Arcadion

Arcadion
Arcadion, from Ultima VII
Species:	daemon
Appearances
Ultima VII Location: Isle of Fire Ultima VIII Arcadion, from Ultima VIII Location: Obsidian Fortress Ultima VII Part Two Arcadion, from Ultima VII Part Two Location: Mountains of Freedom

Arcadion is a daemon who is introduced in the expansion pack for Ultima VII, the Forge of Virtue, and who later appears in Ultima VII Part Two and potentially in Ultima VIII. He is bound to the Black Sword, an artifact of great power wielded by the Avatar of Britannia.

Biography

Arcadion's origins are strange and murky, given how the shifts in the flow of time affect otherworldly travellers. It is quite possible, due to such irregularities, that Arcadion's first encounter with the Avatar was simultaneously the hero's last meeting with the daemon, when Arcadion numbered amongst the Sorcerers of Pagan. Here, within the halls of the Obsidian Fortress, the daemon would test the hero on the path toward becoming an acolyte, reacting with befuddlement to the Avatar's insistence that they had met before. He would recall, however, that he had visited the champion's home world of Earth in the past, and that those who dwelt there had mistaken him and his kin for servants of some evil entity or another, much to his amusement.

Whatever the events that paradoxically both followed and preceded this strange encounter, Arcadion eventually found himself bound into the service of a scholarly magician known as Erethian, who kept him bound in an enchanted mirror for over two centuries, much to his loathing. When the Avatar arrived on the Isle of Fire in Ultima VII's Forge of Virtue, the hero encountered the daemon, who pleaded to free him from bondage, using an ether gem which lay in the clutches of the dragon, Dracothraxus. Unaware that the action would merely transfer him to confinement within jewel, the daemon urged the Avatar to shatter the mirror with the gem, and thereby became a servitor bound into the hero's service.

The Avatar, finding it necessary to slay Dracothraxus in the course of the mission, collaborated with Erethian to forge a sword of blackrock and to fuse the stone in which Arcadion lay bound to the weapon's hilt - forming a weapon of vast destructive power known as the Black Sword. Infused with the powers of the daemon, the blade could bring death to virtually any living being it touched, as well as revitalizing its masters magical powers with the life forces of its victims, reigning fire down at the hero's behest and providing magical passage back to the Castle of Fire. With this fearsome weapon, the Avatar killed the ancient dragon and completed the trial of Courage to which the poor creature had long been bound. The Avatar was thereafter able with Arcadion's advice to summon the Talisman of Infinity and to use it to banish the Dark Core of Exodus which Erethian had been studying, provoking the old man to fatally attempt to weave spells far beyond his capacity as he attempted to stop the banishment.

A year and a half later, during the events of Ultima VII Part Two the Avatar carried the Black Sword to the shores of Serpent Isle, where the calamity of the coming Imbalance prevented the daemon from feeding off of the life energies it so craved. Shortly after making landfall, the sword was wrested from the hero's hands by one of the strange teleportation storms which plagued the realm, and the adventurer was not able to claim it again until it was found in the hands of a warrior deep within Moonshade's Mountains of Freedom. Near to the exit of this enchanted prison, the heroes found themselves at the mercy of the mad mage Lorthondo, and in desperation freed Arcadion from his pact that the daemon might save them from death. After gruesomely dispatching the enchanter, the daemon fled into the Void, laughing at the Avatar's foolishness in setting him free.

Trivia

• Arcadion's name may be derived from the ancient Greek province of Arcadia, which was historically associated with pastoral bliss and carefree existence. Numerous occult beliefs and conspiracy theories have centered around the Latin phrase "Et in Arcadia Ego" which appears in two paintings by 17th century artist Nicolas Poussin. It is generally read as "Even in Arcadia I (am there)" with the speaker of the sentence being Death, who inhabits even the most idyllic of mortal lands. An "Arcadian" could therefore refer not only to inhabitants of the region or the archetypal bohemians associated with it, but rather to Death itself.
• Arcadion will often mock or insult the Avatar when asked to kill dead bodies, pieces of the landscape, inanimate objects or minor enemies he deems beneath him. Should the hero decide to betray and kill Lord British using his power, the daemon will relish the action, possessing the Avatar's body for the strike.
• In Ultima VII Part Two there is a sound file that appears to have been meant to play after releasing Arcadion. In it he says "I have paid my debt to thee and our bargain is concluded. I shall not aid thee again. Beware the Banes of Chaos, Avatar."
• In a fan-created dialogue patch for Ultima IX, Arcadion appears as a daemon in Moonglow.
• Should the Avatar free Arcadion before encountering Lorthondo, the daemon will nevertheless return to vanquish him.