2. Tintin is the titular protagonist of The Adventures of
Tintin, the comic series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.
The character was first created in 1929 and introduced
in Le Petit Vingtième, a weekly youth supplement to
the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle.
Appearing as a young man with a round face and quiff
hairstyle, Tintin is depicted as a precocious,
multitalented reporter who travels the world with his
dog Snowy.
3. Snowy
Snowy (French: Milou) is a fictional character in The
Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian
cartoonist Hergé.
Snowy is a white Wire Fox Terrier who is a companion
to Tintin, the series' protagonist.
Snowy debuted on 10 January 1929 in the first
installment of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, which
was serialised in Le Petit Vingtième until May 1930.
4. Captain
Haddock
Haddock is initially depicted as a weak and alcoholic
character under the control of his treacherous first mate
Allan, who keeps him drunk and runs his freighter.
In the adventure Secret of the Unicorn (and continuing in
Red Rackham’s Treasure) he and Tintin travel to find a
pirate’s treasure captured by his ancestor, Sir Francis
Haddock (François de Hadoque in French).
With newfound wealth and regaining his ancestral home
Marlinspike Hall, Captain Haddock becomes a socialite;
riding a horse, wearing a monocle, and sitting in a theatre
box seat (The Seven Crystal Balls).
He then evolves to become genuinely heroic, volunteering to
sacrifice his life to save Tintin’s own in the pivotal Tintin in
Tibet. In later volumes he is clearly retired.
Throughout it all, the Captain’s coarse humanity and
sarcasm act as a counterpoint to Tintin’s often implausible
heroism. He is always quick with a dry comment whenever
the boy reporter gets too idealistic.
5. Chang
Chang was based on the Chinese artist Zhang
Chongren, a real friend.of Hergé’s.
Their meetings was the 1936 story The Blue Lotus, a
major landmark in the development of The Adventures
of Tintin.
Chang remained unmentioned in the stories until
Tintin in Tibet, published almost 25 years later in
1958. In this story, Chang sends Tintin a letter in
which he announces his imminent move from Hong
Kong, where he had been living, to London in order to
work in an antique shop owned by a brother of Wang’s.
His aeroplane, however, crashes over the mountains of
Tibet.
6. Synopsis1
While on holiday at a resort in the French Alps with
Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus,
Tintin reads about a plane crash in the Gosain Than
Massif in the Himalayas of Tibet.
He then has a vision of his friend Chang Chong-Chen,
badly injured and calling for help from the wreckage of
the crashed plane. Convinced of Chang’s survival,
Tintin flies to Kathmandu, via Delhi, with Snowy and
a skeptical Captain Haddock.
They hire a Sherpa named Tharkey and, accompanied
by porters, travel overland from Nepal towards the
crash site.
7. The porters abandon the group in fear when mysterious tracks are
found, while Tintin, Haddock and Tharkey go on and eventually
reach the crash site.
Tintin sets off with Snowy to trace Chang’s steps, and finds a cave
where Chang has carved his name on a rock. On leaving the cave,
he encounters a snowstorm and glimpses what seems to be a
human silhouette.
Tharkey believes that Tintin saw the Yeti and convinces him to
abandon his friend and return with him to Nepal, since the area is
too large to search.
Tintin spots a scarf on a cliff face, concludes Chang is nearby, and
continues with only the Captain. While attempting to scale a cliff
face, Haddock slips and hangs out of reach, imperilling Tintin,
who is tied to him. He tells Tintin to cut the rope to save himself,
but Tintin refuses.
Haddock tries to cut it himself, but drops his knife, alerting
Tharkey, who has returned in time to rescue them. They try to
camp for the night but lose their tent and must trek onwards,
unable to sleep lest they freeze, arriving within sight of the
Buddhist monastery of Khor-Biyong before being caught in an
avalanche.
9. Blessed Lightning, a monk at the monastery, has a
vision of Tintin, Snowy, Haddock, and Tharkey in
danger. Tintin regains consciousness and, too weak to
walk, gives Snowy a note to deliver. Snowy runs to the
monastery, loses the message, but is recognised as the
dog from Blessed Lightning’s vision. Tintin, Haddock
and Tharkey regain consciousness in the monastery
and are brought before the Grand Abbot. The Abbot
tells Tintin to abandon his quest, but Blessed
Lightning has another vision, through which Tintin
learns that Chang is still alive inside a mountain cave
at the Horn of the Yak—and that the Yeti is also there.
Tintin and Haddock travel on to the Horn of the Yak
10. They arrive at a cave. Tintin ventures inside and finds
Chang, who is feverish. The Yeti suddenly appears,
revealed as a large anthropoid, reacting with anger at
Tintin’s attempt to take Chang.
As it lunges at Tintin, the flash bulb of Tintin’s camera
goes off and scares the Yeti away. Chang tells Tintin
that the Yeti saved his life after the crash.
Upon returning to inhabited lands, the friends are
surprised to be met by the Grand Abbot, who presents
Tintin with a khata scarf in honour of the bravery he
has shown for his friend Chang.
As the party travels home, Chang muses that the Yeti
is not a wild animal, but has a human soul. The Yeti
sadly watches their departure from a distance.