Tharkey is a Sherpa guide who helps Tintin to locate the ill-fated Patna-Kathmandu flight carrying Chang Chong-Chen in Tintin in Tibet.
History[]
Though reluctant to risk the dangerous attempt to find Chang, who he believes is already dead, Tharkey leads Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock to the wreckage site of the plane. After initially leaving the site to return to his home, Tharkey feels guilty for abandoning them and returns just in time to save Tintin and Haddock who were in a perilous situation. However, he subsequently breaks his arm and must return to the plains after partly recuperating at the Buddhist monastery of Khor-Biyong while Tintin and the Captain continue their search for Chang. Tharkey have been based on the Nepalese sherpa Ang Tharkey, sirdar of the French expedition "Annapurna 1er 8000" which reached the summit of Annapurna on the 3rd of June 1950 with Maurice Herzog.