Abbé Faria

The Abbé Faria is a fictional character in the 1846 adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. In the novel, he is the companion and mentor of the protagonist Edmond Dantès during his captivity in the infamous prison Chatêau d'If. Throughout the beginning of the story he helps Dantès deduce the culprits of his imprisonment, and teaches him all he knows about reading, mathematics, science, languages, philosophy, history, sword fighting, and economics. After the first of three hereditary attacks of catalepsy, he reveals the location of a vast hereditary treasure belonging to his former employer, the Count of Spada. After his death, Dantès takes his place in the body bag and recovers the treasure, subsequently transforming into the titular Count of Monte Cristo. The Abbé is a heavily fictionalised version of the real-life Portuguese Abbé José Custódio de Faria.