Avatar (Ultima) - in Video Games

In Video Games

The Avatar was first known as the Stranger (or Stranger from another world) in Ultima I, when they rid the world of the evil wizard Mondain, later returning to bring an end to the wicked sorceress Minax in Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress and to dispatch their legacy in Ultima III: Exodus. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar included The History of Britannia, which did not state whether the heroes from the first three games or the current one were the same person or not, leaving it rather vague. Later games imply that the Stranger and the Avatar are the same person.

While in later games the player character follows a set of ethic guidelines called the Virtues, in the first three games the player is not bound by any moral guidelines, leaving the future Avatar free to steal and murder, with only the easily avoided town guards to stop them. The first three games forced the player to steal food in order to survive. The fourth time the Stranger returns, his quest focuses on a different task. Instead of defeating an enemy, his goal is to follow the path of the Virtues, and retrieve the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom from the Great Stygian Abyss. In the fifth episode, the Avatar defeats a repressive regime in Britannia, and in the sixth, he brings peace between men and gargoyles. Beginning with Ultima VII, the Avatar battles the Guardian, finally destroying both himself and his foe.