Pop culture
Because the Baltic states, only over a decade ago came out from under the Soviet blanket, many people around the world have never heard of Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. The fact that they are relatively obscure counties makes them mysterious and huge targets for being coined in television programs, movies and fiction for weird characters, genealogy and even religions.
Comic fans think Latvia has been misspelled, it is correctly known as Latveria the country where Marvel's Dr Doom (Victor Von Doom) lives.
A 2004 episode of the US detective show "Monk," opens with the killing of the Latvian ambassador to the United States in an elevator in New York.
There is a Latvian pimp in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, starring Nicholas Cage.
George Castanza's eccentric father from the US sitcom Sienfeld, seemed to have a predilection for squirrels. In The Conversion where George is considering converting to Latvian Orthodox religion (fictional) he's asking if this is the group that goes around mutilating squirrels and asks specifically that George stays away from squirrels.
There is an eyepatch-wearingEstonianpilot and radio expert in the Adventures of Tintin. A series of classic comic bookscreated by Belgianartist Hergé. The character, Piotr Skut (Piotr Szut) appears in two albums: The Red Sea Sharksand Flight 714.
The conabalistic evil Hannibal Lecter MD alos known as Count Hannibal Lecter VIII, comes from royal blood, his paternal side of the family hails from Lithuanian nobility.
Vilnius is the birthplace of the fictional character Marko Ramiusfrom Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October. The novel is based on a true series of events, when in1961, a Lithuanian Soviet Navy submarine captain Jonas Pleškyssailed his vessel from Klaipėdato Gotlandin Sweden, not the planned destination of Tallinn. The Soviet authorities sentenced him in his absence to death by firing squad, but the CIA hid him, first in Guatemalaand later in the United States.
Vilnius is also one of the locations featured in the video game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.
Comic fans think Latvia has been misspelled, it is correctly known as Latveria the country where Marvel's Dr Doom (Victor Von Doom) lives.
A 2004 episode of the US detective show "Monk," opens with the killing of the Latvian ambassador to the United States in an elevator in New York.
There is a Latvian pimp in the 1995 film Leaving Las Vegas, starring Nicholas Cage.
George Castanza's eccentric father from the US sitcom Sienfeld, seemed to have a predilection for squirrels. In The Conversion where George is considering converting to Latvian Orthodox religion (fictional) he's asking if this is the group that goes around mutilating squirrels and asks specifically that George stays away from squirrels.
There is an eyepatch-wearingEstonianpilot and radio expert in the Adventures of Tintin. A series of classic comic bookscreated by Belgianartist Hergé. The character, Piotr Skut (Piotr Szut) appears in two albums: The Red Sea Sharksand Flight 714.
The conabalistic evil Hannibal Lecter MD alos known as Count Hannibal Lecter VIII, comes from royal blood, his paternal side of the family hails from Lithuanian nobility.
Vilnius is the birthplace of the fictional character Marko Ramiusfrom Tom Clancy's novel The Hunt for Red October. The novel is based on a true series of events, when in1961, a Lithuanian Soviet Navy submarine captain Jonas Pleškyssailed his vessel from Klaipėdato Gotlandin Sweden, not the planned destination of Tallinn. The Soviet authorities sentenced him in his absence to death by firing squad, but the CIA hid him, first in Guatemalaand later in the United States.
Vilnius is also one of the locations featured in the video game Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.