Exact reasons for why D'Hubert *helped* Faraud

Snippet from a recent conversation I've had on the movie--after introducing someone to it for the first time, their question was "Why did he help his enemy avoid execution?"

This was my take on it all; and what I told her.

The reason D'Hubert helped Faraud get off the 'execution list' near the end of the movie is because of the rules and customs of dueling.

When you're in a duel with someone; there's obviously points in the fight where you're attacking and your sword is striking the opponent; and then there's these other moments when you're on a 'guard' position and you're setting up for your next stroke or cut.

Its not nonstop chopping away at each other. You saw that in the early duels, lots of times the two men were just facing each other, totally still and unmoving; waiting until both men had a fair position from which to start.

You saw how when D'Hubert sneezed, Faraud didn't use that moment to kill him. Its all about being evenly matched; that's the priority. You never want it to be thought by anyone, that you took an unfair advantage or tripped your enemy or hit him when he wasn't looking.

This is crucial. 'Fair play' is *priority* during a duel.

So looking beyond that: here you have two men who's whole adult life takes on the shape and structure of a duel. They come together and fight briefly, and then, life and history draws them apart again..sometimes for years. But because they keep returning to fight, honor demands that in the 'between times' they should not look for 'unfair advantages' in their careers via which to slip away or dodge or backstab the other guy.

And this was because again, you would not want anyone to think that you had lost your courage inbetween one challenge and the next. Or that you had descended to some low, underhanded trick to 'get at him' ---rather than taking him on, 'man to man' the next time he called you out. You wouldn't want to know--even in your own heart--that you had taken the easy way out and let him get axed.

It makes perfect sense. So, Faraud wound up in a legal mess; and had D'Hubert done nothing to save him; he would have benefited personally-- he would never have to face him again.

It was within his power to save him, without much effort--so he was forced to do so. Had he not; it would have been the same thing as killing the man during a fight if (for example) he had accidentally dropped his blade, for instance. You never strike at an unarmed man if you, yourself, are armed.

In the code of honor these men lived by--the rule for the minor point (conducting a fight) is the same for a major point (how you live your life).


Notice also how D'Hubert insisted on secrecy when he saved Faraud's neck. Its because: the honorable man doesn't 'do the gallant thing' because it makes him "look good to others"; he does it because he himself values honorable actions.

In other words, even if you can fix it so that no one *ever* suspects you of taking an unfair advantage of an opponent; its intolerable for the true man of honor to know--within himself--that he took the easy way out. So: even if the two men were fighting by themselves with no one watching; off in a remote area--they would still behave by this code because its part of their own self-respect to 'play fair'.

The screenplay depicts all this with great accuracy.

Faraud hated D'Hubert just like Laura said: to stoke up his own personal spite. He had a grudge against the upper class; the elitists, the snobs in the army. He himself was from the lower classes. It wasn't said outright but a number of clues reveal it.

He also showed over time that he was the man who had less honor because at one point he had forgotten why it even started and lied about it to people; just in order to keep it going.

He probably thought that it was just as honorable to stay 'true' to his hatred--rather than give up on it.

And remember it did both of them a lot of good; it advanced their careers. The bottom line was that since the hothead kept correct 'form' the upper-class soldier had to respond to it.