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Character.Odlaw
Odlaw
Character Information
Debut: The Magnificent Poster Book! (1990)
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Items: Binoculars
Family: Odlaw's Mother (mother)
Home: The Odlaw Swamp
Aliases: {{{alias}}}
Birthday: {{{birthday}}}

Odlaw aka Yllaw is the main antagonist of the "Where's Waldo?" series. He is "mean, nasty, loathsome, and disgusting." His number of good deeds are few and all he cares about is getting his hands on Waldo's magic walking stick. His wardrobe includes a black and yellow striped shirt, black jeans, spats, dark glasses, yellow and black bobbled hat, and a slick moustache. Odlaw seems to be something of an evil twin/bad counterpart to Waldo.

In The Wonder Book, it is revealed that he comes from Odlaw's Swamp, where hundreds of other Odlaws live, which is a parallel to the Land of Waldos. Odlaw can be really clumsy, so he always ends up getting hurt. His friends also tell him to frequently "Shut Up" and stop writing "Odlaw wuz here" on everything with which he comes in contact with.

He is reportedly based on a young boy that illustrator Martin Handford met in Portland, Maine during a hunting trip.

Odlaw's name comes from "Waldo" spelled backwards. He first appeared in 1991 in the book Where's Waldo: The Magnificent Poster Book! where his role was like an "Anti-Waldo".

Names in other languages[]

  • French: Pouah
  • Italian: Manolesta / Wlady / Wigor
  • Portuguese: Al Capote
  • Norwegian: Skurk
  • Chinese: 奥特
  • Japanese: オドロー (Odorō)
  • Polish: Lewus
  • Dutch: G. Spuis

Trivia[]

  • In the 1991 TV series, despite appearing in all of the episodes and meeting Woof and Wenda, Waldo never saw him and they never actually met each other.

Quotes[]

Odlaw: It's a good thing we cartoon villains heal quickly.

(from "The Unfriendly Giants")

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