Stéphane Narcisse

Stéphane Narcisse
Biographical Information
Title	Lord Narcisse Marquis of Rouen Regent of France (formerly) Lord Chancellor (currently)
Religion	Catholicism
Status	Alive
Relationship Information
Relatives	Lola (wife) † Estelle (former wife) † Éduard (son) † Luc (son) Jean-Philippe (step-son) 3 previous wives † Unnamed father Unnamed sister Lady Amelie (niece) George (brother-in-law) † Claude (daughter-in-law)
Series Information
Season(s)	2, 3, 4
First Appearance	The Plague
Portrayed By	Craig Parker

“	What is power without love?	”
	— Narcisse in Our Undoing

Stéphane Narcisse (English: Stephen) is a major recurring character and the husband of Lady Lola Narcisse. He made his first appearance during the second season as an antagonist. He continually blackmailed Francis in order to get what he wanted as he knew of Francis killing King Henry. Also during all this, he began to continually try to court Lola and eventually fell in love with her. He also was in a sexual relationship with Catherine, trying to win her favor to gain more power at the court but also helped her in trying to take down Mary and Condé. He eventually betrayed her after she made false accusations against Condé and put Lola's life in danger.

Later on, Narcisse tried to obtain the blessing of Francis to marry Lola. Eventually, Francis allowed the marriage for Narcisse and Lola and attended the ceremony to show his blessing. Some time after, Narcisse was involved in a deep heavy battle with Catherine over the Regency. After Francis' death, Charles became the new King of France and Narcisse tried to brainwash him against his mother. He had become Regent, beginning to commit several crimes and trying to tear apart Catherine's family in order to gain even more power. However, Narcisse lost his title and power when Charles finally stood up for his mother and sister, Claude. After Narcisse's treasons were revealed, the Privy Council voted to make Catherine the Regent of France. Despite his pleas, Lola left him after finding out everything he had done to marry her and gain the position of Regent including cheating on her with Catherine.

Narcisse is a member of the House of Narcisse by birth.

He is portrayed by New Zealand actor, Craig Parker.

Early Life

When he was only 15 years of age, his father arranged his first marriage to a very wealthy young woman. He was pestered constantly by his father to produce an heir, however his wife had many miscarriages. He slept with his wife too early after a miscarriage and she bled to death. A year later he was wed again, to a hemophiliac who died soon after due to her condition. He was married a third time but the cause of her death is unknown.

Throughout the Series

• Season Two

Personality

Described as brilliant, sexual, and fierce, Narcisse is a devout Catholic with a “death grip” on French Court. Living in an age where life is actually cheap, he will trade lives to achieve his goals. It is always difficult to tell how genuine he is being, for he is also a consummate liar.

Narcisse believes that the correct way of keeping France a great nation is by doing things his way, which is why he has no guilt over his actions even if they are monstrous, and he has no qualms over intimidating even Francis into doing the things he wants for the sake of France. Hence, though the terrible things he does might be for good intentions, he is viewed as a great thorn in the side of the King and Queen.

When he came to the French Court, he started looking for a woman with whom he could share mutual love, and while he ends up having sexual relations with Catherine and Claude, the woman of his dreams turned out to be Lola, for the relations he had with the former two stemmed purely from sexual needs and desire to gain power. In contrast, when he is with Lola, Narcisse demonstrates a compassionate and romantic side that seems to be wholly unexpected of such an ambitious and scheming man, for he genuinely cares for her and would do anything for her.

However, it was still evident that, while Narcisse's love for Lola was true, it was still a selfish and manipulative love that was no match for what he deemed to be his own best interests: even after being married to Lola, Narcisse cheated on her with Catherine for political matters, and Lola later found out that not only had he been unfaithful to her, but also he had actually tricked her into marrying him. This discovery caused her to leave him after a fateful confrontation over his deceit and betrayals, and Narcisse appeared to be genuinely heartbroken by her departure, indicating that he possibly felt true remorse for his actions.

Physical Appearance

Stéphane is a handsome older man with short-cut dark brown hair, a well-trimmed beard of the same color, with a medium complexion, and blue eyes. He is also tall and well-built, and, due to high status, dresses in very extravagant and presumably expensive clothing. 

Name

• Stéphane is a masculine name, and is the French form of the name Stephen. In Greek it means "Crown" or "Garland".

Relationships

• Romantic
• Familial
• Friendships
• Enemies

Lola: Narcisse's love interest. Narcisse first met Lola during the Black Plague. After he moved to the French Court, Lola helped his wife escape from him which led to her death. However, this event caused Lola to see Narcisse in a new light.

TBA

(See Lola and Narcisse.)

Estelle: Estelle was Narcisse's new wife but the marriage was short-lived due to her running away from him and eventually falling to her death.

Catherine:

Claude:

Éduard Narcisse:

Luc Narcisse:

TBA

Francis:

Mary:

Louis Condé:

John Knox:

Appearances

Season Two
Episode	Appearance Status
The Plague	Appears
Drawn and Quartered	Appears
Coronation	Appears
The Lamb and the Slaughter	Appears
Blood for Blood	Appears
Three Queens	Appears
The Prince of the Blood	Appears
Terror of the Faithful	Appears
Acts of War	Appears
Mercy	Appears
Getaway	Credit Only
Banished	Appears
Sins of the Past	Appears
The End of Mourning	Appears
Forbidden	Appears
Tasting Revenge	Appears
Tempting Fate	Appears
Reversal of Fortune	Appears
Abandoned	Appears
Fugitive	Appears
The Siege	Appears
Burn	Appears

Season Three
Episode	Appearance Status
Three Queens, Two Tigers	Appears
Betrothed	Appears
Extreme Measures	Appears
The Price	Appears
In a Clearing	Appears
Fight or Flight	Appears
The Hound and the Hare	Appears
Our Undoing	Appears
Wedlock	Appears
Bruises That Lie	Appears
Succession	Appears
No Way Out	Appears
Strange Bedfellows	Appears
To The Death	Appears
Safe Passage	Appears
Clans	Appears
Intruders	Appears
Spiders in a Jar	Appears

Season Four
Episode	Appearance Status
With Friends Like These	Appears
A Grain of Deception	Appears
Leaps of Faith	Appears
Playing with Fire	Appears
Highland Games	Appears
Love & Death	Appears
Hanging Swords	Appears
Uncharted Waters	Appears
Pulling Strings	Credit Only
A Better Man	Appears
Dead of Night	Appears
The Shakedown	Appears
Coup de Grace	Appears
A Bride. A Box. A Body.	Appears
Blood in the Water	Appears
All It Cost Her	Appears

Gallery

Stéphane Narcisse has a photo gallery.

Trivia

• Narcisse is the second husband of Lola.
• He's admitted to Lola to never having been in love.
  • He eventually fell in love with Lola and married her in Extreme Measures.
• He's been married five times.
  • All of his wives died soon after apart from Lady Lola.
• He has a butterfly mark on his forearm.
  • He is the mystery lover from the Sex Journal.
• He was the first to know of Francis killing King Henry.
  • He used this as a method to blackmail Francis in order to control of how he ruled France.
• He used to be a lover of Claude and Catherine on different occasions.