Mark Falconer (French: Marc Charlet) is an American archaeologist who was a member of the Sanders-Hardiman Expedition.
History[]
Falconer first appears in The Seven Crystal Balls as one of the participants of the Sanders-Hardiman Expedition, a research group whose goal was to locate the tomb of Rascar Capac, an ancient Incan monarch. Unfortunately after they obtained several artifacts from the tomb, including Capac's mummified body, the participants of the group became the target of a punishment from Rupac Inca Huaco, an Inca descendant, who used crystal balls powered by black magic to place a curse on the participants of the Sanders-Hardiman Expedition, where they would suffer a coma with occasional nightmares of Rascar Capac haunting them. Falconer would soon become a victim of this curse later on in the story.
Falconer in his ill state.
When Thompson and Thomson, investigators of the main conflict of The Seven Crystal Balls, called Doctor Simons about the ongoing research of the curse after already three victims had been attacked, Tintin, another investigator, advices to one of the detectives to warn Falconer about the curse on the telephone. Although they successfully warn him about it and he attempts to reach over to Tintin's residence via taxi, he unfortunately falls victim to another one of the crystal balls unnoticed by even the driver. Falconer was then later hospitalised alongside the other members of the expedition, suffering the recurring nightmares of Capac while being in deep sleep.
Fortunately, he eventually awakened from his coma after Tintin gained the trust from the Incas and their leader to release the professors from their curse at the end of the events of Prisoners of the Sun, leading to the joy of their wives and colleagues.
Trivia[]
- When Falconer is first seen at his home, it is worth noting he is wearing a suit near-identical to one that Tintin wore in the first and early-middle half of The Crab with the Golden Claws, consisting of a brown blazer, a white shirt and tie underneath a yellow v-neck pullover vest, brown plus-fours with black socks, and brown shoes. The only differences being that the tie Tintin wore in The Crab with the Golden Claws was solid black while the tie Falconer wore was red with white stripes, and Tintin's socks were black while Falconer's were white. Ironically enough, Falconer's tie in the Ellipse-Nelvana adaptation of The Seven Crystal Balls appeared solid black just like Tintin's in The Crab with the Golden Claws.