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Lore
The second boss of Boletarian Palace.
The Phalanx itself is a blob of viscous purple slime engulfing a gnarled, tree-like core which in turn contains a glowing white aura. The Phalanx begins the battle completely covered with and surrounded by Hoplites, who are stationed around it in the eponymous phalanx formation to defend their leader. Light emanates from the core of Phalanx, but around that core is a massive black blob of goo.
Phalanx is the corrupted soul form of the tribesman "Long Bow" Oolan, a knight of the round table in Boletaria. Before the scourge, in battle Oolan would snipe from afar with a bow behind her legion's shields, ensuring she never had to put her life on the line in close-quarters combat. She appears now as an enormous, spineless blob, protected by her legion of hoplites. When she is killed the player receives the Lead Demon's Soul. It is fashioned into the coward's weapon, the scraping spear, which beats the enemy not through skill, but by depriving them of the ability to defend or attack by breaking their equipment.
Though Ostrava refers to Oolan as male indirectly by using "his," it is believed to be a mistranslation as there is no singular, genderless form of the possessive other than "its" in English. We know Oolan is female because when she appears as a black Phantom later in the level she is wearing the female version of the leather armor set. It is also possible that Ostrava is only aware of the knight by reputation, and thusly is mistaken.
There are many links between Oolan and the Shrine of Storms. The white bow she uses is carved from the Shrines gnarled trees and the white arrows she fires are fletched from the feathers of the white hawks which fly in circles above those trees. When forced to fight in closer quarters Oolan uses a kilij, a curved sword only used by the reanimated skeletons at the Shrine of Storms. The leather armor she wears is found in abundance at the Shrine of Storms as Graverobber Blige has many for sale. Ostrava refers to Oolan as a "tribesman" and Graverobber Blige mentions that the shrine was used by an "ancient tribe" of early barbarians. This all implies some manner of ancestral connection between Oolan, the barbarian starting class, and the extinct shadowmen who once performed rituals at the Shrine of Storms.
No distinct corpse for Oolan is found in the Boletarian palace. It is possible her corpse and her white bow were burned up by the Red Dragon. Another possibility is Oolan's corpse is the body holding the white bow and white arrows near the Shrine of Storm's Primeval Demon.
Theories
Title of theory.
Sources
scraping spear description, white bow description, white arrow
description, kilij description, Ostrava dialogue, Biorr dialogue, Graverobber
Blige dialogue
PREV: Penetrator
NEXT: Primeval Demon