BACKGROUND
Born as Charles de Batz Castelmore, he was a French military officer that lived during the 17th Century. Because his father was just a merchant, albeit a rich one, he adopted his mother’s maiden name – d’ Artagnan – after moving to Paris to start his military career. The change was motivated by the fact that the d’Artagnan was a branch family of the distinguished house of Montesquieu, a French aristocratic lineage with a long history.
D’Artagnan eventually joined the Musketeers royal guard and gained the patronage of Cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin was France’s chief minister and the closest adviser of the royal family at the time, so gaining his personal favor was of great importance for d’Artagnan’s career as a military officer. Among his many achievements, he carried out some missions of espionage under Mazarin’s orders.
For his loyalty and excellence, King Louis XIV promoted him into commander of the Musketeers. Later in his life, he was also entrusted with the rulership of a small province, but the job was not for d’Artagnan’s tastes, as he longed to spend his life in the vanguards.
The Three Musketeers
Nearly a century after d’Artagnan’s time, Alexandre Dumas produced a fantastic tale about his life. The d’Artagnan Romances wrote by Dumas were mostly fictitious, with little foundation on true accounts about the Musketeer. Still, there was one thing that remained faithful to the true story: d’Artagnan’s relationship with the Three Musketeers.
Athos, Porthos and Aramis. The three veteran Musketeers that d’Artagnan met at the beginning of his career and who took him under their wings. The four were linked by a strong bond as brothers-in-arms. D’Artagnan respected and admired the three men more than anyone else and, likewise, they treated the boy as if their son.
Their friendship was one that should have lasted forever. But when he was older, his position as captain of the Musketeers placed d’Artagnan and the three men – who had retired of military duty and began to pursuit their personal ambitions as civilians – on opposing sides of a certain conflict. D’Artagnan had the choice to abandon his duties and take the side of his old friends, but he decided to remain faithful to the king to the end.
Though he never regretted the decision he made that day, it seems that he mourned over the loss of the friendship with the three men for the rest of his life.
D’Artagnan’s story is that of a man who managed to achieve his goals after much effort and time. However, he had to renounce all his friends and loved ones as compensation for his dreams. When he died at the Siege of Maastricht, during the Franco-Dutch War, it seems that his final words were “Athos, Porthos, see you soon (au revoir)! Aramis, goodbye forever (à jamais, adieu)!”
Originally Posted by Master of Chaos
