#defend cosette and eponine!

[annachum]

Thinking how Monsieur and Madame Thenardier hate themselves so much, that they abuse and neglect their own children especially after the Thenardiers got bankrupt, because their own kids look like a mix of both Monsieur and Madame Thenardier in spades

And that contributes to Eponine's self loathing arc cuz she has a striking resemblance to her biological mother, whom she despised. Sometimes Eponine can't bear to look at her reflection because her self hatred made her believe she was ' ugly '

It wasn't until the Thenardier sibs began to receive kindness from outside the Thenardier circles did they realize that they aren't in fact ugly, and Eponine realizes that she is beautiful in her own way.

Meanwhile Cosette, who believed that her mother was an angel from Heaven for most of her life, and after an intensive healing period, she came to believe herself as ' pretty ' because of how her mother's goodness lived through. Only to later on realize that her mother is actually a flawed, messy but ultimately good person. That is going to be a shock for Cosette at first since she placed her mother at such a high pedestal, but she came to understand and accept her mother even more

Thinking how Eponine thought herself as a ' devil ' due to self hatred. But the truth is she is a deeply flawed but fundamentally good soul who needs healing.

Thinking how, since adoption, nearly everyone around Cosette coddled and overprotected her and viewed her as a pure, innocent angel. But Cosette is also wild and brave at heart. And as much as she is grateful and appreciative of the nuns, Valjean and Marius, I believe a part of her also wants to go about and explore more after the June Rebellion, just as a reconciliation for her soul. There is a foundation of wildness and bravery in her.

Thinking how Eponine literally can't forgive herself for bullying Cosette in the past for a time, only for Cosette to already forgiven Eponine and Azelma and grieved for their misfortunes. I bet Cosette also mourned for Eponine's death, not just out of trauma survivor solidarity, but of the life Eponine could have had if she survived.

Thinking how Eponine built walls as a survival mechanism, only to realize that there is power in softness too

Thinking how Cosette clung onto pacifism and embracing ' ladylike virtues ' as a coping and surviving mechanism, only for her to become much braver as the June Rebellion goes on - not in a warrior's way, but in a more pacifistic activist way, as she came to do charity work and then helps nurse Marius back to health

I think there is also an element of frustration here in Cosette that how everyone else seem to shield her from darker aspects of things in fear of breaking her heart even more. While they do mean well, Cosette would have understood more if the truths are more revealed to her. Valjean and Marius are so scared to push Cosette away if the darker truths are revealed....but Cosette still loves and cares for them anyway and forgives them for such trespasses. She just wished she was told of these things sooner.

These 2 really need healing, and deserve better

[jolys-cane]

TOUR THOUGHTS

Saw the Les Miserables Tour at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto on May 21 2024; here are my thoughts (Long read, sorry I have a lot of feelings)

Prologue/Look Down/Valjean's Soliloquy

We got like, holographic waves crashing and the men are rowing a boat LIKE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE it's awesome

Oh my god the pipes on the background actors were so good. THE SUN IS STRONG ITS HOT AS HEEELLL BELOW

I miss Javert's stupid guard hat. Was bareheaded as he gave Valjean his yellow ticket

PETIT GERVAIS?????????? Valjean steals a little boy's coin when he's roaming the countryside 😭

Randy Jeter as the Bishop blew me away. Not just his voice but his acting was FANTASTIC every single movement was like. I am an old bishop. This is how an old bishop moves. Idk idk it was really good

Nick Cartell did a great job w Valjean overall, but I totally loved him as pre-MsurM Valjean the most. He acts like a feral animal, grabbing the wine out of the nun's hands and the bread from the priest all hunched over and practically snarling - very very cool and awesome

At the End of the Day

Not a negative but when we went to At the End of the Day there was very minimal lighting and my first thought was Oh no the lighting broke hope they fix it and we don't have to have a brief intermission but then when they went 'At the end of the day there's another day dawning' the lights went up and I was like OHHHHHHHHHHHH so that's just me not understanding lighting direction

Foreman killed it, so did all of the factory workers I love all the interactions and ad-libbing in the background it makes me so happy to see

Every time I saw a tall graceful ensemble member I was like '"That's Kyle Adams" and 8/10 times I was right. Otherwise it was Daniel Gerard Bittner

I Dreamed A Dream

OKKKK VOCALS???? Haley Dortch has such a beautiful, clear, emotional sound and she left not a dry eye in the house. Literally the second intermission hit my parents and myself were like. Holy shit dude what about that Fantine

I got her autograph after the show and she was so so sweet 🥺 She accidentally messed up her signature and had to redo it and was apologising to me and I was like GIRL you brought the house down you could stab me right now and I'd be like 'Thanks have a good one'

Lovely Ladies / Fantine's Arrest

Bamatabois (David Andino) was a standout performance, really chewed the scenery and I adored every second he was on stage (Plus his costume was fantastic)

The other girls defending Fantine 🥺

I like that after the police show up and they basically arrest all of the ladies and pimps, regular well-off citizens come out to witness Valjean defending Fantine from Javert. Thought it was a nice touch

Fantine's Death

My first and only cry of the evening, Haley Dortch no one does it like you

The Confrontation

If you've heard me talk about the confrontation you'll know that I absolutely hate the new chain choreography, HOWEVER. I really really liked it this time. Preston in particular gave it a lot of physicality that I enjoyed

Nick Cartell is a little guy and I don't really believe that his Valjean managed to knock out Preston's Javert

For some reason the percussion was really loud and I could barely hear the vocals so I don't have many thoughts on them

Master of the House / Waltz of Treachery

MATT CROWLE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS

Both Thenardiers were fantastic, not a crazy amount of ad-libbing but when they did they made it count ("BYE, BAGUETTE")

Madame in particular was hilarious

Master of the House is very busy in a good way, everywhere you look interesting things are happening. Another number where the ensemble shines and you can tell everyone is having a blast

The Bargain was funny as hell, Thenardier tells Cosette to die in his arms and she goes limp when he's saying she's 'often been ill'

Valjean gives Cosette Catherine!

Look Down / The Robbery

Gavroche was super charismatic and confident, really great child actor (Milo Maharlika)

Eponine tosses Marius' book across the stage and he goes "I like the way you always ... tease ��" They're such cute friends together

After Enjolras and the boys are done their preaching Enjolras gets stopped by a policeman and is told off 😭

During the robbery Montparnasse keeps Marius away by brandishing his little knife at him which I thought was cute

Also! Montparnasse is the only member of Thenardier's gang to escape during the Robbery!!! Which is a nice Brick reference

After Thenardier's 'In the absense of a victim' spiel he does this exact pose

Gavroche's little 'Clear the streets' 🫡moment is so cute

Stars

God I love Preston Truman Boyd

His Javert is so stalwart and reserved and dedicated, he's kind of robocop and it really really works, and you get to see just a smidge of vulnerability peek out in this song

ABC Cafe / Red and Black

I DON'T REMEMBER A LOT bare with me

Grantaire was absolutely the standout. Slapped Marius' butt with his coat. Stuck his wine bottle dick in Enjolras' face. Offered Combeferre a sip of his wine (who reluctantly accepted). Blew a kiss at Enjolras

Kyle Adams physicality is probably my favourite aspect of his Grantaire - he moves very assuredly, like a cat, in a way that is like okay he's drunk but he's so used to being drunk that his stumbling is more like dancing. I remember reading a fic that described Grantaire's movements in a similar way and I wonder if that was one of the fics Kyle took inspiration from?

OOH they did the wine bottle keep-away thing with Grantaire and Marius which I didn't know they still did so that was exciting

J.T Wood is such a cute Joly I love his voice

In Do You Hear the People Sing Grantaire grabs a gun and holds it at arms-length like it has cooties before handing it off to another student

Combeferre waves the flag both times (Here and in One Day More) and I'm not sure if it's always Combeferre who does that or if it's because Andrew Marks Maughan is clearly the most physically strong of the Barricade Boys

In My Life / A Heart Full of Love

Delaney Guyer is a really good Cosette in that she has a gorgeous voice and also has a lot of personality and actually reacts to things going on around her

Marius (who was played by Christopher James Tamayo for this performance) is such a cute little nerd. You can see him try to figure out what he's going to do, then he throws a rock at Cosette's window and kind of cringes at the noise - he's so unsure of himself and awkward

Cosette is very excited that he's here and closes the window right away, which prompts Marius' 'I'm doing everything all wrong!' until she reappears downstairs and they get to be cute dorks in love

Attack on Rue Plumet

I don't remember a lot but I DO remember that Eponine was really good here

When Valjean is like 'Tomorrow we'll away' Cosette goes 'WHAT? NO!'

David Andino is so good as Babet he is a chronic scene stealer at this point

One Day More

If you know Another thing about me you know I hate the One Day More box-step but it actually did not bug me this time. They put Grantaire next to Enjolras for the marching portion which is cute

On My Own

Holy shit Mya Rena Hunter delivered the most heartbreaking and powerful rendition of this I've ever heard

The Barricade

Loved Feuilly in his little part

Javert is a good spy. If I didn't know the plot of Les Mis I would've been like Holy shit that's Javert? Crazy. I love him drawing the 'plans' he'd overheard into the ground with a stick

Gavroche flipping Javert off >>>>>

Buff Combeferre is one of the two to drag Javert away to be tied up lol

A Little Fall of Rain

The only version of ALFoR that actually made me feel something

Marius and Eponine get a lot of time to be cute together before the barricade actually notices that she's dying - and Gavroche is the first to notice and gets a front row seat to her death which is heartbreaking

The First Attack

Grantaire's "AND SO THE WAR WAS WON!" was sooo scathingly sarcastic

Javert waited, like, 30 seconds to leave after Valjean freed him, with his back almost against the barrel of Valjean's gun as if he were hoping to be shot

When the gun went off the entire barricade abruptly snapped their heads to look at Valjean and the audience laughed 😭

Telling Valjean 'Well done' for shooting a tied up hostage is a strange choice

Drink With Me

I still hate 'For certain as the eagle flies' I think it's the dumbest line in the entire musical

Grantaire's part was very grand - His voice has like noticeably changed at this point in the musical to give it a sort of hoarse hopeless quality to it which absolutely hits you in the feels

Enjolras comforted him and I swear Grantaire let his hand linger on his cheek for a few seconds longer than normal before pushing him away

Gavroche hugged Grantaire from behind and Grantaire couldn't even turn around at first because he was so distraught and kind of blindly reached for him 😭

Chris Tamayo's Marius is such a poor little meow meow

Bring Him Home

Absolutely jaw-dropping performance from Nick Cartell

He sings Bring Him Home like it's a lullaby - which it's supposed to be

I don't exaggerate when I say that the applause went on for about a minute straight, and was the loudest of the night by far

Death of Gavroche / The Final Battle

Oh poor thang

Grantaire near the end of Gavroche's singing was turned away facing the audience like he knew Gav was going to die and couldn't bear to watch 🥺

Later on in the final battle Grantaire spends most of the time next to Gavroche's body in like a catatonic state

The SPOTLIGHTS representing BULLETS as Les Amis died almost made me lose it

Grantaire dies last, I'm sure he said something before he started climbing the barricade but I couldn't hear it 😭He and Enjolras still have their moment over Marius' body

The Sewer

Javert comes across Enjolras' cart-carried body (Still hate the cart but I can learn to appreciate it) and looks a bit uncomfortable

Then he stumbles upon Gavroche's corpse, kneels, and does the sign of the cross over him

Almost made me cry ngl

DOG EATS DOG WAS SO GOOD I LOVED IT

Javert looked like he wanted to shoot Valjean as he walked away with Marius

Javert's Suicide

HOOOOOOLYYYY SHIIIIITTTTT

It was so good

Preston Truman Boyd you will always be famous I fully believe that Javert had completely lost his mind at this point in the play

I don't have many thoughts on the rest but I loved Marius and Cosette reading Valjean's confession as he walked away with Fantine - and the Bishop hugging him as he arrives in heaven

Also Kyle Adams as Major Domo mincing about the stage in The Wedding was an absolute delight

Am very sleepy now but overall 10/10 I love this cast so much

[annachum]

Wait.....just WHY would anyone hate Cosette?!

I had totally forgotten all the hate poor Cosette got when the Les Miserables movie came out. Also, unless I'm misremembering, didn't Gavroche put a mouse in Eponine's hair because she was being a bully to Cosette in the books?

I honestly don't remember that? I remember Eponine generally being a little bitch to Cosette as a kid but I don't remember specific facts. Does anyone?

Ok I will just say that I didn't like the musical. Everything felt off except some specific moments. Apart from that it was just off. I didn't like the fact that for example, the biggest moment between Cosette and Marius was spoiled by Eponine singing in parallel with them. Like, this is the main love story of the book, you need to give it a lot of weight and a value of its own, like it had in the book. Also Eponine was kind of sexualised imo and Cosette was kind of miscast.

The only version of Les Mis that I sort of approve of is the one with Gerard Depardieu and Jon Malkovich, well, because of Gerard Depardieu and Jon Malkovich. But I don't like Marius there very much. Eponine is great tho.

Generally this book can't really be adapted in a way that it satisfies everyone and does justice to all the main characters. For that you need to read it.

[pyromaniacbibliophile]

Stars (Eponine and Euphrasie)

For LesMisOctober24

Eponine has always loved the stars. They were her escape. She used to climb onto the roof and look at them for hours. She brought Euphrasie up there once. It was nice. 

After that it was her and Euphrasie’s special place. They used to climb up there every night. One night it was so windy that the two small girls were nearly blown off. It was the scariest thing that had happened to either of them. 

They still went back the next night.

When Euphrasie left it was different. The stars didn’t seem right without her best friend lying next to her. She tried to think that Euphrasie would still be looking at the stars wherever she was but it didn’t help. Eponine never pretended to be anything other than selfish when it came to Euphrasie. 

By the time Gavroche was old enough to climb they were on the streets. Dad never wanted them in the house anyway, so they were kicked out. Of course, any money they made would go straight back to her parents, but apart from that they were alone. Alone and free. 

It wasn’t too hard, in the heart of Paris, to find a fallen down house. After that it was easy enough to take brick after brick and hide them away in their alley. Cement was easily stolen from the builders. Glass was a luxury but it could be found in the Seine without too much work. 

Eponine found a battered old meadow just across the bridge. She set Gavroche to mudlarking while she stirred cement and placed bricks. By the time she had built what resembled a tiny house her and Gavroche’s hands were cut to pieces yet they had shelter and enough glass to make a few windows dotted around the structure. 

Sleeping on bricks wasn’t fun, but the siblings coped until Eponine could steal enough fabric scraps to make their floor into a nest. One day, when hanging around the dressmakers, she met Marius. 

Marius who was a naive student with old money and an apartment falling around his ears. 

Marius who liked her brother and didn’t frown on her for stealing. 

Marius who introduced her as ‘my best friend’ without shame. 

Marius who she might be falling in love with, just a bit. 

Only she never takes him to look at the stars.

Then he comes to her all excited, talking about this girl he’s seen in town. Eponine knows the signs well enough and smiles even while her heart breaks. Marius is in love. Gavroche, now a teenager, asks if he should punch Marius or find his new girl and ‘rough her up a bit’.

Eponine tells him not to, she always does. It’s nice to have someone to defend you, though. 

He says her name is Cosette. Eponine learns a lot about Cosette over the next month. She’s beautiful and sweet and clever and so many other things. Eponine carefully doesn’t think about how Marius thinks she doesn’t know anything because she’s poor. Doesn’t think about how she could never be ‘sweet’. Doesn’t think about the fact that she isn’t beautiful. 

She is taken to meet Cosette, Marius so excited he’s buzzing. They wait on a park bench until She arrives. 

Then she actually does arrive and Eponine is whisked back to the times when she had a best friend like a sister: Lying on a cold roof looking at the stars and talking about everything and nothing. 

“E-Euphrasie?” 

She’s having a similar reaction, Eponine guesses, as recognition flashes and Euphrasie runs forward and squeezes the air out of her. 

“Eponine oh Eponine is it really you I missed you so much my name’s Cosette now though oh Eponine!” words are tangling in Eponine’s ears but she knows she’s smiling like she rarely does. 

Marius is watching, slightly bemused. He sits down and looks up at the stars. They’re very bright tonight.

__________________________

@lesmis-prompts hope you like, I have Plans to do more :)

[personality-corner]

Eponine

INFP

Note: Eponine is a really hard character to type. It seems like she has been typed as every feeling type under the sun, and then, a few thinking types as well. I almost typed her as ENFP, then I felt her Te was more inferior than her Si. This is based on the musical, not the book.

Dominant Fi (Introverted Feeling) / Inferior Te (Extroverted Thinking)

Eponine tends to get lost in her own emotions, and tries to figure out how to deal with them. She becomes somewhat lost when Marius falls in love with Cosette, because she understands he cannot change his mind. She wants to find happiness, but to her, happiness seems like a lost cause, and she chooses to ignore her Te, and ultimately decides not to fight it. In the end, she does finds her happiness in death, as she and Fantine ask for Jean Valjean’s hand, in leading them to salvation. Her Fi constantly dwells on the fact that she is in love with Marius, and her personal love for him, is what causes her to selflessly defend him.

Auxilary Ne (Extroverted Intuition) / Tertiary Si (Introverted Sensing)

Eponine likes to get lost in her head a lot when others are not around, hence the song “On My Own.” She has many ideas of a life where she and Marius live together, where Marius is in love with her, alot of which aren’t based in reality. When she is able to come back to reality, she concludes that she won’t be able to find the same happiness that Marius has with Cosette, based on experience she has had, and it’s what she’s known. Even in her death, she asks Marius to wrap his arms around her, so she can pretend she died in his arms.

[khihi]

As a french person who read les misérables at school but has never watched the movie/musical, I'm quite curious about what has attracted many (foreign) people to it. Feel free to rant and share your thoughts, I'm genuinely curious

OH GOD OKAY LOOK HERE'S THE THING FIRST OF ALL the musical is absolutely incredible. I'm a musicals fan in general but les mis is something else. It will make you cry and laugh and somehow it will also make you proud to be French even when you're not French.

Long rant/fucking essay under cut so I'm not bombarding everyone who doesn't care about musicals or dead French dudes

I wish everyone could watch a live performance of it as their first experience of les mis because I feel like most people only see either the movie or the 25th anniversary concert. And while I adore the 25th anniversary concert and I'm a Les Mis 2012 Movie Defender 4 lyfe, I think both of those won't anchor you into enjoying les mis quite as much as an actual, professional live performance of the show will (bc the anniversary is mostly just standing and singing and the movie is.. flawed).

Also I imagine your first experience of it being the brick probably would not help you see why foreigners love this story so much because that thing is CHONKY and I've absolutely not read all of it - I've literally only read bits of it that include my faves. Sorry Hugo but I'm not here to read your rant about Paris' sewage system, I'm here to read about Grantaire bullying Enjolras and laugh at Marius for crying against a tree for hours xx

Les Amis de l'ABC are the main attraction for me and I think a lot of les mis fans tbh. Their friendships combined with their doomed narrative is just the absolute best and worst, emotionally speaking thing. Just the fact they believe so strongly in wanting to change the world that they're prepared to fight and die for it but they're also just a bunch of super young guys who drink and laugh together makes my heart hurt. They're martyrs to a hopeless cause but they're so human.

It makes you want to see them happy and victorious (I know there are a lot of mundane college kids les amis fics out there where they're "all happy and nothing hurts" because of this) but also that doomed narrative is so delicious every single time (which is why me and other les mis fans come crawling back to rewatch the musical whenever we're presented with the opportunity).

And DO NOT get me started on ExR. Grantaire and Enjolras are THE most angsty ship in the world, they make me ill. Grantaire is so in love with Enjolras even though his depression makes him a lot more aware of just how fucked they all are in this revolution, he's like a moth to a flame. Also the guy who played Grantaire in the 2012 movie shipped ExR. George Blagden if you can hear me right now I owe you my life and I hate them for cutting your Drink With Me solo.

Also the female characters in les mis are SO FUCKING GOOD HOLY SHIT like yes Cosette and Eponine are both madly stupidly in love with Marius "Just Some Guy" Pontmercy but to me it always felt like Marius was their love interest rather than the other way around. He's the chain that links Valjean to the revolution and back to the Thénardiers, but Eponine and Cosette are both so much more interesting to me personally than him.

AND FANTINE?? Fantine who had her life torn to shreds and does everything in her power (of which she has NONE) to protect her little girl and is punished, like fucking everyone in the story, for being a good person?? but who is always shown to be a sympathetic character?? written in a time when women were possessions and prostitutes were seen as scum of the earth?? Once again it's emotionally catastrophic, but it's beautiful. I for one enjoy when stories reach into my chest and squeeze my heart to pulp.

ALSO I'm such a sucker for motifs and symbology and themes and all of that Good Literature Shit, which les mis has in buckets, so there's also that.

so yeah

tl;dr the characters are my babies, i love a masterfully crafted story, and the music makes me feel shrimp emotions. PLEASE SEE THE MUSICAL.

thank you for letting me infodump this fine sunday afternoon <3

[annachum]

LITERALLY WITHOUT COSETTE THE ENTIRE LES MIS STORY FALLS APART

AND STOP TRYNA PIT COSETTE AND EPONINE AGAINST EACH OTHER

BOTH DESERVED BETTER

Cosette kind of annoying tbh

I feel bad cause most things happen to her rather than because of her. There to be pitied by ValJean. Loved by Marius. In Eponines way. What does SHE really want

[annachum]

It is not Cosette's fault that she gets her entire existence rescued by Valjean.

It is not her fault that she gets a fine education in a convent school and taught by a group of nuns

It's not her fault that she has friends from that convent school, whom I bet formed a strong sisterhood with Cosette and still in contact with them even after Valjean and Cosette left the convent.

It's not her fault that she gets to live in a nice house in a Parisian suburban neighborhood after she left the convent, coupled with a garden teeming with pretty florals and plants, and a public park nearby.

It's not her fault that she gets to wear fashionable clothes of her time and wear quality accessories in post convent Eras.

And it is certainly not her fault that she gets to marry the man of her dreams.

So please, ladies and gentlemen, if you still bash Cosette, who absolutely deserved all those wonderful things happening to her after all the poverty and abuse she endured as a little child, Fantine, Marius, Valjean and all of her friends and cohorts over the years would be very disappointed in you.

[lesmisscraper]

Brick... with animation!

35. The Dilemma

"A false address? What did you expect to gain by that?" "To gain time!" cried the prisoner in a thundering voice, and at the same instant he shook off his bonds; they were cut. The prisoner was only attached to the bed now by one leg. Before the seven men had time to collect their senses and dash forward, he had bent down into the fireplace, had stretched out his hand to the brazier, and had then straightened himself up again, and now Thenardier, the female Thenardier, and the ruffians, huddled in amazement at the extremity of the hovel, stared at him in stupefaction, as almost free and in a formidable attitude, he brandished above his head the red-hot chisel, which emitted a threatening glow. - Vol 3, book 8, chapter 20

Thenardier. Jondrette told his true name to Leblanc. Marius was panicked. That guy threating Leblanc(and even his daughter Ursule farther) was Thenardier, who saved his father's life. Marius was in a dilemma. If he shoots his guns, his father's savior would kill or sent to a prison, that meant he disgrace his father. But if he didn't fire, Ursule's father would be tortured or even killed and Ursule also got in trouble.

And, it was too late. Thenardier ordered Leblanc to write their address and called some of his gang and wife. They're going to rob Leblanc's house and harm his 'lark'.

Mme. Thenardier and some ruffians got on a carriage and rushed to Leblanc's address.

Meanwhile, the one head of Patron-Minette: Montparnasse the dandy, was on guard with Thenardier's two daughters.

Soon, Thenardier's wife and ruffians returned, with empty hands. That was a fake address. Thenardier got in a rage and told the old man why he used that fake address.

Just then, Leblanc stood up, breaking free his arms, and grabbed the fire poker Thenardier used to threat him. He blazed his skin with that poker to warn ruffians. Everyone in that room and Marius startled.

He had a special sou with a saw inside. When he wrote a fake address to deceive the gang, he silently used that coin to cut the rope tied to his hands. He couldn't cut the rope from his legs because he would be caught.

Marius had to make a choice this time. If the situation continued, both of Thenardier and Ursule's father would harm a lot.

But then, he remembered what Jondrette girl left on his room before. The note written as "THE BOBBIES ARE HERE". If Marius used that note, he would make Thenardier and his gang run away, and save the father of Ursule, or 'the lark'.

So Marius found that note, and threw it into the hole, to evacuate all inside of his next room before 'the real bobbies' arrived.

[eirenical]

4, 22, and 23? For the salty ask meme?

Thanks for reminding me we have Les Mis in common as a fandom, @fleurdufeu!  The Star Wars answers would have been VERY boring.

[If anyone else would like to send asks, here’s the meme!]

General disclaimer: This is a salty ask meme. These are just my personal opinions; I am making no judgements here at all, and I will defend to the death anyone’s right to like something I don’t. So don’t get on my back about it, please. Thank you.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

I DO, actually.  I’m really not fond of Jehan x Montparnasse.  Ideologically in canon era I can’t see it coming close to working.  And the way it’s been written in modern era generally doesn’t interest me?  IDK.  Just not my cup of tea.

22. Popular character you hate?

*whispers loudly* Fanon!Grantaire.  NOT A FAN.  He seems to be some strangely bastardized version of Feuilly?  His original characterization is interesting!  And if you want to write about Feuilly, WRITE ABOUT FEUILLY.  This weird hybrid character who is neither one nor the other just... IDK.  I don’t really understand where he came from and he doesn’t really interest me.  (And look, ngl, I wrote him a fair amount myself in my early days in the fandom.  I get it.  I really do.  But my tastes and characterizations have changed dramatically since then, so...  Let Grantaire be his actual garbage man self 2k22?)

23. Unpopular character you love?

I think this might be less true than it used to be (about this character being unpopular) but FEUILLY FEUILLY FEUILLY.  I LOVE HIM TO PIECES.  And it was VERY common for him to get literally just... left out.  It was the epitome of the “I love all the amis equally: *lists off Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Joly, Bossuet, Grantaire, Bahorel, Jehan, Marius, Eponine, Cosette, Gavroche, stares at smudge on hand* Mille feuille?”  He got left out of SO MANY memes, SO MANY “les amis as”, SO MANY THINGS.  And when he DID get included, he was a classist NIGHTMARE.  Drinking, smoking, swearing, crude “no homo but I’ll suck your dick” nonsense.  And that’s just... NOT who he is.  As I said, fandom on the whole has gotten MUCH BETTER about this, but I REMEMBER, OK??  I remember.  :(

[miserablesme]

The Les Miserables Changelog Part 1: Barbican Previews

Hello everyone! I'm starting out a blog which will look at my favorite musical, Les Miserables, and will discuss the various changes it has gone through over time (musically and lyrically). As it turns out, a LOT of edits have been made over the years so this will doubtless be a series with several parts.

This first part may well be the most difficult and will almost certainly be the most incomplete, as previews can be a time of extensive editing and experimentation. At least for the first few weeks or so, it's perfectly possible any one day of previews will be slightly different than any other day. However, I only have access to two audios from the Barbican Theatre previews of Les Miserables, meaning it's likely that lyrical variants exist which I have no way of hearing.

I am aware of the existence of a third audio which is fairly early in the run of previews, as the tape's master has told me that Gavroche's death scene is in its original form (I'll clarify that later). However, that tape has never been traded, and has sadly only been listened to by its master. I am also aware of a video proshot of the Barbican era that exists in the Royal Shakespeare Company library, but currently have no access to it. I plan to inquire about whether I can look at it sometime (though I'm not sure a blog like this is "official" enough to warrant it for research purposes). As such, this comparison only entails the two widely circulated audios from the Barbican run.

Now that we've gotten that cleared up, let's get started!

First, let's look at the opening "Work Song". In the earlier recording I have (let's call it R1), the beginning music (the same tune used, for instance, at the opening of "At the End of the Day" and "One Day More" and for Marius and Cosette's meeting in "The Robbery") stops. Then, a few moments later, the more familiar opening that leads directly into the prologue begins. By the time of the later recording I have (let's call it R2), the scores have been combined so that the first tune directly transitions into the second one.

Meanwhile, in R1 there is a sequence of lines that goes as follows:

I've done no wrong

Sweet Jesus, hear my prayer

Look down, look down

Sweet Jesus doesn't care

I killed a man

He tried to steal my wife

Look down, look down

She wasn't worth your life

I know she'll wait

I know that she'll be true

Look down, look down

She's long forgotten you

Most fans of the musical recognize the middle sequence of lines ("I killed a man" through "She wasn't worth your life") as no longer being lines in the show (for good reason, as we'll get into in a later edition of this blog). However, R2 keeps the lines. Instead, it deletes the third sequence ("I know she'll wait" through "She's long forgotten you"). I have no idea if this lasted only a few performances or made it all the way to the end of the Barbican run, or somewhere in between.

During "On Parole", specifically after Valjean is underpaid for his labor and sings about his frustration, R1 uses a variation of the "Work Song" theme which, to my recollection, is heard nowhere else in the musical. It can be heard here. By R2, it was switched to an in-tune version of the number with a unique opening. The musical retains that version to this day, but in case you can't recall it you can hear it here.

Minus an unintentional line flub in "At the End of the Day" in R2, the two Barbican recordings seem to use the same libretto and score from this point until "The Runaway Cart". At this point, R1 has a rather extensive scene leading up to Valjean saving Fauchelevent, which goes approximately as follows (the dialog is difficult to make out):

(VALJEAN)

Is there anyone here who will rescue the man?

Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart?

I will pay any man thirty louis d’or more

I will do it myself if there’s no one who will

We can’t let him die like that down in the street

Can you all watch him die and do nothing at all?

(FAUCHELEVENT)

Don’t approach me, Monsieur Mayor

The cart’s not gonna be holding

Not my poor mother would care if I should die

(TOWNSPEOPLE)

Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor

There's nothing at all you can do

The old man's a goner for sure

Leave him alone

Most of that dialog is deleted in R2, so that it goes directly from "Who will help me to shoulder the weight of the cart" to "Don't go near him, Monsieur Mayor". I really like the idea of the original version; it seems reasonable that Valjean, having become a more trusted man, would expect the townspeople to help him. It's more meaningful that Valjean is good enough to do what's right when there's more time to establish that no one else is. Having said that, the original version did take quite a while and didn't really contain any relevant information that wasn't in the final version. I think the cut version as heard in R2 is a good compromise and retains the general mood and pacing to make Valjean's ultimate action satisfying (something that can't be said of later cuts, as will be discussed in a future edition of this blog).

Additionally, at the end of the number Javert refers to "the mark upon his skin" in R1 and "the brand upon his skin in R2 (as well as literally every subsequent performance since then to my knowledge). I have no idea if the "mark" line was a minor flub or was actually the original lyric.

"Who Am I?" is an interesting one. The musical content is identical in R1 and R2, but in R1 after his high note, Valjean shouts "You know where to find me!" with emotion so dramatic it sits right on the border between awesome and campy. By contrast, Valjean is totally silent after his high note in R2. Neither version would see its final day just yet, although the latter certainly has become more traditional over time. More on that in future editions.

From this point until "Master of the House" everything is the same between the two recordings. Roger Allam even comes in slightly late in both "Confrontation" scenes (making his line "-jean, at last...")! However, in the opening to "Master of the House" the following lines occur in R1:

(THENARDIER)

My band of soaks, my den of dissolutes

My dirty jokes, my always pissed as newts

My sons of whores

Spend their lives in my inn

Homing pigeons flying in

They fly through my doors

And their money's good as yours

(CUSTOMERS)

Ain't got a clue what he put into his stew

Must've scraped it off the street

Hell, what a wine

Châteauneuf de Turpentine

Must've pressed it with his feet

Landlord over here

Where's the bloody man

One more for the road

One more slug of gin

Just one more or my old man is gonna do me in

All of those lines would be scrapped in R2. Personally I prefer this shortened variant than the one that would occur much later. Sure, some fun moments get lost, but nothing that actually adds any substance or characterization to the musical (unlike the later cut, which I'll discuss in a later edition of this blog). Some have speculated that this is simply lost dialog due to a tape flip of degrading, given that future performances would retain those lines. However, there is firsthand confirmation that the cuts were in fact part of the performance. To quote Trevor Nunn on page 87 of 1990's The Complete Book of Les Miserables (a page which elaborates that "the cost of overtime incurred after three hours could be crippling at a time when Les Miserables was still trying to find an audience"):

"Cameron wanted major cuts, which would have reduced its length to two and a half hours. I resisted, refusing to discuss things on those terms... Some of the other proposed cuts - like the removal of the "Master of the House" scene-setting preamble - were tried out in previews and then restored as the scenes would not work without them."

From a historical perspective that quote is invaluable. As will be brought up in a later blog post (notice a pattern today?) the musical would in fact be cut much later to avoid overtime charges. When people like myself have expressed the opinion that these cuts come at the expense of artistic integrity, I've seen others defend them by claiming that the overtime costs never were relevant to Cameron and the gang until Broadway sales began to go down, and that if they were taken into account the musical may well be in its shortened form from the beginning. However, this quote proves that argument to be false. Right from day one, the crew was aware that retaining a >3 hour runtime would come with severe financial costs, but this was deemed a worthy sacrifice in order to tell the story they wanted told. Indeed, it sounds like Cameron Mackintosh was waiting quite some time to enact his infamous cuts! (Cameron Mackintosh valuing profit above art?! Crazy, right??)

But I digress. Going back to the musical, the "Waltz of Treachery" number is mostly the same. However, after Valjean's "It won't take you too long to forget" line, R1 has over a minute of wordless vamping which leads right into the rather awkwardly-placed "Stars" song. By contrast, in R2 this vamping (which is still a minute long, mind you) leads into a humming duet between Little Cosette and Valjean, similar to the duet right before the number. A nice little bookend that makes the scene feel all the more resolved. (Much later this duet reprise would ironically be scrapped again, though!) The remaining segment of R1's vamping now plays after this sequence in R2.

Minus some unintentional missed lines at the beginning of "Stars" in R1, the recordings seem to follow the same libretto right up until "One Day More". Here, R1 uses the following lines:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

Was there ever love so true?

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

However, by R2 this scene is in its current form:

(EPONINE)

One more day with him not caring

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

I was born to be with you

(EPONINE)

What a life I might have known

(MARIUS and COSETTE)

And I swear I will be true

And that closes act one! Going on to the second act, the opening barricade scene has a few changes. First off, following the opening notes, R1 features a rather odd tune bearing resemblance to "Do You Hear the People Sing" (which can be heard here) before transitioning to a more true-to-form instrumental reprise of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" By contrast, R2 goes straight from the opening notes to the true-to-form reprise.

Next, Enjolras proclaims "Have faith in yourself and do not be afraid" in R1, while in R2 he instead states "Every man to his duty and don't be afraid". It's unknown if this was an intentional libretto change or if it simply reflects a flub during R1. A later sequence uses the "Have faith in yourself" line, meaning he may have just sung the wrong line for that particular scene.

Finally, R1 includes the following sequence (at least I think this is how it goes, since the lyrics are a little hard to hear):

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And join with you

Who gives a speech in the square

Fortunately, R2 uses a much less clunky (though still somewhat so) sequence:

(PROUVAIRE)

And the people will fight

(GRANTAIRE)

And so they might

Some will bark, some will bite

This isn't quite its current form ("dogs" and "fleas" will soon respectively replace the two usages of "some"), but it's pretty darn close.

I've heard that the very first Barbican preview(s?) didn't have a finalized opening to "On My Own". Sadly there is no known audio record of this, so I cannot comment on what exactly it began as. As such, the next major change takes place during Gavroche's death scene. This honestly is probably the biggest of all the changes between the two recordings. R1 uses the following death scene (in the tune of "Look Down" right up until the "So never kick a dog" verse, which is in the tune of "Little People"):

How do you do, my name’s Gavroche

These are my people, here’s my patch

Not much to look at, nothing posh

Nothing that you’d call up to scratch

Some fool, I bet, whose brains are made of fat

Picks up a gun and shoots me down

Nobody told him who he’s shooting at

He doesn’t know who runs this town

Life’s like that

There’s some folk

Missed the joke

That’s three, that’s three

That one has done for me

Too fast, too fast

They’ve got Gavroche at last

So never kick a dog

Because he’s just a pup

You better run for cover when the pup grows...

By contrast, R2 uses a much shorter variant which is set entirely to the tune of "Little People":

And little people know

When little people fight

We may look easy picking but we've got some bite

So never kick a dog

Because he's just a pup

You'd better run for cover when the pup grows up

And we'll fight like twenty armies and we won't give...

This is much closer to its current form, although the last two lines are inverted (we'll get to that in a later edition).

We now fast-forward to "Dog Eats Dog", which while recognizable is very different from the number we know today. The chorus of R1 claims that "It's a dirty great sewer that's crawling with rats", which R2 changes it to "stinking great sewer" instead. I'd definitely say the revised lyric better captures Thenardier's and the sewer's grossness.

Additionally, regarding Marius' ring, Thenardier originally exclaims that he "didn't mean to waste it, that would really be a crime". By R2, the line changes to "wouldn't want to waste it", which I'd say makes a lot more sense.

"Javert's Suicide" has changed a lot. R1 features the following remarks following "Vengeance was his and he gave me back my life":

Damned if I live in this caper of grace

Damned if I live in the debt of Valjean

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

Is this the law or has sanity gone?

(I'm a little unsure as to how accurate the final line is.)

By R2, the lines have been replaced with the current ones:

Damned if I live in the debt of a thief

Damned if I yield at the end of the chase

I am the law and the law is not mocked

I'll spit his pity right back in his face

In R1, the "Where's the new world, now the fighting's done" line is absent, and there is nothing but instrumentals in the segment where it is usually sung. By contrast, it is sung as usual in R2. My guess is that an actress simply forgot her line in R1 and it was always supposed to be there, though I can't say for sure.

The final change occurs at the wedding scene. The singing which opens the number is repeated in R1. By contrast, R2 has it sung once and then done with, as it currently is (and as it should be in my opinion, since the music isn't particularly pretty and contributes nothing to the plot).

Later in the same scene, R1 includes approximately this exchange (again, it's quite hard to make out the exact lyrics):

(THENARDIER)

I was there

Never fear

Even got me this fine souvenir

He was there

Her old dad

*indecipherable* and fleecing this lad

Robbed the dead

That's his way

(MME. THENARDIER)

That's worth five hundred any old day

(MARIUS)

I know this...

By R2, everything between "He was there" and "Any old day" were removed, which makes sense given that they essentially just rehash what was already said.

Finally, there's a subtle difference in the epilogue, specifically during the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" reprise. In R1, the ensemble sings "They will live again in glory in the garden of the Lord". R2 replaces the word "glory" with "freedom", and that word remains the one used to this day. I suppose "freedom" is more appropriate for the context of peace and prosperity. To many, I'd guess that "glory" conjures imagery of knights, battles, and the like; just the kind of violence that the characters wish to move away from! I have no idea if this was why the writers changed the lyric, but it's my hypothesis.

Towards the end of the show, the chorus in R1 sings "Even the darkest moon will end and the sun will rise". By R2, this is changed to "the darkest night". Makes more sense to me, since moons aren't known for being particularly dark!

And that just about sums this part up! If I missed anything feel free to let me know, as my goal is to create a changelog as thorough and complete as possible. I plan on making more parts in the near future covering all the changes that have been made in the show up until this day (discounting concerts). Any feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

As a side note, both for this project and my own enjoyment, I want as complete a collection of Les Miserables audios as possible. I already have most of what's commonly circulated, but if you have any audios or videos you know are rare, I'd love it if you DMed me!

Until the turntable puts me at the forefront again, good-bye...

[annachum]

One think I like about Cosette's character is that she doesn't have to be a glamorous opera star like Christine Daae eventually become, or a Valkyrie like Brunnhilde

Cosette is a girl next door like character who just HAPPENS to be a rep for those Defending their steads in war/revolutionary times

And she been through a lot yet remains having a big heart and is loving and compassionate

And I think it's beautiful

Like even the seemingly ' ordinary ' characters can be extraordinary

Just look at Valjean, Fantine and the nuns and gardeners at Petit Picpus Convent, for starters

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[lesmiserabby]

For character ask, Eponine from Les Miz!

Ooh, this is an interesting one since I can still remember the Les Mis fandom around 2012/2013

I was sort of on one side of the shipping war, in that I had a ship I liked, but at the same time my opinion was more "like what you want and leave other people alone, they're fictional characters why does it matter". In retrospect, I'm mad at the shipping thing as a whole. Yes, her life is hugely centered around a relationship with Marius and by extent Cosette (she bullied Cosette as a kid then Cosette gets the guy Eponine likes) but why does a happy ending for her have to be a relationship with Marius, Cosette, or someone else? I haven't really interacted with fandom in a couple years now so maybe it's changed and she's not getting paired off constantly, but yeah, I'd like to see more headcanons of Eponine stays single and finds hobbies that make her happy. Maybe she gets a pet. In the book there's that scene where she waters flowers, maybe she starts a garden, has a fun best friends garden thing going on with Jehan, that would be sweet.

Also, I have memories of people very aggressively pitting Eponine and Cosette against each other and flat out insulting Cosette just to raise Eponine up. And no. I'm not on board with that. I will defend Cosette to the end, even though back when I was engaged in fandom I mostly wrote about Eponine, because she was more relatable for teenage me (that has changed now that I'm an adult). Eponine is great, but she's not better than Cosette/more deserving of love/etc. Both are good and complex characters in different ways.

[claireverlasting]

Okay let’s go! (Enjoy my unhinged spelling hahaha)

Bishop myriel

Convecitonlist G—

Jean Valjean

Jeanne

Petit Gravis

Fantine

Tholomyes

Favourite

Daliah (there’s one right?)

Cosette

Javert

Monsieur Thanardier

Madam Thanardier

Eponine

Alezma

Gavroche

Gavroche’s brother (1)

Gavroche’s brother (2)

Bombomatis

Father Fauchelent

Sister simplice

The kid jvj didn’t give money to

Judge

Procecuter

Defendant attorney

Champaemeu

Mother innocent

Napoleon (does he count)

Ney (does he count)

Caboronne (does he count?!)

Wellington (at this point I’m just listing waterloo)

George Pontmercy

M. Gillmanour

Mademoiselle Gillmanour

Theodule

Nicolette

Marius Pontmercy

M. Malbeuf

Mother Plutach

Enjolras

Combeferre

Jean Prouvaire

Feuilly

Courfeyrac

Bahorel

Joly

Bossuet

Grantaire

Toussent

Montparnesse

Claquse

Boujon

Artillery agent

Mother houchup

Father houchup

Lebauc (does he count)

The person jvj saved on Orion

The barber who kicked Gavroche’s brothers out

The father with the kid at Lucinberg park

The kid👆

Person Gavroche stole a cart from

The baker Gavroche bought bread from

The porter who had to deal with jvj and javert

Bonus for the ones I don’t remember their names

Myriel’s sister

Myriel’s servant

The was a robber guy that gift stuff to Myriel or smt

The man that threatened to shoot jvj

The woman who told Jvj to knock at myriel’s door

Church person that jvj asked when he tried to find petit gavis

Tholomyes’ friends (3)

Fantine’s friend (1)

The woman that gossiped about fantine

The woman helping fantine

Another sister that was w sister simplice

M.madeleine’s door keeper (or whatever it’s called)

The person lending/selling jvj the um. 19th century equivalent of car

Witness 1 (or whatever it’s called)

Witness 2

Witness 3

The bishop or smt that was in charge of fantine’s buriel

The person in Monterifil that want the devil’s treasure

Door keeper of the Goulber house (jvj time)

The beatle (the one javert borrowed identity from)

Door keeper of the Goulber house (Thenardier time)

One more person from Patron Minette

Male servant of Gillmanour

Gavroche’s brother’s fake mom

Fake mom’s friend

Waitress at the Musain

Waitress from Corinthe 1

Waitress from Corinthe 2

Door keeper that get a doctor for jvj at the end

with bonus internet points to anyone who actually writes a list:

the definition of A Character is overall yours to determine, within the following parameters:

if a Person is Symbolically Nameless, they must have a known moniker to be considered A Character.

for the purposes of this list, A Concept is not A Character unless this is specifically indicated in the text.

misspellings are accepted and perhaps inevitable.

[pilferingapples]

Dog Child of a Wolf : Eponine in the Rue Plumet

I have  so  many feelings about Eponine driving off her father and the P-M , and this post has me thinking about them all again, and rethinking the framing of the whole scene..

because in defending Marius and Cosette, she is becoming what Javert is --the wolf’s child who acts as the guard dog of society.   This is explicit in the text! 

The peasants of Asturias are convinced that in every litter of wolves there is one dog, which is killed by the mother because, otherwise, as he grew up, he would devour the other little ones.

Give to this dog-son of a wolf a human face, and the result will be Javert.-1.5.5

I'm not the daughter of a dog, since I'm the daughter of a wolf. There are six of you, what matters that to me? You are men. Well, I'm a woman. You don't frighten me. I tell you that you shan't enter this house, because it doesn't suit me. If you approach, I'll bark. I told you, I'm the dog, and I don't care a straw for you.  - 4.8.4, Hapgood 

--But Javert’s choices are terrible , not least for Javert himself! His chosen role as guard dog of a society that hates him  leads him to support and enforce cruelty with a clear conscience, and leaves him with no internal or external support in a personal crisis, .

I was thinking that the obvious difference between Javert’s philosophy and Eponine’s is that Eponine chooses to turn against her family out of love-- a confused, lonely, hopeless love, but it is  a kind of love all the same, and that is after all a major issue in this narrative!  And I think that does  matter; Eponine shows no sign of glee in potentially getting her father jailed, and she has no desire to hunt down other people like herself. She is even, arguably, committing a little bit of a rebellion by helping Marius and Cosette meet without official patriarchal approval. 

..But then there’s this, from 4.8.5, an extended metaphor about Eponine’s power in the moment:

A black figure barring the way stops the wild beast short. That which emerges from the cemetery intimidates and disconcerts that which emerges from the cave; the ferocious fear the sinister; wolves recoil when they encounter a ghoul.

Eponine is being described as the living dead, as a ghoul,  She can stop the Patron Minette because she has become something even worse than they are,  not because she’s become something better . 

And it’s hard! It’s hard to process! Because we hate  Thenardier!  I hate Thenardier! Hugo  hates Thenardier!  Fer cryin’ out loud, he’s the Napoleon III analogue!   Who wants to see him and his gang burst in on Valjean, who wants to see Cosette terrorized by the people who made her childhood hell?  And what else could Eponine possibly have done at this point?  Surely her yelling for help would not be a hateful thing to do; surely letting her father attack a family (...that she doesn’t know has Superman living in it)  would not be the right choice! 

And yet... if she had yelled, and the cops had come, that would have put Valjean and Cosette in more  danger than that represented by Thenardier. He’s only a criminal, and Valjean can defend against him;Eponine’s scream would have brought Society, and Valjean has no defense against that. The only  thing Eponine can really do to try to help would endanger the people she wants to save, and she doesn’t know it.  

And maybe she wouldn’t believe it even if she did- because she has already internalized that the real evil is herself and people like her, that the only danger to be fought comes from her side and not from Society at large, she doesn’t even consider , (as Thenardier does, because he does  know what the law is), that maybe these people are in this incredibly isolated  street trying to avoid detection from Society and the law, themselves.   She is the Devil; so every other option must be better, right? 

Augh. 

This scene is a turning point for her character, absolutely. But it’s a turning point for a character who has, until now, only done kindness since Marius first showed her the same--and not just for Marius, either, but for Cosette and Valjean, and Mabeuf.  Her turn here isn’t to something better . I don’t think it’s a coincidence that after this, Eponine acts to separate Marius and Cosette, or that after this, she calls Marius to the barricade with the full intent that he’ll die -- the first harm she’s ever tried to cause him, the first time she truly acts out of jealousy and anger towards him.  The confrontation in the Rue Plumet is a moment of immense courage for Eponine, and a victory of sorts-- but looking at it again, I do not think it’s as clearcut and triumphant as it at first seems. 

[fremedon]

Brickclub 2.4.2, “A Nest for Owl and Wren,” and 2.4.3, “Happiness in Shared Misfortune”

I meant to just retrobrick Friday’s chapter, but it looks like I’m getting a jump on tomorrow’s, too, because I don’t really have anything to say about 2.4.2 on its own; these chapters form a pair.

Cosette and Valjean settle into life together. She trusts him at once, and is happy. He loves her at once, and is happy.

Valjean “had never been father, lover, husband, or friend. In prison he was ill-natured, sullen, celibate, ignorant, and unsociable.”

“Celibate” is doing a lot of work there of conjuring other timelines. We can imagine a world where Valjean has a trusting and consensual prison relationship with someone who helps him hang on to his humanity. We can also imagine worlds where where he has prison relationships that are transactional, exploitative, or simply nonconsensual. As terrible as has solitude has been for him, there could have been something worse.

Now, though Cosette calls him “Father,” he “feels pangs like those of a mother in childbirth.” He is mother and father, and friend, to Cosette--all of the kinds of love she has been searching for and unable to find an object for--just as she takes on “all the love he might have felt throughout his life.”

Hugo is very specific here: what Valjean feels is parental, but all of his capacity for other kinds of love, including romantic and sexual, is sublimated within it, “blended in a kind of ineffable light.”

Cosette perceives some of that light, finding the garret and Valjean both beautiful: “Nothing is so charming as the enhancing reflection of happiness on a garret. We all have in our past our own delightful garret.”

Directly after this, Hugo continues:

“Nature, a gap of fifty yaers, had placed a deep divid between Jean Valjean and Cosette. Destiny made good this divide. With its irresistible power, destiny suddenly united and plighted to each other these two uprooted lives, differing in age, alike in their distress. One, in fact, complimented the other. Cosette’s instinct sought a father as Jean Valjean’s instinct sought a child. To meet was to find each other. In that mysterious moment when their hands touched, they were conjoined. Each recognizing the other on sight as the answer to their need, these two souls fell into close embrace.” 

A while ago, @everyonewasabird​ made a post about Hugo’s dedication to self-contradiction, and this bit stuck with me:

And there’s everything the brick sets up about the nature of love. Marius and Cosette, Grantaire, and Eponine (and Valjean, though it’s also perfectly clear he falls into a different category) are all affected by a love that’s life-changing and transformative and potentially destructive–but the exact classification of that love gets hazy. Even in cases where it falls clearly under romantic love, sex has little or nothing to do with it. Grantaire mocks Marius and his love for sleeping together in the stars, etc., but he’s also literally describing himself. Love in the brick has nothing at all to do with sex … until Jean Prouvaire, right before dying, recites a poem defending and lauding love and sex as inextricable.

(That’s my favorite thing about Prouvaire. He steps outside the book that contains him, fights all its assertions about the nature of love, and wins.)

Something of that is being set up here. This is the only happy garret on stage in the book--we don’t meet Fantine and the grisettes until whatever good times they had were over; the Amis have offstage mistresses whom we never meet. Hugo tells us that the delightful garret is a universal experience, but the only other example we’re going to hear about is Prouvaire’s poem. And the juxtaposition of that flash-forward with this paragraph about the embrace of Valjean and Cosette’s souls is doing...something. I don’t know what, but I don’t think it’s accidental.