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On page 3, Haddock pours 2 glasses of whisky. For whom does he pour the 2nd glass? For himself? Or for ...Tintin?

Tintin, I would say, but he would probably have declined the drink.
Or maybe Nestor wanted it himself - he does love his drink. :)
Or Snowy, perhaps, as he drinks alot of whisky through the adventures.

I think you are meant to assume that the second glass is indeed for Tintin; they both have just been caught out in the storm, have been soaked by the rain, and the whisky is probably in this case seen as medicinal, in the manner of brandy, as a means of warding off a chill.

Most readers -and certainly Haddock- know Tintin well enough not to pour him a glass of anything alcoholic.

Haddock probably knows this so well that he pours an extra glass which Tintin will leave untouched. And it'd be such a shame to waste quality stuff...

Or maybe it's for Nestor, who has, after all, just rushed out with an umbrella to meet them and ended up getting soaked himself.

For Nestor? Maybe, but I doubt. Furthermore Nestor is a help-yourself-man what comes to Archie's whiskey (Picaros,7). In Picaros Archie asks Tintin if he wants some whiskey and only then Tintin says his attitude towards alcohol is absolute. Is it absolute in the albums before Picaros? We know Tintin is a man of great moderation but a little drop of alcohol for medical purpose wouldn't be a problem to him. The glass number two is for Tintin, I agree Jock. They are in danger of catching cold.

Hi Tuhatkauno. Welcome back!

It's true that Nestor is caught helping himself to Haddock's whisky in Picaros, but in that book everyone's behaving out of character. That said, it would be somewhat out of character for Haddock to be offering Nestor whisky in The Calculus Affair, a book when he seem to be playing his master of the house role quite strictly (ie: telling Nestor off for his phone manner, etc). I only put Nestor forward as a possibility and I agree it's not a very likely answer.

I don't think think Tintin's position on alcohol consumption is ever absolute, but it's fairly consistent (pre-firing squad drinking sessions aside). In The Crab with the Golden Claws it's clear that his rule seems to be that he will have a beer, but never touches spirits. Whisky being a spirit, I think Mondrian's modification of Jock's theory is best: Haddock pours a whisky for Tintin for "medicinal purposes" knowing full well that even after being rained on, Tintin won't touch it, and that he'll thus have to drink it for him.

I guess it's either a deliberate little mystery or joke on Hergé's part, or just that he accidentally drew two glasses instinctively, being a sociable drinker himself. Either way, well spotted, Olle E!

Here's the key to this mystery.

Nestor is not Captain's drinking associate, he is a servant whom Archie respect, but he is not Archie's mate like Tintin. There is always a gap between Captain and Nestor. Though Archie well knows Tintin hardly touches the glass, Archie pours him a drink (remarkably large!). The point, I reckon, is not to have an excuse of getting Tintin's glass. Archie doesn't have to explain his drinking to angry wife or anybody else. He is a master of himself and he gan get drunk whenever he wants. But it is boring to drink alone (I know something of these things): Archie wants to discreetly persuade Tintin to drink with him. This is the most plausible explanation.

Yes, I think the second glass of whisky was meant for Tintin as a medicine.
Yes, Tintin does not usually touch alcoholic stuff, but he does use it to ward off the cold in Tintin in Tibet.
Besides there is scene in The Red Sea Sharks, where Tintin orders a couple of ginger beers in a restaurant.