Rodrigo Tortilla is the secondary antagonist of the 1943 Tintin comic book The Broken Ear. He was a thief who originally stole the idol and the one who murdered the creator of an imitation of the Arumbaya Idol, Jacob Balthazar.
However, on his way to his home country of South America, he was killed by Alonso Perez and Ramon Bada and his body was thrown into the sea for betraying them. His name was revealed to Tintin by Molly, the parrot of the late Jacob Balthazar who was assassinated by Tortilla earlier before the events of the story.
Appearance[]
Rodrigo Tortilla is a man who wears a black suit, a black bowler hat, and round glasses. He also has a mustache.
Biography[]
Rodrigo Tortilla was a thief who was originally the one who stole the idol, pretending to be a doctor who was taking a study trip to Europe. He murdered Balthazar in his own home and turned on a gas pipe to make it look like an accidental death. He also knew about a diamond that was concealed in it back in the 19th century, thanks to A.J. Walker's former guide-turned traitor Lopez giving him a letter that gave him the knowledge about it before his death before the events of the main story.
He later went inside a museum to steal the idol, which was successful, only for him to be killed offscreen by Alonso Perez and Ramon Bada on his way to his home country of San Theodoros and thrown in the sea after a drunk crew member told them about the room he was hiding in as retaliation for lying to them (this would also cause them to be arrested as Tintin was disguised as a black waiter and knew the truth about Tortilla's death).
After his death, the Arumbaya Idol he stole from the museum was shown to be a fake, due to the fact it's ear was intact, as the real idol containing the Heart of the Jungle had a broken ear, which would later be found in Goldbarr's belongings by the end of the story.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the animated adaptation, Rodrigo Tortilla was removed completely from the story, being replaced with Lopez.
- Despite being only physically seen on-screen once and only making an appearance in the first few pages, he left a major impact on the story, as the assassination of Jacob Balthazar and stealing the idol from the museum would later lead to his death at the hands of Alonso Perez and Ramon Bada for being a lying crook to them, as well as the one who caused Alonso and Ramon to go after the idol as well in the first place.
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 Villains
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