Prisoners of the Sun
Encyclopedia
Prisoners of the Sun is the fourteenth of The Adventures of Tintin
, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé
, featuring young reporter Tintin
as a hero. It is a continuation of The Seven Crystal Balls
, and is one of very few Tintin books to directly carry on the story of the preceding title. The two books were adapted into a 1969 film, Tintin and the Temple of the Sun
by Belvision. It has been also adapted into two episodes of the 1990s television series The Adventures of Tintin
, a video game
, and a musical stage production.
has been kidnapped by a band of men including the Indian Chiquito, one of the last descendants of the Incas. Tintin and Captain Haddock
discover their friend is on board the cargo ship Pachacamac bound for Callao
, Peru
and are on a flight to rescue him.
When Tintin and Haddock intercept the ship, Tintin encounters Chiquito and learns Calculus is to be put to death for wearing the bracelet belonging to the Inca mummy. Unable to rescue Calculus, Tintin and the Captain must set off on the trail of the natives who have taken him. It leads them through the small town of Santa Clara, to the mountain town of Jauga, where a train is sabotaged in an attempt to kill them. They find both the authorities and the locals extremely unwilling to help them track Calculus' kidnappers because of the wrath of the Inca.
Tintin encounters a young Indian boy named Zorrino, whom he protects from two bullying men of white descent. For that, a mysterious Indian gives Tintin a medallion, telling him it will save him from danger. Zorrino then offers to take them to the Temple of the Sun, where he claims their friend is being held prisoner by the Inca. "The Inca, in these days?" asks Tintin. "White men not know, señor." replies Zorrino. "Only you know." The Temple lies deep in the Andes
, and the journey there is long and eventful, involving hindrance from natives and the Captain being terrorised by local wildlife.
Finally, Tintin, Haddock, and Zorrino come upon the Temple of the Sun—and stumble right into a group of Inca who have survived until modern-day times. They are brought before the noble Prince of the Sun; on the left stands Chiquito, on the right stands Huascar, the mysterious Indian Tintin encountered in Jauga. Zorrino is saved from harm when Tintin gives him Huascar's medallion, but Tintin and Haddock are sentenced to death for their sacrilegious intrusion. The Inca prince tells them they may choose the hour that the Sun himself will set alight the pyre
for which they are destined.
Tintin and Haddock end up on the same pyre as Professor Calculus. Tintin has, however, chosen the hour of their death to coincide with a solar eclipse
, and the terrified Inca believe Tintin can command Pachacamac
, their god, the Sun. The Inca prince implores Tintin to make the Sun show his light again. At Tintin's command, the Sun obeys, and the three are quickly set free.
Afterwards, the Prince of the Sun tells them the seven crystal balls used against the explorers who had excavated Rascar Capac's tomb contained a "mystic liquid" obtained from coca
, which plunged the seven explorers into a deep sleep. Each time the Inca high priest cast his spell over seven wax figures he could use them as he willed, as punishment for their sacrilege. Tintin convinces the Inca prince the explorers wished only to make known to the world the splendours of their civilisation. The Inca prince orders Huascar to destroy the wax figures and at that moment in Europe the seven explorers awaken.
After swearing on their own accord to keep the colony's existence secret, Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus are bestowed with a gift of gold and jewels, only a sample of the treasure of the Incas for which the Spanish conquerors
searched in vain for so long. Zorrino decides to stay with the Incas; his new friends return safely to Europe.
in 1946. The pages were published in a landscape design crossing two central pages rather than the standard portrait way.
The original version begins with Tintin on his way to Marlinspike
following his visit to the hospital where he witnessed the mass panic attack of the explorers in The Seven Crystal Balls
.
In order to fit the story into 62 pages when published in book form, many scenes had to be edited out.
The edited or deleted scenes included:
This original version was published in book form in France and Belgium in 2003.
, The Bride of the Sun.
Pachacamac
, the name of both the cargo ship and the Inca Sun god, is an ancient Peruvian temple in the vicinity where the story is set.
The trick used by Tintin to fool the Inca into believing that he could control the Sun (involving a solar eclipse) was inspired by Christopher Columbus
's account of his own encounters with Arawak Indians in Jamaica in the early 16th century. While Columbus claimed to have performed a similar ruse, it would have been unlikely that the Inca, a civilization with considerable expertise in astronomy, would have been unaware of the true nature of an eclipse.
In addition, in Mark Twain
's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
, Hank, the main character, avoids being burned at the stake in a similar manner as Tintin. He remembers that on the day he is about to be executed a solar eclipse occurred, and thus he makes the members of King Arthur's court believe he can control the sun.
and an animated film
were made based on this book.
A stage musical
was also made and premiered in Antwerp on the 15th of September 2001 http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/stage/temple.html.
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...
, a series of classic comic-strip albums written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
, featuring young reporter Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
as a hero. It is a continuation of The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
, and is one of very few Tintin books to directly carry on the story of the preceding title. The two books were adapted into a 1969 film, Tintin and the Temple of the Sun
Tintin and the Temple of the Sun
Tintin and the Temple of the Sun is a film made after the success of the Belvision cartoon series. The subject was to be The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun...
by Belvision. It has been also adapted into two episodes of the 1990s television series The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)
The Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of books by Hergé. It debuted in 1991, and 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons...
, a video game
Prisoners of the Sun (video game)
Prisoners of the Sun is a video game loosely based on The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun comic books from the series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Hergé...
, and a musical stage production.
Synopsis
In the previous adventure, The Seven Crystal Balls, seven explorers have been afflicted with a mysterious illness after unearthing the tomb of the mummified Inca, Rascar Capac. Professor CalculusProfessor Calculus
Professor Cuthbert Calculus is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
has been kidnapped by a band of men including the Indian Chiquito, one of the last descendants of the Incas. Tintin and Captain Haddock
Captain Haddock
Captain Archibald Haddock is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé...
discover their friend is on board the cargo ship Pachacamac bound for Callao
Callao
Callao is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is coterminous with the Constitutional Province of Callao, the only province of the Callao Region. Callao is located west of Lima, the country's capital, and is part of the Lima Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that holds almost...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and are on a flight to rescue him.
When Tintin and Haddock intercept the ship, Tintin encounters Chiquito and learns Calculus is to be put to death for wearing the bracelet belonging to the Inca mummy. Unable to rescue Calculus, Tintin and the Captain must set off on the trail of the natives who have taken him. It leads them through the small town of Santa Clara, to the mountain town of Jauga, where a train is sabotaged in an attempt to kill them. They find both the authorities and the locals extremely unwilling to help them track Calculus' kidnappers because of the wrath of the Inca.
Tintin encounters a young Indian boy named Zorrino, whom he protects from two bullying men of white descent. For that, a mysterious Indian gives Tintin a medallion, telling him it will save him from danger. Zorrino then offers to take them to the Temple of the Sun, where he claims their friend is being held prisoner by the Inca. "The Inca, in these days?" asks Tintin. "White men not know, señor." replies Zorrino. "Only you know." The Temple lies deep in the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, and the journey there is long and eventful, involving hindrance from natives and the Captain being terrorised by local wildlife.
Finally, Tintin, Haddock, and Zorrino come upon the Temple of the Sun—and stumble right into a group of Inca who have survived until modern-day times. They are brought before the noble Prince of the Sun; on the left stands Chiquito, on the right stands Huascar, the mysterious Indian Tintin encountered in Jauga. Zorrino is saved from harm when Tintin gives him Huascar's medallion, but Tintin and Haddock are sentenced to death for their sacrilegious intrusion. The Inca prince tells them they may choose the hour that the Sun himself will set alight the pyre
Pyre
A pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
for which they are destined.
Tintin and Haddock end up on the same pyre as Professor Calculus. Tintin has, however, chosen the hour of their death to coincide with a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
, and the terrified Inca believe Tintin can command Pachacamac
Pachacamac
The temple of Pachacamac is an archaeological site 40 km southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. Most of the common buildings and temples were built c...
, their god, the Sun. The Inca prince implores Tintin to make the Sun show his light again. At Tintin's command, the Sun obeys, and the three are quickly set free.
Afterwards, the Prince of the Sun tells them the seven crystal balls used against the explorers who had excavated Rascar Capac's tomb contained a "mystic liquid" obtained from coca
Coca
Coca, Erythroxylum coca, is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. The plant plays a significant role in many traditional Andean cultures...
, which plunged the seven explorers into a deep sleep. Each time the Inca high priest cast his spell over seven wax figures he could use them as he willed, as punishment for their sacrilege. Tintin convinces the Inca prince the explorers wished only to make known to the world the splendours of their civilisation. The Inca prince orders Huascar to destroy the wax figures and at that moment in Europe the seven explorers awaken.
After swearing on their own accord to keep the colony's existence secret, Tintin, Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus are bestowed with a gift of gold and jewels, only a sample of the treasure of the Incas for which the Spanish conquerors
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
searched in vain for so long. Zorrino decides to stay with the Incas; his new friends return safely to Europe.
Publication history
Prisoners of the Sun was the first Tintin adventure to be published in the newly-created Tintin MagazineTintin (magazine)
Le journal de Tintin or Kuifje , was a weekly Belgian comics magazine of the second half of the 20th century...
in 1946. The pages were published in a landscape design crossing two central pages rather than the standard portrait way.
The original version begins with Tintin on his way to Marlinspike
Marlinspike Hall
Marlinspike Hall is Captain Haddock's country house in Hergé's comic book series The Adventures of Tintin.The hall is modeled after the central section of the Château de Cheverny...
following his visit to the hospital where he witnessed the mass panic attack of the explorers in The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls
The Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
.
In order to fit the story into 62 pages when published in book form, many scenes had to be edited out.
The edited or deleted scenes included:
- Tintin, walking to Marlinspike, is so engrossed by a newspaper report of recent events that he misses a plank of wood and falls into a river. (The story then proceeds to Haddock and Tintin setting off for the city port and on to Peru. These events were ultimately published in the book The Seven Crystal Balls.)
- When Tintin meets Alcazar at the port and Chiquito on board the ship, the three men act as if the meeting at the theatre in The Seven Crystal Balls had never taken place. Those scenes had originally been published in 1943 and Hergé may have felt that readers needed more than just a reminder.
- While waiting for Zorrino near the bridge in Peru, Tintin and Haddock meet the mysterious Indian who gave Tintin the medallion. He smiles at Haddock's insults with the words "Anger is bad for one's health, señor."
- While walking through the mountains, Haddock discovers a skull mounted on a pole. A terrified Zorrino says that it is a warning that he is under sentence of death for guiding foreigners to the Temple of the Sun.
- During their trek through the jungle, Tintin shoots a jaguarJaguarThe jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
as it leaps towards them, and Zorrino strikes a snakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
with a stick when it attempts to bite Haddock.
- Haddock discovers and pockets gold in the Inca's cave behind the waterfall. He is later forced to give up the gold in order to get through the hole into the Inca tomb.
This original version was published in book form in France and Belgium in 2003.
Inspiration
The plot of the book comes largely from the 1912 novel by Gaston LerouxGaston Leroux
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...
, The Bride of the Sun.
Pachacamac
Pachacamac
The temple of Pachacamac is an archaeological site 40 km southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. Most of the common buildings and temples were built c...
, the name of both the cargo ship and the Inca Sun god, is an ancient Peruvian temple in the vicinity where the story is set.
The trick used by Tintin to fool the Inca into believing that he could control the Sun (involving a solar eclipse) was inspired by Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
's account of his own encounters with Arawak Indians in Jamaica in the early 16th century. While Columbus claimed to have performed a similar ruse, it would have been unlikely that the Inca, a civilization with considerable expertise in astronomy, would have been unaware of the true nature of an eclipse.
In addition, in Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
, Hank, the main character, avoids being burned at the stake in a similar manner as Tintin. He remembers that on the day he is about to be executed a solar eclipse occurred, and thus he makes the members of King Arthur's court believe he can control the sun.
Spinoffs
A video gamePrisoners of the Sun (video game)
Prisoners of the Sun is a video game loosely based on The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun comic books from the series The Adventures of Tintin, written and drawn by Hergé...
and an animated film
Tintin and the Temple of the Sun
Tintin and the Temple of the Sun is a film made after the success of the Belvision cartoon series. The subject was to be The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun...
were made based on this book.
A stage musical
Kuifje - De Zonnetempel (De Musical)
Kuifje – De Zonnetempel, subtitled De Musical, is a Belgian musical in two acts with music by Dirk Brossé and lyrics and scenario by Seth Gaaikema and Frank van Laecke, based on two of The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé, The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun...
was also made and premiered in Antwerp on the 15th of September 2001 http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/stage/temple.html.
External links
- Prisoners of the Sun at Tintinologist.org