Character Application/Information
Jan. 18th, 2012 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thestormcomesName: Alex
DW:uncalendula
E-Mail: aceattorneyatlol[at]gmail.com
IM: uncalendula
Character Name: Comte Olivier d'Athos de la Fère (Athos, for convenience's sake.)
Series: The Three Musketeers (2011 film)
Timeline: Post-Movie
Canon Resource Link: Mostly The Three Musketeers (2011 film), but liberties were also taken with the original novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Character Background: Our miraculously anachronistic adventure begins in Venice, Italy, where Athos & Co. (Porthos, Aramis, and Milady de Winter, respectively) are working a job together to acquire Leonardo da Vinci's plans for a war machine of extravagant proportions. France has big plans, you see.
The mission is success after utilizing the party's skills in espionage, 17th century scuba diving, brute strength, and the nimble dodging of booby traps. And so a toast is in order! Celebrating their victory with some very fine Chambertin, Milady and Athos exchange words of affection, and the audience sees him smile genuinely for the first - and what feels like the last - time. Little do our three heroes know that darling Milady has betrayed them.
Poisoning their wine cups with a toxin activated by the presence of a liquid, the men collapse and as Athos loses consciousness, a sly English bastard tugs the war machine plans from him and strolls away with his wife.
This is the moment when Athos starts hating life.
Fast-forward to one year in the future, where Porthos spends his time buying fancy doublets with noblewomen's money, Aramis tickets horses parked in tow-away zones, and Athos is a full-time alcoholic and city drunk, and they all live together in a rented townhouse similar to a college fraternity.
Athos is the first to meet D'Artagnan, the cocksure upstart from Gascony, and accept his proposal for a duel. D'Artagnan has also made enemies of Porthos and Aramis, and all four men meet at a community yard to duel. But alas! Their revelries are interrupted by a slew of guards belonging to Cardinal Richelieu, who has banned public fighting. As decent former Musketeers (budget cuts had them lose their jobs in the recession), Athos, Porthos, and Aramis join D'Artagnan in taking out all forty footsoldiers with remarkable ease.
Since the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend, Porthos and Aramis invite D'Artagnan to stay with them, much to Athos' grumpiness. It is here that we learn of the man's bitterness, to some extent. He believes in three things: money, his blade, and alcohol. Heroes are dead, the Musketeers are but a dream, love is an illusion, and France is going to Hell in a handbasket.
...do you blame him, really?
Called to court by King Louis XIII for their "shenanigans" with the Cardinal's guards, the three Musketeers and D'Artagnan are given a firm reprimand and some classy new clothes. They are then invited to the royal welcome of a royal guest the very next day, and Athos is delighted (read: horrified) to see that it is Lord Buckingham of England, the very same man who took his prize (And his wife. And his dignity.) a year prior. Needless to say, it is not a happy reunion.
Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan are informed of a plot to frame the Queen of France as Lord Buckingham's lover, which would undoubtedly lead the country to war - Louis and his frivolous ways would be overthrown, replaced by Cardinal Richelieu, who would ultimately rise to power.
They travel to Britannia to attack Buckingham's stronghold by sending D'Artagnan in as a decoy while the others commandeer the illustrious lord's airship. Payback is so, so sweet. Milady, who has been working as a double-crossing double agent this entire time, is taken hostage by the new captains of the skies, and Athos prepares himself to execute her several hundred feet in the air. She jumps from the side of the ship instead, to spare him the bullet - and the heartache.
After another exciting fight sequence involving flying ships and battles and ineffective cannonballs, D'Artagnan defeats Rochefort and they crash-land Buckingham's stolen ship into King Louis' backyard. The Queen's reputation saved and a war averted, the Musketeers (D'Artagnan included this time) are offered positions by the Cardinal, which they tactfully refuse. They're already employed, anyway.
All for one, and one for all.
Plot of the story aside, this interpretation of Athos places him in a role similar to that of the novel. The oldest and most experienced in the group, he is the noble, unspoken leader and often the quietest, opting to think before he acts. To the stranger he comes off as polite and well-spoken, as he was once a Count with extensive acres of property in La Fère. His wife's betrayal, however, made him cold. Cynical and jaded by the cruelties of life and love - made that much more searing with the excessive amounts of alcohol he imbibes - Athos is an undoubtedly bitter man with serious problems. He does not trust easily, but those friends he has are friends he keeps. He is charming when the occasion calls for it, practical and pragmatic, and will not hesitate to bite back when pushed too hard.
To sum up: Making an enemy of Athos would be ill-advised.
Abilities/Special Powers: A remarkably proficient fencer, adept with blades of all shapes and sizes, Athos very rarely loses a fight when swords are the preferred weapon of choice. Firearms are not his forte, though he has decent enough aim (Particularly if he's using a flamethrower) with them no thanks to the kickback, and crossbows are even easier for him to handle. Athos is also a skilled diver, can hold his breath underwater for apparently an ungodly amount of time, and will sometimes make use of a treated leather suit (See Fig. A) for important missions that require the utmost stealth.
Third-Person Sample:
What he had loved most about her was himself. That is, his dignity and that strength which made him superior to other men. That strength was his life. With a word, she had broken it.
Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers. Perhaps it was simply a shame that Athos had never invested that much faith in something he could not see, resting on his laurels, fighting for the sake of fighting and putting trust in his blade and his friends because they were all he had.
He never intended to fall in love. The poets spoke so highly of it, the swooning and ardor, the lengthy courtship. It was not so with Milady. There was no slow burn, but a wicked wildfire that scorched him through to dust before he could realize what had happened. She had loved him in return – she must have, once, unless the wiles of a woman, thick with lies, had fooled him from the beginning.
But love is the most selfish of our passions, and he only saw what he wanted to see.
Embittered, raked over her coals and out of a job, the one satisfaction drawn from the end of a long day was at the bottom of a bottle. But even she had ruined wine for him, poisoned him with his own vintage and every cup thereafter was a filthy reminder of her treachery.
Lifting a hand to beckon the barkeep to him, Athos could only hope that he could drink enough to forget she ever did so in the first place.
First-Person Sample:
Hm.
[A fairly tall man, pewter wine cup clutched in one hand as if to make a toast, is standing at the end of the pier. He glances curiously over one shoulder towards the sea, frowns, and looks back up to the shore. Stooping to pick up a small, polished-brass box of sorts, he begins to walk.
The man swallows the rest of his wine and tramps through the sand. Odd. He's fairly certain that he'd been in a tavern with his three friends only moments ago. Perhaps he'd gotten drunk. Forgotten the evening. Somehow...ended up on a beach...]
...Is anyone there?
[Up the dune, over the edge, shielding his eyes from the sun and heading over to what appears to be a country villa. Whose estate is this? The architecture is so...not French.]
Porthos. Aramis?
[The frown deepens, and the man of few words tucks the empty cup away to shout one more name.]
D'Artagnan!
DW:
uncalendulaE-Mail: aceattorneyatlol[at]gmail.com
IM: uncalendula
Character Name: Comte Olivier d'Athos de la Fère (Athos, for convenience's sake.)
Series: The Three Musketeers (2011 film)
Timeline: Post-Movie
Canon Resource Link: Mostly The Three Musketeers (2011 film), but liberties were also taken with the original novel by Alexandre Dumas.
Character Background: Our miraculously anachronistic adventure begins in Venice, Italy, where Athos & Co. (Porthos, Aramis, and Milady de Winter, respectively) are working a job together to acquire Leonardo da Vinci's plans for a war machine of extravagant proportions. France has big plans, you see.
The mission is success after utilizing the party's skills in espionage, 17th century scuba diving, brute strength, and the nimble dodging of booby traps. And so a toast is in order! Celebrating their victory with some very fine Chambertin, Milady and Athos exchange words of affection, and the audience sees him smile genuinely for the first - and what feels like the last - time. Little do our three heroes know that darling Milady has betrayed them.
Poisoning their wine cups with a toxin activated by the presence of a liquid, the men collapse and as Athos loses consciousness, a sly English bastard tugs the war machine plans from him and strolls away with his wife.
This is the moment when Athos starts hating life.
Fast-forward to one year in the future, where Porthos spends his time buying fancy doublets with noblewomen's money, Aramis tickets horses parked in tow-away zones, and Athos is a full-time alcoholic and city drunk, and they all live together in a rented townhouse similar to a college fraternity.
Athos is the first to meet D'Artagnan, the cocksure upstart from Gascony, and accept his proposal for a duel. D'Artagnan has also made enemies of Porthos and Aramis, and all four men meet at a community yard to duel. But alas! Their revelries are interrupted by a slew of guards belonging to Cardinal Richelieu, who has banned public fighting. As decent former Musketeers (budget cuts had them lose their jobs in the recession), Athos, Porthos, and Aramis join D'Artagnan in taking out all forty footsoldiers with remarkable ease.
Since the enemy of one's enemy is one's friend, Porthos and Aramis invite D'Artagnan to stay with them, much to Athos' grumpiness. It is here that we learn of the man's bitterness, to some extent. He believes in three things: money, his blade, and alcohol. Heroes are dead, the Musketeers are but a dream, love is an illusion, and France is going to Hell in a handbasket.
...do you blame him, really?
Called to court by King Louis XIII for their "shenanigans" with the Cardinal's guards, the three Musketeers and D'Artagnan are given a firm reprimand and some classy new clothes. They are then invited to the royal welcome of a royal guest the very next day, and Athos is delighted (read: horrified) to see that it is Lord Buckingham of England, the very same man who took his prize (And his wife. And his dignity.) a year prior. Needless to say, it is not a happy reunion.
Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan are informed of a plot to frame the Queen of France as Lord Buckingham's lover, which would undoubtedly lead the country to war - Louis and his frivolous ways would be overthrown, replaced by Cardinal Richelieu, who would ultimately rise to power.
They travel to Britannia to attack Buckingham's stronghold by sending D'Artagnan in as a decoy while the others commandeer the illustrious lord's airship. Payback is so, so sweet. Milady, who has been working as a double-crossing double agent this entire time, is taken hostage by the new captains of the skies, and Athos prepares himself to execute her several hundred feet in the air. She jumps from the side of the ship instead, to spare him the bullet - and the heartache.
After another exciting fight sequence involving flying ships and battles and ineffective cannonballs, D'Artagnan defeats Rochefort and they crash-land Buckingham's stolen ship into King Louis' backyard. The Queen's reputation saved and a war averted, the Musketeers (D'Artagnan included this time) are offered positions by the Cardinal, which they tactfully refuse. They're already employed, anyway.
All for one, and one for all.
Plot of the story aside, this interpretation of Athos places him in a role similar to that of the novel. The oldest and most experienced in the group, he is the noble, unspoken leader and often the quietest, opting to think before he acts. To the stranger he comes off as polite and well-spoken, as he was once a Count with extensive acres of property in La Fère. His wife's betrayal, however, made him cold. Cynical and jaded by the cruelties of life and love - made that much more searing with the excessive amounts of alcohol he imbibes - Athos is an undoubtedly bitter man with serious problems. He does not trust easily, but those friends he has are friends he keeps. He is charming when the occasion calls for it, practical and pragmatic, and will not hesitate to bite back when pushed too hard.
To sum up: Making an enemy of Athos would be ill-advised.
Abilities/Special Powers: A remarkably proficient fencer, adept with blades of all shapes and sizes, Athos very rarely loses a fight when swords are the preferred weapon of choice. Firearms are not his forte, though he has decent enough aim (Particularly if he's using a flamethrower) with them no thanks to the kickback, and crossbows are even easier for him to handle. Athos is also a skilled diver, can hold his breath underwater for apparently an ungodly amount of time, and will sometimes make use of a treated leather suit (See Fig. A) for important missions that require the utmost stealth.
Third-Person Sample:
What he had loved most about her was himself. That is, his dignity and that strength which made him superior to other men. That strength was his life. With a word, she had broken it.
Everyone knows that God protects drunkards and lovers. Perhaps it was simply a shame that Athos had never invested that much faith in something he could not see, resting on his laurels, fighting for the sake of fighting and putting trust in his blade and his friends because they were all he had.
He never intended to fall in love. The poets spoke so highly of it, the swooning and ardor, the lengthy courtship. It was not so with Milady. There was no slow burn, but a wicked wildfire that scorched him through to dust before he could realize what had happened. She had loved him in return – she must have, once, unless the wiles of a woman, thick with lies, had fooled him from the beginning.
But love is the most selfish of our passions, and he only saw what he wanted to see.
Embittered, raked over her coals and out of a job, the one satisfaction drawn from the end of a long day was at the bottom of a bottle. But even she had ruined wine for him, poisoned him with his own vintage and every cup thereafter was a filthy reminder of her treachery.
Lifting a hand to beckon the barkeep to him, Athos could only hope that he could drink enough to forget she ever did so in the first place.
First-Person Sample:
Hm.
[A fairly tall man, pewter wine cup clutched in one hand as if to make a toast, is standing at the end of the pier. He glances curiously over one shoulder towards the sea, frowns, and looks back up to the shore. Stooping to pick up a small, polished-brass box of sorts, he begins to walk.
The man swallows the rest of his wine and tramps through the sand. Odd. He's fairly certain that he'd been in a tavern with his three friends only moments ago. Perhaps he'd gotten drunk. Forgotten the evening. Somehow...ended up on a beach...]
...Is anyone there?
[Up the dune, over the edge, shielding his eyes from the sun and heading over to what appears to be a country villa. Whose estate is this? The architecture is so...not French.]
Porthos. Aramis?
[The frown deepens, and the man of few words tucks the empty cup away to shout one more name.]
D'Artagnan!