Porthos

Also known as: Monsieur Porthos / the Musketeer · Family: King's Musketeers · Role: Musketeer · First appears: Chapter 2

In chapter 2, Porthos is counted among Athos and Aramis as one of the Musketeers’ inseparables, though Athos rebukes him for eating at everybody’s mess. In chapter 3, he and Aramis escape after two of their party are killed and Athos is grievously wounded; when M. de Tréville warns them against exposing their lives needlessly, they rage at him but recognize the great love behind his words. D’Artagnan admires the dignity and submission of Porthos and Aramis, then arranges a duel with Porthos behind the Luxembourg in chapter 4. The next day, Porthos and Bicarat wound each other, before Porthos, Athos, and Aramis accept D’Artagnan among them after the fight. They march arm in arm, and their shared motto becomes “All for one, one for all—that is our motto, is it not?”

Porthos serves the king’s Musketeers, with M. de Tréville as employer and patron, and Louis XIII as their king; Mousqueton enters his service under an agreement for clothing and lodging, while Porthos places Planchet in D’Artagnan’s service. In chapter 8 he loses the group’s remaining pistoles and incurs another debt, but in chapter 9 he joins D’Artagnan, Athos, and Aramis in declaring themselves at feud with the cardinal. He agrees to accompany D’Artagnan to London, accepts his share of the travel money, and follows the plan to depart together, though he is separated from the party after a duel at Chantilly. Wounded and unable to travel, he loses his seventy-five pistoles and horse in gambling, while his supposed great lady is revealed as Mme. Coquenard, who initially refuses him money.

By chapters 28–34, Porthos must finance and prepare his outfit for the campaign. Mme. Coquenard offers future assistance, reveals that their marriage contract gives everything to the survivor, and reconciles with him; she provides eight hundred livres and mounts for Porthos and Mousqueton, though Mousqueton later returns the horse and mule to the procurator’s door. Porthos remains closely tied to Athos and Aramis, playing dice with Aramis and joining the others in their dangerous ventures. In 1627, the four friends are separated and reunited around Louis XIII’s illness at Villeroy, expose a forged letter, and are ordered by Richelieu to serve as his escort. At the bastion St. Gervais, Porthos helps D’Artagnan, Athos, and Aramis win their wager by holding the bastion for an hour and defeating the attacking troop.