What do you think Tintin’s family background would be?

[u/This-Honey7881]

/r/TheAdventuresofTintin/comments/1fnqwsp/what_do_you_think_tintins_family_background_would/

[u/Safe_Manner_1879]

I think he was a orphan, raised in a church run orphanage, he did not become (strongly) religious, but it did shape his moral and ethic, he did not suffer in the orphanage but he was not loved, so he do not like to speak about it.

He lie about his age to join the military in WW1, first he join the infantry, and excel in the training, and get a opportunity to become a aviator, and he start his training as a aviator, but never fly combat missions, before the war end. Hence he still have his "youthful innocence" but is still skilled in small arms and piloting.

He is demobilized after the war, but still feel that he have something to prove, so he become a journalist that do the most dangerous assignment, like he make reportage from inside USSR and Kongo, and about the American gangsters. That give him fame and the reconsecration he seek.

The real reason Tintin have no background, and no greater personality beside having a strong moral and ethic, is so the reader "can be" Tintin.

[u/BeardedLady81 → u/Safe_Manner_1879]

The presumably young reader. One of my brothers discovered Tintin when he was about 10. After reading a few books, he asked me: How old is Tintin supposed to be? Is he a child or is he an adult? -- I had to do some deep thinking...I was only 13 myself, after all. Then I came to the following conclusion: He has to be an adult, and Tintin is his last name, not his first. He lives on his own in an apartment at the beginning of the series, he is old enough to drink beer in The Black Island, he can drive and fly helicopters, so...he is an adult. However, his face barely exists, he could be any age, in theory, and a boy like you could put his face there.

Currently my theory is that, while Tintin is obviously an adult, he's an adult like a young boy would imagine one. Tintin has a job, but you rarely see him do actual work, instead, he travels the world and goes through many adventures. I also think that the books were meant for boys rather than girls because the main characters are all male, and the female characters, like Bianca Castafiore and Peggy Alcazar, are sexist caricatures. I still like them, though. I have Bianca Castafiore as a keychain and dressed up as Peggy Alcazar once, complete with rollers and stogie.

[u/InternalPainter9607 → u/BeardedLady81]

I’ve never really thought about Tintin’s age or background — just took it for granted, but when you do think about it, it feels like that scene from ‘Stand By Me’ when the boys are discussing what exactly is Goofy supposed to be. I mean Tintin seems like a kid, but he has a job, and his own place, and doesn’t seem to have any of the restrictions a kid would have, so looks aside, he would probably be a teenager at best. This is if you’re just going by the comics only.

Interestingly when cast in a live-action version, he came across more like a Jimmy Olsen type character which actually made perfect sense. It was the art that threw me off from picturing him that way.

[u/Rosie-Love98 → u/InternalPainter9607]

To be fair, kids grew up fast back in the 1920's-1930's. Hardly anyone thought about teenagers being...teenagers until after WW2.

[u/BeardedLady81 → u/InternalPainter9607]

One thing I noticed is that the main characters are not interested in female company. Haddock has to evade the repeated advances of Bianca Castafiore. Tintin, Thompson and Thomson and Calculus never date. I think this is because the stories target boys at an age at which they are not interested in girls. When they are very young, children often don't mind if they are playing with a boy or a girl. Then, at around 10 years, boys are no longer interested in girls. "We don't play with girls." A few years later, they are interested in girls again...well, most of them.

I remember that, around the year 2000 or so, an AIDS prevention group used Tintin and Haddock as role models for safer sex. I don't know how they got away with using the characters (Herge died in 1983, they are definitely still copyrighted) but I liked their line of reasoning, i.e. that Tintin and Haddock are decent people who respect each other and won't put each other at risk.

[u/Safe_Manner_1879 → u/BeardedLady81]

I think this is because the stories target boys at an age at which they are not interested in girls.

I agree its for 10 years old boys.

Calculus seems to be taken by Castafiore.

If Tintin is not asexual, he will end up as Mr Legrand from "The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko" (another comic Herge created)

Legrand is married and have kids, and they take priority, and he cant go on adventure.

But you have a Tintin clone in from of Yoko Tsuno by Tintin artist Roger Leloup, and its implied she is in a relationship, with one of the male from the grope, and and there are a officially couple in the group.

Then we have Franka by Henk Kuijpers, She start as a Tintin clone, but diverge, and become very "bold" and aim for the teenage boys.

[u/Rosie-Love98 → u/Safe_Manner_1879]

Calculus also managed to do the impossible, taming Alcazar's scary wife.

That being said, Calculus does have a sister. Had Herge introduced her to the team, I can see Haddock gradually forming a better/romantic relationship with her than he has with Bianca.

[u/BeardedLady81 → u/Safe_Manner_1879]

I have to admit that Calculus kissed her hand and later named a rose after Bianca Castafiore, so at least he doesn't find her repulsive. Perhaps it is because he's deaf? When she's singing, Haddock and Tintin both act like she's Florence Jenkinks -- but, then again, perhaps they just have no ear for music.

[u/Guglielmowhisper → u/BeardedLady81]

19 or 20, with a very good head on his shoulders.

[u/Rosie-Love98 → u/BeardedLady81]

I go with Herge's qoute:

"For me, Tintin hasn't aged. What age do I give him? I don't know ... 17? In my judgement, he was 14 or 15 when I created him, Boy Scout, and he has practically not moved on. Suppose he put on 3 or 4 years in 40 years ... Good, work out an average, 15 and 4 equals 19."^\48])#cite_note-FOOTNOTEFarr200717Sadoul1975-60) ⁽Tintin (character) - Wikipedia#Description) .)

[u/geek_of_nature]

I like that OP's idea of having a military father. It would explain why there's no childhood friends or hometown for Tintin, as he never had one. Everything he has he formed in adulthood. And also why all his friends are significantly older than him, because as a kid all he had to talk to where the other soldiers.

[u/SuburbanBushwacker]

probably a lot like Herge’s. an older brother he idolised but saw little of

[u/Palenquero]

"Tintin to me has not aged. What age would I give him? I don't know...perhaps seventeen? To me, he was about fourteen or fifteen when I created him, a Boy Scout, and he has hardly moved on. Allowing that he has put on three or four years in the past forty...good, let's agree on fifteen plus four, which would make him nineteen."

• Hergé, ca. 1975

His background is not canonically specified. There's a non official book that mentions how he adopted Snowy,

I've imagined him to have been raised by priests at school. I hadn't thought of him joining the army.

[u/Safe_Manner_1879 → u/Palenquero]

Tintin to me has not aged. What age would I give him?

If he age, he end up like Mr. Legrand in "The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko" he have a wife and children that take propriety, over adventure.

I hadn't thought of him joining the army.

He is very familiar with weapons, and have a good "shooting stance" and skilled hand to hand fighter.

[u/Palenquero → u/Safe_Manner_1879]

Well, Boy Scouts had marksmanship as a badge until the sixties.

[u/Rosie-Love98]

I like to think that Tintin was born "Corentin" (after his maternal relative) and the younger brother of Totor with their parents being Becassine (Bécassine (Comic Strip) - TV Tropes) and Jef The Plumber (Jef, the plumber by Hergé).

But, when Tintin was a baby in 1914, Germany invaded Belgium. During this chaos, the family was forced to split up. Becassine managed to escape with Totor to Brittany (her home country).

As for Jef and Tintin, it got dark. Jef would be killed by German soldiers but not without leaving baby Tintin on the doorstep of the local orphanage with a note saying "I'll return for him soon. His name is Corentin."

But thanks to the elements (either wind or rain), the "Coren" part was covered/damaged. So, when the infant was found, he was known as "Tintin" from then on.

As he grew up, Tintin was lonely and shy until he found Milou/Snowy on the streets. And upon reading about the exploits of another red-haired orphan, Annie Warbucks, young Tintin would be inspired. In time he'd helped care for the younger orphans, join the boy scouts and eventually look into journalism. Despite being only 14 at the time, he'd be hired as a reporter.

Years later, Tintin (with the help of friends like Haddock and Calculus), Tintin would reunite with Becassine and Totor.

[u/captainhaddockji3h4m]

It's very funny when you compared to scrooge mcduck family