From
TES issue 22 (July 2003)
Series 2/3.
Level 1/2.
OLAF
Olaf was an orange-haired Viking who guarded some of the portals in levels one and two. He had a green surcoat and a horned helmet, which were worn by
Tom Karol. A
dungeoneer might encounter Olaf guarding a well, doorway or bridge and he would immediately demand "lootings" in his heavy Scandinavian accent: "You have some lootings for Olaf, yes? If no lootings then I be thumping you on the head; sorry, but the orders is the orders." - Olaf. He would often present the choice of "looting" or "pillaging" to the dungeoneer, meaning that he required a bribe in order to let them pass. Just like any
Dungeon guard, Olaf was never averse to a bar of gold or a precious stone, but the price for getting past him was not always so high.
In series 2, Chris gave him an egg timer as a bribe, and in series 3 Julie managed to get past him at the expense of a candle. Such items could hardly be considered valuable, suggesting that perhaps Olaf was a couple of Norsemen short of a longboat. It is fair to say that Olaf was quite easy to bribe, at any rate. ("He's the sort of guard you could bribe with his own laundry." -
Motley.) If you want further evidence of this, look at Julian's famous invisible sorcerer's stone ruse at the end of level two.
Gumboil had earlier fallen for the trick, but at least he was drunk at the time - I guess Olaf was just easier to fool. Olaf was not always such a pushover, however, and sometimes it would take magic or trickery to get past him.
In series 2, Olaf refused to let dungeoneer Stuart past even with the bribe of a pot of
honey. Fortunately enough for Stuart, a swarm of bees arrived and distracted Olaf while the dungeoneer escaped, a scene that was redone in the very next episode with the
Troll and a jar of humbugs, and also three years later with Richard II and Skarkill. In series 3, Ross found himself without the means to bribe Olaf and had to use a
spell called
BIG, which turned Ross into a
giant so that he could scare Olaf off, a scene that was redone three years later with Sofia and
Julius Scaramonger.
So, Olaf was a slightly ridiculous character with his silly accent and phrases, but his threats were real enough. Although his "lack of mental agility" - as Motley put it - made him easy to bribe on occasions, he sometimes showed himself to be more of a danger to the quest and he could have bagged himself a victim under the right circumstances just as characters like
Cedric and
Skarkill did. It would be easy to criticise Olaf for his faults, but I personally enjoyed his appearances and will remember him as a good character who presented a real threat on occasions.
Fear Factor: 5 A bit of a joke character, although his threats were real.
Killer Instinct: 2 Could and would have killed for the lack of a spell or bribe.
Humour Rating: 7 A laughable character, often to be heard laughing.
Oscar Standard: 8 Tom Karol: the master of accents.
