What definitely did happen is that Galois was worried that he might not win the duel and that he might never get the chance to redeem himself in front of his ma

What definitely did happen is that Galois was worried that he might not win the duel and that he might never get the chance to redeem himself in front of his mathematical peers. We know this because of the letter he wrote before he died; we actually have it, and WP has a scan of a page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E._Galois_Letter.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:E._Galois_Letter.jpg It is hard to overdramatize the events of Galois' life. He lived during a revolution, he went out into the streets to protest and fight, he was arrested multiple times for his outrageous political speech, and he laid down his life for his political beliefs. A friend of mine who survived a chronic and often-fatal disease in his teens used to quip, "Well, if I were Galois, I'd have already made my best contributions and died by now." Galois indeed burned fast and bright.