Minor characters in Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin has several minor characters:

General Alcazar

General of the army of San Theodoros, Alcazar switches with comedic frequency between being president of the country and leading a rebellion to battle the government led by his arch-rival General Tapioca. His first appearance was as an anonymous criminal in Cigars of the Pharaoh, his last being in Tintin and the Picaros.

Allan (Allan Thompson)

Originally a first mate under an alcoholic Haddock, Allan is often involved in smuggling and other criminal activities as one of Rastapopoulos' henchmen. He was known originally as Allan Thompson, but when English translations began to appear, this was shortened down to Allan to avoid confusion with the Thompsons brothers.

Laszlo Carreidas

A rich business tycoon, he is kidnapped by Rastapopulous along with his new Jet in Flight 714. Tintin and his friends are also unwillingly dragged into this net. Carreidas is the owner of a brand of soft-drink called "Sani Cola", which he says contains chlorophyll. This drink is particularly disliked by Captain Haddock (he misses Loch Lomond).

Carreidas is potrayed as a cunning cheat who not only cheats his competitors in business, but has a long history of cheating which he reveals under the effects of a truth serum. This includes cheating the Captain in a game of Battleships.

Bianca Castafiore

The only major recurring female character in the Adventures of Tintin, the opera diva first appeared in the album King Ottokar's Sceptre. Her name is Italian for "chaste flower". Although apparently one of the leading opera singers of her generation, the only thing that Castafiore is ever heard to sing is the opening line of the Jewel Song, l'air des bijoux, from Faust, always at ear-splitting volume: "Ah my beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear!" Unsurprisingly, opera was one of Hergé's pet hates. She is said to have been modeled on real-life opera singer Maria Callas. She has a crush on Haddock, for whom she has a strong mothering instinct. She always pronounces his name incorrectly ("Capitaine Karbock"), and whenever she showers him with tokens of affection the results are disastrous. She later gets involved in rumours surrounding an affair with Haddock — much to the Captain's chagrin.

Chiquito

Chiquito appears as the help of General Alcazar (Ramon Zarate) in The Seven Crystal Balls. Later, in Prisoners of the Sun, it is revealed that he is the High Priest of the Sun God of an Inca temple in Peru.

Chiquito is known to be a practioner of black magic. He casts a spell on all seven members of the Sanders-Hardiman expedition, and holds them in a drug-induced trance. He is also able to torture them remotely from his temple.

Chong-chen Chang

Based upon Chang Chong-jen, a real friend of Hergé, Chang is perhaps Tintin's dearest friend, and is the only character for whom Tintin ever sheds a tear. Chang first appears in The Blue Lotus, as a young orphan who Tintin saves from drowning and befriends. Chang later appeared in Tintin in Tibet, which concerns Tintin and Haddock's mission to find Chang in the Himalayas when his plane crashes. The book is perhaps Hergé's most deeply personal. When he wrote it, he had not seen the real-life Chang for several decades.

Cutts the Butcher (Boucherie Sanzot)

The local butcher shop where calls from Marlinspike usually land first by accident. The delivery man from the butcher plays a vital (but invisible) role in The Calculus Affair by offering Professor Calculus a lift to the village just in time to save him from a Bodurian kidnap gang.

Ben Kalish Ezab and his son Abdullah

The gentle Emir of Khemed, and his very spoilt mischievous over-active son who is a real nuisance. Abdullah can be very frustrating and tiresome at times, as Tintin finds out when rescuing them in Land of Black Gold and again in The Red Sea Sharks.

Abdullah is the Captain's biggest nightmare. In fact, Haddock is so afraid of this young menace, he expresses concern regarding Tintin's friend Chang in the album "Tintin in Tibet". He asks Tintin if Chang is like Abdullah, upon which Tintin assures him that Chang is quite the opposite.

Haddock and Abdullah's rendezvous can be compared to the ones between Denis Mitchell and George Wilson.

Oliveira da Figueira

A native of Lisbon, Portugal, he is a friendly salesperson who has the ability to sell even the most trivial of items from umbrellas to roller skates to patrons throughout the Middle Eastern region, though he eventually set up shop in Khemed. He first encounters Tintin in Cigars of the Pharaoh as a bustling trader, and then in Land of Black Gold as a retailer/supplier for Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, where he offers to help Tintin infiltrate J.W. Müller's palace and uncover his oil control scheme. Oliveira da Figueira makes a third appearance in The Red Sea Sharks where he provides Tintin and Captain Haddock with information on the rebel forces in the Khemed capital of Wadesdah.

Irma

The maid of Bianca Castafiore.

Colonel Jorgen

One of Tintin's foremost enemies. The Colonel was formerly aide-de-camp to King Muskar XII of Syldavia, whom (in Tintin's own words), he shamefully betrayed, taking part in a conspiracy to steal the Ottokar Sceptre and force the king to abdicate his throne. What happened to him immediately after he was exposed is unclear, but he eventually returns as an agent for an unnamed foreign power in Destination Moon, determined to get his revenge on Tintin. With the assistance of Frank Wolff, a crate to be taken on board the Syldavian space program's Moon Rocket is faked, and Jorgen hides inside it during the duration of the moon journey. After all major scientific experiments on the moon were completed, Wolff released Jorgen from his crate. Jorgen attempted to launch the rocket, leaving Calculus, the Thompsons and Captain Haddock on the moon, but was prevented from doing so by Tintin. He was bound and taken down to the rocket's hold, but he nevertheless managed to escape due to the stupidity of the Thompsons. Once again, he attempted to take over the rocket, but a struggle with Frank Wolff ensued. He was shot through the heart when his gun discharged, and his dead body was released into space.

Klumsi and Kronik

Incompetent Bordurian agents ostensibly assigned by Colonel Sponz to ensure Tintin and Captain Haddock’s safety and wellbeing during their visit to Bordurian capital Szohôd. However, their real purpose is to prevent the visitors from asking too many questions in their hunt for Professor Calculus. Klumsi and Kronik are neutralised when Tintin and Haddock invite them to dinner and proffer them with the local liquor. The drunken agents are locked in their hotel rooms while Tintin and Haddock can pursue Calculus.

Mitsuhirato

A sadistic Japanese spy who appears in The Blue Lotus. He tries to turn Tintin insane by injecting him with the fictional "Rajaijah" juice (which turns any victim insane). After this fails, he tries to kill Tintin with his knife, then discovers that a friend of Tintin has substituted it with a tin knife and replaced the poison by water. He commits seppuku after being found out.

Dr. J.W. Müller

Villainous doctor, whose main appearance was in The Black Island as director of a psychiatric clinic in Scotland, which was his cover for his activities as leader of a group manufacturing counterfeit banknotes. Later he appears in Land of Black Gold — working once more to destabilize the world economy and contaminate British fuel supplies in the Middle East (this would be changed in subsequent issues where the setting was moved from British Palestine to the fictional Gulf state of Khemed). His final return was in The Red Sea Sharks under the pseudonym Mull Pasha, where he had assumed the role of an advisor to the usurper regime in Khemed, a clear allusion to British General John Bagot Glubb.

Nestor

Before he was under the employment of Captain Haddock at Marlinspike Hall, he dutifully served as a butler for the Bird Brothers, the estate's previous owners. Nestor made his first appearance in The Secret of the Unicorn, and proves to be a staple character in numerous Tintin stories. In the last albums, he proved to be a bit xenophobic.

Pablo

First appears in The Broken Ear when he saves Tintin from some soldiers. He later tries to help him get killed in Tintin and the Picaros. Tintin forgives him, however.

Roberto Rastapopoulos

A Greek-American tycoon, also known as Marquis di Gorgonzola. He is Tintin's arch-nemesis, who first appeared in Tintin in America at a banquet. His first major appearance is in Cigars of the Pharaoh, initially as a seemingly sympathetic character. It was not until the denouement of The Blue Lotus, the follow-up to Cigars of the Pharaoh, that Rastapopoulos was revealed to be the head of the sinister opium-smuggling ring against which Tintin had been pitting his wits for two books. Rastapopoulos subsequently resurfaced as a slave trader in The Red Sea Sharks, and kidnapped the millionaire Lazslo Carreidas in Flight 714. In the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art, a character often thought to be Rastapopoulos in disguise — under the name of Endaddine Akass — resurfaced. (If it was intended to be him, how he escaped abduction was not dwelled upon). Rastapopoulos also appeared in Tintin and the Lake of Sharks, an album adapted from an animated feature of the same name, and into which Hergé had no creative input. It is not considered to be part of the Tintin canon.

Sophocles Sarcophagus

Appears as an absent-minded Egyptologist in search of the tomb of Pharaoh Kih-Oskh. He was later poisoned by Rajaijah, a poison that causes madness and was left in a sanatorium in India for treatment.

Piotr Skut

In French: Piotr Szut

An eyepatch-wearing Estonian pilot, who appears in two albums: The Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714. The surname Skut (or Szut) does not, however, seem to be Estonian. The closest spelling to Estonian should be Sütt. On the other hand, the first name of this character should be not Piotr, but Peeter, since Piotr is a Russian form of Peter. Thus, this character's name would be better suited as Peeter Sütt, sounding typically Estonian. His original surname of Szut is a play on the French word zut, meaning darn.

Skut is initially a mercenary pilot trying to kill Tintin and Haddock on behalf of the Khemed government, but when his plane is shot down, and the heroes generously rescue their would-be assailant, he becomes an ally. He has retired to a life of commercial piloting by the time Flight 714 takes off.

Colonel Sponz

Former Bordurian Chief of Police of Szohod, Sponz masterminded the plot to kidnap Professor Calculus in The Calculus Affair. Sponz intended to force Calculus to hand over his plans for the ultrasound weapon, or be imprisoned in Borduria for the rest of his life if the proposition is refused. In Tintin and the Picaros, Sponz is "lent" as an advisor to General Tapioca, under the pseudonym Colonel Esponja. Sponz forges documents laying out a plan to assassinate Tapioca and plants them into the possession of a touring Bianca Castafiore, framing her as a conspirator. As Castafiore paid a disastrous visit to Haddock in The Castafiore Emerald, Sponz frames Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus as well, out of revenge for the humiliation they bestowed upon him in The Calculus Affair. Sponz is finally revealed after Alcazar's Picaros take over the country, and, defeated once again, is shipped off to Borduria.

Sponz's name is based on "sponge".

General Tapioca

An enemy of General Alcazar. He is mentioned in The Broken Ear and then appears in Tintin and the Picaros. He is the on-again, off-again dictator of San Theodoros (deposed and re-instated in that fictional country's innumerable coups).

Tharkey

He was the best Sherpa available as a guide in "Tintin in Tibet".

Though reluctant in the beginning for taking risks to find Chang he believed to be dead anyway, Tharkey leads Tintin and the Captain to the crash site of the Patna-Kathmandu flight. After leaving them, he comes back to save Haddock when he was left dangling from a cliff.

Jolyon Wagg

In French: Séraphin Lampion

An intensely gregarious, simple, and friendly man. As such, he is strongly disliked by Captain Haddock (although Wagg remains cheerfully oblivious to this, believing himself to be a great friend of the Captain) who finds him frustrating. Wagg is often portrayed as a clueless tourist in the exotic places where Tintin and the Captain have their adventures. Wagg is an insurance salesman by trade, and he often tries to sell the other characters insurance. He is generally seen as a more "modern" character, as opposed to the older archetypes (crusty sea captain, absent-minded professor) that inhabit Hergé's earlier works. Wagg only appeared relatively late in the series; his first appearance was in The Calculus Affair, the 18th of 25 Tintin books. Wagg also appears in The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714 and Tintin and the Picaros.

Wagner

The pianist working with Bianca Castafiore. In The Castafiore Emerald he is discovered to be a gambler who bets by telephone on races in secret. He has a small moustache and dresses formally in black with black shoes.

Christopher Willoughby-Drupe and Marco Rizotto

Two reporters working for the magazine Paris Flash. They first appear in The Castafiore Emerald, where they write an article for the magazine claiming that Captain Haddock and Bianca Castafiore are engaged, enfuriating Haddock. They later appear in Flight 714 and Tintin and the Picaros.

Frank Wolff

A scientist assisting Calculus during the Moon mission, Wolff earned Captain Haddock's wrath by refusing to allow him to take any alcohol or tobacco on board the rocket (though the captain managed to smuggle some alcohol on-board anyway). Wolff generally stayed out of the story until they landed on the Moon. As soon as he was left alone with Tintin, he went down to the cargo hold and freed one of Tintin's old enemies, Colonel Jorgen. The two then attempted to escape in the rocket, taking Tintin as hostage, but an act of sabotage by Tintin grounded the rocket (but also caused extensive damage). On the return trip, Jorgen managed to escape from his ropes, and decided to shoot the crew of the rocket. However, Wolff tried to stop him, and Jorgen inadvertently shot himself, dying instantly. With the rocket's oxygen running out, Wolff, deciding that the mission's troubles were his fault, decided to exit the rocket out of the airlock. He was presumably killed by decompression and suffocation.

Zorrino

A Quichua Indian boy who made a living selling oranges. Tintin saves him from a pair of goons in Prisoners of the Sun, for which Zorrino acts as Tintin's guide to the Temple of the Sun. When Tintin, Haddock and Zorino are captured, Zorrino's life is spared by the Inca, but he has to stay back with them for the rest of his life, even after Tintin, Haddock and Calculus return home.

For a complete listing of characters, see also List of the Adventures of Tintin characters.