Words of Power (dungeons)

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This article is about Words of Power used against dungeons. For other uses, see Words of Power (disambiguation).

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The Words of Power are magical words devised by the mages of the Great Council to seal the dungeons of Britannia.

History

After the events of the Quest of the Avatar in Ultima IV, Lord British decided to seal the seven remaining dungeons, in order to prevent the monsters dwelling within from attacking the population. Under his orders, the Great Council created seven Words of Power, which, when used on a dungeon, could seal or open its entrance. Each dungeon had its corresponding Word of Power, and each of the seven members of the Council knew only one Word of Power. The Great Council then sealed the dungeons, not knowing that they were connected on their lowest levels to the newly created Underworld.

The Words of Power had also a secondary use. If any of the eight Shrines of Virtue would somehow became corrupted, yelling the Word of Power of its opposing dungeon would restore the Shrine to normality.

During Ultima V, the Avatar had to find a way to access the Underworld, in order to defeat the Shadowlords and rescue Lord British. To do this, the hero needed to unseal the dungeons, and therefore track down the seven members of the Council in order to get each of the Words of Power from them. This was not easily done, as they had fled from Lord Blackthorn and were well hidden. Convincing the Council members to reveal the Words of Power was not an easy task either. But after recovering them, the Avatar used the Words of Power to unseal each of the dungeons and eventually rescue Lord British.

During the quest, the Avatar learned the process for restoring Shrines from Glinkie.

The following table summarizes the words of power, the dungeon it seals, its keeper, and the Shrine it restores. Note that dungeon Doom is a special case, as it is not known to the Council and its word has to be gained by a long quest. It is not known why this dungeon in the Underworld is sealed or who sealed it, though the Shadowlords may be implicated as Lord British was imprisoned inside.

In Ultima IX, dungeon Destard has once again become sealed, and the Avatar is required to relearn the Word of Power for that dungeon to escape.

Word of Power	Dungeon	Council Member	Shrine
Fallax	Deceit	Malifora	Shrine of Honesty
Vilis	Despise	Annon	Shrine of Compassion
Inopia	Destard	Goeth	Shrine of Valor
Malum	Wrong	Felespar	Shrine of Justice
Avidus	Covetous	Fiona	Shrine of Sacrifice
Infama	Shame	Sindar	Shrine of Honor
Ignavus	Hythloth	Hassad	Shrine of Spirituality
Veramocor	Doom	None	None

Trivia

• The Words of Power are all Latin in origin, with definitions generally encompassing the qualities conveyed by the name of each corresponding dungeon. A notable exception is veramocor, which, in light of its initial usage as the Word of Passage to reach the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom in Ultima IV, is derived from the Latin roots for truth, love, and courage.
• The Word of Power of Deceit was misspelled in the walkthrough for Ultima V in the second edition of The Official Book of Ultima. Instead of Fallax it is given as Fallav.