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Tintin's childhood, background, family etc.

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Richard
UK Correspondent
#1 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 12:46
Continued from the Negative side of Tintin topic, since it doesn't really relate to the original issue.

Tintin's childhood, background, family etc. are not mentioned at all in the official canon, as far as I can recall.

However, in Frederic Tuten's novel "Tintin in the New World - a romance", Tintin talks about his childhood. He says that he remembers "being small, holding the hand of some great grown-up while ambling along in their train on a Sunday afternoon when young and old strolled along in their Sunday clothes, then stopping off at some crowded café to take an ice or a pastry, and the waiting and waiting for the grown-up to decide to leave and take you home once again".

He later says that he wore "a long blue coat and black shiny shoes. And since I always had a sore throat, I was made to wear a long red scarf, the scarlet colour of my throat, Mother would say."

Of course, these are only interpretations by another author at what Tintin's childhood was like. Following that last passage about the long coat and the scarf, I get the idea that Tintin looked a lot like the Little Prince when he was a child. Although I imagine little Tintin would have had less of a tousled head of hair, and it would have been all brushed to the front, sort of like in Soviets. They are both very much alike, too, if you think about it - Tintin and the prince are both innocent, curious, pure, good-hearted ... fair-headed, quite short, French-speaking - the list goes on.

What does everyone else think Tintin was like as a child - behaviour-wise, in terms of looks, etc ?
kirthiboy
Member
#2 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 13:34
Well, I think Tintin's childhood would be more likely of Quick and Flupke however with some modifications. Tintin would be playing detective games with his pals, casting pranks on a poor police officer or maybe having just fun. How Tintin would be in his childhood should be more or less linked with how Herge would have been in his childhood? As Herge once mentioned, "Tintin is me"!!!

I do think Tintin had problems with his parents. In Cigars of the Pharaoh, when Tintin starts dreaming, we see him crying when he was a small baby. Maybe his parents were both working and provided him less attention. Interesting topic though!!!
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 13:50
One of my favourite Tintin magazine covers is the cover for the 25 September 1947 issue.
Tintinrulz
Member
#4 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 14:36
Tintin in the New World is a horrible book.
Richard
UK Correspondent
#5 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 16:10
If we assume he 'grows up' (metaphorically) over the course of the series, we see the young, naîve, exciteable Tintin at the beginning of Soviets, growing into the matured, serious, even cynical character we have in Picaros. Tintin could well have been a bit of a scamp when he were a child, causing hassle to everyone. Perhaps he accidently caused the death of his parents, and therefore tried to make up for it by 'putting the world to rights', as thmthm suggested.

I wonder if Tintin was clever at school ? He seems intelligent in the series, with a good sense of cunning and ingenuity, with a fairly well-rounded education - he knows various types of physical combat, knows a number of languages - for example, recognising the word 'Karaboudjan' as Armenian ... I had to look it up to find out where Armenia was. I think he must have been quite good.

Oh, and he would have been a boy scout too, I am sure.
thmthm
Member
#6 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 18:00
Well - as probably the only Armenian on the site (anyone else?)- Armenia is tucked south Georgia, NE of Turkey...former Soviet Republic. When I first saw that I was amazed - but its not surprising, seeing that he is a very good journalist. and he'd been to Russia. As far as the name of the ship " KARABOUDJAN" in the golden claw- I asked my grand father what it meant and he didnt recognize the word as Armenian but seeing that Armenia's and Turkey's histories are intertwined (in the most unforunate way) and share many words - karaboudjan in Turkish is:
Kara-black
Bou - this
djan- Spirit
THIS BLACK SPIRIT - maybe a foreshadowing of whats to come after Tintin gets kidnapped
but thanks for starting this new topic from the previous one
When i saw that cover from Harrock I was dying of laughter - that was good!
Danagasta
Member
#7 · Posted: 23 Jun 2005 20:52
Knowing things like languages, etc. is just part of his being a foreign correspondent. A lot of AP stringers are the same way. I think he's a typical, new Associated Press type reporter who has to get things on the wire in time.

Courtney
rue du labrador
Member
#8 · Posted: 2 Feb 2006 18:01
Since his parents never appear i assume they are dead. Tintins independantness and suvival skills from a young age suggest that has been on is own for some time. perhaps orfaned at a young age and adopted by neglectful parents till he finaly gave up and started life alon as a reporter which was the thing he liked most.this might be why he feels such a strong connection between him and chang. The way he reacts to haddock becoz he is an only child. i recon that he has quiet a bit of money in the bank, he is always well dressed and clean (mostly) and he enough money to fligh him all over the world and back and own his own appament , he always has spare cash to bribe people with eg.in the broken ear he pays the guide money then bribes him with more money or in the black island he buys the boat off the man when eh wont let him take it away and still in his teens. either he is a very well payed reporter or he has inherited allot of cash.
mkpdluv
Member
#9 · Posted: 2 Feb 2006 20:59
I have the feeling that Tintin as a kid was a daydreamer, the one who liked to climb trees and figure out little mysteries of life, bringin home bugs and frogs and always asking his parents a million questions. I'm sure his mother got tired of patching up his pants from his little excursions. At least that's the way I like to think of him. And I'll bet he had a dog then too.
OptimisticTimelord26
Member
#10 · Posted: 11 Sep 2016 18:25
I actually have two theories on this.
One of them is that he had a fairly normal childhood, if not, really boring. Perhaps, as a young kid, he really wanted to go an adventure. That's why in the beginning of the series, he's kind of naive and innocent; he's really excited to be on a real adventure. Maybe he also grew up on a farm or a place where he had to run a lot.

But my other one (which I kind of like better), is that he is a time lord from Gallifrey who somehow came to Earth. Time lords don't age, play chess, and heal very quickly from wounds. Maybe Tintin came to Earth at a young age by an unfortunate accident or the time war. He never knew he was a time lord, and grew up to naturally gravitate towards adventure, because humans have boring lives compared to Gallifreyans.

That probably made no sense, but what do you think?

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