War and Peace · Character
Louis XIV
Also known as Louis-es
- Minor
- First seen · Book 1 · Ch. 353
He is remembered less through intimate detail than through the force of his self-confidence: a ruler whose certainty seems to fill the room. Even at a distance, he carries the imposing air of someone accustomed to having the world arrange itself around him.
- Gender
- male
- First appears
- Book 1 · Ch. 353
- Books
- 1
Tolstoy invokes Louis XIV as an emblem of sovereign pride, surrounded by mistresses and ministers and associated with the misrule of France. His reign ends tranquilly, a contrast to the upheavals that follow in French history. In the book, he serves not as a developed dramatic figure but as one measure of how power and history are remembered.
Description
The text offers no concrete account of Louis XIV’s height, build, coloring, hair, eyes, facial features, or dress. What it does convey is a very proud, self-confident presence, suited to the image of a monarch accustomed to command. Any more specific visual features would be conjecture.
Story so far
BOOK 1War and Peace
Appearances
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