Olaric

For the appearance in Wolfenstein RPG, see Olaric (RPG).

Olaric
Health Points	1000
Attack	Spirits (20 - 80 Damage) Melee (50 - 100 Damage)
Appearances	Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Olaric was a leading figure in Thulian lore and the creator of the Dagger of Warding which was believed to possess mystical powers. He was buried in a tomb next to a church in the village of Wulfburg and the dagger was placed on a pedestal in his mausoleum. During Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Olaric became a living undead colossus of flesh, known as a Flesh Golem. He is the first boss of the game.

In-Game

In 1943, Helga Von Bulow of the SS Paranormal Division sought out the Dagger, believing it could help win the war for Nazi Germany. Her colleague, Professor Zemph, warned her that taking the Dagger could break the inner seal and possibly release either more zombies.... or something worse. Irritated, Helga killed Zemph with her Luger and took the Dagger only to revive Olaric as a large hideous monstrosity who quickly dismembered her. The beast was covered with the faces of tormented souls.

Before he could do any more harm, Olaric was confronted by O. S. A. Agent Blazkowicz. Despite using the powers of the undead, Olaric was destroyed by Blazkowicz who then proceeded to take his Dagger for study.

Strategy

• Besides calling up an army of zombies to help him, Olaric attacks by either melee clubbing at close-range or by unleashing blinding spirit missiles at long-range, his speed will also go turbo for a short period after being attacked or if the player is blinded, keeping away from it is usually a good idea. You don't want to get too close because it is melee and spirit attacks are fairly powerful. If you retreat to the supply area, the spirits will vanish soon after they pass into it, if they manage to do so at all. You can also think of Olaric as a kind of super-buffed undead.
• Fortunately, Olaric will not chase you if you retreat to the supply area due to it being too narrow for him to navigate through, or even use his ranged attacks (except when he unleashes the homing spirits while standing right next to the exit from that area). You can use this to your advantage; he's an idiot - he destroys the tomb gates but does not realize he can destroy just a few bricks blocking his way into the supply area while you're hiding there.
• The pillars in the church arena will block Olaric's screaming spirit attacks, and using them as cover is likely the "intended" method of fighting him, rather than hiding in the starting area and exploiting his A.I.'s inability to reach there.
• Olaric is a creature made up of various ghostly faces and souls, and does not appear to be completely physical (perhaps a construct of pure supernatural protoplasm and flesh of many buried bodies). He also attacks by sending screaming souls at the player, in a similar way to how the Zombies summon spectral, homing skulls. Much like the Zombies, Olaric would disperse the souls from his body, which will fly around him until the corrupted spirits begin to home in on the player. Elements of his body appear almost transparent, and you can see into his 'body' through the various orifices of the soul faces (though it could be a glitch). But he is still damaged by physical weapons, and is impeded by physical barriers. It is suggested in the RTCW guide, that the Dagger of Warding turned Olaric into a beast with the screaming faces of the damned sprouting out of his skin
  

Trivia

• Olaric is likely a reference and alternate spelling of Alaric, which were the names of several Visigoth kings, and important to Thulian and Germanic traditions and legends. Alaric I is known for the Sack of Rome By the Goths.
• The blinding and screaming ghosts that he sends towards the player bear striking resemblance to Marianna Blavatsky's zombified form.
• In Operation Resurrection, after being killed Olaric releases all the souls in his body up into the air.

Gallery

Olaric summoning souls