Prisoners of the Sun
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Prisoners of the Sun (Le Temple du Soleil) is one of a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.
Prisoners of the Sun is the fourteenth in the series. It continues the story begun in The Seven Crystal Balls.
The storyline
Tintin and the captain arrive in Perú to look for Professor Calculus, following the events in The Seven Crystal Balls, which ended with Calculus being kidnapped for putting on the bracelet of the mummified Inca, Rascar Capac. Calculus slips through their fingers, and they set off in track of the natives who have taken him. But once they have arrived in South America and ask for Calculus' whereabouts, none of the Indios are inclined to help them - save two.Tintin finds himself protecting a young Indio boy named Zorrino from two bullying Spaniards. Following that, a mysterious Indio gives him a medallion, telling him it will save him from danger. Later, Zorrino helps them find the entrance to the Temple of the Sun, where he claims their friend has been taken. The Temple lies deep in the Andes, and the journey there is eventful - it involves hindrance from natives and Captain Haddock being terrorised by the local wildlife.
Finally they come upon it - and stumble right into a group of Inca who have survived until modern-day times. Zorrino is saved when Tintin gives him the medallion (the Indio who had given it to him reveals himself as one of the Incan high priests), but Tintin and Haddock are sentenced to death for their sacrilegous intrusion and end up on the same pyre as Calculus. Tintin has, however, chosen the hour of their death to coincide with a solar eclipse, and the terrified Inca believe he can command their God, the Sun. Afterwards, the leader of the Incas tells them the "magic liquid" mentioned in the preceding volume was a coca-derivative used to hypnotize the explorers who had excavated Rascar Capac's tomb as punishment for their sacrilege. Tintin convinces him to break the curse, and they return to civilization with a gift of Incan gold and jewels, while Zorrino decides to stay with the Incas.
Accuracy Notes
For the most part Hergé's research is well-reflected in this book, but he (deliberately or not) missed the crucial fact that the Inca were experienced astronomers. In real life, the Inca would have been able to predict a solar eclipse almost as well as any modern scientist.Notes
Prisoners of the Sun was the first Tintin adventure to be published in the newly-created Tintin Magazine in 1946. This version starts off 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 into a 62-page limit many scenes had to be edited out when the story was published in book form.
"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!
- 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, senhor."
- 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 jaguar as it leaps towards them, and Zorrino strikes a snake with a stick when it attempts to bite Haddock.
A game was produced based upon this book, see Prisoners of the Sun.
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