Ricardo

Ricardo — also known as Ricardo the Thief — is one of Britannia's most consequential lawbreakers and reluctant heroes, a Buccaneer's Den-based legendary lockpicker whose career spans four major Origin event cycles: the Inu plotline (the prologue to Warriors of Destiny), the Ophidian War, the Casca prosecution (Britannia v. Ricardo), and the In the Shadow of Virtue event cycle (recovery of the Crystal of Duplicity). His arc moves from petty thief to convicted criminal, then to royal pardonee under Queen Dawn, then to mad prisoner, and finally to redeemed advisor before his role in defeating Virtuebane at the Magincia memorial service. Ricardo is unique among UO NPCs in that his fate was decided by player evidence — the in-game trial conducted by Casca at the Court of Truth in Yew was a live event whose outcome was shaped by what players brought to court.

Profile

Storyline arc

1. The Inu plotline — Terathan Keep heist

When Inu the Crone was imprisoned by her enemies, a legendary lockpicker was needed to free her. Ricardo of Buccaneer's Den was the only candidate — but his cooperation came at a price. Players were sent to negotiate with him at his hideout near Buccaneer's Den.

Ricardo agreed and ventured into Terathan Keep, but was captured and imprisoned by the Terathans. Players then mounted a distraction-and-rescue quest: drawing the Terathans into combat while a stealth team breached the prison cells. During the escape, Ricardo took the opportunity to also rob the Ophidians of their artificed scion — a sacred crown that, in Ophidian theology, embodied the future of their species.

The theft triggered the Ophidian War: a prolonged assault on Britannian cities that left many dead before being repelled. Ricardo did, however, succeed in opening Inu the Crone's cell, completing the rescue.

2. The trial — Britannia v. Ricardo

Although stealing from monsters is not normally a crime, the scale of the consequences (a war with civilian casualties) led to Ricardo's arrest. He was prosecuted by Casca at the Court of Truth in Yew — a live, in-game trial that players could attend either in real-time or in reenacted form (so non-attendees could still witness the event).

Players gathered key evidence:

Casca's pre-trial keyword tree (player conversations with Casca) is preserved in the Casca article. The trial was a partial victory for the prosecution: an uncaring judge, an inept defense, and last-minute legal maneuvers (Casca dropping most of the original charges after evidence was already in) won the conviction.

3. The pardon — Queen Dawn intervenes

Ricardo was awaiting execution at the close of Warriors of Destiny when Queen Dawn issued a royal pardon in recognition of his help in the Shadowlords war. After the war he served as one of Dawn's advisors.

His tenure as advisor was brief and traumatic — Ricardo went mad under the strain. He vanished temporarily, then was found wandering on Fire Island, covered in blood that was not his own. With no better facility for the insane, the Crown placed him in Yew Prison for safekeeping.

4. The Crystal of Duplicity (In the Shadow of Virtue)

During Ricardo's second internment in Yew Prison, players uncovered a series of journals he had written, detailing his research into the Crystal of Duplicity and Lord British's Vault. Players followed clues from the journals as part of the In the Shadow of Virtue — Lost and Found Part 3 event arc.

Queen Dawn eventually knocked down the castle walls to access the vault and retrieve the Crystal of Duplicity — but the Crystal vanished during what appeared to be a Bane Chosen attack shortly afterward. Around the same moment, Ricardo disappeared from Yew Prison.

Subsequent events made it clear that the Bane Chosen had not taken the Crystal; instead, Ricardo had stolen it himself — apparently to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. This was eventually revealed when Virtuebane appeared at Queen Dawn's memorial service and forcibly took the Crystal from Ricardo.

After Virtuebane was defeated at Magincia, it was revealed that:

• Ricardo had learned about Virtuebane's plans during the first Bane Chosen formation.
• Virtuebane had placed a curse on Ricardo to prevent him from speaking of what he knew.
• This curse explained both his madness and his strange Crystal-stealing behavior.

A group of healers declared Ricardo sane again at the close of In the Shadow of Virtue. He was redeemed.

5. The Humble Pie incident at Magincia

During the final battle against Virtuebane at the Magincia ruins, Ricardo distributed Special Pies ("Humble Pie") to players. Throwing the pies at Virtuebane was a deliberately ridiculous combat mechanic that further humiliated the demon during the final fight — fitting the Humility virtue theme of Magincia's defense. The pies are now a rare collectible.

Keywords (Inu-era conversation tree)

Ricardo responded to the following keywords when said near him during the Inu plotline:

The dialogue captures Ricardo's signature mixture of swagger, fatalism, and dark humor — a defining voice for the character across all four event cycles.

In-game artifacts associated with Ricardo

Hideout — Trammel

Ricardo's Hideout is on the Trammel facet at coordinates 96° 19'S 3° 5'E, east from Destard in the Dragonhame Mountain. The hideout was discovered during the "Shady Characters" quest from the Sheriff of Trinsic. Entry requires speaking the password at the Old Burned Tree marking the entrance — and the password varies from shard to shard, requiring per-shard players to discover it independently.

See also

• Casca — the prosecutor in Britannia v. Ricardo
• Buccaneers_Den — Ricardo's home base
• Nujelm — site of the ornate-lockpicks evidence in his trial
• Queen_Dawn — the queen who pardoned him
• Yew — the city of his trial and second imprisonment
• Magincia — the Humble Pie incident at the Virtuebane fight
• Shadowlords — the war Ricardo's pardon credit references
• Crystal_of_Duplicity — the artifact at the heart of In the Shadow of Virtue
• Virtuebane — the curse-caster, eventually defeated at Magincia
• Lockpicking — the skill Ricardo embodied