Literature / Arsène Lupin

"There is, in the gallery that connects your two living-rooms, a picture by Philippe de Champaigne of great appearance which pleases me immensely. Your Rubens also attract my eyes, as well as your smaller Watteau painting. For this time, I shall content myself with these objects which will be, I think, of easy concealment and resale. I ask you therefore to have them properly packed and to send them to my name (carriage paid), at the Gare de Batignolles, within eight days. If you fail to satisfy this request in time, I shall proceed with their removal on the night of Wednesday, the 27th of September."

— Classic letter from Arsène Lupin. Calling police after reading is heavily disadvised.^note Not that it would matter. Odds are he sent them a copy of the letter.

Maurice Leblanc's literary hero who is part crime-solving (and crime-committing) mastermind, part prince of romance and the Trope Codifier of both Gentleman Thief and Phantom Thief, first appearing in novels and short stories, starting in 1905. The Lupin stories were meant as a reversal of the detective stories that were massively popular at the time — Lupin is instead the criminal. Stories tend to vary from following various detectives in their attempts to stop Lupin or figure out what he did, to Lupin facing other villains. Other stories even have Lupin looking for lost treasures. Part of the books' success is due to Lupin's status as a Master of Disguise: When opening a book, one is never sure who is Lupin in this story. Is he the victim's guest? The Detective's assistant? The narrator himself? Lupin's status as a criminal is balanced by his trademark gentlemanly behavior, allowing him to come off as heroic rather than a villain, though his actions do often earn him a fair share of What the Hell, Hero?.

Lupin, as the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier for the Gentleman Thief, has had a significant influence on those who followed in his footsteps. For the various adaptations and derivative works inspired by Lupin, see here.

In case you don't notice from the large amount of derivative works produced there, Lupin is an incredibly popular figure in Japan. In fact, many modern fans mostly know of Lupin because of the many popular Japanese works inspired by or based on him.

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Books by Maurice Leblanc

The original Lupin tales were written by Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941). There have been several pastiches written by other authors. The literal translations of the original French titles are based on the list of Jean-Marc Lofficier.

• Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar (1907). Short story collection, covering the first 9 Lupin tales.
  • "The Arrest of Arsène Lupin". First published in July, 1905.
  • "Arsène Lupin in Prison". First published in December, 1905.
  • "The Escape of Arsène Lupin". First published in January, 1906.
  • "The Mysterious Traveller". First published in February, 1906.
  • "The Queen's Necklace". First published in April, 1906.
  • "The Safe of Madame Imbert". First published in May, 1906.
  • "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late". First published in June, 1906.
  • "The Black Pearl". First published in July, 1906.
  • "Seven of Hearts". First published in May, 1907.
• Arsène Lupin vs. Herlock Sholmes (1908). Collection including a novella and a short story.
  • "The Blonde Lady". Serialized from November, 1906 to April, 1907.
  • "The Jewish Lamp". Serialized in September-October, 1907.
• The Hollow Needle (1909). First full-length Lupin novel. Serialized from November, 1908 to May, 1909.
• 813 (1910). Second Lupin novel.
• The Crystal Stopper (1912). Third Lupin novel.
• The Confessions of Arsène Lupin (1913). Short story collection, including 9 tales.
  • "The Games of the Sun". First published in April, 1911.
  • "The Wedding Ring". First published in May, 1911.
  • "The Sign of the Shadow". First published in June, 1911.
  • "The Infernal Trap". First published in July, 1911.
  • "The Red Silk Scarf". First published in August, 1911.
  • "Death on the Prowl". First published in September, 1911.
  • "The Marriage of Arsène Lupin". First published in November, 1912.
  • "The Straw". First published in January, 1913.
  • "Edith the Swan-Neck". First published in February, 1913.
• The Shell Shard (1916). Originally an unrelated World War I novel; a Lupin cameo was added in later prints to bump up sales.
• The Golden Triangle (1918). Novel set in the aftermath of World War I. Lupin serves as a supporting character.
• The Island of Thirty Coffins (1919). Lupin serves as a co-protagonist with Veronica Hergemont.
• The Teeth Of The Tiger (1921). Fourth Lupin novel.
• The Eight Strokes Of The Clock (1923). Short story collection, including 8 tales. Connected through a frame story.
  • "At the top of the Tower"
  • "Pitcher of Water"
  • "Therese and Germaine"
  • "The Film Reveals"
  • "The Case of Jean-Louis"
  • "The Lady and the Axe"
  • "Not on the Snow"
  • "To the God Mercury"
• The Countess Of Cagliostro (1924). Fifth Lupin novel.
• The Damsel With Green Eyes (1927). Sixth Lupin novel.
• The Barnett & Co. Agency (1928). Short story collection, including 8 tales. Features Lupin under the guise of Private Detective Jim Barnett.
  • "The drops that fall"
  • "The love letter from King George"
  • "The Game of Baccarat"
  • "The Man with Gold Teeth"
  • "The twelve Africans of Béchoux"
  • "Chance Miracles"
  • "White gloves... White spats..."
  • "Béchoux stops Jim Barnett"
• The Mysterious Mansion (1929). Seventh Lupin novel.
• Barre-y-va (1931). Eighth Lupin novel. Named after a location within the tale.
• The Woman With Two Smiles (1933). Ninth Lupin novel.
• Victor of the Wordly Brigade (1934). Tenth Lupin novel. The Wordly Brigade is an old term for the vice squad.
• The Revenge Of The Countess Of Cagliostro (1935). Eleventh Lupin novel.
• The billions of Arsène Lupin (1939). Twelfth Lupin novel. Left incomplete due to Leblanc's health problems. A missing chapter was discovered much later, published in 2002.
• The Last Love of Arsene Lupin. Unpublished novel. Left incomplete due to Leblanc's health problems.

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Tropes associated with this character include:

• The Ace: Lupin is a peerless athlete, dangerous fighter, Master of Disguise, suave seducer of women, and psychologist.
• Advance Notice Crime: Possibly the Trope Codifier. He frequently sent out calling cards to victims announcing his crimes as a way to set up audacious plans by playing to his reputation.
• Almighty Janitor: Lupin conspires to become one in 813.
• Amateur Sleuth: High school student Isidore Beautrelet plays this role in The Hollow Needle, which mostly follows his investigation into Lupin.
• Anachronic Order: The publishing order of the stories are not published in a chronological order. There isn't even an official order in which his exploits happen.
• Ancient Keeper: Invoked by Lupin himself in The Island of Thirty Coffins. He acts out the part right down to the letter to make Vorski believe he's fulfilled the prophecy.
• Arc Number: 813.
• Ascended Extra: Grognard, an accomplice of Lupin from The Crystal Stopper and The Hollow Needle, becomes a main character in both the French live-action series Arsène Lupin and the animated series Night Hood.
• Author Avatar: Maurice Leblanc is himself a character and narrator in the stories. He meets with Lupin many times through the books, meetings in which Lupin tells him an anecdote or two that he later publishes. This invokes Direct Line to the Author.
• Batman Gambit: At least one per story. A common one is Lupin sending one of his trademark calling cards to his mark before he's stolen anything, knowing they'd panic at the thought of being robbed, then using that panic to his advantage.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: "The Crystal Stopper" has two of Lupin's accomplices in prison awaiting execution. Vaucheray is a remorseless murderer, but young Gilbert retains audience sympathy. Despite his best efforts, Lupin is unable to save them until the day of the execution, when Vaucheray and executioner are both shot by an unseen sniper, buying Lupin time to negotiate clemency for Gilbert. As he gets shot, Vaucheray even thanks Lupin for ending him this way.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: A number of historical figures are involved in the history of the Hollow Needle, including Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar, and the Man in the Iron Mask.
• Calling Card: As seen in the page quote, Lupin is not above sending his calling card before the crime, to convince his victims to send him the loot and save him the trouble of taking it.
• Call to Agriculture:
  • In The Hollow Needle, Lupin leaves all his loot to be found by the police, giving up a life of crime to become a humble (if still very wealthy) farmer. Unfortunately the woman he was going straight to please is killed by the police when they catch up to him, necessitating more tales of burglary and adventure.
  • In 813, Lupin plans to retire to a peaceful life as a gardener... while secretly controlling the German throne.
• Captain Ersatz: Oddly, one of Leblanc's own characters has one in-series. Several non-literary works, such as stage plays, replace Inspector Justin Ganimard with "Jean Guerchard". Apparently because the name was too similar to publisher Gaston Gallimard.
• Cartwright Curse: Happens to some of Lupin's romances.
• The Casanova: Lupin, of course.
• Con Men Hate Guns: Lupin is an example of this trope, and whenever Ganimard finds a dead body, he always knows that murder is not the work of Lupin or his accomplices (unless, of course, it happens as by accident). Though this may just be a part of being a Gentleman Thief.
• Cute and Psycho: Dolores Kesselbach.
• Dating Catwoman:
  • Lupin and his archnemesis Josephine Balsamo AKA The Countess Of Cagliostro (Another thing that Lupin III made a shout-out to).
  • Again in 813 with Dolores Kesselbach, the Big Bad.
• Dead Person Impersonation
• Detective Mole: Lupin acts as one sometimes. The most extreme example: Lupin was once the chief of the Sûreté for four years. He also had members of his gang picked out from policemen on occasion.
• Deus ex Machina: Lupin acts more or less as this in The Shell Shard, The Golden Triangle and The Island Of Thirty Coffins, his role in each being little more than a cameo where he's instantly on top of things and solves everything.
• Direct Line to the Author:
  • Maurice Leblanc is himself a character and narrator in the stories. He meets with Lupin many times through the books, meetings in which Lupin tells him an anecdote or two that he later publishes.
  • The Hollow Needle is told from the perspective of Isidore Beautrelet, an amateur detective who gets tangled up with Lupin. At the end of the novel, Arsène takes him hostage so he can show off the cleverness and scope of his schemes, entirely so that Beautrelet will tell the world and act as a witness.
• Driven to Suicide: At the end of 813, Lupin considers suicide, only to not go through with it, opting to instead join the foreign legion, so that he might die fighting for France instead. As he's got chronologically later adventures, he got over it.
• Dying Alone: A recurring theme in some of the novels (such as 813 and The Revenge Of The Countess Of Cagliostro) is that Lupin's life is such that it is almost impossible for him to keep those he truly loves near him, because he'd put them in danger and the stress involved. This includes his own children, to whom he decides to never tell who exactly their father is.
• Elaborate Underground Base: The titular structure in The Hollow Needle. From the outside it's a peculiar rock formation over looking a bay; inside it's a hidden treasure cove controlled at various points by a multitude of great historical rulers (in particular the kings of Frace) where they would stash their wealth. Lupin moves in and makes it his primary base of operations, including lines of communication to various wealthy countries, an elaborate dining hall, servant's quarters, and several rooms set aside specifically for his treasures (one for paintings, one for tapistries, ect). How does Lupin come and go without anyone noticing a boat departing and arriving? Why, his personal submarine of course!
• Expy: Isidore Beautrelet from The Hollow Needle is an homage to Joseph Rouletabille.
• Fakeout Escape: Lupin swears he will escape from jail, and he does, briefly, but gets back in. But when he comes up for trial, Inspector Ganimard suddenly stands up in court and swears that the man in the dock is not Lupin — he has used the fake escape attempt to substitute a flunky in his place. The court has no choice but to let the man go. Of course, the man really was Lupin, and Ganimard fell for it not only because Lupin is a Master of Disguise, but also because he genuinely expected Lupin to fulfill his promise of escaping.
• Freudian Excuse: Arsène's mother was the chambermaid to a cruel and spiteful Count and Countess. When his mother was ill and couldn't afford medicine on her meager salary he committed his first impossible theft (at age six) by stealing a priceless, historically-significant diamond necklace. Between the thrill of the crime, the significant reward of the prize, and the lack of sympathy he felt for those particular marks, Lupin realized he'd found his calling.
• Friendly Enemy: Lupin seems to have a certain respect for Inspector Ganimard, and there are hints that the Inspector returns the affection. Likewise, he's very fond of Sherlock Holmes, who for his part sees Lupin partly as a Worthy Opponent and partly an irritating gadfly.
• Gentleman Thief
  • Trope Namer: His first book was called Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur or Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar. Probably the Trope Codifier.
• Gone Horribly Right: Lupin's first heist, as a kid, stealing jewelry from his mother's employer (She was a maid to a rich couple) to pay for health care for said mother who was sick. The employers never found how the theft was made, or who made it... So they assumed Lupin's mother had done the deed and fired her over it. Also doubles as a kind of Freudian Excuse — his tendency to boldly announce that he is stealing something (or claim responsibility for one he's already done) ensures that no innocents are blamed for his thefts.
• Graceful Loser: Lupin is pretty casually accepting anytime he winds up captured. When Sherlock Holmes corners him in one book, he explains that the occasional arrest is more fun than just winning all the time. Granted, a lot of this comes from the fact that he can very easily escape prison whenever he decides not to be arrested anymore.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Countess Joséphine Balsamo de Cagliostro is the secret (fictional) daughter of Joséphine de Beauharnais from an affair with Count Alessandro Cagliostro, also known as Joseph Balsamo.
• Iconic Outfit: The monocle, top hat and cloak are how he's traditionally depicted, but generally Lupin dresses pragmatically, wearing what is suitable for the disguise of the day, or the task at hand.
• I Have Many Names: Lupin's been seen under over thirty different names, though there's some speculation regarding the name "Raoul," which is one of his more common aliases. It was first mentioned in The Queen's Necklace, the story in which Arsène tells of his childhood, though whether this is his birth name is up in the air.

• Impossible Theft: Stealing things in the French countryside while locked up in a Paris prison.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: With Sherlock Holmes, called Holmlock Shears or Herlock Sholmes for copyright reasons (Watson was renamed Wilson). Canonical as far as Lupin goes. One of the earliest examples.
• It's All About Me: Lupin gets called out about putting his desires ahead of the well-being of the people he's supposed to have sworn to protect. His former nanny calls him on this during 813 when Lupin considers revealing who he is to his daughter and drag her into his adventures, shattering her peaceful, happy life.
• Justice by Other Legal Means: The narrator of the short story "Footprints in the Snow"^note Ostensibly a friend of Lupin's named Renine, but the author notes at the beginning that it was likely Lupin himself is able to work out that the villain had faked his own murder in order to claim a life insurance payout through a third party, hoping his unfaithful wife and her lover would be blamed. While technically speaking the man hasn't broken any law, the narrator manages to reveal his plot in time to prevent the man's accomplice from claiming the payment.
• Karmic Thief: Arsene Lupin's first theft was from a family that had been paying his mother an unfairly low wage for the work she did.
• Kissing Cousins: Suzanne Gerbois from The Blonde Lady wishes to marry her cousin Philippe, enough that she willingly becomes Lupin’s hostage for a Faked Kidnapping to ransom half her father’s lottery winnings that he wanted to use as a dowry so they can negotiate letting her Marry for Love.
• Landmarking the Hidden Base: The Hollow Needle.
• Lima Syndrome: In The Confessions of Arsène Lupin, Lupin is captured by a mother-and-son team seeking revenge. The son, who was tending his wounds, ends up setting him free, because he was actually a woman in disguise, and had fallen in love with Lupin.
• Lost in Character: In the first book, Lupin confesses to the Narrator that he has trouble even recognizing himself in the mirror.
• Master of Disguise. Leblanc, the in-universe narrator of these stories, admits that every time he meets with Lupin is like meeting him for the first time. In all the stories only Sherlock Holmes (or his Captain Ersatz, at least) seems to be able to see through his multiple disguises (something which Lupin referred to as looking through his soul).
• Meaningful Name: The word "Grognard" has two meanings in French culture: it can mean "grumbler" or "complainer", but here it's meant to show he's one of the oldest and most faithful accomplices of Lupin's. It comes from the nickname given to members of Napoleon Bonaparte's Old Guard, old campaigners who (by surviving lots of grisly battles) had gained the right to "grumble" in front of the Emperor. Some early English translations render his name in a literal, Only Known by Their Nickname version, as "the Growler".
  • A Night Hood-only version is Sergeant Folenfant, whose name means "Crazy^note "Fol enfant" means crazy child, but crazy as in zany, naive or hyperactive. Not "insane" or "mad" child". He usually tends to live up to it. The Folenfant from the books, however, is a very, very minor character who appears in one or two stories and never utters a line.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Leon Massier. By the time the truth is discovered, he's already been executed.
• Mole in Charge: Lupin as head of the Parisian police force in 813.
• Mood Whiplash: When Lupin reveals himself in The Island of Thirty Coffins, the story makes a sudden jump to the light-hearted. Lupin lampshades this himself.
• Murder by Suicide: How Lupin disposes of the bad guy in The Golden Triangle.

• Opaque Lenses:
  • Daubrecq's eyes are covered by both regular glasses and Sinister Shades. Lupin himself comments that not being able to see his expression is unnerving. He uses those glasses to hide his glass eye, which contains the highly-sought-after document, and Lupin happens upon this entirely by accident.
  • Siméon Diodokis wears a pair of shaded yellow glasses.
• Parental Abandonment: Neither of Lupin's children, son or daughter, know he is their father. His son was taken from Lupin and used in an eventual Batman Gambit to have his life destroyed to get back at Lupin himself. His daughter he abandoned, only coming back when her mother died to deliver her to her foster parents, and to do the same once more when her foster parents died too, delivering her to his former nursemaid. At the end of 813 in desperation he intends to tell her of their relation, but his nursemaid forbids dragging his daughter into the kind of life he lives, and he himself can't bring himself to do it.
• Patriotic Fervor: Lupin has many lovers but Lady France holds a special place in his heart. In the Hollow Needle we see he's stolen multiple classical paintings from various other countries (Italy, Spain, England), and secretly replaced them with replicas. He turns the originals over to the police, imploring them to keep them in the Louvre rather than return them to their countries of origin, claiming they are gifts of conquest to the people of France.
• Prophecies Are Always Right: Averted in The Island of Thirty Coffins. Kind of. The prophecy in question is actually just a poem, but Vorski believes it to be a prophecy and kills thirty people attempting to fulfil it.
• Public Domain Artifact: A number of them.
  • The Queen's Necklace, the subject of a mysterious affair involving Marie-Antoinette. It appears in The Queen's Necklace as the target of Lupin's first theft as a young boy.
  • The "cursed" Blue Diamond of the Crown, better known now as the Hope Diamond. It's the MacGuffin of The Blonde Lady and has a bit of fictional history added involving actress Leonide Leblanc.
  • The Ambazac reliquary, stolen from the church of Ambazac by a band of thieves in 1907. The Hollow Needle purports them to be agents of Lupin, and the reliquary appears as part of his collection.
  • The Tiara of Saitapharnes, a treasure kept in the Louvre Museum that caused a scandal when it was revealed to be fake. The "real one" appears as part of Lupin's collection in The Hollow Needle.
  • The Mona Lisa, which you should know already. It appears in The Hollow Needle as the crown jewel of Lupin's collection, with the one in the Louvre being a fake. This was actually before the more famous Real Life theft of the painting in 1911. In addition, it appears in the 1932 film Arsene Lupin starring John and Lionel Barrymore, where Lupin steals the wood panel painting by wrapping it around his umbrella.
• Public Domain Canon Welding: The original stories are an odd example, since they featured ties to Sherlock Holmes — except Holmes wasn't in public domain at the time, so the main characters were renamed "Herlock Sholmes" and "Wilson" to dodge copyright. It's become a straight example since both have fallen into the public domain, and works welding themselves to Lupin have the opportunity to use Holmes/"Sholmes" as well.
• Erast Fandorin got welded to both the Sherlock Holmes and the Arsène Lupin PD canons via the "The Prisoner of the Tower" short story in the Jade Rosary Beads collection.
• Pyrrhic Victory: The end of 813: In Lupin's own words: "I've won yet lost everything." The now dead big bad was a woman he loved, the man he thought was the Big Bad and successfully had convicted and executed as such turns out to have been an innocent. The future as rich nobility he had hoped to set up for his daughter has fallen apart. The successful civilian identities he had during his retirement have been destroyed. One of the film adaptations of the novel is thus titled: "Arsène Lupin wins and loses".
• Refuge in Audacity: Lupin truly lives by this. Taunting the police as they chase him, coming back to the scene of his crime in disguise to solve it...
  • In the first story, it is explained that one time, Lupin broke into a wealthy man's home but left empty-handed, instead leaving his calling card with this scribbled across it: "Arsène Lupin, gentleman-burglar, will return when the furniture is genuine."
  • Some of his plans hinge on this trope, or the reputation he has for employing it. Such as being liberated from jail by promising he'd never get to trial. This gets his confined in solitary confinement with no one allowed to visit him in his cell out of fear this could lead to his escape. Using the time in jail and the solitary confinement his threat earned him to alter his appearance by changing weight and mannerism so at trial he spin a yarn about being a poor homeless plucked by Lupin's gang to occupy his cell as the real Lupin busted out. Even the arresting officer falls for it. And as Lupin himself puts it "The deception was so shallow that if anyone had approached it and my disguise from the point of view that it can't be true, I'd have been finished, the disguise was so shallow it wouldn't hold". But since Lupin's reputation for doing the impossible is so great, no one did and they accepted the tale that Lupin had escaped. So he was let out, and in such... never made it to trial. And why did they believe he was able to do this? Why he had already escaped once and said that it was just a trial run for his real escape attempt!
  • Where does Lupin hide his secret correspondence in prison, you may ask? Why, in the drawer of his desk, of course. The guards kept searching the most improbable hiding places due to Lupin's reputation while completely forgetting the obvious solution.
  • When Lupin is arrested in the second book by Sherlock Holmes, he boasts that it doesn't matter as he'll casually escape from police captivity and return to his life of crime. In fact, he informs Ganimard of an elaborate and ridiculous escape plan he's concocted involving secret passages, precisely-placed henchmen, and finally a grand escape over the skies of Paris in a dirigible. Ganimard scoffs at this (probably remembering Lupin's above-mentioned boasting that built up him being unknowingly released by the police), and pays it no mind. This time, Lupin wasn't bluffing.
• Role Called: The first book, Arsène Lupin: Gentleman Burglar.

• Scary Black Man: In the Golden Triangle Novel, one of the characters is a wounded African soldier nicknamed Ya-Bon, because those are the only words he can say. The book physically points out his African features when describing him as frightening, and compares him several times to a wild dog when it describes how he injures people because he does not know his own strength.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Invoked often because Lupin still has a conscience and morals, and never condones murder, extortion or other things he himself will never do.
• Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Lupin is prone to those, especially during an Indy Ploy.
  • Metaphorically True: Often used by him when someone calls him on a lie. IE: Lupin says he will find the treasure and give it to someone in 2 days if they let him live. Later the person realizes Lupin doesn't know where the treasure is, Lupin replies he expects he'll have figured it out by the 2 day limit.
• Sequel Hook: "Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late," aptly enough, has Sherlock arriving after Lupin has committed his crime, and runs into the thief as he's leaving the scene of the crime. He instantly picks up on Arsene's true identity, but makes no move to expose or arrest him, later explaining that he "Doesn't rely on chance encounters" to capture criminals. Sherlock effortlessly deduces the manner by which Arsene committed his theft, but because the items were all returned (Lupin had a crisis of conscience when he discovered he was robbing a female acquaintance), he's unconcerned with the illegality, and treats the entire thing as an amusing diversion. Then, upon leaving, he finds that Lupin pocketed his watch. Sherlock immediately falls into a state of Tranquil Fury and vows to some day capture Lupin, which turns out to be the plot of the character's first full-length novel.
• Sherlock Homage: Lupin met Sherlock Holmes in the short story, Sherlock Holmes Arrives Too Late. After Doyle complained, the omnibus collection renamed him "Herlock Sholmes". Sholmes went on to appear in two more Lupin stories.
• Significant Anagram: Some of Lupin's aliases are these, such as Paul Sernine and Luis Perenna.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Ganimard. Lupin himself admits that even though Ganimard doesn't have his or Holmes' intellect, he makes up for it with pure tenacity and determination. Not that Lupin ever had any qualms on making him look like a fool though.
• Straight Edge Evil: "Evil" is a bit of a strong word, as Lupin never commits any crimes worse than stealing from the wealthy, but he's still an unapologetic thief who revels in his thrilling lifestyle. But despite this, Arsene does not drink, smoke, or eat meat. The only time he ever indulges in these things is when he's in disguise and abstaining would break character.
• Ten Little Murder Victims: The first story, The Arrest of Arsène Lupin.
• Terminally-Ill Criminal: The Teeth of the Tiger is a revenge story where an engineer married to a woman who doesn't love him learns he has cancer (and his son has tuberculosis). He resolves to murder his son and kill himself in a way that will ensure his wife and her (platonic) lover will take the fall for it. And it would have worked (the wife and lover independently commit suicide) if it weren't for Arsène investigating, but the story is further complicated by the fact that there's another murderer on the scene manipulating the engineer and the lover so he can inherit from all the victims involved.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: While Lupin's reputation is enough to cause people to wet themselves at mention of the name, it's a publicly known fact that Lupin has never killed anyone. In fact when a theft is staged to look like it's Lupin's work, the fact someone was murdered is one of the first clues that causes people to doubt Lupin was the culprit.
• Too Clever by Half: One of Lupin's most consistent weaknesses (besides him being a lovesick romantic) is that he tends to overthink his own cunning and underestimate the determination of his foes. The very first Lupin story ends with him being arrested by random happenstance (he escapes shortly after of course). In particular this trait tends to trip him up whenever he tangles with Sherlock Holmes, a genius on his own level.
• The Tyson Zone: By the time of his first story, Lupin has reached it in-universe. Lupin's reputation for impossible crimes is at the point where the populace will believe any story the newspapers print about him, and come to expect his miraculous escapes. Any calling card Lupin sends informing a potential mark of a robbery is treated with the utmost seriousness, as no matter how absurd the proposed crime is, Lupin will commit it. Naturally, Lupin uses this to his advantage, and his reputation is often the lynchpin of many a Batman Gambit.
• Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: One of the earliest examples of classic literature; Arsène Lupin is an uncatchable burglar who always makes a classy escape, while Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective who always gets his man. Naturally there had to be a story in which one of Lupin's crimes was investigated by Holmes. This was even homaged in anime, where Arsène's grandson having a crossover in which he's pursued by a detective who models himself after Sherlock Holmes.
• Unreliable Narrator: If it hasn't been spoiled already, Lupin has been known to hide behind the proverbial camera, indeed, he spends the whole first story doing it, leading to a twist ending.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Lupin names his dog Sherlock.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Lupin gets a stinging one from the woman who raised him at the end of "813," when she calls him out on his plans to offer his daughter (though she doesn't know it) a fairy tale wedding to a German duke... with the added side benefit of turning the duke into a puppet as part of a master plan to break up the Second Reich. To his credit, Lupin realizes that he's been a prick and lets the girl go to live her own life.
• Wolverine Publicity:
  • Some editions of The Hollow Needle highlight Holmes on the cover, even though he has only a small role in the book. One even adds the Spotlight-Stealing Title of Arsene Lupin vs. Sherlock Holmes.
  • Lupin himself has also received this treatment, with books in which he plays only a small role giving him more space on the cover than any main character.
  • There's even stories where he spends the whole novel under a cover, which the narrator continues to use to refer to him even after we learn he's Lupin. For example, in "The Damsel With Green Eyes" Lupin's identity is established very early, but he goes by "Raoul" for the entire book, even during narration. Remove less than half a dozen paragraphs and no one would ever know it's a "Lupin" novel at all.
• World War I
• Worthy Opponent: Sherlock Holmes was brought in specifically to be Lupin's Worthy Opponent. It's lampshaded many times throughout their meetings.
  • In the Night Hood cartoon, Lupin seemed to genuinely respect Inspector Ganimard for his skills as a police detective. His disdain was reserved more for Sergeant Folenfant, whose name means "stupid child" in French.
• Writing Around Trademarks: An intriguing Real Life example; After Conan Doyle threatened to sue, Leblanc changed the Great Detective in his stories to Herlock Sholmes.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: The second and third crossovers with Sherlock Holmes read like this. In the second crossover, The Blonde Phantom, Holmes manages to find and capture Lupin's main accomplice, the eponymous Blonde Phantom herself, and has a cab waiting outside to take them both to the station while he plans his next move. Three guesses on who is driving the cab. Later Lupin sends Holmes all tied up back to England, hoping to never see him again, and gets ready to clear his hideout of many years, since Holmes knowing about it compromises its safety. Guess which English detective is waiting for Lupin to show up. Here's a hint: it's not Miss Marple.

• The Zeroth Law of Trope Examples: Hilariously used in the TV series: Sholmès quotes the philosopher Sophocles, but misattributes it to Shakespeare. When Wilson corrects him, Sholmès tells him "Everything is from Shakespeare, even Dickens."

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