The Triad of Evil refers to the three main villains of the Age of Darkness: Mondain, Minax, and Exodus. This is their character profiles put together into one file.
Mondain
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Mondain was an evil sorcerer who heralded the First Age of Darkness in Sosaria. He was the chief antagonist of both Ultima I and Akalabeth. Together with Minax and Exodus, they were known as the Triad of Evil, the three main villains of the Age of Darkness.
History
Mondain was the second son of the wizard and king, Wolfgang.[1] As a young boy, Mondain was often subject to fits of rage and depression. He found solace in hunting animals solely as a means of confirming his power over life and death. His father, a powerful and well respected wizard, witnessed this behaviour and planned to send him away to be educated in virtue. Once he imparted these plans upon his son, Mondain instead slew his father in his sleep and stole from him a magical ruby gem that harnessed the power of the sun.
Mondain turned the magic in the gem upon itself, twisting it into an evil artifact of darkness. The dark magics now woven into this black gem helped ensure Mondain's desire to live forever, thus earning it the name the Gem of Immortality.
Using his newfound powers Mondain released his wrath upon the land, allying himself with all manner of evil beings and setting them upon the good folk of Sosaria. To protect himself from assault, Mondain secreted away one thousand years into Sosaria's past and established his stronghold there, rendering himself effectively invincible.
He remained there until the Stranger from Another World (later to be known as the Avatar) located a time machine, traveled back in time, shattered the black gem, and ultimately defeated the sorcerer.
Legacy
Perhaps more than any other villain in the land, Mondain's death had a number of lasting impacts upon Sosaria.
During his reign of terror, Mondain had taken the enchantress Minax as an apprentice and consort. This unholy union would later result in the birth of their progeny, the entity Exodus. These three together formed what became known as the Triad of Evil. However there was no public knowledge of the other two until they revealed themselves to the world, unleashing their own reigns of terror in Ultima II and Ultima III, respectively.
The Skull of Mondain, when wielded, had the power to instantly destroy all enemies on the battlefield, but at great sacrifice to the bearer's karma. It was located at the bottom of the Great Sea between three volcanoes, where Terfin was later located (and also suggesting the location of Mondain's stronghold). The Avatar found the skull in Ultima IV and dropped it into the entrance of The Abyss, preventing anyone from using it again and presumably destroying it forever.
The Ararat, the ship of the virtuous Captain Johne, stumbled across three shards of the Gem of Immortality where it crash-landed in the Underworld. Captain Johne's three companions were corrupted by the shards and eventually became the Shadowlords. The Avatar retrieved each shard from the Underworld in Ultima V in order to defeat the Shadowlords.
Embodiment of Control
After his defeat, Mondain's spirit was summoned by the gargoyles and embodied in their Shrine of Control. To the Gargoyles, Mondain exemplified the principle of Control and his enshrinement served as a reminder to the evils of unrestrained control.
The Avatar visited this shrine and spoke with Mondain in Ultima VI where he indicated remorse for his actions. The shrine was destroyed with the Realm of the Gargoyles but was later rebuilt on Terfin. For reasons unknown, the Avatar could not speak with Mondain again in Ultima VII.
Trivia
- In Ultima I, Mondain forged an alliance with aliens from space called "Starwalkers." This alliance is often overlooked in later games as the space sequence of Ultima I does not fit with the predominantly fantasy theme of the series.
- Mondain also attacked the land of Akalabeth, where Lord British was also ruler. Some have retconned this to mean that Akalabeth was an old name for The Lands of Lord British, one of the four continents of Sosaria.
References
- ↑ Akalabeth manual, "Mondain, second born of Wolfgang, a great king of old, wished to gain his brother's inheritance and so he used his great powers for evil."
External links
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Spoilers end here.
Minax
Minax in Ultima VI
Minax is the main villain of Ultima II, and the apprentice and lover of Mondain. Together with Mondain and Exodus, they were known as the Triad of Evil, the three main villains of the Age of Darkness.
History
Minax learned the dark arts from Mondain. As Mondain unleashed havoc on the land, Minax watched him and was amazed at his power. She fell in love with him and together they created Exodus.
When the Stranger killed Mondain, Minax was still quite young and inexperienced. There was a period of a several years that was used by Minax to study powerful magic, so she could one day destroy all of Sosaria and its inhabitants.
She made her move in Ultima II. Having moved her fortress, castle Shadowguard, to the Time of Legends, she tampered with the timeline in order to destroy the world of the Stranger. She succeeded in totally altering the timeline, and Earth was destroyed in 2111 A.D. in a nuclear holocaust. At the same time, her monster hordes attacked Sosaria.
However, she had no idea that the Stranger had escaped the changes in the timeline. Traveling back to the Time of Legends, the Stranger killed Minax with the Quicksword Enilno, ending her tampering with time. After her death, all the damage done to the timeline vanished as if it had never happened.
Embodiment of Passion
But even death wasn't her end. The gargoyles invoked her spirit and embodied it in their Shrine of Passion.
It was there that the Avatar found her in Ultima VI. She explained that passion had been the essence of her soul, but that passion knew no bounds. She wanted everything, and because of that strove to conquer all. She said that passion must be directed and focused. Unbridled passion, desire for all things, leads only to chaos. She saw that the gargoyle society was based on the passionate leading those who lacked motivation, which contributed to their will to struggle against their harsh world.
Lore
Minax is defeated
Through darkness and despair
The land was bare
Looking for Thee, Mondain
Alas, but in vain
My soul and mine heart
Pierced by Cupid's dart
Will never heal
Without Mondain's will
Love is a desolate land
Unless Thou, Mondain
Takest me by the hand
To thy youth fountain
-- Minax
- from Minax's Poem (Ultima VII Part Two) (Minax.gen.tr)
Trivia
- Despite Minax primarily attacking Earth, she is seen as the villain of the Sosarian Second Age of Darkness.
Exodus
Exodus
Exodus is the main villain of Ultima III, the creation of the evil wizard Mondain and his young apprentice/lover Minax, who considered Exodus their "child". The three were collectively known as the Triad of Evil, the three main villains of the Age of Darkness.
Exodus is part daemon, part magical entity and part machine. The daemon part is Exodus' psyche, his personality and lifeforce, while the machine part stores his power and knowledge, contained in a hard drive-like device called the Dark Core. The "magical" part is probably what allows Exodus' daemonic and machine parts to work together.
History
Exodus waited a long time after the death of his creators, gathering information about the world and about his enemies. Exodus appears to have a great curiosity, wanting to learn about everything. Most of the information he collected was trivial, like the color of the sky on a particular day; however, he also was able to learn how to manipulate the very essence of the world itself.
Exodus' computer interface
In Ultima III Exodus attacked, poisoning the spirit of the land itself while his hordes roamed Sosaria. He raised the Isle of Fire from the bottom of the sea and turned it into his fortress, building the Castle of Fire. He protected the Isle with the Great Earth Serpent, which he had ripped out of the void and enslaved to his will (this abduction of the Serpent in turn caused the War of Imbalance on the Serpent Isle). Thus began the Third Age of Darkness in Sosaria.
Exodus' end came when the Stranger and three companions successfully invaded the Castle of Fire. They used the Four Cards to destroy or deactivate the machine part of Exodus, though the Dark Core itself survived. The destruction of the machine caused the daemon Exodus to vanish from the world.
Embodiment of Diligence
Even this wasn't the end of Exodus, however. His psyche was somehow raised by the gargoyles, who embodied it in their Shrine of Diligence. But this act destabilized the Isle of Fire, causing it to sink back beneath the sea.
The Avatar met Exodus -- now united with the Shrine of Diligence -- in Ultima VI. Exodus explained that diligence had been the essence of his soul; cold, unswerving diligence in his path of conquest. But in his devotion to achievement he lost sight of his original goals. Diligence without a goal is as worthless as a goal without diligence. The means cannot replace the end, and diligence cannot itself be the goal. He saw that the gargoyle society was based on the diligent leading the wayward. In that way they maintain their fight for survival in their harsh world.
Return of the Isle of Fire
His leftover machine portion, the Dark Core, reappeared in Ultima VII after the Isle of Fire surfaced once again from the seas. The Avatar managed to cast the Core into the Void, preventing it from reuniting with Exodus' psyche -- an event which may very well have resurrected Exodus, had it occurred.
Trivia
- The Four Cards needed to destroy Exodus are computer punch cards, showing Exodus' technological origins.
- In the Ultima Online 2 background story, Exodus was a remnant of an Overlord technology from the future of Britannia which had been sent back in time following the magical Cataclysm that create New Britannia in the first place.