Unlike the Blue Lotus and previous albums, in which the story takes place here Tintin evolves in imaginary country in South America. This is the first time that Hergé uses imaginary territories but eventually it will be conducted again. In the Broken Ear, San Theodoros, where there is a strong rivalry between General Tapioca and General Alcazar (which we will have occasion to return in subsequent adventures, including Tintin and Picaros) is a country that includes all the mythologies of South America. The neighboring Nuevo Rico is the enemy of San Theodoros. The conflict between these two countries for the Gran Chapo resumes Gran Chaco War between Bolivia Paraguay. The conflict broke out in 1932, the day when two oil companies were competing for the exploitation of fields located in Gran Chaco. This conflict caused 500,000 deaths in the three years of war.
In this adventure, we discover the Ridgewell explorer who lives with Arumbayas, we also find in Tintin and the Picaros. Hergé has therefore used the news by making painless to use as a backdrop to the story. The correct goes to the arms dealer Basil Zaharoff, who made his fortune by selling arms to belligerents in the First World War was thus transformed into Basil Zazaroff. But the outstanding feature of the album is the story repeatedly. The first and last pages repeat the same places, the same scenery, the same characters. At the end of the story, we fall back on his feet as if (almost) nothing happened.
