Herge the creator of Tintin was not a big fan of opera and the creation of Bianca Castafiore was considered by many to be an acknowledgment of that fact.



Castafiore is presented as being one of the leading lights in of opera of her generation but in all her appearances in the albums is only heard to sing a couple of lines form The Jewel Song (l' air des bijoux) from Faust and then only at deafening volumes "Ah my beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear!...Was I ever Margarita? Is it I? Come reply...Mirror mirror tell me truly!" It was fair to say that Castafiore was not universally liked by all of the Tintin gang.

Captain Haddock in particular isn't a big Castafiore fan and at one point she even calls him a "scruffy little school boy". She shows a maternal instinct for Haddock which he truly hates and when he is later linked romantically to Bianca Castafiore by a newspaper reporter he is revealed by Herge as a very unhappy character indeed.

Captain Haddock's is further annoyed by the fact that the signora can never get his name right (see the end of the post for details) and when she ever shows signs of affection for Captain through gifts the results are always calamitous.

Bianca Castafiore (her name means "chaste flower") ends up captured along with her entourage (her maid Irma, her musician Igor Wagner and the detectives Thompson and Thompson) in the album Tintin and the Picaros by General Tapioca on the advice of Colonel Sponsz. The general and colonel's aim being to lure Captain Haddock, Tintin and Professor Calculus to San Theodoros where they are then accused of conspiring with Castafiore to assassinate and overthrow General Tapioca. Then however through an unseen chain of events General Tapioca is overthrown with the help of the accused.

This doesn't help Castafiore as she is unfortunately still imprisoned and is seen to complain of over cooked pasta. Bianca Castafiore is one of the best loved characters in the Tintin adventure comics and it will be very interesting to see which lucky actress will get to play her in the upcoming Tintin movie to be directed by Spielberg and Jackson.