Like most of the major characters in
Richard Garriott's Ultima series, Iolo is based on a friend of Garriott. In this case, Iolo the
bard is based on Ultima music composer David Watson. Watson is responsible for the "
Stones" tune in
Ultima V as well as tunes for
Ultima VI and VII. "Stones" became the
Ultima Online theme song.
Garriott met Watson when they were both members of the
SCA. In the SCA, Watson used the
pseudonym "Iolo Fitzowen". Like his computerized version, Watson is also a crossbowman and owns his own
crossbow manufacturing company, New World
Arbalest. In conjunction with his business, he wrote a book about the history of crossbows called
Iolo's First Book of Crossbows (1997).
The Iolo character has been with the Ultima series since the beginning...all the way back to Ultima I.
Watson's wife also turns up in many Ultima games as the character
Gwenno.