Tintin

Tintin's personality evolved as Hergé wrote the series. Peeters related that in the early Adventures, Tintin's personality was "incoherent", in that he was "[s]ometimes foolish and sometimes omniscient, pious to the point of mockery and then unacceptably aggressive", ultimately just serving as a "narrative vehicle" for Hergé's plots. Hergé biographer Pierre Assouline noted that in the early Adventures, Tintin showed "little sympathy for humanity". Assouline described the character as "obviously celibate, excessively virtuous, chivalrous, brave, a defender of the weak and oppressed, never looks for trouble but always finds it; he is resourceful, takes chances, is discreet, and is a nonsmoker."

Michael Farr deemed Tintin to be an intrepid young man of high moral standing, with whom his audience can identify. His rather neutral personality permits a balanced reflection of the evil, folly, and foolhardiness that surrounds him, allowing the reader to assume Tintin's position within the story rather than merely following the adventures of a strong protagonist. Tintin's iconic representation enhances this aspect, with comics expert Scott McCloud noting that the combination of Tintin's iconic, neutral personality and Hergé's "unusually realistic", signature ligne claire ("clear line") style "allows the reader to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world."

To the other characters, Tintin is honest, decent, compassionate, and kind. He is also modest and self-effacing, which Hergé also was, and is the most loyal of friends, which Hergé strove to be. The reporter does have vices, becoming too tipsy before facing the firing squad (in The Broken Ear) or too angry when informing Captain Haddock that he nearly cost them their lives (in Explorers on the Moon). However, as Michael Farr observed, Tintin has "tremendous spirit" and, in Tintin in Tibet, was appropriately given the name Great Heart. By turns, Tintin is innocent, politically crusading, escapist, and finally cynical. If he had perhaps too much of the goody-goody about him, at least he was not priggish; Hergé admitting as much, saying, "If Tintin is a moralist, he's a moralist who doesn't take things too seriously, so humour is never far away from his stories." It is this sense of humour that makes the appeal of Tintin truly international.

Tintin is shown to have a little trickster side to his normally gentlemanly manner. In The Crab with the Golden Claws, he meets Thomson and Thompson (Dupond et Dupont) at a restaurant where they order beer. Thompson and Thomson each slap Tintin on the back in a greeting. As they take a sip of their drinks, Tintin slaps both of them on the back while saying, "And nice to see you too, my dear old friends!"

Tintin also shows a side of deviousness when it comes to some things. In Tintin in America, he states "Hey, fellas! Do you know how to call the police without a telephone? Well!" He then fires several shots off from the gun he is holding while laughing like a maniac.

Appearance: young male with short ginger hair accompanied by a signature quiff and has black dot eyes like many other characters. In the earlier titles and older editions of the books, he had a very literal ball-shaped head, a long nose, no eyebrows most of the time, and was shorter than most other characters, dressed in a white collared shirt underneath a blue crewneck jumper, a pair of brown plus-fours (later causal trousers), white socks, and brown loafers that are fastened by either laces or buckles. He also frequently wears either a beige trench coat over this outfit or a brown blazer.