Bab El Ehr is the overarching antagonist of the Tintin comic books Land of Black Gold and The Red Sea Sharks. He is an Arab insurgent who is the rival of Emir Ben Kalish Ezab, as well as the one who toppled him over and briefly ruled over Khemed thanks to a coup d'état, before Ben Kalish Ezab regained power.
He was suspected to be the one who abducted the Emir's son, Abdullah, but it was actually Dr. Müller who kidnapped him. However, in The Red Sea Sharks, he played a larger role, as it is with the assistance of Rastapopoulos and other enemies of Tintin that he finally managed to topple over the Emir, causing him to send Abdullah to Europe, despite his tricks annoying Captain Haddock.
Appearance[]
Bab El Ehr is a man with a long black coat, a red sheikh hat and a black long pointy beard.
Personality[]
Bab El Ehr is depicted as a bad-tempered and paranoid man, as seen when he berates his informant for bringing in Tintin after springing him out of custody, thinking that he had the weapons he was asked for.
Biography[]
Land of Black Gold[]
Bab El Ehr was first mentioned on documents that were infiltrated on the boat and hidden inside Tintin's cabin, which is later found by a secret police force, who takes both Tintin and the Thompsons into custody. However, Bab El Ehr's men took him out of custody by throwing a smoke bomb at the officers, which saves the young reporter from being taken to prison.
In the camp of Bab El Ehr, the informant brings Tintin to Bab El Ehr himself, who asks Tintin where are the weapons he was supposed to smuggle to him, but Tintin denies as he knew nothing about the weapons, which angers Bab El Ehr, who berates his informant for lying to him and later accuses Tintin of infiltrating his rebels and betraying them. Tintin is then escorted throughout the desert, where the young reporter and his dog pass out from exhaustion, causing Bab El Ehr and his men to abandon him.
He is later accused of the kidnapping of Abdullah, the son of his rival Ben Kalish Ezab and sabotaging the oil pipelines, but it was revealed that it was Müller who did all of this.
The Red Sea Sharks[]
Bab El Ehr became the new ruler of Khemed after he toppled over the Emir with the help of Rastapopoulos and many other enemies of Tintin, including Dawson.
While in power, Bab El Ehr had a blind eye over the slave trading, unlike the Emir who would have exposed him after Arabair, a company owned by Rastapopulous, refused to grant Abdullah's demand to have the planes looped-the loop before landing in Wadesdah. His coup was engineered by building up trouble in the area and supplying his forces with Mosquito fighter-bombers. However, Bab El Ehr was seized away from his power by the end of the story, leaving an unknown fate to the Sheikh.
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 Villains
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