Since 1929, the adventures of Tintin created by Hergé have given rise to one of the richest and most endearing casts of characters in comics. From the fearless reporter to his faithful fox terrier, from the loud-spoken captain to the absent-minded scientist, by way of a host of loyal friends and formidable foes, every figure in the world of The Blue Lotus has its own personality, story and charm. Here is the complete guide to the characters of Tintin: for each one, their role, their first appearance and a mini biography. And whenever the collectible figurine is still available in our shop, you can adopt it with a single click.
📑 Contents
🦸 The heroes
🤝 The entourage & loyal friends
› Captain Haddock · Professor Calculus · Thomson and Thompson · Bianca Castafiore · Nestor · Jolyon Wagg · Chang · Zorrino · Oliveira da Figueira · General Alcazar · Abdullah · The Maharaja
😈 The adversaries
› Rastapopoulos · Doctor Müller · Allan Thompson · Mitsuhirato · Colonel Sponsz · Bobby Smiles · Wronzoff
🎭 Memorable supporting roles
› Madame Yamilah · Frank Wolff · Piotr Skut · Wang Chen-Yee · Laszlo Carreidas · Bab El Ehr · Philippulus
🦸 The heroes
Tintin
A young reporter with an unmistakable blond quiff, Tintin has been the hero of the series since his very first adventure, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (1929). Brave, curious and deeply upright, he travels the world following his investigations, always ready to defend justice and come to a friend's rescue. Curiously, we almost never see him writing or publishing an article: above all, it is adventure that defines him.
Tintin PVC Figurine - Tintin in Blue Jumper
Snowy
Tintin's inseparable companion, Snowy is a little white fox terrier with a mischievous streak. Greedy, sometimes fearful but always faithful, he has rescued his master from countless tight spots. Hergé gives him thoughts that only the reader can hear, which makes him a wonderful source of comedy. His great weakness: bones, and a certain bottle of whisky.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12cm - Snowy with Bone
🤝 The entourage & loyal friends
Captain Haddock
First appearing in The Crab with the Golden Claws (1941), Archibald Haddock quickly becomes Tintin's best friend. A captain with a big heart but an explosive temper, famous for his colourful curses ("billions of blue blistering barnacles!", "thundering typhoons!") and his love of Loch Lomond whisky, he lives at Marlinspike Hall. Gruff, clumsy, yet courageous and deeply loyal, he is one of the most beloved characters in the series.
Captain Haddock Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Professor Calculus
Professor Cuthbert Calculus makes his entrance in Red Rackham's Treasure (1944). A brilliant physicist and inventor, he is also hopelessly deaf as a post, which gives rise to countless misunderstandings. Absent-minded, gentle and stubborn, he puts his science at the service of the group, going so far as to design the rocket that will take Tintin to the Moon. But beware anyone who calls him a "goat"!
Prof. Calculus Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Thomson and Thompson
The detectives Thomson and Thompson, in bowler hats and carrying canes, form an inseparable duo that nothing seems to tell apart, except the moustache: straight for Thompson, curved for Thomson. Clumsy, pompous and forever off the mark, they mangle proverbs ("to be precise...") and pile up blunders. Inspired in part by Hergé's father and his twin brother, they appear as early as Cigars of the Pharaoh.
Tintin Thompson Resin Figurine 12 cm - An Extraordinary Case
Bianca Castafiore
"The Milanese Nightingale" is a world-famous opera singer, as exuberant as she is overbearing. Her "Jewel Song" from Faust sends Captain Haddock running, and she invariably mangles his name ("Bartock", "Karbock", "Kappock"...). Introduced in King Ottokar's Sceptre, she takes the leading role in The Castafiore Emerald. Thunderous but kind-hearted, she eventually grows fond of the captain.
Castafiore Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Nestor
The impeccable butler of Marlinspike Hall, Nestor was initially in the service of the Bird brothers, the sinister owners of the estate in The Secret of the Unicorn. Having remained loyal to the house after their arrest, he becomes Captain Haddock's devoted servant. Stylish, discreet and unfailingly loyal, he is not above listening at doors when the plot calls for it.
Nestor Resin Figurine - Tintin Musée Imaginaire Collection
Jolyon Wagg
A representative of the "Rock Bottom" insurance company, Jolyon Wagg is the ultimate bore: intrusive, over-familiar and convinced he is welcome everywhere. He invites himself to Marlinspike with his entire tribe in The Calculus Affair, to Captain Haddock's utter despair. An unstoppable chatterbox and a bon vivant, he is the humorous embodiment of the neighbour you can never quite get rid of.
Jolyon Wagg Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Chang Chong-Chen
A young Chinese orphan rescued from the floods by Tintin in The Blue Lotus, Chang becomes his dearest friend. Inspired by a real friend of Hergé, the art student Chang Chong-Chen, he stands for brotherhood beyond cultures. Years later, we find him at the heart of the moving Tintin in Tibet, in which Tintin moves heaven and earth to save him after a plane crash in the Himalayas.
Zorrino
A young Peruvian guide met in Prisoners of the Sun, Zorrino agrees to lead Tintin and Haddock across the Andes to the secret Inca temple. Brave and grateful to Tintin for defending him, he plays a key role in the adventure and is welcomed by the Inca people at its end. His figurine is issued alongside Abdullah.
Abdullah & Zorrino Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Oliveira da Figueira
A Portuguese merchant with irresistible patter, Oliveira da Figueira is able to sell anything to anyone, and that is how we first discover him in Cigars of the Pharaoh. Having become a sincere ally of Tintin, "the man who could sell sand to the desert" lends him a hand in Khemed in Land of Black Gold and The Red Sea Sharks, using cunning and eloquence to get him out of trouble.
Oliveira da Figueira Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
General Alcazar
A revolutionary with a fiery temperament, General Alcazar spends his time seizing, and losing, power in San Theodoros, the eternal rival of General Tapioca. Met as early as The Broken Ear, he becomes a friend of Tintin. We find him reduced to earning his living as a knife thrower under the name "Ramón Zarate", before his triumphant return in Tintin and the Picaros.
General Alcazar Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Abdullah
The son of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, little Abdullah is an unbearable yet adored brat, an expert in devastating pranks and torrential tears. Introduced in Land of Black Gold, this spoilt child turns Marlinspike Hall upside down in The Red Sea Sharks, making Captain Haddock's stay a nightmare. His figurine is issued with Zorrino.
Abdullah & Zorrino Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
The Maharaja of Gaipajama
The sovereign of a small Indian state, the Maharaja of Gaipajama welcomes Tintin in Cigars of the Pharaoh after the reporter foils a plot by a gang of traffickers targeting his family. Threatened by this criminal organisation that spreads madness wherever it goes, he embodies a grateful royal ally. The Musée Imaginaire figurine portrays him alongside his son.
Maharaja and Son Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
😈 The adversaries
Roberto Rastapopoulos
A seemingly respectable film magnate, Roberto Rastapopoulos is in reality Tintin's great recurring enemy and the mastermind behind vast international trafficking operations. Opium smuggling in Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus, the slave trade in The Red Sea Sharks under the name Marquis di Gorgonzola: his cynicism is matched only by his bad luck against the hero. He reappears one last time in Flight 714 to Sydney.
Doctor Müller
A German doctor without scruples, Doctor J.W. Müller is an agent in the service of foreign powers and a forger of genius. Tintin first confronts him in The Black Island, where he runs a counterfeiting operation, then meets him again under the name "Mull Pasha" in Land of Black Gold. Cold, intelligent and ruthless, he ranks among the most dangerous villains in the series.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Doctor Müller
Allan Thompson
A brutish thug and a henchman without faith or law, Allan appears in Cigars of the Pharaoh before becoming Captain Haddock's first mate aboard the Karaboudjan in The Crab with the Golden Claws, where he mistreats his drunken captain. A trafficker in the pay of Rastapopoulos, he crosses Tintin's path in several adventures, always on the wrong side.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Allan Thompson
Mitsuhirato
A bogus art dealer and a true spy, Mitsuhirato is the main antagonist of The Blue Lotus. An agent of a foreign power operating in Shanghai, he manoeuvres in the shadow of the opium trade and tries by every means to eliminate Tintin, even resorting to the "rajaijah" poison, the "poison that drives you mad". Sly and cruel, he personifies the espionage plot of the album.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Mitsuhirato
Colonel Sponsz
Head of the secret police of Borduria, Colonel Sponsz is an arrogant and devious officer who orchestrates the kidnapping of Professor Calculus in The Calculus Affair. Vain but formidably effective, he returns to take his revenge on Tintin in Tintin and the Picaros. He embodies the police state of Borduria, ruled by Marshal Kûrvi-Tasch.
Bobby Smiles
A ruthless gang leader of the Chicago underworld, Bobby Smiles is Tintin's adversary in Tintin in America. Seeking first to recruit, then to eliminate, the reporter who threatens his business, he drags him into a hectic chase all the way into the American West. He represents the figure of the gangster of the Prohibition era.
Wronzoff
Master of a counterfeiters' lair entrenched on a Scottish island, Wronzoff (Ivan Wronzoff) is the leader of the gang dismantled by Tintin in The Black Island. It is he who trains the gorilla Ranko to guard his domain and terrorise the curious. Elegant and calculating, he serves as the armed enforcer of Doctor Müller's counterfeiting network.
🎭 Memorable supporting roles
Madame Yamilah
A clairvoyant fortune-teller in a turban, Madame Yamilah, also known as Madame Irma, enlivens The Castafiore Emerald with her fanciful predictions. Her tangled prophecies add to the confusion surrounding the disappearance of the singer's emerald. A colourful character, she ironically embodies the fascination with mediums.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Madame Irma
Frank Wolff
An engineer on the lunar rocket, Frank Wolff is a tormented character in the diptych Destination Moon / Explorers on the Moon. Manipulated and then forced to betray on behalf of a foreign power, he ultimately redeems himself in a deeply moving act of self-sacrifice to save the crew running out of oxygen. He is one of the few Hergé characters to meet a frankly tragic fate.
Piotr Skut
An Estonian pilot first hired as a mercenary against Tintin in The Red Sea Sharks, Piotr Skut switches sides after the reporter saves his life at sea. Having become a loyal ally, he helps Tintin and Haddock foil the slave trade of the Marquis di Gorgonzola. Recognisable by his prominent nose, he illustrates the redemption of an adversary turned friend.
Wang Chen-Yee
The venerable head of the secret society of the "Sons of the Dragon", Wang Chen-Yee fights against the opium trade in The Blue Lotus. He takes Tintin in and helps him in his mission, but his household is grief-stricken: his son sinks into madness under the effect of the rajaijah poison. Wise and dignified, he embodies the resistant China of the album.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Wang Chen-Yee Introduces Himself
Laszlo Carreidas
An aircraft-manufacturing billionaire, "the man who never laughs" is at the heart of Flight 714 to Sydney. Miserly and cantankerous, Carreidas is kidnapped by Rastapopoulos who covets his fortune; under the effect of a truth serum, he reveals a past as an inveterate cheat. A grating and farcical character, he provides one of the most comic scenes in the series.
Bab El Ehr
A rebel sheikh of Khemed, Bab El Ehr is the eternal rival of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, whom he seeks to overthrow in Land of Black Gold and The Red Sea Sharks. Ambitious and belligerent, he manoeuvres in the shadow of the great oil companies that stir up the region's conflicts. He embodies the political rivalries of the Middle East as imagined by Hergé.
Philippulus the Prophet
A madman wrapped in a sheet and armed with a gong, Philippulus the Prophet announces the end of the world in The Shooting Star. A former observatory employee who has lost his mind, he spreads panic and then invites himself aboard the Aurora, Tintin's expedition, perching at the top of the mast. An unforgettable minor character, he embodies the apocalyptic atmosphere of dread that pervades the album.
✨ Bring Tintin into your home
Hergé's universe is not just to be read: it is to be collected. From the resin figurines of the Musée Imaginaire collection to the 12 cm statuettes, by way of die-cast model cars and official Moulinsart merchandise, find all your favourite characters in our shop.
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Tintin and all the characters mentioned are creations of Hergé. © Hergé / Moulinsart. The figurines shown are official products under licence from Moulinsart.
