Lord British - Assassination of Lord British

Assassination of Lord British

One of the most famous attributes of Lord British is that he is largely unkillable. In every Ultima game that he has appeared in, he is designed to be almost impervious to the player's character predations. However, there are ways for a player "thinking outside the box" to assassinate him.

This phenomenon is the origin of the Lord British Postulate which states "If it exists as a living creature in an MMORPG, someone, somewhere, will try to kill it." Virtually every Massively Multiplayer Online game displays numerous instances of this, with players attempting to kill (or, in the case of friendly NPCs, cause the death of) virtually every NPC or monster, howsoever powerful, meek, friendly, or ethereal.

• Lord British was killed during an in-game appearance on Ultima Online's beta test on August 8, 1997. A royal visit was conducted as a part of server population stress test. A player character known as Rainz cast a spell called "fire field" on Lord British that, surprisingly, killed him. According to Starr Long, the whole thing was just a human error: Lord British's character, like others, had been made invulnerable, but by design the invulnerability did not persist over several game sessions. Shortly before the incident, the server had crashed, and Richard Garriott had forgotten to set his invulnerability flag on when logging on again. Shortly afterwards, Rainz's account was banned from the beta test for previously exploiting bugs rather than reporting them (frequently used by his character Aquaman to kill many player characters, a purported griefing incident). 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.

After Lord British was killed, fellow Ultima Online developer Starr Long summoned over some demons, who attacked innocent bystanders. This led to beta testers gathering up and protesting both the indiscriminate killing, and the banning of the assassin.

According to Wired magazine:

The event reverberated through the gaming world, giving players an unprecedented ability to change and influence the game. Scads of protests brought the phenomenon of player killing -- whereby experienced players prey on new gamers, killing them to collect points in the game and keep them from progressing to new levels -- to the attention of game designers.

MMOCrunch calls it the most memorable event in MMORPG History.

• In Ultima III: Exodus, according to interviewer Shay Addams, "Garriott was less than pleased" to learn that some players had found a way to kill Lord British. He had taken steps to safeguard his character from being attacked in the game. While no weapon a player had on them could harm him, you could get him to chase you to the docks, and use a cannon to kill him.

• In Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, 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. 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). Lord British, unlike every other town character, was impervious to the destructive use of the Skull of Mondain.

• In Ultima VI: The False Prophet, 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 (which he invariably does at exactly noon each day), the plaque will fall on his head. The player can arrange several chairs or crates around him in such a way as to trap him underneath the plaque. This was inspired by 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. British could also be killed by The Black Sword found in the game's expansion pack, Forge of Virtue.

• In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle, Lord British can only be encountered in the dream world in Gorlab Swamp, surveying the ruins of his destroyed castle. While death in the dream world does not actually kill the individual, the player may "kill" British using the armor and Infinity Bow found in the castle. He will make a saddened comment and disappear.

• Lord British does not appear in Ultima VIII.

• Another Easter egg enables the player to kill British in Ultima IX: Ascension. 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 and die.

The death of Lord British in the Ultima games is something people remember and are affected by. Professor Megan Winget of the University of Texas is the coordinator of a project to study the best way to preserve video game history. A BBC interview with her revealed:

During preliminary work many people mentioned the importance of the murder of Lord British - actually the avatar of Richard Garriott, co-creator of Ultima Online. "A lot of people have mentioned that to me as a pivotal moment in their lives," she said. "I would like to talk to people who experienced that, saw it happen or where they were when they heard about it."