Porthos (BBC)

## Porthos du Vallon

### Friends / Allies

Athos, Aramis, D'Artagnan, Sylvie Bodaire, Elodi du Vallon, Constance D'Artagnan, Treville, Queen Anne of Austria, King Louis XIII

### **Enemies**

Cardinal Richeliue, Milady de Winter (formerly), Red Guards, Emile Bonnaire, the Spanish, Count de Rouchefort, Dujon, Marguerite, Lucien Grimaud, Jacques-Michel Bonacieux

## Personal Information

### Occupation

Musketeer
General

### Likes

Playing card games and cheating at them, chivalry, justice, humor, his fellow Musketeers

### Dislikes

Injustice, threats to Paris, slavery, Red Guards, Rochefort, going to war, threats to France, D'Artagnan acting reckless, his friends in great peril, Emile Bonnaire

## Character Information

### **Inspiration**

Porthos from the original novel, *The Three Musketeers*

**Porthos** is one of the four eponymous protagonists of the BBC series, *The Musketeers*.

He is based on the character of the same name from *The Three Musketeers* by Alexandre Dumas.

## Background

Porthos is one of the noblest Musketeers who is friends with D'Artagnan, Athos and Aramis.

He was born to Marie-Cessette and an unidentified man (later revealed to be the marquis de Belgard). Porthos' mother died when he was very young and raised in the court of Miracles, where he was friends with Charon and Flea, who at one point had a romance with Porthos. He was made a Musketeer by Captain Treville, who felt guilty in his part for his part in Porthos and his mother's ordeal.

## *The Musketeers*

### Series 1

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.

In the next episode, Porthos is told by Athos to trail D'Artagnan. However, Porthos loses their student when Vadim takes D'Artagnan hostage.

In episode three, Porthos begins connecting with Emile Bonnaire, a roguish man who has a gigantic ego. During their adventure back to Paris, the Musketeers and Bonnaire are attacked by men hired by Paul Meunir.  Porthos is wounded during the fight and they are forced to retreat to Athos' old home, de la Fere. After recovering, Porthos sees that Bonnaire, the man he envied, was actually a slave trader He recieved sympathy from Athos, Aramis and d'Artagnan.

### Series 3

In series 3, Porthos is unexpectedly reunited with Aramis on one of his and D'Artagnan's and Athos' missions that involved the church Aramis was working at.

## 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 looked out for D'Artagnan as an older brother would look out for his younger brother. They 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 sa 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.