Rodrigo Tortilla was a thief of San Theodorian origin. He was the thief who stole the Idol of the Broken Ear and the murderer of the artist, Jacob Balthazar.
Biography[]
Rodrigo Tortilla somehow came across a note written by Lopez, a member of A.J. Walker's expedition into the River Coliflor, which stated that a diamond was hidden within an Arumbaya fetish with a broken ear. Tortilla decided to take a boat ride to Europe so that he could steal the fetish which was currently on display in the Museum of Ethnography in Brussels, Belgium. On the boat he became acquainted with two fellow San Theodorians named Alonso Perez and Ramon Bada and falsely told them that he was a doctor on a study trip. During the voyage, he accidently dropped Lopez's note which was found by the pair who didn't understand it until later. Once he arrived in Belgium, Tortilla booked himself into the Hotel Liberty.
Tortilla commissioned a local artist Jacob Balthazar who specialized in wood carvings to make a replica copy of the fetish. Tortilla visited the Museum of Ethnography during the afternoon and hid within the building until it had closed and swiped the fetish from its exhibit before sneaking out in the morning. The next day, Tortilla snuck back into the museum and returned a replica to the museum with a note falsely claiming the fetish was taken temporarily over a bet. Later that night, Tortilla murdered Balthazar inside his apartment, which was witnessed by Balthazar's pet parrot, and made it look like a case of accidental gas poisoning.
Unknown to Tortilla, a Belgian reporter named Tintin and the pair he met on the boat had both independently deduced that he murdered Balthazar and that his parrot might be a witness. The pair eventually managed to learn Tortilla was the killer from the parrot and that Tortilla was going onto the Ville de Lyon, which was headed to San Theodoros, from an employee at the hotel Tortilla was staying at while in Belgium. Tortilla mistakenly brought a second replica with him onto the ship while the real one was still hidden among Balthazar's belongings.
Several days later, Tortilla was murdered aboard the Ville de Lyon by Ramon Bada and Alonso Perez who threw his body into the ocean.
Trivia[]
- The animated television adaptation of The Broken Ear by Ellipse-Nelvana completely omitted Tortilla instead replacing him with Lopez albeit combined with Tortilla into Rodrigo Lopez. Though in the French dub they kept Tortilla as the thief with him using Lopez's name as an alias while travelling onboard the Ville de Lyon.