Easter Eggs and Cultural References

There are a number of real-life references and easter eggs in the whole Ultima series. These are some of them.

See also Real-life equivalents of the characters.

Ultima I

 * When the Stranger uses a spaceship to become a Space Ace in Ultima I, the starfighters that have to be shot down look suspiciously much like the Tie-Fighters of the Empire in "Star Wars".

Ultima II

 * The Stranger can steal food at the takeout window of "McDonalls" in New San Antonio in Ultima II. A clear jab at McDonalds, the biggest fastfood retailer of the world (meaning that you actually stuff yourself with fastfood in Ultima II!)

Ultima V

 * In the city of Skara Brae there is a tombstone which reads 'Here Lies the Tale End of a Bard', a reference to the game The Bard's Tale.


 * If you swear at any of the NPCs during conversation they will scold you. The list of accepted swear words is actually quite long and can be found by hex-editting the U5 data files. In DOS version, it's located in the file DATA.OVL. Last but apparently not least in the swearword list is "ELECTRONIC ARTS"...

Ultima Underworld I

 * On Level 6, there is a little maze where you gather a substance simply by walking over it, it comes complete with four tough to kill ghosts and teleporters on the sides. It is suspiciously similar to a Pac-Man level.

Ultima VII

 * There is a dead Crocodile in Hook's hideout on Buccaneer's Den. Looking into it reveals a pocketwatch. A clear reference to "Peter Pan" (Crocodile, Clock, Pirate with a hook)


 * Northwest of Cove is a flower field. As soon as they walk over it, the Avatar and companions will fall asleep. This plays at a scene from the "Wizard of Oz".


 * East of Britain, a Kilrathi starfighter parks in the corn field of farmer Mack, Mack also tells of the cat-like being that came out of it (before he killed it). This is an actual Kilrathi starfighter from Wing Commander. Clicking on it will start the Wing Commander music.


 * The Fellowship's procedures and practices emulate many new religious movements, and most blatantly, they resemble Scientology. (Batlin also greatly resembles L. Ron Hubbard, both in appearance and in that he describes himself as a polymath.)


 * In Dungeon Covetous, the Avatar meets Malloy and Owings. Both, their looks and their behaviour make it clear, these two are actually Laurel and Hardy! (And what they say it REALLY funny)


 * In Serpent's Hold, many of thee inhabitants are modeled after the crew of the Enterprise in "Star Trek: The Next Generation". The list is quite long, it includes:
 * Sir John Paul = Cap. Jean-Luc Picard (Bald, and the leader)
 * Sir Richter = Cmdr. Riker (Second in-command)
 * Sir Hoffre = Lt. Worf (Hoffre is from another race, raised by humans)
 * Denton = Lt.Cmdr. Data (Looks like the tin man and makes jokes that aren't funny)
 * Lady Leigh= Dr. Beverly Crusher (Leigh is a red-haired healer)
 * Lady Tory = Deanna Troi (Tory is an Empath, and good at giving spiritual help)
 * Jordan = Lt. LaForge (Black Skin and very blind)


 * In Skara Brae there is a hommage to J.R.R. Tolkien on the cemetary: the plaque beneath the statue near the crypt reads: "JRRT - a great man - a great writer"


 * Parody references in books:
 * "Struck Commander" is a play on Origin's Strike Commander.
 * "Mandibles" is obviously a parody of the novel and film series Jaws.


 * Among the books, there are references to several 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

Ultima Underworld II

 * In Killorn Keep, the Avatar finds the Trilkhai, cat-like creatures, that think they had once a glorious past. The Wisps later will later confirm this, saying they were once space-dwelling. A clear reference to the Kilrathi of Wing Commander. 'Trilkhai' is an anagram of 'Kilrathi'.

Ultima VII/2

 * In the caves on the way to the ice plains of the Serpent Isle, the Avatar gets a key. It fits a tower in the Knight's Forest. Inside, the Avatar finds Captain Stokes, a software pirate, who is just busy with copying Ultima VIII (how is that possible?). And using the different parts of the computer also reveals some hidden advertisements for Strike Commander and Wing Commander (both Origin products).
 * The face of Jim Hammons (Umbrae Dragon) was used as the face of Ensorcio, the mage in Sleeping Bull.

Ultima VIII

 * There's a reference to the "Doom Insanity" section of the official Doom FAQ (referring to the pre-release age, at least) in the game quotes section. One of the reasons cited for why Doom shipped late was "if Origin can do it, so can we"; conversely, Ultima VIII team said "if id can do it, so can we".
 * The "Eye of the Boulder, the Runes of the Myth Drainer" book is a jab at Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor, especially considering how that game series was still technologically outdated compared to Ultima Underworld.
 * The "Ear of Arricorn" books refer to The Eye of Argon, a notoriously bad fantasy novella.
 * Jely, author of the "Cheesy Book", is none other than Jason Ely, the programmer who wrote the code for books. He wrote it to test multi-page books, and the other developers found it funny and decided to keep it in the game.
 * The morphing object (cube, sphere, tetrahedron) is a reference to Electronic Arts' old logo.

Ultima IX

 * The prisoner in Lord British's dungeon is clearly Richard Garriott who is of course Lord British in real life. The prisoner claims to also be Shamino, Lord British's other alterego.