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Now that I'm back at my family home in Vancouver, I was flipping through Flight 714 and came across a character that, I remembered, I'd meant to pose a question about a long time ago.

"Walter." He's the guy who spots Tintin and Haddock at Jakarta Airport in Flight 714, and though it's not explicitly stated, he's apparently also the guy who tried to bomb their flight out of Wadesdah in Red Sea Sharks.

The character guide on this website seems quite confident that it's the same fellow, plus the fact that he recognizes Tintin at all in the later adventure suggests it. (And he looks similar, of course).

So what's his deal, anyway? I guess he's working for Rastapopoulos in both adventures (it's been a while since I read Red Sea Sharks... Is it Rastapopoulos who's trying to get rid of them at that point in the story? Or is it Müller?)

Is he just some guy who's paid to look through binoculars? Is his name "Walter" in French as well?

Hmmm, having just looked at the episodes in 714 and Sharks you refer to I don't think it's possible to say with 100% certainty that it is the same character. Also, the fact that Spalding makes a telephone call to somebody called Walter (whose face we don't see) doesn't necessarily mean that he is the man with binoculars. It could be but it's very ambiguous.

The character guide on this website seems quite confident

But it's proven to be quite flawed in the past :)

Interesting! I never took notice of either story in that sense! It is very tempting not to bother about that and to consider them to be mere cogs in larger plots. But with such similar features, and given that it's the same villain involved, it becomes quite possible that the two people are really the same. But nothing is for certain, even with the smooth resolutions of Tintin stories.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was the same person; Rastapopoulos seems to have a core group of lackeys and outlaws to do his dirty work for him. If Allan is frequently reinstated as chief goon, why shouldn't this Walter be?

Glad to know that I am not the only one who noticed that.
Yes, I am 95% sure that it is the same guy in both Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714. Of course we cannot see his face very clearly in that one frame in Flight 714 because he is holding the binoculars but it is the same hair, same shirt, same physique and he knows Tintin !

In Red Sea Sharks, Rastapopoulos and Alan are collaborating with Dawson and also with Muller/Mull Pasha and Bab El Ehr (whom they are backing up) in the slave trading business so it doesn't really matter who gave the order to get rid of Tintin and Haddock, it is a huge organisation.
We do know that Dawson was the one who found out from Alcazar that it was Tintin who called him, so he was the one who informed other members of the gang to do something about it.
Walter was working for any of these bad guys really (or for all of them) and as it was mainly Rastapopoulos who was behind the plane business, I would say that he was the one who was targeting Tintin and Haddock at that point (as he did later on in the story). Walter was probably contacted to do business with Rastapopoulos again in Flight 714 as was Alan.

I've not got the books to hand, but didn't the name "Walter" appear in connection with the Moonbooks?

Cheers,
Ranko

In both Moon adventures, one Walther is a radio operator at Sbrodj's launching site.
In the original versions, his name is sometimes written without an 'H'.

I think that Walter is an ex-Nazi. He is fat, well shave, wear same European style hat with a band, smoke cigar [sort of brandishing of wealth], not at top of the gang but not the filthiest person of gang.

I was reading The Blue Lotus the other day, and noticed that the un-named cohort of Mitsuhirato's who first appears on page 20, panel 8, bears an interesting resemblance to the villain or villains from Flight 714 and The Red Sea Sharks, who this web site identifies as the same person.

Does anyone else see the resemblance?

(Moved from a separate thread)

There is a guy named Walter in Explorers on the Moon, on Earth at Mission Control. Later, of course, there is the mysterious Walter of Flight 714. Wouldn't it be great if it was the same man?

Also the man with the binoculars in Flight 714 looks suspiciously like the man with the briefcase-time-bomb in The Red Sea Sharks.

Could Walter and this second person all have been in Rastapopoulos's employ?

Moderator note: Hi, catintinut! The mysterious Walter is a wily figure, who has been discussed before, so we have moved your message here. It's a good idea to do a search before posting a new question, to see if it has come up before.

The Happy Tintinologist Team