Awww, of course, you change the perspective again and leave us readers in the dark as to whether Raoul and Amélie survived the daring leap unscathed, whether they managed to escape or were fished out of the river again. But that's how it should be in an exciting story, isn't it? Of course, I'm just as interested in the Musketeers' side of the story!
I find the contrast very interesting, given that in the previous chapter Raoul is still thinking about how he hasn't prayed for a long time. Meanwhile, Athos addresses his words here every day with increasing fervor to a God who seems to have abandoned both father and son (and all the slaves). Brave, good Athos. No, he never asked for his friends' money. He simply took it and gambled it away, along with the horses Buckingham had given them. >.<
I'm glad that the two storylines finally intersect! Now I understand why Tariq didn't reveal anything in the previous chapter. Good man! Amélie is not mentioned in the summary. She is not relevant to the men's curiosity, so why should Tariq mention her and complicate matters unnecessarily? But that leaves you, as the narrator, with further options for how to continue the story! I'm so excited to see which path you choose!
Haha, well, Athos did his best at repressing his "complicated" youth from his memory to make sure he's a good example to Raoul, and his friends mercifully don't remind him about it. Luckily, us fans rememember it all :D
As for Amélie, well, they asked about Raoul, so Tariq told them about Raoul. He's not a man of many words, it seems :)
You know, I've always wondered why Athos gambles away the money and the horses in this scene. He knows full well how proud d'Artagnan was of this reward and that he desperately needs the money, as he's always short of cash. I've come up with several explanations. The first is the most obvious: Athos is telling the truth at this point, and it is fitting for a nobleman not to be attached to mammon, and gambling debts are, as we know, debts of honor that must be paid. And when you are invited to gamble, you don't refuse.
The second explanation is that he is protecting his friends, especially d'Artagnan, from the journey to England becoming public knowledge. Away with the money that could raise questions about where the poor fellow from Gascony suddenly got his wealth. Even more urgently, get rid of the noble horses, which do not come from any known stud farm and which the hero in question could not actually afford if he had not stolen them. If that is the case, I just wonder why Athos did not explain it that way, because d'Artagnan was quite horrified to suddenly be bitterly poor again.
The third explanation is that Athos was still drunk and allowed himself to be persuaded to gamble, had bad luck, and lost everything. It is a trick used by an author who wanted to leave his heroes poor (and without a horse) again, to perform a reset to status quo. Because a hero who has a wealth of possessions becomes lazy and sluggish and no longer has to do everything in his power to make his fortune.
In any case, this passage has always bothered me because it represents quite a breach of trust between d'Artagnan and Athos. Money ruins friendships! You can only interpret it as a valuable lesson that the young Gascon is supposed to learn, but in reality it casts a dark shadow on Athos, who imposes his own ideas (money means nothing to me) on his friend (who, as we know, values money above all else, which is not a good trait, but understandable if you know poverty and hunger).
Maybe I'm overlooking something or misremembering, but how do you interpret this passage?
That's a very interesting question! Now this is just my interpretation, but the way I see it, Athos was still very drunk at this moment, and even more self-destructive than usual. He had just told d'Artagnan his backstory, thus forced himself to relive it whole as well. So now, I imagine, he's wallowing in the deepest self-hatred and does not care about things like money and transportation at all. Moreover, I interpreted Athos gambling away the horses as him subconsciously trying to push d'Artagnan away, trying to prove to both himself and his friend what a worthless and untrustworthy human being he is.
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Marenvs on Chapter 14 Sun 05 Oct 2025 02:13PM UTC
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dieOtter on Chapter 14 Tue 07 Oct 2025 08:22PM UTC
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