Background of Tintin in Tibet

Background of Hergé’s comic, Tintin in Tibet

Q. Describe in details the background of Tintin in Tibet.

Answer: Tintin in Tibet (French: Tintin au Tibet) is the 20th volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics’ series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. It was serialized weekly from September 1958 to November 1959 in Tintin magazine and published as a book in 1960. Hergé considered it his favourite Tintin adventure and an emotional effort, as he created it while suffering from traumatic nightmares and a personal conflict while deciding to leave his wife of three decades for a younger woman.

The story tells of the young reporter Tintin in search of his friend Chang Chong-Chen, who the authorities claim has died in a plane crash in the Himalayas. Convinced that Chang has survived and accompanied only by Snowy, Captain Haddock and the Sherpa guide Tharkey, Tintin crosses the Himalayas to the plateau of Tibet, along the way encountering the mysterious Yeti. To learn about the Yeti, which he depicted as a benevolent creature, Hergé contacted his friend Bernard Heuvelmans, the author of On the Trail of Unknown Animals.

After re-reading Heuvelmans' description of the Yeti, Hergé went on to research the cryptic species as much as possible. Hergé interviewed mountaineers, including Herzog, who had spotted the tracks of what he believed was an enormous biped that stopped at the foot of a rock face on Annapurna.

The creature's care for the starving Chang derives from a Sherpa account of a Yeti that rescued a little girl in similar circumstances. Another influence came from Fanny Vlaminck, who was interested in extrasensory perception and the mysticism of Tibetan Buddhism, prominent themes in the story that also fascinated Hergé.

However, while on holiday at a resort in the French Alps with Snowy, Captain Haddock, and Professor Calculus, Tintin reads about a plane crash in the Gosain Than Massif in the Himalayas of Tibet. He then has a vision of his friend Chang Chong-Chen, badly injured and calling for help from the wreckage of the crashed plane. Convinced of Chang's survival, Tintin flies to Kathmandu, via Delhi, with Snowy and a skeptical Captain Haddock. They hire a Sherpa named Tharkey and, accompanied by porters, travel overland from Nepal towards the crash site.

The porters abandon the group in fear when mysterious tracks are found, while Tintin, Haddock and Tharkey go on and eventually reach the crash site. Tintin sets off with Snowy to trace Chang's steps, and finds a cave where Chang has carved his name on a rock. On leaving the cave, he encounters a snowstorm and glimpses what seems to be a human silhouette.

Tharkey believes that Tintin saw the Yeti and convinces him to abandon his friend and return with him to Nepal, since the area is too large to search. Tintin spots a scarf on a cliff face, concludes Chang is nearby, and continues with only the Captain. While attempting to scale a cliff face, Haddock slips and hangs out of reach, imperiling Tintin, who is tied to him. He tells Tintin to cut the rope to save himself, but Tintin refuses.

Meanwhile, Captain Haddock tries to cut it himself, but drops his knife, alerting Tharkey, who has returned in time to rescue them. They try to camp for the night but lose their tent and must trek onwards, unable to sleep lest they freeze, arriving within sight of the Buddhist monastery of Khor-Biyong before being caught in an avalanche.

Blessed Lightning, a monk at the monastery, has a vision of Tintin, Snowy, Haddock, and Tharkey in danger. Tintin regains consciousness and, too weak to walk, gives Snowy a note to deliver. Snowy runs to the monastery, loses the message, but is recognised as the dog from Blessed Lightning's vision. Tintin, Haddock and Tharkey regain consciousness in the monastery and are brought before the Grand Abbot. The Abbot tells Tintin to abandon his quest, but Blessed Lightning has another vision, through which Tintin learns that Chang is still alive inside a mountain cave at the Horn of the Yak—and that the Yeti is also there. Tintin and Haddock travel on to the Horn of the Yak.

They arrive at a cave. Tintin ventures inside and finds Chang, who is feverish and shaking. The Yeti suddenly appears, revealed as a large anthropoid, reacting with anger at Tintin's attempt to take Chang. As it lunges at Tintin, the flash bulb of Tintin's camera goes off, and scares the Yeti away. Chang tells Tintin that the Yeti saved his life after the crash.

Upon returning to inhabited lands, the friends are surprised to be met by the Grand Abbot, who presents Tintin with a khata scarf in honour of the bravery he has shown for his friend Chang. As the party travels home, Chang muses that the Yeti is not a wild animal, but has a human soul. The Yeti sadly watches their departure from a distance.

In creating Tintin in Tibet, Hergé drew upon a range of influences. Setting it in the Himalayas, a snow-covered environment, followed his recurring dreams of whiteness and his need to create an adventure that "must be a solo voyage of redemption" from the "whiteness of guilt". The idea of a solo voyage led to Tintin being accompanied only by Snowy, their guide, and a reluctant Haddock—who supplies the needed counterpoint and humour.

However, in accordance of the background of Tintin in Tibet, Jacques Van Melkebeke, a collaborator of Hergé's, had suggested in 1954 to set a story in Tibet, likely influenced by the play he adapted for Hergé in the 1940s, M. Boullock a disparu (Mr. Boullock’s Disappearance).

Besides, Bernard Heuvelmans, a crypto zoologist who had helped Hergé envision lunar exploration for the two-part Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon, had given him a copy of his book Sur la piste des bêtes ignorées (On the Trail of Unknown Animals) in 1955, inscribing on the inside the suggestion that one day Tintin should meet the Yeti.

By 1958, Hergé decided that Tibet would be the setting of Tintin’s next Adventure. Initial ideas for the title were Le museau de la vache (The Cow’s Snout), Le museau de l’ours (The Bear’s Snout), and Le museau du yak (The Yak’s Snout), all of which refer to the mountain in the latter part of the story.

Although it was initially claimed that “market research” chose the title Tintin in Tibet suggesting sales would be better if the book used Tintin’s name in the title, entertainment producer and author Harry Thompson suggested “the title reflected the solo nature of [Tintin’s] undertaking.”

*****

👉 Character of Captain Haddock| in Tintin in Tibet

👉 Character of Yeti| in Tintin in Tibet

👉 Shangri-La Valley | a mysterious place in reality

👉 The Purloined Letter | Edgar Allan Poe's Detective Masterpiece