“to be free.”

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Preface (Les Miserables 1935)

Even when it doesn’t, Jean Valjean’s character arc throughout the rest of the story is often reduced to his arc in the beginning of Volume 1.

There are exceptions, like the musical to some extent. But I think the focus on expanding Volume 1 is related to the common misconception that Les Mis is primarily “a story about whether Bad People Can Change.” In this view, the story ends when Jean Valjean is “redeemed” from his convict past and “becomes a good person.” Basically: the story ends when Jean Valjean becomes Madeleine, a kind charitable pillar of the community who puts the lives of other people above his own.

In a couple adaptations (like the 1935/1998 film or the BBC 2018 miniseries) Jean Valjean is depicted as selfish or callous until the very last scenes, when he finally learns to put the happiness of other people like Cosette above his own….. something he learned very early on in the novel. These adaptations are attempting to expand “Valjean learns to become Madeleine” to be his entire arc.

But there’s a reason that is only the start of the novel, and there are like 800 more pages!

Putting aside that Jean Valjean doesn’t really start the story as “Evil,”…I also think it’s important that Jean Valjean’s conflict is not purely about “learning to be kind.” if that were his conflict, the story would end when he becomes Madeleine.

In my view the novel isn’t focused on whether “Bad” People can Become “Good.” It’s more about how living under constant injustice, fear, bigotry, and persecution often traps you in impossible moral choices. What does it mean if you’re continually punished regardless of how you behave? What does it mean to be a “good person” in a world where your basic existence is perceived as innately evil? How do you find the “right thing to do” when you can’t trust any higher authorities to tell you, because you know that those authorities are operating on bigotry? How do you continue doing the right thing, even when the “right thing” will rain down social scorn, ridicule, and violent punishment? How do you stay true to your conscience while under so much massive social pressure?

low effort Enjolras for the new year! (at least in Germany it is) I hope it's a good one for all of you!

I’m not an expert on this and someone else probably knows more! But here’s all I know off the top of my head. I’ll go from “ones that have canonical book explanations” to “ones that are vague or more speculative”:

Grantaire: His name sounds like “Grand R” or “big R” in French. As a result, he doesn’t sign his name with a normal signature but with a giant letter R. This is also why it’s a popular fan headcanon for “R” to be Grantaire’s nickname.

Lesgle/Bossuet—this is a pun but I’m still not completely sure I get it. So his name is “Lesgle,” which sounds like “l’aigle” (the eagle) and he comes from Meux. Unrelated to him there’s also a famous bishop who was known as “L’aigle of Meux,” whose real name was Bossuet. So les amis made a pun and Lesgle got the nickname Bossuet as a joke about the bishop.

Jehan Prouvaire— Jehan is obsessed with Medieval literature, so he added an “H” to his name “Jean” to make it more medieval.

Feuilly— sounds like the French word for paper, a nod to his work as a fan maker

Bahorel— sounds like “Borel,” like the name of one of Hugo’s friends Petrus Borel

Courfeyrac— comes from a wealthy family, and there’s a whole thing where he should go by “de Courfeyrac” because he’s upper class— but he refuses and just goes by plain Courfeyrac. Idk much about the origin of the name but it seems to me like it’s supposed to mark him as Wealthy— I guess it’s similar to being named something like “Thaddeus Winston the Third?”

Enjolras— is apparently a very strange uncommon-before-les-mis name that would come from Southern France, and even French people disagree on how to pronounce it (?)

Joly - I know nothing about this name except that his friends like to add extra Ls to it as a joke, I think?

Combeferre— I know nothing. This name is a mystery just like the character himself

Bonus:

Marius Pontmercy: Marius’s name is based on Victor Hugo’s middle name, “Marie.” And “Pontmercy” is the French word for “bridge” and then the French word for “thank you.” (I’ve seen fics with an English Marius named “Marius Thankbridge.”) The Pontmercy name pun is important because it’s why Thenardier never learns who Georges is; when Georges is struggling to tell him “my name is Pontmercy” all Thenardier hears is “merci,” so he just thinks the man is just thanking him.

You'll catch your death out here, Apollo.

His emo swaglessness has caught me off guard. I'm obsessed with him.

I was listening to the audiobook at work yesterday, and unless I misunderstood the narration, Marius threw himself against a tree and despaired like that for two hours straight. I had to draw it.

Details under the cut

Permets-tu?

I realized I haven’t drawn this scene before, have I?

The way death is portrayed in the movie and the book is different—this version should be closer to a place where one could die standing up (?)

In the Repo, Harry-Enj is shown laughing as he dies—indeed, Enj would be more than willing to die for his ideals, right?

(Though Enj wasn’t really injured before his death, he probably would still look a bit disheveled (?))

Well, overall, it’s a smiling Enj and a more serious R, who isn’t smiling but instead staring intently at Enj!

(Supporting Enj’s fashion freedom—I love him in black, though red is also great!)