the world, they capture a Solider known as Tom who has been spying on them to find out their plans, Urien was requested by Gill to bring back Ryu for his Satsui no Hado to their base, he ends up meeting Alex after hearing how Tom spoke so highly of him, as Gill defeats Alex, he and his brother escape, Urien is called by Vega who tells him that the Interpol member Chun-Li had found out about ther dealing, Urien told him that it will not matter as their plain is already being set. As he check his crama, he saw Alex defating the army of Twelve robots, this caught his notice, as he realised that he could use Alex to his plans to overthrow Gill and take control of the Socality as a means to take over the world.

During the tournment, he is studying Ryu's Ki on his monitors to have a better understanding of the Satsui no Hado, he then decided to test Alex's power by using Necro, as he was testing Alex, he showed him that they are both from the same family bloodline, and that the Socality is not as noble as people think they are, as he showed him a weapon that will end up destroying anyone that will oppose them, Alex had agreed to help Urien to stop Gill's weapon.

As Gill froze Evil Ryu, Urien knocked out Kolin, As Gill told him that putting the Trinket on his head would destroy his body,  Urien told him that he was aware of the effects if he were to put that device on his head, he gave Alex the Trinket, using the weapon on Gill, as Gill's body was destroyed, his soul however took over the body of Alex, Urien was stunned to see that Gill was able to possess people, Urien attacked Gill, but was defeated by him, knocking him into the seas.

Fighting style and abilities
Like Gill, Urien's basic fighting style is possibly based on the ancient Greek Olympic discipline of Pankration. Urien also underwent the same Illuminati physical training program, though his grasp of the more advanced techniques of the program is fairly limited, reflected by his relatively simpler Super Arts compared to the much more advanced ones of his brother; this may also be the reason behind Urien's mostly charge-based set of special attacks.

Where Gill wields fire and ice, Urien can wield lightning and make his body metallic; he can create electrified spheres similar to his brother's projectiles, and can also use similar knee drops, headbutts, and charging tackles, all with the potential to shock opponents.

Moveset
Overall, Urien has slightly lower attributes compared to Gill, thus making him more balanced for higher-level play; though his normal and command moves have the same high priority of his brother's, they tend to do less damage all around. In addition, his size makes him somewhat vulnerable to aerial attacks from more than a few characters, such as Necro and Akuma. However, Urien is still more than powerful enough to overwhelm opponents via constant pressure, and many of his moves are difficult to anticipate, albeit prone to whiffing. Urien also has several more combo setups compared to the rest of the cast, giving him an array of methods to inflict high damage and stun.

In Street Fighter V, Urien maintains his moves from the Street Fighter III games and gains more moves at his disposal. His Metallic Sphere is faster to execute and charge to make more damage and his Chariot Tackle appears similar to Seth's Focus Attack and its EX special nearly resembles his Super Art, Tyrant Slaughter but damaging his opponent in two hits. His V-Skill is the Metallic Aura where it appears as the enhanced version of his Chariot Tackle where he glows in a purple light during execution. His Super Art, Aegis Reflector is his V-Trigger which makes it a combo extender to make more damage and also to deflect projectiles with ease. His Critical Art is the Dominant Crush in which he unleashes a powerful Temporal Thunder and crush his opponent by punching on the ground creating a devastating red violet thunder blast. This move is a reference to a win animation in Street Fighter III where he punches on the ground creating a ground fire blast on himself to be surrounded in flames and laughs maniacially.

Super Arts
Urien's Super Arts consist of the Aegis Reflector, a barrier that reflects incoming projectiles; the Tyrant Slaughter, a string of Chariot Tackles followed by a lariat; Temporal Thunder, a powerful Metallic Sphere that shrinks as it approaches the foe and hits multiple times. The Aegis Reflector is noted to be one of the Illuminati's Sixty-Six Secret Arts, and tends to be the most commonly chosen Super Art by players due to its high utility as a stun-building combo extender.

Quotes
See: Urien/Quotes.

Pop Culture
Urien/Pop Culture

Trivia

 * Urien seems to have a connection to Alex; when the latter asks if the former knew someone named Tom, Urien becomes upset and demands that name to never be mentioned again.


 * In his winquote to Urien in the console ports of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Twelve refers to him as 'Dad' (in Binary), asserting the fact that the G-Project is Urien's brainchild.


 * Urien's 2nd Impact stage is possibly set in the archaeological sites outside the Temples of Abu Simbel, Aswan in Egypt, while Gill's stage is inside the temples.
 * Urien's 3rd Strike stage is likewise set in the Olmecan ruins is in La Venta, Tabasco in Mexico.


 * Both Urien and his brother share the same voice actor in 3rd Strike, Lawrence Bayne. Coincidentally, Bayne also voices Twelve and Necro, whose creations Urien is responsible for.


 * While Urien's name is speculated to be a mistranslation of 'Julien', Urien is actually a real, but very obscure name from Welsh and Arthurian legend. The name means "privileged birth", which correlates directly with his parents being high-ranking members of the Illuminati, as well as his entitled attitude and wish to be rule with utter supremacy.


 * Seth has a similar physical build to Urien, and even uses similar basic attacks. In addition, his Focus Attack resembles the Chariot Tackle. USFIV ' s Omega Mode adds the move to Seth's moveset.
 * This has led to theories that Shadaloo and/or S.I.N. possibly has some intel on the Illuminati; in the storyline comics published by UDON, the Illuminati is S.I.N.'s benefactor once it breaks away from its parent organization.


 * The sprite where Urien's blood comes out from his left arm is only found in the Japanese versions of 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike as it was censored everywhere else . In Capcom Fighting Evolution, he instead changes himself back to normal when he loses.


 * In his prologue story while wearing his first alternate costume, Urien is not seen wearing his sunglasses. But in his in-game during the battle against his mirror self and Balrog, he was seen wearing his sunglasses.

Gallery
Urien/Gallery

Sprites
Urien/Sprites