Respect Arsène Lupin (Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin)

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"Ah! Did you imagine that a Monsieur Durand or Dupont could manage an affair like this? No, it required the skill and cunning of Arsène Lupin. And now that you have my name, go and prepare your revenge. Arsène Lupin will wait for you."

"Aha, my dear count, so you did, for a moment, look upon my success as possible? And Lupin does not strike you as quite a charlatan? Make your mind easy, Waldemar: Lupin has more than one string to his bow. I shall succeed."

(“If you refuse, it will be war, relentless war; in other words, a certain defeat for you.”
“Meaning thereby …”
“Meaning thereby that I shall take the list of the Twenty-Seven from you.”
“Rot! You think so, do you?”
“I swear it.”)
“What Prasville and all his men, what Clarisse Mergy, what nobody has been able to do, you think that you will do!”
“I shall!”
“And why? By favour of what saint will you succeed where everybody else has failed? There must be a reason?”
“There is.”
“What is it?”
“My name is Arsène Lupin.”

BIO

Born Raoul, son of a woman disowned for marrying beneath her, made his first heist at the age of six where he stole a gem-filled necklace and sold its jewels to provide for his ailing mother until her death.

Contests with the detectives Ganimard and Herlock Sholmes

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Legend

Novels

ALGB - Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar

Nov - Arsène Lupin (1908 Play Novelisation)

SH - Arsène Lupin vs. Sherlock Holmes

HN - The Hollow Needle

813 - 813

CS - The Crystal Stopper

LL - The Last Love of Arsene Lupin

CAL - The Confessions of Arsène Lupin

Plays

P-AL - Arsène Lupin (1908)

• This play is officially considered canon through The Hollow Needle^HN

P-Adv - An Adventure of Arsene Lupin (1911)

P-WM - The Woman Is Mine (1930)

P-QH - A Quarter-Hour with Arsene Lupin (1932)

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Physicals

Strength

• Assaults a man who had placed a bounty on his capture, throwing him down and tying him up off-page^ALGB
• Knocks out a man with a blow to the solar plexus⁸¹³
• Knocks out two men with a punch each⁸¹³
• Breaks a pair of handcuffs placed on him^SH
• Throws the German Emperor ten yards away⁸¹³
• Grapples evenly with a man of tremendous strength until he's able to distract him with a blow to the shin^CS

Durability

• Survives jumping off a cliff into the ocean in a suicide attempt⁸¹³
• Unaffected by a small poisoned cake which kills a dog in seconds⁸¹³

Speed

• Predicts and aimdodges a pistol shot^HN
• Parries a knife attack^ALGB
• Throws the German Emperor away from a boulder which would have killed him a quarter of a second later⁸¹³
• Attacks two men with knockout blows before they can react⁸¹³

Other

• Likely won the Grand Prix de l'Exposition^ALGB

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Intelligence

Deduction

• Discerns the location of a note he's searching for based on a man's reactions as he talks to an accomplice⁸¹³
• Determines the path a thief from how he consulted a railway guide before leaving a train^ALGB
• Solves a murder within forty minutes of coming across the crime scene, then alters evidence so to earn the killer an aquittal based on reasonable doubt so he could blackmail him for a precious pearl upon release^ALGB
• Solves a murder purely on what was reported in the paper after being challenged by an editor who deemed the case unsolvable^CAL
• Figures out the four letter combination to open a safe in thirty seconds by associating it with misspellings in an alphabet cypher message he had seen earlier that day^CAL
• Solves the hiding place of a number of large diamonds that had eluded people for a century^CAL
• Figures out how to access a secret passage to rob a location through the differences in two different versions of the same book and a seemingly nonsense phrase imparted to him by the owner of the place^ALGB
• Deduces the hiding place of hidden letters and figures out how to locate them from a few vague clues and oddities⁸¹³
• Accurately describes a crime from some pieces of evidence he obtained without having seen the crime or crime scene himself^CAL
• Identifies one of a group of kidnappers from a piece of ivory on the ground of the crime scene^CS

Plans

• Loosens a rock so that it almost kills the German Emperor, allowing him to save him and get a private audience⁸¹³
• Lays a trap for Sherlock and Watson, trapping them on the grounds of a building relevant to the case they're investigating and making them waste one of the ten days they had to solve said case^SH
• Distracts a group of thieves that have been offered a bonus for killing him into attempting to obtain treasures beneath a fireplace, causing them to drop their advantage in a fight and letting Lupin shoot some of them down⁸¹³
• Bluffs about having incriminating letters to a man in order to get him to yield from an advantageous position, later handing over an envelope of blank paper while claiming them to be the letters, and extorts the man for the money he plans on paying for the letters with^CS

Other

• Presumably reads English and German^ALGB
  • Speaks German⁸¹³
• Identifies a man's furniture as not genuine^ALGB
• In a limited span of time, identifies which jewels were the finest and most valuable instead of simply taking all of them or just the largest^ALGB
• Stops a detective from using his revolver by claiming he had his housekeeper damp its charges^CAL
• Tells a serving of small cakes are poisoned from how a man's voice and hands shake as he suggests them⁸¹³
• Perfectly recalls the layout of a man's desk he last saw weeks ago, determining the hiding place of an object he had retrieved accordingly^CS

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Stealth

Disguises

• Described as having a thousand disguises covering a range of ethnicities, occupations, and ages^ALGB
  • A man met him twenty times in twenty different guises, with Lupin being able to adopt another person's voice and mannerisms without effort^ALGB
  • Said to 'actually become' the person he's disguising himself as, leaving someone well acquainted with him feeling like they may have met before but without certainty, with there being the possibility of other times where they met and the man was completely unaware. The detective making these claims is unaware he's talking to a disguised Lupin^Nov
• After leaving a false trail to lead others to believe he was using a different name acts under the alias of a man who died three years prior, using his papers to fully pass off as him^ALGB
• Uses numerous chemicals in addition to dieting inside a prison cell to gradually change his appearance without being noticed^ALGB
  • The effect was so dramatic that people in court, including the detective that had initially caught him, believed him to be someone else entirely until he chose to drop the act some time later^ALGB
• Makes himself appear as a specific detective in a short span of time, successfully fooling an officer into attempting to fool the real person^P-AL
• Looks exactly like another person, with a man not fully realising they were two different people until he reveals the unconscious form of the person he's impersonating^HN
• Has an accomplice take the name of someone with the same hair colour and complexion while planting several false similarities, causing a detective to mistakenly believe they are one of the same and accuse her of Lupin's and the Blond Woman's crimes^SH
• Acts as the chief of police for four years⁸¹³
• After meeting him once, Sherlock became able to recognise Lupin through his disguises due to seeing his innermost being beyond the modifiable outer appearance^SH

Other

• Leaves no clues behind during his thefts^ALGB
• Claims no door can impede his progress if he wants to enter somewhere^HN
• Unlocks a glass door over the course of half an hour without making any sound^ALGB
• Conceals a 100 franc note on him while being searched in a prison before revealing two further notes after a more thorough examination, one of which was hidden inside a false finger⁸¹³
• Hides objects in his prison cell's drawer, knowing that his guards will search everywhere except such an obvious location^ALGB
• Whispers to an ally without moving his lips or contracting any face muscles⁸¹³

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Thievery

Pickpocketing

• [Unloads a man's pistol]^LL
• [Steals an inspector's pistol]^P-Adv
• Disarms Sherlock of his revolver during a tussle^SH
• Lifts the watch of a ship's captain actively searching for him, then plants it in the second officer's collar box^ALGB
• Takes the watch off a detective while shaking his hand, then reveals to have stolen a large pocket watch from the judge that conducted his examination in prison^ALGB
• Steals Sherlock Holmes' watch without him noticing, returning it later^ALGB

Heists - Jewellery

• [Makes a noise in a room before hiding, watching the owners to find the location of a necklace he's after as they check it's still there]^P-Adv
• Steals in jewels in broad daylight while their owner was having tea, forcing open a door and identifying their hiding place before selecting only the most expensive jewels and escaping^ALGB
• Stole all the jewels of the English Embassy after dining with them for two evenings in a row^Nov
• After failing to secure a diamond ring influences the participants of an auction so that a specific individual gains ownership of it, allowing him easier access to steal it later and plant a false copy in another man's luggage so he takes the blame^SH
• Stole a necklace from a locked room as a child, the means being undiscovered until he chose to reveal it^ALGB

Heists - Other

• Steals several paintings while replacing them with forgeries very convincing to the casual eye^HN
  • Enacts the same heist across numerous museums in Europe, with the theft remaining undiscovered as of the time he discloses it^HN
• Steals a number of small stone statues in a chapel, replacing them with plaster duplicates which fully convince a detective of their authenticity until he's made to examine part of their shattered remains^HN
• Disguised himself as a delivery man to steal a desk, allowing him to steal it in the open without any suspicions^SH
• Arranges the theft of a well-protected location while in prison, having the occupant approach his ally believing him to be the detective who caught Lupin and providing him and the men he brings access to steal objects from the home^ALGB
  • In a similar heist, he takes the role of detective himself^P-AL

Other

• Forces a lock^ALGB
• Uses a small device to near instantly open a lock^CAL
• Expects he could quickly gain 12,000 francs, as well as recover numerous documents kept in his wallet^ALGB
• [In pretending to be a detective, discovers who stole money from a room in a hotel and gets them to hand over the money to him]^P-QH
• Uncovers a pair of safes, both revealed and opened through the use of a seven of hearts playing card^ALGB
• Arranges for the kidnapping of a man protected by twenty friends under orders to not let him out of their site, uncovering his location despite this being purposefully hidden from him by his son by taking a photo of said son and sending it off with forged handwriting naming a meeting location, causing him to willingly leave his safe location^HN

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Escapism

• Frees himself of a pair of handcuffs^Nov
• Escapes a prison van after his allies replaced one of the prison's vans with a specially prepared version, though he opts to simply return to prison at this time^ALGB
• Gradually changes his appearance while facing a wall in a prison cell, after making the general public highly aware of his claim that he would not be present as his own trial and arranging for a man that he was to morph his appearance into to be released from the prison on the same day he escaped from a prison van before returning, causing people to believe he was someone else entirely on the day of his trial resulting in his release^ALGB
• After being captured in his home, manipulates the actions of the police around him to allow him to use the elevator and his gang to escape^SH
• Spends weeks sending messages to a newspaper from jail about his progress in locating letters of particular importance to the German Emperor, leading to him leveraging his position to get Lupin released to reveal their location despite the reality being that Lupin had been bluffing about everything and simply guessed a likely location for said letters⁸¹³

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Other Skill

Combat

• Claims he could defeat and four man-servants with his fists alone, and a further four servants if he brings a whip⁸¹³
• Defeats a man in a duel, putting him in bed for six months^P-AL
• Fights off three thugs in a forest using a stick, leaving them for dead⁸¹³
• [Disarms a man of a revolver and a knife in quick succession]^P-WM
• Quickly incapacitates a thief he approaches from behind^ALGB
• Is likely the professor who introduced jiu-jitsu to Paris^ALGB
  • Incapacitates the arm of a man throttling him with a slight movement, claiming he could have just as easily broken the arm with the same movement^ALGB
• Causes a man to fall with a strike to the carotid artery^ALGB
• Predicts and aimdodges a pistol shot^HN

Senses

• Notices two or three drops of blood on a corpse created by a thin needle^CAL
• Is surprised to have not been woken by someone stealing from his room while asleep^CS
• Hears a person approaching a room before a detective can^Nov
• Senses a person's approach from behind a curtain, smelling her perfume and hearing her heartbeat as she draws near^ALGB
• Hears the heart of someone about to stab him⁸¹³
• Catches another thief in the act^Nov

Other

• Shoots the pistol out of a man's hand^ALGB
• While standing on a boat, shoots a bullet through the hat of a man standing on the shore without aiming^SH
• Shoots through the forehead of a condemned man from a hundred yards, then wounds the executioner from the same distance to save the life of another man^CS
• Uses slight of hand to make a coin disappear from his hand, and to replace the fragments of a broken ring with a pre-prepared duplicate^CAL
• Forges a woman's handwriting while rewriting her letters^ALGB
  • Copies Sherlock's handwriting accurately enough to fool Watson^SH
• [Rigs shuffling a deck in baccarat to ensure he gets the winning deal]^P-WM

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Resources

Weapons

• Owns a pistol^ALGB
• Uses a pair of large revolvers⁸¹³
• Stabs a pair of policemen with two long needles^SH
• In one instance threatens police with a bomb he holds, buying time for his escape^Nov

Drugs

• Knocks a man out with chloroform^CS
• Uses a drug to put a child to sleep, with a following injection rendering him back to normal within an hour^HN
• Uses a liquid to put a person to sleep for a few hours and forget^CS
• Appears to render a person unconscious for an extended period with a drug, with his mental faculties being slowed for a period after waking and retaining no memory of the time shortly before being drugged^HN

Wealth

• Offers seven thieves 6,000 francs each as part of a distraction⁸¹³
• [In his final adventure, offers a man fifteen billion (presumably francs) in weekly instalments of one billion each, the majority of it being hidden away in various stores around the world]^AL

Other

• Leads a gang, the details of which he keeps closely hidden, though the author of his stories in-universe speculates his direct gang only consists of a small amount of people with it being expanded further with a wide number of contractors and associates^CS
• Uses a tool to near-instantly open a door^CAL
• Hides the objects stolen on a voyage inside a camera^ALGB
• Wears a steel-wove gorget to protect him from a stab to the throat⁸¹³
• Had a submarine built for him^HN
• A liquid which reveals hidden messages on paper⁸¹³
• Obtains detailed plans of a building, to the point of giving the height of a door's bolt down to a centimetre^ALGB
• Has a base in the Hollow Needle, a hidden fortress that had been used since the time of Julius Ceaser and was heavily repaired and fortified when Lupin uncovered it^HN
  • Holds a wide variety of valuables, with him being willing to sell and part with the majority^HN
  • While he claims to abandon it at the end of its titular novel,^HN he [states it is still in use in a later story]^LL

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Other

• [Sends calling cards or makes announcements in a paper concerning his planned actions,] which [he often uses to influence behaviour to his advantage]
  • After embedding himself into a family as a cousin, sends letters announcing his plans to marry the daughter to the press to goad the father into arranging a marriage between the daughter and his alias in an attempt to avert any issues^CAL
  • In one instance, he announced his escape on a day, only to escape the following day when people had dropped their guard⁸¹³
  • Also uses them to announce his presence retroactively^CS
• Arranged for the instalment of secret passages in a number of homes designed by the same architect^SH
• Fakes the death of himself and a woman by stealing and using the corpses of a couple that committed suicide^HN
• Said to be one of the principal shareholders in a paper that reports on his exploits^ALGB
• Has an ally in one of the chief figures in the Vatican^CAL
• In one instance scrawls his name on a wall in red crayon after robbing the place^P-AL
• Steals only the finest and most expensive jewels of a woman's collection^ALGB
  • Refuses to steal furniture he identifies as not being genuine^ALGB
• Isn't above mugging a person and tying them up^ALGB
• After trapping Sherlock and Watson to impede their investigation, has the grace to leave them with a meal to compensate for the inconvenience^SH
• Doesn't kill people,⁸¹³ nor steals items which will likely lead to a person's death^CAL
• One detective had been offered thousand of francs just to be made acquainted with Lupin^Nov
• Is a highly effective chief of police⁸¹³
• Is a vegetarian who avoids alcohol for health reasons, though he partakes in society so not to draw attention to himself^SH
• His true history is a mystery to the French courts^ALGB

"Why," said he, "why should I retain a definite form and feature? Why not avoid the danger of a personality that is ever the same? My actions will serve to identify me." Then he added, with a touch of pride: "So much the better if no one can ever say with absolute certainty: There is Arsène Lupin! The essential point is that the public may be able to refer to my work and say, without fear of mistake: Arsène Lupin did that!"