History Characters / Tintin

* DotingParent: He spoils Abdullah shamelessly and indulges his every whim, which is quite obviously ''why'' the little monster is such a brat. He waves off all of Abdullah's jokes (except on one notable occasion, when Abdullah trades his favorite cigars for exploding joke cigars) and gets quite offended at people not wanting to indulge Abdullah as much as he does.

* SkewedPriorities: Threatens to expose a slave-trafficking operation... if an airline doesn't make its ''passenger jets do a loop-the-loop'' before landing, for Abdullah's benefit.

* TheSpeechless: Unlike Snowy (but like every other animal in the series, save for a few parrots), the cat never says a word the readers can understand.

!!Recurring villains

[[folder: Rastapopoulos]]
!!Roberto Rastapopoulos
[[quoteright:137:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Rastapopoulous_1486.jpg]]
!!!'''Voiced in French by:''' Fernand Rauzena (Belvision series), Serge Nadaud (''The Lake of Sharks''), Creator/SergeSauvion (Nelvana series)

A world-famous director and movie producer, Rastapopoulos is in reality a crime lord, running a drug ring that spans across the Middle East and Asia. The closest figure Tintin has to an ArchEnemy.

* ConstantlySpellsTheirName: PlayedForLaughs. Whenever the two introduce themselves, they typically do so by emphasizing that Thompson has a P (usually by giving a word where the P is silent, like psychology or pterodactyl) and that Thomson has no P (by giving a word where there is no P at all, such as Venezuela).

* FamedInStory: Tintin is very famous in-universe, reflecting the character's real-life popularity in Belgium and beyond. For instance a whole crowd comes to welcome him back in Brussels in the first album, a sheikh admits being a long term fan of Tintin in ''Cigares of the Pharaoh'', heck even the fact that he's coming somewhere is news-worthy. Admittedly, he makes the front page with extraordinary stories of his adventures on a regular basis, so that is to be expected.

* RagsToRiches: Started off as an alcoholic, hardworking sailor, but becomes the wealthy owner of Marlinspike Hall after he and Tintin find the treasure of his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock.

** Despite his rather lanky build, he claims to have been an avid athlete in his youth in "Flight 714": he has practiced horse riding, tennis, swimming, football, rugby, fencing and roller skating (as sein briefly in "Red Sea Sharks"). He also was a wrestler, boxer and savateur (although he admits, and shows, he has been out of practice for a long time).

** The fact that he often remarks that [[RoyalBrat Abdullah]] deep down in a really nice kid on more than one occasion really reflects what kind of man he is deep down. Of course, being the ButtMonkey of the series, [[TemptingFate whenever he makes statements like this]], he immediately becomes a victim of one of his pranks, making him backtrack on his statements.

* TheDragon [[spoiler:To Rastapopoulos]].

* PunnyName: His original last name references the phrase ''Is dat niet tof?'' ("Isn't that swell?") in Dutch. Also, it might or might not be also a subtle nod to another ufologist, Erik Von Daniken, the popularizer of the AncientAstronauts trope.

* TrrrillingRrrs: Speaks like this in the French version.

* ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules: Resisted bribery attempts at least twice.

* MultiEthnicName: ''Laszlo'' is a common Hungarian name, while ''Carreidas'' looks vaguely Greek or Portuguese (though it is neither, being actually a pun in French). Ironically, the only thing we know about the character's nationality is that he had a grandfather hailing from Erzerum, Turkey.

* {{Catchphrase}}: He says "Great Snakes!" whenever he's surprised. In the original French language, he uses the expression "sapristi".

* CatchPhrase: Much of his FloweryInsults can be counted as this. The most prominent examples:
** Billions of blue blistering barnacles!
** Ten thousand thundering typhoons!

* CatchPhrase: In the BBC audio dramas, on some occasions when the Captain insults him, he remarks, "[[IHeardThat I heard that, Haddock]]." However, given that he's hard of hearing, it's anyone's guess as to whether he actually ''did''.

* CatchPhrase: One of them always adds "To be precise..." followed by the same sentence or explanation given previously by the other, only [[{{Spoonerism}} scrambled up]].

[[folder: Peggy Alcazar]]
!!Peggy Alcazar
[[quoteright:159:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peggy.png]]

[[folder:Red Rackham]]
!!Red Rackham

A vicious pirate lord who plagued the West Indies in the 17th century, until one fateful day in 1676 when he and his crew attacked ''The Unicorn'', a French ship captained by Sir Francis Haddock.

* OddFriendship: With Professor Calculus. Haddock is often deeply annoyed by the Professor's antics and deafness, and the latter often misunderstands the Captain. Yet, Calculus selflessly buys Marlinspike for Haddock, because it's his ancestors house, and Haddock holds him in high regards afterwards. Case in point Haddock is visibly distraught over Calculus's kidnapping, and immediately sets out to find him.

* BerserkButton: For all his alleged gentleness, he has a lot of those buttons and a bit of a HairTriggerTemper. You don't want to mention his family members in inappropriate situations (including ones he doesn't have). You'll want to avoid knocking off his hat, as well. And for the love of God, never tell him he's "acting the goat". Still, of course, there's always the chance he'll mishear you, for better or worse.

* ShorterMeansSmarter: He is noticeably shorter than most of the main characters except Tintin and is a brilliant scientist, to the point of being targeted for his inventions.

* CultureEqualsCostume: Their "disguises", are the worst possible mismatches that can ever be considered for camouflage, since they are in the habit of travelling through countries in ludicrously outdated/stereotypical traditional costumes.

* BarefootSage: He's an ascetic Sufi and accordingly never wears shoes.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: He is a Muslim Sufi ascetic with genuine magical powers. He is also a dangerous criminal and a key member of an international drug cartel.

* StoryBreakerPower: His magical powers are almost unique to the series' universe and make him an incredibly dangerous opponent. Accordingly, he's defeated by sheer luck, and he later escapes without problem again.

* TheRemnant: The original Incan Empire was destroyed in 1533 by an alliance of the invading Spanish and native rebels, leaving only this small enclave to survive in secrecy until present day.

* TruthSerums: Subverted. He developed what he claims is a truth serum, but it's completely worthless. It makes the victim blab about everything ''except'' what the interrogator asks them.

[[folder: Zorrino]]
!!Zorrino
[[quoteright:177:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zorrino.png]]
A young, orphaned boy living on the streets of Callao, Peru.

[[folder: Zorrino]]
!!Zorrino
[[quoteright:177:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zorrino.png]]
A young, orphaned boy living on the streets of Callao, Peru.

* BornLucky: Ooooh boy. He tends to get himself out of trouble through very unlikely circumstances. For just a few examples: An attempt to drown him didn't work because his captors mixed up knockout chemicals with sleeping chemicals (causing the water to immediately wake him up), [[CementShoes trying to use a barbell to weigh him down]] failed because a fake wooden barbell got confused with the real thing, accidently dodging a thrown vase because a door was opened in his face, the list goes on.

%%* TheGamblingAddict

The closest figure Tintin has to an ArchEnemy.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: At first. After he was exposed he started operating under false names to get by.

%%* {{Revenge}}: His motive in his reappearance.

** Nowhere more hilarious than ''The Blue Lotus'', where they come wearing '''17th century Manchu era clothes''', complete with pigtails and fans!

* IncrediblyObviousTail: PlayedForLaughs in ''The Blue Lotus'' when the two are [[http://m0vie.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/bluelotus1.jpg followed through the streets of Shanghai by a growing crowd of Chinese townspeople who are laughing at them due to their ridiculous, incredibly out-of-date Chinese clothing]].

* OutdatedOutfit: They try a few times to blend in when investigating in a foreign country, but their outfits are often too "folkloric", and on at least one occasion, the national dress of the wrong country. Far from blending in, they've been known to attract crowds come to laugh at them. Nowhere more hilarious than in ''The Blue Lotus'', where they come wearing ''17th century Manchu era'' clothes, down to the pigtails and fans.

* PuttingOnTheReich: He's working with the Iron Guard.

%%* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo

* TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight: He's a practitioner of radiesthesia, using a pendulum to try to guess and find things and others, which others understandably completely dismiss. As a result of it he comes to believe that the treasure of Rackham the Red is not at the Licorne and that Tintin and Captain Haddock should go west to find it. At the end of the album it's revealed that he was right about the treasure's not being at the Licorne's location and being west, as the treasure was in Marlinspike all along. He even manages to find the secret room where the treasure is with his pendulum, much to Tintin and Haddock's shock.

* TeensAreShort: While it is never outright confirmed if he is a teenager (see VagueAge below) he is shorter than most of the adult characters, including the [[ShorterMeansSmarter rather short]] professor Calculus. The only characters who are actually shorter than Tintin are children like Chang, Zorino and Abdullah.