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Ulrich Stern
|  |  | "Karate practice in one hour! I remind you we've got a meet this afternoon! In case you forgot. Be there on time. The team is counting on you."
#10 A Time to Fight |
Ulrich is a year 10 student at Kadic Academy. Very tall for his age, his height and his build contrast with that of his weakling roommate and adventure companion, Odd Della Robbia.
Particularly adept at martial arts and sport, Ulrich is very versatile. We see him practising judo (episode 01 “XANA 2.0”) as well as karate for an interschool competition (episode 10 “A Time to Fight”) and meditation (episode 25 “Disaster”).
When he needs to let off steam, a punching bag is always a good way to go. | | |
| |  | "What are they doing?!"
"They're just trying to prove who has the bigger sword!"
#05 Rivalry |  |
Ulrich's behaviour is as chaotic as the Cortex. Usually, he's a rather likeable and often smiley teen, much less sullen than he was in the past. He freely sniggers and laughs at Jim or Odd's jokes and takes pleasure in laughing at the latter if he beats him at a game of chance (episode 23 “Jeremy's Blues”).
On the other hand, he is extremely irascible and easily gets worked up.
His mood swings are due to the fact that he is, more or less secretly, in love with Yumi... But he is completely unable to deal with it, as he confesses to Odd in episode 01 “XANA 2.0”. He is unable to declare his love to her and hides behind the old premise of “friends but that's all” that Yumi imposed on him in the past. When things don't go his way when it comes to the Japanese girl, he becomes aggressive, isolates himself immediately and, most of the time, quickly regrets it (episode 06 “Suspicion”).
Yumi has much less difficulty in expressing her feelings. So, when Ulrich learns through a poem that the Japanese girl doesn't take kindly to his selfishness (episode 14 “Stowaway”), they immediately start fighting. However, while Ulrich avoids the discussion by refusing to go on a mission to Lyoko, Yumi forces him to talk. Ulrich admits his mistakes (in this case, the fact that he stood her up) and both teenagers leave on a more positive note, as Yumi tells us in episode 26 “The Final Mission”.
However, Ulrich has some great qualities. He is particularly audacious, especially when it comes to protecting Yumi when she's in danger. He doesn't hesitate to charge in with guns blazing in order to help her (episode 04 “Lady Einstein”), and even to take huge risks for her. He volunteers to be a test subject for Jeremy's experiment in episode 09 “The Bait” so that his sister in arms wouldn't have to. Likewise in episode 17 “A Bright Future Ahead”, he accepts the mission of transporting an extremely dangerous transmitter from Sector 5 to the Cortex, through the Network. For Ulrich, Yumi comes before all else.
As for the rest of the group, Ulrich bears a grudge against William. The latter is also still in love with the Japanese girl. Although he had been turned down by Yumi, Ulrich still sees him as a potential opponent...and William is much better at expressing his feelings.
Ulrich strongly protests against him joining the team again. He reacts very violently when his friends decide to ask for William's help (episode 05 “Rivalry”). He finally accepts his return and, in spite of a couple of squabbles on Lyoko (episode 06 “Suspicion”), the two rivals collaborate rather well, especially when it comes to rescuing Yumi when she is being tracked by a spectre (episode 25 “Disaster”).
Aside from his quarrels with William, Ulrich doesn't like squabbling and is rather someone who tries to ease tensions, particularly those between Aelita and Laura, which make him feel very uncomfortable (episode 04 “Lady Einstein”).
He shares a very long history with Odd, his roommate. At the same time they're very close but like to turn everything into a competition. Odd's everlasting presence in Ulrich's life is sometimes very tiring for the karateka. He thus likes taking a break from time to time in order to enjoy the silence (episode 11 “Rendezvous”). However, most of the time, Ulrich appreciates Odd's crazed behaviour. We see him smile when his friend turns up late to a meeting and offers hollow excuses (episode 02 “The Cortex”).
He very much likes to make fun of his partner, even about serious things like the complete loss of all his codes (episode 25).
Another noteworthy fact is that Ulrich also has a strange relationship with Jim, in whom he sees a sort of mentor. It's by applying the sports teacher's advice that the young man wins his karate competition and finds a way to destroy the Ninjas in episode 10 “The Warrior Awakens”.
In general, Ulrich isn't very good with intellectual things. This explains a less important relationship with Jeremy and Aelita. In the big decisions made during the new conflict with XANA, Ulrich has lagged a bit behind, merely following the leader and executing the orders.
He is stymied by phenomena that he doesn't understand, like the temporal loop in episode 24 “Time Warp”.
On Lyoko, Ulrich is fearsome. His temper pushes him much more towards direct assault rather than strategy. However, his lack of attention or thought means that he is often easily tricked. He is very quickly mentally overwhelmed when he arrives in the middle of a fight between Odd and his doppelgänger (episode 21 “Imposters”). | | |
| | "You got the wrong guy on the wrong day! Triplicate!"
#14 Stowaway |  |
On the virtual world, Ulrich is in his comfort zone: combat. He has very deadly close-range potential thanks to his two sabres, which he wields very skilfully. He is also able to combine sabre and physical attacks.
However, Ulrich made an extremely weak debut at the beginning of the conflict with XANA. He is very quickly overwhelmed in episode 03 “Spectromania”, he performs poorly in his task of defending the Megapod against the Krabs in episode 04 “Lady Einstein”, he almost falls into the Digital Sea in episode 05 “Rivalry”, he falls to the Cortex's defence system in episode 06 “Suspicions”, he is powerless against the Blok Wall from episode 07 “Countdown”, and to top it all off, he literally gets crushed by the Ninjas in episode 08 “Virus”.
Thankfully, he gets a grip on himself after that. Of all the members in the group, Ulrich has the greatest disadvantage against XANA's monsters, because he's the only one who doesn't have any ranged attack. He is also grounded. Against all odds, the virtual samurai doesn't disappoint. He even defeats the flying Mantas in Sector 5 (episode 13 “Friday the 13th”).
Ulrich is a close-ranged fighter. Because of this, he's the one who fares the best against Ninjas. After the element of surprise in episode 08 “Virus”, he comes out victorious from his two confrontations with them. In episode 14 “Intrusion” when he kicks the arse of the Ninja that infiltrated Sector 5. The creature had just beaten Aelita, Odd and William one after the other with relative ease.
He also wins a decisive duel in episode 16 “Confusion”, in the Core room of the Cortex.
Ulrich's weapons are very appropriate for fighting Ninjas. However, he can also rely upon his two powers. The first is Supersprint. It allows him to run very fast, leaving a lovely blue trail behind him. Ideal for catching his adversaries unawares or even reaching towers quickly.
The second is Triplicate. Ulrich makes two clones appear, using them t fool his opponent while he waits for an opportunity to catch them by surprise.
Ulrich is one of the best warriors on the virtual world. Nevertheless, he remains bested by William, who has stronger powers and is more regular in his fights, as can be seen in episode 05 “Rivalry”.
Finally, when is comes to vehicles, Ulrich is rather versatile. He has complete mastery of his Overbike, as well as the Navskids and even the Skidbladnir. He has also tried the Megapod, but isn't as good at driving it as Odd. | | |
| |  | "Yeah, Jeremy, it's a spectre. His weird eyes make you lose control. I didn't get to touch it. I think it knows about the codes."
"Man! Right. You have to give it your fake codes."
#09 The Bait |  |
After XANA's defeat, while Ulrich is living a new life in which is main concern is finding a way to declare his feelings to Yumi, when William wasn't perpetually sticking to her like glue, our young athlete was far from the troubles that came with leading the double life of a Lyoko Warrior.
So he wasn't exactly happy when he discovered that their arch enemy was back. Ulrich was the first victim when the very first spectre, one of Jim, attacked him first, leaving him in very bad shape (episode 01 “XANA 2.0”). Cyber combat was back on the menu.
Jeremy explained to Ulrich, Odd, Aelita and Yumi that XANA had survived by injecting source codes into them. By catching the heroes, XANA's spectres absorbed these codes and took them back to XANA, which restored its power. So the Lyoko Warriors lived in fear for weeks, worrying about seeing a spectre come to the school to attack them. From a little primary school student to a clone of himself (episode 03 “Spectromania”) and one of William (episode 05 “Rivalry”), Ulrich found himself faced with a succession of formidable spectres. XANA's creatures mainly have their eyes set on Ulrich.
Despite the risks, Ulrich doesn't back down. He is prepared to fight spectres, even if doing so involves charging in head-first (episode 06 “Suspicion”) or being a guinea-pig for experimental false codes for destroying spectres (episode 09 “The Bait”).
On Lyoko, thanks to XANA's source codes, Ulrich and his friends are now able to deactivate towers themselves. So Ulrich was now not only a fighter, but also a key element in the conflict.
The virtual experience intensifies. By searching for XANA's trace, Jeremy finally found its refuge: a new virtual world, the Cortex, generated by a supercomputer that belongs to Tyron, an ex-colleague of Franz Hopper, Aelita's father (episode 02 “The Cortex”). This new world reveals a myriad of dangers. The biggest one is the Ninjas: armed humanoids sent to the Cortex by Tyron which are very skilled fighters (episode 08 “Virus”). Ulrich must face them and XANA's monsters, both to deactivate towers generating spectres or to investigate the Cortex's interface.
The number of missions increases, always different. Sometimes, William must be rescued (episode 22 “Mutiny!”), others, a transmitter put on Lyoko by one of Tyron's Ninjas must be destroyed (episode 17 “A Bright Career Ahead”).
One thing is certain: the dangers are always omnipresent... From imprisonment in a temporal loop (episode 24 “Time Warp”) to the devastating effects of a spectre that was virtualised by accident (episode 19 “The Trap”), the destruction of the Skid (episode 23 “Jeremy's Blues”) and a confrontation with clones of the Lyoko Warriors (episode 21 “Imposters”).
On a personal level, things aren't easy for Ulrich. He must make up with William, newly reinstated into the group (episode 05 “Rivalry”). And he must deal with his always eventful relationship with Yumi. However, things always work themselves out eventually...
...except when it comes to source codes. After a lot of spectres manage to touch Ulrich, the young man loses the last of his codes during the devastating attack in episode 25 “Massacre”.
Fortunately, the virus to destroy the Cortex, its supercomputer and XANA, created by Jeremy, is ready to launch that same day. The heroes then commence their ultimate mission. They manage to inject the virus into the supercomputer. But Tyron turns his machine off. And so, XANA is in hibernation within the supercomputer. If Tyron turns it back on again, the virus will activate and destroy everything.
Thus, the fight against XANA finishes once more. But Ulrich and his friends must remain on their guard, while they turn their Supercomputer off once again. Tyron could return, because he has Aelita's mother. Or worse still, he could find an antivirus and turn his machine...as well as XANA...back on again... (episode 26 “The Final Mission”). | | |
| |  | The actor portraying and dubbing Ulrich Stern in Code Lyoko Evolution is Quentin Merabet. Click on the picture to access his page! |
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