Comte de Rochefort
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The Comte de Rochefort is a secondary, but important, fictional character in Alexandre Dumas' d'Artagnan Romances. He is described as "around forty or forty-five, fair with a scar across his cheek".
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[edit] In "The Three Musketeers"
His first appearance is in the opening chapter of The Three Musketeers. He insults d'Artagnan and steals his letter of recommendation to Monsieur Treville, causing d'Artagnan to swear revenge.
He reappears from time to time as the story progresses; it is he who kidnaps Constance Bonancieux, and we eventually learn that he is the main agent of Cardinal Richelieu. However, in the end he and an older and wiser d'Artagnan, having fought inconclusively on three occasions, settle their differences and become friends.
[edit] In "Twenty Years After"
Rochefort would reappear in the sequel, Twenty Years After. Having been put into bad favor with Richelieu's successor Mazarin, he only comes out of the Bastille after five years. When Mazarin dismisses him from service for being too old, he joins the side of the Frondeurs. He aids Athos in freeing the Duke of Beaufort and reappears in the end at the riot against Mazarin's return. Not realizing who he was in the chaos, d'Artagnan kills his old friend, as he had predicted he would if they fought a fourth time.
[edit] In Other Fiction
- As d'Artagnan was the subject of Courtilz de Sandras' writings, which Dumas used to make the Romances, Rochefort was as well. The fictional Memoirs of Monsieur Le Comte de Rochefort was written in 1678, although Dumas did not take much from the story aside from the name.
- In Courtilz's d'Artagnan stories, a man named Rosny is in the Rochefort role.
- Rochefort (obviously) plays a role in the book "The Club Dumas"
- Rochefort is the narrator and protagonist of Mary Gentle's novel 1610: A Sundial in a Grave.
[edit] In Film
In film Rochefort has been played by:
- Ian Keith in the 1948 movie The Three Musketeers
- Christopher Lee in the 1973 movie The Three Musketeers, as well as the sequels The Four Musketeers and The Return of the Musketeers.
- Michael Wincott in the 1993 movie The Three Musketeers.
Film incarnations tend to depict Rochefort as a far darker character than is the novel. Unlike in the original novel, d'Artagnan ends up killing Rochefort in duel in The Four Musketeers (though he turns up alive in The Return in the Musketeers), and the character suffers the same fate in the 1993 adaptation. In his three appearances as Rochefort, Christopher Lee wore an eyepatch, intended to make the character look more sinister. The eyepatch, while a departure from Rochefort's appearance in Dumas' novel, was deemed striking enough to be retained in several other adaptations, as Wincott retained it in his portrayal of the character, as well as in Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds.
