Story so far
His honor destroyed and his son Albert de Morcerf having merely apologized rather than avenge him, Fernand, Count of Morcerf, spies on his wife Mercédès and son preparing to leave, then goes in black, with two swords, to the Count of Monte Cristo (Edmond Dantès)'s house to demand a duel to the death. The count meets him with cold contempt, reciting his career of treachery—desertion at Waterloo, spying in Spain, the sale and murder of his benefactor Ali Tepelini—and, when Fernand demands his true name, dons a sailor's garb and reveals himself as the betrothed Fernand once supplanted. 'Edmond Dantès!' the general shrieks, and flees in horror.
Reaching home, he creeps behind a curtain and watches Mercédès leave on Albert's arm ('this is no longer our home!'), abandoned in a single hour by wife and son alike. As their hackney-coach clears the gate, a shot and a burst of smoke from his window end him: the risen Catalan, whose whole edifice of stolen name, fortune, and honor has collapsed, dies by his own hand.
Appearance
A general of forty-odd looking older, black moustache and brows against short white hair, in black coat and military collar, ashen and shaking with rage and terror.
Role
The unmasked traitor, destroyed by the return of the man he betrayed, dead by his own hand.
Relationships
Edmond Dantès — His betrayed rival, revealed at last as the Count of Monte Cristo, whose vengeance drives him to suicide.
Mercédès — His wife, who abandons him in his ruin, leaving the house as he watches, hidden.
Albert de Morcerf — His son, who apologized rather than avenge him and leaves with his mother.
Ali Tepelini — The benefactor he betrayed and murdered, whose exposure began his downfall.
Sources — 10 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 3
- Mercédès's fierce Catalan cousin, whose hopeless jealousy of Dantès torments him.
Chapter 4
- The jealous Catalan who pockets Danglars's false denunciation to be rid of his rival.
Chapter 13
- Marched off to Napoleon's last war, Fernand nurses the hope that Dantès's absence may yet win him Mercédès.
Chapter 27
- By treachery and war, the Catalan fisher-boy has risen to wealth, a countship, and Mercédès's hand.
Chapter 41
- Now a Paris peer and general, Fernand receives his son's rescuer with courteous gratitude, never dreaming who the Count truly is.
Chapter 53
- At the opera Morcerf boasts of serving Ali Pasha at Yanina—unaware the Count's Greek ward is the daughter of the master he betrayed.
Chapter 78
- Morcerf's proud proposal for Eugénie is coldly refused by Danglars, hinting at 'calumnies'—hours before a newspaper names 'Fernand' as the traitor of Yanina.
Chapter 84
- Beauchamp's Yanina inquiry yields legal proof that Colonel Fernand Mondego sold Ali Pasha's castle for two million crowns—and that he is the Count of Morcerf.
Chapter 86
- Defending himself before the Peers, Morcerf is destroyed when Haydée appears with proof he betrayed Ali Pasha and sold her into slavery; he flees, convicted.
Chapter 92
- Ruined and enraged, Fernand challenges the Count—only to learn he is Edmond Dantès; abandoned that hour by his wife and son, he shoots himself.