Urien

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

- Urien Urien (ユリアン, Yurian) is a character in the Street Fighter series. He first appeared in Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, voiced by Yuji Ueda, and in 3rd Strike, voiced by Lawrence Bayne.

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 grey hair. He also wears a simple loincloth.

In his pre-match introduction in the Street Fighter III series, he appears lighter-skinned and wears business attire; he then sheds the suit, his skin darkens to a bronze complexion, and his hair turns from blond to metallic white. Also, 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, though how exactly is unclear.

Personality
Urien's personality can be best described as tyrannical, much in contrast with the benevolent nature of his brother Gill. 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 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 nature. This also points to a lack of self-control stemming from emotional instability that may be reflected in gameplay by his use of charge motions.

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 III: 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.

Street Fighter III: 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.

Gameplay and fighting style
Both Urien and Gill underwent the same Illuminati physical training program; Urien's 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. Where Gill wields fire and ice, Urien can wield lightning and make his body metallic.

Urien's normal and command moves have the same high priority of his brother's, though they tend to do less damage all around. Urien's special moves (mostly "charge"-based) also serve to distinguish him somewhat from his brother, and this aspect typically makes each move harder to do and take longer to do than Gill's counterparts; in addition, each of these moves tend to be weaker. Overall, he has slightly less power, speed, stun, and stamina than Gill, thus making him more balanced for multi-user play.

His 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.

Similarities with Gill
The similar moves shared by Urien and Gill are as follows:
 * Metallic Sphere - Cryokinesis/Pyrokinesis
 * Violence Knee Drop - Moonsault Knee Drop
 * Dangerous Headbutt - Psycho Headbutt
 * Chariot Tackle - Cyber Lariat.

Similarities with M. Bison
Like many of the Street Fighter III characters being analogues to their Street Fighter II counterparts, Urien's playstyle also has similarities with M. Bison.
 * Metallic Sphere - Psycho Shot
 * Chariot Tackle - Psycho Crusher
 * Violence Knee Drop - Head Press/Devil Reverse
 * Dangerous Headbutt - Double Knee Press
 * Tyrant Slaughter - Knee Press Nightmare
 * High priority normal attacks.

Additionally, Urien's Metallic Sphere has the same properties as Gouken's Hadoken, while Seth's Focus Attack is similar to the Chariot Tackle.

Quotes
See: Urien/Quotes.

Trivia

 * Urien seems to have a connection to Alex; when Alex asks if he knew someone named Tom, Urien becomes upset and demands that name to never be mentioned again.
 * Urien's nickname in the Street Fighter III series is "The Trecherous Disciple", alluding to his status as the Judas to Gill's Jesus.
 * Urien is similar to Broly from the Dragon Ball series, being very powerful and yet mentally unstable. They also share a similar fighting style consisting of wrestling and brawling moves combined with projectile attacks, further paralleling the martial arts with ki projectiles style of their respective protagonists.
 * Marvel's Colossus' mutant ability allows him to turn his skin metallic (organic steel), just like Urien. In his Marvel vs. Capcom crossovers, Colossus' moveset includes a shoulder tackle move like Urien's Chariot Tackle.
 * Urien bears a resembalence to Roy Batty, the lead Replicant from the film Blade Runner, as well as Michelangelo's "David".
 * The names of Urien's moves are inspired by Greek and Roman antiquity.
 * 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 archeological sites outside the Temples of Abu Simbel, Aswan in Egypt while Gill's stage is inside the temples.
 * Urien's 3rd Strike stage, set in the Olmecan ruins likewise is in La Venta, Tabasco in Mexico.
 * In Street Fighter X Tekken, Bryan Fury's Swap Costume is modeled after Urien.
 * 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.