Olaf Nijlpaard

Olaf Nijlpaard
Character
"Olaf Nijlpaard"
Olaf in Episode 1
Species	Hippo
Birthplace	Unknown
First appearance	Episode 1
Character Model Sheet number	12/1 (sheet 11)
Character Model Sheet name	O. Nijlpaard (Direkteur van Sprookjeswereld)
Name in different languages
Dutch name	Olaf Nijlpaard
Japanese name	ヒポポタマス (Hipopotamasu) Hippopotamus
German name	Hippo Nilpferd
English name	Hippopotamus

Olaf Nijlpaard is a fictional character from the animated show and several books and comics. He is the financial advisor to Alfons Rokodil and later his son Kaspar Rokodil. Like his business partners he is regularly confused by audiences and production staff with his inventor son Hannibal Nijlpaard.

Olaf Nijlpaard is one of the characters that is a negative influence on Alfred's life starting with being responsible for choosing his birthplace in the Plaspoelpolder in Breed Rietland as the place for Groot Speelgoedland displacing many animals including Alfred's family and eventually driving the car that struck Alfred's biological family. He is seen at the start of the series and appears several times all the way through the penultimate episode where he is arrested for colluding with Kaspar Rokodil and Dolf de Kraai to steal documents from Professor Paljas van Pinguïn. Until the end of the series his design never changes.

Appearance

Johan Kwak is a yellow duck with orange beak and flippers. He usually wears a blue scarf and a blue peaked cap with a soft crown. The appearance of his scarf is slightly different on the cover of De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen where the scarf is striped with a darker blue color, similar to Alfred Jodocus Kwak's scarf. In the Guten Morgen comic his scarf tends more towards light grey.

On both sides of his head he has three hairs. His appearance is modeled after series creator Herman van Veen. This is emphasized by the fact that in the Dutch and German versions of the series he was voiced by Herman van Veen.

Personality

Johan is initially portrayed as a scatterbrained daydreamer who enjoys leading an uneventful life. Described as a free spirit, Johan is characterized by his loyalty to his friends, which is demonstrated by the importance he places on fulfilling his promise to Henk de Mol to meet in spring. Upon meeting Anna van de Polder, Johan becomes nervous and anxious, immediately developing a crush on her. Shortly thereafter, he exhibits a hint of vanity, ensuring that he looks and smells fresh before attempting to court Anna again.

Johan's loyalty to his family is illustrated by the determination he displays in recovering the egg that has fallen from the nest. He becomes angry on three occasions: first at Henri Dropshot and Johnny Hollyday for attempting to court Anna, when Schor de Kraai berates Anna and his eggs, and later when their pasture is threatened with destruction by the Beton Maatschappij. With Schor de Kraai he holds a longstanding mutual-grudge. Schor de Kraai considers the color of Johan's feathers repulsive and views Johan's friendship with Henk de Mol as an aberration. Fortunately, Johan's moments of anger are balanced by the joy he experiences in his relationship with Anna van de Polder and the love and protectiveness he feels for his children.

Johan can apparently play the contrabass.

Storyline

As spring arrives in Breed Rietland and the Plaspoelpolder where Johan Sebastiaan Kwak resides, he meets his long-time friend Henk de Mol as they had promised. When the topic of marriage arises, Johan states that he is definitely not ready for such commitments. Shortly after, he hears the sound of Anna van de Polder singing. Henk introduces them, and Johan falls in love. Nervously stumbling over his words, Johan becomes overwhelmed and runs off before Anna has a chance to get to know him.

Johan hands Anna van de Polder a bouquet on their wedding day.

The following day, he hears Anna singing again and quickly freshens up before approaching her. He finds Henri Dropshot and Johnny Hollyday attempting to court Anna. Johan becomes angry, but before he can intervene, Henri and Johnny start fighting, leaving Anna open to talk. Johan brings her some flowers, including ones he had previously seen her carrying. Anna rewards him with a small kiss.

Soon after, Johan and Anna become a couple and eventually marry. Their small wedding includes Henk as Johan's witness and the great-great-great-grandmother of Amanda de Vlinder as Anna's witness.

The couple produces seven eggs. Johan grows extremely nervous about becoming a father, nearly having a heart attack when Henk de Mol visits to check on them. After Henk leaves and Anna steps away, Johan is left alone with the eggs. During this time, Schor de Kraai and Miriam Merel arrive to judge the eggs. Johan and Schor share a long-standing mutual disdain. Rap de Kiekendief uses this distraction to steal one of the eggs. Johan chases him, but Rap trips over Henk, causing the egg to fall into water atop Snel de Snoek. Snel swallows the egg, but Johan retrieves it from his mouth before it is digested.

The egg hatches into Johan and Anna's first-born, Alfred Jodocus Kwak. The remaining six eggs hatch into Josefien, Clara, Marjolein, Hans, Jan, and Robbie. Johan almost loses Alfred again when the duckling becomes distracted and leaves the clog, but Henk saves him.

In a state of excitement, Johan kisses Henri Dropshot (left) and Johnny Hollyday (right) after Anna van de Polder gives him a kiss.

At that moment, the entire polder shakes as construction workers begin destroying the meadow where Johan and his family live. Frustrated, Johan tries to reason with Olaf Nijlpaard, who is overseeing the construction of a large theme park called Groot Speelgoed Land. Johan's pleas are unsuccessful, and when he learns that Olaf and the Beton Maatschappij have a permit to build there, he realizes there is nothing he can do.

Henk convinces Johan to leave their home and emigrate to Groot Waterland to live in the miner's house of Henk's grandfather, Alfred de Mol. The entire family departs the Plaspoelpolder en route to Polderstad. Alfred becomes distracted, prompting Henk to chase after him. Meanwhile, Johan, Anna, and their six other children cross the road and are struck by a car carrying Olaf Nijlpaard and his investor Alfons Rokodil.

Years later, after adopting Alfred, Henk de Mol recounts the story of Johan and Anna to the young duck.

Family Tree

Kwak/van de Polder/Wana/de Mol family tree

Alfred 'Jodocus' de Mol

Marjolein de Mol

Robert Kwak

Marjolein Kwak

Jan 'Woerd' van de Polder

Josefien van de Polder

Henk's parents

Johan Sebastiaan Kwak

Anna van de Polder

Jan van de Polder Junior

At least one younger brother

Henk de Mol

Kwa Wana

Blanche Wana

Clara Kwak

Hans Kwak

Jan Kwak

Josefien Kwak

Marjolein Kwak

Robert 'Robbie' Kwak

Alfred Jodocus Kwak

Winnie Mandoline Wana

Tom Wana

Voice actors

Japanese	¦	神山 卓三 (Takuzō Kamiyama)	¦	ヒポポタマス (Hipopotamasu)
Dutch	¦	Herman van Veen	¦	Olaf Nijlpaard
German	¦	Herman van Veen	¦	Hippo NilpferdJohann Kwak
English	¦	???	¦	Hippopotamus

Appearances

TV Series

• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Episode 1
• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Episode 2

Books

• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van de eend Alfred Jodocus Kwak: Goedemorgen (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: De zeven eieren (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: Omnibus 1 (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: Achter tralies (1989) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: De zeven eieren (mini) (1990) (Dutch)
• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Mijn avontuurlijke leven (1991) (Dutch)
• 
  De Droom van Alfred Jodocus Kwak (1991) (Dutch)
• 
  Alfred J. Kwak Filmstripboek Deel 1 (2006) (Dutch)
• 
  De wonderlijke avonturen van Alfred J. Kwak: het grote voorleesboek (2010) (Dutch)

Production background

Johan Kwak appears on sheet 4 of the Character- and Color-Designs for Alfred J. Kwak book, which was made in March of 1988. As per the outline Herman van Veen wrote, Johan was only set to appear in Episode 1 according to his character sheet, but as the incident that killed him was moved to the first half of Episode 2 he also appeared there.

• 
  Johan Kwak Character Sheet.

Johan’s appearance was modeled after series creator Herman van Veen, who also provided his voice in both the Dutch and German versions of the series. Marlous Fluitsma, Van Veen’s wife, voiced Anna van de Polder in the Dutch and German versions, making Alfred’s parents portrayed by a real-life couple. Some of the lines and sounds from Herman van Veen's Dutch portrayel were kept in the different international versions. For example in the English version of episode 1, just after Johan is kissed by Anna van de Polder the sounds he makes while he jumps up and kisses the other two ducks are taken from the Dutch version.

As Herman van Veen voiced Johan Kwak using his natural voice, unlike the character voices he used for Krabnagel de Kater and Professor Paljas, the songs performed by Johan in the Dutch and German versions can be interpreted as Johan’s wisdom imparted to his son, Alfred Jodocus Kwak, through song.

During the initial storyboard and writing phase of the first few episodes, Hiroshi Saitō, the series director, needed to be personally convinced by Harald Siepermann of the legitimacy of the reasons behind Johan and his family's immigration to a different country. Such actions were considered treasonous in Japanese culture.

In 2002, while receiving the award for Alfred Jodocus Kwak being named honorary duck of IJsselstein, Herman van Veen humorously revealed that during his youth, he would travel from Utrecht to IJsselstein to visit Johan Kwak, who was purportedly living there.

A comment made in an interview for AT, conducted when Herman van Veen received the Cuxhaven Joachim Ringelnatzpreis for poetry in 2021, might provide the inspiration for Johan's middle name. When asked which famous person he would most like to meet, Van Veen replied, "Johann Sebastian Bach," adding, "He is everything to me," though he acknowledged that such a meeting would be impossible.

Character gallery

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