Captain Archibald Haddock (, ) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is one of Tintin's best friends, a seafaring pipe-smoking Merchant Marine Captain. Haddock is initially depicted as a weak and alcoholic character under the control of his treacherous first mate Allan, who keeps him drunk and runs his freighter. He regains his command and his dignity, even rising to president of the Society of Sober Sailors (The Shooting Star), but never gives up his love for rum and whisky, especially Loch Lomond, until the final Tintin adventure, Tintin and the Picaros, when Professor Calculus 'cures' him of his taste for alcohol. In the adventure Secret of the Unicorn (and continuing in Red Rackham's Treasure) he and Tintin travel to find a pirate's treasure captured by his ancestor, Sir Francis Haddock (François de Hadoque in French). With newfound wealth and regaining his ancestral home Marlinspike Hall, Captain Haddock becomes a socialite; riding a horse, wearing a monocle, and sitting in a theatre box seat (The Seven Crystal Balls). He then evolves to become genuinely heroic, volunteering to sacrifice his life to save Tintin's own in the pivotal Tintin in Tibet. In later volumes he is clearly retired. Throughout it all, the Captain's coarse humanity and sarcasm act as a counterpoint to Tintin's often implausible heroism. He is always quick with a dry comment whenever the boy reporter gets too idealistic. Character history Until Haddock's introduction, Tintin's constantly positive, optimistic perspective was offset by his faithful companion Snowy. Before Haddock, Snowy was the source of all dry and cynical side-commentary for the series. Hergé, however, realised Haddock's potential as a foil to Tintin. After he brought Haddock into the series, the Captain took over the role of the cynic, relieving Snowy and establishing Captain Haddock as a permanent addition to the cast. Hergé introduced Captain Haddock in The Crab with the Golden Claws as the whisky-sodden captain of the Karaboudjan, a merchant vessel used—without Haddock's knowledge—by his first mate Allan Thompson for smuggling drugs inside crab tins. Because of his alcoholism and temperamental nature, his character was weak and unstable, at times posing as great a hazard to Tintin as the villains of the piece. He was also short-tempered, given to emotional expletive-ridden outbursts, and capable of infuriating behaviour; at one point he even attacks Tintin when, while traversing the