Lord Blackthorn
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| Lord Blackthorn | |
|---|---|
 Lord Blackthorn as he appears in Ultima IX: Ascension |
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| Game series | Ultima |
| First game | Ultima V |
| Voice actor(s) | Doug Forrest (Ultima IX) |
In the Ultima game series, Lord Blackthorn (also frequently spelled Blackthorne) is a recurring character that first appears in Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1988).
[edit] Character history
In Ultima V, Blackthorn becomes regent of Britannia when Lord British disappears while exploring the Underworld. Originally, he is a wise and just ruler, but he is twisted by the Shadowlords and becomes an oppressive tyrant. By the game's conclusion, Lord British is restored to his throne and Blackthorn sent to exile through a red moongate to an unknown world.
Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle explains that his destination is the Serpent Isle. While on Serpent Isle, Blackthorn takes refuge among the Xenkan Monks, eventually joining their order. He left the island before the Avatar came to the Serpent Island, though some fans suspect he was still among the monks under a disguise, giving hints to the Avatar. This, however, is fanon and contradicts Ultima IX.
Blackthorn returns again as a villain in Ultima IX: Ascension, this time as a servant of the Guardian. Blackthorn perishes at the hand of Lord British, after an extensive magical duel at the center of the Great Stygian Abyss.
In Ultima Online, Blackthorn is the closest friend of Lord British, but at the same time he is also his fiercest enemy. He has been defending the peoples' individuality and freedom of belief by creating his own virtue, chaos. In this case, chaos does not represent the destructive force with which it is usually associated.
In later Ultima Online (UO) expansions (starting with "Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge") Lord Blackthorn forged an alliance with various dark magics emerged as an evil force, similarly to how he evolved in the single-player Ultima games. After "surviving" through a few years, he was finally killed in an assault on the city of Yew that was depicted in-game shortly after the release of the Age of Shadows expansion.
Blackthorn and his minions (the latter remain a feature of UO to this day) were drawn and conceived by noted comic book artist Todd McFarlane. They were partly robotic and partly biological in nature, allowing clear parallels to be drawn with the cybernetics of Star Wars and Star Trek.
[edit] Real-life counterpart
Blackthorn's real-life counterpart is Starr Long, one of the long-time Origin employees, best known as the co-creator of Ultima Online.
