Athos (character)

Athos
d'Artagnan Romances character
First appearance The Three Musketeers
Last appearance The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later
Created by Alexandre Dumas
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Musketeer
Title Count
Spouse(s) Milady de Winter
Children Raoul, Vicomte de Bragelonne
Religion Catholic
Nationality French

Athos, aka the Count de la Fère, is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père.[1] He is a highly fictionalised version of the historical musketeer Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615–1644).

In the novels

In The Three Musketeers, he and the other two musketeers, Porthos and Aramis, are friends of the novel's protagonist, d'Artagnan. He has a mysterious past connecting him with the villain of the novel, Milady de Winter. In one part of the book, he drunkenly implicates himself as the murderer of a sixteen-year-old girl, which disturbs d'Artagnan.

The oldest by some years, Athos is described as noble and handsome but also very secretive, drowning his secret sorrows in drink. He is very protective of d'Artagnan, the youngest, whom he treats as a son.

By the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is the Count de la Fère, who was Milady's husband before she married the Baron de Winter.

In the latter two novels, he is openly known as the Count de la Fère and is the adopted father of the young hero, Raoul, vicomte de Bragelonne (and it is ultimately revealed that he is his biological father as well). In Twenty Years After, it is left uncertain whether Athos is the father of Mordaunt (John Francis de Winter, son of Milady). Mordaunt attempts to avenge the death of his mother by killing those responsible. However, he himself dies while he and Athos struggle in the middle of the English Channel. Athos himself almost drowns in this struggle as well causing Aramis, Porthos, and d'Artagnan to lament his death for a few moments before he resurfaces.

Athos' first name is never told in the novels. However, in Dumas' play "The Youth of the Musketeers," the young Milady, then named Charlotte, calls the then Vicomte de la Fère, Olivier.

Sources

The fictional Athos is named after the historical musketeer Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle, though they don't actually have much in common apart from the name. His birthplace is the commune of Athos-Aspis in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department. The name also resembles Mount Athos, which is referred to in chapter 13 of The Three Musketeers in which a Bastille guard says, "But that is not a man's name; that is the name of a mountain." His title, Count de la Fère, while invented, is tied to the domains of La Fère which were once owned by Anne of Austria, Queen of France in these novels and in the historical period in which they are set.

In film and television

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Athos.

Actors who have played Athos on screen include:

References

  1. ↑ "The Social Psychology of Communication". google.co.uk.
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