Ultima: Warriors of Destiny is an action role-playing game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Players control the Avatar, who returns to Britannia to confront the usurper Blackthorn, who has seized the throne and corrupted the virtues. Accompanied by allies, the Avatar must understand the nature of the Shadowlords, restore Lord British, and reclaim the true essence of the land's ethics.
The Avatar, the embodiment of the Eight Virtues and the hero of Britannia, is called back to deal with a grave threat. Lord British, the country's benevolent monarch, has disappeared, and a man named Blackthorn has usurped his throne. The tyrant rules the land by enforcing the virtues upon the will of the people, corrupting their meaning in the process. His fundamentalist visions led him to create a police state, where failure to adhere to the virtues is punishable by death. Behind Blackthorn are the three Shadowlords, anti-thesis to the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage. The Avatar must understand their meaning and origins, find a way to defeat them, rescue Lord British, and restore the former ethical principles of Britannia.