Aramis

Constance D'Artagnan
Queen Anne
French Army

## Relevent Pages

**Rene "Aramis" d'Herblay** is one of the main characters and one of the four titular characters of BBC's *The Musketeers*, along with Athos, D'Artagnan, and Porthos. Aramis is the medic of the four Musketeers and often the ladies' man and takes death very seriously. He is best friends with Athos, D'Artagnan, and Porthos, the lover of Queen Anne and the father of her child, Louis XIV.

Aramis is portrayed by series regular Santiago Cabrera, appearing in all thirty episodes in all three seasons.

Aramis is based on the character of the same name and an allusion to the Duke of Buckingham from *The Three Musketeers* by Alexandre Dumas. He is also an allusion to the historical Cardinal Mazarin.

## Background

At young age, Aramis was friends with a girl named Pauline while living at the brothel where his mother worked. However, his father took him away from that life to be raised by him. Aramis became engaged to a girl, Isabelle, that he got pregnant with his child. However, they did not marry each other and the engagement fell through. Eventually, when he grew older, Aramis learned from his father that his mother was dead but didn't learn it until years after his mother passed away.

Aramis joined the regiment sometime in 1622 when it was first formed. In 1625, Aramis and his friend, Marsac, were the only survivors of the Savoy massacre that involved the protection of a spy, which was the Duchess of Savoy herself. He was traumatically distressed from the event. It is unknown how they met, but eventually, Aramis met Porthos and Athos and became each others' best friends and brothers-in-arms.

### Family

Not much is known about Aramis' parents. However, it is known that Aramis' mother worked at a brothel and had an affair with Aramis' father, which resulted in their son's birth. When he was young, Aramis was taken from his mother and instead raised by his father. He also did not know that his mother had died until his father told him in his later adulthood. (Series 3)

Aramis also reveals to Athos that his parents always wanted him to be a priest. However, during a mission to protect the queen from a gunman, Aramis gives in to his feelings and sleeps with her. This liaison results in her pregnancy with their son, Louis. (Knight Takes Queen)

## Storylines

### Series 1

#### Meeting D'Artagnan - Episode 1: "Friends and Enemies"

Staying at his lover, Adele's, home, Aramis quickly leaves her room while meeting Athos and Porthos outside of the building, where the duo chastises Aramis for risking his life again. Aramis encounters D'Artagnan when he comes to accuse Athos of the murder of his father and engages in a duel with him. however, Aramis and Porthos jump to Athos' defense, fighting off D'Artagnan before they manage to overpower him. Before it got any further, Constance Bonacieux arrives at the garrison, preventing them from killing d'Artagnan. Athos was accused of murder and highway robbery and arrested. King Louis sentences Athos to death the next morning, causing Aramis and Porthos to recruit D'Artagnan, who joins them in proving Athos' innocence and also catch the men who killed D'Artagnan's father. The trio find Cornet's body along with other Musketeers, with the only clue they have is Spanish gold they find at the crime scene. They interrogate the guard that Porthos played with earlier, and the one who had the Spanish coins as well. They have Dujon lead them to where the true culprit, Gaudet is at and they infiltrate the abandoned fortress with assistance from Constance. During the skirmish, Aramis silently warns D'Artagnan that he cannot kill Gaudet after besting him in a duel. D'Artagnan spares him but Gaudet attempts to kill him until Aramis warns him right as the young Gascon kills Gaudet in self-defense. They  are able to find evidence that proves that Athos is innocent of the highway robbery and are able to get his sentence overturned. At the local tavern, Aramis leaves to visit Adele, but finds that she has gone and is unaware of her death.

#### Episode 9: "Knight Takes Queen"

Aramis and his comrades escort Queen Anne and her ladies on a journey to Borbon-les-eaux to take the waters near a convent, in hopes that she will become fertile and bear the king a son. Though Aramis initially enjoys the outing, he quickly grows bored and begins to miss the "excitement" and "danger" of Paris.

Unbeknownst to the Musketeers, an assassin has been hired to attempt to kill the queen so that the king can wed the daughter of a wealthy noble whose bank could finance France's wars, but one of her ladies in waiting is caught in the crossfire. Ordered by Athos to get the Queen to safety, Aramis takes her to a nearby convent where they are granted shelter, and the other Musketeers later meet them there.

While there, Aramis comes face to face with a ghost from his past: A former lover named Isabelle, who is now a nun and has taken the name of "Sister Helene". It is eventually revealed that Isabelle fell pregnant with Aramis' child when they were younger. They were supposed to marry, but she was instead sent to a convent, and Aramis never knew what became of her or the child til that day. Through the course of the episode, Sister Helene and the other nuns aid the Musketeers in protecting the queen. Isabelle is eventually taken hostage by the would-be assassins, forcing Aramis to shoot her to stop them. Despite his best efforts, she dies from her wounds and he blames himself. That night, while he protects her as she prepares for bed, Anne attempts to console Aramis by revealing that she too, has lost a child (very early in pregnancy when she and Louis were first married). Aramis, still distraught, confesses to Anne that he no longer believes he's worthy of love as every woman who loves him dies; she, in turn assures him that any woman would be fortunate to receive the love of a good man like him. Overwhelmed by their feelings, both of grief and for each other, Aramis kisses Anne passionately, carries her to bed, and the two make love. Athos later witnesses them sleeping curled in each other's arms and confronts Aramis, but there is no time to address the issue as the assassins resurface.

### Series 3

#### "Death of a Hero"

When King Louis decides he must make a pilgrimage to visit the tomb of his father, he entreats Aramis to travel with him citing the latter's religious devotion and former status as a monk. Aramis, still eager to prove his worth after his time away in the monastery, agrees. The king begins to distribute gold coins in the churches around the kingdom as he desperately searches for a way to ensure that his soul will be at peace in Heaven after death.

Aramis chides the king for drawing attention to them with this display, as they were attempting to keep his identity a secret from the people, due to the scheming of the Marquis de Feron and his henchman Grimaud who both want Louis dead. On their final stop, Louis and Aramis visit the tomb of Louis' father, where the King reveals the real reason Aramis was asked to accompany him: He knows that Aramis slept with his wife, Queen Anne. In a heated argument, Louis forces Aramis to admit the truth, despite Aramis' insistence that there is nothing to be gained by it. After Louis tells him that he will hang for treason, he begins to cough up blood as a shaken Aramis leaves to investigate a nearby gunshot.

Louis puts aside his grievances with Aramis long enough for the marksman to teach him how to fire a pistole, and together they fight off the men who have been sent to kill them. Feron is mortally wounded in the process, and Aramis witnesses his final moments with Louis at his side. By the end of the episode, Louis has decided that it would be unwise to sentence Aramis to death.

## Personality

Aramis is virtuous Musketeer who is brave, honorable, and somewhat of a roguish figure. He was quite the romantic, often swaying women who were taken in by his charm, including the Queen Anne and her handmaiden. However, the only time it hardly swayed them was at the society that Countess Nione owned.

He shows loyalty towards his friends, valuing friendship above everything else. For example, Aramis was dedicated to proving Athos' innocence when he was accused of murder, something he didn't commit and even always giving hugs when saying goodbye to the friends he left behind when leaving to serve God the rest of his days and also giving D'Artagnan a large embrace after becoming an official musketeer. Aramis believed they deserved justice, especially when it comes to accusations against them.

He can sometimes be quite religious, even wearing a cross the queen gave him that keeps with him at all times.While his friend Athos takes drinking very seriously, Aramis does so with death, even giving his enemies their last rites when they are dying, showing he is quite a religious and respectful person. He honors the death as best as he can, even praying with the cross that Queen Anne gave him and often closes the dead's eyes. He even moved to close the deceased Rochefort's eyes after he died but Anne said, "No Aramis, not for him" showing the honorable side Aramis had to even his enemies.

Aramis also had a dry sense of humor. An example of this in season one, episode three, where he sarcastically says that the man they were transporting will live off riches while they die on a battlefield while pouring the ale on the drink, showing his sarcastic sense of humor.

## Relationships

### Friends

#### Athos

Aramis and Athos are as different as day and night, as they have different views, especially while Aramis takes death seriously, Athos takes drinking seriously. Though they have many differences, Athos and Aramis are de-facto brothers and very close with one another. It is this friendship that causes Aramis to defend his best friend from anything, including a very enraged D'Artagnan when he thought Athos killed his father. Aramis immediately warned Athos of D'Artagnan's dagger and came to his best friend's aid and were willing to protect Athos from being taken into custody. Of course, Aramis decided to even go to D'Artagnan to save his friend of execution.

Of course, out of the four musketeers, Athos is more familiar with Aramis' past romances, as Athos knew of Aramis' relationship with the Queen and how he enjoyed a romantic relationship with the mistress of the Cardinal's. Of course, Aramis' relationships tended to get in trouble, as Athos puts it, wishes Aramis wasn't "that stupid" in sleeping with married women but that was not the case. Athos still kept Aramis' secret relationship with Anne a secret away from their other friends.

#### Porthos

Main article:Porthos and Aramis
Though close with all the Musketeers, Porthos and Aramis consider each other best friends. Meeting under unknown circumstances, they probably met each other when they joined the Regiment. He and Porthos worked together with D'Artagnan to prove that Athos was accused of murder. Aramis was highly concerned for his best friend when Porthos was nearly fatally injured by a group of bandits and made his healing his top priority. Aramis was also confident that Porthos was accused of murdering a man, even manhandling D'Artagnan when saying Porthos probably did do it, showing that Aramis doesn't like it when even a friend accuses Porthos of something he didn't do it. In the same episode, Aramis killed Porthos's friend Charon before he could kill his friend.

However, despite their closeness, Aramis did not tell Porthos of his romantic relationship with the Queen and showed concern for Porthos when he and the other Musketeers thought he was in danger in the presence of his father. Porthos remained unaware of Aramis' brief relationship with Queen Anne until part one of the series two finale, where Porthos expressed anger that Aramis slept with the queen and not telling them about it.

#### D'Artagnan

Main article: D'Artagnan and Aramis
Aramis' role is akin to that of an older brother, as he supports D'Artagnan whenever and wherever and both are protective of each other. They initially had an unhealthy relationship, as D'Artagnan attacked Aramis and Porthos when they were going in to defend Athos. Regardless of their temporary duel earlier that morning, Aramis and Porthos go to D'Artagnan for help in order to prove Athos' innocence. Throughout their mission, Aramis remained sympathetic to D'Artagnan, as other than worrying about Athos, Aramis used the plea to help them in order to find his father's killer as well. Also, at the end of the episode, Aramis ironically yells for D'Artagnan to watch out for Gaudet's attack while in the earlier part of the episode, Aramis was warning Athos for D'Artagnan's attack.

In episode 2, Aramis was disgusted at the thought of betraying d'Artagnan, as he and and Athos and Aramis are disciplined in front of the whole regiment. He later teased d'Artagnan over Constance, with Aramis telling d'Artagnan that Madame Bonacieux likes him.  Their friendship went a long way by episode 3. Aramis sometimes doesn't like it when D'Artagnan has his aggressive and reckless side getting the best of him, even going far as to restrain D'Artagnan when he was going to attack Porthos' guards. During episode four, Aramis confided to D'Artagnan about the massacre at Savoy. Aramis also had d'Artagnan assist him when one of his old friends, Marsac, re-appeared and took full responsibility for it, claiming none of it was D'Artagnan's fault. Also, in the same episode when Constance turns in anger ond 'Artagnan, Aramis comforts that Constance will forgive him.

Though they have different opinions, they still respect them each, shown in "The Homecoming." Aramis later congratulated D'Artagnan for finally becoming a musketeer and embracing him for his commission from the King.

#### Constance

Constance and Aramis have been friends for a fairly long time. However, she sometimes did not get along with Aramis, seeing that Constance had slapped him when he was seemingly cold and careless about D'Artagnan's safety Other than that, Constance and Athos are fairly on good terms with each other.

### Romances

#### Isabelle

Isabelle was a young woman whom Aramis got pregnant. They were engaged to be married in order for their child to be legitimate. However, when Isabelle lost the baby, her father broke of the wedding and took his daughter to become a nun by her decision. Aramis didn't see her until many years later, where she had became known as Sister Helene. She was one of the few women who were tragically killed. She is also one of the reasons why Aramis decides to stay away from Queen Anne and one of the women Aramis wished he didn't lose.

#### Adele Besette

> "*I love Aramis...*"
> ― Adele's last words
>
>

Before the series, Aramis has a romantic relationship with Adele Bessette, who was also the mistress of the Cardinal. They loved each other very much, as even Adele when she was dying she proclaimed her profound love for Aramis. When he came to visit her one night, Aramis was told that Adele had left to live in the countryside in the Cardinal's house and that led Aramis to believe that Adele had chose the Cardinal over him and didn't learn of her death until series two. When he learned her death, Aramis was immediately sadden as all girls he's been with have died and that also prompted him to stay away from Queen Anne as Athos warned him.

#### Queen Anne

Anne fell in love with Aramis when he saved her life in season 1, episode 2. In the same episode, she gives him a jewel cross necklace in gratitude for saving her life. Later, in episode 9, Aramis and Anne sleep together, which results in her getting pregnant with his son. Only Athos was knowledgeable of this secret until revealing it to d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Treville one season later.

During series two, Aramis and Anne continue harboring romantic feelings for one another, especially now that they have a son together. However, it sort of complicates things because Anne is married to Louis. Anne continues having extreme faith in Aramis and the Musketeers When he was thrown out the window, Anne believed him to be dead and cried in relief when Aramis returned alive. Aramis is also protective of Anne, and was incredibly enraged when he learned Rochefort had tried to force himself on her and even rescued Queen Anne from being murdered by Rochefort in the end of the episode.

At the beginning of series 3, Anne and Aramis continued holding romantic feelings for one another but couldn't commit into a relationship because she was still married. At the end of the series, they resume their relationship as they were seen kissing each other at the end of the series. .

## Trivia

* Aramis, along with d'Artagnan, Athos and Porthos, are the only characters who appear in all thirty episodes