Raoul de Bragelonne
The fifteen-year-old Athos is raising, who leaves for the army and gives the next novel its title.
To be worthy of the man who raised him, and to see Louise de La Vallière again.
The book
Twenty Years After
Alexandre Dumas
At a glance
- The Vicomte de Bragelonne, fifteen, Athos's ward
- The château de Bragelonne, near Blois
- Louise de La Vallière, a child at the neighbouring château
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeRaoul, the Vicomte de Bragelonne, is the boy of fifteen living with Athos at the château near Blois. He calls Athos his guardian; Athos never calls him son. In Chapter XIII d'Artagnan first sees him riding back from the neighbouring château of La Vallière, where a small girl called Louise has hurt her ankle, and Raoul cannot take his eyes off the carriage she is in.
Athos takes him to Paris, shows him to Madame de Chevreuse, gives him a sword at Saint-Denis, and sends him to the army of the Prince de Condé. On the road he befriends the Comte de Guiche, finds the dying executioner of Béthune, and reaches the army in time for the battle of Lens. He is the future of the trilogy, and Dumas treats him with a tenderness the four friends never get.
How Raoul de Bragelonne Is Portrayed
- The carriage at BloisIn Chapter XIII he returns from carrying the injured Louise de La Vallière home, bows to Athos and d'Artagnan, and goes straight back to stand by the carriage door where the girl is.
- Presented to Marie MichonIn Chapter XX Athos tells him to take pains with his dress, because he is to be presented to someone whose approval matters. The someone is Madame de Chevreuse, who was once Marie Michon.
- The sword at Saint-DenisIn Chapter XXII Athos himself polishes a sword drawn from a perfumed leather sheath, watches the boy sleep with his head on his arm, and sends him off to the army with his advice.
- The Comte de GuicheIn Chapters XXIX and XXX he crosses the Oise with the Comte de Guiche, who is eighteen and scarcely taller than him, and the two boys ride toward the army together talking of duels and pages.
- The dying executionerIn Chapter XXXIII Grimaud learns that it was Raoul and his companion who found the wounded executioner of Béthune and brought him the monk who killed him, and calls it the will of God.
- The eve of LensIn Chapter XXXIV he and Guiche embrace like brothers before the battle and fall asleep wrapped in their cloaks, in what the narrator calls the kindly sleep of youth.
Raoul de Bragelonne quotes
I have a son. I wished to live
Madame de Chevreuse's exchange with Athos in Chapter XX makes clear that Raoul is their son, born of a single night twenty years earlier when she travelled as Marie Michon. Athos tells Raoul none of it. In Chapter LXXXVII Raoul arrives at Rueil with Athos's rescuers, and in Chapter XC he goes home with Athos to Bragelonne.
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