Overview
Syldavia is a monarchy, ruled at the time of King Ottokar's Sceptre by King Muskar XII. The capital is Klow, formerly Zileheroum, located at the confluence of the fictional Moltus and Wladir Rivers (after Prague, which is on the Moldau/Vltava River). Other cities named in the books are Niedzdrow, Istow, Dbrnouk, Douma and Zlip. The population of Syldavia is 642,000 with 122,000 living in Klow, suggesting the country is similar in size to Montenegro. The national airline is Syldair and the official currency is the khôr (Зилдaв хор).
Syldavia is also called "The Kingdom of the Black Pelican" and its flag is yellow with a black pelican in the center. It somewhat resembles the flag of the Holy Roman Empire, the Basque Arrano beltza, as well as the flag of Albania. However, the royal seal on the wall in King Ottokar's Sceptre bears a striking resemblance with the Coat of arms of Montenegro.
The people speak Syldavian, a Slavic-sounding West Germanic language written in Cyrillic. Curiously, the Latin alphabet is used in medieval documents, and the Cyrillic letters used are a straight transcription from the Latin letters (e.g., "sh" is written "сз" rather than "ш").
The kingdom's motto is "Eih bennek, eih blavek!" which Hergé translates as "Qui s'y frotte s'y pique" "Who rubs himself there gets stung" (in fact, the motto of Nancy, from the Latin non inultus premor, referring to its emblem, the thistle; in the British edition, the translators rendered the motto "If you gather Thistles, expect Prickles"). The motto can also be interpreted as a Brussels dialect rendering of the Dutch phrase "Hier ben ik, hier blijf ik" ("Here I am, here I stay").
Syldavians seem to be fond of mineral water, which does not go down well with the whisky-drinking Captain Haddock, one of Tintin's travelling companions.
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