Jolyon Wagg

Jolyon Wagg
Jolyon Wagg (Séraphin Lampion), by Hergé
Publication information
Publisher	Casterman (Belgium)
First appearance	The Calculus Affair (1956) The Adventures of Tintin
Created by	Hergé
In-story information
Full name	Jolyon Wagg
Partnerships	List of main characters
Supporting character of	Tintin

Jolyon Wagg (French: Séraphin Lampion) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is a gregarious, simple, and overbearing man who enters the story by barging in uninvited.

Jolyon Wagg is disliked by Captain Haddock, who finds him frustrating, although Wagg remains cheerfully oblivious and believes himself a great friend of the Captain. Wagg is portrayed as a clueless tourist in the exotic places where Tintin and the Captain have their adventures. He is an insurance salesman by trade, and he often tries to sell other characters insurance. Wagg often quotes his Uncle Anatole, who was a barber.

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, a petty-minded Belgian lacking self-awareness. 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 to Sydney and Tintin and the Picaros.

Wagg appears four times in The Calculus Affair: inviting himself inside Marlinspike Hall, interfering with a critical radio transmission (Haddock was attempting to call the police while pursuing Calculus's captors but Wagg assumed that he was joking), repeatedly interrupting Haddock's phone call to Nestor, and moving into the Marlinspike Hall with his family for a holiday while Tintin, Haddock and Calculus are away. 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 does not appear to realise that the Captain's outbursts demonstrate genuine dislike for him. When Bianca Castafiore insured her jewels for a large sum of money, Wagg criticised the Captain, saying that as a common "friend" of his and Bianca's, Haddock should have ensured that Wagg got the deal. In fact, Haddock sees both of them as nuisances rather than friends.