Citizen Chauvelin

Citizen Armand Chauvelin (Citoyen Chauvelin in French) is the villain in Baroness Emmuska Orczy's classic novel The Scarlet Pimpernel and the various plays and movies derived from the work.

He is cast as Sir Percy Blakeney's arch-enemy throughout the novel's many sequels and appears in almost all of them. The former ambassador to the United Kingdom (The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Elusive Pimpernel), Chauvelin is both a representative in the National Assembly and the chief agent of the Committee of Public Safety.

Chauvelin is a ruthless, amoral patriot who firmly believes that the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel is a threat and a mockery to the French Republic, and uses his position incessantly to attempt to destroy or discredit the Pimpernel and his associates. He is described as dressing always in black. While he is depicted as being a small and physically weak man, he is extremely intelligent and cunning, able to manipulate those around him and devise elaborate plots. He is fearless concerning his own safety, except so far as his own incapacity or death might foil his plans.

Although he learns the true identity of the Pimpernel early on, Chauvelin keeps the knowledge to himself, partially because he realises that if the government knew, he would lose his leverage over them as the only man who knows what the Pimpernel looks like. Also, his bitter hatred of Sir Percy has become an obsession and he wishes to be personally responsible for stopping the Pimpernel's interference in French politics.

Orczy shows Chauvelin has a more human side and fills in some background details - among other things, mentioning his first name, Armand, for the only time in the series - in the novel Sir Percy Hits Back which features his daughter, Fleurette. Protected from the brutalities of the Revolution, she is unaware of her beloved father's identity as a leading politician. Fleurette's mother is never mentioned, except for the implication that she was not involved in her daughter's upbringing within Fleurette's memory.

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