Tintin Forums

It looks like there was sort of a discussion about this years ago but it didn't catch on at all. Anyway, several facts are wrong in Tintin books:

1. The Seven Crystal Balls mentions "inscriptions" on the Inca's tomb, but the Inca people had no writing system.
2. In The Broken Ear, jaundice is referred to as "a disease caused by shock", but I believe that it is actually an infection of some kind.
3. I don't know if this is an error or not, but I have never heard of an asteroid called "Adonis" that orbits the moon in any place but Tintin.

If anyone has any other errors, or wishes to contest the three listed above, here's the discussion!

I'll have to contest number two, cigars. ;-)

I've thought about this one before. I believe I have an answer.
Take a look at this book excerpt:

Special Pathology and Diagnostics with Therapeutic Hints - 1900.

Jaundice from violent mental emotion, especially anger, vexation, fright, etc, seems likely to be produced by interruptions of the circulation of blood through the liver in consequence of the influence of the nerves controlling the calibre of the brancches of the portal veins, and by interruptions of the heart's action.


Jaundice itself is not a disease but an indicator that billrubin levels in the blood are too high (This is what causes bruises to get that yellowy colour) the cause is usually a blood disease however.

Perhaps at the time of writing The Broken Ear 1936/7? shock was still the accepted cause of Jaundice?

It could be one of the made-up things in Tintin's universe, like the countries Syldavia and Borduria.

"orbits the moon", where is it said? Adonis exists sure:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adonis_(asteroid)

I don't remember that anybody claims (in Tintin) Adonis orbits the moon. Archie orbited Adonis, but that's another story. :-)

There are dozens of errors in the books!
Some of them are noted in the trivia sections of our book guides.

Probably the most well-known error is the celebrated upside-down bananas which grow in San Theodoras (they land on Manolo's head on page 32 of The Broken Ear).

The tips of the bananas are pointing downwards, but banana tips always point upwards naturally. This came about because Hergé copied his source from a photo where they were hanging upside down from a hook . Also, it made more sense for the purposes of the frame!

Incidentally, the wikipedia Adonis link does mention the appearance in Explorers and says it is "improbably depicted passing between the Earth and the Moon." So whilst it doesn't orbit the moon Cigars has a point about there being an error.

Jep, he has. I messed things up (as usual). :-)

No worries, I did the exact same. It was a bit hard to tell whether Cigars meant Adonis didn't exist or it didn't orbit the moon. Anyway, I went back and edited my post when I saw that I'd posted the same thing just after you (multi-tasking!) - plus I actually went and read that wikipedia link! :-P

So did I after posting the accusations first - typical me :-)

This error conversation will last to eternity but I must add one thing conserning Adonis. I know some fysics (not much) but Adonis' gravitational pull is very very weak. I think it is impossible that Adonis could snatch Archie to its satellite. (Somebody might have said the same before, but what the heck.)

I see now that I was wrong about jaundice. Even though it's not believed to be caused by shock now, it was then and therefore is not an error.

Another error from Explorers on the Moon: The Professor explains to Tintin that the artificial gravity works by the acceleration of the rocket. If this was so, when they turned around the rocket, they would have needed to walk on the ceiling. Also, when Captain Haddock opens the outer door, the engine stops, causing the rocket to stop almost immediately. In the vacuum of space, things do not stop just because energy is no longer being put out. They keep going until they hit something.

Moderator Note: Experience shows that such general topic threads soon become unwieldy and too hard to follow, To make the discussion of such points easier, and to keep the thread manageable, the team request that each instance of error - or alleged error - is made in a new thread, citing the book in which it appears in the title, and giving an indication of the subject.
The Tintinologist Team