Alain de Soisson is a soldier of noble but impoverished birth who serves as the squad leader of the French Guards, directly under the command of Oscar François de Jarjayes. His family’s fallen and meager status leaves him with little wealth and a deep resentment toward the privileged high nobility. His military career was permanently derailed after he violently struck a superior officer to defend his younger sister, Diane, from an assault. For this offense, he was demoted and barred from ever regaining his former rank. Diane later became engaged to a poor nobleman, who abandoned her for a wealthier woman, driving her to suicide. His mother died from the shock soon after, leaving Alain consumed by a bitter hatred for the rigid class system. Initially, he is brusque, impulsive, and possesses a pronounced misogyny, rebelling against Oscar’s leadership because he dismisses her as a spoiled aristocrat. Despite his rough exterior, he has a deep sense of duty, a fierce loyalty to his comrades, and is regarded as an elder brother figure within the guard. His raw sense of justice and protective nature hide a deeply sensitive soul. He challenges Oscar to a duel and is defeated, but her integrity transforms his hostility into a profound, lifelong, unrequited love and admiration for her as both a commander and a woman. His relationship with André Grandier is complex: they are rivals for Oscar’s affection yet also comrades and friends. Alain is an exceptionally skilled soldier whose swordsmanship rivals Oscar’s, and he is also a remarkable marksman and artillery commander. During the revolution, he is imprisoned for refusing to fire on civilians, later leads the cannons at the storming of the Bastille, and witnesses Oscar’s death in the fighting. Disillusioned by the revolution’s descent into ugly power struggles, he quits military service and seeks peace away from the chaos of history.