Moroccan desert, he has the sun-induced delusion that Tintin is a bottle of champagne. However, Haddock is a sincere figure in need of reform, and by the end of his first adventure Tintin has gained a loyal companion, albeit one still given to uttering the occasional "expletive". Hergé also allowed himself more artistic expression through Haddock's features than with Tintin's, and with Haddock offering more range in dynamism, Hergé found himself connecting with his stories less through Tintin over time. Michael Farr, author of Tintin: The Complete Companion (2001), notes: "Whereas Hergé kept Tintin's facial expressions to a bare minimum, Haddock's could be contorted with emotion. In Haddock, Hergé had come up with his most inspired character since creating Tintin." Sales of the volume in which Haddock was introduced indicated the character was well received. After a fairly serious role in The Shooting Star, where he has risen to become the President of the Society of Sober Sailors (replete with a cabin full of whisky), Haddock takes a more central role in the next adventure, split over two books, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure—indeed, his family history drives the plot. He discovers Marlinspike Hall, the chateau owned by his forebears, which during Unicorn is owned by the villainous Bird brothers. Upon locating the treasure, the newly wealthy Haddock retires to Marlinspike, where Nestor, the former butler of the Bird brothers, is reemployed as Haddock's own. Haddock attempts, to mixed success, to become more refined and posh in The Seven Crystal Balls. He does so by, among other things, attending the Opera, making greater use of Nestor, parting his hair and wearing formal dress (a running joke in the book is how he goes through about a dozen monocles after they keep breaking). This phase ends before the book is over, as Haddock's grief over the abduction of Professor Calculus causes him to abandon his attempts at being aristocratic, and return to his iconic "old seadog" way of dressing. This shows the persistent nature of his seafaring humility, and deep down, his undeniable dislike of the pretentious. Hergé built the next adventure around Haddock, furnishing the character with his ancestral home of Marlinspike Hall. Harry Thompson, author of Tintin: Hergé and his creation, writes that the introduction of this large and luxurious country house was "to provide a suitable ancestral home for Tintin and himself to move