Fic: The Royal Touch

[osprey_archer]

I finished reading The Three Musketeers a month or two ago and did not post about it because I was Very Upset with some of Dumas’ choices about the ending, in particular about one of the characters he decided to kill, and therefore probably could not have written anything except “KEYBOARD SMASH RAGE WHAT HOW COULD YOU?”

I have calmed down enough to write a fix-it fic, and now I feel much better. It is, of course, a spoiler for the ending (for a book that is 150 years old, but still), so I’m going to put it

Title: The Royal Touch
Fandom: The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas
Pairings: D’Artagnan/Constance Bonacieux, although the fic is really more about Constance & Anne d'Autriche and the power of FEALTY
Rating: G
Summary: When Constance Bonacieux lies on the border between life and death, only a special visitor can save her.



Weirdly, despite the keyboard smashing rage that the book ending inspired, I now want to search out retellings of the story - rewatch the 1993 Disney version (I got the VHS when I was about 11 and watched it so many times that I broke it), perhaps see the Doug Fairbanks version, maybe watch the recent BBC series? I’ve heard that the BBC series is only VERY LOOSELY based on the book, buuuut the book seems to have been VERY LOOSELY based on history in the first place, so really I think loose adaptations in the name of extra swashbuckling are the most Dumasian thing of all.

Comments

[asakiyume]

"Dumasian" is an adjective I intend to adopt.

I only ever watched a movie version, with Raquel Welch, and I don't remember it very well at all, but I certainly don't remember any distressing deaths, so they must have swashbuckled away from canon.

[osprey_archer]

From the Wikipedia version, it looks like that film covers the first half or so of the book, so it ends long before anyone dies. It's the best half the book anyway, so that seems like a pretty solid adaptation decision to me.

[sovay]

D’Artagnan/Constance Bonacieux, although the fic is really more about Constance & Anne d'Autriche and the power of FEALTY

I liked that a lot.

I remember enjoying the 1948 MGM Three Musketeers when I was younger, but I have not seen it in decades (despite the presence of Van Heflin as Athos) and I have no idea if it will hold up at all beyond the still-praised fight choreography.

[osprey_archer]

Every story is better with FEALTY.

Well, probably not every story ever, but I rarely take its inclusion amiss.

[littlerhymes]

What a good fix-it!!!

The BBC series is fun nonsense for at least a season and a half. I quite like a lot of the changes and everyone is improbably attractive.

[osprey_archer]

An extremely necessary fix-it! POOR CONSTANCE, she deserved better.