Is Ulrich the laziest character in film history?

Not lazy; old. As Galen figured out toward the end, Ulrich knew he could never make the trip, so he found a way for Galen to make it for him. As for not telling him, I suppose he had his reasons. He'd seen his future at the beginning of the film in his basin, so he knew what was going to happen. I guess he just knew that everything would fall out the right way if he let it, and didn't try to influence the outcome.

Whores will have their trinkets.

I never thought of it that way, but there may have been some real reason for it. Like maybe if he died on the road he couldn't come back or something.

WAY TO MISS THE POINT

He was old.

As in all Fantasy: the use of magic, for good or bad, is extremely hard on the user. That plus his age--he just knew he couldn't make the journey.

And, after looking in the basin, he figured it would be good for his apprentice to make the journey alone to grow a pair.