Tintin Forums

It's just a plot device which allows the hero a chance to escape, like a 'deathtrap' where the villain uses an overly elaborate way to kill the hero instead of killing them by simple means. And of course, the villain usually reveals his plans to the hero at this point, confident that the victim wont be able to escape, after which the villain usually leaves the scene without witnessing the hero's demise.

I don't believe you can rationalize these type of plot devices. I mean, you could just as well ask why Tintin was left tied to railway tracks in America, left tied above a crocodile infested river in Congo, or asked to jump off a cliff in The Black Island (to make it look like an accident), when the villain could have either shot Tintin or pushed him off the cliff.

I believe that poor Nestor felt that he had to let Abdallah do all that to him, as a part of the game. But I don't believe that Abdallah had overpowered him with physical force, because that would indeed be almost impossible.