Urien 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. In Street Fighter V, Urien appears one of the DLC characters and is voiced by Masayuki Kato in the Japanese version but in the English version of the game, he is voiced by Bill Rogers.
Biography
Appearance
Urien has a similar appearance to Gill, having exactly the same physical build (i.e. That of a Greek Olympic athlete) with bronze skin tone and short, metallic white hair. He also wears a simple loincloth.
In his pre-match introduction in the Street Fighter III series, he is lighter-skinned and wearing 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 color could be the result of his control over metal, though how exactly is unclear.
In Street Fighter V, Urien wears his business attire as his primary outfit (he doesn't shed it like in the Street Fighter III games) with minor changes; the suit is gray with white pinstripped designs, he wears an openly purple button shirt and has no tie. His skin, hair and the blue gem on his forehead still remains in his transformed state.
His first alternate costume is his business attire but it is purple, it is without the button shirt and his shoes are white, he has a long scarf on his neck. His second alternate costume is his classic attire in Street Fighter III.
Personality
Urien's personality can be best described as tyrannical, much in contrast with the benevolent nature of his brother Gill. Urien displays sadism in many of his victory quotes and animations. In addition, he takes a lot of pride in becoming the "True Emperor"; as such, he has no reason to lose to anyone, and his anger will only subside when he is proven to be 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".
Unlike Gill, who recognizes the talent in his opponents, Urien looks down on others, even calling them 'pitiful scum' in one of his victory animations. While fighting, he screams phrases such as "crush", "destroy" and "kill", again highlighting his furious and violent nature. This points to a lack of self-control that may be reflected in gameplay by his being a charge character; while Gill can execute the moves of their composite training program flawlessly, Urien needs to focus intensely for a second or two before he can do the same. His grasp of the more advanced techniques of the training program is fairly limited, reflected by his relatively simpler Super Arts compared to the much more advanced ones of his brother. In addition, the names of his moves—for example, Dangerous Headbutt—make apparent both his personality and his murderous intent.
In Street Fighter V, a younger Urien maintains his tyrannical behavior and even antagonises 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 Charlie on a whim after defeating him, despite Urien's very own technology being used in Charlie'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.
Story
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
Character Story
In his prologue story, Urien is in an Illuminati laboratory with Dr. Kure inspecting the G Project's progress. He inspects the creation Eleven as Kure 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 Kure 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 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.
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 intense 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 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.
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.
Other appearances
Capcom Fighting Evolution
Urien appeared in Capcom Fighting Evolution as a playable character.
Gameplay/Fighting style
Urien can be considered a tournament-legal version of Gill, due to having a very similar moveset. Where his brother wields fire and ice, he 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 "charge"-based special moves 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.
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. 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 an 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.
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.
- 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.
- The names of Urien's moves are inspired by Greek and Roman antiquity.
- Urien bears a resembalence to Roy Batty, the lead Replicant from the film Blade Runner, as well as Michelangelo's "David".
- In Street Fighter X Tekken, Bryan Fury's Swap Costume is modeled after Urien.
- His voice actor in Street Fighter V, Bill Rogers is known for voicing Brock and the leader of Team Plasma, Ghetsis from the world renowned anime series based on the video game series, Pokémon.
- Interestingly, Urien's voice is much sounded like Ghetsis but in a rough and deeper voice.
Gallery
