Skull of Mondain

The Skull of Mondain is an artifact that is evil beyond measure. If used in an area with other living beings, they are all instantly destroyed by the sheer power of the evil within this skull. However, as it is with such evil, the price is high and all virtues will flee from the user of this dark skull.

When Mondain died, other dark mages were greedy to retrieve his remains, as the dark power within them was great. Minax was horrified, and at the last instant saved the most powerful part from being defiled: her lover's and mentor's skull, enshrining it in her fortress. When Shadowguard crashed back into Sosaria, the skull was thought lost.

In Ultima IV, the Stranger found it on the seabed between three volcanoes, at double new moons. The volcanoes would later form the island of Terfin, and Lord Blackthorn would build Castle Blackthorn in exactly the spot where the skull was found.

This dark artifact was destroyed forever when the Stranger threw it into the fiery entrance of the Abyss during his Quest of the Avatar.

Trivia



 * In Ultima IX, an item labeled as the Skull of Mondain is seen in the Museum. In Ultima VII, Erethian, an expert on ancient artifacts, states that the Skull had been destroyed (which coincides with the events of Ultima IV). Although Ultima IX is infamous for its ignorance of past Ultima lore, this could be explained away in-game as the museum trying to pass off a replica as the real thing. In any event, the truth behind the skull seen here is unknown.