Porthos

## Relevent Pages

**Porthos du Vallon** is one of the main characters and titular characters of *The Musketeers*. He  is one of the noblest Musketeers who is best friends with D'Artagnan, Athos and Aramis, and was born to a free slave. Losing his mother at the age of five, Porthos worked through the ranks as a Musketeer.

Porthos is portrayed by series regular Howard Charles, appearing in all thirty episodes of all three seasons

## Background

At the age of five, Porthos lost his mother, Marie-Cessette, and lived in the court of Miracles, where he was friends with Flea and Charon, even having a tomato telling with Flea. Since Porthos didn't know what day he was born on, he made a birthday up. Treville discovered that Porthos was still alive and allowed him to become a Musketeer. He worked his hardest to become a Musketeer, according to Aramis and Athos. Porthos tried to take Flea with him but she bluntly refused and in turn attempted to convince him to stay. However, he did not listen to her (The Homecoming)

Through the regimen, Porthos became friends with Aramis and Athos. Together, the three of them were inseparable and became best friends.

### Family

Porthos' mother was a free slave named Marie-Cessette and his father was not identified until season 2 as the Marquis de Belgard. Through his father, Porthos' grandfather was mentioned and threatened to disown Belgard after learning of his affair with Marie-Cessette. He also had a half-sister, Eleanor Levesque.

Porthos also mentions he was named after his maternal grandfather. ("Spoils of War")

As of "We Are the Garrison," Porthos is married to Elodie du Vallon whom her helped during her giving birth to her and her previous husband's daughter. Porthos adopted her daughter and they named her Marie-Cessette in honor of his late mother.

## Storylines

### Series 1

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

Porthos first appears in the series, where he is conning Dujon, a Red Guard in a card game. Athos enters the tavern, while also warning Porthos. Throughout the game, Porthos is cheating. The Red Guard is outraged he lost to Porthos and challenges him to a duel. However, Athos knocks Dujon out and informs Porthos that Treville is looking for them. Asking where Aramis is, Porthos implies he is with his lover, Adele Bessett. When D'Artagnan appears, first meeting Porthos and the other Musketeers, he and Athos duel one another. Aramis is impressed that D'Artagnan is sticking well with Athos but Porthos notes that Athos is actually trying not to harm the young man. They go to defend Athos when d'Artagnan refuses to stand down but Athos is arrested for being suspected of being the person who killed D'Artagnan's father and highway robbery. Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan are able to prove Athos never committed the crimes accused of by finding Gaudet, one of the Red Guards and the man responsible for said crimes. At the end of the episode, Porthos asks d'Artagnan to join him for a card game as Aramis leaves while Athos gets drunk ("Friends and Enemies")

## Relationships

### Athos

Porthos and Athos both are very good friends, having known each other for years and have a strong companionship that resembles a brother relationship. Athos also enjoys Porthos' humor, as he smirked when he saw that Porthos kept a king card in his sleeve; then a second time when Queen Marie de' Medici was in town and he insulted Marie's bodyguard, Vincent. Both in turn have helped each other when each was accused of a crime that they did not commit. Athos had helped prove that Porthos did not kill a young man and Porthos took part in proving that Athos did not commit robbery and murder.

### Aramis

Out of all four Musketeers, Porthos seems to be the closest with Aramis, considering each other as 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 not a person capable of murdering a person, 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' friend Charon but no animosity formed between the two, as Aramis was protecting Porthos.

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

Porthos and D'Artagnan initially did not get along, since the latter challenged Athos to the duel and would have killed him had Porthos nor Aramis not intervened. After proving Athos' innocence, Porthos once invited D'Artagnan into playing a card game at the end of the episode. They gradually become very good friends over the course of the series. During one of their missions escorting a secret slave trader to Paris, D'Artagnan felt empathy for Porthos when he expressed his hatred towards slavery and agreed with what Porthos really felt about it. There was that one time when D'Artagnan thought Porthos was possibly guilty for killing that young man but immediately dismissed it when Aramis pointed out that Porthos was still himself and would never kill an innocent man. (Ironically, Porthos did consider himself to be guilty for a brief while). After this episode, D'Artagnan never doubted Porthos again.

Porthos could also be protective of d'Artagnan, as he easily defended him from Marsac by preventing the dishonored Musketeer to attacking d'Artagnan and threatened, "Don't go there, not if you enjoy breathing" and worried about him and King Louis when they were abducted by slave traders.

### Constance

Porthos is also good friends with Constance, probably before the series even began. Porthos knew of D'Artagnan and Constance's feeling s for each other and often supported their relationship despite her being a married woman. He once commented that she was a strong girl to D'Artagnan, (but it was more-or-less a form of Porthos apologizing about what he said about her earlier.

### Treville

Porthos has known Treville since his youth, when the captain of the Musketeers found him on the streets of Paris and offered him a position in the Musketeers because Porthos deserved it after what Treville had done to Porthos and his mother, also because Porthos was talented in a sword fight. Since then, Treville has been seen as something of a father figure to Porthos and the other Musketeers. He also once stated he would believe in the innocence of Treville rather than the word of a dishonored Musketeer.

Treville also knew of Porthos' father's name, but they didn't reveal that until season 2. In "The Prodigal Father," their relationship is strained in the episode, Porthos and Treville eventually reconcile when Porthos learns that Treville was actually trying to protect him from the truth of his biological father.