Les Colombes du Roi-Soleil - Jeanne / Characters

Jeanne de Montesquiou / Jeanne Matte

The main character of Jeanne, Parfumeur du Roi. A passionate girl with a gift for perfumes.

Always Identical Twins: She and her estranged twin brother Jacques have the exact same eyes and chin; which both of them and their older brother Jean immediately notice.
Happily Adopted: First by the people she thought were her birth parents, then by her aunt after they both died.
The Nose Knows: She has an excellent sense of smell and a gift with perfumes; she often describes things by their scent, and in the end, it is this gift that [[spoilers: leads her back to her birth family]].
Oblivious to Love: She has no idea Guilhem fancies her and does not even pick up on the clues.
Plucky Girl: She is quick to adapt and not one to give up easily.
Technician Versus Performer: The Performer to Jacques’s Technician: though she educates herself on the craft of perfumery as well as she can, it is her natural nose and talent she relies on to make truly unique perfumes.

Henri de Montesquiou

Jeanne's father

Baby Be Mine: After years of attempting at siring a child of his own, he bought a sick baby girl from a wetnurse who would not admit to her parents that she did not have enough milk to feed both her and her twin.
Disappeared Dad: He died in military service as a musketeer when Jeanne was three.
Doting Parent: Jeanne has nothing but good memories of him.
Easily Forgiven: Madame Matte decides to forgive him for abducting her daughter, since he gave her all the love a child needs. And also, he’s been dead fo years.

Marie de Montesquiou

Jeanne's mother

Doting Parent: She loved Jeanne more than life itself and does everything in her power to defend her rights.
Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: Of the kidnapping her husband performed for her. She confessed it to her priest several times before her death, even though he had given her absolution each time, and did everything in her power to provide Jeanne with a good future, even if she could not be there to give it to her.
Law of Inverse Fertility: She blamed herself for not being able to have children, underwent many treatments and went on many pilgrimages in hopes of becoming pregnant, until she had Jeanne.
Missing Mom: She died of the smallpox when Jeanne was very young.

Jean-Louis de Montesquiou

Jeanne's father's brother

Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Girlfriend-Blocking Dad here. He refuses to let his son marry for love, even to a good party, because he wants him to get Jeanne’s family fortune, which he considers his.
Evil Uncle: After the death of his brother, he harasses his widowed sister-in-law for legacy, then when she dies, takes Jeanne in but neglects her, and even implies that if his wife had not made a holy vow to take care of her, he would have precipitated the succession. When Jeanne is in St. Cyr, he pretends that her dying aunt wants her home in order to bring her back to the fold, and as soon as she passes away he tries to force his niece to marry him for her inheritance.

Marie-Louise de Montesquiou

Jeanne's aunt by marriage, and childhood friend of her mother's

Alternate Character Interpretation: What does she truly know of her husband’s intentions? She is a loving aunt, and also extremely sick, but when talking to her and her husband, Jeanne thinks they both know the lines to some play she does not.
Outliving One's Offspring: She lost her daughter in the crib.
Parental Substitute: To Jeanne.
Replacement Goldfish: Jeanne believes she is this to her, as she specifically tells her that after the loss of her daughter she became the sun of her life, and seems to ignore her when her sons visit home.

Georges de Montesquiou

Jeanne's cousin, Jean-Louis and Marie-Louise's younger son

Abhorrent Admirer: Child Jeanne actually has a bit of a Precocious Crush on him for half a day, but his gold digging and predatory attitude disgusted her very quickly.
The Jailbait Wait: He is fully expecting to marry Jeanne for her inheritance when she turns thirteen or fourteen, and even at seven she is uncomfortable with the way he leers at her.
Marry for Love: He eventually renounces his father’s plans to marry him off to Jeanne in order to marry a woman he actually loves, even though it is without his blessing.

Louison

Jeanne's handmaid

The Confidant: After realizing that Jeanne is not some court-reared Spoiled Brat, she warms to her and helps her defy her uncle's orders to stay under watch.

Martin

The gardener at Jeanne's family home

Old Retainer: The only servant of Henri and Marie de Montesquiou who remained after their deaths.
Secret-Keeper: As the last of the Montesquiou servants, he alone knows the truth about Jeanne’s birth. However, he is removed before she gets to interrogate him.

Germain

A fisherboy who frequently brings fresh fish to the Montesquiou house

Big Damn Heroes: He likes to feel like a chivalrous knight and Jeanne takes advantage of this to get his help in escaping her uncle. He keeps looking out for her as she spends time with his family.
Massive Numbered Siblings: There’s seven of them: Jacques, Luc, Madeleine, himself, Françoise, Andéol and Clothilde.

Madeleine

A peasant girl who dreams to work in a perfumery

Heroic Wannabe: There’s seven of them: Jacques, Luc, herself, Germain, Françoise, Andéol and Clothilde.
Nice Girl: She’s just a really sweet kid who works hard, wants to get an education and a good job.
Romantic False Lead: When she first arrives in Montpellier, Jeanne believes that Guilhem is interested in her.

Gamont

An employee of the maison Deloche in charge of deliveries

Dirty Coward: He fondles Jeanne while she works because he knows she can’t make a scene, but immediately backs away when he believes she is seeing Guilhem, even though he isn’t threatening him in any way, just because he’s two heads taller than him.
Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He considers that Jeanne owes him sexual favors only because he gave her a (very uncomfortable) ride from Cette to Montpellier. In that he is a Foil for Guilhem, who never even mentions all the nice things he does.

Monsieur Deloche

A successful perfumer of Montpellier

Bad Boss: He takes credit for all of Jeanne’s creations and takes advantage of her being a woman not to officialize her apprenticeship or even pay her.
Mentor Archetype: Once clients notice Jeanne’s stealth work in preparing the perfumes for sale, he starts teaching her about composing scents and provides her with resources for a complete, if secret and unpaid, apprenticeship.

Madame Deloche

Monsieur Deloche's wife, who is in charge of the shop

Bad Boss: She spends her time scolding and belittling her shopgirls.
Rich Bitch: The very notion that there might be a beggar in her shop sends her in hysterics.

Sophie Deloche

Monsieur and Madame Deloche's daughter

Alpha Bitch: She mistreats the shopgirls at her parents’ perfumery in order to keep the attention on her.
Daddy's Girl: Monsieur Deloche name’s one of Jeanne’s stolen creations after her.

Aglaé

The head shopgirl at Maison Deloche

Call to Agriculture: She wants to buy a patch of land with her brother, where they could grow roses and jasmine for the perfumers in the area.
Cool Big Sis: Acts this way towards Jeanne and Madeleine. She’s also very protective of Guilhem, even though he’s her older brother.

Guilhem

Aglaé's brother, a rose grower

Gentle Giant: He is very tall, and nothing but soft and kind.
Dogged Nice Guy: Believes himself to be this in the last act; while he is plainly hurt, it doesn’t stop him from looking out for Jeanne.
Humble Hero: He is always there for Jeanne, keeping Gamont’s creepiness away from her, finding her when she runs away from the Deloche store, and getting her a new job, without asking for anything in return or even raising it.
The Stoic: He doesn’t speak a lot, which Jeanne blames on shyness - he shows his feeling by his actions.

Sébastien Matte La Fortune

A more successful perfumer in Montpellier, and Jeanne's biological father

Glasses of Aging: His eyesight is rapidly declining, though he does not want to admit it. That is why he doesn’t notice the obvious resemblance between Jeanne and his second son.
Historical Domain Character
Mistaken for Cheating: Jacques's first idea when he notices his resemblance with Jeanne is that she is a bastard his father might have sired in a moment of weakness. He never did: they are long-lost twins.
The Nose Knows: He has a gift for perfumes, which Jeanne inherited. When he notices how much she knows for a girl who is not supposed to have received any education, he suspects her of being a spy from a rival perfume family.
Self-Made Man: He built his business on his skills, and thanks to his connection with the king’s doctor, was even ennobled.

Madame Matte

Sébastien's wife and Jeanne's biological mother

Outliving One's Offspring: She believes that her daughter died in the crib. Even Jean, who was only five at the time, remembers her mourning.

Jean Matte

The eldest son of the Matte family

Aloof Big Brother: He does not share Jacques’s enthusiasm at the idea of finding their long lost sister. His brother describes him as naturally suspicious.
Early-Bird Cameo: He and Jeanne first meet in the Cette harbor, where he recognizes her face, but she does not realize until months later in Montpellier.

Jacques Matte

The second son of the Matte family

Always Identical Twins: He and his estranged twin sister Jeanne have the exact same eyes and chin; which both of them and their older brother Jean immediately notice.
Inadequate Inheritor: Since Jean has taken over the business side of the family business, his father expects him to become the new creative mind after him; unfortunately, while Jacques knows much and more about perfumery, he just doesn’t have the nose for mixing scents.
Technician Versus Performer: Thanks to the extensive training he was granted, he is the Technician to Jeanne’s Performer.

Characters / Les Colombes du Roi-Soleil - Jeanne

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