King Ottokar's Sceptre is the eighth of
The Adventures of TintinThe Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator
HergéGeorges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, featuring the young reporter
TintinTintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
. It was first serialized as a black-and-white comic strip in
Le Petit VingtièmeLe Petit Vingtième was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle from 1928 to 1940. The comics series The Adventures of Tintin first appeared in its pages.-History:...
on 4 August 1938. A new colour version was drawn and published in 1947. This is the only Tintin adventure that can be safely classified as a
locked room mysteryThe locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
.
Synopsis
Tintin finds a lost briefcase and returns it to the owner, Professor Hector
AlembicAn alembic is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube...
k, who is a
sigillographerSigillography is one of the auxiliary sciences of history. It refers to the study of seals attached to documents as a source of historical information. It concentrates on the legal and social meaning of seals, as well as the evolution of their design...
, an expert on
sealsA seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...
(as in the sort used to make state documents official). He shows Tintin his collection of seals, including one which belonged to the
SyldaviaSyldavia is a fictional Balkan kingdom featured in The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. The name was derived from TranSYLvania and MolDAVIA.-Overview:...
n King Ottokar IV. Tintin then discovers that he and Alembick are under
surveillanceSurveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
by some strange men. Tintin's flat is even bombed in an attempt to kill him. Suspecting a Syldavian connection, Tintin offers to accompany Alembick to Syldavia via
FrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and
PraguePrague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
for research.
On the plane Tintin begins to suspect his companion. The Alembick travelling with him does not smoke and doesn't seem to need the spectacles he wears - to the point that he can make out a pretty pattern made by the sheep in a field that the plane passed over - while the Alembick he first met did smoke and had poor eyesight. During a layover, Tintin fakes a fall and grabs Alembick's beard, thinking it is false and Alembick is an imposter. However, the beard proves to be real and Tintin decides to let the matter drop, assuming that Alembick simply gave up smoking and is better at long distances than close-up- but then, while flying over Syldavia, it is the pilot of the plane who opens a trap door and Tintin drops out, landing in a haywagon.
Tintin has a hunch that a plot is afoot to steal the
sceptreA sceptre is a symbolic ornamental rod or wand borne in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia.-Antiquity:...
of King Ottokar IV. In Syldavia, the reigning King must possess the sceptre to rule or he will be forced to abdicate, a tradition established after a past king used the sceptre to defeat a would-be assassin. Every year he rides in a parade during St. Vladimir's Day carrying it, while the people sing the
national anthemA national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
. Tintin succeeds in warning the reigning King Muskar XII, despite the efforts of the conspirators. He and the King rush to the royal treasure room to find Alembick, the royal photographer and some guards unconscious and the sceptre missing.
Tintin's friends
Thomson and ThompsonThomson and Thompson are fictional characters in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Thomson and Thompson are detectives of Scotland Yard, and are as incompetent as they are necessary comic relief...
are summoned to investigate but their theory on how the sceptre was stolen — the thief throwing the sceptre through the iron bars over the window — proves to be inaccurate. Later on, Tintin notices a spring cannon in a toy shop and this gives him the clue. Professor Alembick had asked for some photographs to be taken of the sceptre, but the camera was a spring cannon in disguise, which allowed him to 'shoot' the sceptre out of the castle through the window bars into a nearby forest.
Searching the forest, Tintin spots the sceptre being found by agents of the neighbouring country,
BorduriaBorduria is a fictional country in the comic strip series The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. It is located in the Balkans and has a rivalry with the fictional neighbouring country of Syldavia. Borduria is depicted in King Ottokar's Sceptre and The Calculus Affair, and is referred to in Tintin and...
. Following them all the way to the border, he wrestles the sceptre from them. In the wallet of one of the thieves he discovers papers that show that the theft of the sceptre was just part of a major plan for a
takeoverA coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of Syldavia by their long-time political rival,
BorduriaBorduria is a fictional country in the comic strip series The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. It is located in the Balkans and has a rivalry with the fictional neighbouring country of Syldavia. Borduria is depicted in King Ottokar's Sceptre and The Calculus Affair, and is referred to in Tintin and...
.
Tintin steals a Me-109 from a Bordurian airfield (whose squadron is being kept ready to take part in the envisioned invasion of Syldavia) to fly it back to the King in time. He is shot down by the Syldavians who have naturally opened fire on an enemy aircraft violating their airspace. He manages to make the rest of the journey by foot.
Meanwhile the
Interior MinisterAn interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs...
informs the King that rumours have been spreading that the sceptre has been stolen and that there have been riots against local Bordurian businesses, acts which would justify a Bordurian takeover of the country. The King is about to abdicate when Snowy runs in with the sceptre (which had fallen out of Tintin's pocket).
Tintin then gives the King the papers he took from the man who stole the sceptre. They prove that the plot was masterminded by Müsstler, leader of the
Zyldav Zentral Revolutzionär KomitzätIn the Belgian comic book series The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé, the Zyldav Zentral Revolutzionär Komitzät , ZZRK, was an organization with the goal of removing the Syldavian monarchy and unify with its neighbor Borduria...
, a political organisation. The King takes action by having Müsstler and his associates arrested and the army mobilised along the Bordurian frontier. In response, the Bordurian leader pulls his own troops back from the border.
The next day is St. Vladimir's Day and Tintin is made a Knight of the Order of the Golden Pelican, the first non-Syldavian to receive such an honour. Further inquiries by the authorities reveal that Professor Alembick is one of a pair of identical twins: Hector Alembick was kidnapped and replaced with his brother Alfred who left for Syldavia in his place.
Tintin and Snowy return home by a
flying boatA flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
with Thomson and Thompson, who suffer momentary panic when the aircraft appears to be falling into the sea at the end of the flight. The reader is treated to a rare "
wink to the cameraThe fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
" from Tintin, who points out their error, and they laugh about it so much that they do indeed fall into the sea as they disembark.
Politics
Like earlier stories such as
The Blue LotusThe Blue Lotus , first published in 1936, is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Hergé featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. It is a sequel to Cigars of the Pharaoh, with Tintin continuing his struggle against a major gang of drug...
,
Tintin in the Land of the SovietsTintin in the Land of the Soviets is the first title in the comic book series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Belgian cartoonist Hergé...
and
The Broken EarThe Broken Ear is the sixth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
,
King Ottokar's Sceptre had a political subtext. The theft of the Sceptre is just part of a plot by Borduria to plunge Syldavia into a major political crisis and clear the way for a foreign invasion.
Written in 1938, the story could have been influenced by the Anschluss of Austria by
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1938. The unseen leader of the
conspiracyIn a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
is called Müsstler, a blend of
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
and
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. Müsstler is the head of the Iron Guard.{fact}} The name implies that it is a pro-fascist
paramilitaryA paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
group, which were common in Europe between the wars. An actual fascist and anti-Semitic group called the
Iron GuardThe Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
was very active in
RomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in the years leading up to the Second World War. The Romanian Iron Guard was often in violent conflict with the King of Romania, King Carol II, who they accused of corruption and being influenced by his Jewish mistress. In fact the year the repression of the Iron Guard commenced was 1938, the year
King Ottokar's Sceptre was first serialised. The leader of the Iron Guard, Codreanu, was executed for treason by the Romanian government. The Iron Guard briefly formed the government in 1940 under
Horia SimaHoria Sima was a Romanian fascist politician. After 1938, he was the second and last leader of the fascist and antisemitic para-military movement known as the Iron Guard.-In Romania:...
after the King's abdication but Hitler ended up backing the more conservative General Antonescu in January 1941 and the Iron Guard was eliminated from government and purged.
The German censors did not obstruct the book during the occupation of
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. This could be because there were frequent schemes, plots, wars and coups in the history of the Balkans, many of which had native fascistic movements or governments during the 1930s, and it was not clear that Hergé was specifically targeting National Socialist Germany. Moreover, as discussed above, Germany supported the authoritarian regime in Romania under the aegis of a King, a regime that actually violently repressed the Romanian Iron Guard.
Publication history
This adventure was originally published under the name
Tintin en Syldavie ("Tintin in Syldavia") and appeared in black-and-white in the newspaper supplement
Le Petit VingtièmeLe Petit Vingtième was the weekly youth supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle from 1928 to 1940. The comics series The Adventures of Tintin first appeared in its pages.-History:...
between 1938 and 1939.
The story was redrawn and colourised in 1947. For this edition,
HergéGeorges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
was assisted by
Edgar Pierre JacobsEdgard Félix Pierre Jacobs, , better known under his pen name Edgar P. Jacobs, was a Belgian comic book creator , born in Brussels, Belgium...
, a highly-regarded artist in his own right. Jacobs is credited with much of the Balkan feel of the new edition.
In terms of the plot and appearance of the characters, the two editions are generally similar. The principal aesthetic difference, aside from the colour, is that the backgrounds in the 1938-39 edition were generally blank, whereas in 1947 the streets of the towns, the countryside and the interior of the flats and palaces are more detailed.
Other changes affected the appearance of the Syldavian court. In the 1938 version, the Royal Guards are dressed like British Beefeaters; the 1947 version has them dressed in a more Balkan-like uniform. In 1939, Tintin is knighted while dressed in his raincoat, and a tear comes to his eye when he receives his medal in a ceremony which, aside from the Queen, is attended only by men; in 1947, he wears a suit, shows embarrassment but no tears, there are ladies attending, and there are also caricatures of Hergé and Jacobs in uniform, along with a number of colleagues and relatives.
All the aircraft featured in the book are carefully drawn from real contemporary designs. In the 1939 version, the plane Tintin uses to escape from Borduria, seems to resemble a
Heinkel He 118-See also:-References:* Green, William. Warplanes of the Third Reich. New York: Doubleday, 1972. ISBN 0-385-05782-2....
. However, in the 1947 version, the
HeinkelHeinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight.-History:...
s are replaced by the more famous
Messerschmitt Bf 109The Messerschmitt Bf 109, often called Me 109, was a German World War II fighter aircraft designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser during the early to mid 1930s...
s.
Connections with other Tintin books
Although
the twin detectivesThomson and Thompson are fictional characters in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Thomson and Thompson are detectives of Scotland Yard, and are as incompetent as they are necessary comic relief...
had first appeared in
Cigars of the PharaohCigars of the Pharaoh is one of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
in 1934 and had featured in the three adventures that followed, they were not given actual names until the 1938-9
King Ottokar's Sceptre when Tintin introduces them by name to Alembick at the airport.
Two recurring Tintin characters are introduced in
King Ottokar's Sceptre:
Bianca CastafioreBianca Castafiore, the "Milanese Nightingale", is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
, and Colonel Boris, who was to re-appear under the name of Jorgen in
Destination MoonDestination Moon is the sixteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero...
and its sequel
Explorers on the MoonExplorers on the Moon, published in 1954, is the seventeenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. Its original French title is On a marché sur la Lune...
.
Syldavian language
Like many of the fictional languages in the
Tintin books, the Syldavian language is based on the slang of the
MarolliensMarols or Marollien was a dialect spoken in Brussels. Essentially it is a Dutch dialect incorporating many words of French origin as well as a sprinkling of Spanish dating back to the rule of the Low Countries by the Habsburgs...
, the people of the
working classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
quarter of
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, with the addition of some s and z sounds to make it sound more
SlavicThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
. For example, the Syldavian motto, "Eih bennek, eih blavek", means "If you gather thistles, expect prickles" according to the book, but the 'Syldavian' words in fact resemble Marollien dialect for "Here I am, here I stay."
Adaptations
A semi-animated film based on the book was released in 1956, produced by the company Belvision, who would later produce the first Tintin television series,
Herge's Adventures of TintinHergé's Adventures of Tintin was an animated television series based on Hergé's popular comic book series, The Adventures of Tintin. The series was produced by Belvision and aired from 1959 to 1963, with 104 five-minute episodes produced...
. The film was produced by Karel Van Millegham and Anne-Marie Ullmann.
The 1990s
Adventures of TintinThe Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of books by Hergé. It debuted in 1991, and 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons...
animated series changed the story. There is no 'Anchluss' aspect whatsoever, although it is clear that those scheming to steal the sceptre are based in a neighbouring state, as that is where they attempt to flee once they have it in their possession. Also, the Alembick twin who smokes becomes the bad one of the two.
Minor errors
The brochure on Syldavia read by Tintin states that Syldavia, along with the rest of the Balkans, was invaded by the Turks in the 10th century. As the Turks were not to invade the Balkans until the second half of the 14th century, this seems improbable.
While sheltering from a rain storm in the entrance of a museum, Snowy steals a bone from a
DiplodocusDiplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
, a "Giganticus" bone. Although the genus (
Diplodocus) exists, the species (
giganticus) doesn't. It might have been written that way for amusement.
In Borduria, Tintin steals a Bf 109 but eventually has to bail out when the
SyldaviaSyldavia is a fictional Balkan kingdom featured in The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé. The name was derived from TranSYLvania and MolDAVIA.-Overview:...
ns shoot him down. In the panel where Tintin struggles to get out of the burning plane, the canopy slides back but in fact the canopy of a Bf 109 opens like a lid.
External links