Ernesto

Ernesto
Ernesto, from Ultima VII Part Two
Species:	human
Appearances
Ultima VII Part Two Location: Moonshade

Ernesto is a Ranger in service to the city of Moonshade on Serpent Isle. He appears in Ultima VII Part Two.

Description

Little is known about Ernesto's history, although he reportedly was inspired to join the Moonshadian Rangers as a result of a visit to Monitor in his youth, where he was much taken by the bravery of the city's Pikemen. At the time of the Avatar's arrival on Serpent Isle, he was the second in command to Julia, the ranking Commander of the order Rangers, and he could privately attest to her disillusionment with her position, going so far as to caution the hero against consulting her following Rotoluncia's kidnap of one of the companions lest she take advantage of that situation.

Following the cataclysmic release of the three Banes of Chaos, Ernesto numbered among the few Moonshadians to survive the slaughter enacted by Shamino the Anarch. How he managed this feat is not known, nor is it clear what became his fate following the Avatar's restoration of Balance and departure from Serpent Isle.

Lore

“	To Filbercio's left sat Julia, who is the Captain of the Rangers, and next to her sat Ernesto, her lieutenant. They said little during the evening, but I did catch Ernesto sneaking glances at Julia with more than respect in his eyes. – from Balancing the Scales (Ultima VII Part Two)

Trivia

• The model for Ernesto's character portrait is Origin employee Billy Cain, who was a writer for the Super Nintendo versions of The Savage Empire and Ultima VII, before taking the role of lead designer on Wing Commander: Prophecy. In the early 90s, Cain was also the bassist for Culture Shock, a local metal band acknowledged in the Ultima VII Part Two credits as "Official Serpent Isle Band". Other members of Culture Shock included Mike Fuger (guitar), BZ Lewis (guitar), and Jared Thurman (drums), who also appear in the game as Topo, Mortegro, and Sethys, respectively.
• Should the Avatar ask Bucia about the shield that a Teleport Storm exchanged for Dupre's Shield without showing her the shield, she will recommend consulting Ernesto, given his expertise in arms as a ranger. If presented with the shield, he will correctly identify it as belonging to the Monitorian pikemen.
• According to Thoxa account of her journey through Moonshade in Balancing the Scales Ernesto appears to have some manner of infatuation with Julia. The young monk describes him as directing some meaningful glances with his commander during a banquet held by Filbercio.
• Ernesto's post-apocalypse dialogue is one of the few to survive the content changes Ultima VII Part Two endured in order to meet its deadline.
• According to the game's original design documents, Ernesto was intended to have begun making bizarre magical wines after Shamino the Anarch overtook the city, which would have produced effects ranging from passing out, to going into rages, to stumbling along in drunken fits after imbibing a single sip of the brew.
• Ernesto does not exist as a numbered NPC, but as a subset of the ranger shape. Eggs spawn him at different locations in town but are not timed correctly, at times causing him to disappear or duplicate.
• All the inhabitants of Moonshade have Italian or Italianish names. Ernesto is an actual Italian name, corresponding to the English "Ernest".

Gallery

• 

  Metal band Culture Shock, four members of which appear as characters in Ultima VII Part Two. Clockwise from top right: Mike Fuger (Topo), David Pearson, Billy Cain (Ernesto), BZ Lewis (Mortegro), and Jared Thurman (Sethys)