Tintin Forums

What do you think? Is Rastapopoulos Tintin's arch-enemy, despite the fact that (I think) he's only in four books?
If he's been in more, please tell me!

Moriarty is usually described as Sherlock Holmes's arch-enemy, and he features in hardly any of those stories. Of course, the story in which Moriarty features most prominently involves him appearing to kill Holmes. So maybe the arch-ness of an enemy is measured in deadliness, rather than frequency.

I'd go along with that statement. I've always thought that Professor Smi... Dr. Muller was the worst of the two. He appears a bit more chilling to me than Roberto.

I also think Müller is slightly more homicidal than Rastapopoulos. As I see it, there are three arch-enemies, Rastapopoulos, Müller and Allan Thompson.

Third part harmonizing; I also think Dr Müller is the deadliest of the baddies! And if, as Balthazar suggests, deadliness is how you measure an arch-enemy then Müller's ruthlessness and physical ability must put him high in the runnings.

zgn2
(...) despite the fact of being in only four books (if he's been in more, please tell me)?

Well, if you're counting Cigars, Blue Lotus, Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714, that's four.
You could also include Alph-art, although it's open to debate whether Rastapopoulos would have really made the final book (see here).
Also open to debate is whether he appears in America (see this thread).

Of course he also pops up in Lake of Sharks, although the book is usually dismissed pretty quickly on this forum as non-canon!

I agree with Müller being the baddest baddie.
Despite Rastapopoulos's badness, he never came off as nasty and cruel as Müller does.
As for Allan, although he is up there with the other nasties, the worst he's ever done is thrown Tintin in the hold, with the occasional gun fight.
Heck, if he were actually successful in his attempts, half the globe's population would be living their lives out in numerous ship holds with boxes of opium!

I find that Dr Müller is a very serious, threatening character, where Rastapopoulos is very comical.

The enemies in the books never set out to kill Tintin (except in The Black Island) - it just so happens that Tintin keeps getting in their way!

If Rastapopoulos is an arch-enemy, is Allan a bit of a "trough"-enemy?

No, I truly think Müller is the one to take most seriously. You can tell a lot about a character by the way Hergé drew them.

Rastapopoulos, while a figure of evil, is also silly and a buffoon (big nose, vacant stare).

Müller is drawn like more of a real-looking human being. Oh, and plus his eyes look very "vacant" to me; it seems they are pupil-less.