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Alph-Art: Who is Endaddine Akass?

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Richard
UK Correspondent
#11 · Posted: 15 Oct 2004 18:46
That's an interesting idea ... there might be some sort of reference there in the name. As proven in Red Rackham's Treasure, often the answer is right there under our very noses.

Just looking through Alph-Art now - trying to find any more clues - there's a couple that link Akass to the Emir (as BlueBlisteringBarnacles suggested)...

One of the pages of bonus material has the caption, "The mystic Endaddine Akass ... is in touch with Emir Ben Kalish Ezab", and. on another, Akass says, "...this "work" will be signed "César", authenticated by a well-known expert ... and sent to Khemed".

There's a connection between Akass and the Emir, then, and a link between the Emir and Ben Salaad isn't too far-fetched.

The mystery continues ...
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#12 · Posted: 16 Oct 2004 12:30
It's also been suggested on a few Franco-Belgian sites that Endaddine Akass could be Max Bird from "Unicorn". Despite the different shaped conk I suppose he would have an interest in art as a former antique dealer.

I think Richard's theory of Omar Ben Salaad is the best I've heard - the picture of Akass on page 58 of the new edition af Alph-art certainly adds weight to it.

I have another suggestion - why not Müller? He was once involved in forgery (The Black Island) and it's more likely Tintin would have recognised his voice after such a long time rather than those of Puschov and Salaad. Second to Rastapopoulos he has to be Tintin's greatest nemesis. Obviously he's put on weight and had his nose fixed...
OJG
Member
#13 · Posted: 16 Oct 2004 12:36
Whoever Akass could be, there's now way that he could have turned out to be Gibbons. That guy hasn't got the brains to do what Akass has done.
Jyrki21
Member
#14 · Posted: 17 Oct 2004 01:51
By the way I was just wondering on this. Maybe the name itself should give a clue. Like Akass is formed of aka ss (aka: also known as). And the s could be for salaad. I somehow think the name itself points out to who actually was Endaddine Akass. Its like a final riddle Herge thought of who knows!!!


Clever idea, but "aka" for 'also known as' is an abbreviation peculiar to English... and Akass's name was, after all, the same thing in French.
John Sewell
Member
#15 · Posted: 1 Nov 2004 02:47
I entertained the idea for a while before the new edition came out, that Akass might really be Ramo Nash - I don't think they're seen together at any point, and Nash is present at the villa when Castafiore tells Tintin and Haddock that Akass is in Rome.

Against that are the description and sketches of Nash, where he's definitely too short for the job, and there's also the question of where all that hair would go - there's rather too much to fit under Akass' little pillbox hat!

So, these days, I tend to go with Rastapopoulos, if only for the reason that the sketches show that it was at least being considered. It's obvious that there were doubts about it though, and short of some pretty serious plastic surgery, I can't see how Tintin would fail to notice that old Big Nose was lurking under the beard and hair! That said, as rough as they are, some of the sketches show Akass with a far more Rastapopoulos-like nose and fuller beard than in the more detailed depiction on page 58, and those dark glasses could have covered a lot up...

The Müller theory's a pretty plausible one too! In some ways, he'd have gone full circle by returning to forgery, as Harrock n Roll says. He'd have needed a nose job too, though!
kirthiboy
Member
#16 · Posted: 4 Nov 2004 20:26
Akass could be Rastapopoulos in one way -
In Flight 714, Rastapopoulos is hyptonized by the scientist guy (forgot his name), his memory is wiped out regarding Flight 714 and maybe they change his appearance, hyptonize him forcing him to believe that he did it himself as a fashion statement so that no one would recognize him, however his true intentions, his evil nature is something they could not curb and he thus again devises a plot to eliminate Tintin. Just an idea!!!
finlay
Member
#17 · Posted: 4 Nov 2004 22:59
One of the newly found sketches of Hergé's mentions plastic surgery, iirc.

I like the idea that it could be Puschov from The Black Island.

And kirthiboy's idea is quite nice. I never really bought into the idea of aliens in Flight 714 though. It's just too far-fetched. Anyway, I've discussed that in more detail elsewhere....
Mikael Uhlin
Member
#18 · Posted: 3 Dec 2004 21:27
In marols (the Flemish/Dutch-dialect of Brussels), there's a saying that goes something like "...en da'd in a kas", literally "and that in your belly", meaning "add another burden". As Herge often used marols (=Syldavian), this may be a clue to the identity of Endaddine Akass.

Also, according to Phillippe Goddin's very interesting book "Herge et les Bigotudos", the early sketches for what finally became "714" and "Picaros" lists the name N. Dadine Hakasz. Apart from the name, the only other information is that he's from Turkey. In this list, the Greek Rastapopoulos is mentioned separately.

In this book there's also a short mentioning of a criminal avant-garde painter named Ado Kramika, another possible character that may have been the first version of Ramo Nash.
jock123
Moderator
#19 · Posted: 4 Dec 2004 07:38
Mikael that's very interesting; does Ado Kramika have a similar origin, do you think?

finlay
I never really bought into the idea of aliens in Flight 714 though. It's just too far-fetched
It's funny that the aliens provoke that response (in me too!), when we have yetis, levitating monks, being able to talk elephant, dowsing, voodoo-type dolls, curses etc. elsewhere in the canon.

Hergé was adept at the adoption of the strange, mysterious and even down-right impossible - it wouldn't surprise me if Rastapopoulos's nose had magically fitted under the Akass disguise...

John Sewell
here's also the question of where all that hair would go - there's rather too much to fit under Akass' little pillbox hat!

Well perhaps he wears a wig, which he takes off to be Akass?
Mikael Uhlin
Member
#20 · Posted: 4 Dec 2004 20:35
Jock:

I'm no expert on Marols but I posed a question at the nl.taal-newsgroup. Regarding Ado Kramika, I got this answer from "J":
- - -
"Kramika made me think of Kramiek, one of the many characters in Louis Paul Boon's masterful novels 'De Kapellekensbaan' (1953) and 'Zomer te Ter-Muren' (1956). I looked up "kramiek" in a dictionary and found that it's a regional word meaning 'fijn tarwebrood met krenten' = fine wheat bread with currants."
- - -

Regarding "Ramo Nash" (and alternate spellings by Herge like
"Ramon Hasj", "Ramon Asj", "Aszch", "Azsch", "Azkh", "Asjchj",
"Haszj", "Hazsj"), it seems to be derived from French-bruxellois
"ramonache", which is a kind of radish. There seems to be a pattern here; "kramiek" (fine wheat bread with currants) and
"ramonache" (radish) "en d'ad en a kas" (and that in your belly)! It neatly fits the Omar Ben Saalad-theory, especially - considering the radish-bit - since "saalad" is a teutonic word ("sallad" in Swedish) for "lettuce"!

However, I don't think that Ramo Nash and Endaddine Akass is the same person. Nash is supposedly of Caribbean origin (Cuban in early versions, Jamaican in later). "Ramo Nash"/"ramonache" also makes me think of the ship in "Coke en stock", S/S Ramona (=Ramona S/S).

--
EDIT: Another reply at nl.taal (from Michel Martens):
- - -
'Kramiek' is a regular Dutch word for a (very) small loaf distributed
among the priests saying a Roman catholic mass. The word derives from the Middle Dutch 'credemicke', from 'credo' (I believe) and probably 'micke' meaning 'bread'. In Belgium 'kramiek' means a loaf containing raisins. It is Belgian Dutch but as far as I know not regularly used anymore in the area where I live (Antwerpen).
'Ado Kramika' could be - and I emphasize COULD - a Marollen-expression for 'hou je wafel ' (shut your trap = keep your mouth shut) where the word 'mouth' is replaced by what the Londoners would call a 'cockney-word'. So, Ado Kramika = aad oe kramiek.
- - -

Regarding "ramonache", Martens says that the Dutch equivalent is "rammenas", in English "winter radish".

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