The Three Musketeers

Story

In this swashbuckling yarn, young, scrappy d’Artagnan moves to Paris to join the King’s elite band of guards: the musketeers. Through a series of disastrous misunderstandings, he finds himself duelling the very men he came to join – three inseparable musketeers named Athos, Porthos and Aramis. After winning their trust, he begins to become one of them, and the musketeers find themselves entangled in exciting adventures, murderous plots, and battling the sneaky Cardinal Richelieu and the mysterious Milady De Winter.

Why we chose it

A classic historical novel set in 17th century France, packed with romance, adventure, daring deeds and conspiracy.

Where it came from

Alexandre Dumas (1802 – 1870) was a hugely popular French author and adventurer. Dumas began writing at a very young age, and became most famous for his historical novels, such as The Three Musketeers. The first part of the book is inspired by Memoires de d’Artagnan (1700) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras, which Dumas believed to be a historical fantasy, but some have argued is factual. The musketeers and d’Artagnan are all based on real men, and the novel also incorporates several real historical events and figures, such as Cardinal Richelieu.

Where it went next

Since publication, The Three Musketeers has never been out of print, and has been translated into many languages. It has been adapted numerous times for film, television, theatre, animation, graphic novels, and even video games. The first stage adaption was in 1845, just a year after it was first published. There have been 100 film versions of the story, including a silent film in 1921, and several Disney animations. There was also a popular BBC TV adaptation, The Musketeers, that ran from 2014 – 2016.

Associated stories

Dumas wrote several other novels in the King’s Musketeers series, including Twenty Years After (1845) and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (1847) which is generally translated into three English volumes, the last of which, The Man in the Iron Mask, is the most famous. He also wrote many other books, including The Count of Monte Cristo (1845).

It inspired a number of adaptations including in the 1980s the anime animation Dogtanian and the Muskehounds.