Hergé actually never mentions his age explicitly, he said he’d guess him as being 14/15, but he later said he thought of him as about 17.
Halfway through the movie “The Secret of the Unicorn” from 1991, Tintin’s passport is shown, saying he’s born in 1929.
Let’s assume the passport is right. Tintin’s adventures starts with a visit to the USSR. Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky are mentioned in unison, as well the Red Army (founded in 1918). He wears a knickerboxer in there. Plus fours were commonly worn after 17 years of age, when they then replaced the knickerboxer; Tintin wears the latter during most albums after the Soviet adventure. So, Tintin might be 14 in the start of his adventures, which would place it as starting in 1943 at its earliest.
The second adventure, i.e. the one in Africa, precedes Congolese independence (1960). When, is not mentioned; but Tintin wears a pith helmet, which became uncommon in Francophone African colonies by 1955, so I would estimate that adventure to take place between 1943-1955. Tintin drives a T-ford in there, which stopped selling in 1927; but those could have been maintained for a few decades.
One issue is that Al Capone occurs in there (named at page 52); he was released from prison in 1939, and got early treatment for syphilic paresis, yet did gradually deteriorate; by 1946, he had the mind of a 12-year-old kid, and he died in 1947.
Assuming the second adventure took place after the Soviet one, that places it around 1944-1945. I will assume 1944, since after the war, worldwide people were much more inclined to liberation from colonialism, which we don’t see yet in that cartoon. That makes Tintin 15 in there.
However, a problem rises. In the third album, Tintin in America, 1932 is specifically mentioned, the Depression as well, and Al Capone still reigns supreme. The mafia still occurred in the 1950s, so that part isn’t a problem; but him reigning is. Thus, the movie (made 9 years after Hergé’s death) and the cartoons directly conflate each other. It could be that it was a flashback, and the rest of the cartoon is about him trying to gain back power, and the Depression didn’t end fully until after the war. It is much easier to assume the movie’s passport date is simply wrong.
In “Destination: Moon”, album 16, the costumes resemble the first Soviet suit from 1961-63, albeit inflated; and the rocket is V2-like.
In the last fully finished story with the Picaros, Tintin no longer wears a plus four, which fell out of fashion (outside of golfing and niche stuff) in the 1970s; and they drive in a Jonckheere DAF Coach SB 1602, from 1974.
So in a nutshell. Assuming the passport is right, Tintin’s fully written adventures would’ve occured between 1943 and 1974, and he’d have been 45 when those adventures ended (and looks wise, if Hirohiko Araki can barely wrinkle until 60, so could Tintin), and currently be 96 years old.
If we don’t take the passport in the movie as canon, but take Hergé’s word only, then an indicator is Tintin encountering starvation in the first adventure; that may point to the famine of 1921-22, which affected a large part of the western USSR.
If Tintin is indeed 17, this would place him as being born in about 1906, maybe 1907 - Hergé’s birth year. That would make Tintin currently 118 years old, meaning he most likely died in the 1980s or 1990s; and his adventures would’ve taken place between 1922-1974, starting when he was 14, and ending when he was 67.
In a nutshell: Tintin would be fine after the fourth album.
TL:DR; below.
Hergé actually never mentions his age explicitly, he said he’d guess him as being 14/15, but he later said he thought of him as about 17.
Halfway through the movie “The Secret of the Unicorn” from 1991, Tintin’s passport is shown, saying he’s born in 1929.
Let’s assume the passport is right. Tintin’s adventures starts with a visit to the USSR. Stalin, Lenin, and Trotsky are mentioned in unison, as well the Red Army (founded in 1918). He wears a knickerboxer in there. Plus fours were commonly worn after 17 years of age, when they then replaced the knickerboxer; Tintin wears the latter during most albums after the Soviet adventure. So, Tintin might be 14 in the start of his adventures, which would place it as starting in 1943 at its earliest.
The second adventure, i.e. the one in Africa, precedes Congolese independence (1960). When, is not mentioned; but Tintin wears a pith helmet, which became uncommon in Francophone African colonies by 1955, so I would estimate that adventure to take place between 1943-1955. Tintin drives a T-ford in there, which stopped selling in 1927; but those could have been maintained for a few decades.
One issue is that Al Capone occurs in there (named at page 52); he was released from prison in 1939, and got early treatment for syphilic paresis, yet did gradually deteriorate; by 1946, he had the mind of a 12-year-old kid, and he died in 1947.
Assuming the second adventure took place after the Soviet one, that places it around 1944-1945. I will assume 1944, since after the war, worldwide people were much more inclined to liberation from colonialism, which we don’t see yet in that cartoon. That makes Tintin 15 in there.
However, a problem rises. In the third album, Tintin in America, 1932 is specifically mentioned, the Depression as well, and Al Capone still reigns supreme. The mafia still occurred in the 1950s, so that part isn’t a problem; but him reigning is. Thus, the movie (made 9 years after Hergé’s death) and the cartoons directly conflate each other. It could be that it was a flashback, and the rest of the cartoon is about him trying to gain back power, and the Depression didn’t end fully until after the war. It is much easier to assume the movie’s passport date is simply wrong.
In “Destination: Moon”, album 16, the costumes resemble the first Soviet suit from 1961-63, albeit inflated; and the rocket is V2-like.
In the last fully finished story with the Picaros, Tintin no longer wears a plus four, which fell out of fashion (outside of golfing and niche stuff) in the 1970s; and they drive in a Jonckheere DAF Coach SB 1602, from 1974.
So in a nutshell. Assuming the passport is right, Tintin’s fully written adventures would’ve occured between 1943 and 1974, and he’d have been 45 when those adventures ended (and looks wise, if Hirohiko Araki can barely wrinkle until 60, so could Tintin), and currently be 96 years old.
If we don’t take the passport in the movie as canon, but take Hergé’s word only, then an indicator is Tintin encountering starvation in the first adventure; that may point to the famine of 1921-22, which affected a large part of the western USSR.
If Tintin is indeed 17, this would place him as being born in about 1906, maybe 1907 - Hergé’s birth year. That would make Tintin currently 118 years old, meaning he most likely died in the 1980s or 1990s; and his adventures would’ve taken place between 1922-1974, starting when he was 14, and ending when he was 67.
In a nutshell: Tintin would be fine after the fourth album.