Smith the Horse

Smith the Horse is a talking horse often found in Iolo's stable in Yew. He has a predilection for sarcasm but tries to give vital information. This advice, while crucial in the relevant context, is ultimately useless to the Avatar since it always relates to the hero's previous adventure.

Smith was first encountered in Ultima IV and subsequently appeared in Ultima V, Ultima VI, Martian Dreams, Ultima VII and Ultima VII Part Two. In the last appearance, he was found in the Dream Realm and provided guidance on the events of Ultima VII, but was woken from his dream before he could entirely divulge a clue pertaining to the Avatar's current quest on Serpent Isle.

Despite his strange personality quirk of being one game behind the times (or perhaps because of it), Smith is one of the more beloved NPCs among Ultima fans.

Trivia

 * The "useless hint" joke came about because Smith was supposed to give a vital clue in Ultima IV, but the programmers forgot to add it to his conversation tree. When designing Ultima V, they decided to put Smith back in the game and, as a joke, had him give the hint he was supposed to provide in Ultima IV. Following this, it became a running gag in the series to make Smith one game out-of-sync.
 * In Ultima IV, Smith can be located with other horses in the Paws stables. He is described as "a white stallion," which contradicts all his other Ultima appearances.
 * In Ultima V, Smith can only be found by revisiting Iolo's hut, since he will not be present upon the initial visit. In the NES version (which has no horses), Bandaii will instead give Smith's hint, explaining that the horse is in hiding for fear of being eaten.
 * In Ultima IX, a woman named Cleo in Dungeon Wrong is being accused of killing all the horses of Britannia and claims to be a friend of Smith's, alleging him to be located in a tree near Paws. The Avatar was supposed to find Smith's body there and return to Cleo, upon which she would have given a hint (relating to Ultima VIII, in typical Smith fashion). However, while there are hanging horse carcasses to be found, none of them appear to be Smith and the easter egg cannot be triggered.