Owen

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Owen
Owen.gif
Owen, from Ultima VII
Species: human
Profession: shipwright
Appearances
Ultima VII
Location: Minoc

Owen is a world-renowned shipwright living in Minoc. He appears in Ultima VII.

Description[edit]

Owen was once an obscure and unassuming artisan, ready to give up on his chosen trade in despair. However, following his enrollment in the Fellowship, he began to hear the whispers of what he deemed his "inner voice", urging him toward confidence and self-affirmation. Newly inspired, the driven man enjoyed a meteoric rise to success and celebrity, quickly becoming the most famed shipwright in Britannia. Despite the many accolades he received, however, his skills as a craftsman had not improved to match his good name and many vessels drafted by Owen capsized easily, sinking in otherwise survivable conditions.[1]

Such incidents generally received little by the way of public acknowledgment, despite the loss of human life. One man, a misanthropic hermit known as Karl, was greatly bereaved over his brother's death on one of Owen's vessels, and confronted the shipwright regarding the incident. While Owen vehemently denied that the accident was due to his faulty workmanship,[2] the accusation unsettled him, and he reportedly turned to alcohol soon after – confiding eventually to his close friend, Jakher, that he blamed himself for the death.[3]

When the Avatar arrived in Minoc during the course of Ultima VII, the mania over Owen had resulted in significant political turmoil within the city, nearly overshadowing the shock over the double-homicide of Frederico and Tania. The shipwright, convinced of his worthiness, had commissioned a grandiose statue of himself to be built in the town square. While such a show of vanity had the endorsement of the Fellowship and the backing of mayor Burnside as a laudable means of boosting the Minoxian economy,[4] the local Artisan's Guild was fearful that the demand for commissioned ships and increased tourism would raise prices on raw supplies to such an extent that their group would lose financial solvency.[5]

Should the hero speak at length to Karl during while in the city, it would be revealed that the embittered man had stolen several of Owen's blueprints, determined that no other ships would be built such as the one that saw his brother's end.[6] If these plans were given to Julia, she could confirm the unsoundness of their design and the Avatar could alert the mayor as to Owen's incompetence.[7] While Burnside initially proved reluctant to expose such a scandal, he could be prompted into conscientiously halting construction of the public statue, and would task the hero with bringing the unfortunate news to Owen.[8]

If confronted with such information, Owen's emotional tumult would become obvious – at one moment cursing the ungrateful wretches who denied him his honors and in the next showing emphatic sorrow over the deaths laid at his feet. With the walls of his over-reaching fame crumbling around him, the desperate man would undertake an awful last act which he hoped would outlast any physical testament to his life – committing suicide as he fell upon his dagger.[9]

Should Owen's life end thus, the townsfolk would appear to rapidly forget him – offering up little by the way of mourning. Elynor, the branch leader of the local Fellowship which had previously bolstered Owen's ascent to popularity, would do her best to distance herself from the embarrassment of the shipbuilder's death,[10] while mayor Burnside crowed at his "decisive" action in canceling the monument, commissioning the Artisan's Guild to fill its empty pedestal with a public work.[11][5]

Lore[edit]

“ We do have one rotten egg. Our "infamous" shipwright, Owen, has truly gone too far this time. Word of his work has become so widespread that the fool has decided to finance the construction of a monument to himself. Naturally no one in the guild will touch it, but he has enough support to let it stand in the middle of town. Unfortunately, the miners here have already agreed to mine the raw materials he needs, so I know the plan is underway.

Goods[edit]

Prices in Ultima VII are as follows:[12]

Cost
(gp)
DeedU72.png Ship
(The Excellencia)
(no sale*) 		1000
SextantU7.png Sextant 150
*  This is to commission the building of a ship.

Trivia[edit]

  • Owen's work is backlogged to the extent that he has no ships for sale, although the Avatar can commission him to build a ship known as The Excellencia.
  • Owen is the author of the instructional ship-making book This Olde Ship, whose title is a play on the popular PBS home-improvement series This Old House.[13] In the SNES-port of Ultima VII, he is also credited as the author of a book known as The Art of Shipbuilding.[14]
  • Leavell mentions that the ship which he, Robin and Battles were aboard before wrecking on the coast of New Magincia came from Minoc, implying that it may be an example of Owen's faulty work.[15] Russell proves this, having recognised Owen's work, wondering about the poor quality.
  • Beverlea in Paws has a sextant supposedly used by Owen and claims that the sailor who sold it to her had endured a harrowing experience at sea.[16]
  • Due to the mechanics of the In Mani Corp spell, it is feasible for the player to revive Owen after he has committed suicide and then trigger the correct dialogue to force him to kill himself again. This trick of repeated suicides has been exploited humorously by fans, notably a contributor to Doug the Eagle's website, A Fistful of Ultima VII, and Nakar in her satirical Let's Play Holy Crap! We Can Bake Bread in Ultima VII: The Black Gate.
  • In the SNES-port of Ultima VII, Owen has a thick, hard-to-parse accent and is portrayed as even more egocentric and vainglorious than he was in the PC version, with no hints that he experiences any self-doubt or guilt. In this version of the game, Owen will not commit suicide upon learning of the mayor's refusal to build his statue, instead dismissing Burnside and all who naysay him as being unable to appreciate his genius.[17]

Gallery[edit]

  • One of Owen's wrecked ships

  • The wrecked ship on New Magincia

  • Owen has killed himself

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Owen. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "darkness, greatest, mad, methods, voice".
  2. ↑ Karl. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "brother, Owen".
  3. ↑ Jakher. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "Owen".
  4. ↑ Burnside. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "Minoc, monument".
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gladstone. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "monument, statue, worst".
  6. ↑ Karl. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "plans".
  7. ↑ Julia. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "plans".
  8. ↑ Burnside. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "damage, deaths, plans".
  9. ↑ Owen. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "there were deaths, tribute, ungrateful".
  10. ↑ Elynor. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "Minoc".
  11. ↑ Owen. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "vanity".
  12. ↑ Morris, Andrew P. Ultima VII Clue Book (Ultima VII). Origin Systems, Inc.: 1992. Pages 38–43.
  13. ↑ Owen of Minoc. This Olde Ship (Ultima VII – in-game).
  14. ↑ Owen the Great. The Art of Shipbuilding (SNES-port of Ultima VII – in-game).
  15. ↑ Leavell. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "sank, ship".
  16. ↑ Beverlea. Underworld Dragon’s Ultima VII transcript. Ultima VII. "sextant".
  17. ↑ Owen. Ultima VII SNES transcript. Ultima VII. "plans".
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