Minax
Minax
Minax, called the Dark Mistress and the Enchantress, is one of the principal villains of the Ultima saga. The young female apprentice and lover of Mondain, she swore vengeance on the Avatar and Lord British for her mentor's death and has spent four decades of in-fiction time pursuing that vendetta — across single-player Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress (1982), across multiple Ultima Online event cycles, as the founder of an entire UO Faction, and finally as the boss of the Time of Legends expansion in her cliff-top fortress, the Shadowguard.
In Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress
Minax's defining mythological moment is Ultima II. After Mondain fell to the Stranger's blade in Ultima I, Minax survived and inherited her lover's magic — including the use of time doors, gates that could move a traveller through history. Wielding this power, she did not strike at the Avatar's home — she struck at every time the Avatar's home had ever existed:
"The climax was the devastation of 2111, Minax's greatest triumph, when ancient civilizations born of love and beauty, wisdom and reason, turned on one another in hatred and destroyed most of the very earth that had nurtured them. If it were not for the time doors, we would not be here now. Only the ability to move in time enabled any living thing to survive..." — from the writings of Lord British
The Avatar pursued Minax through 1990 BC, 1423, 1990, 2111, and Time's End — the campaign of Ultima II. She was finally defeated in her castle in Time's End, but no body was confirmed. The single-player saga moved on to Ultima III; Minax did not.
The Ultima manga The Terror of Exodus (Seiji Tanaka, JICC Shuppan Kyoku, 1988, ISBN 4-88063-434-4) features Minax prominently in its retelling of the Mondain–Minax–Exodus arc.
In Ultima Online — appearances and event cycles
Minax did not stay defeated. She returned across UO's two-decade arc, repeatedly, as a behind-the-curtain villain orchestrating invasions:
| Year / event | What Minax did |
|---|---|
| Early UO | Led an undead invasion of the City of Trinsic — one of the first major event-cycle storylines. |
| 2003, Age of Shadows era | Led a series of attacks on Britannia. She was sighted in the bottom level of Destard, wielding a powerful artifact called the Doom Kiss. |
| Mondain's Legacy era | Communications via the Travesty, the Peerless boss of the Citadel in Tokuno Islands, hint at Minax pulling strings from outside the realm. |
| Faction era | Founded the Minax Faction — one of the four Factions in UO's PvP Faction war system. (Factions removed in Publish 86; see below.) |
| Time of Legends (2015) | Revealed to be hiding in the Valley of Eodon, atop the Shadowguard — a clifftop fortress containing four trial towers. She watches from the roof, taunting players, while her four lieutenants fight below. |
The Minax Faction
For most of UO's mid-life, Minax served as the patron of one of the four player Factions — large-scale PvP guilds aligned to a fictional ideology. The four Factions were:
- Minax Faction — followers of the Dark Mistress.
- Council of Mages — followers of Nystul (founded after the Time Lord deal).
- Shadowlords — followers of Astaroth, Faulinei, and Nosfentor.
- Britannia / True Britannian — Lord British's loyalists.
The Faction system included Town Sigils, Stronghold sieges, Faction Traps, faction-only artifact rewards, and full-loot Felucca PvP. Publish 86 (December 2014) eliminated the Faction system entirely, replacing it with the simpler Vice vs Virtue PvP system. Minax's followers, like those of the other three Factions, were dispersed.
Time of Legends — the Shadowguard
The November 2015 expansion Time of Legends rediscovered Minax in the Valley of Eodon, where she had retreated atop a clifftop fortress called the Shadowguard. The expansion turned her four lieutenants into the four trial-bosses of a structured group dungeon:
| Tower | Lieutenant | Mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Bar | Vile drinkers / barkeep | Drink-and-resolve mechanic; fast-paced; alcohol-themed riddle. |
| Orchard | Corrupt orchardists | Pluck-fruit-from-correct-trees timing puzzle. |
| Armory | Animated armours | Armed-and-armored undead; weapon-mismatch mechanic. |
| Belfry | Bats and crows | Multiple-target high-mobility encounter; bell-rope reset. |
| Roof (final) | Minax herself | She does not actually fight; she taunts the team while four lieutenants spawn alongside her. The team must defeat all four lieutenants simultaneously to end the encounter. |
Rewards: the Shadowguard artifacts — Quiver of Elements, Cuffs of the Archmage, Bracelet of Primal Consumption, Pendant of the Magi, and the unique fortress decorations.
Minax in the broader Ultima cosmology
Minax is one of the Triad of Evil — Mondain, Minax, Exodus — that defines villainy in the early Ultima saga. She is described in some texts as Mondain's mother and lover (the timeline varies by source); the consensus is apprentice and lover, with their union producing Exodus, the next-generation villain of Ultima III.
Her followers and her ideology persist in fragments throughout UO: Minaxian banners hang in dungeon ruins, the Minaxian Royal Guard appears in early UO Felucca, and the 2003–2008 BNN cycle describes a Minaxian revival movement that preceded the Awakening. The Cult of the Fallen is a related villain group sometimes confused with the Minax Faction.
See also
- Mondain — her mentor, lover, and the source of her vendetta
- Exodus — her offspring (with Mondain)
- Lord_British — the target of her revenge
- Avatar — the Stranger who slew Mondain and pursued her through time
- Eodon — her Time of Legends hideout, the Valley
- Shadowguard — the cliff-top fortress
- Cult_of_the_Fallen — related villain group
- Travesty — communicates with her from the Citadel
- Blackthorn — fellow figure of the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge / Awakening cycles