Valueaddedtax

Belgian druid, friend of Getafix

For us Gauls who hail from Armorica or Lutecia, expressions and turns of phrase used by our cousins in Belgium are a true delight, in fact we should say: «Delighted, we're sure!» And Asterix's authors, who are familiar with the habits and customs of «the bravest of all the Gaulish peoples», in the words of Caesar himself, were unable to resist this pleasure for long, because as of their third opus, they introduced the Valueaddedtax, the first Belgian to appear in the adventures of Asterix.

A mischievous druid, the kind who feeds herbs to a Roman legionary to make him bray like a donkey and leave him unable to communicate other than in completely uncontrollable «hee-haws», Valueaddedtax takes part in the Golden Menhir competition in the forest of the Carnutes, alongside his friend Getafix. Although he fails to win the trophy, which is of course awarded to the inventor of the Magic Potion, Valueaddedtax earns the respect of his peers by presenting a potion he has devised that makes the user insensitive to pain and, as he proves, allows them to remove chips from boiling oil with bare hands!

Purists will conclude from this that Valueaddedtax is a precursor, because we have to go forward 18 years, to the book Asterix in Belgium, to witness the spark of genius that gives Brawnix the idea of frying potatoes... Ah… when the Belgians appear in Asterix, it does your morale a bit of good!

In which book ?

3 - Asterix and the Goths
34 - Asterix and Obelix’s Birthday - The Golden Book