Bianca Castafiore

Bianca Castafiore, the Milanese Nightingale, was a recurring character in The Adventures of Tintin: the opera diva first appeared in King Ottokar's Sceptre. Her surname is Italian for "chaste flower". Although apparently one of the leading opera singers of her generation, the only thing that Castafiore is ever heard to sing are a few lines of the Jewel Song, l'air des bijoux, from Faust, always at ear-splitting volume: "Ah my beauty past compare, these jewels bright I wear!...Was I ever Margarita? Is it I? Come reply!...Mirror mirror tell me truly!".

Unsurprisingly, opera was one of Hergé's pet hates. She is said to have been modeled on the real-life opera singer Maria Callas, although she first appears long before Callas' arrival on the operatic scene. For Haddock she has a strong mothering instinct, which annoys him because it gives him the feeling of being no more than the "scruffy little schoolboy" which the Signora once called him. She always pronounces his name incorrectly (Bartok, Fatstock, Drydock, Hopscotch, Stopcock, Hammock, Paddock, Hassock, Havoc, Maggot, Bootblack, Balzac, Bedsock, Padlock, Hatbox, Stockpot, Harrock, Hemlock), and whenever she showers him with tokens of affection the results are disastrous. She is later suspected by newspaper journalists of an affair of the heart with Haddock — much to the Captain's chagrin, but not to hers - she is quite used to the tabloids inventing romances about her. Her visit to Haddock was correctly predicted by a Gypsy fortuneteller.

Eventually, Bianca and her entourage (her maid Irma, her musician Igor Wagner, and the detectives Thompson and Thomson) are captured by General Tapioca on the advice of Colonel Sponsz. Sponsz, hoping to lure Haddock, Tintin, and Calculus to San Theodoros, accuses all of them of conspiring along with Castafiore to murder or overthrow Tapioca. Ironically, Tapioca is overthrown later, with help from those accused. In other words, the fabrication of a supposed plot to overthrow Tapioca led to the actual overthrow of Tapioca. During this coup d'etat, the singer remains imprisoned, complaining of overcooked pasta. After the overthrow, she is free to continue her career - but little or nothing seems to have changed in San Theodoros.

Trivia:

• 1683 Castafiore is an asteroid of the main belt named after her.