Which reckless officer duels Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace?

Dolokhov is the reckless officer who duels Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace.

Fyodor Ivanovich Dolokhov is a daring, volatile Russian officer known for gambling, drinking, battlefield courage, and repeated defiance of convention. Rumors that he is involved with Pierre’s wife, Hélène, intensify Pierre’s jealousy and humiliation. At a dinner honoring Prince Bagration, Dolokhov’s behavior provokes Pierre into challenging him.

The duel is striking because Pierre is inexperienced and physically awkward, while Dolokhov is a practiced duelist. Despite those expectations, Pierre wounds Dolokhov. The encounter helps end Pierre’s disastrous marriage and begins a deeper period of moral and spiritual self-examination.

Dolokhov is more complicated than a simple villain. Tolstoy presents him as cruel and reckless, yet also capable of loyalty and concern for his mother and sister. Later, during Napoleon’s retreat from Russia in 1812, he becomes associated with partisan warfare. Readers sometimes confuse him with Denisov, Nikolai Rostov’s friend, or with Bagration, the commander whose dinner provides the setting for the confrontation.