#hopefully I'm not misremembering any of these details but. augh

[fluentisonus]

tbh really sad when the narrator is like "anyone who knew javert well would notice that [x subtle characteristic trait] was off indicating he was feeling [y]" (<- e.g. when he goes to arrest madeleine & his stock is askew or when he's suicidal & holding his hands behind his back) but like. there is no such person right. no one knows him that well. none of the other characters really understand or are aware of his motivations or character arc or even the context of his death. & like a lot of that Is his fault! but like I keep thinking. at least his musical self tells valjean about his backstory, I don't think book valjean or almost anyone else (except in an impersonal record keeping capacity maybe) is aware of that despite it being a Major element of his character & why he is the way he is. or like the entire chapter of javert derailed he goes through this whole incredible shift in viewpoint & no one ever knows about it & even his note he leaves which is genuinely a serious moment for him is just completely dismissed out of hand as his being insane by just abt everyone who knew him in life. I think the only little moment we get is when he says he'll wait outside for valjean & valjean pauses before he goes in like "this seems uncharacteristic of him" & that's it! his moment of being known & understood! which like again some of this is his own doing in that the way he lived his life prevented it -- I'm not saying the universe owed him intimacy or understanding or whatever & tbh he probably would have rejected it for a lot of the book if it were extended to him due to his own issues (<- which I'm sympathetic to also!!), but it's just so. idk. devastating that here's this whole guy we've spent so much time with that nobody in-book really knows or remembers correctly