Tintin Forums

I'd be interested to see how many people are of this opinion; I'd always assumed he was universally loved...

Yes, I agree that Haddock replaced or even surpassed Snowy in many ways, and even the Tintinworld's Scholars among the Scholars embrace this view.

Snowy, however, is not completely diminished in his role (Tintin yelling at him, using him to seek things out, etc.), even though when he talks, it's more with himself or with other animals...

Perhaps Herge thought that it was high time to bring in a real human sidekick for Tintin (The Twins don't count...their paths initially coincide before they become part of Tintin in most of the pre-Haddock stories)...

In order to lend his world depth and scope, he couldn't really talk only to his dog forever.

About Haddock's alchohol problem, there was one scene in Crab of the Golden claws which really did affect me when reading it, morese then anything else, I don't know why.

It was the scene when Allan comes back to check on Haddock while Tintin hides. The way Allan says "that's okay, drink the whiskey, you'll feel better" and the way the scene where Haddock is drinking the cup is drawn, it made me feel kind of empty when I first read it. It felt like a man talking to a baby, like the need for whiskey had deprived him of free will. As if the whiskey had become his entire life and the solution to all his problems...

Of course, I was happy when he pushes it away in the next frame as a promise to Tintin.