Aramis

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

Aramis serves as a Musketeer in the King’s Musketeers, also known as Monsieur Abbé or Monsieur Aramis. In chapter 2, he is counted among Porthos’s friends and is associated with courtship of Mme. d’Aiguillon and Madame de Bois-Tracy, while belonging with Athos and Porthos to a settled trio. After escaping with Porthos from the fight in which two Musketeers died and Athos was grievously wounded, he faces D’Artagnan over the handkerchief identified as Madame de Bois-Tracy’s and regards him as a mortal enemy. Soon afterward, at the convent of the Carmes Déchaussés, Aramis fights beside Athos, Porthos, and D’Artagnan, killing one opponent and forcing another to ask for mercy; the victorious encounter begins D’Artagnan’s apprenticeship with the Musketeers.

Aramis serves under M. de Tréville, whose concern for his Musketeers can anger him and Porthos even as they recognize the love behind it, and under Louis XIII, whose Musketeers oppose the Guardsmen belonging to Richelieu. He has Bazin as his lackey, receives advances on his pay from M. de Tréville, and maintains connections with Madame de Chevreuse, Monsieur Putange, Monsieur Voiture, Monsieur Patru, Godeau, and Kitty. In chapter 7, he explains that he serves as a Musketeer unwillingly and intends to return to the Church: “A Musketeer for a time, my friend, as the cardinal says, a Musketeer against my will, but a churchman at heart, believe me.” From chapter 9 onward, he stands with Athos, Porthos, and D’Artagnan under their shared motto, “All for one, one for all—that is our motto, is it not?”

In chapter 19, Aramis receives leave and joins D’Artagnan’s expedition to London, accepting D’Artagnan as its head while the others carry out his decisions. He is later delayed at Crèvecœur by a ball in his shoulder, then in chapter 26 declares that his resolution to pursue ordination is irrevocable, recounting that he left the seminary and became a Musketeer after killing an officer who had insulted him. A letter confirming that the woman he loves still loves him changes his course, and he abandons his ascetic meal for an elaborate feast. He receives a richly equipped horse from D’Artagnan, sells it at Crèvecœur, accepts one hundred and fifty Spanish double pistoles for his equipment, and secures Kitty a position through Madame de Bois-Tracy. He continues beside Athos, Porthos, and D’Artagnan through confinement at Villeroy, the fight at the Red Dovecot, the capture and defense of the bastion St. Gervais, and their wager with M. de Busigny; Richelieu also orders him to serve as an escort.