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Explorers on the Moon: Does Wolff die?

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jasperjava
Member
#21 · Posted: 23 Aug 2012 07:44
Of course Wolff dies. Otherwise his sacrifice has no meaning. That's what makes the incident so moving and tragic.

Yes, he was despondent at his act of betrayal. I don't think that he was driven to suicide because of his role in Jorgen's death. He was shocked at the moment, and it was clear that he had intended to disarm Jorgen and didn't mean for the gun to go off. More than likely it was Jorgen who squeezed the trigger anyway.

But Wolff felt guilty, and he was guilty. He didn't realize Jorgen's horrible plan when he smuggled him aboard, but when he pushed that big red start button on the control panel, he committed an unfathomable act of attempted murder. Four men would have perished horribly if Tintin hadn't cut the engines.

Though he was compelled to push that button by Jorgen, it's not as if he had a gun pointed at him at the time. It was an act of cowardice, and the ultimate betrayal.

Wolff was miserable with guilt and shame, and clearly would not have made his desperate final act if he had a clear conscience. Still, his leap into space was only "half" a suicide. It was an act of redemption, a sacrifice to save his friends and atone for his crimes. Thus the villain becomes a hero, and it's one of the most poignant scenes in the entire Tintin series. Haddock's change from suspicion to teary admiration, guides the emotion of the reader.

The "miracle" mentioned in his suicide note was not Hergé's idea, but I still think it fits Wolff's character. It's an absurd hope, of course, and no one was fooled by it. I think that Wolff would have written that in order to spare his friends the pain of thinking that his act was purely suicidal.
By adding the "perhaps a miracle" bit, he gives his friends the illusion that there was still some hope, faint though it may be. I seriously doubt that Wolff believed it, or that his friends believed it for an instant, but there can be psychological value in pretending.

Personally, I would have felt cheated by Hergé if Wolff had come back in Flight 714. Wolff's beautiful heroic death would have become nothing but a cheap parody of a noble human sacrifice. I'm glad that Hergé never considered it.

I'd like to add that I read Tintin as a child (in its original French), and I rekindled my love for the books when I read them for my daughter.

She was about 8 or 9 when we read this book together. I was truly proud of her sensitive heart when I read that suicide note, and she burst into tears. I cherish that moment.

P.S. I loved Wolff's post-script. Here's a guy about to commit the ultimate sacrifice, and yet he worries about the wires that he cut for the alarm system. A true engineer to the end.
mct16
Member
#22 · Posted: 28 Sep 2012 19:03
When Explorers was published in Tintin magazine it included a scene which did not make it to the book. This scene had Wolff joining Tintin outside the rocket during Haddock's spacewalk - Tintin having left the rocket without a rope. Wolff explains how Haddock is being dragged into the asteroid's orbit. When Tintin outlines his plan to rescue him, Wolff is appalled, pointing out the risks involved and saying to Tintin: "You have no right to risk all our lives in order to save that of one man."

In a roundabout way, a rather prophetic statement for him to make.
Robert
Member
#23 · Posted: 4 Dec 2014 00:53
Been looking in on this thread for ages, and thought I'd finally add my pennyworth as to whether Wolff jumped out from the rocket without a spacesuit...

When I read this story as a seven-year old (49 years ago!) I had some thoughts about this, and decided it was most likely that he'd worn a space-suit but without a pair of oxygen cylinders attached (since we know that Tintin and his friends were using the cylinders from the suits to stay alive towards the end).

The air trapped in the suit would have enabled Wolff to cling to life for a brief moment, during which the hoped-for miracle (such as a passing UFO) might occur.

I think that taking steps to keep alive for as long as possible would be in his character!
EMarie
Member
#24 · Posted: 14 Dec 2014 22:36
I always like to think that Mik Kanrokitoff's UFO buddies found him and saved him...I could be wrong of course, but no harm in speculating.

Whatever the situation, that scene makes me sad every time.

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