Vautrin is a character from the novels of French writer Honoré de Balzac in the La Comédie humaine series. His real name is Jacques Collin. He appears in the novels Le Père Goriot under the name Vautrin, and in Illusions perdues and Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, the sequel of Illusions perdues, under the name of Abbé Carlos Herrera. In prison, he got the nickname "Trompe-la-Mort", because he managed to avoid the death sentence repeatedly.