While historians have proposed over 50 candidates, two figures are most frequently cited:
A lowly valet arrested in 1669. Many researchers believe he was imprisoned for sensitive knowledge he acquired while serving high-ranking officials like Nicolas Fouquet.
Dumas concluded his D'Artagnan Romances with The Man in the Iron Mask (a section of The Vicomte of Bragelonne ). In this version, the prisoner is , the secret identical twin of Louis XIV.