Help me, Lj-wan Kenobi.

[mrissa]

Ah! I remember what I was going to ask you lot now.

Can you think of Athos- or D'Artagnan-like characters elsewhere in literature? (The Phoenix Guards and further volumes do not count because I've already thought of them.) Gender is no object if the author doesn't make it one. Half-credit for Porthos- or Aramis-like characters. Quarter-credit for a) other characters that remind you of specific Dumas characters; b) other characters that seem like they belong in Dumas, even though you can't quite say where; or c) comparisons that make me giggle madly.

ETA: It occurs to me that my internal automatic mappings of this question onto Margaret Cho's proclamation about "The Sweet One, The Smart One, and then there's The Ho" may say very disturbing things about what I consider sweet.

Comments

[kjc.livejournal.com]

I should preface, that I was partly hoping to amuse you as well as provide a potential structure for discussion.

I am not entirely clear on the Dumas-character assignments here. Warrior and Clown in particular seem to be up for some discussion

Well, my thoughts here are that D'Artagnan is the reader's POV character, the - what's it called? there's a term for it. Is it entré character? I can't remember. Stupid brain.

Anyway, the innocent or newbie usually gets the role of clown, as well as being the reader's POV character, because s/he makes mistakes and has to have things explained (exposition). D'artagnan is our newbie, the catalyst for action, chaos, and drama.

While Porthos exhibits clownish behavior, I'd consider it a secondary characteristic rather than primary. While they all lead at various times, all fight, all clown around, and all have grave thoughts, Porthos - with his size and his appetite - seems to me to be the one that everyone automatically assumes will be the fighter.

But I could be persuaded otherwise.

The woman is always stuck being the mystic? We'll have none of that here! (I believe you that it's often the case in pirate books. I just don't care to replicate it.)

Not necessarily. If the Captain's second is particularly philosophical, he'd get the role. If there are any supernatural types or a priest, that character would get it. If the woman was the best knife thrower, or the best sneaky distraction-based seducer, she's probably end up the warrior.