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You can find all sorts of comments about Olrik online.They mostly boil down to a handful of labels: "old-school, elegant, aristocratic villain, selfish, greedy, Machiavellian adventurer." Of course, if you dig into what the old guard says about the original Olrik, you also get stuff like "extreme tenacity, an adventurous spirit that rivals the hero’s, a certain loneliness, a tragic dimension from being thwarted over and over, and a real sense of fatalism from having lived through those adventures himself."

You'd think that nowadays, with villains being written with more complexity and depth than ever, Olrik would've been reinvented in some cool new way. But nope. As the old-school comic industry keeps going downhill, in the sequels Olrik just gets written more and more chaotically, and he goes less and less interesting.

His current characterisation tends to be dismissed subconsciously as "a walking cliché." Maybe that's just me projecting, but I've trawled through tons of sites, and the reviews pretty much all lean that way:

He gives off the vibe of "coasting on a vague, mysterious past with no clear backstory" just to keep people hooked. Sure, a lot of people call him "classic," but compared to characters in modern comics, he doesn't really have strong market competitiveness anymore. Especially when the writers themselves often don’t take him seriously. A ton of reviews suggest the writers should just create some "new villain" and tell Olrik to pack his bags and piss off.

But if Olrik's commercial value really gets bled dry and he's retired, what are we left to read? Relying on Y.Sente to repeatedly drag out those secondary villains and turn them into plot devices who've lost all their original charm, some even being killed off twice? Relying on that evil who's still missing and whom I honestly don't get why anyone would like? (no, I'm not talking about Voronov) Don't even get me started on those disposable characters killed off by the plot (no, I'm not talking about The Grand Druid grandpa).

...It seems that I accidentally raised quite a few difficult questions.

Here what I want to dig into is, if we want Olrik to break out of this current mess, we have to see if there's any untapped potential for him to be explored deeper and reinterpreted in the sequels.

In Y.Sente's scripts, there's always an emphasis on how powerful Olrik's skills are, and then his abilities get slotted into the plot for functional use, rather than focusing on his original role positioning or his psychological state. Maybe that's why he wrote that whole thing about Olrik piloting the Swordfish.

Jean Dufaux and the two new writers(the JLs),to me clearly put a ton of thought into reinterpreting Olrik's character.

In my personal view, the scripts by Jean Dufaux and the two new writers always give me this feeling: not a single line is filler, and the length always lands right in that sweet spot between "interesting enough to keep reading" and "too much detail to bother with," yet it's always nuanced enough to reveal the characters' psychology. This kind of suggestive approach to a character's inner state is something you wouldn't find in those nostalgia-bait sequels (like La Menace Atlante). And that unique style provides a perfect stepping stone for showing psychological complexity in a character.

Of course, we all know the two Septimus Wave books were the most disastrous co-writing lesson in the BM series' history, so we can only guess at the two new writers' intentions from here on out. Giving Olrik a new characterisation is something this team of writers has the potential to do, but it won't magically unify his portrayal across different authors once and for all. It's also one way to make these relics from the Golden Age of comics shine again in the modern era.

I might be going full Deltarune community theorist here, but I'm gonna lay out what I see as a potential "breakthrough point":

"The WWIII is no longer just a background story prop, but will be deeply bound to Olrik. The writers will use the WWIII as a starting point to dig deep into Olrik's psyche, but without spelling it out bluntly."

Reason 1: In Jacobs' original work, him putting the title "Colonel" in quotation marks might have been for this exact purpose – to snap us out of seeing him as just his current petty villain self, and to recall his glory days. By the same logic, the new writers need a similar effect: whenever readers see any hint related to the WWIII, they should immediately think of Olrik and go, "Holy**** that's terrifying," restoring the menace he's lost from losing too many times.

Reason 2: The original works only said he was cynical, never actually explaining why Olrik went to the Yellow Empire. So to solidify Olrik's badass credentials and three-dimensionality, the new writers might just fill in this tantalizing psychological blank. In the sequels, only by making readers feel that Olrik has some ambiguous attitude towards the WWIII, can this part of his past be brought up multiple times and generate anticipation, rather than being seen as repetitive, soulless corporate nostalgia-bait that kills the fans' enthusiasm.

Basis: In the two books by the new writers (8hab and The Art of War), Olrik mentions Basam Damdu by name twice, and there's reason to believe it's not just cheap nostalgia-bait.

Suspicious point 1: In The Art of War, it makes sense when Olrik mentions Basam's engineers. He's showing off stolen tech and basking in the smugness of successfully exploiting a loophole, just to mess with BM. And, of course, it's a psychological nod to his Colonel past. (There's even a bit earlier where Olrik jokes around using his Colonel rank with Captain Blake.)

But in 8hab, why does he declare he's going to finish Basam's "unfinished business"? We get no explanation, not even a halfway plausible hint in the entire book. (I suspect the question the Centaur Club members ask about why Olrik is wearing such a suspicious uniform in Suspicious Point 2 also stems from this exact confusion.)

Anyway, from the perspective of the whole book, that line seems to do nothing useful for character development and totally could've been rewritten. At the very least, they should've let us know why Olrik would mention Basam, someone he had previously betrayed and mocked.

Suspicious point 2: Aubin revealed that 8hab had a "Phase Two" that got cut, probably related to Olrik. Rumor has it that over a dozen pages of script were deleted, yet that one line where Olrik mentions Basam — not only was it not cut, but its position in the draft was even moved once. I don't fully get all the commercial considerations, but it's really damn fishy. I seriously need an explanation. Either that's a hugely important clue, or it was a self-revealing declaration purposely used to strengthen the link between Olrik and the WWIII.

Suspicious point 3: Why am I guessing they might be setting up a binding connection between Olrik and the WWIII?

I admit I'm reverse-engineering the creators' intent here. In an exclusive Centaur Club interview about 8hab, Aubin said: "(Putting Olrik in a military uniform) had no narrative logic whatsoever. The writers wanted to bring back Colonel Olrik in his full Swordfish-era glory, to let him reassume the role of military leader of an operation. You could say he's once again wearing the uniform that matches that former identity. However, the pentagram on his cap is now different – it's no longer Basam Damdu's signature insignia."

When I first saw that "no narrative logic" line, I was pretty disappointed. Not only did it not answer any questions, but I honestly didn't feel any "wow" factor from this supposed visual callback meant to win back old fans. All I remember is that this guy still has to obey Kranz, meekly lower his gun, and then put on a "😒" face as he watches Mortimer get forced off to film a scene out of A Clockwork Orange.

But in my eyes, that uniform really did make me remember that Olrik was once a Class-A war criminal. Narratively, it is useless, but the key is "the writers wanted" the old fans to remember that. Even if it's just cheap fan service, it nonetheless connects Olrik once again to his Yellow Empire Colonel identity.

Suspicious point 4: What really convinces me to write this whole theory is, of course, the title of this team's next book: Return to Lhasa.

Dude, we know bloody well what Lhasa means in the BM universe.!!The title is missing a subject, which makes you wonder – who would be the first to make the decision to "return to Lhasa"? It definitely can't be unrelated to the guy these writers have depicted saying he'll finish Basam Damdu's unfinished business, framed against a red background, declaring he can prove one man can destroy a nation!

But info is seriously, seriously, seriously scarce. All I've got is one comment from a JLF: "No Olrik". Plus we won't even see it published until 2027. I don't dare to make any wild claims."

ooo0O0ooo

So, after rambling on and on, what exactly is this new characterisation for Olrik?

Ahem,now I'm gonna drop my hot take. Honestly, everything I've said so far was just setting the table for this.

From that line on Air Force One in 8hab where Olrik cusses out both Kranz and Carver as "pathetic idealists," maybe the writer isn't emphasizing Olrik's nihilism, but rather highlighting that he has a destructive obsession far purer than Kranz and Carver's (not a constructive one); he also has a sort of fastidiousness about his evil deeds, to the point that he can't stand hypocrites who've fooled him.

His obsession hasn't changed one bit since the WWIII: like an adventurer's ideal, he has the guts and the drive to actively become the fuse, igniting all the internal contradictions of the old order, thereby shattering the rigid old framework, returning everything to square one, and forcibly tearing open new possibilities for the world. And these new opportunities are exactly the windfall profits he wants to grab. For this radical, adventurous ideal, he doesn't dress it up in humanitarian or peaceful terms, or even "saviour" rhetoric, the way Kranz and Carver do. He lays it all out with a dead-serious candour. He never hides his ambition, selfishness, individualism, or evil acts.

And he has the drive to keep tangling with B&M indefinitely, never cynically dismissing all his own investment. On this point, even though it's hard for us ordinary folks to relate, it does prove he's not exactly a poster boy for nihilism.

So, the reason he joined the Yellow Empire was precisely because, during WWI and WWII, he saw through the rot of the free world, and tried to join the side that had a chance to flip the table and realise his ambition to "subvert the order." Perhaps he genuinely, naively believed that relying on this camp's military power could truly achieve that ideal of overturning the established order. For him, a world-scale conquest was the closest he ever got to self-actualisation. That's why the failure of the WWIII isn't something he can just shrug off – to him, it was a brutally painful lesson.

But what's even more intriguing is Olrik's opportunism. The basis for this is his own confession about his attitude towards being seen as an enforcer.

Olrik doesn't necessarily get a kick out of smuggling, thieving, or playing the spy. He simply has no other choice.

He insists his essence is that of an adventurer of the era, and that his predatory acts are just means of survival he's forced into, temporary compromises; yet reality has flipped the hierarchy: his survival tools have become his only stable foundation, while his core ideals have become a dead weight constantly bringing him setbacks. He has no moral sense and doesn't care if his methods are despicable, but there's one thing he can't ignore: the thing he's poured his whole life into yields no returns, while the vulgar, day-to-day dirty work he secretly despises is the only reliable thing he's got. This inversion directly shakes the very legitimacy of his persistence.

The end of the WWIII pronounced his original ideal of overhauling the world bankrupt. Right after that, he lost to BM too many times. The cascade of failures, and most importantly, the whole Guinea Pig period where he even lost control of his own self, caused his originally outward-looking goal of reforming the world to twist inward, mutating into a drive to prove that "an individual alone is enough to tear apart a nation and the established order." Because even the internal structure of a totalitarian system as extreme as the Yellow Empire was crumbling, he no longer believed in any faction; because he had lost control over himself for a period, he developed a PTSD-driven obsession with "personally being in control," to the point where even his opponent's every move had to be within his grasp. That's how the "treasure hunt" of the 1953 proto-9/11 in The Art of War was born.

And that whole bit where Kranz only sees him as an enforcer, a triggerman who's good at "shooting," suddenly gains layers of interpretive depth. Olrik has his own ambitions. He wasn't always without an idealistic phase (say, before the WWIII), he just can't show it outwardly. That itself already makes him deeply resentful: when a colleague who is obviously an idealist stands on the moral and spiritual high ground and puts him down as someone with nothing but brute force, even if he tells himself that such a hypocrite isn't worth taking seriously, he still feels wronged. He'll never easily show that emotion before a critical moment – unless Kranz makes him lose face completely in front of Blake.

He mocks constructive idealism. Because of the blow from the WWIII, he hasn't yet gotten over that failure, after having come so close to success. When he cusses out other idealists, by poking holes in their fake ideals and proving how easily ideals corrupt and how they're not all that noble to begin with, he's trying to ease his own resentment over his own pure ideal going totally bankrupt and being forced into the role of an enforcer.

In Tibetan Buddhism, buddhas and deities are generally depicted in two major forms, namely the peaceful manifestation and the wrathful manifestation, such as those featured in the One Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Intermediate State. (中阴文武百尊)

Peaceful manifestation: Gentle and serene in appearance, like Avalokiteśvara, Tara and all Buddhas. They symbolize great compassion, emptiness and merciful salvation.

Wrathful manifestation: Characterized by 3 wide-open eyes, bared fangs, flaming red hair, fiery halos and skull ornaments, seen in deities like Yamantaka, Hayagriva and Mahakala, looking extremely fierce and formidable.

What I drew is clearly a wrathful manifestation statue.

Since the destruction of the Potala Palace being destroyed…I still cannot bring myself to accept the plot written by Sente in La menace atlante

Peaceful manifestation and wrathful manifestation are equal in essence, being two sides of the same coin and different manifestations of the true nature of Dharma.(法性)

They differ only in the way they enlighten sentient beings:

Peaceful ~ are revealed to beings with gentle and receptive minds, guiding them with mild compassion.

Wrathful ~ appear before those deeply trapped by greed, anger and ignorance who refuse to listen to reason, using drastic and forceful means to shatter their ego attachments and delusions.

Such wrathfulness represents extreme compassion expressed in stern ways.

1⃣The skull crown (partially broken in my drawing) symbolizes the elimination of the five poisons: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and jealousy.

2⃣Flames, fangs and triple eyes stand for conquering fear with dread, countering malice with resolve and fighting fire with fire.

3⃣Stepping on demons signifies crushing one’s inner ignorance and worldly troubles.

Fundamentally, the wrathful ~ is never a fit of temper, but the ultimate embodiment of boundless compassion and resolute wisdom in action.

Now how does this relate to Olrik?

He has nothing to do with compassion whatsoever, and is inherently amoral.

Yet striking similarities remain. Out of selfish desire or vengeful fury, he eliminates countless unreasonable and stubborn people. Even without any merciful intentions, his deeds can well be regarded as a worldly form of "spiritual transcendence by force". (超度，当然是物理意义上的)

Moreover, he embodies this dual nature, a trait shared by every protagonist in Blake & Mortimer who harbours a hidden Mr. Hyde side.

In his usual state, Olrik presents his so-called peaceful manifestation: elegant, restrained, noble, rational, orderly and elite. He always maintains an impeccable refined demeanour, shuns vulgarity, and acts entirely in accordance with Machiavellian principles. This calm exterior is the source of his profound thinking, aloof pride and extraordinary intellect.

His true dark side lies in his wrathful manifestation. If Mortimer’s Mr Hyde is capable of indiscriminate killing, Olrik’s hidden ferocity is far more terrifying.

I’ve tried to work out a logical motive behind his obsession with world destruction and his reverence for Basam Damdu.

The wrathful ~ is never the opposite of peaceful ~. It is the inevitable combative outburst when one’s peaceful nature gets suppressed, wounded and pushed to the brink.

Once his will is denied, his existence ignored or his dignity insulted, he instantly transforms into a ruthless, violent and unscrupulous being who stops at nothing to assert himself

We can even elevate this trait to the level of nihilism and world-destroying extremism from another perspective.

"The ultimate purpose behind the birth of Tibetan wrathful guardian deities like Mahakala and Vajrapani is neither venting anger nor seeking revenge. Instead, they wield overwhelming wrathful power to overthrow established worldly orders, rigid social norms, mortal vanity and blind conformity among the masses. All their acts of destruction serve one supreme goal: to uphold absolute subjective will and establish its supremacy over all worldly rules."

Olrik is sharp-sighted enough to perceive the hypocrisy and inherent evils within human civilization, as shown in Eight Hours in Berlin, where he sharply berates his colleagues aboard Air Force One. His deep cynicism gradually evolves into total distrust of all social orders, ideals and human bonds, leaving him believing in nothing but his own will alone.

In line with the modern trend of in-depth psychological analysis of fictional characters: even when he thrives through smuggling, tomb-raiding and espionage, he is fully aware of his permanent identity as a globally wanted fugitive doomed to live in the shadows. No matter how elaborate his schemes are, they always end up being foiled by B&M.

I believe wealth and power are merely superficial driving forces for Olrik; his core motivation lies entirely in safeguarding his self-esteem. He craves constant proof of his superiority, yearns to defeat the two most outstanding elite investigators single-handedly, and strives to make his own will override everything else. However, he can never claim victory within the boundaries set by the existing social order after countless failures. Hence, the only way left for him to win is to overturn the entire gameboard.

His deliberate creation of chaos, covert manipulation of global situations and defiance against all authoritative forces are essentially acts of dismantling established social balance and breaking universally accepted survival rules. Olrik reinterprets Basam’s ideology in his own way: an absolute negation of all hypocritical existing orders.

Basam’s downfall stemmed not from his ambition to overthrow Western-dominated old orders, but from his excessive eagerness to build a brand-new empire and establish his own new regime. By making himself the core of this new system, he was doomed to perish along with his empire when the old forces struck back.

Living in an era marked by nuclear arms races and fragile peace maintained through nuclear deterrence, Olrik aims far beyond founding any new order. He is never meant to be a ruler. The scrapped line in the drafts I posted before — "Retour à zéro" perfectly sums up his ambition. He seeks to replace no ideology with another, but to erase all man-made rules, power hierarchies and social identities completely, sending everything back to its original primitive state.

Nevertheless, could Olrik truly transcend mundane worldly desires just like enlightened wrathful deities? The answer is negative. He also longs for ordinary people’s pursuit of stable life, fame, fortune and a peaceful haven. Nor can he stay eternally detached from worldly joys and sorrows. In fact, he possesses an extremely sensitive mind, and his anger, hatred, pride and joy burn far more intensely than ordinary people, which always become the key weakness exploited by B&M to defeat him.

The supreme essence of true wrathful manifestation lies in the absolute power to dominate oneself and the outer world, free from external control and emotional bondage, with all destructive deeds being fully voluntary choices guided by one’s original heart. This is exactly the ideal villainous state Olrik desperately pursues yet can never achieve. In short, the wrathful manifestation is merely his perfect vision of a supreme supervillain, while in reality he is nothing more than a seasoned yet vulnerable rogue who can easily be subdued by the two British protagonists, just as JLF once commented in the comment section of ActuaBD.

All the above are merely my personal interpretations. The official character settings shall always prevail.

BTW

As for the music I picked

In the first line of the lyrics, the wrathful manifestation of Acala is a solemn avatar niested by Mahavairocana in Esoteric Buddhism to subdue demons and obstacles. The following lines also speak of cutting off worldly afflictions and upholding unwavering Bodhicitta.