List of Ultima characters

This is a list of significant recurring characters in the Ultima series of computer games, indicating the games in which they appeared.

Contents

The Avatar and his companions

The Avatar and his companions' appearances
Character U0 U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 U7 U7:SI U8 U9 SE MD UU1 UU2
The Avatar No Yes[1] Yes[1] Yes[1] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Iolo No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes[2] Yes[3] No Yes
Shamino No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes[2] Yes[3] No
Dupre No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes[2] Yes[3] No Yes
Geoffrey No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes
Julia No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No Yes
Jaana No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No
Katrina No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No
Mariah No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No No
Gwenno No Yes[4] Yes Yes[5] Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
Sentri No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No
Seggallion No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes[6] No
Gorn No No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Sherry No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No
Spark No No No No No No No Yes No No No No
Spector No No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No

The Avatar

The Avatar is the main character in the series. The Avatar is first known as the Stranger from another world, who defeats Mondain, Minax, and their spawn, Exodus. The Stranger becomes the Avatar once his goal changes to following the path of the Virtues, and retrieving the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom from the Great Stygian Abyss. This is noted as one of the first uses of "Avatar" in the virtual context.[7] In the fifth episode, the Avatar defeates a repressive regime over Britannia, and in the sixth he brings peace between men and gargoyles. In the first part of the seventh episode, the Avatar infiltrates the Fellowship in order to stop the Guardian from entering Britannia; in the second part, the Avatar prevents imbalance from destroying the universe and receives the title of the Hierophant of Balance. In the eighth episode, the Avatar escapes the world of Pagan by defeating the four Titans, becoming the Titan of Ether. In the ninth and final episode, the Avatar defeats the Guardian by destroying both himself and the Guardian with the Armageddon spell. The Avatar is also the main character in both Ultima Underworld games.

The Avatar can be customized as a male or female in many of the games. Later games allow the customization of skin and hair color as well. The default Avatar is depicted as a blond-haired, blue-eyed male. The character is noted as the first to have a selection between genders and races, and the female version is noted to be "feminine, but not hypersexual."[8] The Avatar's trademark clothing often includes a suit of chain mail, with a white, red or orange tunic over it, and a red cape. An ankh is usually part of the Avatar's clothing. Typically, the character is also shown wielding a sword. In Ultima VIII, the Avatar's face is obscured by a large helmet. The Avatar is voiced by J.C. Shakespeare in Ultima IX.

The Companions of the Avatar

The Companions of the Avatar are people who the Avatar has adventured with over the course of the series. The Companions are traditionally divided to two groups: The traditional eight Companions, which joined the Stranger in his quest to attain the Avatarhood in Ultima IV, and the other Companions, who joined Avatar in other subsequent parts of the series. The eight Companions may also join the Avatar in Ultima V, although some of them take up other occupations in later games. In some cases, minor NPCs join the party only for a very short period of time, although sometimes these non-traditional characters play a major role and are part of the party throughout the entire game.

The Eight Companions

Other companions

Enemies

Character U0 U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 SE MD UU1 U7 UU2 U7:SI U8 U9 UO
Mondain No Yes No No No No Yes[10] No No No No No No No No No
Minax No No Yes No No No Yes[10] No No No No No No No No Yes
Exodus No No No Yes No No Yes[10] No No No Yes No No No No No
Lord Blackthorn No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No[11] No Yes Yes
The Shadowlords No No No No No Yes No No Yes No No No No No No No
The Guardian No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Batlin No No No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No

Mondain

Mondain is a powerful wizard and the villain of Ultima I. He is born as the second son of Wolfgang, the king of the city-state of Akalabeth. Taught by his father, he masters basic magic, learning to control minor creatures, but as he doesn't show compassion, his father bans him from using magic. Mondain quickly retaliates by killing his father and stealing his gem, which he uses to create the "Gem of Immortality." As his power grows, he gains more control over the minions of darkness. He creates many strange, hybrid creatures in his dark laboratories, including minotaurs, lizardmen, orcs, and goblins. Mondain's castle is on an island called Terfin.

After being defeated by Lord British, he summons as many creatures as he can in order to conquer Sosaria. Due to the Gem of Immortality, Mondain cannot be killed in the present time, and he cannot be killed without destroying the gem. The Stranger from Another World uses a time machine to travel back in time 1000 years to when Mondain was first creating the gem. The Stranger manages to destroy Mondain's gem and slay him. Mondain's castle is destroyed in the process.

Shattering the Gem of Immortality forms the basis of two later games, Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny and Ultima Online. Three shards of the gem are found at the location of the sunken remnants of Terfin in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, along with Mondain's skull. The shards later form the Shadowlords in Ultima V and are necessary to defeat them; the skull in Ultima IV kills all creatures within an area, also hurting the Avatar's karma. In Ultima Online, many different shards exist, all of which are parallel universes containing Britannia.

In Ultima Online and Ultima IX: Ascension, Mondain is depicted as bald with a goatee, bearing a resemblance to Ming the Merciless. In Ultima VI, however, he is depicted as having a full head of hair and no facial hair.

Minax

Minax, the beautiful but evil sorceress, is the main enemy of Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress as well as in Ultima Online.

Underestimated because of her youth, Minax was furious at the death of her tutor and revenge set itself within her dark heart. As her talent for magic and capacity of malevolence far exceeded Mondain's, Minax decided to take control of the evils of the world without the gem. Showing huge magical potential in her youth, Minax was recruited as an apprentice by Mondain. The young sorceress later fell in love with the wizard. She survived her paramour's death at the hands of the Stranger (the event of Ultima I) and went into hiding. Ten years later, Minax is now older and very powerful, more than Mondain once was. Minax wants to avenge the death of Mondain; thus, after much research, she learns of the Stranger's homeworld. To destroy her "bane's homeworld", she uses dimensional and time gates to set up the Time of Legends, a place located at the Origin of Times. Thus she will be able to attack everybody living "after" this period in that reality without risking being killed like Mondain, since it is impossible to travel in time to before the Origin of Times. To ensure the Stranger would not interfere with her plans for vengeance, Minax invaded his homeworld of Earth. Once there, she used her dark powers to disturb the fabric of time and destroyed the planet. After the Stranger's death, she would be able to conquer Sosaria easily. Twenty years after the death of Mondain, Minax invaded Sosaria with her legions of Darkness.

In Ultima II, Lord British called for a hero to crush Minax's evil plans. The Stranger, having narrowly escaped the destruction of Earth, answered British's call. Minax's castle, named Shadowguard, could only be reached through timegates (similar to moongates in the later games); even then an enchanted ring was required to pass through the force fields inside. The war against Minax's vile legions was long and hard, but eventually the hero hunted down the sorceress, pursued her as she teleported throughout the castle, and destroyed her with the quicksword Enilno. With the dark energies released with the death of Minax, the lands of Sosaria changed once again, reforming into two continents: Sosaria proper and Ambrosia. But unbeknownst to all, Mondain and Minax had produced a progeny, Exodus - an entity that was neither man nor machine.

Exodus

Exodus is the eponymous villain of Ultima III: Exodus, the creation of both Mondain and Minax. The first sign of the character's appearance is a missing ship, which returns with the crew completely gone and the word "EXODUS" written in blood on the deck of the ship. Exodus then summons creatures to terrorize Sosaria from its castle on the Isle of Fire. Twenty years after Minax's death, the Stranger returns to Sosaria to destroy Exodus.

The passage through the Isle of Fire is blocked by the trapped Great Earth Serpent. The Stranger yells the correct magic word to set the serpent free; the Great Earth Serpent reappears to assist the Avatar in Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle, grateful for being freed. Castle Exodus is protected by various magical barriers, requiring the Stranger's party to obtain marks in order to safely pass through. In addition to various creatures that attack the party, the floor itself comes to life and also attacks.

Exodus is depicted as having a demonic appearance, however the Stranger realizes in the game that Exodus is not a normal living creature. Instead, Exodus is a magical computer that can only be destroyed by inserting the four cards of Love, Sol, Moons, and Death into its four slots. After destroying Exodus, the Isle of Fire sinks into the ocean until Ultima VII: The Black Gate.

In the Forge of Virtue expansion of Ultima VII, the Dark Core of Exodus remains on the island. In order to complete the quests for the add-on, the Avatar must banish the Dark Core into the Ethereal Void.

Lord Blackthorn

Lord Blackthorn becomes regent of Britannia when Lord British disappears while exploring the Underworld in Ultima V. 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. 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, the timeline of which diverges from the main series after Ultima I, 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. He eventually forged an alliance with various dark magics and emerged as an evil force. After "surviving" through a few years, he was finally killed in an assault on the city of Yew.

The Guardian

The Guardian is an alien being of immense power from another dimension. A large red humanoid, he is described as a conqueror of worlds. He first appears in Ultima VII: The Black Gate although for the majority of the game he is only a disembodied voice. Having conquered other worlds, he first attempts to conquer Britannia through his agent Batlin, the founder and leader of the Fellowship. The ultimate plan was to create a black moongate to allow the Guardian to physically enter Britannia and conquer it. The Avatar discovers the Guardian’s plan and destroys the black moongate as the Guardian is attempting to enter.

One year later, in Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, the Guardian attempted to conquer Britannia again by creating a blackrock dome around Castle Britannia and trapping the Avatar and his companions inside. The Guardian planned to send troops through a portal within the castle to conquer Britannia by killing its leaders first. The Avatar defeated the Guardian by destroying the portal and the dome. During the course of the game, the Avatar visited several worlds already conquered or destroyed by the Guardian.

It was revealed in Ultima VII, Part Two: Serpent Isle that the Guardian had a backup plan and had sent Batlin to the Serpent Isle to further his plans to conquer Britannia. Batlin attempts to betray the Guardian and is killed for his disloyalty but not before releasing the apocalyptic forces of the Banes of Chaos. The Avatar ends the threat by reuniting the Chaos, Order, and Balance Serpents. At the end of the game, the Avatar is captured by the Guardian.

In Ultima VIII: Pagan, the Guardian trapped the Avatar on Pagan, a world completely under the control of the Guardian. The Avatar eventually masters the different elemental magic of this world and returns to Britannia.

In Ultima IX: Ascension it is learned that while the Avatar was trapped on Pagan, the Guardian has managed to erect eight huge columns throughout Britannia, in order to pull the two moons out of orbit, crashing into the planet and destroying it. The Avatar destroys the eight columns and defeats the Guardian. In the final battle, the Guardian reveals that he is the Avatar’s other half, created from the evil part of the Avatar abandoned at the conclusion of Ultima IV. The Avatar defeats the Guardian by using the Armageddon spell to fuse the two of them into one new being.

Other characters

Character U0 U1 U2 U3 U4 U5 U6 SE MD UU1 U7 UU2 U7:SI U8 U9 UO
Lord British Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes[12] No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
Chuckles No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
Smith No No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
The Time Lord No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No
Sutek the Mad No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
The Great Earth Serpent No No No Yes No No No No No No No No Yes No No No
Sin'Vraal No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Sir Simon No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Lady Tessa No No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Nystul No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No No
Nicodemus No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes[13] No
Rudyom No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
Horance No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
Penumbra No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
King Draxinusom No No No No No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No
Patterson No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No No No No
Wisps No No No No Yes[14] Yes[14] Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Arcadion No No No No No No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes No No

Lord British

Lord Cantabrigian British is the ruler of Britannia, and an in-game personification of the creator of the series, Richard Garriott.[15] His name comes from a nickname given to him by friends at a computer camp, who felt that his way of saying "hello" was distinctly "British." The "Lord" prefix was added when he played the dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons games.[16] Garriott released early games, such as Akalabeth, under the name and occasionally appeared in Ultima Online playing as Lord British. He is still known as Lord British even after his departure from Ultima maker Origin Systems: Garriott retained the trademark rights to the name Lord British with its associated symbols, and the character appeared in his latest (and now defunct) online game, Tabula Rasa as General British.

Lord British is a man who comes from Earth to Sosaria through a moongate. He adopts the name Cantabrigian British, taken from his birthplace, Cambridge in the United Kingdom, in favor of his old name. He quickly meets the evil wizard, Mondain, and does battle with him. After defeating him, British becomes known as "Champion of the White Light" and "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth." Numerous plotlines and side-quests in the Ultima games revolve around one of Lord British's adventures or public works projects. He had a key role in founding the Museum, Conservatory, and innumerable institutions of the Britannian society. He also continuously provides healing, resurrection and other miscellaneous help for the Avatar.

One of the most famous characteristics of Lord British is that he is (supposedly) indestructible. In the past, he has been killed as a result of various glitches and exploits.[17] Most of the games in the series require the use of glitches to kill the character, and Garriott was less than pleased after learning that the character can be lured to be killed by cannon fire in Ultima III.[18] During Ultima VII, an easter egg allows British to be killed by a falling gold plaque, which is a reference to an incident at the Origin building; a metal bar, where the magnet on the door attached to it, fell on Garriott's head, warranting a visit to the hospital. One of the characters says, "Yancey-Hausman will pay!" which is a reference to the owner and landlord of the building.[19] During Ultima Online's beta test, Garriott's character was killed by various bugs and an oversight on Garriott's part.[20][21][22] This is considered to be a major event within online gaming, as it gave "players an unprecedented ability to change and influence the game."[23][24] General British of Tabula Rasa was also killed during beta testing.[17] In Ultima IX: Ascension, Lord British may be killed by making a poisoned loaf of bread with the rat poison and the bread maker on Earth, and then by replacing his loaf of bread with it.

These and other methods of killing Lord British are listed in the Ultima Wiki: [1]

References

  1. ^ a b c The Avatar was first introduced in Ultima IV. Later games in the series retconned the Avatar into the role of the player character in Ultimas I and II, and one of the up to four player characters in Ultima III.
  2. ^ a b c In Savage Empire, Shamino, Iolo, and Dupre appear as their alter-egos Shamuru, Triolo, and Dokray.
  3. ^ a b c In Martian Dreams, Shamino, Iolo, and Dupre appear as their alter-egos Sherman, Yellin, and DuPrey.
  4. ^ In Ultima I, a character named "Gwino" is the castle jester.
  5. ^ In Ultima III, a character named "Gwino" is the castle jester.
  6. ^ In Martian Dreams, Segallion appears as Segal.
  7. ^ My Avatar, My Self: Identity in Video Role-Playing Games By Zach Waggoner, Chapter notes, page 185
  8. ^ Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market, by Sheri Graner Ray, page 27
  9. ^ Dungeons and desktops: the history of computer role-playing games By Matt Barton page 117
  10. ^ a b c In Ultima VI, Mondain, Minax, and Exodus appear as the embodiment of Gargoyle virtues.
  11. ^ In Ultima VII Part 2, A book is found on Monk Isle describing Blackthorn's stay there. Fans also speculate that one of the monks may secretly be Blackthorn in disguise.
  12. ^ In Martian Dreams, Lord British appears as the cowboy Garret.
  13. ^ Nicodemus is referred to as "Nico" in Ultima IX.
  14. ^ a b Wisps appear as enemies in Ultima IV and V but during and after Ultima VI they are portrayed as a manifestation of a single entity, offering to trade information with the player.
  15. ^ EL33TONLINE: News - Richard Garriott in space! Retrieved 2008-10-15
  16. ^ "Inside Ultima IV". Computer Gaming World: pp. 18–21. March 1986. 
  17. ^ a b http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=181917
  18. ^ The Official Book of Ultima page 30 and 31
  19. ^ Joe Garrity (2003-07-27). "Dino's Ultima Page - Ultima 7 Guide - Fun - The Bar that killed the King". http://gigi.nullneuron.net/ultima/u7bg/u7fun.killlb.php. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
  20. ^ Long, Starr. "Tabula Rasa Team Bios: Starr Long". NCSoft. http://www.playtr.com/team/team_bios.html#biosTop. Retrieved 2006-08-17. 
  21. ^ Hawkeye Pike. "Ultima Online Travelogues: Ultima Online Beta". Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060618223856/http://www.aschulze.net/ultima/stories9/beta.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-17. 
  22. ^ http://noctalis.com/dis/uo/blast02a.shtml
  23. ^ http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2002/06/52894
  24. ^ "Writing the history of virtual worlds". BBC News. 2008-08-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/technology/7561553.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-11. 
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