Since 1929, the adventures of Tintin dreamed up by Hergé have given rise to one of the richest and most endearing casts of characters in all of comics. From the fearless reporter to his faithful fox terrier, from the loud-mouthed 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 short biography. And whenever the collectible figurine is still available in our shop, you can adopt it in a single click.
📑 Contents
🦸 The heroes
🤝 The inner circle & loyal friends
› Captain Haddock · Professor Tournesol · Dupond and Dupont · Bianca Castafiore · Nestor · Séraphin Lampion · Tchang · Zorrino · Oliveira da Figueira · General Alcazar · Abdallah · The Maharaja
😈 The villains
› Rastapopoulos · Doctor Müller · Allan Thompson · Mitsuhirato · Colonel Sponsz · Bobby Smiles · Wronzoff
🎭 Memorable supporting roles
› Madame Irma · Frank Wolff · Piotr Szut · Wang Jen-Ghie · Laszlo Carreidas · Bab El Ehr · Philippulus
🦸 The heroes
Tintin
A young reporter with an instantly recognisable 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 roams the world following his investigations, always ready to stand up for justice and come to a friend's aid. Surprisingly, he is almost never shown actually writing or filing a story: above all, it is adventure that defines him.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12cm - Tintin Cowboy
Snowy
Tintin's inseparable companion, Snowy is a small white fox terrier with a mischievous mind. Greedy, sometimes timid but always faithful, he has rescued his master from countless scrapes. 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.
Snowy Devil Figure - Tintin
🤝 The inner circle & 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 ('blistering barnacles!', 'thundering typhoons!') and his love of Loch Lomond whisky, he lives at Moulinsart castle. Gruff and clumsy, yet brave and deeply loyal, he is one of the best-loved characters in the series.
Captain Haddock Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Professor Tournesol
Professor Tryphon Tournesol 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 woe betide anyone who calls him a 'clown'!
Prof. Tournesol Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Dupond and Dupont
The detectives Dupond and Dupont, in bowler hats and carrying canes, form an inseparable duo that nothing can tell apart... except the moustache: straight for Dupont, curved for Dupond. Clumsy, pompous and forever wide of the mark, they mangle proverbs ('I'd go even further...') 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 Dupont Resin Figurine 12 cm - An Extraordinary Case
Bianca Castafiore
'The Milanese Nightingale' is a world-famous opera singer, as flamboyant as she is overbearing. Her 'Jewel Song' from Faust sends Captain Haddock fleeing, and she forever mangles his name ('Bartock', 'Karbock', 'Kappock'...). First appearing in King Ottokar's Sceptre, she takes the lead role in The Castafiore Emerald. Booming yet kind-hearted, she eventually grows fond of the captain.
La Castafiore Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Nestor
The impeccable butler of Moulinsart castle, Nestor was originally in the service of the Loiseau brothers, the sinister owners of the estate in The Secret of the Unicorn. Having remained faithful 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 demands it.
Nestor Resin Figurine - Tintin Musée Imaginaire Collection
Séraphin Lampion
A salesman for the 'Mondass' insurance company, Séraphin Lampion is the bore to end all bores: intrusive, over-familiar and convinced he is welcome everywhere. He invites himself to Moulinsart with his whole tribe in The Calculus Affair, to Captain Haddock's utter despair. An unstoppable chatterbox and bon vivant, he is the humorous embodiment of the neighbour you can never quite get rid of.
Séraphin Lampion Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Tchang Tchong-Jen
A young Chinese orphan rescued from the floodwaters by Tintin in The Blue Lotus, Tchang becomes his dearest friend. Inspired by a real friend of Hergé's, the art student Tchang Tchong-Jen, he embodies brotherhood across cultures. Years later, we find him again 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 temple of the Incas. Brave and grateful to Tintin, who stood up for him, he plays a key role in the adventure and is welcomed by the Inca people at its close. His figurine is issued alongside Abdallah.
Abdallah & Zorrino Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
Oliveira da Figueira
A Portuguese merchant with irresistible patter, Oliveira da Figueira can sell anything to anyone, which is just 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 later 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
Abdallah
The son of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, little Abdallah is an unbearable yet adored rascal, a master of devastating pranks and torrential tears. First appearing in Land of Black Gold, this spoilt child turns Moulinsart castle upside down in The Red Sea Sharks, turning Captain Haddock's stay into a nightmare. His figurine is issued together with Zorrino.
Abdallah & Zorrino Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
The Maharaja of Rawhajpoutalah
The ruler of a small Indian state, the Maharaja of Rawhajpoutalah welcomes Tintin in Cigars of the Pharaoh after the reporter foils the plot of a smuggling gang targeting his family. Threatened by this criminal organisation that spreads madness wherever it goes, he is the grateful royal ally. The Musée Imaginaire figurine depicts him alongside his son.
Maharaja and Son Figurine - Musée Imaginaire
😈 The villains
Roberto Rastapopoulos
A seemingly respectable film mogul, Roberto Rastapopoulos is in truth Tintin's great recurring enemy and the mastermind behind vast international trafficking. Opium trafficking in Cigars of the Pharaoh and The Blue Lotus, slave trading in The Red Sea Sharks under the name of the 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
An unscrupulous German 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 workshop, then meets him again under the name 'Mull Pasha' in Land of Black Gold. Cold, intelligent and merciless, he ranks among the most dangerous villains in the series.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Doctor Müller
Allan Thompson
A thuggish, lawless henchman, 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 drink-sodden captain. A smuggler in Rastapopoulos's pay, 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 genuine spy, Mitsuhirato is the chief antagonist of The Blue Lotus. An agent of a foreign power operating in Shanghai, he manoeuvres in the shadows of the opium trade and tries by every means to eliminate Tintin, going so far as to resort to the 'rajaijah' poison, the 'poison that drives men 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, devious officer who orchestrates the kidnapping of Professor Tournesol in The Calculus Affair. Vain but formidably efficient, he comes back for revenge on Tintin in Tintin and the Picaros. He embodies the police state of Borduria, ruled by Marshal Plekszy-Gladz.
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 turbulent chase all the way into the American West. He stands for the figure of the Prohibition-era gangster.
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 enforcer of Doctor Müller's counterfeiting network.
🎭 Memorable supporting roles
Madame Irma
A turbaned clairvoyant fortune-teller, Madame Yamilah, known as Madame Irma, livens up The Castafiore Emerald with her fanciful predictions. Her muddled prophecies add to the confusion surrounding the disappearance of the diva'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 two-part story Destination Moon / Explorers on the Moon. Manipulated and then forced to betray for the benefit of a foreign power, he ultimately redeems himself in a deeply moving act of sacrifice to save the oxygen-starved crew. He is one of the few Hergé characters to meet a frankly tragic fate.
Piotr Szut
An Estonian pilot first hired as a mercenary against Tintin in The Red Sea Sharks, Piotr Szut switches sides after the reporter saves his life at sea. Now 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 Jen-Ghie
The venerable head of the secret society of the 'Sons of the Dragon', Wang Jen-Ghie fights the opium trade in The Blue Lotus. He welcomes Tintin and helps him in his mission, but his household is in mourning: his son sinks into madness under the effect of the rajaijah poison. Wise and dignified, he embodies the resilient China of the album.
Tintin Resin Figurine 12 cm - Wang Jen-Ghie Introduces Himself
Laszlo Carreidas
A billionaire aircraft manufacturer, '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 caustic and comical character, he provides one of the funniest 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 fan the region's conflicts. He embodies the political rivalries of the Middle East as imagined by Hergé.
Philippulus the Prophet
A wild-eyed fanatic wrapped in a bedsheet and armed with a gong, Philippulus the Prophet proclaims the end of the world in The Shooting Star. A former observatory employee driven mad, he spreads panic and then invites himself aboard the Aurora, Tintin's expedition ship, by perching at the top of the mast. An unforgettable supporting character, he symbolises the album's atmosphere of apocalyptic dread.
✨ Bring Tintin into your home
Hergé's universe is not only 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 miniature 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 Moulinsart licence.
