Syldavia (Syldavian: Zyldavja) is a fictional country in The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé.

[1] According to Harry Thompson's 2011 Tintin: Hergé and Its Creation, Syldavia "was an idealised portrayal of central Europe between the wars – a benevolent monarchy, peaceful village life, sturdy peasants puffing on large pipes.

The people speak Syldavian, a language that looks and sounds Slavic but is mostly based on the West Germanic Marols dialect from Brussels.

The modern Syldavia was formed in 1127 when a tribal chief called Hveghi defeated the Turkish conquerors at the battle of Zileheroum and took the name Muskar, ruling until 1168.

Borduria conquered the country during the reign of Muskar II in 1195 until Ottokar I (his real name and title being Baron Almaszout) drove them away in 1275.

The King then said the motto and decreed that the ruler of Syldavia must have hold on the sceptre, otherwise he would lose his authority, as it had saved his life.

The king is notably absent from the other stories set in or involving Syldavia – The Calculus Affair and Explorers on the Moon.

Both were set after World War II, at a time when the various Balkan monarchies providing models for the fictional Syldavia had been overthrown and their rulers exiled.

It would be blazoned heraldically as follows: Quarterly, first and fourth Or a pelican displayed sable, second and third gules two increscents in fess argent; for a crest, on a barred helmet affronty or, mantled azure doubled Or, the Royal Crown of Syldavia[6] proper; behind the shield the Royal Sceptre of Syldavia[7] and a sceptre of justice[8] in saltire; the motto "Eih bennek, eih blavek" on a scroll below the shield, pendent therefrom the badge of the Order of the Golden Pelican.

A potential maritime ensign is seen on page 61, as Tintin and the detectives are piloted on a boat to a seaplane, on the back of it having a white flag with the words SYLDAVIA written in black.

In their book Tintin Ketje de Bruxelles (Casterman, 2004 ISBN 2-203-01716-3), Daniel Justens and Alain Préaux have documented how the Syldavian language is based on Marols or Marollien, the dialect of the Marollen, a formerly working-class (though now trendy) quarter of Brussels.

Marols, which Hergé learnt from his grandmother, is a form of Dutch incorporating many words of French origin as well as a sprinkling of Spanish.

Syldavian seems to incorporate features of various Central European languages into the Marols foundation to suit Hergé's taste, such as German, Polish, Czech, and Hungarian.

There is a hint that German is the predominant second language among the less educated, as in one scene when Haddock complains he is thirsty, a Syldavian soldier does not understand him until he yells "ich bin durstig".

Within the universe, the existence of the Germanic Syldavian language (and most likely Bordurian as well) may be explained as having been brought by the in-migration of German-speakers, such as the real-life Transylvanian Saxons and Danube Swabians, perhaps as part of the larger Ostsiedlung, but whose language diverged over a thousand years due to relative isolation from the rest of the Germanic-speaking world and contact with other groups, which is in fact not unlike how Romanian developed.

It is mentioned that a prime dish in the country is szlaszeck, described by a waiter as the hind leg of a young dog in a heavy Syldavian sauce.

In the 1950s Syldavia had a secret but successful space program in the area of Sbrodj (named Sprodj in the English edition).

The Sprodj Centre has its own atomic pile for processing uranium into plutonium and has vast facilities for the research and construction of the rocket-ship which carries Tintin and his colleagues to the Moon.

The ceremonial guards at the Royal Treasure House, Klow have elaborate costumes of traditional Balkan design and are armed with halberds.

The song Sildavia from the Spanish group La Unión (Mil Siluetas, 1984) mentions this country as a land of dreams.