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 CalculusAffair, 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, 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. In the final Tintin album, Tintin and the Picaros, the tables are turned when Tintin and the Captain steal the costumes from the group with which Wagg is traveling. Wagg has an unusual role in Tintin albums in that, unlike most recurring characters with a role in the plot, he is a relatively average human being. He facilitated Hergé's bringing in a more realistic, domestic mood into some stories. Perhaps reflecting Hergé’s dislike of mediocrity, Wagg never accomplishes much, except to get in the way.
Naming
Names in Tintin are not always literally translated but rather turned into a different joke. What Hergé intended in French is not possible to translate directly, however he "wanted something 'puffed up', a tone which expressed at the same time fleshy and weak." Wagg’s original French name, Séraphin Lampion, is a contrast between the first name meaning seraphim, and the last name meaning a "chintzy little lamp of the sort Wagg would use to decorate his home", or perhaps alternatively "a show off".
