Oscar Francois de Jarjayes

Brigadier Oscar François de Jarjayes (オスカル・フランソワ・ド・ジャルジェ Osukaru Furansowa do Jaruje) is one of the main characters in the manga/anime "The Rose of Versailles", created by Riyoko Ikeda.

Personality[]

Oscar is depicted as incredibly loyal, hard-working, and honest. She is very loyal to those closest in her life and will often do whatever she can to keep them safe. As a commanding officer, Oscar is very proud and serious about her position. Despite this, she does not resort to physical punishment in order to gain obedience and respect from those under her command. While normally level-headed, she can be very impulsive, especially when her loved ones are in danger.

Because Oscar is often at Versailles, she is somewhat unaware of the economy of the country until she meets Rosalie Lamorlière and learns young women are selling their bodies in order to have money for food as there were not enough jobs available. She later became more aware of the struggle when she witnessed a family have to choose to allow their sick son to die as calling a doctor would cost the family money that would affect keeping their farm. As the series progresses, she becomes invested in the ideals of the French revolution - liberty, equality, and fraternity - and becomes more socially conscious.

Physical Appearance[]

Oscar is an androgynous woman, whom the characters in the show often mistake for a beautiful man. When they discover that she's actually a woman, their opinion regarding her beauty doesn't change.

She is tall, almost as all the other men in the show, and slender, characteristic that still doesn't stop her from being able to win fights with people of the opposite sex.

She has curly blonde hair that get longer as the show progresses; in the first episode it reaches her shoulders, while in the last one it gets to the middle of her back. She always wears them down, covering her ears, and her Nanny says that there are a lot of knots in its strands. The only time she wears it in an updo is when she dresses in feminine clothes to dance with Count Fersen.

Oscar appears to be the only person in her family who has light blue eyes.

Outfits[]

She is shown wearing seven outfits:

A white shirt with a white cravat and green vest, dark green knee-length pants, white socks, and brown shoes. It's her casual outfit, the one she usually wears when she's at her parents' palace and is not working. She is often seen sparring with André in such outfit, indicating just how comfortable she is around him.

Her white and gold uniform, which she wears when she first meets Marie Antoinette and becomes head of her guard (white jacket with gold paulettes and a red sash worn with white pants and black boots)

Her Royal Guard uniform: a bright red jacket with long coattails, white epaulettes, a dark red band around her waist, a purple sash across her chest, and a white cross with a blue gem on its front that is worn with white pants and knee-high black boots.

Her French Guard uniform: a blue jacket with long coattails and a gold embroidered front and collar, white paulettes, gold trimmings, a white cross with a red jem at the throat, and a dark blue band around her waist. She wears it with white pants and knee-high black boots.

Her white uniform with silver details and blue palettes and sash, which she wears while dancing with Marie Antoinette.

The only ballgown she wears in her entire life (light blue and short-sleeved, with dark blue trims. She wears it with a silver tiara and a gold fan with peacock feathers).

A white shirt tucked in dark red knee-length pants with white socks, which becomes her go-to at home outfit in her 20s and 30s

Character History[]

Born the last of five daughters to the Commander of the Royal Guards, General de Jarjayes (a real historical personage), Oscar is raised by her father as if she were a boy in order to take his place and command the Royal Guards serving at Court after he retires. At the age of fourteen, as soon as her training in the basic military skills is complete, Oscar is given the task to protect the Dauphine Marie Antoinette when she arrives at the French Court.

Despite being raised as if she were a boy and dressing in males' clothes, Oscar is open about being female. Even as she embraces her femininity, she uses her male position to gain freedoms that she could never have as a lady of the court.

She is the love interest of both André Grenadier, her servant at the Jarjayes mansion and afterwards a soldier in her regiment. She also earns the admiration and affection of Rosalie Lamorlière, and in turn calls Rosalie her "spring breeze". Other women are infatuated with Oscar, even after she tells them she is female. Because of this, Oscar regularly hears the words that this or that woman would have proposed to her a long time ago if she really were a man. She dislikes the court intrigues, but remains there out of loyalty to her father and her friend, Marie Antoinette. At one point, Oscar falls in love with Hans Axel Von Fersen, who has a forbidden love for Marie Antoinette.

Soon gaining the Dauphine and Queen-to-be's friendship and trust, Oscar experiences life at Versailles and the pain caused by the contradictions of her being a woman whom everybody, including herself, considers a man. Later in the story, Oscar learns of the political ideals of the Revolution and that the royalist regime is corrupt.As the French Revolution is about to begin, Oscar refuses to sedate tumults occurring in Paris. She renounces her status and her regiment joins forces with the people marching to the Bastille. Shot by soldiers inside the fortress, she dies right before the prison falls, but not before seeing a white bird flying over her, indicating that bird is Andre, who died the night before her death, waiting for Oscar to come with him to Heaven. They are buried together on a hill.

Relationships[]

Marie Antoinette: Oscar is shown to be incredibly loyal to Marie Antoinette. Because of her support and honesty, Marie Antoinette considered Oscar her closest friend. Although Oscar found Marie Antoinette's innocence admiring, she often saw that the young princess was being manipulated by others and her pride was causing great harm. Oscar would try to get Marie Antoinette to take things more seriously but also did not push these concerns too much as she felt she should not go above the monarch.

André Grenadier: Oscar's longtime friend. For majority of the time they've known each other, Oscar treated André as nothing more than a fellow soldier and friend. The two often sparred or went drinking together. At times, Oscar is seen scolding André for things he says or believes. Later, Oscar realized she was in love with André and they eventually married.

Rosalie Lamorlière: A young woman Oscar takes into her care. When Oscar stopped Rosalie from attacking her mother and learning her reason behind this, Oscar decided to help Rosalie avenge her mother's death and began teaching her swordsmanship and the mannerisms of nobility. Throughout this, Oscar has grown close to Rosalie and helped her through many things she felt Rosalie could not do alone.

Quotes[]

Trivia[]

Oscar was originally a supporting character to Marie Antoinette, and was created as a female because Ikeda was unsure if she could accurately portray a male soldier. Oscar eclipsed Marie Antoinette in popularity and due to reader feedback became the main character.Eri Izawa suggests that as Oscar is fictional, Ikeda could be freer in the portrayal of Oscar's life than Ikeda could be in the life of Marie-Antoinette, who had to die on the guillotine.Oscar's androgynous persona is based on the actresses who play male roles in the Takarazuka Revue and Princess Sapphire,and she was named for Oscar Wilde, as Ikeda is a fan of his work.