Easter Eggs and Cultural References



Within the Ultima universe appears a great variety of Easter eggs and cultural references, which range from often humorous asides to significant influences on the series' fiction. The list below strives to be a definitive compilation of all such instances.

Similarly, many Ultima characters are inspired in some fashion by real-world counterparts.

Akalabeth

 * The name Akalabeth derives from the fourth part of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Akallabêth, which details the downfall of the continent of Númenor in the author's Middle-earth universe. The Silmarillion was published two years prior to Akalabeth's 1979 release; other than the title, however, there is little similarity between the game's plot and Tolkien's text.


 * The final adversary that must be vanquished by the player is a balrog, a type of demonic monster from Tolkien's works (notably The Lord of the Rings). In the Ultima games that followed Akalabeth, these formidable beasts would come to be known instead as balrons.

Ultima I

 * Many of the cities in the Lands of the Feudal Lords are named after family and friends of Richard Garriott: Owen, Helen, and Linda, after his father, mother, and sister; Arnold, after veteran Ultima programmer and musician, Ken Arnold; and Gerry, after a programmer acquaintance of Garriott's (presumably Gerry Mayer).


 * When the Stranger uses a spaceship to become a Space Ace in Ultima I, the starfighters that must be shot down resemble Imperial TIE fighters from the Star Wars franchise.


 * The second most powerful weapon in the game is the phazor, a pastiche of Star Trek's phasers.


 * The Pillar of Ozymandias is a reference to the famous sonnet by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The inscription on the pillar ("I am Ozymandias, King of Kings / Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!") is a direct quote from the poem, as is the "Nothing beside remains" comment.


 * In the Apple version of 's 1986 re-release, programmer John Miles included a routine whereby waiting for the title screen's animated sequence to loop a number of times causes two alternate events to occur. With every fourth repeat of the sequence, an armoured knight rides along the medieval landscape's horizon; however, every fourth time this knight is scheduled to appear (i.e. after sixteen loops), a red Lamborghini is instead shown approaching the depicted castle and entering through its open door. Each of these animations can also be manually triggered when the small white Origin logo is shown against the landscape: pressing Control+K causes the knight to appear, while pressing Control+Shift+P on the Apple version or Control+Shift+2 on the Apple IIe introduces the Lamborghini. It is possible to perform each command in quick succession to display both the rider and sports car simultaneously.

Ultima II

 * Several real-world corporations are lampooned in the game:
 * Global fast food chain McDonald's appears as McDonall's in Port Bonifice and is operated by a Ronall Mc Donall. It stocks food that can be stolen from its take-out window.
 * A Jack in the Box restaurant appears as Jack in de Box in the village of New Jester on Uranus.
 * American retail chains Sears and Montgomery Ward (now defunct) feature as a group of oracles (i.e. "seers") in New Jester. The latter store appears as Monkey Ward, its common nickname at the time.


 * Richard Garriott appears as himself in the Computer Camp on Neptune; his father, Owen, also appears in Towne Mary on Mars, and Towne Linda is named after his sister.


 * John Mayer, the manager of the ComputerLand store where Garriott worked while developing Akalabeth, appears in Towne Linda's Transport shop along with Gerry Mayer, presumably a relative and another acquaintance of Garriott's.


 * Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead, co-creators of the competing CRPG series, Wizardry, can be found in Le Jester tending a shop named after their creation.


 * The town of Tommersville on Pluto is an homage to the popular early-1980s Apple II magazine Softalk. The publication's co-founders, Margot and Al Tommervik, appear in the town's Softalk store, while the wizardry shoppe, Kurts, is named after magazine contributor Kurt Wahlner.


 * Waren Beatty [sic] makes an appearance in Pirates Harbour asking for Diane Keaton.


 * Certain key concepts in Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, such as the time doors (the precursor to moongates), the cloth map showing how they interconnect, and the Time of Legends, are directly inspired by Terry Gilliam's 1981 film, Time Bandits.


 * A Commander Decker frequents Castle Britannia's mess hall and screams something inscrutable about soup. This might be an allusion to Commander Willard Decker, a character who appeared in Star Trek: The Motion Picture a few years earlier.


 * Planet X might be a reference to the classic Looney Tunes short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, or to a theorized planet in the solar system, disproved later in the 1980s.


 * Various pictograms are formed by the clusters of trees in New Jester, including the titular protagonist of Pac-Man and one of its ghost enemies.


 * In Castle Britannia there is a character named Sister Sledge, after the popular disco group. This cleric's only response is to sing "We Are Family!" in reference to the group's breakthrough 1979 hit, which went on to serve as the anthem of that year's Pittsburgh Pirates.


 * There is a hotel in New San Antonio named Hotel California, after the best-selling Eagles album Hotel California and its title track.


 * 666, the "Number of the Beast" from the biblical Book of Revelation, is found two times in the game: it appears as a rock formation in Pirates Harbour, and again as the coordinates for Earth.

Ultima III

 * A metafictive line is sometimes given by bartenders in the game: "EXODUS: Ultima ]I[, which is next? Now could it be."

Ultima IV

 * Skara Brae is named after a prehistoric settlement on the west coast of Orkney in northern Scotland. In addition to the Ultima series, cities named Skara Brae also appear in the universes of Wizardry and The Bard's Tale; this commonality arose from the contributions to all three series of designer Roe R. Adams III, whose fictional counterpart, Hawkwind, is purported to hail from the town.


 * Characterizations of historical figures Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) and Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni can be found in Skara Brae. Buddha is described as a great philosopher, while Michaelangelo's maxim, "May thou always desire more than thou can accomplish", paraphrases a quote of the famed Renaissance artist.


 * Dickens in Skara Brae is a tribute to 19th-century author Charles Dickens. The character presents himself as a storywriter and will paraphrase the real-world Dickens novel, Our Mutual Friend.


 * Paul McCartney and two of his albums, Pipes of Peace and Tug of War, are referenced on multiple occasions throughout the game, having been favorites of Richard Garriott at the time:
 * The tagline on the title screen ("In another world, in a time to come.") is taken from McCartney's song, "Tug of War".
 * The singer himself appears in Cove with his wife, Linda McCartney, as Paul and Linda. The two sing lines from the ex-Beatle's song, "Pipes of Peace".
 * Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet from whom McCartney drew inspiration when writing "Pipes of Peace", is also present in Cove.


 * Short Round, from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, is found in Yew. He says he is working for "Jones" and "Indy" is currently on an adventure.


 * In the Amiga version of the game, anyone who is told the word ojnab (banjo, backwards) will reward the player with the secret number of a person named Banjo Bob by saying, "Hi Banjo Bob! Your secret number is 4F4A4E0A." "Banjo" Bob Hardy is the author of the Amiga version of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.


 * The need for a bell, book, and candle in order to open the Abyss is a reference to a method of excommunication of the Catholic Church. Other video games, such as Zork and NetHack, also make use of these three items in order to access evil or hell-related places.


 * Pressing Control+S will reveal all the player's progress values for the Eight Virtues. This spared the game's designers and playtesters from having to continually return to the castle and ask Hawkwind about their status in each Virtue.

Ultima V

 * In the city of Skara Brae there is a tombstone that reads, "Here Lies the Tale End of a Bard." This epitaph refers to Skara Brae's mutual inclusion in both the Ultima series and The Bard's Tale, which for a period shared a designer in Roe R. Adams III.


 * Tika, the barmaid of Britain's Wayfarer Inn, is named after Tika Waylan from the Dragonlance novels.


 * The horse keeper in Trinsic is named Hettar, after one of Belgarion's companions in the David Eddings fantasy series The Belgariad and The Malloreon.


 * Emilly in Stormcrow will mention her husband's dead friend was named "Scotty" and he had spoken about a "beam", in reference to James Doohan's character in Star Trek, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.


 * The farmer Christopher in the Britannys talks about a fantasy work he is writing, called Times of Lore. This character is the Britannian counterpart of prominent Origin designer Chris Roberts, who created the company's 1988 action role-playing game, Times of Lore, before going on to conceive his magnum opus, the Wing Commander series. Cross-promotion of other Origin titles would continue in future Ultima installments.


 * Goeth, the council member in Jhelom who speaks in reverse, might be a reference to German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.


 * When describing himself in conversation, Chuckles claims to be "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent." He is quoting the Scout Law of the Boy Scouts of America.


 * If any characters are sworn at during a conversation, they will scold the player. The list of recognized obscenities is comprehensive and can be found by hex-editing the Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny data files: in the DOS version, it is located in the file DATA.OVL. Notably, the final phrase to appear in this profanity list is "ELECTRONIC ARTS", a pointed response to founder Trip Hawkins' refusal to address Richard Garriott's allegations of plagiarism against their 1987 CRPG, Deathlord. Hawkins himself appears as a shipwright in East Britanny, and would later inspire a prominent role in the mythology of Ultima VI: The False Prophet.


 * A horse for the Avatar will be created should one be wished for upon dropping a coin into a well. However, a variety possessing greatly increased speed can also be granted by wishing for "corvette", "ferrari", "lamborghini", "lotus", or "porsche".


 * Yelling "FLIPFLOP" in the Apple II version of the game causes each tile on the screen to invert itself, top to bottom; yelling it again restores the view to normal. During development, this subroutine was installed on Richard Garriott's computer as a practical joke by composer Ken Arnold, originally to execute automatically after a few minutes of inactivity when the Ultima creator would foreseeably leave his terminal idle. After confounding Garriott, who believed it to be a bizarre program malfunction, Arnold confessed responsibility and the team liked the effect so much they left it in the game.


 * In the Apple version of the Acknowledgments screen, pressing Shift+Ctrl+6 will cause Toshi Morita's name to disappear. This stems from a subroutine inserted by Morita himself, in which the command would trigger the appearance of a flashing arrow next to his name in the list of credits. When Morita left Origin prior to the release of, however, his colleagues discovered his surreptitious code and, as a joke, rewrote it so his name would be erased instead.


 * The magical harpsichord in Lord British's chambers can not only make the designated section of wall disappear, but also transform objects put in its place.

Ultima VI

 * The first introduction sequence of Ultima VI: The False Prophet contains several items of note:
 * The television being watched by the Avatar can have its channel manually changed by pressing a corresponding number on the keyboard. At the time of release, the phone number displayed during the televangelist segment belonged to Origin's customer service department.
 * The digital clock above the Avatar's television displays the system time of the player's computer.
 * The painting hanging on the wall by the back window is of the Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny box art.
 * The discarded pizza box on the floor resembles the distinctive design used by Domino's Pizza at the time the game was made.


 * Terran books Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet, and The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum appear in Britannia. Asking Lord British about books will reveal he has long sought a copy of the Baum classic; should it be obtained from the Lycaeum and presented to him, he will reward the Avatar with a number of peer gems.


 * The events of Origin titles Knights of Legend, Tangled Tales: The Misadventures of a Wizard's Apprentice, and Windwalker are chronicled in Britannia as books. Seggallion, a major character from Knights of Legend, can also be found in Serpent's Hold and will recount his previous experiences in the Knights setting of Ashtalarea.


 * The Caverns of Freitag, a 1982 CRPG developed for MUSE Software by David Shapiro (a.k.a. Dr. Cat), is referenced both as a book and in the exploits of Gertan, a fighter in Cove reputed to have slain the game's eponymous dragon and donated its remains to Britain's Royal Museum.


 * By 1990, Richard Garriott held a caustic view of Electronic Arts and founder Trip Hawkins, accusing the corporation of plagiarizing the Ultima series before finding himself targeted by a frivolous lawsuit designed to force Origin into paying an out-of-court settlement. This incident inspired Garriott to include a sardonic tribute to Hawkins, and other senior Electronic Arts personnel, in the form of reviled pirate Captain Hawkins—who stole Captain Johne's Silver Tablet before being murdered by his own crew—and three of his crewmates: Alastor Gordon (Bing Gordon), Bonn (Stewart Bonn), and Old Ybarra (Joe Ybarra).


 * The Pushme Pullyu originates from Hugh Lofting's The Story of Doctor Dolittle, in which it is described as a "gazelle-unicorn cross"; in the 1967 film adaption, Doctor Dolittle, it appears as a two-headed llama.

The Savage Empire

 * The Savage Empire's premise draws inspiration from such sources as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and pulp hero Doc Savage.


 * The Three Stooges appear as Disquiqui Tribe members Chafblum, Larrifin, and Tuomaxx. Chafblum will react with vague recognition to the Avatar mentioning "Three Stooges", "Moe", "Larry", or "Curly".


 * A parrot named Cleese resides in the palace of the Nahuatla Tribe. The bird is named after Monty Python alumnus John Cleese, who is famous for a skit involving a dead Norwegian Blue parrot.


 * Denys, the Urali outcast painter, is the in-game counterpart of veteran Ultima artist Denis Loubet.


 * When looking at the cave maps in a map viewer, the letters "SMB" become visible in an unreachable location. They are the initials of worldbuilder Stephen Beeman.

Martian Dreams

 * Martian Dreams is inspired by such Victorian era science fiction works as H. G. Wells' The Time Machine and, particularly, Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, in which a group of gun enthusiasts endeavor to make a moon landing by similarly firing themselves from a space cannon.


 * In the introduction sequence there is a poster of the Ultima VI: The False Prophet box art hanging in the Avatar's house, complete with the title logo.


 * If Dr. Spector is asked about spam, he will say he enjoys eating it. This is in reference to the "spam, spam, spam, humbug" cheat code in.


 * If the player goes into solo mode with Dr. Spector and attempts to make him repair the wiring at the power station, he will shout Avon's "I am not expendable" tirade from Blake's 7.


 * The appearance of Chsheket's bare mechanical form may have been inspired by the Maschinenmensch from Fritz Lang's pioneering science-fiction film, Metropolis.


 * Dorothy's iconic ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz are buried among the glaciers south of Hellas. When used, they offer a chance to view the game's ending sequence; if the player chooses not to, a brief view of a Kansas wheat field is shown instead.


 * Using a map viewer reveals the name "GRYPHON" carved into the northeastern glacier, which is normally unreachable. It is the nickname of Philip Brogden, the game's principal world designer.

Ultima Underworld

 * The Cup of Wonder and the tuneful process of its discovery refer to the eponymous song by British progressive rock band Jethro Tull, who are famously recognized for their use of the flute.


 * On the sixth level, there is a small maze where a substance can be gathered simply by walking over it. The location features four powerful ghosts and teleporters on the sides, and is conspicuously similar to a Pac-Man level.


 * The Book of Honesty by Ravenhurst of Moonglow is a reference to the Honest Book of Truth that (in the Principia Discordia) was given to an Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, a pseudonym of Kerry Wendell Thornley.


 * There is a non-hostile dire ghost in the southwest of the sixth level which, upon examination, is revealed to be "a spectre named Warren." This is a pun referring to Warren Spector, producer of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and a number of other Ultima titles.


 * An inscription carved into the wall of the eighth level reads, "Thou canst not defeat the Drakhri!" In Origin's Wing Commander II, an oft-repeated battle cry of the Kilrathi is, "You cannot defeat the Drakhai!"

Ultima VII

 * In the introduction sequence, the Ultima VI: The False Prophet box and cloth map can be seen beside the Avatar's computer monitor, along with an ankh amulet and Orb of the Moons beside the mouse.


 * The Fellowship's procedures and practices emulate many new age religious movements, including Scientology. Its leader, Batlin, bears some similarity to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.


 * The Guardian's three prismatic blackrock generators, as well as subordinates Elizabeth and Abraham (initials "E" and "A"), may be a deliberate reference to Electronic Arts. Richard Garriott has given conflicting accounts both denying and acknowledging such an intention.


 * On the eastern outskirts of Britain, a Kilrathi Bloodfang starfighter is hovering in the corn field of farmer Mack, who can recount his tale of a cat-like being emerging before he killed and ate it. This is the actual Bloodfang ship graphic from Origin's Wing Commander II, and double-clicking it triggers a performance of that game's "Kilrathi Theme".


 * In Cove there is a bard named De Maria, after author and Origin collaborator, Rusel DeMaria.


 * Northwest of Cove is a flower field that will cause the Avatar and all companions to fall asleep if they walk through it, re-enacting a scene from The Wizard of Oz.


 * Two miners in Dungeon Covetous are Malloy and Owings, whose appearance and behavior are a satire of Laurel and Hardy.


 * In Serpent's Hold, many of the inhabitants are explicitly modeled after the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generation:
 * Lord John-Paul: Jean-Luc Picard (John-Paul is a bald leader figure)
 * Sir Richter: William Riker (Richter is Second-in-Command to John-Paul)
 * Sir Horffe: Worf (Horffe, the Captain of the Guard, is a gargoyle raised by humans)
 * Sir Denton: Data (Denton is highly astute but emotionally vacant, with a stale sense of humor and perpetually clad head-to-toe in plate armour)
 * Lady Leigh: Beverly Crusher (Leigh is a red-haired healer)
 * Lady Tory: Deanna Troi (Tory is remarkably empathetic and provides guidance to those at the Hold)
 * Sir Jordan: Geordi La Forge (Jordan is a blind but perceptive tinker who wears a headband over his eyes)
 * In early drafts of Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Tasha Yar is also referenced in the form of a blonde, female paladin named Sir Yarina.


 * In Skara Brae there is a homage to J.R.R. Tolkien in the cemetery. The plaque beneath the statue near Marney's crypt reads, "JRRT / A great man / A great writer."


 * There is a dead crocodile in Hook's subterranean hideout on Buccaneer's Den. Examination of the carcass reveals a pocketwatch, in reference to Captain Hook's encounter with a crocodile in Peter Pan.


 * Several satirical references appear as books:
 * Struck Commander by Gilberto is a play on Origin's combat flight simulator, Strike Commander.
 * Mandibles by Peter Munchley is a parody of Jaws by Peter Benchley.
 * Magic and the Art of Horse-and-Wagon Maintenance is the Britannian version of Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
 * Everything an Avatar Should Know About Sex is a parody of Dr. David Reuben's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
 * Gone with the Wisp by Margareta Mitchellino is loosely based on Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind.
 * Encyclopedia Britannia is a spoof of Encyclopædia Britannica.


 * Many in-game books are real-world literary works:
 * Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure by Bill Peet
 * Ringworld by Larry Niven
 * Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
 * The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
 * Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang by Ian Fleming
 * Play Directing: Analysis, Communication and Style by Francis Hodge
 * On Acting by Laurence Olivier
 * The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon
 * Key to the Black Gate by Andrew P. Morris
 * Ultima: The Avatar Adventures by Rusel DeMaria and Caroline Spector


 * Other books are written by authors whose names are puns:
 * The Silence of Chastity by I.M. Munk (I am monk)
 * What Could Be Left But The Ashes by N. Flaims (in flames)


 * Lord British can be killed at noon each day, when he stands directly under the brass plaque mounted above the doorway to his throne room: double-clicking this plaque will cause it to fall and decapitate him. This grisly feat is patterned after an actual incident at Origin headquarters, in which the armature plate from an electromagnetic door lock fell from its mounting and struck Richard Garriott's head. The companions' subsequent exclamation, "Yancey-Hausman will pay!", refers to the company responsible for the maintenance of Origin's office building at the time.


 * Should the player succeed in murdering Lord British, searching his corpse uncovers the late king's will, in which he reveals an affair with his maidservant Nell and claims fatherhood of her unborn child. According to Richard Garriott, this particular Easter egg did not receive his approval for inclusion.


 * In the SNES version only, there is a character in the guild hall of Minoc named Lucas. He bears a striking resemblance to George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.


 * The crucifixion of Christ is re-enacted at Stonegate, complete with a cape, a cup full of blood and a spear. However, unlike the biblical scene, there are several more crucified corpses in the surrounding area.

Ultima Underworld II

 * A number of paintings in Castle Britannia are box art from previous Ultima games.


 * Nystul's chest contains the books Sex by Madonna and The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, while Lord British's holds eyeballs.


 * In Killorn Keep, the Avatar encounters cat-like creatures with an apparently glorious past known as the Trilkhai, who the wisps later reveal were once a space-dwelling race. These beings are an allusion to the Kilrathi of the Wing Commander series, with the name Trilkhai being an anagram of Kilrathi.


 * Also in Killorn Keep, male Avatars can tell Mystell that their name is Abraham Lincoln.


 * In the purple zone of the Ethereal Void, there is an homage to the early entries in the series where dungeons are displayed with vector lines (such as in Akalabeth), complete with primitively drawn enemies. There is also a goblin named A. I. Crunchowicz in this zone, a reference to the protagonist of id Software's Wolfenstein 3D, B. J. Blazcowicz.


 * The sequence in which the Avatar has to recolor a pyramid in the Void five times, by jumping on each step once, is an exact replica of the puzzle-game Q-Bert (including the pads for returning to the top).

Ultima VII Part Two

 * Most of the game's character portraits are based on photographs of Origin staff, their family members, and friends, while others are submissions remaining from the Immortality Contest held for Ultima VII: The Black Gate.


 * In the town of Monitor, there is a heavily tattooed woman named Lydia, who specializes in tribal tattoos. Although not conclusive, it is possible that her name is a reference to the 1939 song, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady", once popularized by Groucho Marx.


 * In the caves on the way to the Ice Plains of Serpent Isle, the Avatar finds a key that opens the door of a tower in the Knight's Forest. Inside is Captain Stokes, a software pirate who is occupied with making copies of Ultima VIII: Pagan. Double-clicking different parts of the computer also plays advertisements for two other Origin titles, Strike Commander and Wing Commander.


 * In the book The Structure of Order, there is a passage that reads, "Some will tell thee that Logic is 'a little bird chirping in a meadow' or that it is 'a wreath of flowers which smell bad'." This is a reference to the 1967 Star Trek episode, "I, Mudd", in which Spock uses irrational statements such as these to short-circuit a number of androids.


 * In perhaps one of Serpent Isle's more infamous Easter eggs, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys are paid tribute in two of the game's cheat rooms. The first, hidden on the Isles of the Mad Mage, is a hedonistic and lavishly outfitted grotto adorned with a painting and lifelike statues of the team's cheerleaders. Another such tapestry is also found in the cellar accessed below the stairway to Pothos' apothecary, which leads further—via a secret passage—to a replica football field, complete with a cheer squad and a "team" of ice trolls and elementals. This Easter egg was created by Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle artist and assistant designer Steve Powers.


 * Persistently double-clicking on some types of animal eventually gives farcical results. Performing this action on a cat will cause it to spontaneously explode, prompting a party member to exclaim, "Bloody cats!" If done to a sheep, the Avatar will stand behind it and appear to engage in lewd behaviour. The party will subsequently scold, "That's baaaad!" and, "Thou art SICK!"


 * A glowing egg called Dave is found in the game's data files; it is presumably named after David Beyer, who is listed in the credits as "Eggman".

Ultima VIII

 * In the game's quotes section, Origin responds to the "Doom Insanity" chapter of id Software's official Doom FAQ, in which one of the reasons jokingly given for Doom's delayed release is, "If Origin can do it, so can we." Of their own late shipment, the Ultima VIII: Pagan development team counters here with, "If id can do it, so can we."


 * The Eye of the Boulder, the Runes of the Myth Drainer book is a spoof of SSI's Eye of the Beholder series and the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons accessory box set, The Ruins of Myth Drannor.


 * The Ear of Arricorn books lampoon The Eye of Argon, a 1970 fantasy novella by Jim Theis infamous for its bizarre diction, clichéd plot, and poor grammar.


 * The "cheesy book" hidden on the Ethereal Plane is the work of programmer Jason Ely, who coded the pop-up element for in-game books and wrote this to test multi-page varieties. Containing a farcical short story about protagonist Jely's (as in J. Ely) discovery of cheese, the book was eventually noticed by colleagues Richard Garriott and John Watson, who found it so amusing they elected to keep it in the game. The Jely character further appears in another book, Stories to Make Children Sleep by Brother Grim (itself an overt reference to Children's and Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm), where he refuses to eat anything but cheese.


 * Another of Jason Ely's test books, which features a song about a demon named Fred, parodies the opening theme of The Beverly Hillbillies.


 * The morphing object (cube, sphere, tetrahedron) is a reference to Electronic Arts' original logo.


 * When Mordea rants in her throne room and barks orders to Salkind, one of her commands is, "Off with her head!", after the oft-repeated catchphrase of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.


 * A gravestone in the cemetery reads, "ARNOLD / HASTA LAVISTA BABY", jocularly honoring Arnold Schwarzenegger and his iconic line in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Others are inscribed with similarly comical epitaphs, many of which refer to development team members and Origin staff:
 * "SIR RICHARD DIED OF FRIGHT / PLUNGED FROM A GREAT HEIGHT": Richard Garriott (producer; took the team skydiving)
 * "ROB IS NOW DEAD / HE SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE TO LEGAS [sic]": Rob Corell (programmer, voice actor)
 * "HERE LIES BEVERLY / DIED IN REVELRY": Beverly Garland (artist)
 * "SAD BUT TRUE / HERE LIES PRIEST / PRACTICED ART / AND NOW DECEASED": Micael Priest (artist)
 * "STEVE / CRUNCHED TO DEATH": Steve Powers (artist, writer, designer)
 * "SHERRI'S LAST PLOT": Sheri Graner Ray (writer)
 * "MEL HAS RETURNED TO HELL": Melanie Green (writer, designer; affectionately known at Origin as "Mel from Hell")
 * "HERE LIES BRIAN / FELLED BY A KILLER SPIDER": Brian Martin (writer, designer)
 * "R I P / SWORDPROOF VITTEK": Mark Vittek (writer, designer)
 * "SIR DON / COULDN'T SLING A SWORD AS FAST AS HIS DRINK": Don Derouen (quality assurance leader)
 * "SIR DEE / TWAS JUST A FLESH WOUND": Dee Starns (English quality assurance leader)
 * "HERE LIES HOFFMAN / KILLED BY BUGS": Andrew Hoffmann (playtester)
 * "HERE LIES CHEL / SOME SAY SHE WAS A LOVELY BELLE": Michelle Lindner (playtester)
 * "SHELTON / MY BODY LIES BUT STILL I ROAM": Tobin Shelton (playtester)
 * "HERE UNDERGROUND LIES EDDIE / TOOK A KNIFE / NOW HE'S DEADIE": Eddie Stringer (playtester)
 * "SIR TODD / I'M NOT DEAD YET / I'M GETTING BETTER": Todd Wachhaus (playtester)
 * "WITH HIS HEAD ASHAVE / HE WAS SO VERY BRAVE / STARR" Starr Long (French quality assurance leader)
 * "BETTY BLAH-BLAH / KILLED BY TOO MANY WORDS": Betty Peltier (French translator)
 * "HERE LIES SEAN BY THE SHORE / SAID TO DEATH JUST ONE MORE!": Sean Mustakas (German quality assurance leader)
 * "SIR ROBERT TRIED TO FLY / FOUND GRAVITY A [sic] UNFORGIVING FOE": Robert Garriott (Origin co-founder; participated in aforementioned skydiving trip)
 * "ENTOMBED IS KAI / TRUSTY AND WISE / TOILS AT WORK / THEN DIES": Kai Stringer (Origin recruiter)


 * The Pagan Calendar is based on six times of day, six days per week, and six months per year. This could be interpreted as representing 666, the biblical "Number of the Beast".


 * One of the puzzles in the Shrine of the Ancient Ones is the popular real-world puzzle, Tower of Hanoi.


 * Many of the small beige mushrooms found in plentiful supply around the island are psychedelic. Eating them will frequently induce a color-shifting effect for a short period, at the cost of three hit points (albeit never to the point of death).

Ultima IX

 * The Avatar's house on Earth contains several Easter eggs:
 * Opening and closing the refrigerator in the kitchen eight times will materialize severed human body parts.
 * The stove shows the reflection of the artist who designed it.
 * The various paintings hanging throughout the house are box covers from previous Ultima games.
 * When powered on, both televisions show an EA Sports commercial, complete with announcer.
 * Activating the computer will display a brief "coming soon" advertisement for Ultima Online 2, which was in development at the time but eventually canceled.
 * Some real-world books appear once more: The Wizard of Oz, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure


 * The prisoner claiming to be Lord British in Castle Britannia's dungeon is Richard Garriott, whose most prominent alter-ego is Britannia's long-reigning monarch. In the course of his rantings, this individual also impersonates Shamino, another of Garriott's in-game personas.


 * In the optional section of Hythloth, there is one sequence where the Avatar must shrink down to enter a small passage, which is done by drinking some special water. This is in reference to Alice in Wonderland.


 * In the mountains near Yew is a large, decorated tombstone dedicated to Phyllis Jones, the late mother of lead artist Scott Jones.


 * In the Britain cemetery near the haunted house is a grave for Lord Brinne. "Lord Brinne" was the screen name of Bill Iburg, a prominent and vivid member of the Ultima Horizons community who died mere months prior to the game's release. Touched by his passing and the outpouring of grief online, Richard Garriott and the Ultima IX: Ascension team created this in-game memorial for him. Lord Brinne also received dedications in Might and Magic VIII, Deus Ex, and Morrowind.


 * Nimrond telling everyone to bring out their sick and poor could be a reference to a similar scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.