Guardian

The Guardian (also known at times as the "Guide" and the "Destroyer") is an inter-dimensional entity of vast evil which was created from the personal aspects of the Stranger which were purged when the individual assumed the mantle of Avatarhood. Malevolently conquering numerous worlds throughout time and space, this titanic being served as the primary antagonist in the Age of Armageddon trilogy, which includes Ultima VII, Ultima Underworld II, Ultima VII Part Two, Ultima VIII and Ultima IX.

Description
For a comprehensive list of the Guardian's mocking words throughout the series, see: Taunts of the Guardian

The Guardian appeared as a red, rocky skinned giant throughout the series, and was succinctly described by the wisps of Xorinia as  "vain, greedy, egocentric, and malevolent." Possessed of considerable magical prowess and the gift of telepathic communication, the Guardian's methods frequently involved elaborate deception and exploiting other beings through invasion of their thoughts, although he is not above brute force, as demonstrated by his reign of destruction on Pagan or his conjuration of the great blackrock dome in Britannia. He is also particularly fond of taunting and mocking his enemies, as is evidenced by his continually psychic harassment of the Avatar during the years of their feud.

During all of his conflicts with the Avatar, the Guardian consistently with-held any direct assault on the hero, perhaps knowing that such assaults would be futile again a being which had once been a part of him. Nevertheless, he would frequently entice his followers to make attempts on the hero's life, or alternatively would attempt to lead his counterpart into fatal traps.

Creation and Early Conquests
The Guardian came into existence some time after the Stranger attained their enlightenment in the Abyss, coalescing out of the sins abandoned by the newly christened Avatar. While it is unknown precisely when the event occurred, the malevolent entity seem to have lost little time in forging for himself an empire of conquest, leaving his mark throughout the multiverse. The worlds of Tarna, Rhiannon, Talorus, and the unnamed realm housing Killorn Keep all eventually fell under his sway or dominion, and worlds upon which he could not exert his power he often destroyed, leaving blighted husks of great civilizations as could be seen in realms such as Anodunos. In other worlds still, he made twisted compacts with other beings of great power, using his deceit to bring about the rise of the Titans on the once sunny lands of Pagan.

Due to his campaign across the cosmos, the exact chronology of his campaigns outside of Britannia is difficult to track, given the shifts in temporal flow which accompany movement between worlds. He appears, for example, to have exerted influence upon the realm of Serpent Isle in the days of the Ophidian wars, despite such events having occurred centuries before his "birth" with the Stranger's assent to Avatarhood. In this era he made himself known as the "Guide" and enticed his acolytes Rieya, Solaria and Drusilla to interfere with the planting of the Silver Seed in Serpent Islander soil - a deed which was about to be enacted by the Avatar, who had also managed to find a means to traverse the march of time.

The Black Gate
Notwithstanding this paradoxical meeting in the past, the Avatar, from their own perspective, first encountered the Guardian] during Ultima VII, when the Destroyer of Worlds turned his sights on the world of Britannia. Intently focused on the world his counterpart so cherished, the Red Titan used his powers of psychic seduction to slowly corrupt the people of the realm over several years, establishing among them a philosophical society known as the Fellowship which would serve to build the hierarchy of his conquest when at last he set foot on the planet. The leaders of this group, directly communing with their master and knowing his aims, endeavored to build a portal from his current dimension to Britannia constructing a vast moongate of blackrock which would open to their lord at the moment of their systems astronomical alignment.

The Time Lord, however, who had proven curiously instrumental in the Stranger's past transformation, sought to thwart this course of events, and used his powers to summon the hero back to Britannia. The Guardian, foreseeing such an eventuality, entrapped the meddling celestial in a space-time loop powered by one of the constructs of his followers. Despite this, the Avatar nevertheless managed to infiltrate the Guardian's operations at the time, and was able to destroy the Black Gate moments before their wicked counterpart stepped through. Among those chosen by the Guardian to be his inner circle of disciples, only the sage, Batlin, survived the hero's wrath, transported by his dark master to the realm of Serpent Isle to await further orders.

The Blackrock Gem
Still not content to abandon his aims on Britannia, the Guardian struck another blow to the realm a year later, in the midst of a festival celebration efforts to counteract the Fellowship's ill effects. In the midst of celebrations within Castle Britannia, the Red Titan conjured a vast dome of blackrock around the revelers inside, trapping the Avatar and many notables of the realm within, whilst he prepared an invasion from his stronghold at Killorn Keep.

Nystul, the court magician at the time, was able to discern that the magicks creating the blackrock sphere were clumsily woven, and the Avatar was able to confirm that a tiny replica of the jewel which surrounded the party-goers existed deep within the keep's sewage systems. Exploiting this mystical abnormality, the hero was able to travel to other worlds which had suffered the Guardian's intrusions, questing throughout eight realms that exposed to them the vast scope of their opponents power. Eventually, after locating a number of similar copies of the gem throughout dimension, the hero was able to disrupt the spell that kept the castle-dwellers imprisoned. After weathering an attack by the Killorn forces and their champion Mors Gotha, the Avatar was at last able to sound the ancient Horn of Praecor Loth using the power of an Air Djinn which they had bound into their own body - destroying the dome with the artifact's resonance.

The Imbalance
Six months later, the Avatar was at last able to pick up on the trail of Batlin, traveling to the Serpent Isle themselves in pursuit of him. During this time, the ill effects of the Great Earth Serpent's displacement had become manifest in many worlds, and while the hero's quest soon turned from unraveling the Guardian's plans to preventing the imminent collapse of the universe, as the threat of the Imbalance loomed ever nearer.

During this adventure, Batlin's ambitions overtook his loyalties to his ethereal master, and the power-hungry sage sought to exceed the Guardian in power by opening the Wall of Lights in the city of Spinebreaker and ascending into the Void. Disastrously, the foolish man had not taken proper precautions in securing prisons for the three Banes of Chaos whose presence was necessary for such a feat, and he attempted to unlock the wall using the incorrect blackrock serpent. Seeing his former disciple's hubris bring him low, the Guardian cackled as the Banes slew Batlin and began a campaign of slaughter across the world, refusing to proffer aid as his dying underling begged for succor.

It was not until the Avatar, now invested as the Hierophant of Balance, entered the Void themselves at Sunrise Isle that the Destroyer of Worlds made his next move. Snatching the hero from ethereal space, the Guardian deposited them on the shadowy world of Pagan, which had already fallen victim to his ministrations. Here, the stranded Avatar fought desperately to return to Britannia, unseating and destroying the worlds four elemental deities in order to carve a path back to the word they had vowed to protect.

Reunification and Ascension
Upon arriving once more in Britannia, the returned hero was confronted with a desolate view of the Guardian's fortress on the barren isle of Terfin. After being pulled briefly back to Earth from this disturbing sight by the Time Lord, the Avatar prepared for their last quest and reentered the realm, finding that the Red Titan had managed to at last enter the world physically during their absence, and that he had erected a series of great columns across the landscape - twisting the hearts of the land's people and slowly pulling the moons from their orbit that Britannia might be annihilated.

Fighting valiantly to restore the people of the realm to virtue and to at last find means to finally defeat their adversary, the hero was at last visited with the shocking news of the Guardian's origins. Realizing that the division within their own soul had caused such calamity throughout the universe, the hero chose to sacrifice their individual existence to reunite with the Guardian, and using a contained casting of the Armageddon spell, they destroyed their own body along with that of their counterpart, reuniting in some space and time outside of the material plane that Britannia might live on.

Trivia

 * In all installments featuring the Guardian, Bill Johnson provides the voice of the character. Michael Dorn had initially been hired to voice him in the original version of Ultima IX and reportedly recorded his lines, but the team eventually decided to bring Johnson back in his stead.
 * In an interview with Richard Garriott in the Ultima IX strategy guide, it is revealed that originally the Guardian was meant to have also been tied to the Shadowlords and the Gem of Immortality. In this version of events, the Gem of Immortality resonated with the Stranger at the time of its destruction, thus spawning the Shadowlords out of the darkness in the character's soul. After their defeat in Ultima V, the these beings coalesced in the Void to form a new entity calling himself the Guardian, who would eventually come back seeking revenge against its counterpart.