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Captain Haddock: His nationality?

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RascarRackham
Member
#41 · Posted: 7 Apr 2009 06:10
He's definetly English. His full name is Archibald Haddock, he drinks Loch Lomond Scotch Whiskey and his ancestor, 'Sir' Francis Haddock captained a ship in the Royal Navy. Certain factors regarding his identity surely have been lost in translation but I believe Herge' fully intended him to be English otherwise he wouldn't have let them flag the Union Jack from the Unicorn in that huge 1 page frame of the ship in SOTU.
jock123
Moderator
#42 · Posted: 7 Apr 2009 12:09
RascarRackham:
I believe Herge' fully intended him to be English otherwise he wouldn't have let them flag the Union Jack from the Unicorn in that huge 1 page frame of the ship in SOTU.

Unfortunately that argumant doesn't "fly" - the Union Jack was added as an amendment when the English-language version came out. The orginal version (which has been seen in some printings of the English book too over the years) shows a fleur-de-lys motif on the flag. Yet another variation is a plain blue flag without the fleur-de-lys. Read all about it here!
Also none of your other points are specifically English, they could be any one of a number of nationalities either from the British home countries or abroad, as you will find if you read back through the thread.

But please feel free to think of him as English if that is what you like - nobody can be proved wrong with the information available so far!
Zlotzky
Member
#43 · Posted: 1 Jun 2009 17:45
Hello, world.
I think Haddock is Belgian. Just like Tintin and many other main characters.
He might have French or British inheritance.
Moulinsart (an imaginary place) should be near Brussels (named after Sart-Moulin in Belgium).
Louis XIV awarded François de Hadoque with Marlinspike Hall (Le château de Moulinsart) in 1695. Although the army of Louis XIV invaded some parts of Spanish Netherlands at that time, they never went near Brussels.
See the map here:
http://history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/351-14.htm
So how come that Louis XIV can award him with a castle situated near Brussels?
number1fan
Member
#44 · Posted: 3 Jun 2009 16:24
I think people are looking into this too much.
In the English translation I think he's British and in the French version he's Belgian.
I always thought of him as an English mariner.
Haddocks Beard
Member
#45 · Posted: 30 Jun 2009 04:02
Cool Thread. As a Brit I grew up thinking the main characters were British. I only realized in my late teens, that as Herge was Belgian, they were more likely to be Belgian. But Haddock always struck me as a stereotypical British Seafarer (what with all the Whisky and Rum drinking). I think a great case has been made by some of the other posters that Haddock was intended to be British by Herge, and quite possibly a Scot.
Oliveira da Figueira
Member
#46 · Posted: 10 Sep 2009 23:57
I'm Portuguese and I've never read others than the Portuguese editions. As any Tintin fan, I have wondered many times about Haddock's nationality. Eventually I assumed - and that is my current theory (not thoroughly constructed, I admit)- that Haddock is a British sailor of French ancestry.

British sailor because of his Anglo-saxonic names: 'Haddock' and 'Archibald'.

French ancestry because François de Hadoque is French, almost for sure: He is a Captain of king Louis XIV Navy, and the king gave him the castle of Moulinsart. Would the king do it if Hadoque were a foreigner?
Biglu
Member
#47 · Posted: 13 Sep 2009 00:09
mct16
Member
#48 · Posted: 15 Jul 2011 01:15
Some people are apparently up in arms over the fact that Spielberg has made him Scottish!

The writer of the article even claims that he is "quintessentially Cornish".

"Just be thankful they didn’t make Haddock Welsh" is the comment from one member of the public.

Personally, I've always thought of him as Belgian, like Tintin. After all, in the original French book, his ancestor, François de Hadoque, served under Lous XIV so it follows that his descendants would also be based on the continent and Haddock himself seems to be well established in the same town as Tintin before he moves to Marlinspike.

But given the fact that the other Belgian characters (Tintin, Thompsons etc) are speaking with very English accents, I suppose that it is only fair to vary it a bit. How about an Irish Calculus?
Tintinrulz
Member
#49 · Posted: 15 Jul 2011 02:05
Tintin is Belgian but I think Captain Haddock is meant to be an English sailor. Remember Herge's wife mentioned that Haddock was a sad English fish. That sparked some ideas in Herge's imagination and it went from there.
mct16
Member
#50 · Posted: 15 Jul 2011 11:03
A haddock could be considered an English fish since it is often served with the particularly English fish and chips. Herge's wife may have just been describing a haddock as a fish typically found in England, she did not necessarily mean "make this character an Englishman."

The reference to "sad" may have appealed to Herge because it would be part of the pathos surrounding Haddock, especially in his first appearance in "Crab with the Golden Claws". In spite of his comic-relief drunkenness and eccentricity, he is shown as something of a sad and pathetic character: look at the way he breaks down when Tintin mentions his mother. His heavy drinking could be bereavement over her recent death.

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