History Recap / TintinTheSecretOfTheUnicorn

* DismantledMacGuffin: The three parchments each containing a part of the coordinates of the sunken ''Unicorn''.

* ChekhovsGunman: Aristides Silk the pickpocket becomes vital to the plot when he [[ChekhovsGag steals Max Bird's wallet]], containing the last remaining parchment.

* OffModel: The screaming old woman at Sakharine's apartment has a dark green coat in the first panel she appears in, but the coat is blue in every other panel.

** Silk the pickpocket, for both Tintin and the Bird brothers.

''The Secret of the Unicorn'' is the first in a two-part story that is concluded in ''[[Recap/TintinRedRackhamsTreasure Red Rackham's Treasure]]''. Hergé once cited it as his personal favourite Tintin story, though he would later come to prefer ''[[Recap/TintinTintinInTibet Tintin in Tibet]]''. Along with ''[[Recap/TintinTheCrabWithTheGoldenClaws The Crab with the Golden Claws]]'', it is the basis for most of the plot of Creator/StevenSpielberg's [[Film/{{Tintin}} 2011 film adaptation]].

* SpannerInTheWorks: Silk the pickpocket, for both Tintin and the Bird brothers.

* LeaveNoSurvivors: In the flashback, after being hit by a broadside, the pirate ship hoists the red flag, signaling that they would not take prisoners. They do capture captain Sir Francis Haddock when a golden opportunity presents itself, but plan to execute him slowly the next morning.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: The Nelvana version slightly toned down the deductive abilities of both Tintin and Mr Sakharine: In it, Tintin deduces Sakharine was chloroform from the latter's account of his aggression; whereas in the original album, not only did Tintin notice chloroform was involved the moment he checked the "corpse", but Sakharine himself mentions "[the rag] must have been chloroform, because I promptly passed out".

* GivingThemTheStrip: The pickpocket (whose latest attempt at robbery was foiled by an elastic band attached to the wallet) gets away from the Twins by ridding himself of his jacket. However, this jacket ends up being the evidence needed to find and arrest him; it had recently been dry-cleaned, complete with a number stitched into the lining, and once the Twins were able to find the dry-cleaner service involved, they were able to track him down quickly enough.

* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: The newspaper reports that Barnaby, the person who was shot outside Tintin's apartment, later died of his wounds, but Tintin quickly confirms with the hospital that Barnaby was in fact still alive. This allows Barnaby to recover and divulge the names of his employers, which in turn allows Captain Haddock and the Twins to come to Tintin's rescue. Then, Tintin uses the fact of Barnaby's survival to get Gustav Bird to spill the beans on their plans.

* VillainExitStageLeft: One of the Bird brothers escapes, but Tintin got his car's license plate number and the Twins were able to arrest him at the border.