Fans of Tintin must remember The Castafiore Emerald. A jewel goes missing. And the detectives? They point fingers to a group of Romani people. Without a shred of proof. This isn’t just a comic-book plot. It’s a window into a centuries-old stereotype. Let’s talk about it.
Yes, this is age-old racial prejudice.
That Romani people—often called “Gypsies”—are seen as thieves, tricksters, outsiders.
A people always on the move. Always under suspicion.
A people who don’t look like you—always an easy target.
Let’s talk about who they really are. And where this story began. Modern science has confirmed something historians long suspected: The Romani people originally came from India. Genetic studies trace their roots to the Punjab region in the north with possible Dravidian heritage.
They were nomadic. Skilled in crafts, music, trade. They spoke Indian language once upon time.
So why did they leave?
Two theories.
One says they fled invasions by Mahmoud of Ghazni, the 11th-century Turkic-Afghan ruler.
The other blames caste oppression in India itself. Either way, it was not a voluntary migration.
They travelled for generations.
From Punjab, they moved through present-day Iran and Syria, then onward to Armenia.
They often stayed for years in one place, building small communities—until the discrimination began again. Then they would move on.
By the 1300s, they arrived in Europe. Specifically, in the Byzantine Empire.
That’s where the real trouble began.
Europeans didn’t know where they came from, and they guessed wrong. They thought the Romani had come from Egypt.
And so, they began calling them “Gypsies”. The name stuck, even though it was completely wrong.
But it was more than just a mislabel. It was the beginning of a story of exile—and of hate. A mistake that stuck—and morphed into a convenient excuse for centuries of scapegoating.
Suspicion. Expulsions. Slurs.
The words used to describe them speak volumes.
“Zigeuner” in German.
“Tsingane” in French.
“Zingari” in Italian.
All stem from a Greek root meaning… untouchable.
Sound familiar?
In The Castafiore Emerald, Hergé subtly weaves in a moment of social commentary—whether intentionally or not—through a quiet subplot involving the Romani people.
When Bianca Castafiore, the opera singer visiting Captain Haddock’s mansion, discovers that her prized emerald has gone missing, suspicion falls almost immediately on a group of Romani people camped nearby.
These families had been given temporary shelter by Haddock himself, yet the bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson arrive and waste no time. Without real investigation, they declare the Romani as the likely culprits.
Hergé may not shout it out, but in those panels, he captures a truth that has echoed through centuries: that some communities are always the first to be blamed, simply for existing on the margins.
The Romani community, with their nomadic roots in India and darker skin tone, fit the stereotype too neatly for a prejudiced society. Laws were passed. Borders closed to them. In many kingdoms, Roma were banned from owning land, joining guilds, or even staying in one place.
Anti-Roma laws weren’t just medieval relics. They were codified, modern, violent. In Nazi Germany, half a million Romani people were also murdered during the Holocaust. Just like the Jews. Entire communities erased. Families exterminated.
And the discrimination didn’t end in 1945.
Across Europe, to this day, Romani people face deep-rooted prejudice. They’re routinely harassed in public. Denied housing. Kept out of schools.
Some towns in Eastern Europe have literal walls separating Roma neighbourhoods from others. It is one of the most persistent and normalized forms of racism in Europe.
Even in football, it’s clear. Portuguese forward Ricardo Quaresma, one of the country’s best-known players, is Romani. He’s spoken openly about the hate he faces.
“When something happens in Portugal it’s always the fault of gypsies, blacks, immigrants.”
Every year, April 8 is celebrated as the International Romani Day. It’s not just about celebrating culture. It’s about remembering centuries of persecution. And confronting it—still alive in our world today.
Here in India, we barely speak of them. But they are part of our story. A forgotten diaspora. Possibly because we care more about reflected glory and not of those who have been marginalized. Fiction reflects something deeper. And sometimes, what it reflects is uncomfortable.
Sources:
Being a “Gypsy”: The worst social stigma in Romania – European Roma Rights Centre. (n.d.). European Roma Rights Centre. errc.org/roma-rights-jo
Young, M. (n.d.). Romani: A forgotten but somehow hated culture. Highland Piper. highlandpiper-sc.com/3352/interest/
Roma (Gypsies) in prewar Europe. (n.d.). encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/art
O’Neill, G. C. (2020, August 4). I’m a Romany Gypsy – why is racism against us still acceptable? The Guardian. theguardian.com/commentisfree/
Genocide of European Roma (Gypsies), 1939–1945. (n.d.). encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/art
Matiční Street: The wall that divided society and caused. (2025, March 21). Radio Prague International. english.radio.cz/maticni-street
Hergé. (1975). The Castafiore Emerald. Little Brown.
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