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Tintin is really smart, as I assume all of you guys know, but what is he good at specifically?

Does he read a lot, and, if so, what does he read? What are his favorite topics to study and read on?

He doesn't seem to use the computer – is it because there weren't computers in the past when Tintin was created?

Tintin speaks several languages, doesn't he? How many exactly?

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Tintin: How many languages can he speak?
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The Tintinologist Team

There is one thing that we have perhaps overlooked and that is his ability to do things. If he is just a standard reporter then please explain how he is able to (without any formal training) parachute out of a light aircraft in "Shooting Star"?

Well that would certainly be the most obvious answer, don't you think? Computers, especially personal computers as we know them today, didn't come into their own until after Hergé died.
We could assume that some of the equipment at the Rocket Mission Control would be computational, but possibly analog rather than digital.
However, as far as Tintin using one, the desktop PC for doing word processing on just wasn't around.


I don't know how you know he hasn't had any formal training - surely the fact that he can allows for the possibility that he has had training?
It wouldn't necessarily be the first thing that one would think about when you see Billy Connolly, the musician, actor and comedian, but he's a military trained para (Territorial Army Reserve 15th (Scottish) Battalion, the Parachute Regiment); it's not exactly a requirement for being a comedian, but he can do it.

Perhaps Tintin was an Air Cadet as well as a Scout?

He may have taken a course in parachute jumping. After his experiences of falling out of or crashing planes in "Soviet", "Cigars", "Black Island", "Ottokar's Sceptre" and "Crab", he may have decided that it was a skill worth having.


The books he consults in his flat in "Broken Ear" and "Ottokar's Sceptre" would indicate an interest in geography which, for a seasoned traveller like him, would be required reading.

We saw Tintin using a short wave radio in Blue Lotus (much to Snowy's displeasure). I was under the impression that he taught himself how to use it.

He also acted as a radio operator in "Land of the Black Gold."

He's also a pilot, as we've seen him fly both planes and a helicopter. (Helicopters are especially tricky to fly, as I understand.)

He must read a lot, to keep abreast of current affairs and local history as he does. In The Castafiore Emerald we see him reading while Castafiore goes through her scales.

Other skills that spring to mind:
helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft pilot (King Ottokar's Scepter, Cigars of the Pharaoh, The Calculus Affair)
crack marksman (Red Sea Sharks, Tintin in America, Prisoners of the Sun)
mountain/rock climbing (Tintin in Tibet, Prisoners of the Sun)
tank driving (Explorers on the Moon, The Calculus Affair)
wilderness survival expert (so many books!)
boxing (Red Sea Sharks, Flight 714)
tree-climbing (Castafiore Emerald)
deep-sea diving (Red Rackham's Treasure)
Motorcycle riding (King Ottokar's Scepter)
Motor-boat operating (Crab With the Golden Claws)
Short-wave radio operating (Blue Lotus, Land of Black Gold)

There are bound to be many more...

Wood Carving (Land Of The Soviets, Cigars of the Pharaoh)

Train Driving (America)

Canoeing (Broken Ear)

Bridge Jumping (Broken Ear & Prisoners Of The Sun)

Tintin also rides a motorbike in Land Of The Soviets, America & Picaros

Having a what seems to be an unlimited money fund. Other skills to which he is great in would be the skinning of animals and wearing their skins without leaving a mess (Tintin in The Congo).

Very true... I share a few skills with our good friend but I'm afraid an unlimited money fund is something that continues to elude me!

Me too! I suppose we have to assume that Tintin's writing career in the world in which he exists is at least as successful as Hergé's was, which would no doubt keep him in plus-fours and jumpers.