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Captain Haddock is one of the main characters in The Adventures of Tintin, a well-known comic strip written and drawn by the Belgian writer-artist Hergé. The seafaring captain was introduced in The Crab with the Golden Claws.
The surname was derived from a conversation that Hergé had with his wife, in which she mentioned that the haddock was a 'sad English fish'. Hergé chose this name accordingly. Haddock remained without a Christian name until the last completed story, "Tintin and the Picaros" (1974), when the name "Archibald" was suggested.
Often badmouthed, Haddock is usually the target of the slapstick-like scenes of the comic. However, Haddock is also good-hearted, loyal and brave. For instance, he acts unswervingly to rescue Cuthbert Calculus from the Incas.
Haddock was a hard drinker, especially of whisky, and his bouts of alcoholism were often used for comic effect, for they usually resulted in some minor unpleasantness for him; occasionally, they could have ended with more tragic consequence. In the "Picaros" story Haddock became unable to drink any more alcohol. The implications of this never got to be explored.
Haddock uses all sorts of words as insults and curses to express his feelings, such as "blistering barnacles," "bashi-bazouk", "kleptomaniac", "pockmark" and "anacoluthon," but no words that are actually considered swearwords in the real world, thus making him perfectly appropriate for any audience. There is a book by Albert Algoud, Le Haddock Illustré which gives all of Haddock's expletives, ISBN 2-203-01710-4.
The Captain's coarse humanity acts as a counterpoint to Tintin's often implausible heroism; he is always quick with a wry comment whenever the boy reporter gets too idealistic. Physically, he is probably based on Bob de Moor, a longtime collaborator of Hergé's. After Le Tresor de Rackham Le Rouge, Haddock lives in the Chateau de Moulinsart (Marlinspike in the English translations), which is modeled on the real Chateau Cheverny.
In later stories, Hergé increasingly identified with Haddock rather than Tintin.
