Follow TV Tropes

Following

Derivative Works / The Three Musketeers

Go To

https://mediaproxy.tvtropes.org/width/1000/https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mixcollage_15_nov_2023_05_50_am_2119.jpg
All for one and adaptations for all.
Clockwise from top left
This page regroups adaptations of the D'Artagnan Romances by Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and its sequels), or works inspired by them across all mediums.

Original Works:

The D'Artagnan Romances, a serialized novel cycle by Alexandre Dumas that includes:

  • The Three Musketeers (1844) — Where it all began, and the one everybody knows (at least by name). A prime example of Adaptation Overdosedinvoked, as it has been adapted for the screens since practically the dawn of moviemaking in a wide range of countries.
  • Twenty Years After (1845) — The sequel to The Three Musketeers. Always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to being adapted, as it likely would involve much aging makeup and underage casting. Sometimes, plot elements of it end up attached to adaptations of either of the other two novels, although some series did adapt it either through back-to-back filming and doing away with the twenty years Time Skip or after waiting a few years.
  • The Vicomte of Bragelonne (1847-1850) — The second sequel, sometimes with the added subtitle Ten Years Later. Pretty much all of its adaptations only retain the Man in the Iron Mask subplot (for it's the most memorable part of it, and for the likely reason that the novel alone is composed of either three door stoppers or a massive omnibus — it would give The Lord of the Rings a run for its money) and use either The Man in the Iron Mask or simply The Iron Mask as title.

Adaptations & Derivative Works

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • 3 Musketeers chocolate bar with commercials, most notably a computer-animated late 90s and early 2000s ad campaign featuring three men dressed as the musketeers.

    Animation 
  • Cossacks (Ukrainian series) has a 1979 crossover short with the Three Musketeers

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature (non-Dumas) 

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Three Musketeers (British series, 1966-1967)
  • D'Artagnan (French-German-Italian miniseries, 1969)
  • d'Artagnan And Three Musketeers (Soviet mini-series, 1978)
    • Musketeers Twenty Years After (Russian mini-series, 1992)
    • The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After (Russian mini-series, 1993)
  • D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers (co-production miniseries, 2005)
  • Young Blades (American-Canadian series, 2005)
  • The Musketeers (British series, 2014-2016)

    Theatre 

    Tabletop Games 
  • All For One: Régime Diabolique (2010)

    Video Games 
  • The Three Musketeers (1987), an American game for the Commodore 64, Amiga and DOS.
  • The Three Musketeers (2006), a Swedish PC game.
  • The Three Musketeers: One for All! (Swedish game, Wii, 2009)

    Web Videos 

    Western Animation 

Tropes common to many adaptations:

  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Milady de Winter is a blonde in the novel. She's not always played by blonde actresses. Recent examples include Milla Jovovich and Eva Green.
  • Adaptation Name Change:
    • La Femme Musketeer (2004) names D'Artagnan "Jacques", while his given name is otherwise Charles.
    • The 2023 films name D'Artagnan's father "Achille", while his actual name is Bertrand (although it is not mentioned in the novel).
  • Adaptational Heroism: The books never shy away from showing that D'artagnan and his three friends, while undeniably brave and loyal, are rather amoral; they'll lie, cheat, steal, blackmail, commit adultery, take advantage of people, sleep around and kill with very little provocation. Adaptations, almost without fail, tone down or even remove their worst behavior and generally make them more straight-up heroic.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • Rochefort is almost always made an unredeemable villain (he befriends D'Artagnan after losing a duel in the novel).
    • The Cardinal Richelieu also often gets this treatment that makes him plot against King Louis XIII, since in the Dumas novels he's closer to his historical counterpart, that is a ruthless but loyal minister working for Louis XIII.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the book, D'Artagnan is attracted to Constance, the wife of his landlord Bonacieux. Several adaptations reduced or removed Constance's relationship to Bonacieux so that she can be a straightforward Love Interest and not a Sympathetic Adulterer:
  • Adapted Out:
    • The Musketeers' servants (Planchet, Grimaud, Mousqueton and Bazin) very often get the short hand of the stick when it comes to appear in the films or other media. Planchet is D'Artagnan's servant so he's always the most likely to be kept in.
    • People who have only watched the films are likely to never have heard of Madame de Chevreuse.
  • Character Title: Oftentimes when Divided for Adaptation happens on works adapting the first book, the second part will be titled Milady or will include her name (Milady's Revenge often comes up too).
  • Death by Adaptation: Rochefort is usually killed in a climatic duel with d'Artagnan in adaptations of the first book. In the book proper, he gets to live, and winds up friends with d'Artagnan. He dies in the sequel, Twenty Years After.
  • Demoted to Extra: Planchet (D'Artagnan's sidekick) gets very little focus in many adaptations, when he's not simply Adapted Out. The other servants (Grimaud, Mousqueton and Bazin) are all too often much less lucky and don't appear at all in most adaptations.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation:
    • Milady de Winter is executed by beheading after a trial by the Musketeers and the Duke of Buckingham in the novel. She rarely dies this way in adaptations (The Four Musketeers from 1974 is a rare exception, and even so, it's seen from far away).
      • In the 1935 film, Milady disposes of herself to save the heroes having to kill a woman.
      • In the 1961 duology, Athos skewers her with his sword
      • In the 1993 version she also kills herself, for Better to Die than Be Killed reasons; she chooses to jump off a cliff rather than be beheaded.
      • In Musketeer Space (2017), Milord is taken from the Musketeers and executed by his own people as a traitor, as Athos and d'Artagnan step aside and let it happen.
    • Rochefort almost always remains a villain in adaptations of the first novel and gets killed by either D'Artagnan or Athos in a Duel to the Death in them. He actually dies in the second novel, Twenty Years After, where he's killed by mistake by D'Artagnan (who doesn't know it's him until it's too late) during a riot amidst the Fronde Civil War.
    • In the novel, Constance is poisoned by Milady.
      • In the 1961 duology, she's stabbed in the stomach by Milady with a dagger.
      • In Revenge of the Musketeers, she died at some point before the events of the film (which is an alternate take on Twenty Years After), but she lived long enough to have a daughter with D'Artagnan.
      • In the 2023 French duology, she's hanged by mistake in Milady's place at the palace of the Duke of Buckingham.
  • Flynning: Expect unrealistic fencing in many film, TV, animated and stage adaptations.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade:
    • Several adaptations make the Cardinal Richelieu a self-serving monster who is sometimes even trying to usurp the throne, in stark contrast to his depiction in the original novel, let alone Real Life. He was indeed ruthless (especially against cities with huge Protestant populations that contested some French royal policies), but he definitely served King Louis XIII.
    • The same can be said for Richelieu's successor Mazarin for some adaptations of the sequels to the first novel. He's been portrayed quite a couple of times as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Richelieu with about as much Adaptational Villainy.
  • Lost in Imitation:
    • A number of adaptations make Richelieu the iconic villain and antagonist of the heroes, despite his ambivalent position in the first book and total absence in all following books (he died in the Time Skip between the first and second book, Mazarin replaced him). Athos and d'Artagnan even ponder if they were wrong in opposing Richelieu a few times in the novels.
    • Rochefort's promotion to The Dragon, where in the books, Milady filled the role. It is hard to find a film version in which Rochefort doesn't get killed by d'Artagnan in a climactic fight, rather than by accident during a riot in the second novel. In the novels, D'Artagnan and Rochefort became friends after dueling each other. He also has no eyepatch in the books either, that trend started with Christopher Lee in the 1970s version.
  • Protagonist Title:
  • Self-Disposing Villain: In the 1935 film version, Milady De Winter throws herself off a cliff to her death when her plans are foiled, saving the heroes from being responsible for the death of a woman.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Milady escapes death in the 2011 and French 2023 versions.
    • In some adaptations, including the 1935 film, Constance gets to live at the end.
    • The Duke of Buckingham is also sometimes spared the fate of being assassinated by John Felton (which goes against history), such as in the 2023 French version.
  • Spin-Offspring: Some original stories give children (who are nowhere to be seen in the Dumas canon) to D'Artagnan and/or the other musketeers.
    • D'Artagnan's Son (1950). Whose name is Raoul here.
    • At Sword's Point (1952) features the sons of the Musketeers, and gives a daughter to Athos, named Claire and played by Maureen O'Hara.
    • Revenge of the Musketeers (1994) gives a daughter to D'Artagnan, Éloïse (played by Sophie Marceau). Her Missing Mom is named "Constance", heavily implying it's Constance Bonacieux.
    • La Femme Musketeer (2004) gives D'Artagnan a daughter named Valentine (played by Susie Amy). Michael York reprises his role as D'Artagnan though it is unconnected to his previous films in the role.
    • Barbie and the Three Musketeers has Corrine, daughter of D'Artagnan and Constance (played by Barbie) who seeks to become a Musketeer herself.

Top