Tintin Tintin is the main character of this saga. He is always referred to as Tintin, which seems to be a family name, and no first name is mentioned. Apparently, Tintin has no family and his age is rather difficult to determine. He is not a teenager, but he is not an adult, either. Even though he introduces himself as a reporter, the only time we ever see him write an article is in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets). Morally, Tintin fights against all that is evil. He defends the weak, and readily forgives and risks his own life to save others. He was nicknamed "Pure Heart" in Tibet. He shows a great sense of loyalty towards his friends and he cannot be bought. Moreover, Tintin is not the type of person who would let himself get carried away with his emotions. He would rather analyze a situation before taking action. Tintin is very intelligent and creative. He seems to have a certain ease with foreign languages and he reads a lot. Does he have an answer for everything? He is an extraordinarily cunning master of deduction. Tintin is comfortable in any disguise and he is very convincing in his disguises. Moreover, he knows how to drive cars, mopeds, locomotives and tanks in addition to riding horses, steering boats or flying airplanes. Although his physique is not impressive, he shows great physical strength. In hand-to-hand combat, he always comes out on top. He knows French kick-boxing, is a very good swimmer and shooter, does gymnastics, and later, yoga.

	Snowy From the very beginning, Snowy has been Tintin's inseparable companion, following him everywhere. Although he is a dog, Snowy shows surprisingly human characteristics. He is somewhat arrogant, touchy, superstitious and very sensitive. In the course of the adventures, he becomes more and more of a homebody. Moreover, Snowy is very cultivated and always has a reply for his master. Despite this, he is still a dog. He has a great sense of smell and good intuition. He often foresees dangerous situations in which his master might get stuck. Fortunately, he is always there to come to his rescue... Like all dogs, Snowy likes bones. Unfortunately, he takes this affinity to extremes, which usually imposes on him difficult choices in certain situations … He is equally fond of all kinds of meats and delicatessen, especially chicken. His other vice is his taste for -- alcohol! He especially likes "Loch Lomond" whiskey. He doesn't mind rum and champagne, either. Snowy has limited contact with men other that Tintin. When he does have contact it is usually rough; several times Tintin's enemies have tried to kill Snowy. He gets along much better with kids. His relationships with other animals are also very touchy. Boas, buffaloes, condors, crabs, crocodiles, porcupines, cows, parrots and other ferocious beasts have attacked him. Snowy seems isolated from his fellow creatures. He also exhibits arachnophobia... At Marlinspike, however, his relationship with a cat starts off very tense, but gradually they become best friends.

	Captain Haddock A rather mature captain, Archibald Haddock first appears in The Crab with the Golden Claws. We know that he sailed for over twenty years with his friend, Captain Chester, before ending up aboard the Karaboudjian where his alcoholism puts him at the mercy of his lieutenant, Allen. It is Tintin who gets him out of it; the two friends would never leave each other again. As for his family, we know that he is the descendant of the knight François de Hadoque, a navy captain under Louis XIV. Haddock has a very expressive character. He is very impulsive and gets carried away by his enthusiasm... or his discouragement. He is very quick-tempered, but his tantrums are as short as they are spectacular. Despite his surly character, he is a very sensitive man. He feels a strong sense of friendship towards Tintin, for whom he would not hesitate to give his life, and he is also very attached to Professor Calculus. Haddock's big vice is indeed his alcoholism. In the very beginning, he is but a human rag. Upon meeting Tintin, his problem diminishes to become more of a tendency... He is quite fond of whisky, especially "Lock Lomond". Haddock also uses tobacco quite a bit and we often see him with a pipe in his mouth. He dresses in a sailor outfit most of the time, with black pants, a blue sweater with an anchor on it and his sailor hat. Although he does not seem very cultivated, Haddock has a good knowledge of music. He possesses a veritable encyclopedia of insults, swearwords and curses drawn from all walks of life that is truly impressive. This, indeed, sets him apart. There are more than 200 of these colorful insults and put-downs, including: Abecedarians, abominable snowmen, aborigine, anachronisms, anacoluthons, anamorphic aardvark, anthracite, anthropophagus, anthropithecus, arabian nightmare, artichokes, autocrats, aztecs, baboon, bagpipers, Balkan beetle, bandit, bashi-bazouks, beasts, belemnite, big-head, blackamoor, black-beetles, blackbird, blackguards, black marketeers, bloodsuckers, body-snatcher, bootlegger, bougainvillea, breathalyser, brigand, brontosaurus, brutes, buccaneer, bully, cannibal, carpet-sellers, caterpillars, centipede, cercopithecus, coconuts, coelacanth, corsair, cowards, crab-apples, Cro-Magnon, crooks, cyclone, cyclotron, diplodocus, dipsomaniac, dizzards, dogs, doryphores, duck-billed platypus, dunder-headed ethelreds, dynamiter, ectoplasm, ectoplasmic byproduct, egoists, fancy-dress fatima, fancy-dress freebooters, fat faces, filibusters, flaming Jack-in-a-box, freshwater swabs, fuzzy-wuzzy, gallows-fodder, gang of thieves, gangsters, gibbering ghost, gobbledygooks, gogglers, goosecaps, guano gatherer, gyroscope, harlequin, heretic, highwayman, hi-jackers, hooligans, hydrocarbon, iconoclast, interplanetary goat, invertebrate, Jack pudding, jellied-eel, jelly-fish, jobbernowl, kleptomaniacs, Ku-Klux-Klan, lily-livered bandicoots, liquorice, logarithm, macrocephalic baboon, mameluke, megacycle, megalomaniac, miserable earthworms, misguided missile, monopolizers, moth-eaten marmot, moujiks, mountebanks, nincompoop, nitwits, nyctalops, odd-toed ungulate, olympic athlete, ophicleides, orangoutang, Ostrogoth, pachyrhizus, paranoiac, parasites, Patagonians, phylloxera, picaroons, pickled herrings, pirates, pithecanthropuses, pockmarks, politician, poltroons, polygraphs, Polynesian, prattling porpoise, profiteers, prize purple jelly-fishes, psychopath, pyrographers, pyromaniac, rats, rhizopods, road-hogs, ruffian, savages, scoffing braggart, sea-gherkins, sea-lice, shipwreckers, slave-trader, slubberdegullions, squawking popinjay, steamrollers, swine, sycophant, technocrat , terrapins, toads, toffee-noses, torturers, traitors, tramps, Troglodytes, turncoats, twister, two-timing Tartar twisters, vagabonds, vampires, vandal, vegetarian, vermicellis, villain, visigoths, vivisectionists, vulture, whipper-Snapper, woodlice, wreckers, zapotecs.

	Professor Calculus Professor Calculus first appears in Red Rackham's Treasure as an absent-minded and hard-of-hearing scientist. The first thing we notice about him is his deafness. Most of the time, he only understands the ends of sentences, which leads to some misunderstandings... He tends to deny this problem and is rather sensitive about it. However, his relationships with the female characters are quite surprising. He finds charm in all of them, particularly Peggy Alcazar, who is not exactly a sex symbol... He is somewhat unpredictable, and despite his mellow appearance can get extremely angry. Nevertheless, he rarely shows his feelings and we know little about him. He is usually very modest and reserved and barely ever intervenes. Instead, he is a victim of circumstances... Eccentric at first, he turns out to be a well-rounded scientist with an interest in mechanics, physics, chemistry, electronics and horticulture. Strangely, he is also interested in dowsing and is never without his pendulum. We learn later that he has practiced many sports, including tennis and French kick-boxing.

	Thomson and Thompson Although they are practically identical, these two detectives are not twins, as is revealed by the spelling of their last names. In fact, the only way to distinguish them is by their moustache. Thomson's moustache turns up while Thompson's is straight... Members of the New Scotland Yard, then of the judicial police, Thomson and Thompson lead more or less discrete and efficient investigations... Thomson and Thompson are hardly brilliant. They test the limits of discretion, dressing up in folkloric costumes in order to "blend in," which they obviously never do. They also pile up an incredible number of falls, slips and accidents. The epitome of stupidity, they would follow their own footprints in the desert ... Their total disorganization is also reflected in their language. They are experts in pleonasms and have to their credit sayings such as "I would say even more," "our lips are sealed," and the tasty "it is my opinion and I share it."

	Bianca Castafiore A famous opera singer of the Scala of Milan, Bianca Castafiore is the only female character of any importance in Tintin's universe. She possesses a clearly hysterical temperament and is not exactly modest. Aside from her limited musical repertoire (she always sings the same Tune of Jewels from Faustus, by Gounod), she does not seem to be very educated... She is very emotional and faints at the smallest threat. Very narcissistic, Castafiore sees only herself and doesn't really notice other people's reactions. She even invites herself to Marlinspike and moves in for a while. Her relationships with the other characters are thus a bit muddled. Still, Calculus is immediately taken with the diva. With such a conversationalist, it matters little that the conversation makes no sense at all, since everybody is deaf in his own way...

	Nestor First a butler for the Bird brothers, Nestor stays at Marlinspike Hall when Haddock becomes the owner. With a very groomed appearance, Nestor is the typical butler. Always courteous and patient, he seems to have no reactions. He also appreciates the captain's whiskey and, of course, sometimes peeps through the keyhole or listens behind doors.

	Jolyon Wagg An agent for Rock Bottom Insurance, Jolyon Wagg makes a rather abrupt entrance in Tintin's world in The Calculus Affair. He is quite jovial and seems to be at ease everywhere. He does not realize that he exasperates his "public," particularly Haddock, who calls him a "pain in the neck," and he believes he is welcome everywhere. He is very voluble and incessantly tells anecdotes about his uncle Anatole. Very sociable, he drags his large family everywhere and brings terror to Marlinspike more than once. Moreover, he presides over the "Vagabond Car Club" and over the folkloric band "The Jolly Follies"...

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