Character Analysis
Brother of Louis XVII – who lost his head (no, literally) – during the French Revolution, Louis XVIII is studious and detached, totally unconcerned with the running of his country. The one time we meet him, he's more interested in reading the classics – Horace, to be specific – than listening to his ministers. That is, of course, until Villefort busts in with Napoleon's arrival in France. Louis functions as comic relief – although his incompetence doesn't reflect well on the monarchy during the first Restoration – and we don't hear anything more from him once Napoleon returns.