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Character: Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre
Series/Fandom: Le Chevalier d’Eon
Deviance: 1
Age: Late twenties to early thirties.
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Canon Used: Anime, with slight background from the DVD inserts' unused script. That's all the canon there is, sob
Appearance:
Profile
Fancy Coat
Robespierre is the bishounen stereotype of Chevalier. He is a handsome man, and for his appearance, differs completely from the historical figure on which he is based. Robespierre of Chevalier is a tall and handsome man, seeming as if he would be a wonderful subject for the formal portraits of the time. Long blonde hair and deep blue eyes are his distinctive features, for in a time of powdered wigs, spectacles, and lice, such cleanliness that is purely natural is unusual. He is, as that would imply, a neat and clean man. He even wears the lavishly embellished suits of a nobleman when cavorting with those in poverty. He prefers a royal purple coat with all other clothing to match it, yet Robespierre changes his dress post-mortem to clothing more simple and humble.
Psychology:
Robespierre of Chevalier, interestingly enough, shares more than a few personality traits with the Robespierre of real life. Both were quiet men who preferred to keep to themselves. Both held few friends, but those that they did were very precious. Both were brilliant in their words and speeches and perfectly willing to work hard. And, above all, both are idealists who were given power beyond their dreams. For the Robespierre of the French Revolution, it was political, but for the fictional Robespierre, it was more literal. With the Psalms, Robespierre is a powerful man, and he was very good at them. This was likely less to do with any innate skill, but rather the process of his own hard work. Robespierre is an intelligent man with significant influence and the ability to charm an audience with his soft-spoken, but powerful words. However, despite that, he is a humble man.
Robespierre had once been a man more prone to his emotions as well, but after Lia’s death, his focus became less on people around him, and instead on the People. He is serious to the point of rarely smiling or breaking any emotion other than calm indifference. His face never betrays his thoughts, and only rarely will he show his emotions to another person. Even then, it is only to people he considers precious. Robespierre is calm to the point of seeming cold, but for those who may look past it, he is a loyal and caring friend to have. Though, they are few and far between. In Chevalier, his friends would only include three people: Durand, Caligstro, and Lorenza. He loved Lia with all his heart, so after having it broken by her betrayal and then death, the emotions he had once freely shown were shut away in his heart. That's not to say they aren't there, however. They are hidden away so he can perform his "duty", as he would think of it, more efficiently.
Robespierre is a man who had lost everything he loved except for a dream. The dream of revolution and a nouveau France was all that Robespierre seemed to live for after Lia’s death. He, as d’Eon, wished to find truth behind why Lia was killed, all the while seeming to be working towards the Revolutionary Order’s goals of a dictatorship. He did not wish to be King or to have a King to rule over France any longer, so for that, he applied the ideals of Lord Dashwood and his idol Rousseau to his dream. For this, it shows the extreme dedication of Robespierre when he is determined to accomplish a goal.
Robespierre also carries the traditional gentilities of the 18th century. He is a gentleman, and will treat people with the utmost respect. However, unlike the nobility of Versailles, he gives this respect to all. He thinks nothing of status, and will treat the filthiest peasant and his dear friends with the same amount of respect. He believes steadfastly in the People after all, and sees the good and bad aspects of humanity, and wishes for all to be equal because of that. Of course, Robespierre isn’t above a slight to a person who he believes to be an idiot. He enjoys the intellectual to the physical, and perhaps that is why the Psalms, words with incredible power, attracted him a bit more than a sword.
General Skills/Abilities:
The big thing here is the Psalms! Robespierre is able to wield the power of the Psalms by reciting incantations of the verses by the same name from The Bible. They perform a variety of functions, from turning people into freaky zombies full of mercury to head exploding. Well, in any case, you don’t want him to use them on you because they’re pretty universally bad. He also has the Psalms of the King, which enhance the power of his Psalms, as well as being a prophetic book. Robespierre is able to pick up, open, and read parts of this book. However, if anyone else (other than d’Eon, Durand, and Lia, but I will never get any of them so whatever) tries to pick up the book or open it, they will find they cannot. As if it’s glued to whatever surface it was sitting on, it will not come off and the cover will not reveal the pages. If for some reason you manage to open it, it’s still no good. Only a Poet-one who can use the Psalms-can reveal the words.
Robespierre is also quite skilled with the sword, but prefers to use the Psalms in the series. I'm not sure why, since the DVD inserts' scripts pretty much say he's super badass with it. lol idk. When he does decide to be a knight, though, he uses L'épée de cour, or the smallsword.
General Weaknesses: He’s human. That is a major weakness right there. Uh, I guess everything is psychological. So look there, ahaha~
History:
Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre was born in the city of Arras on May 6th (1758, however, this year does not correspond with the Chevalier anime’s timeline) to two newly-wed parents. In fact, they had only been husband and wife four months prior to their first son’s birth to avoid the embarrassment of a child born of wedlock. Robespierre later became the sibling of a brother and two sisters, but his was given grief early in his life. Robespierre’s mother died when he was six years old from childbirth, and his father, distraught, left Arras forever without warning to his children. His father left for Munich where he later died. His grandparents and two aunts were the ones to raise the Robespierre children, and it was perhaps the circumstances of his childhood that led to his distinctive mannerisms
Robespierre was an excellent student. At the age of eleven, his scholarly excellence was noted by the Archbishop of Arras, and Robespierre received a twelve years scholarship to the elite college of Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He behaved perfectly and his studies were his life. He was the boy that rarely smiled and seemed devoid of humor, much preferring the company of his own thoughts rather than that of the other boys his age. The boisterous peers of his youth were those that he looked upon with disdain, and Robespierre carried that trait to his death. After graduating, he returned to Arras to become a lawyer. He started his own practice for some time, but Paris drew him back. Robespierre was brought back to Paris, specifically the royal courts of Versailles.
While preferring the quill to the sword, it was his skill with swords that brought him to the attention of the higher classes. Robespierre was not a noble, simple one of the frowned upon members of the bourgeois, but he became one of the many knights of France. It was here that he met his two dearest friends---Lia de Beaumont and Durand. The three knights of France stayed together in comaraderie for some time, and their work was eventually noticed by the kind Louis XV. The three became members of the elite task force directly under the king - Le Secrete du Roi. They were sent on special missions, those of diplomacy and international matters, and the three knights continued their lives in happiness and valor, living out the honor of the knights of the king. It was at some point in this time that Robespierre and Lia both learned of the Psalms and their power.
Robespierre was taught by Count Saint-Germaine, as was Lia, but Lia held more skill in the dark art. She told Robespierre of the Psalms of the King, a book that foretold the kings to be. However, the difference in the two’s fates lies in who Robespierre chose to believe. He was an idealist, and became enamored with the Revolutionary Order. However, it was Lia who kept him away from it. It was one mission that seemed to start everything. Lia and Robespierre were sent to England. The dead queen of England, for which King George III grieved over, was to be ‘returned’. The soul of the dead queen was to be brought to her sister’s body, just as Lia and d’Eon. Robespierre and Lia were two of the Poets---Those who can wield the power of the Psalms---chosen to perform this task. It was successful. On the return home, Robespierre even confessed his love for Lia, asking her to marry him, which she graciously accepted.
Immediately upon returning, Robespierre was to be sent on another mission, alone, to Russia. He thought of this as the King trying to keep him from Versailles, and sought to know why. However, he stole the Psalms of the King and asked Lia to open them, since he could not. Lia was able, but she told Robespierre that she could not and rejected his love at the same time. Angry and heartbroken, he came to her home, desperately seeking an answer. When Lia merely rejected him again, he insisted that he would continue to search on his own, and left. Lia was ordered by Louis to pursue, but that night she found a note from Robespierre stating that he wanted to meet her in the confessional after mass. Expecting an apology or perhaps a change of heart, Lia went without fear, but it was here that she was murdered by Louis XV.
After her death, Robespierre truly joined the Revolutionary Order in hatred, wishing to exact revenge on the one who killed Lia. He set her body afloat in the Seine to send a solemn message to the king, and joined Lord Dashwood and Count Saint-Germaine to open the Psalms of the King using blood. They wishes to create a final king who would lead the way away from a monarchy with gentility rather than revolution, however, Robespierre knew that this was not possible to go along with the ideals that he was taught and loved. A land where all men were born and treated equally and a land where there was no tyrant to rule all people was what the two men preached, but they merely wanted the power of the throne to be their own. Robespierre believed in the ideal, but knew a throne would not bring it. The idea of a bloody revolution was one he was not fond of, but he considered it the means necessary to an end, despite finding them distasteful. So he betrayed France and his remaining friends in the name of revolution and truth, as well as the grief of losing the last person that he truly loved.
After setting her body afloat, though, Robespierre never expected to be caught up with Lia’s younger brother d’Eon. D’Eon has become a vessel for Lia’s soul, which at first caused him much grief and anger that she could not rest in peace, but it only intensified his desire to open the Psalms of the King through her, since he believed that would put her soul to rest. Robespierre stayed as a silent manipulator until he was in Russia, where a member of d’Eon’s group meets him face to face. As fate would have it, it was his old friend Durand. The meeting showed a side of Robespierre that Durand had never seen, cruel and hateful for France, but for all the questions Durand answers, Robespierre answers none. Robespierre then declares that he will be heading to England and chills with Cagliostro and Lorenza, possibly with sexy parties in between.
Canon Point:
Post-Russia arc, Pre-England arc, so in between episodes 12 & 13.
Reality Description: Robespierre is living in Paris in the 1740s, specifically 1742 or 1743. Or, well, generally. We can just say the boat was having some problems or whatever. So Robespierre is staying in a suburban town of Paris, Rambouillet. It is about 6 or 7 kilometers from Versailles, which made travel easier and allowed him to freely go home rather than stay within the courts of Versailles. It is not a lavish chateau by any means, but it is a fine house that shows his wealth and influence enough to be respected in his community. A couple, Count Cagliostro and Lorenza Cagliostro, are living with him since they are something like his endearing lackies, and my OT3. Just sayin'.
They're preparing to sail to England, and are stopped for the moment for preparations.