D'Artagnan

> "*All I know is that d'Artagnan has it in him to be a fine Musketeer, perhaps the greatest of us all. But now? We'll never know, because you have stolen his best chance to prove it.*"
> ― Athos to Treville
>
>

**Captain D'Artagnan** is one of the main characters and one of the four titular protagonists on BBC's *The Musketeers*. He was portrayed by starring cast member Luke Pasqualino.

## Background

D'Artagnan was born on the countryside of France and was raised on his family farm by his parents. At an unknown point, his mother, Madame D'Artagnan, had passed away, possibly leaving Alexandre to raise D'Artagnan on his own. From a young age, D'Artagnan learned how to use a sword and became an excellent swordsman.

His cousin, Espoir claims that he was a better shot than D'Artagnan was.

## Throughout *The Musketeers*

### Series 1

#### Friends and Enemies

While d'Artagnan and his father stay at the inn the day before going to Paris, robbers disguised in masks attack the inn, where D'Artagnan's father, Alexandre, is murdered and dies right before him while muttering his killer's supposed name: Athos. Hellbent on revenge, D'Artagnan goes to Paris, where he has a one-night stand with Milady de Winter, who kills a man and frames d'Artagnan for the murder. He later meets Constance Bonacieux, the wife of the local clothing maker. After she revives him, D'Artagnan goes to the Musketeers' garrison and duels the real Athos and when Porthos and Aramis come to their friend's aid, D'Artagnan fights them until they overpower him and Constance stops the duel from going any further and the king's guards have come to arrest Athos for suspected murder and robbery. Before he leaves, Athos tells D'Artagnan that he is not the killer of Alexandre. Aramis and Porthos recruit D'Artagnan to find the people responsible for framing Athos and killing his father. Their clues lead them to the Red Guard Dujon, who Porthos fought with earlier. They infiltrate the true culprit, Captain Gaudet's hideout, where d'Artagnan confronts Gaudet. He nearly kills him but Aramis stops D'Artagnan, who spares Gaudet. However, the captain attempts to kill him but D'Artagnan (thanks to Aramis warning him) quickly kills Gaudet.  Their evidence gives them enough to free Athos and get his sentance overturned. Silently, Athos gives thanks to D'Artagnan for his help. He later goes to the tavern with Porthos\, Aramis an d Athos, while starting training to be a Musketeer.

#### Sleight of Hand

D'Artagnan's first mission as a Musketeer trainee was to infiltrate Vadim's gang and figure out what he did with the gunpowder Vadim had stolen.  However, Athos is uneasy of trusting D'Artagnan, believing that he is just a Gascon farm boy who is not ready for the job, but possibly because he feels responsible for D'Artagnan. Things take an unexpected turn when a prison break goes out. Vadim and his gang take D'Artagnan with them, something that was not part of the Musketeers' plan. Having infiltrate Vadim's inner circle, he reports back to Athos, Aramis and Porthos while they also explain to Constance d'Artagnan is innocent and that the duel was just part of a ploy. Believing it to be too dangerous, Athos wishes to pull D'Artagnan out of the mission. However, he is forced to let him in order to figure out how to stop Vadim. However, he is flushed out of the Bonacieuxs' house and nearly captured by red Guards but Milady manages to save him. She seduces him and tries to get him into revealing where Vadim is. D'Artagnan is suddenly flushed out due to Suzette, Vadim's mistress. Porthos (who was trailing D'Artagnan on Athos' orders to ensure his safety) loses track when Vadim takes D'Artagnan and ties him to a barrel of the gunpowder they were looking for. However, D'Artagnan is able to escape and mortally wounds Vadim. With the threat out of the way, d'Artagnan's name is cleared. He returns to his bedroom, where he sees a crushed bluebell on his pillow from Milady.

#### Commodities

Porthos and Aramis turn to Paris whiled d'Artagnan returns to la Fére, where it has been set on fire by Milady de Winter and he realizes that Athos is still inside and goes in to rescue his friend. After they escape, Athos reveals thanks his wife did this and that she has been alive this whole time.

### Series 3

#### The Prize

D'Artagnan goes to assist his wife with hiding the Dauphin and has her and Sylvie leave. However, Grimaud and the Red Guards kidnap both D'Artagnan and the young King of France. During a confrontation between Grimaud and D'Artagnan and his brothers, Treville is shot before their very eyes, while they watch him die of his wounds and grieve for their former Captain's death.

## Abilities

* **Swordsmanship** - Despite only being eighteen years old, D'Artagnan is skilled with a sword. His combat skills can be matched with that of Athos'.

## Personality

In terms of personality, D'Artagnan is more similar to his mentor and best friend, Athos, than he realizes.
There are times when D'Artagnan acts to rash, and as Athos puts it, thinks D'Artagnan should fight with his head over heart and should keep a clear mind when fighting his enemies in order to remain calm in battle and ignore their taunting. Sometimes, D'Artagnan could get very hot-tempered and the others have to stop him from doing anything that might not only hurt the opponent, but D'Artagnan as well.

D'Artagnan is as brave as they come, and is a very excellent friend and opponent. Though D'Artagnan can be hot-tempered, he is very devoted to his friends and will willingly do anything to risk it all for them and shows a protective side of his wife, Constance. This was exemplified when the Musketeers confronted Milady de Winter held Constance prisoner, D'Artagnan would have went to attack milady should she hurt her and depressed when he thought Aramis had been shot dead and fell out the window.

D'Artagnan is also a very honorable man and has shown that he detests those who lacked it. For when he had the chance to kill Gaudet, the man who killed his father, D'Artagnan knew he was a very dishonorable man and that death in battle was "too honorable" for him. He also showed willingness to kill Eleanor Levesque, Porthos' half-sister, since she was willing to sell innocent young girls to slavery. He also immensely disliked Armand Richelieu, especially confessing this to Milady de Winter in the Series One finale.

## Relationships

### Family

D'Artagnan's father, Alexandre was killed by a man claiming to be the Musketeer Athos. D'Artagnan made it his duty to avenge his father's death, showing that D'Artagnan loved his father very much.. Though he wanted to kill the man who murdered his father, D'Artagnan refrained, chosing for his father's killer that an honorable death in battle was too good for him and deserved to be executed for causing his father's death.

Revealed in series 3, episode 7, D'Artagnan has a cousin named Espoir. Though they get on each other's nerves, the cousins show that they care for one another.

### Athos

Athos is one of D'Artagnan's best friends but they did not get off on the right foot, as the younger man believed Athos to be responsible for his father's murder and even challenged him to the duel. Throughout the fight, Athos did his best not to harm D'Artagnan in their duel. However, the two men are both on the sword-fighting level. Later, when Athos was leaving the execution area, the two of them just breifly looked at each other as Athos silently thanked D'Artagnan.

By episode 2, Athos thought D'Artagnan wasn't fit to expose Valdim and infiltrate his order and thought Valdim killed him. In episode 3, Athos finally confesses to D'Artagnan his darkest secret, and promised to Athos he would not tell anyone else. During "The Challenge," Athos advised him how to fight with his head and not with his heart and expressed that D'Artagnan was ready to get a commission from the king.

### Aramis

Aramis is another one of the three best friends of D'Artagnan's. Initially having an antagonistic relationship and Aramis attacking him to protect Athos, Aramis and Porthos came to D'Artagnan for help on proving Athos' innocence.

Aramis also often had to stop him from doing something too rash, even if it meant literally holding him back before he could do something. Later, though Aramis took great offense in D'Artagnan thinking Porthos could kill someone and pinning him against the wall, he merely patted D'Artagnan on the shoulder. During series 2, D'Artagnan became closer to Aramis and the other Musketeers, and even temporarily grieved when he thought that Aramis was thrown out the window. He was later shocked to learn that Aramis had a sexual relationship with Queen Anne and told him that he could have protected the Queen's reputation by not sleeping with her. D'Artagnan was willing to protect Aramis, even trying to get to him when the Red Guards arrested him and even expressed worry by yelling that Aramis was in danger and at Rochefort's mercy

They often hugged each other, as Aramis hugged D'Artagnan when he became a Musketeer and when Aramis was leaving, etc. They reunited with him five years later.

### Porthos

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 series one. 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 the ordeal. 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. D'Artagnan probably never doubted Porthos again afterwards.

### Milady de Winter

D'Artagnan once had a one-night-stand with Milady de Winter, who constantly tries manipulating events to get D'Artagnan on her side, often trying to manipulate his friendships with Athos and the other Musketeers. However, things turned sour after learning she was Athos' wife.When she announced that she held Constance hostage, D'Artagnan would have attacked her had Athos not intervened.

He adviced her not to play the astronomer's game while they were held prisoner and was reluctant to trust her when she was helping them protect the queen

### Constance

*Main article: Constance and D'Artagnan*

> "*D'Artagnan can't know about this, not now. It will only distract him."
> "You know he loves her."*"
> ― Athos and Aramis
>
>

Constance is D'Artaganan's former lover and eventual wife and truly, they love one another. It is revealed in the first episode of Season 2, they had sexual intercourse.

Throughout the series, D'Artagnan shows a protective side of his wife. This was exemplified when the Musketeers confronted Milady de Winter held Constance prisoner, D'Artagnan would have went to attack Milady should she hurt her.

Throughout Season 2, the two struggle in their relationship. After her husband's death, D'Artagnan and Constance commit themselves to their romance. They married in the second season finale two episodes after Constance's first husband was killed by the Princess Louise impostor two episodes later.

### Queen Anne

D'Artagnan is loyal to Anne, the Queen of France, even helping protecting her when her life was threatened. He advised her to hire Constance as a lady-in-waiting and confidante. He later stood by her when she was accused of treason in season 2.

## Trivia

* Centric episodes: Friends and Enemies, Sleight of Hand, The Challenge, and Musketeers Don't Die Easily, An Ordinary Man, Through a Glass Darkly, A Marriage of Inconvenience, Spoils of War, The Hunger, To Play the King, and We Are the Garrison.
* D'Artagnan and Aramis both entered a relationship with a married woman.
* As of "We Are the Garrison," D'Artagnan is the only one of the four musketeers to not have children. Aramis fathered Prince Louis XIV, Athos fathered a child with Sylvie, and Porthos adopted his wife's child.
* D'Artagnan was the second musketeer to get married after Athos but before Porthos.
* According to the BBC series, Athos and D'Artagnan are on the same level of sword-fighting.  To prove D'Artagnan is a talented sword-fighter, he even defeated Rochefort who had more years of experience fighting. However, he was defeated by Grimaud in   a duel between himself and  Athos and D'Artagnan
* Considers Athos his best friend. *("Musketeers Don't Die Easily")*
* D'Artagnan and Constance are each other's true love, since even after they broke up in "The Challenge" they still loved each other and eventually committed another relationship , even kissing each other in front of the royal family,  and eventually married each other in series 2.

## Comparison from the source material

* Both book and series iterations are about twenty years old and were heading to Paris but under different intentions: D'Artagnan intends to avenge his father's death. In the novel, d'Artagnan goes to Paris to be a Musketeer.
* D'Artagnan believes Athos killed his father and challenges him to a duel. Aramis and Porthos join in on a duel in order to defend Athos. In the novel, D'Artagnan does challenge the three Musketeers after he unintentionally offended them.
* Constance is a woman that D'Artagnan falls in love with and they both begin a secret relationship. However, Constance is poisoned by Milady.
* In the novel and television series, D'Artagnan kills Rochefort. Series D'Artagnan briefly duels Rochefort and kills him during the skirmish in the palace walls after he is exposed of being the traitor. In the novel, Book D'Artagnan kills Rochefort in *Twenty Years Later* during a duel.
* In the novels, Athos and D'Artagnan have something of a father/son relationship. However, since their closer in age in the series, they have more of a brother relationship.
* It is d'Artagnan in the series who advises Queen Anne to hire Constance as her lady-in-waiting. However, by the time he met Constance in the book and most iterations, she was already Queen Anne's lady-in-waiting.

## Appearances

* Series 1
* Series 2
* Series 3

* **S1, E01:** "Friends and Enemies"
* **S1, E02:** "Sleight of Hand"
* **S1, E03:** "Commodities"
* **S1, E04:** "The Good Soldier"
* **S1, E05:** "The Homecoming"
* **S1, E06:** "The Exiles"
* **S1, E07:**"A Rebellious Woman"
* **S1, E08:** "The Challenge"
* **S1, E09:** "Knight Takes Queen"
* **S1, E10:** "Musketeers Don't Die Easily"

- **S2, E01:** "Keep Your Friends Close"

- **S2, E02:** "An Ordinary Man"

- **S2, E03:** "The Good Traitor"

- **S2, E04:** "Emilie"

- **S2, E05:** "The Return"

- **S2, E06:** "Through a Glass Darkly"

- **S2, E07:** "A Marriage of Inconvenience"

- **S2, E08:** "The Prodigal Father"

- **S2, E09:** "The Accused"

- **S2, E10:** "Trial and Punishment"

- **S3, E01:**"Spoils of War"

- **S3, E02:**"The Hunger"

- **S3, E03:**"Brother in Arms"

- **S3, E04:**"The Queen's Diamonds"

- **S3, E05:**"To Play the King"

- **S3, E06:**"Death of a Hero"

- **S3, E07:**"Fool's Gold"

- **S3, E08:**"Prisoners of War"

- **S3, E09:**"The Prize"

- **S3, E10:**"We Are the Garrison"

## References

1. ↑ Based on Luke Pasqualino's age when filming, which was twenty three and based on the fact the show takes place in 1630
2. ↑ "Friends and Enemies"
3. ↑ "Commodities"
4. ↑ "The Challenge"
5. ↑ "Musketeers Don't Die Easily"