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Alph-Art: Who is Endaddine Akass?

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j0n4th4n
Member
#21 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 14:01
What if it's one of the Thompsons? Would that be too far-fetched?
kirthiboy
Member
#22 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 14:15
What if it's one of the Thompsons? Would that be too far-fetched?
Yeah, it would surely be too far-fetched. Why would the Thomsons try to kill Tintin? He has saved their lives in Picaros and has always helped them to solve a crime.

Hergé might have taken Rastapopoulos as the first choice, but I am sure later he would have realized Rastapopoulos was not such a good choice, and opted for a different villian - say, Omar Ben Salaad perhaps?
j0n4th4n
Member
#23 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 14:45
Yes, but if you look back to the old albums, they were always after Tintin. Akass says in Alph-Art "at last I have beaten you", so maybe it's the Thom(p)sons.

...or maybe they have an evil triplet?
John Sewell
Member
#24 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 16:10
Well... there's an evil Thompson lookalike on page 30 of Mr. Pump's Legacy, so it could have been him! It's not either of our twins though, as they're both present in the audience at the "Health and Magnetism" meeting attended by Tintin and the Captain. (another mystery Herge left us - have they fallen under Akass' spell like Castafiore, or are they investigating him, as Rodier tells us?)

Think I'll stick with Rastapopoulos for the time being - here's a thought. What if, due to his alien experience in Flight 714, he had some sort of mystical awakening, coupled with amnesia, and really believes all of Akass' spiritual nonsense?

Some of the "flying saucer" cults of the 60s and 70s, like the Raëlians in France and the Aetherius Society in the UK, were led by men who'd supposedly been abducted by or otherwise made contact with aliens!

Here's a picture of Raël himself – looks familiar?

He also had a penchant for long flowing robes, and big symbolic medallions, just like Akass!
j0n4th4n
Member
#25 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 16:52
I wasnt really being serious about the Thompsons. I mean, apart from being Tintin's friends, they would not be clever enough to run a cult and manipulate people like Akass. And yeah, in fact, they are in the meating.
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#26 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 18:13
What if, due to his alien experience in Flight 714, he had some sort of mystical awakening, coupled with amnesia, and really believes all of Akass' spiritual nonsense? Some of the "flying saucer" cults of the 60s and 70s, like the Raelians in France and the Aetherius Society in the UK, were led by men who'd supposedly been abducted by or otherwise made contact with aliens!

Excellent stuff John, I like it! Michael Farr has the forger Fernand Legros cited as one model for Akass in The Companion (which the photographs and sketches seem to confirm). The Bhagwan (now known as Osho®!) is also mentioned as a possible influence but not Rael. And the definite resemblance coupled with your flying-saucer-awakening theory makes it plausible that Hergé had him in mind!
Mikael Uhlin
Member
#27 · Posted: 7 Dec 2004 22:00
Back to the "Marollen/Arabian"-thread, I've found that "Ben Kalish Ezab" almost certainly is derived from "kalissesap", where kalisse means "liquorice" and sap means "juice" ("zoethoutdrop" or just "drop" in standard Dutch).

Regarding "Omar Ben Salaad", Omar sounds like French "homard" (=lobster, which would suit the Crab with the Golden Claws!).

If Omar Ben Salaad is Endaddine Akass (alias Turkish N. Dadine Hakasz), the "turkish"-bit may refer to the old Ottoman Empire which included both parts of North Africa and parts of Arabia, including Palestine (Khemed?), which further links Ben Salaad with Kalish Ezab.
kirthiboy
Member
#28 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 02:13
John, your theory is most convincing. Now, even I think it is Rastapopoulos because of following reason:-

- John Sewell's point mentioned above!

- Akass says in Alph-Art "at last I have beaten you". Only villian whom Tintin has encountered the most in all his adventure lifetime is Rastapopoulos. Other villian I know is Allan but he is the right hand man of Rastapopoulos.

- Rastatpopoulos has always tried to kill Tintin in the most unusual ways rather than just shooting him directly with his gun. Example - he gets him to be mummified, gets him to be chopped by Mr. Wang's lunatic son, tries to push a rock over tintin, tries to blow up the whole ship in which tintin, haddock were there, and lastly in Flight 714, he intends to put them aboard the plane and drown them. And now in Alph-Art he tries to create a wax statue out of Tintin.

- Tintin recognizes the voice of the person yet is not able to make out who is he? It could be the reason that Rastatpopoulos is very much properly disguized in his getup and Tintin only remembers Rasta being drowned in the Red Sea and does not remember much of the Flight 714 adventure due to amnesia.

Lastly, I am sure we might find more clues like the Symbol of the locket Akass is wearing could give more clues to his identity.
Jyrki21
Member
#29 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 04:30
Only villian whom Tintin has encountered the most in all his adventure lifetime is Rastapopoulos. Other villian I know is Allan but he is the right hand man of Rastapopoulos.

Though Rastapopoulos is generally considered Tintin's nemesis, the two have really only encountered each other three times (if you take Cigars and Blue Lotus as a single instance, and don't count the prototype in America). In Cigars/Lotus, Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714, the last of which Tintin doesn't even remember.

In the totality of the adventures, that's actually not that much... Müller, for instance, also surfaces three times (Black Island, Black Gold and Red Sea Sharks).

I do agree he's the most likely one to utter such a statement, but I also think that, with the benefit of hindsight, we tend to overstate Rastapopoulos' presence in the series.
Tintinrulz
Member
#30 · Posted: 8 Dec 2004 14:40
Maybe we overstate his presence because of his endearing nose. Like of procibicous monkey!

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