Jolyon Wagg

Jolyon Wagg (in the original French version: Séraphin Lampion) is a character from The Adventures of Tintin series of comic books drawn and written by Hergé. He is an gregarious, simple, and overbearing man who enters the story by barging in uninvited. He is disliked by Captain Haddock, who finds Wagg frustrating, although Wagg remains cheerfully oblivious and believes himself a great friend of the Captain. Wagg quotes his Uncle Anatole, who was a barber.^[1][2] Wagg is portrayed as a clueless tourist in the exotic places where Tintin and the Captain have their adventures. Wagg is an insurance salesman by trade, and he often tries to sell other characters insurance.

He is generally seen as a more modern character, as opposed to the older archetypes (crusty sea captain, absent-minded professor) that inhabit Hergé's earlier works.

History

Jolyon Wagg is based on a salesman who came to Hergé's door and invited himself in, but also on a stereotype of what Hergé called a belgicain (roughly, "an Ugly Belgian", one who is insensitive, for example, when visiting in foreign countries).^[3] Wagg appears late in the series, starting with The Calculus Affair, where his self-importance and insensitivity enrage Captain Haddock. Wagg also appears in The Red Sea Sharks, The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714 and Tintin and the Picaros.

Wagg appears three times in The Calculus Affair, inviting himself inside Marlinspike Manor, interfering with a critical radio transmission, and moving into the Marlinspike Manor with his family for a holiday while Tintin, Haddock, and Calculus are gone. Tintin, who rarely shows anger, is unaffected, however the Captain is goaded into memorable rants, for example:

Wagg cannot take a hint. He sees himself as Haddock's friend and cannot appear to appreciate the Captain's outbursts as genuine dislike for him: when Bianca Castafiore insured her jewels for a large sum of money, Wagg gave the Captain a critical phone call, saying that as a common "friend" of his and Bianca's, Haddock should have seen to it that Wagg got the deal. (In fact Haddock sees both of them as nuisances rather than friends.)

In the final Tintin album, Tintin and the Picaros, the tables are turned when Tintin and the Captain steal the costumes from the group with which Wagg is traveling.

Wagg has an unusual role in Tintin albums in that, unlike most recurring characters with a role in the plot, he is a relatively average human being (not being criminal, eccentric, dictatorial, or famous). He facilitated Hergé's bringing in a more realistic, domestic mood into some stories. Perhaps reflecting Hergé’s dislike of mediocrity, in his appearances, Wagg never accomplishes much, except to get in the way.

Naming

Names in Tintin are not always literally translated (for example "Tintin" is what’s said in Belgium when touching toast glasses together before drinking), and humor behind Séraphin Lampion is not conveyed into English. Rather, another joke is used. This name translation, while not as clever as the original, was apparently okayed by Hergé, who worked closely with the English translators. What Hergé intended in French is not possible to translate directly, however he "wanted something 'puffed up', a tone which expressed at the same time fleshy and weak." ^[5] Wagg’s original French name, Séraphin Lampion, is a contrast between the first name meaning seraphim, and the last name meaning a "chintzy little lamp of the sort Wagg would use to decorate his home" ^[6], or perhaps alternately "a show off". A range of meanings may have been implied.

Notes and references