Athos (fictional character)
Athos is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père.
In The Three Musketeers, he and the other two musketeers Porthos and Aramis are friends of the novel's protagonist, D'Artagnan.
He has a mysterious past connecting him with the villainess of the novel, Milady de Winter.
The oldest by some years, Athos is a father figure to the other musketeers. He is described as noble but also very secretive, drowning his secret sorrows in drink.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
By the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is the Comte de la Fère, who was Milady's husband before she married the Comte de Winter.
In The Vicomte de Bragelone, he is openly known as the Comte de la Fère and is the father of the young hero, Raoul de Bragelone. Like the other musketeers, Athos' given name is never told.
The fictional Athos is named after the historical musketeer Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615-1644). (They don't actually have much in common apart from the name.)
Film and Television
Actors who have played Athos on screen include:
- Henri Rollan, in Les trois mousquetaires (1921)
- Paul Lukas, in The Three Musketeers (1935)
- Barry Morse, in The Three Musketeers (TV movie) (1960)
- Oliver Reed, in The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), and The Return of the Musketeers (1989)
- José Ferrer, in The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
- Kiefer Sutherland, in The Three Musketeers (1993)
- John Malkovich, in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
- Christopher Cazenove, in La Femme Musketeer (TV miniseries) (2003)
