Guards

Guards are normally your ally, as they protect the peace in the cities. However, some Guards are corrupt, and will attack you, forcing you to defend yourself. Also, if you are caught stealing or attacking people, the Guards will come after you, too! However, a bribe will sometimes get some guards to look the other way.

Guards are usually found patrolling castles and cities, or something else of importance. They usually have little to say, but some are hidden storehouses of information.

The Guards of Ultima I, II and III were hard to beat (but those in II were the only source of Lockpicks). The often-corrupt Ultima III-era Guards could be bribed to leave you alone. In Ultima IV, Guards were weaker but travelled in large parties, and attacking them wasn't a very good idea to further the game. In Ultima V and VI, guards were also armed with crossbows, and hard to beat. The Guards of Ultima VII were again easy, as are the ones in Ultima Underworld II.

The Guards of Pagan were a different breed. They were much tougher and did much more damage. Also they called Beren, which usually means death.

The Guards of Ultima IX were, per programming, unbeatable.

Notable Examples

 * Johnson and Gilberto from Ultima VII are two of the very few guards that are named. Also worth a mention is the guard guarding Weston, who had a lot a funny dialogue when the Avatar talked with the prisoner.