Q13: Tintin and the Holy Grail

Q13: What is the link between a character in the Tintin books and the Holy Grail?

Ed

In the Shooting Star, Prof. Calys is homonymous with the Holy Chalice.

Wagner, the pianist of the Castafiore, is homonymous with Richard Wagner, whose Parsifal gave a new significance to the Grail theme.

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Grail

In the Shooting Star, Prof. Calys is homonymous with the Holy Chalice.

True enough, Calys is from the Latin calix, meaning a chalice. But the rules state that we are referring to the English-language editions, in which Hippolyte Calys is known as Decimus Phostle.

Wagner, the pianist of the Castafiore, is homonymous with Richard Wagner, whose Parsifal gave a new significance to the Grail theme.

A worthy answer, but not the correct one I'm afraid!

Ed

When Tintin interrupts the film shoot in Cigars of the Pharaoh, the director says to Rastapopoulos "Sir Galahad here has wrecked my scene!" (page 17, frame 4).

Sir Galahad was, according to some legends, the Knight of the Round Table who won the Grail.

Correct Harrock, and interestingly that's a joke from the translators, as it doesn't appear in Hergé's original. The floor is yours...

... though indulge me for a second - there is a more oblique link to the Grail later on in the Tintin series, though not by Hergé but Steven Spielberg. Anyone for a bonus point?

Ed

a joke from the translators, as it doesn't appear in Hergé's original.

Yes, I thought as much. It doesn't make the German edition either where he is referred to as a “bum” !

a more oblique link to the Grail

That would be because parts of a previous script Spielberg commissioned for his first Tintin project, The Lost City, were incorporated into the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which has a Grail quest as it's main theme?

You're agonisingly close Chris! Last Crusade is correct, but think of Ben Kalish Ezab!

Ed

Well Harrock n' Roll wins the point, but for those interested, Ben Kalish Ezab's hideout in The Red Sea Sharks (p.28) is based on Petra in the Jordan, which was also used by Spielberg as the resting-place of the Grail in Last Crusade.

Ed

Petra in the Jordan

Of course! I've not seen Last Crusade for a while and forgot about that. I also think it's highly likely that Speilberg - being something of a Tintin fan - was influenced by the scene in The Red Sea Sharks.

Cheers!

Actually lots of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade reminded me of events in the Tintin adventures. Maybe that's why I love it so much!