Lord British
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- ''See Gradius series#Lord British for the spacecraft from the arcade game, Salamander.
Lord Cantabrigian British is the name of the ruler of Britannia, kingdom of the fictional world of Sosaria, created by Richard Garriott for his computer game series Ultima. Lord British is also a nickname for Garriott himself.
Origins
In the real world, Richard Garriott (born in Britain but raised in the United States) acquired the nickname "Lord British" as a teenager from older students in his school who claimed he spoke with a British accent. 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 he has suggested that the character will appear in his new game, Tabula Rasa.
There is some arguments saying that when Garriot attended a computer camp as a child, fellow campers entered his room and said, "Hey," to which he replied, "Hello," saying that only British people said hello, he was nick named "British", the Lord prefix being added during his reigns as Dungeon Master in his Dungeons and Dragons games.
Origins of the Character
Neither the Avatar nor Lord British were born in Sosaria, but came from Earth via the moongates. The name Cantabrigian British is taken from his birthplace's name, Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The name was given to him by his friend Shamino, and later Cantabrigian British decided to leave his old name in favor of the new one.
When British came to Sosaria, the evil wizard named Mondain was still young. They had an epic battle deep within the labyrinth of dungeons, where British, the "Champion of the White Light", came victorious, driving Mondain away from the kingdom, thus receiving the title of "Lord British, Protector of Akalabeth". Mondain was seeking revenge in Ultima I. The stranger (who would become the Avatar) dealt with Mondain this time, but three-fourths of the world mysteriously disappeared for causes unknown.
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.
In the Ultima series
In the Ultima series, Lord British rules from his throne inside Castle Britannia, and continuously provides healing, resurrection and other miscellaneous help for the Avatar (the main character) and his adventuring party. In the first three Ultima games, British charged a significant sum of money for his services, but would provide them for free from Ultima IV onwards.Throughout the Ultima series, Lord British never leaves his castle, except for Ultima V, where his absence constitutes the main storyline, and at the end of Ultima VI, when he uses a red moongate to travel to the Isle of the Avatar. Instead, he relies on heroes like the Avatar to go forth and correct the various crises that crop up in Britannia. In Ultima IX, the Guardian comments on this behavior, accusing Lord British of always hiding in his castle while his land suffers. In the climax of the same game, Lord British finally ventures outside the confines of his castle to help the Avatar in a final showdown with Lord Blackthorn.
Assassination of Lord British
One of the most famous characteristics of Lord British is that he is supposed to be indestructible. In every Ultima game that he has appeared in, he is designed to be unkillable by the player character. However, there are ways for a player "thinking outside the box" to assassinate him.
- During an in-game appearance on Ultima Online's beta test on August 8, 1997, a player character known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that surprisingly killed him. Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them (infamously used by his character Aquaman to kill many player characters). According to Origin, he was not banned for the assassination but rather for previous complaints against his account that were brought to light as a result of this attention.
- In Ultima I and II, Lord British is not really invincible, he simply has a high number of hit points, making it unlikely the player will be able to kill him before he and his guards kill the player. However, if players are powerful enough (such as towards the end of the game), they should be able to defeat British provided they have the patience to keep hitting him until he dies.
- In Ultima III, Lord British was invincible in combat. However, he could still be killed by cannonfire from a ship. So, to kill him, all the player had to do was steal one of the Castle's ships, lure British to it (by killing some civilians), then blast him with the cannon until he disintegrated.
- In Ultima IV, Lord British was more or less invincible. However, a player could cast a spell to create a lava field that damaged Lord British slightly. With enough patience and shuffling back and forth, Lord British could be killed. To expidite this process, have a character engage Lord British in combat so he won't move. Cast the lava field on top of Lord British, then cast lightning fields on the four squares immediately above, below, left and right of him (one lightning field will be cast on top of your engaged character - this is fine). Now move that character off the lightning field. Lord British can no longer move, and will take damage every round. Have all but one party member flee, then
to pass turns until he dies (it will take a very long time). It was also possible to damage him enough with the 'Tremor' spell that he would flee, although this requires some luck (depending upon, among other things, what random number of hit points he is assigned when battle begins).
- In Ultima VI, Lord British was again largely impervious to weapons and magic. However, there were at least three ways in which he could be killed: (a) If the player dragged a poison trap to British's throne, then detonated it, British was poisoned and slowly lost health until he eventually died. (b) While asleep, he could be killed with a glass sword, a powerful weapon that kills nearly everything in one blow and is destroyed in the process. (c) Finally, filling Lord British's throne room with powder kegs, igniting one, and standing clear of the blasts was sufficient to kill him.
- In Ultima VII, an easter egg allows British to be killed. If the player double-clicks the gold plaque above the castle gate when British is standing directly underneath, the plaque will fall on his head. This was inspired by an incident at the Origin building; a metal bar, where the magnet on door attached to, fell on Garriott's head, warranting a visit to hospital. One of the characters says "Yancey-Hausman will pay!", which is a reference to the owner and landlord of the building. [link] British could also be killed by The Black Sword found in the game's expansion pack, Forge of Virtue.
- Another easter egg enables the player to kill British in Ultima IX. When the game begins in the Avatar's house, it is possible for the player to cook a loaf of poison bread. If this bread is brought to Britannia and switched with Lord British's regular meal, Lord British will eventually eat it. The poison doesn't kill him, but it does take away his supernatural invincibility, allowing the player to stab him to death.
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