Ulrich Stern

Ulrich Stern is one of the main characters from the Code Lyoko series.

Ulrich is a quiet and introverted person by nature, quite the opposite of his best friend, Odd. Headstrong and stubborn, he cares for his friends and would do anything for them. Ulrich is more athletic than academic and it shows when you compare his grades to his sports performance. He attracts the attention of many females of the school, but has obvious feelings for Yumi.

In the AWA fics, Ulrich is listed as a purchased prisoner from the Slave Fortress.

Appearance
Ulrich is the tallest male (tallest group member being Yumi) of the group, with scruffy-looking dark brown hair and dark eyes. In the first three seasons, he wears a vest with a shirt over the top and cargo pants, all in shades of green, with trainers. After season three, his outfit changes to a dark green shirt, army jacket, and blue jeans. On Lyoko, Ulrich's form is similar to a Samurai, with an Oni drawn on his back and a single Katana sheathed on his left hip. In the fourth season, this changes to a yellow and brown body suit. He also gets a second Katana and they are both sheathed on his back.

Personality
Ulrich is the introvert of the group. He doesn't say much about his personal life and is evasive when someone asks him about himself or his family. He seems to have trouble opening up to people and hides his feelings in order to use them all the more explosively in action. Whenever someone he is close to is in danger, his feelings tend to surface very quickly. The first example of this is in the episode Killer Music, when Odd is sent to the hospital in an emergency condition and slips into a coma. Ulrich blames himself for not being there when Odd had needed him and insists on riding with him during the ambulance ride despite protests from the principal. A similar situation occurs in the episode Cold War, when Yumi is trapped under a fallen tree during a blizzard. After several failed attempts to free her, he cries as he tells her that he needs her while holding her and screams in grief when she appears to have died.

Though on the outside, Ulrich appears to be fairly emotionally strong; he deals with hidden issues in the way that only a few people could understand. A significant trouble of his are his parents, particularly his father, who are very hard to please and have high expectations of their son. In Zero Gravity Zone, Jeremie berates Ulrich for choosing to participate in an upcoming soccer game instead of helping to fight X.A.N.A., yet Ulrich does not retaliate or change his mind. After Ulrich leaves the room, Odd explains that Ulrich doesn't want to disappoint his parents, especially his perfectionist father who is a businessman. He further says how Ulrich feels that his talent at sports is his only way of being able to please them given his poor academic performance. A few clear examples of his bad grades are when he receives a D- on a science test in Nobody in Particular and then later receives an F+ on another test in Double Trouble (the plus being added "so he can do worse next time"), despite having tried his sincere hardest to get a passing grade. His struggle academic wise is shown to often get to him and he is occasionally shown studying hard for an upcoming exam and being upset when receiving a failing grade.

His bad relationship with his father based on his poor grades is shown in Final Round. Ulrich's father unexpectedly shows up at Kadic to talk to Ulrich and berates him for his failing performance in school, a scolding that Ulrich takes despite being emotionally hurt. His father even resorts to insulting his friends and accusing them of being a bad influence (despite having never met them). However, Ulrich finally snaps when his friends are insulted and yells at his father since he doesn't know him and hasn't even talked to him in a year. He then angrily leaves the room despite his father yelling at him to sit back down, declaring that he is done listening to him.

In Vertigo, it is revealed that Ulrich has vertigo, which is a chemical disorder that causes dizziness. He shows signs of it when attempting to climb a rock wall in the gym, which reveals the condition to his friends. It hasn't seemed to affect him before this point, except in the prequel, when he hesitates to slide down the ropes to the factory floor. Having vertigo does not seem to be a hindrance on Ulrich when on Lyoko, with the notable exception of the episode Bad Connection.

Martial Arts
On Earth, Ulrich is a capable martial artist trained in the art of Pencak Silat (a martial art system from Indonesia). At least part of this training is from his PE teacher Jim (presumably a great martial artist himself, although he'd rather not talk about it), as shown in X.A.N.A. Awakens, Revelation, and Canine Conundrum. He's also capable with a sword, which is his main weapon in Lyoko. He demonstrates this talent outside of Lyoko in the episode A Bad Turn when protecting Yumi from a materialized Krab using a real katana, and in A Great Day when using a pipe to sword-fight with a possessed Sissi. As evidenced by a quote by Ulrich in Rock Bottom?, he also practices other martial arts. In Revelation, he copies the famous nose wiping and hopping stance of martial arts movie star Bruce Lee. This occurs during the battle between himself and a polymorphic clone that had transformed into a dark version of Ulrich.

Ulrich has, on several occasions, shown to be the most skilled in Lyoko when fighting. Many times he has defeated multiple monsters with skillful take downs (particularly in the third season), and has outlasted the others, usually being the last to be devirtualized, such as in the episode Code: Earth. In Revelation, Ulrich is forced to face off against a polymorphic clone of X.A.N.A.'s while in Lyoko. In the beginning, he is shown taunting the clone (which at the time had taken the form of Odd) by saying that Odd had never beaten him yet. This implies that Ulrich is definitely stronger than Odd. Then the clone transforms into a clone of Ulrich, making it an even match.

After a long fight and an impressive display of swordsmanship and martial arts, Ulrich beats the clone, showing once again that he has impressive abilities. Also, in Fight to the Finish, he manages to kill the Kolossus, a powerful fire elemental-like creature, created by X.A.N.A. by drawing energy from all the Replikas. However, its corpse fell on him, devirtualizing him instantly.

Weapon

 * Katana - Ulrich uses a thin katana/saber as his weapon in Lyoko. Ulrich use it to slice or stab enemies. His katana is capable of absorbing normal laser fire and can deflect it if positioned correctly. However, he cannot block specialized attacks, such as a Megatank's elliptical laser or a Blok's ice beam. The latter may simply be a matter of timing, as the Bloks tend to catch Ulrich off-guard when using that attack. The Megatank's elliptical laser, on the other hand, has proven to be too much for Ulrich to handle, due to the sheer amount of force behind the attack. Ulrich can only block the attack for a short period of time and the katana is always devirtualized along with Ulrich himself shortly afterward. Ulrich's katana can also be destroyed through a barrage of regular laser-fire (as seen in The Pretender). In Double Take, Ulrich gets 2 katanas, which are simply called Twin Blades. Also, Ulrich would seem to be an expert with the sword since he once stated "I could do the same thing when X.A.N.A. attacks in reality."

Lyoko Powers

 * Super Sprint - Ulrich can run extremely fast in Lyoko. Leaving a line of yellow from where he has been, but in Evolution the line's color changes to blue.
 * Triplicate - Ulrich can create two other clones of himself to divert X.A.N.A.'s monsters. But, each clone only has 1 Life Point. The clones appear to be controlled by Ulrich through telepathy. The clones have every ability he does, with the exception of cloning themselves. They can only take one hit before being destroyed, and are automatically destroyed should the real Ulrich be devirtualized. When using this power, Ulrich simply creates the clones as assistants. At first, Ulrich's control of these clones seemed rudimentary at best, since they would often be easily hit. As the series has progressed, his control of them has refined. In the episode Tip-Top Shape, he was able to use his clones to fight three groups of monsters (a Krab, a Blok, and three Kankrelats) without losing a single clone to his opponents. He even toyed with the final Kankrelat, having one of his clones kick it into the air so he could strike it in mid-flight. The clones can also be drawn back into Ulrich in a process called "Fusion".
 * Triangulate - Ulrich and his two clones form a yellow triangle around their target. A silhouette of Ulrich then runs around the perimeter of that triangle, forming a golden barrier. This is meant to confuse the target so Ulrich can destroy it. After the technique is finished, any remaining clones revert to their assistant state.
 * Enhanced Reflexes - A superhuman ability that enables Ulrich to sense whenever lasers are coming near him from behind, and dodge them with ease.
 * Vehicle - Overbike: The Overbike is as fast as Ulrich while using Super Sprint. Ulrich also has a Nav Skid that can shoot torpedoes on since Season 4.

Trivia

 * Ulrich was the only character whose 3-D model was shown in Garage Kids.
 * His name in Garage Kids was "Ulrick".
 * In the Japanese dub, he is named Ūrikku Sutān. In that dub, he was voiced by Mayumi Asano.
 * Ulrich uses a skateboard to travel to the Factory, yet has issues piloting the Overboard, possibly due to his vertigo and acrophobia.
 * In The Chips Are Down, Ulrich was temporarily banned from the team after Jeremie and the others found out about him activating a return to the past without telling them about it first. He was brought back into the group after he confessed that his actions were selfish and disrespectful. There is a dramatic irony in this, as others of the group have used the Supercomputer to their advantage.
 * This made him the first out of five of the Lyoko Warriors to be kicked out of the team temporarily or permanently. The other four being Jeremie in Franz Hopper, Odd in Kadic Bombshell, William after the events of Down to Earth (although he is later able to rejoin in Rivalry), and Laura is then permanently banned at the end of the Evolution episode Mutiny.
 * Ulrich was on the Kadic soccer team in a few episodes of the first season, most notably Zero Gravity Zone. After this season, there is no mention of the team or Jim's coaching job, so it's likely that the team was disassembled.
 * In Saint Valentine's Day, it is revealed that the Subdigitals are Ulrich's favorite band.
 * In Hard Luck, Ulrich reveals that his least favorite monsters created by X.A.N.A. are Megatanks. In the same episode, he states that Hornets are his favorite.
 * Originally, in Season 4, Ulrich was to use a scouter-like gadget on his eye for his new Lyoko avatar. However, it was dropped in favor of the headband.
 * Ulrich's mobile is a dark blue, flip-style cellphone.
 * He is the first character to be shown in a shower.
 * Although his character is one of the youngest, in Code Lyoko Evolution, the person portraying him (Quentin Merabet) is the second oldest in the main cast, other than the actor who plays Jim (since Jim is considered main cast in the title sequence).
 * Ulrich is the only member in the original series to have three ID Cards.
 * Sometimes when Ulrich is about to destroy one of X.A.N.A.'s monsters, he yells out "Impact!"
 * In X.A.N.A. Awakens, it is shown that he was the very first one to destroy one of X.A.N.A.'s monsters, which was a Blok.
 * He is the only character who has ever defeated the Kolossus.