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One thing I feel people almost always overlook about Javert is that:
The book’s narrator is usually harsh/sarcastic towards Javert, and that harshness is why his character has pathos. Javert is able to be sympathetic because Victor Hugo has basically no respect for his beliefs. Javert is so pitiable because Hugo mocks and drags him on basically every page he appears.
I’ve mentioned before that the message of Les Mis is (paraphrasing) that ACAB— Javert is the best police officer it is possible to be, and he is terrible, because the laws he enforces are terrible. His law & order ideology is terrible. Everything he believes is fundamentally wrong, and so deeply wrong that it deserves no respect.
Yes, Hugo acknowledges that Javert occasionally has a misguided kind of nobility— the nobility of holding yourself honestly to a set of bad rules, the nobility of following a terrible moral code even when it hurts you. But Hugo has no respect for Javert’s bigotry, or his bootlicking, or his deranged obsessive worship of law and order. Hugo portrays the way that Javert martyrs himself for his ideology as strangely honorable— but the ideology itself is mocked and condemned. Hugo thinks martyrdom is cool, but that Javert is martyring himself for a terrible cause.
In his most sympathetic moments, Javert’s worldview is portrayed as pitiable…. not a worldview that’s worthy of true total genuine respect, but a worldview that’s deeply pathetic in its wrongness.
Without himself suspecting the fact, Javert in his formidable happiness was to be pitied, as is every ignorant man who triumphs.
This is part of why those old 2012-era les mis fanfics always threw me off, if anyone remembers the fandom trends at the time. XD People used to write Valjean and pre-barricades Javert having political debates, as if the two of them could make arguments about law that were equally valid and worthy of respect, and pre-barricades Javert had a worthwhile set of beliefs that Valjean could learn from. But to me it’s personally kinda like, no XD. Nah. The whole thing about pre-barricades Javert is that he does not have any valid points to make. He has nothing resembling a point. He is “ignorant” and determined to stay that way because he literally believes that thinking is evil. He is a violent authoritarian whose worldview is just “mindless self-destructive bootlicking and bigotry.” I joked about it in a previous post but if we want a character who offers a genuinely meaningful counterpoint to Valjean’s philosophy, who could debate him on politics, and who could represent justice while Valjean represents mercy— that character is Enjolras, not Javert.
Valjean has a fascinating complicated relationship with law and politics and violence, but Javert is just a deeply pitiable brainwashed creature who martyrs himself for Wrong things.
Hugo pities Javert, but he does not treat Javert’s worldview --‘authority is always right, rigid social hierarchies must always be enforced, human life has no intrinsic value, the police must violently suppress any kind of crime or rebellion’— as something that deserves to be genuinely respected. It is not something that’s even worthy of debate. It is wrong, it is nonsense, it is an incoherent cruel self-contradicting ideology, and Javert only believes it because (to quote Hugo’s sarcastic narration) “thought was something to which he was unused.” (Or to be more charitable, Javert believes these terrible things because he was born inside a prison and has been brainwashed from birth into internalizing a cruel carceral view of the world.)
And I think Hugo generally does a good job of walking that tightrope — having pity for Javert without portraying Javert’s ideology as something worthy of genuine admiration. He sympathizes with how rigidly Javert holds himself to his own moral code, while condemning the moral code itself for being idiotic. He has empathy with Javert’s sincere self-destructive dedication to what he believes in, while pointing out the things he believes in are all stupid. He pities Javert’s martyrdom, while condemning the nonsense that Javert martyrs himself for.
One of my Top Ten Favorite Pathetic Javert Moments is this one, when Javert recognizes Marius’s body after the barricades:
A spy of the first quality, who had observed everything, listened to everything, and taken in everything, even when he thought that he was to die; who had played the spy even in his agony, and who, with his elbows leaning on the first step of the sepulchre, had taken notes.
Because Javert martyrs himself so earnestly for this terrible cause! He “takes notes” even when he believes he’s going to die and the notes cannot possibly be of any use to anyone, simply because taking notes is the thing he has been ordered to do. He’s so self-destructively dedicated to performing these useless pointless tasks because he believes there is real ~dignity~ to his mindless bootlicking— when there isn’t.
That’s why Javert’s emotional breakdown and suicide hit so hard for me, in a way that it wouldn’t if the narration was forgiving towards his stupid belief system. The contrast between Javert’s sheer pathetic terror and the often harsh/sarcastic narration is just….wild. It makes Javert sympathetic without making his awful ideology seem good, reasonable, or valuable. (And while this is only adjacent to the point I’m making- the harsh narration in Derailed also emphasizes the way Javert has been trained to view his own thoughts/emotions with contempt.) Javert is deeply pitiable/sympathetic without his ideology being framed as correct. And the whole tragedy of his character comes from the fact that he is utterly entirely wrong.
If I were to summarize the pathos of Javert, I wouldn’t say “he’s sympathetic because he’s a noble anti-hero with good strong morals who makes some valuable points about the importance of law” or w/e. I’d say that you can feel sorry for him because he’s a wretched brainwashed creature who’s never done anything right even though he wants to, and is deeply ridiculously pathetic without ever realizing it.
As Hugo puts it: “without himself suspecting the fact, Javert (…) was to be pitied.”
#send an ask if you want to know my other top ten favorite pathetic javert moments!#les mis#XD#it’s javert death day so I decided to make an overlong tumblr post for him#a very Vintage Mellow thing to do#but yeah#people always say I hate javert because I mock and drag him all the time#but like!!!#the reason javert is sympathetic is because Hugo’s always mocking and dragging him#I love it#that’s my take anyway#he’s just a horrible Creature#my complicated emotional relationship with javert#but yeee idk if this is coherent XD
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I was thinking about the Ahsoka show and do you know what would be really fun? If they found Thrawn just chilling in a cozy house with Eli and a couple of skywalker daughters
PLEASE DEAR GOD YES
#thanks for the ask!#realistically i know we're probs not getting any eli sob#but like!!!#WAIT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON DONT LOOK IF YOU DONT WANT SPOILERS BLA BLA BLA DO NOT READ FROM HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#if they said hes in a diff galaxy. then. just sayin the chiss r in a diff one. lieutenant ivant coulda found his ass already#theyre pure vibing back in the ascendancy
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YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME ?
alt + rambles under cut
i listened to a lot of britney spears while drawing this. not super happy w how this turned out because it started as just a really self indulgent doodle but i ended up liking the sketch enough to do lineart + coloring. here's a version w no background!!! i think im done rambling :)
#I'm scared to post this because its um#extremely self indulgent trans biker art#pre top surgery. U kno#but like!!!#ive realized i dont care#biker#hotline miami#hlm#biker hlm#biker hotline miami#hotline miami biker#my art#tallorambles
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I'VE FINISHED THE EPILOGUE GUYS THIS IS CRAZYYY
#fic checkmark done#well#not really#i have so many chapters left to post and i'll edit each chapter a bit before posting it#but like!!!#i did it?!?!?#i looked it up recently i literally created the first document for this fic in april 2022#that's over two years working on one fic#if you ignore the 60k stranger things fic detour that is#god i'm persistent#lily rambles#fic writing things#proof of life
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Wonwoo’s hand inchess closer toward mingyu’s crotch
MINGYU REALLY IS GEARING UP TO BLUSH LIKE A HOE ABOUT THIS 😭
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kai katskratch meets @mika-meowz 's cat scratch!!
+ bonus: friendship :]
#pixell.art#i drew and took photos of these at 2 am thats why they look so bad lmao#but like!!!#we both have they/them purple and blue epithet self-inserts named cat scratch!!!!!#WHAT /pos#epithet erased#epithet oc#epithet erased oc#self insert#doodle#kai katskratch#cat scratch#oc interaction#mika-meowz
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wga strike complainers about the potential gap in good tv they can watch...time to make art!! time for all of us to make our own art and share it among ourselves!! if the fight that the people who make mass-distributed art and want to (and should be) compensated for it will leave a hollow in your life, time to fill the hollow with your own hands and those of the people beside you!! if you don’t have the time or emotional energy to make your own art, first consider why - what are the structural pieces in place that prevent you? draining and unreasonable hours? hard workplace conditions? maybe get inspired by the strike to unite with your coworkers! is it disability? for you or your family members? why is art being held hostage from you! see if you can organize with your community! in the meantime - engage with other art! books/audiobooks from your library! fan made art! low budget tv shows from fifteen years ago that you can only access through haha completely and utterly legal means! nothing is being taken from you things are being taken from professional artists and as we stand by them in their struggle we can embody our appreciation for their work and for their organizing in our own lives
#saw a post and hit tumblr.com/new/text#like honestly i don't understand this argument at all because there is. SO much television in the world#i watch an appalling amount of tv and all these tumblr brackets and polls have shown me how TINY of a fraction it is of whats out there#so like...realistically. nobody is being left in the lurch here. grow up#but if that's not ENOUGH for you!! dig in!!#please don't be defeatist here i know this is like. an optimistic call to action. i know things are hard and shitty#this is not painstakingly nuanced this is a tumblr post at 8am#but like!!!
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okay but like. what if the dca looked up henna patterns and designs so they could do some for you on eid. what then
#personal#random#no context#this would probably be a platonic thing cuz i mean the only way for a relationship to actually happen in muslim culture#is for parents to get involved and an official wedding to be done#and because legally they wouldn't be considered people it'd be a hassle so#but like!!!#i dunno it's just a neat idea okay#maybe i'll draw it during ramadan...#savin this for later#my buddy did some for me earlier and i was just like oh yes this is a lovely bonding experience
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About your post about people making thirst posts about Ray:
I was an immature little 13 year old who only really crushed on Gerard. Here I am ten years later, and I can say I was stupid for sleeping on Ray.
It's never too late to start thirsting for Ray Toro friend <33
#i'm so glad people are starting to see the light!!#ray toro#ray rants and junk#my asks#my chemical romance#mcr#my chem#don't get me wrong#like obviously *victoria justice voice* i ThiNk wE ALL tHiRsT oVeR GeRaRd#but like!!!#ray is right there!!!#look at him!!!#the babygirl potential???? atronomical.
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Gemma aligned herself with far right people and super racists ones but no one cares about that because she handle herself better on social media. That’s it.
She’s not a “IG Bimbo” 🤪 she has a masters degree in journalism and talks about her mental health so it’s all okay that she isn’t getting a “real job”! Feminism wins again!
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The thing about the recent eps of vanderpump is that everyone’s watching like “well Rachel was making some points so even tho we now know she was being a snake and having an affair with her best friends man, we have to acknowledge she was right in this specific scenario” and it’s like… no we don’t. Cuz everything she’s saying in the name of “standing up for herself” has snakish undertones. And it all makes sense considering we now know the person she is. “Well if the affair didn’t happen we wouldn’t be looking at it that way” but that’s irrelevant because the affair did happen. Cuz this is her true character. The rest is semantics
#sorry this makes sense to no one unless you’re deep in this show/drama lmfao#but like!!!#the whole narrative of the other girls bullying her etc etc#it’s not bullying#it’s calling a spade a spade#that’s what happens when you clock someone’s vibes long before everyone else catches up#sorry I was ahead of the curve but that’s not my problem
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Pov you're an 25-year-old who went through so much in your life (including death) and yet you still hide yourself under that cape because while you're there no monster can harm you
POV you're an 8-year-old circus boy hiding from your first thunderstorm in Gotham and the weird emo man you live with tells you his cape will protect you from anything
#Sorry i turn it into some kinda of angry#But like!!!#The same way Bruce is still that 8 yo boy on the alley dick is still that 8 yo under batman cape#dick grayson#bruce wayne#batfamily#dc comics#headcanon#shitpost#batposting#dcu
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the transition im crying
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If King Charles dies on or before March 25th, 2024, he will technically be the shortest-reigning king in English history.
Anyway, like to charge, reblog to cast.
#king charles#king charles iii#king edward#king edward viii#march 25#the royal leech#royal family#britain#lmao#like to charge#reblog to cast
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"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick
#the ethics are whack but more importantly you didn't even want to write it?? who is it even for?? not you? not me?#you didn't even have enough interest in the premise to take a crack at it?? then who cares?#please don't populate in my search results I'm looking for things that people wrote because they liked something#ao3
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