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I think Endaddine Akass could be W.R. Gibbons from The Blue Lotus. The guy who is director of American & Chinese Steel Incorporated. He is one guy who would surely like to take revenge upon Tintin - and his nose fits too!
What do you guys think?

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Related topic: Alph-Art: Reviews and Opinions

I'm not too convinced Akass is Rastapopoulos, either - why wouldn't Tintin recognise his voice?

They've met enough, and Tintin didn't see him that long ago (The Red Sea Sharks being the last time, as he wasn't aware they'd met in Flight 714, of course), so he would surely have recognised his voice. The sketches at the end of the 2004 edition echo this - Hergé wrote "Rastapopoulos?" around sketches of Akass, but an Akass looking notably different from how he's pictured in the rest of the book (shape of nose and chin).

Hergé himself wasn't sure, and subsequently I'm not convinced either, Kirthi.

So here's my guess - how about Omar Ben Salaad, the head of the drug-trafficking ring in The Crab with the Golden Claws? He's got the right shape of nose, same sort of build, Tintin has met him before, but not seen him for a long time, hence his inability to recognise him ("That voice ... Some of his inotations remind me of ... of ... someone. But who ?").
Plus he's been out of the picture for quite some time, so he's had plenty of time to set up the art forgery business.

I really don't think the final version would have Rastapopoulos as Akass. Yesterday, when I was re-reading The Crab with the Golden Claws, I had the same idea Richard.

I don't think Akass can be Rastapopoulos. Akass is megalomaniac!

But alas, we will never know the secret... :\

I also think that Hergé had a lot more trouble coming up with ideas in the later episodes but the story was almost there. He had a plot outlined and that the baddie was someone Tintin knew, it was just deciding who it should be.

I also think Rastapopoulos was a poor choice for Akass but I can't think of anyone better to be honest. I think that the villain would have to be a lover of the arts which Rastapopoulos could well have been.

Tintin has made enemies in almost every book he has been in though, so it could be anybody. also since the book was only at the planning stages, facial features could have been changed to match the person chosen.

My personal idea for a bad guy would be the person that Tintin had offended most recently, leaving him humiliated by refusuing to allow his executed. How about General Tapioca?

Rik

I agree that Akass being Rastapopoulos would be too much of an obvious choice for the story and Tintin would recognise him. Omar Ben Salaad could be a better choice. That could also mix in further in with the Emir character eventually.

I like the idea of Omar Ben Salaad very much, and have always thought that Puschov from The Black Island fit the bill nicely too, although he was probably too long-forgotten to be a likely candidate for revival.

I, too, doubt that Akass would have ended up as Rastapopoulos, partly for one of the reasons mentioned - that it was only two books prior that he made an appearance - and partly because the nose didn't look right.

Of course that could have been rectified in a later version, but it obviously troubled Yves Rodier enough that he had to create a reason for the discrepancy. (He turned to plastic surgery).

In regards to the Ben Salaad theory: remember that he wore a Golden Claw necklace around his neck. In Alph-Art we also find an iconic gold necklace with his initial. Spooky!

Yes pretty much true. Does the original alph-art have sketches of Gibbons or Trickler? I read Yves Rodier's version of Alph-Art and saw Trickler and Gibbons in it.
If the original Alph-Art does have Gibbons sketches then it rules out my theory of Endadine.
I think the Omar Ben Salaad theory is very convincing including the General Tapioca.

I hadn't noticed about the necklaces, but that does seem remarkably coincidental !

Ben Salaad would surely have had the means to get involved in the art business - after all, he was the biggest trader in Bagghar. He must have had some funds behind him.

Furthermore, Akass demonstrates the same ruthlessness that Ben Salaad did - the murder of the art experts Monastir and Fourcart, whereas Ben Salaad (we assume) commanded the murder of the sailor Dawes. Also, both characters were going to kill Tintin (Akass and the liquid polyester, Ben Salaad with a pistol), and Ben Salaad may well have wanted revenge - not just on Tintin, but Haddock as well. And maybe Snowy, for biting him in that most painful of places.

In the original Alph-Art, both Gibbons and Trickler are present at Castafiore's party on Ischia, so I suppose that rules out them as being Akass.

By the way I was just wondering on this. Maybe the name itself should give a clue. Like Akass is formed of aka ss (aka: also known as). And the s could be for salaad. I somehow think the name itself points out to who actually was Endaddine Akass. Its like a final riddle Hergé thought of who knows!!!

Is there any character in Tintin whose name is with two S in french?