List of Ultima characters

This is a list of significant or recurring characters in the "Ultima" series of computer games, indicating the games in which they appeared.
The Avatar and his companions.
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. In the fifth episode, the Avatar defeats 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." 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 ', the Avatar's face is obscured by a large helmet. The Avatar is voiced by J.C. Shakespeare in '.
The Avatar was initially designed to be a blank slate through which players could reflect their own personality "Ultima" was one of the first computer games to allow players to choose their gender and race. However, the Avatar eventually evolved to take on a more specific appearance and character.
The Eight Companions.
The Eight Companions are the ones who join the Stranger in his quest to attain the Avatarhood in "" (in fact, only seven of them join the Stranger in the game; the one who has the same profession as the Stranger will not join the party, as that profession's role is fulfilled by the Stranger). They are special in the way that each of them originally practices a particular profession which connects with one of the eight virtues and the town of that virtue. They are the Avatar's first ever followers, and many of them join the Avatar again in subsequent adventures. Starting from "Ultima IV", the Eight Companions appear in all the primary games of the series that are set in Britannia, i.e., "Ultima IV", "V", "VI", "VII (Part I)" and "IX", and many of them can be asked to join the Avatar's party in these games. Some of them take up other professions in later games.
Other companions.
Apart from the Eight Companions, the Avatar may ask other characters to join his party starting from "Ultima V". Some of these characters may have been appearing in the game series a number of times already, and some may join the Avatar in multiple games, while others may appear only once in the series. In some cases, minor NPCs join the party only for a very short period of time. Yet some of them may play a major role and be part of the party throughout the entire game.
Arch-enemies.
Mondain.
Mondain is a powerful wizard and the villain of "". 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, ' and "Ultima Online". Three shards of the gem are found at the location of the sunken remnants of Terfin in ', 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 ', Mondain is depicted as bald with a goatee, bearing a resemblance to Ming the Merciless. In ', 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 "" 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 "") 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 "", 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 ", 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 ".
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 '. 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. ' explains that his destination is the Serpent Isle. While on Serpent Isle, Blackthorn takes refuge among the Xenkan Monks and finds redemption, eventually joining their order. But "Ultima IX" diverges from this restoration of Lord Blackthorn having him leave the island before the Avatar arrives on the Serpent Island. Blackthorn returns again as a villain in "", this time as a servant of the Guardian, which again contradicts the restorative end on "Ultima VII: Part Two: Serpent Isle". In the end Blackthorn perishes at the hand of Lord British after an extensive magical duel at the center of the Great Stygian Abyss, completely contradicting everything written prior to Ascension and after "Ultima VII".
In "Ultima Online", the timeline of which diverges from the main series after "", 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 seemingly killed in an assault on the city of Yew. The evil form was later retconned into being an facsimile, and the original Lord Blackthorn became the king of Britannia. Lord Blackthorn was the virtual persona of Ultima Online project director Starr Long.
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 " 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 ", 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 " 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 ", 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 ', 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 '. The Avatar defeats the Guardian by using the Armageddon spell to fuse the two of them into one new being.
Fans and chroniclers of the "Ultima" series have speculated that the Guardian was a satirical metaphor for Origin's parent company, Electronic Arts, which had been rumored to be stifling Richard Garriott's creative control over the last installments of the series. Supporting this theory is the fact that the three artifacts of the Guardian, first seen in "", are the sphere, the cube, and the tetrahedron, which together are an unmistakable representation of the EA logo during the early 1990s when EA's acquisition of Origin was complete and the games were developed. Furthermore, two members of the Fellowship in The Black Gate, Elizabeth and Abraham (E&A) provide dubious guidance for the Avatar throughout the game and are ultimately unmasked as evildoers. The Guardian is described as the "Destroyer of Worlds", a possible reference to Origin's tagline which read "We create worlds".
Other significant or recurring characters.
Lord British.
Lord British is the ruler of Britannia, and an in-game personification of the creator of the series, Richard Garriott. 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. Garriott released early games, such as "", 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. This fact has led to the naming of the "Lord British Postulate", a postulate that in any game if a creature is alive, someone somewhere will try to kill it. 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 '. 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. During "Ultima Onlines beta test, Garriott's character was killed by various bugs and an oversight on Garriott's part. This is considered to be a major event within online gaming, as it gave "players an unprecedented ability to change and influence the game." General British of Tabula Rasa was also killed during beta testing.
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.
Chuckles.
Chuckles is Lord British's court jester. He is often found in Castle Britannia. At times, he helps the Avatar, yet he is known to have led the Avatar to a wild goose chase. He is based on Chuck Bueche, one of the founders of Origin Systems.
The Time Lord.
The Time Lord is a powerful being who ensures the smooth and orderly flow of time through space. In "Ultima III", he reveals the correct placement of the Four Cards that would destroy Exodus. In "Ultima VII", the Avatar must seek him out to learn more about the Fellowship. He helps the Avatar again in "Ultima IX".
The Great Earth Serpent.
The Great Earth Serpent is snatched by Exodus and forced to guard the Isle of Fire in "Ultima III". The Great Earth Serpent helps the Avatar to restore balance to Serpent Isle in "Ultima VII Part II".
The Gypsy.
The Avatar visits the Gypsy to determine his or her strength in the virtues before taking on each quest of "Ultima IV", "V", "VI" and "IX".
Hawkwind.
Hawkwind is a renowned cartographer in "Ultima III" (as mentioned in the game manual). He has become Seer of Souls in "Ultima IV" and resides in Castle Britannia. He guides the Stranger in the path to Avatarhood. He appears again in "Ultima IX", and more to his background is told.
Smith.
A talking horse.