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thechaoticfanartist · 3 years

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WHUMPTOBER DAY 5: I'VE GOT RED IN MY LEDGER

Prompt: Betrayal

Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Characters: Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Grim (OC), Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda

Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Grim (OC), Obi-Wan Kenobi & Grim (OC), Yoda & Grim (OC)

Words: 2k+

Warnings: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH!!

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added or removed) : @padme--amygdala @soclonely @mandomydad @mildly-microbial @mrfandomwars @jgvfhl @hanlando-endgame @zeldaiscool19 @touchstarvedasclones @milfspectre1 @togrutanduin @jedi-valjean @one-real-imonkey @jedimasterbailey @securidala @bazelnuttt @whumptober-archive

The padawan ran as fast as she could, she had to stop Anakin, the galaxy depended on it, on her. Grim reached the senate building and followed the path she had many times throughout the years. "Now I'm stopping two Sith Lords this way," she muttered under her breath. Grim jumped into the vents and made her way to the chancellor's office, just in time to see Anakin rise in front of Sidious as Vader. "No!" Grim shouted. Just then the vent collapsed under her weight and she fell on the ground of the office. "Oh kark!"

"How lovely of you to join us, Grim," taunted Sidious, "of course I knew you wouldn't want to miss the party."

Grim growled and jumped up, igniting her lightsaber, casting a purple hue across the room. "I'm not going to play your games today, Hideous," she spat, gripping her lightsaber tightly in her hands. She turned her gaze upon Anakin, her face softened as she gave him a pleading look, "Anakin, please don't do this, you know better." Grim shut her eyes, taking a shaky deep breath to steady herself. She knew there was no getting through to Anakin, she was too late. Grim opened her eyes again, "I don't want to have to fight you, Anakin," Grim warned, she entered the opening stance of form three, "but I will, if it means protecting my family."

Anakin ignited his lightsaber in response, "if you don't want to fight, then don't fight."

"You do know you're talking to me right?" she asked, "when have I ever given up a fight?" With that, Grim charged at Anakin, he blocked the attack with ease, their lightsabers clashing against each other. Purple and blue sparks fell to the ground as they flew from the lightsabers. A swing here and counter-attack there, a slash here and a block there, lightsabers locking together as two friends fought to the death, two friends locked in a dance around the office as objects clattered to the ground, eventually the fight moved outside into the hallways, noticing a vent in the ceiling Grim used the force to open it with one hand as she blocked a strike from Anakin with the other. She cast Anakin a salute and backflipped into the vent, "see ya, Skyguy," she called before making a run for it.

The padawan ran as fast as she could, she had to stop Anakin, the galaxy depended on it, on her. Grim reached the Temple before Anakin could get there, her heart pounding in her chest. She had to warn the Jedi, she had to warn them. There were the sounds of footsteps behind her, and not just one pair, her heart dropped as she turned around and found herself faced with Anakin and half of the 501st. Anakin ignited his lightsaber and Grim ignited hers. Time seemed to slow as the two Jedi stood across from each other on the steps of the Jedi Temple, the only lights were the glows of their lightsabers, the distant specks of city lights and the stars in the sky.

Anakin had the advantage in this battle, and Grim knew she'd be lucky to even survive this battle. Anakin had more experience, was more trained than Grim, who was still learning. Anakin had an army behind him, one that now mindlessly followed his orders, while Grim was alone. Grim gripped her lightsaber tightly, her knuckles going white. Grim knew she wouldn't make it through this battle, but if she could hold them off long enough for Obi-Wan and Yoda to arrive then perhaps the galaxy could stand a chance.

Anakin glared down at the padawan, "get out of the way, Grim."

Grim stood her ground, her green eyes meeting the yellow sith eyes of Anakin's, "no." Grim had to stand her ground, she had to fight, she had to hold Anakin and the clones off for as long as possible, it was all she could do. Grim had no idea how she'd stop the clones but she had to try. "I'm not letting you kill, Jedi, Skywalker," she told Anakin. Her voice shook with fear despite her attempts to hold it back.

Anakin charged at Grim and she swiftly moved and met his lightsaber with her own, their sabers clashing in the air. Grim pushed back and struck at his left side, Anakin dodged the strike and struck at Grim's right, she ducked underneath the lightsaber and slashed at Anakin's legs, but he jumped up and then over her. Grim shot back up and spun around to face Anakin again, their lightsabers crashed together, and they became locked into the struggle, not moving their lightsabers the two spun around and switched places again, Grim standing in front of the temple, blocking Anakin from the entrance. Anakin looked over his shoulder and shouted at the clones, ordering them to attack. "No!" Grim screamed as the clones began to fire. She jumped back from Anakin, pushing him back with the force and began to deflect the clones' shots.

Grim had never before appreciated all the defense Soresu provided until now, as she deflected the bolts fired at her. Grim closed her eyes as she allowed the force to be her guide, going back to some of the first lessons Obi-Wan had taught her. Thinking of Obi-Wan made tears come to her eyes, she knew she wasn't going to see him again, she couldn't make it out alive. Grim opened her eyes again, whether she lived or died didn't matter, what mattered was protecting the Jedi. Grim kept deflecting blasts back at the clones and she charged at Anakin once more, she almost got him, but he had blocked her attack just in time, their lightsabers clashing against each other. The lights of the blades cast the two siblings in a blue and purple glow.

Grim had to stop Anakin, the galaxy depended on it, on her. The Jedi depended on her, if she didn't win, if she couldn't hold Anakin off for long enough. No, she couldn't think like that, she couldn't focus on her anxieties, she had to be in the here and now. Taking a breath to calm her nerves, Grim closed her eyes and once again allowed the force to be her guide, putting her trust in the force. Without opening her eyes Grim blocked Anakin's attacks, at a faster pace than before. Instead of focusing on offense Grim focused on the defense, if she could wear Anakin down for the time Obi-Wan and Yoda arrived then it would be worth it.

The battle between the two Jedi raged on, their lightsabers clashing against each other. Purple and blue sparks fell to the ground as they flew from the lightsabers. A swing here and counter-attack there, a slash here and a block there, lightsabers locking together as two friends fought to the death, two friends lost in a dance. At some point in their dance, their war, the entrance to the temple had opened, perhaps someone had heard the conflict and had come to help, but now the two siblings fought inside the temple, and clones filled it with their blaster bolts and the Jedi inside fell to the ground. The fight became harder as Grim avoided the blasts from the clones and the bodies of the dead Jedi that had fallen from the betrayal of Anakin Skywalker and the clones. Still, Grim pressed on, there was still a chance, still hope, and Grim would fight for it.

The fight went on for hours, the sun had risen and was in the sky, golden light flooding into the temple, showing the carnage of the battle. Only Grim and Anakin remained in the entrance, still fighting, both were exhausted from their fight and yet they pressed on. Grim's moves had become sloppier, and as Anakin attempted to stab the padawan, Grim wasn't fast enough to block the attack. The lightsaber went through her abdomen and she screamed, falling to the ground. Anakin deactivated the lightsaber and looked at the fallen padawan, "you shouldn't have tried to stop me," he told her.

Grim smirked through her pain and replied, "I still won. I held you off, there's more survivors, more than you will ever be able to stop. Vader."

Vader did not respond, only walking away to attend to Mustafar. Grim wanted to just lay against the piller, close her eyes and rest. She had fought so hard for so long and in the end it barely even mattered, now she could leave the fighting behind her. Maybe this was all a bad dream and she would awake back in her bed in her universe, yes that would be what would happen when she closed her eyes. No, she had to keep Anakin here a little longer, her home could wait. Grim grunted as she struggled to stand up right.

Anakin turned around when he heard the sound of a lightsaber activating, Grim stood tall with the purple lightsaber in her hand casting her in a purple glow. "No, you're not leaving," Grim said, her voice shaking. Her grip on her lightsaber was so tight her knuckles had gone white, she entered her opening stance. Wincing at the movement, she knew she couldn't fight, but she had to, the galaxy depended on her.

Anakin ignited his lightsaber again, "you never do listen." With that Anakin charged at Grim, he'd quickly end her and be on his way, after all she was exhausted and already injured, she was dying, so Anakin didn't understand why she kept fighting. Didn't she know she lost? Their lightsabers clashed one final time.

This fight was much shorter than the last, ending almost the moment it begun. This time when Anakin walked away Grim didn't stop him, she couldn't stop him, she was too weak now. She could only watch him walk by, she tried to summon her determination again but by now it was depleted from her fights against Vader. That's what he was now, a Sith, a Sith named Vader, and he had betrayed her and everyone else.

Grim didn't know how long it had been since Vader left the Jedi Temple, since she lost, how long she had been laying on the hard floor of the temple, surrounded by the countless bodies of other Jedi, whom she had once called family, but eventually Obi-Wan and Yoda entered the temple. "Master," Grim called weakly. "Master…."

Obi-Wan and Yoda went over to Grim, "Grim," Obi-Wan gasped as he knelt down by her side.

"I'm sorry," Grim mumbled, "I'm so sorry," she cried as tears fell from her eyes. "I failed, I thought I could, I thought I could…" her voice trembled, "I thought I could stop him, I tried to, I really did, but I, I couldn't."

"Who?" Obi-Wan asked.

Grim winced as she tried to sit up, Obi-Wan cast her a worried glance and Grim laid back down, "Anakin," she told him. "He, he fell, and, force, I'm so sorry master. This is all my fault…."

"Your fault this is not," Yoda told her comfortingly. "The best you could you did. Blame yourself do not."

Grim smiled at him, "thank you Master Yoda, I needed to hear that," she moved her hand from her wound and looked at it. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more."

Obi-Wan gasped, "Grim…."

She smiled at the two Jedi, "don't worry masters, there's still hope, a new hope will rise, eventually the Jedi will return to the galaxy," she winced a bit. "After all these were only the prequels, the original movies have a happier ending. I just won't be around to make it happier. May the force be with y'all."

With that Grim took her final breath. She had given everything for the galaxy, and the galaxy had taken everything from her in return. Grim never got to be a normal teenager, never got to see what being a Jedi was like when there wasn't war, never got to save them. In the end her sacrifices had been in vain because of the betrayal of Anakin Skywalker, no, because of Darth Vader.

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smolstarthief · 3 years

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Your Accomplice Au looks cool, I wanna know more pls

O-Oh! Thanks! Well, besides the basic description I gave with those edits, I don't have much else planned out (keep in mind that this came about from me freaking out on Twitter about the idea of shipping Zenkichi and Konoe and a later convo with a mutual). But I guess more description is in order!

Their backstories are still the same but prior the events of Strikers, they end up encountering each other somehow (I haven't figured out how yet but maybe he was assigned to be a bodyguard or something? Either that or he was dragged by Kaburagi to an event he held? It's not set in stone) and they strike up a conversation.

Zenkichi sympathizes with Konoe's hardships while Konoe expresses his own sympathies to him about Aoi's death (more reason for Owada to be on his shit list since he was planning on backstabbing him anyway).

They become close until Konoe trusts him enough to reveal his secret about how he's using the Metaverse along with his findings and plans with it. Now Zenkichi would normally be horrified but Konoe then gives him a tempting offer: He helps him with his skills and connections to the force along with another thing he will discuss with him later and in exchange he will be able to avenge Aoi and bring down Owada for good, making the world safer for his daughter. THAT is what ends up clinching it and he agrees but on the condition that Akane doesn't get dragged into it (spoiler: She does anyway). The deal is made.

As for the other thing he mentioned? That is where Zenkichi awakens his Persona by being dragged into the now deserted Okinawa Jail as more or less an experiment. After being overwhelmed by Shadows and awakening Valjean, Konoe's version of the Black Mask is born as Zen tears them all apart. Of course, Konoe takes the time to make sure he recovers from the ordeal.

Now Zen's tasks are different than Akechi's as he mostly resorts to torture in both the real world and Metaverse if needed and is sent on those changes of heart that are mentioned in the game (the ones not caused by the other Monarchs themselves). Basically he starts up the change of heart epidemic while under Konoe's employ.

Now one thing about their relationship: It starts out as being more of a transaction/exchange so to speak. One benefitting from the other with Konoe at first viewing Zen as a pawn to be used. That and some occasional... Ahem, distractions if needed. Zen's feelings start to change as he desires to be more closer than that with Konoe not exactly wanting to get attached at first (ironic huh?), mostly faking how he feels at first to keep Zen around before possibly throwing him away when his plan is a success. But naturally they become real and legitimate and expresses it as such, wanting his little "Attack Dog" to be by his side forever.

Now onto the main game, Zen still joins the PTs on the road trip but mostly to act as a mole for Konoe. He DOES get attached to the kids a bit but Konoe came first. The meeting at the Madicce building is actually when Konoe gives him a risky idea: He will make Zen the Kyoto Monarch in an attempt to catch the PTs. Zen is hesitant due to the potential risks but Konoe reassures him and even gives him a glimpse of what his Jail would look like and he finally agrees.

The Kyoto arc continues as usual except the false message from Akane is from Zenkichi's Shadow while the real Akane is actually alone at her house after he leaves for "business reasons." The girl starts to suspect something is wrong, hell, she had been suspicious for a while now. But she brushes it off as him being a selfish asshole that she thought he was. That is until she decides to go to his old hideout and she finds a distraught Futaba who tries to explain the situation and Akane is just... Stunned. Not only were those kids she befriended the famous Phantom Thieves but her father basically more or less lost it. She still has mixed feelings about him but ultimately decides to go in the Jail herself with Futaba guiding her (FutaKane maybe?).

She confronts her father before he could forcefully change everyone's hearts and he actually hesitates before suddenly snapping at her. His mind is a mess from being put into the Monarch position despite him agreeing to it. His Persona is screaming at him to stop but he refuses. Akane is horrified when he reveals what he had been doing and all for the sake of Konoe and avenging his wife like Akane would have wanted along with keeping the world safe for her. Akane doesn't believe that this Shadow is her father, the one who despite his faults genuinely loved and cared about her and her mother. While he clearly still does, his morals and character are gone.

It's with that realization that she awakens to her own Persona (who it's based off of, I haven't decided yet).

After the eventual fight against him, she asks him why he really did it and why he would help someone like Konoe with the PTs offering him to join them. He refuses and contently says that Konoe gave him new meaning to his life and the he loves him, plain and simple, before vanishing. Akane is horrified and heartbroken in response before fully blaming Konoe for taking away the only family she has left.

He feels terrible for his failure when he wakes up at Konoe's place. Thankfully his Persona is back and still in his control. Both men agree to fight the PTs themselves.

Side note: When the PTs explore the zoo section of Konoe's Jail, Zenkichi is not seen among the Monarchs on display. They're confused as they are all convinced that Konoe manipulated and used him (Akane especially).

When they confront him, Akane yells at him for what he did to her father. Konoe's Shadow promptly spells out two things:

He WAS using Zen but his feelings ended up being legitimate.

That while Zen was no saint in everything that happened between him and Akane in the past and present, Akane wasn't either as her OWN (bratty) selfishness and negligence blinded her to every potential red flag that might have been present up until it was too late. Like what Zen ended up doing in canon, AKANE drove her own father away.

Akane just freezes in shock since he was actually right in a way. All she had ever done was yell at her dad, made everything about how SHE (and she alone) was affected by Aoi's death and refusing to empathize with him nor look at the bigger picture despite the fact that they were both grieving for the same reason, just handled said grief differently.

The rest basically goes the same as canon at best. At least for now. Phew! That was a doozy to write but yeah! That's basically it so far! ^_^

#starchild rambles #starchild answers #asks #persona 5 #persona 5 strikers #p5s #p5s spoilers #zenkichi x konoe #konozen #zenkichi hasegawa #akira konoe #akane hasegawa #accomplice au

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miserablesme · 3 years

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The Les Miserables Changelog Part 4: 1987 Australian Tour

Hello, everyone! This is the latest edition in my attempt to chronicle all of the musical and lyrical changes which the show Les Miserables has undergone over the years. Unlike previous parts, this one is not focused on any official libretto changes affecting all productions of the musical. Rather, it looks at a set of changes applied specifically to the 1987-1991 Australian tour. While the tour mostly followed the normal 1987 libretto discussed in the last part of this blog, it did add a few unique touches that are worth discussing here. Many would never make it outside of this particular production; however, a few would in fact be used in later productions of the musical too. Without further ado, let's get started!

The first change I am aware of is in the prologue. Usually the Bishop tells Valjean, "Now God's blessings be with you". In the Australian tour, he instead states "May God's blessings be with you". Not a big edit, but an edit nonetheless.

The next change comes at the beginning of "Lovely Ladies". While originally a sailor sings that "seven days at sea will make you hungry for a poke", the Australian tour switches this to "seven weeks at sea". I suppose this would be a more realistic timeframe for a sailor at the time to be away, and it also makes him come across as slightly less desperate. Having said that, the original sense of desperation fits the mood of the number perfectly.

The very next scene, "Fantine's Arrest", also has a very slight change. While usually Valjean requests "A moment of your time, Javert, I do believe this woman's tale", the word order is swapped so that he instead asks "Javert, a moment of your time, I do believe this woman's tale" in the Australian tour. Not a huge change, nor do I quite know what it was supposed to accomplish, but interesting nonetheless.

In "Who Am I?" Valjean usually asks regarding his workers, "How will they live if I am not free?" The Australian tour changes this slightly to "How will they fare if I am not free?" This slightly changes the mood from a life-or-death situation to a more subtle question of looking out for others' well-being, though it's not a huge difference.

Then, after "Who Am I?" a bit of spoken dialog is added for this tour. Perhaps in acknowledgement of the "You know where to find me!" used in the West End at the time, Valjean shouts "You will find me at the hospital St. John!" after his high note. Similar in spirit to the mostly-scrapped original declaration, though now he doesn't actually trust Javert to figure out his location (which makes more sense to me than the original).

The preamble to "Master of the House" mixes up the genders regarding the bar crowd's lines. First off is the opener, which usually goes as follows:

(FEMALE PATRON)

C'mon you old pest

(MALE PATRON)

Fetch a bottle of your best

(MALE PATRON)

What's the nectar of the day?

In the Australian tour, this is how it goes:

(MALE PATRON)

C'mon you old pest

(MALE PATRON)

Fetch a bottle of your best

(FEMALE PATRON)

What's the nectar of the day?

Usually this was how a later part went:

(MALE PATRON)

One more for the road

One more slug of gin

(FEMALE PATRON)

Just one more

Or my old man is gonna do me in

The Australian tour swapped the sexes of some of those lines, leading to a slightly different final lyric:

(MALE PATRON)

Landlord over here

Where's the bloody man

One more for the road

(FEMALE PATRON)

One more slug of gin

(MALE PATRON)

Just one more

Or her old man is gonna do her in

The ending to the "Waltz of Treachery" has an interesting lyrical edit. Usually Valjean proclaims the following:

Yes, Cosette

Yes it's true

There's a castle just waiting for you

However, the Australian tour gave him this line instead:

Yes, Cosette

Yes it's true

A world of surprises is waiting for you

This gives a much more general promise to Cosette, and is a less direct response to her "Will there be children and castles to see?" question. I'm not sure which I prefer to be honest.

A very small change occurs during "Look Down"; namely, a line originally sung by the ensemble is now sung by just one person. Originally this is how the sequence goes:

(BEGGARS)

See our children fed

Help us in our shame

Something for a crust of bread in Holy Jesus' name

(SOLO BEGGAR)

In the Lord's holy name

(BEGGARS)

In His name, in His name, in His name

However, for the Australian tour, "Something for a crust of bread in Holy Jesus' name" is sung by one single beggar woman (who is distinct from the beggar woman who sings "In the Lord's holy name"). This change would be adapted into the official libretto much later to account for a staging change in which the beggar singing the line walks by Marius and Enjolras to ask them specifically for some extra cash (as opposed to asking for help more rhetorically, as was originally the implication). I'm curious as to whether or not the Australian tour used a similar staging difference earlier on, or if there was some other reason to make the line an individual one.

A few changes are made to "The Robbery". First off, Thenardier tells Valjean "God rewards all the things that you do" as opposed to the normal line, "God rewards all the good that you do". I slightly prefer the original, though it's not a huge difference.

Finally, Eponine's "It's the p'lice, disappear, run for it, it's Javert!" is bizarrely changed to the rather repetitive "It's the p'lice, disappear, it's the p'lice, it's Javert!" I have no clue what this was supposed to accomplish, because it makes the line far messier than it was before. Perhaps this was the intention, in order to highlight Eponine's unrefined self? Though that doesn't seem particularly relevant to the scene... who knows.

Some significant changes occur during "Stars". Not long after the song's start, Javert's declaration is changed from its original:

A fugitive running

Fallen from grace, fallen from grace

Into the less repetitive:

A fugitive running

Fallen from God, fallen from grace

Personally, I have a soft spot for the original repetition, but i do understand why some would prefer the Lord's name being used instead of the vaguer concept of grace.

Soon afterwards, a few conjunctions are removed. Originally Javert declares:

He knows his way in the dark

But mine is the way of the Lord

And those who follow the path of the righteous will have their reward

However, the Australian production (and the London production not long afterwards) simplified the sequence to:

He knows his way in the dark

Mine is the way of the Lord

Those who follow the path of the righteous will have their reward

I suppose the conjunction-free variant is likely to be easier to sing, since the lyrics are a little less rushed. This variant also separates the lines so that they come across as separate sentences, instead of one long run-on one. However, it does slightly bug me that the later line "And each in its season returns..." maintains its conjunction while the opening verse does not. That strikes me as somewhat inconsistent.

By far my favorite change to "Stars" happens towards the end. Originally, Javert sings:

And so it has been

And so it is written

On the doorway to paradise...

However, the Australian production changes the first line in the sequence:

And so it must be

For so it is written

On the doorway to paradise...

The revised line is much more dramatic and forceful, and makes Javert's final promise all the more powerful. It also sounds less passive, which seems more appropriate for Javert's character.

Philip Quast, who originated the role of Javert in Australia and later returned in 1991, changed the line "We'll be ready for these schoolboys" into "I will join these little schoolboys" during "One Day More". This line arguably makes his intentions a bit clearer, though it carries less threatening implications than the original lyric. Interestingly, however, Quast's replacements in the tour revert to the original line.

A very slight change occurs in "Drink with Me". Instead of Grantaire's "Can it be your death means nothing at all?" he asks "Could it be your death means nothing at all?"

Something weird happens during "Dog Eats Dog". For whatever reason, instead of the usual musical interlude that plays as Valjean carries Marius through the sewers, a similar but slightly different (and in my opinion inferior) variant plays instead. It sounds quite messy in my opinion. I wonder whether or not there was some difference in staging to inspire this different version of the music, or if someone inexplicably just thought it sounded better?

Similarly, the usual music that plays as the Thenardiers awkwardly feign sophistication during the wedding scene is given another in my opinion less polished edit. Nothing much to say here that I haven't said in the context of the last change.

One of the more impactful changes in the long run comes in the epilogue. Originally Fantine and Eponine sung the following line together:

Take my hand

And lead me to salvation

However, the Australian tour gave them the following line instead:

Take my hand

I'll lead you to salvation

This makes a lot more sense, since they have been dead for years and only now is Valjean joining them. Some have argued that because Valjean has become the epitome of good, an almost Christ-like figure, it ends up that he continues to save people even after they have passed away, hence the original lyric. I personally don't buy this at all. I think Fantine and Eponine were clearly good people doing the best they could, and if they still need an outside influence to be considered worthy of salvation that speaks quite poorly of whatever God may exist! The revised line is far better in my opinion, and fortunately it would become the standard worldwide in a few years.

And that just about sums this part up! (Man, it feels good to make such a short, easy post after the hours that went into the last one!) 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…

#les mis #the les miserables changelog #les miserables #valjean #javert #changelog #1989 #australian tour #fantine #marius #cosette #eponine #enjolras #thenardier #gavroche #musical

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meta-squash · 4 years

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Brick Club 1.8.4 “Authority Gains Its Power”

“Fantine had not seen Javert since the day the mayor had saved her from him. Her sick brain could not grasp anything except that she was sure he had come for her.” This makes me wonder about Fantine’s grasp on time while she’s been ill. It’s been two months since she first fell ill, but it seems like she thinks it’s been almost no time.

“Javert did not say “Hurry up!” he said, “Hur-up!” No spelling could express the tone in which this was said it was no longer human speech; it was a howl.” FMA really doubling down on the wolf imagery here translating “rugissement” as howl instead of roar. I love it.

“To him Jean Valjean was a sort of mysterious and intangible antagonist, a shadowy wrestler with whom he had been struggling for five years, without being able to throw him. This arrest was not a beginning, but an end.” This line and the one from the beginning of the chapter about Fantine thinking Javert has come for her secures him once again as a sort of Angel Of Death for both of them. This arrest is the literal end for Fantine and the symbolic end for Madeleine-Valjean.

Also this line establishes just how much Madeleine’s real identity has consumed Javert’s thoughts in the past 5 years that he’s been a major community leader. It hasn’t just been a passing “huh, this guy really reminds me of that convict Valjean from Toulon” type thing for Javert. It’s been a sort of conflict and, probably since the cart incident at least, an obsession. It’s also interesting because it seems to establish Javert as believing that Valjean was his responsibility, and coming to that belief as soon as he learned about Valjean’s theft of Petit Gervais’ coin. Like, Valjean is not an antagonist he’s struggled with only since Madeleine became mayor and this person Javert maybe suspected suddenly became more high-profile, it’s an internal conflict he’s had since the robbery was reported, which probably wasn’t more than 6 months after its occurrence (I would assume). Javert’s wasn’t just obsessing over Madeleine possibly being Valjean because maybe finding a wanted convict would be good for his name or whatever, he was obsessing over it because he fully felt it was his responsibility to find this wanted man.

Jean Valjean is no longer Madeleine to the reader. Hugo’s narration only calls him Jean Valjean, the full name, this entire chapter. His old identity has been pulled away and he can no longer wrap M Madeleine around himself. And he’s only going to be Jean Valjean or Madeleine for another chapter; the next time we see him after that, he’ll be Prisoner Number 9430. For a long time in the narration he was Madeleine, then he was just “the man” and variations thereupon, then he was both “Madeleine” and “Valjean” and now he is only Valjean.

The weirdest thing in this chapter is that Hugo blatantly states that Sister Simplice is in the room with them this entire time. She is here and she does absolutely nothing. I mean, this is understandable. Not only is she a woman, but she also doesn’t have any sort of leverage over either of them in any other way. She’s just a nun, just a woman of the church (and not even a woman, according to Hugo, she’s something else entirely), and she can’t really do anything to stop Valjean’s arrest or appeal to Javert or anything. But in the next chapter Javert is literally stopped from entering by Simplice’s Authority of Religiosity. So why isn’t he stopped by her religiosity here? Because this is a mirror of Fantine in 1.5.13, begging Javert for mercy and Javert telling her that “The Eternal Father in person couldn’t help you now.” Again, the law is above god here, and again he will not be moved to mercy, even by god.

“She saw the spy Javert seize the mayor by the collar: she saw the mayor bow his head. The world seemed to vanish before her eyes. Javert, in fact, had taken Jean Valjean by the collar.”

This is pretty obvious, but Madeleine is literally turning into Valjean before Fantine’s eyes. I love the way that Hugo says it though. I get the sense that it’s not just that Javert is seeing Valjean as Valjean now, but that Madeleine’s entire demeanor has changed. So he’s literally not taking Madeleine by the collar, because his demeanor would have been Madeleine’s; he’s taking Valjean by the collar, because he’s dropped the Madeleine act (at least at this very moment).

“Aloud, speak aloud. People speak out loud to me.” Ugh god this line is just so self-serving and shitty. This isn’t Javert being morally righteous via the law or acting as society personified. This is just Javert being petty and shitty because he was humiliated by Madeleine before, and now he wants that personal power reversed.

“Javert stamped his foot.” Is this meant to be as childish as it sounds? This is a really intense moment, but Javert is weirdly powerless as both Valjean and Fantine start talking back in their own ways, refusing to go quietly.

“Miserable town, where convicts are magistrates and prostitutes are nursed like countesses! Ha, but all that will be changed, high time!” It’s so interesting that Javert says this now, because it’s revealed later that after Madeleine left, Montreuil-sur-Mer’s prosperity crumbled. Which means that the town will go back to being like any other poor, garrisoned town, with a prostitution trade and plenty of depths of depravity. And I think we’re supposed to think that without Madeleine there to run a system that helps to uphold the morals and productivity and prosperity of the town, it’ll just fall back into corruption. Except that all of that depravity already existed under Madeleine’s leadership, it was just hidden better than maybe it would be if the whole town was failing. So once he leaves, yes, probably the prostitutes and criminals etc will be treated the way Javert wants them to be treated, rather than with any sort of sympathy or willingness to listen and mediate that Madeleine maybe offered to some but not all.

Fantine’s death is, I think, the only death in the book that gets such a visceral description. M. Pontmercy is already dead when we see him, Eponine just puts her head on Marius’ knee, Gavroche’s death is fairly poetic, all of Les Amis get their deaths described but they’re all so quick it’s like a montage, Javert’s actual death isn’t described. Mabeuf’s death might be the closest in terms of intense description, but Fantine’s definitely is the most detailed. Also, we get more drowning imagery. If Javert is the personification of the Law and the justice system, he is part of what tosses the unfortunate into the night-sea of prison and the mud of poverty. She is drowning because what killed her is also what drowns the poor. And I think it’s interesting that she looks to each of them, trying to speak, but she can’t reach anyone. She can’t speak to Jean Valjean (note that he’s not Madeleine here) because she doesn’t know Jean Valjean, and he’s no longer her savior, she can’t speak to Javert because he will not bend and has no mercy, and she can’t speak to the nun because currently authority will not bow to religion and she knows that because it didn’t bow to religion the last time. Now that Valjean has no power to free her, she can’t go to him. Also, I want to know the significance of her head hitting the headboard. Hugo doesn’t have her just fall back onto the pillow; she bangs her head first, like a strange sort of last injustice.

I also feel like the actual actions of Fantine’s death as well as Valjean whispering in her ear afterward have some sort of religious parallel that I’m not catching because I don’t know enough?

Also just ugh. Fantine dies knowing that Cosette is not out there, that Cosette is not anywhere near here, and that she will not see Cosette. It’s just such a horrible, blunt betrayal after she was so full of hope. I wonder if that’s why (later) Valjean can’t talk to Cosette about her? He doesn’t know how to confront the fact that, intentional or not, he had a hand in this betrayal? It makes sense that it is at this moment that she dies. She has been holding on for Cosette, the hope of seeing Cosette has been keeping her alive. Now, she has the realization that Cosette is not in M-sur-M, and then almost immediately after has the realization that Madeleine is not going to be able to go and retrieve Cosette.

“Jean Valjean put his hand on that of Javert, which was holding him, and opened it as he would have opened the hand of a child; then he said, “You have killed this woman.”

There’s so much child-behavior in Javert in this chapter, and I’m not sure what to make of it. The stamping of the foot, the sort of loud, frustrated insistence of respect, this opening of his hand, the way he yells at Valjean to listen to him or it’s the handcuffs and Valjean just ignores him. Javert is so impatient here and Valjean is so grave and calm. But that’s how it seems to be from now on. @everyonewasabird talked in his last post about how this is actually where Javert’s fall is, or at least where it begins. I totally agree with that, because it’s also where his grave, stable behavior starts to falter. In the last chapter, he was gleeful. In this chapter, he’s impatient. In Paris, we won’t see him display behavior this extreme until he’s at the barricade, but his behavior still seems different from the Javert we originally met. Much as I adore the “Would you like my hat?” line, it’s so dramatic and, I don’t know, sort of smug? Which I could see this current Javert doing, but not Javert from 1.6.2 or earlier. This whole episode has caused, as Hugo said, an inner earthquake for Javert, and I think it literally changes his entire personality. Not drastically, nothing crazy, but it does what an earthquake might do: it shifts some things around, changes his inner terrain just enough that it looks totally familiar but the ground he’s walking on is just a little rougher than before.

I’m so glad my post from a couple chapters ago included that comment about Javert and Valjean’s back-and-forth conflict because! This shift in power! Now it’s Valjean who is righteous and Valjean that is terrifying and Valjean that has the control! This chapter is just a fencing match between the two of them. Valjean starts off mildly more powerful: Javert doesn’t touch him while Fantine’s eyes are closed; it’s only when she opens them again that he again has the power over her and over Valljean. He takes Valjean by the collar and Valjean doesn’t attempt to struggle or get free. Once Fantine is dead, Valjean again assumes control and opens Javert’s hand like it’s nothing. I sort of feel like he still kind of retains the upper hand (at least morally) even at the very end when he gives himself up to Javert’s disposal. (Also, it’s interesting that Valjean has the control when Fantine isn’t looking, but Javert has control when she is. Not sure what to make of that.)

Javert’s retreat to the door is so odd. It feels so calm and detached. He doesn’t actually seem frightened or threatened by Valjean’s diy truncheon. I wonder if this is Javert’s version of the way that Valjean does things on autopilot when he’s in shock. Everything that’s happening is just so stunning that when Valjean moves away from him, Javert just automatically moves to the door. And his decision not to call the guard feels like he’s making excuses? It’s pretty obvious at this point that Valjean isn’t going to move from Fantine’s bedside until he’s ready. Except that at this point, Valjean is the one with the control, and the conflict is between him and Javert. Calling the guard adds another element and upsets the balance.

“His iron bar in hand, Jean Valjean walked slowly toward Fantine’s bed. On reaching it, he turned and said to Javert in a voice that could scarcely be heard, “I advise you not to disturb me now.” Nothing is more certain than the fact that Javert shuddered.” My first thought is: I don’t know what to make of this? Is Javert scared? Overwhelmed? Confused? Feeling Valjean’s authority? My second thought is: this is the start of Javert’s eventual change at the end of the novel. He cannot admit it to himself here, but he’s seeing Valjean act with the same selflessness and mercy that he’ll see with himself at the barricades and Marius at the sewers. His inner change can’t happen until then, but I wonder if this affects his later ability to change how he sees Valjean.

Fantine does get, like, the closest thing to a happy ending that any of the dead people in this book can get. Whatever Valjean tells or promises her, her spirit seems to hear and smiles. She suffers so much at the hands of society, at the hands of everyone, and she dies in betrayal and misery. It’s like the least Hugo could do was give her soul some sort of happiness after the fact.

#les miserables #les miserables meta #brickclub #lm 1.8.4 #les mis #les mis meta #i'm sorry if some of this is weird or only kind of comprehensible i am in a MOOD tonight #also Valvert shippers I'm truly starting to understand you

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citoyenneangele · 4 years

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Les Mis in Bernese (Swiss Les Mis part 3)

The most interesting finding I had during my research at the library was a script of Les Mis in Bernese German (Bärndütsch), a Swiss German dialect, my native language kind of.

I found this extremely fascinating, to read a story that means so much to me, in particular a version of it that is very close to the original in many quotes, in my local language. It was without a doubt a very particular experience for me, enriching in many ways.

This script was written by Ueli Bichsel in the occasion of a open air theatre production in the Bernese old town in 2011.

Sadly it was pretty hard to find actual footage of the show after 9 years, since many of the things are no longer available on the internet after such a long time. This sadly also includes the photos that the theatre company uploaded.

Here is a partly reconstructed version of the website, that does include some aspects of it, like the introduction to the play and the cast, but sadly no photos :(

Here is one of the few pictures I found on the internet a few months ago, featuring probably Javert and Gavroche

youtube

here is a little exctact of the play featuring Valjean’s dispair, a fair in Montreuil, the Thenardiers, Cosette and the other 2 kids, possibly Fantine...

The way this video is arranged makes me suspect there would be a whole recording, to which I sadly don’t have access, but this video just focuses on the woman who plays the accordeon.

Besides that the only file I have access too is a a few scenes that were featured in a christian tv show which you can find here. It is a portrait of the woman who did the co-direction of the production. The portrait starts at about 5mins in. It features besides the portait of Nathalie Trachsel also some behind the scenes clips from the rehearsals, also some scenes from the actual play: Javert upon Valjean’s release, Valjean and the Bishop, Fantine dying, Javert confronting; then after a break The Amis shouting “to the barricades!” (in particular Combeferre, Feuilly, and Enjolras (the guy with the red cravat), them building the barricade, the first attack, Gavroche shooting the sergeant and Gavroche dying, Valjean releasing Javert.

Now let me tell you about the particularities of this play and its adaptional choices:

The language: as I already said, this is the first time I hear and read Les Mis in my native dialect. It is a very poetic form of it using many specific Bernese terms of vocabulary, that I would probably not use on everyday basis.

The script is specifically designed for the square in the old town where it was realised in 2011. Multiple references concerning the nearby streets are being made. Also the actual cathedral of Bern, giving the square its name, is being integrated, as the seat of the Bishop of Digne. I think they invested also some part of the introduction to the play by stating that all of this could also have happened right here, in these streets, which is a pretty powerful message.

The play includes multiple dreamlike sequences, that also explain multiple cast of Valjean. The first dream is kind of a nightmare that Valjean has during his first night after prison where he sleeps on the stone bench which resumes the ordeal he experienced since his conviction for stealing bread (featuring various Valjean-actors at different stages of his life). The next one is the one where everyone surrounds Fantine and wants money from her after her dismissal. Another dreamscene is the internal debate that Valjean experiences after learing about the “trial of the applethief”, where multiple actors represent the different voices in Valjean’s head (Madeleine’s self who doesn’t want to give up his freedom and doesn’t want to give his town up and do good there instead, even if this means breaking with the past, Fantine who insists that he has to save her daughter and thus can’t go in prison, the apple thief who doesn’t want to go to prison for life in his place, the Bishop who wants him to stay with the truth...). The last dreamscene is the near-death experience Marius has after the barricade which is very similar to the finale of the 2012 film which it predates, except that they are actually not singing the finale but the regular Do You Hear The People Sing in (standard) German.

Another particularity is the insert of Javert as some sort of narrator that comments basically the entire story from his point of view. This is particularly interesting because this Javert seems to me more omniscient than I expect actual Hugolian Javert to be. And since there is no story without a narrator, this play ends with Javert’s suicide.

Generally the book seems to have been an important source of information, many of the dialogues are directly taken from Hugo

The influence of the musical is there and reaches also to the point of the already anticipated inclusion of a song into the play. But there are some part of influences that also make me think of other versions, in particular some dialogue seems to be directly taken from 2000 Les Mis (conversation about the cause from Marius and Enjolras)

Marius is a Republican (and sadly partially rude to Gavroche)

Javert tries to hire Gavroche to spy on the Musain, and the latter takes the money, but later uses this against Javert

Gavroche kills the artillery sergeant and not Enjolras, and gets killed while rejoicing his success

preparation for the barricade is featured

In general I have to say that I enjoyed reading this very much as it was really a well done adaptation from how I can tell this. Very detailed.

I am gonna keep a copy of this script. So if you have questions or would have to see something more in detail, just ask ;)

Click on read more to see the detailed summary.

Before the actual script several interesting documents are included

So the very first page is a letter that the director wrote to one of the actors in the play (he plays Le Noir, a elderly revolutionary, who gets a few lines of one of the unnamed workers of the Faubourg that Hugo quotes). He makes an excuse that it took so long, but they had to edit some things because there were not enough male actors for all the roles, so they had to change a few male roles into female roles, and they are also considering where someone may take over multiple roles.

Then we have a list of all the roles with the respective actors who played them. Some roles are still open, and marked with a question mark, as this list was made before the rehearsals actually took place

Next up we have a plan of the rehearsals, with days and hours and everything... interestingly enough they took place at a location that I personally know, so that is very meaningful for me.

Then follows the actual script. The title is Les Misérables - fate, death and love. The translation is by Ueli Bichel, last edited by Marlise Oberli-Schoch, in 2010.

Prologue

Valjean enters from one of the side streads, is poorly clothed, unshaved, lies on a stone bench and sleeps.

Valjean has a nightmare. so there is a scene within the scene. Which explains the quantity of Valjeans that are employed. Like the Madeleine's self, they appear to the actual Valjean actor in the dreams. In this particular dream sequence Valjean is sentenced to 5 years galleys. While both Valjean and his sister Jeanne beg for mercy (because he tried to work but that was not enough to feed all 8 of them, and parents are dead and so on...) the judge has none of this because the LAW.

Valjean2 is sentenced to more prison and other... corrective measures

Valjean 3 and 4 are sentenced to more prison and other unhuman treatment. Javert appears and lets the prisoners to be chained together. They go away

Javert has a monologue about Valjean. Basically he knows that we will say that this sentence is inhuman and that arresting people like JVJ causes more misery since he is the breadwinner of his family etc. But the law is clear and shall not be questioned. He is not in the position to judge the law, and he is also not responsible for the existence of criminals. His duty is it to find out about crimes and to fight them and to deliver criminals to their rightful punishment. He also gives Valjean his passport and tells him what he has to do and what happens if he breaks is parole...and then Javert speaks to the public and talks about how Valjean cried after his first conviction, and how he now doesn't show any feelings anymore. Wonders what happened to his soul.

A woman called Delacroix wakes Valjean up and asks him what he is doing here, why he sleeps on a stone bench and why he is not going to a inn. He says he was rejected everywhere. She gives him a tip and indicates... the actual cathedral that is on that square in Bern where the theatre takes place.

Image/Act 1

Valjean knocks at the cathedral door. First Magloire with Baptistine, then the Bishop come out. While the women are scared the Bishop approaches Valjean without fear and calmly. greets him with a blessing. Valjean tells him who he is and that he has nowhere to stay, that they didn't let him in even in the prison and so on.... Bishop invites him. JVJ continues to talk about his yellow passport. and is surprised that he wants to take him in ... more conversation of this kind. Bishop says it is not his home, it is the home of jesus, that the door ask not how the one is called who comes in, that is asks if one has hunger or thirst.... Says Valjean come sfrom a place where lots of sad things exists, a place full of hatred and anger against the peple, you have the right to mercy. When you go from here with a benevolence, and thoughts of freedom, a penitent sinner and a peaceful man, then you are worth more than anyone of us. Lets him sleep there.[

Magloire has a panic attack because the silver is missing and what else terrible could have happened. The gendarmes bring the arrested Valjean back.The entire conversation about how the bishop exonerates Valjean, by saying he gave him the silver and why didn't he take the candlesticks... And tells him to become a honest man, that he no longer belongs to evil...Javert as narrator again comments the whole scenery and does not believe that Valjean can become a good person in such a short time. Because once a prisoner, always a prisoner.

almost to prove Javert's judgement the next scene is Petit Gervais, but with a girl called Odette, Valjean tears his ticket

Image/Act 2

there is some kind of fair with music and dancing and market, and all kinds of shows. Javert is there, Thenardier is in his inn, Mme T. is there too... Thenardier boasts about how he, sergeant Thenardier, saved a General in Waterloo with lots of overdramatic details People in the audience have mixed feelings about his narration. While someone is totally impressed, someone else has heard other things about this "ghoul". The Thenardiers have first names (Justin and Rose) They have a discussion about their newest visitor and how they can rip him off the best. Make some remarks about his job as a innkeeper that remind me distantly of Master of the house in the musical. Javert has a conversation with Mme T. about Cosette. Then a conversation about Javert, who is new in town. and once they know where he wants to go (the police prefecture) they suddenly ask lower prizes.

So apparently the Thenardiers are in the same place here as Javert, and thus probably also Fantine and Valjean..

Javert arrives at the police. there is a captain Bovet, who is currently ridiculously eating a sandwich and is not bothered by Javert's arrival until he says who he is, i.e. the new police inspector, and he keep telling him that he is not behaving the way he is supposed to according to the official instructions. He wants to see the mayor immediately. On the way, Javert has a conversation with Bovet about how much more clean it is here and how much less crimes there will be here than in Paris. Bovet says that is due to the glass manufacture that the life in Montreuil has never been better. He asks him if he wants to see it. He says, first the mayor. Whom does the factory belong to? To the mayor. He first worked as worker, but after the bankruptcy of the former owner he bought the entire factory six years ago. Javert thinks then it is even better if they first go and see the mayor, when he seems to be the driving force in this town. Bovet says, yes, but also that he is kinda extraordinary, eccentric, well very shy. He lives like an eremit, retired and alone. He even did not want to be elected, he had rejected to be mayor at first. The people think he is abit crazy, but Bovet thinks he is sympathetic and yet he has a bit of pity for him because he is so lonely. A very short, very formal visit at Madeleine's house, where for some reason a soldier is watching, and asking the mayor to come. The scene concludes with Javert-narrator wondering from where he knows this man, finds it weird that this man does not show any interest in the prefect of police (excuse me what are you now, Javert, prefect, inspector, officer? I have lost the overview in this play), wonders if he has something to hide, himself, his face, his voice, a movement, his language....

a woman called Ducret approaches Madeleine, and tells her about one of the girls at the factory, that she has not spoken to ehr yet, but everything indicates that she has a child. Madeleine asks if she is a whore. He only does not want that his workers are captured by moral disintegration. Ducret then suggests to dismiss her. Madeleine trust upon her judgement, and says in this case she shall give her 50 francs and send her away. Ducret has a conversation with Fantine which starts with innocent smalltalk and ends with her being dismissed.

basically Fantine is in a state of powerlessness and everyone wants money from her and threatens her. (The Thenardiers, the landlord the renter of furniture, the letter writer...) Fantine breaks down.

a woman called Françoise who offers haircuts, wigs and teeth, buys Fantine's hair.

Whores in front of the Thenardier's inn and apparently Mme T. is there too, singing (apparently not being a whore). and Javert and Bovet are there too, about how they are being more and more... Two guys called Rambone and Savioni are harassing Fantine who looks worse than the other whores, and Fantine defends herself tries to kick one of them in the eggs ^^ When Javert comes the men disappear...

Javert arrests Fantine and as a narrator he makes a comment in which he says very clearly what he thinks about her (I am not gonna repeat that here though), but basically she is very criminal and is treating good and honorful citizens of this town badly and this can not be tolerated. She breaks down and asks him for mercy because Cosette, you know, but of course Javert doesn't care. So she breaks down and coughs even more...

Madeleine intervenes, Fantine attacks Madeleine, who only wants Javert to release her, but Fantine thinks Madeleine is responsable for all her misery and spits at him. Madeleine says he know what happened, the men are at fault and should be punished, not she. But she insulted the mayor. But the mayor says that this is his business and not the justice's. The whole Javert-Valjean argument about Law and who has what competences Fantine is free. Madeleine wants to pay her debts and bring her daughter back and make that she can live a worthy life again. Fantine faints, and Valjean says to the soldiers to bring her to the hospital

Fauchelevent's incident with the cart. Involves various inhabitants of the town called Toutou, Zidane, Josephine, Fabienne, and Rahel Javert is there too, and in the end of the chapter he is sure that Madeleine has to be 24601

Fantine is deadly ill, Madeleine wants to bring Cosette before she dies

Javert demands to be dismissed, featuring detailed description by Javert on the points where he thought to have recognized Valjean (and reading this script in its entirety makes me realise mistakes that they didn't. For instance here he still stole from a boy (i.e. Petit Gervais and not Odette). Equally detailed description of the apple thief, and who recognized him as Valjean. Mention about the trial the next day. Madeleine says he can leave. Javert insists to be dismissed. Madeleine says, rather than dismissed he'd need to be promoted, he appreciates him as the dutifuly man of honor that he is. Javert has another monologue that how each time when he arrested someone and mercilessly judged him, he told himself "help me god that you will never stumble", And now he stumbled and needs to accuse himelf. It is about justice, the law asks for an example. Valjean just says we'll see.

dreamlike sequence. Features different actors that represent the different voices in Valjean's head.

Bishop: tells him to go his way. And stand to his identity, to lie would be very wrong, he promised to do no wrong anymore.

Apple thief: blames him for making him his substitute, the one who needs to suffer in his place

Madeleine's self: is relieved that Javert is no longer going after him. Valjean no longer exists. This was god's will. God wants me to do more good here, to be an example for others, everything else is destiny. And for that I need to stay the mayor who gives food to the ppor and makes that the orphans get good education. He shall break the candlesticks as he shall break with the past. He shall forget about the bishop. And also this apple thief is a criminal, he shall be in prison.

Fantine: asks when she will finally see Cosette, he owes her a lot for all the injustice she has suffered because of him. She doesn't think the apple thief wil be a better person but he will be an example for her child. He shall save Cosette who is suffering because she is mistreated by the Thenardiers

Valjean wakes up and tells Arnaud to leave for Arras.

Image/Act 3

again no trial scene, just a summary of a very angry Javert who wants to go after Valjean NOW, as he humiliated him

Fantine dying. Javert confronting Valjean and making respectless remarks to both Valjean and Fantine. Valjean in turn accuses Javert of having killed Fantine. Valjean attacks Javert with a chair so that he can pay his last respect to the dead Fantine. Then says to Javert that now he is at his command. Javert makes another extremely unnecessary stupid comment. Valjean approaches Javert and stretches out his hands, as Javert wands to bond them, he knocks Javert down and escapes

Valjean sees Cosette and wants to help her carry the bucket of water home to ther mother. Cosette says she has no mother, thinks she never had one, that she brought her and never picked her up again. Valjean asks if she lives alone. She says, almost, Monsieur and Madame are only beating her. Realizes she is Cosette, says he wants to stay in the inn for the night, she shall show her the way. They talk about the two other children, Popine and Zelma, who never have to work and have beautiful dolls, and always are allowed to play, while she has to work all day and is not allowed to play as the two other kids don't let her. Only sometimes she is allowed to play, when she is done. But she has nothing to play with. She once played with one of the dolls but then Madam beat her. But she has a small sabre of tin with which she dissects leaves and rainworms

Usual Thenardier-inn conversations, in particular the one about the missing bread, the lost money, that Valjean miraculously finds, Valjean buying the work she'd have to do, (socks), he buys her a doll in a nearby shop, the whole negotiation about Cosette, including Thenardier insisting to see a passport. Valjean saying he doesn't have any, it is not required here. If he takes Cosette with him they won't know his name or his address, they will break down all the bridges behind them . However he has the letter of Fantine. They leave quickly.

Here the Thenardiers don't go after him, they just regret that they didn't make more money

another Javert-narrator monologue, about the dangerous criminal that escaped him and that now also has an innocent girl in his hands. He searched with 36 men and 6 dogs but he is like disappeared from this world. He felt so bad wehn he told the police minister about this development. But the latter did not seem to be that interested, talked about social misery, about shortcomings in the health system. Told him about the beggars, the neglected, from the small criminals who kill another man for bread, about big criminals who in hordes rob reputable citizens, he shall not chase a phantom. But our dear Javert is obsessed with said phantom and doesn't want him to escape. He wants to follow his trace until he has him on (no, not under) the guillotine. He is coming to Paris, not for the miserables, for whom he does not care that much, but for Valjean!

Image/Act 4

Gavroche singing a song about Paris in the time text, yet missing

a coin falls on the square (no idea from where), an entire bunch of poor children and teenagers fight upon it. Gavroche, the most streetwise/smart/crafty of them takes it, and escapes, the other children behind him, he gets caught by Javert, the other children disappear Javert treats him badly and takes the money away from him. When he asks Gavroche for his name, he asks Javert back, but he doesn't seem to be interested in reavealing his identity. But then Gavroche tells him his name, because he told him that there are many like him. And he insists that he, gavroche is unique. So basically Javert recruits Gavroche to spy on the Café Musain "because there are things happening that are of big significance for the state and the city", and Gavroche says yes, because he gave him money. Javert wants to know who is there, what they speak about and what they intend to do.

The students and workers in the Café Musain discuss the situation and Javert spies on them. The people is agitated, one fears that there will be a revolution, a uprising of the miserables Grantaire (who is absent in an older version of the script) declares that he only wants to drink and forget about life, a stupid invention without purpose. Bahorel and Joly have a conversation about Bahorel's lover Feuilly talks about Roman Gods (apparently we now have a Jehan Feuilly or is that a Feuilly Prouvaire or whatever?) Grantaire has a monologue about what they consume in different cities, and harrasses the waitress. Courfeyrac doesn't want any kings anymore and does not like the charter, thinks she belongs to the fire. Enjolras comes in with Marius, presents the latter as a friend of his who want to join them. Marius is a republican and declares that he wants to fight for the republic with all his force, however he hopes it won't get that far that he'll need to give is life. But he prefers to do so rather than life under a tyran (suspicously similar to 2000 dialogue if you ask me) They sing the Marseillaise until Louison tells them to stop, because she does not want the police to shut down her pub. Yes, apparently she now is an innkeeper too.

Outside the café: chaingang. Valjean with Cosette watching. The conversation between the two that ends with Cosette saying "If one of them would cross my way, I think I would die... Dad, what are galleys?" Valjean wants to leave. Marius sees her and wants to follow her, but loses her in the crowd. Goes after Gavroche instead and handles him pretty rudely (Sorry Marius, but this is not how you do it). Basically he tells him to find an angel. Gavroche then is just like "but does this angel have white wings?" Marius instead gives him a detailed description of Cosette and her goldbrown hair and white dress, and how velvet her look is and how silky smooth her lips ar and everything...

They are back to the Musain Combeferre says all the workers have to swear that they go to the streets at the first alarm and fight Feuilly says he can be sure, they fight. But the students have to pave the way. We workers fight, and even if there are as many enemies, we'll fight Feuilly says they are 300 already (oukei, now I am really impressed) Bahorel is convinced that in 14 days they will be as strong as the government i.e. 25000 Bossuet declares he doesn't go to bed, he makes cartridges. Feuilly wants to fight. now. Enjolras says first they need to have weapons Courfeyrac insists that the soldiers do have weapons. Le Noir has the "either for the people or against the people speech" that is more or less an exact translation of the speech that one of the revolutionaries in the Faubourg has in the preparations chapter. Gavroche comes, announces Lamarque's death Combeferre: what? Lamarque? The courageous freedomfighter, our advocate? Now we have resist on our own! Away with the government! Feuilly: we overturn the government! To the barricades! Enjolras: it is about us! now its about everything! at his funeral - to the barricade!

Valjean and Cosette in the garden. They are considering to move again. Cosette: we are changing houses like we are changing names. Valjean is like "I know that must be weird for you, but one day you will understand". Valjean goes inside. Marius is with Cosette (Gavroche led him here, for money), lots of poetic blablabla, and <3<3<3, and you know, Marius shows her handkerchief and ask if it is hers, she says yes. In the end Valjean calls her. Says he keeps the handkerchief as a pledge

The "Thenardier Gang" (yes that is how they are called nowadays) sets out to rob Valjean's house. Eponine tries everything that they don't. In the end she succeeds.. Claquesous blames not only her but also the sight of 2 fighting sparrows and a black cat during the day. Cosette tells Marius they are leaving for England and probably won't come back. Cosette says Marius he should follow them, but Marius says he has no money. He says e won't come tomorrow, only the day after, and also he dies if she leaves. Marius says they have to renounce on each other for 1 day, but maybe they'll win life. Marius tells her the address. or more precisely he graves it into the wall, says he lives with Courfeyrac. when he is gone, Valjean decides they need to leave immediately, he has seen people that don't please him and Paris is bubbling, they have no choice...

Image/Act 5 (named the revolution)

So basically Lamarque's funeral has already happened. And many of the poor have paid him their last respects. Then the subversive slogans suddenly caused the troops of the king to attack people. People are kinda angry and meet up in front of the Musain. Courfeyrac finds a group of workers who come from the funeral, but luckily have not been among those who were attacked by the dragoons (ah, they are not called dragons, good to know :)), but are very angry, Courfeyrac tells them to go inside they can use people like them. Bossuet speaks with a worker from another group, who has a grazing shot in the arm, but doesn't care, they discuss about their weapons Feuilly asks a working woman what she wants. She says: to fight. Show them up there that they push back against that. Feuilly approves. Another worker has no weapon but would fight if he had one. Bossuet tells him he should provide himself one. Worker sets out to pillage a armorer. Everyone in the crowd shares rumors about what happened, and the Thenardier and Claquesous are awaiting happy times. And Babet also. Extraordinary mention to Combeferre declaring this is the best day of his life. They start building a barricade and undercover Javert has made his appearance.

Eponine tells Marius Cosette has left, apparently without leaving a sign. Marius is heartbroken and wants to die on the barricade at any cost. Which again upsets Eponine because she loves him

Inside Musain. Enjolras wants to know what is happening. Courfeyrac says the rumors are very contradictory and it is hard to tell what is truth and what is a lie. Lots of army, people is building barricades everywhere. Barricade is growing and more people are there. Gavroche comes over the barricade. Asks a worker who has the command. One who's called Enjolras. He wants to know if he is a general. Worker says no, the generals are on the other side. We are only brothers. Gavroche says Enjolras he wants to volunteer. Wants to send him to the ambulance. But Gavroche wants a gun. But Enjolras wants to arm first the men, then the women and only then the children. Gavroche leaves and comes back. Tells Courfeyrac and Enjolras there is a problem and draws their attention on Javert, and tells them how he offered him money to spy on them. For some reason he now knows his name. They arrest Javert and by binding him on the post at the entrance they want to show a warning to anyone who dares to betray them

they are awaiting the 1st attack Combeferre sees someone approaching. Enjolras says don't shoot, we know who it is. Bossuet says it's Gavroche. Gavroche wants his gun. who's there- french revolution. The whole Mabeuf thing except that they really present him as an ancient assemblyman who was "at the convent" (which is here not meant the place where nuns are, but the convention, which is apparently called convent in german for some reason). Javert gets another weird narrator-monologue where he denounces the stupidity of the students who throw their lives away and those of the workers because they always think you can change the world all of a sudden. And how they don't have a chance as badly equipped as they are against so many more well trained soldiers. That has to end badly. Either they die in the hail of bullets or "they are beheaded on the guillotine" (ok apparently this Javert has a guillotine obsession but doesn't know how such a thing works ) Javert goes back into the scenery where Joly reminds him that he will be next... The whole first attack plus Marius wants to blow the barricade up, and thus saves it, and asks for the leader, and Enjolras says its Marius. But all Marius wants is to be alone for a moment

Eponine dies and Marius discovers that Cosette still is in Paris

they sing and women bring food, they reprepare the weapons, basically drink with me mode I guess... Marius writes his letter to Cosette and asks Gavroche to bring it. Gavroche doesn't want to miss the next attack and thinks he shall wait... Marius insists that he has to leave now, that they won't attack until tomorrow. And then it will be too late to go because all the streets are closed. Gavroche goes.

It is night and they are trying to rest. One starts to sing the "Song of the Revolution (Musical)" and then the others join in. Combeferre and Gavroche come back. Gavroche has a bag of cartridges with him. Gavroche asks what is going on with them. Here no one sleeps anymore. The whole army of Paris is around etc. (basically what Enjolras says in the book divided between Gavroche and Combeferre) The whole we'll stay and build the barricade higher, conversation, and the uniform conversation, except it is reduced to the essential and Combeferre doesn't get to say anything, it is all Enjolras, in between Marius asks Gavroche who told him to come back. He says he delivered the letter "to the gatekeeper" Valjean comes with the 5th uniform, the 5 leave. Enjolras cares for Javert. Javert recognizes Valjean and says he's gonna have it easy now. Gavroche announces their arrival. A cannon is being heard, like it being rolled there. Cannon attack. 2 people die. Enjolras says this was a grapeshot, and that they needs to stop this cannon, i.e. that it needs to be "fireworker"'s turn. Gavroche says he takes that over. Before anyone can prevent him from doing so, he is up on the barricade and shooting. he hit his target, and is all excited and rejoicing about how he "blew out his lamp", that he evidently forgot that he is standying on a freaking barricade. This causes him to be also shot, of course, and he falls down dead right into the arms of Combeferre.

Enjolras says to all that the last one alive shall shoot the spy. Valjean asks Enjolras if he can crush this man's skull with his own hands, and since no one has objectsions he lets him. Final attack is announced by both Marius and horns. (yes another Hernani flashback for Autumn ) . Everyone goes to the barricade Valjean and Javert alone. Valjean frees Javert with the mention of the promise he made to the bishop of Digne to never do anything unjust. And killing him because he did his duty as a policman here today, or because he followed him his entire life would be wrong. And if he against the expectance should make it out of here alive he can find him in Rue de l'homme armé. Javert says he hates this kind of games, he shall rather kill him. Valjean tells him to leave. He shoots in the air and goes back to the others where he says he is done. Heavy shooting happens. One after the other the defendants of the barricade die. Valjean does stay at the background and doesn't shoot on the soldiers, yet he supports the defendants of the barricade. he realizes that Marius was hit and falls from the barricade. Valjean goes to him. And whereever he looks there are just dying or dead "revoluzzers" (yes, this is the word he uses in the script, not revolutionaries or something like that). During the very last attack on the barricade he carries Marius away from the barricade and can escape with him to the sewers. The soldiers pull the flags of the revolution out and plant the flag of the monarchy (whatever "the flag of the monarchy" may be)

Image/Act 6

We are in the sewers now. Barely conscious Valjean falls down on a sleeping Thenardier at the gate that leads out of the sewers who thinks he has made the great gain. and of course wants to steal from them. and comments this in a monologue this is observed by Javert. And of course now Thenardier is all about helping these people, if they aren't dead yet etc. Javert says him just to back off, calling him by his name. Thenardier insists to help, but he says he shall just leave. Valjean gets back his conscience and checks if Marius is still alive, wants to lift him up again, then sees Javert and lets him down again. But Javert just asked him if he needs help. Valjean says to Javert he hasn't given him the address , so that je can escape. Javert wants to know who that man is. And reminds Valjean what happened to those who were on the barricade. Valjean says he survives if he gets help quickly. He is a daredevil, an idealist, but a good person and he can do many good things yet for our country. Please let for once in your life reign mercy before law. Javert insists that he is dead Valjean says not yet. Insists that he needs to save Marius and then he says he'll come back They arrange a meeting at the same place at the same hour the next day.

Marius lies in the middle of the open square between Barricade and inn scenery. There is only the bed and Toussaint that cares ffor him and Cosette that is looking over him. Marius has a fever dream and is near death when they sees all the friends including Gavroche and eponing with the revolutionary flags and singing "The song of the barricade" climbing on the barricades. It is the german DYHTPS (Lied des Volkes), arranged kinda like the finale in the movie that came out notabene after this thing here. Basically Marius is convinced that they came to lead him to heaven, but in the end they get fainter again and in the end of the scene Marius is alive and awake and with cosette.

Javert derailed made by Javert-narrator which linguistically resembles the confusion of Javert Valjean comes in in the middle of that and says "here I am" Javert halfway awakens from his trance, makes a step towards Valjean, holds his pistol agains Valjean for 2 seconds, then he turns around makes two steps back and holds it against his head. Light goes out. Shot.

THE END.

#Swiss Les Mis #Les Mis uf Bärndütsch #Bärndütsch #Swiss theatre #les mis #les mis play #les mis script

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bushyhair · 4 years

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❝ then he said, leaning forward: ‘you’re strange animals, you women intellectuals. tell me: what’s it like to be a woman?’ i took my rifle from behind my chair and shot him dead. ‘it’s like that,’ i said. ❞ merlin’s beard, what is ( HERMIONE GRANGER ) doing out at this hour? for a ( MUGGLEBORN ) who is ( 47 ) years old, ( SHE ) really ought to know better. you know, i hear that they’re aligned with ( THE ORDER ), but that could be just a rumor. i do know that they’re a ( CIS WOMAN ) and a ( GRYFFINDOR ) alum who works as a ( POLITICAL ACTIVIST ) though. they’re very ( DAUNTLESS ) and ( ANALYTICAL ) but also quite ( VINDICTIVE ) and ( ACERBIC ), which could be why they remind of ( DESPERATELY SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS THE ONLY WAY YOU KNOW HOW – IN A DARK, MUSTY LIBRARY FILLED WITH ANCIENT TOMES WRITTEN IN LANGUAGES LONG DEAD TO MANKIND – BUT NOT TO YOU; A CEASELESS TUG-OF-WAR BETWEEN YOUR BRAIN AND YOUR HEART, BETWEEN RATIONALE AND COMPASSION; THE CELESTIAL HEAVENS THAT YOU CARRY ON YOUR SHOULDERS NOW THAT ATLAS IS NO LONGER AROUND TO BEAR THE BURDEN FOR YOU ). some people say they’re the spitting image of ( GUGU MBATHA RAW ), but i’ve never heard of them. word on the street is that they’re ( THE ERUDITE ) and their prophecy is ( PROPHECY 54 ), but only time will tell if that’s true or not. [ SARAH, 23, SHE/HER, PST ]

parallels: spencer hastings (pretty little liars), elphaba thropp (wicked), annabeth chase (percy jackson), amy santiago (brooklyn 99), sydney sage (bloodlines), beatrice (much ado about nothing), cristina yang (grey’s anatomy), monse finnie (on my block), jal fazer (skins), peggy carter (marvel cinematic universe)

hermione was something of a miracle baby (and a complete surprise). the couple found each other later in life than most, and they’d long since given up trying to conceive as her father was in his fifties and her mother was pushing forty. nevertheless, even though she was unexpected, her parents showered her with love and affection – they had always wanted a baby girl to call their own. hermione would be their one and only.

[ HOLOCAUST TW ] her parents named her hermione after the virtuous queen of sicily in shakespeare’s the winter’s tale and the only daughter of king menelaus and queen helen in greek mythology. her middle name is jean, which is a female variant of the name john, meaning “god is gracious”. i think hermione is, albeit probably unintentionally by jkr, coded as jewish (her appearance, how she faces oppression for her blood by the death eaters/voldemort which are analogies for the nazis/hitler/the holocaust, how she isn’t shown to have a particular attachment to christmas and rarely goes home for the holidays, etc.). thus, i’ve headcanoned that she comes from an interfaith family; her mom was christian and her dad was jewish, and they raised her with both religions with the intention of letting her pick when she grew older. while she is not spiritual and ultimately considers herself to be an atheist, she’s still very proud of her interfaith heritage. anyways, her parents didn’t actually name her jean because of its religious meaning; they named her after jean valjean from les misérables. much like her parents, hermione is also a fan of victor hugo’s work, and that was why she named one of her children hugo.

her father never spoke about how he was a victim of the holocaust, how he almost didn’t survive, how he lost his entire family to the war. sometimes hermione saw the number tattoo on his arm, and her own battle scars felt like they were on fire. her father was a survivor of the second world war, and she is a survivor of the second wizarding war. now more than ever, she understands the trauma, grief, and survivor’s guilt that he tried so desperately to shield her from. it is the same pain that she now carries. [ END TW ]

[ RACISM, BULLYING, AND ANTISEMITISM TW ] there were almost no black children in the posh neighborhood she was raised in, and hermione always felt out of place among her white classmates at the expensive primary school she attended. growing up, despite being upper middle class and an incredibly well-behaved child, she of course still experienced her fair share of racism due to her black and jewish heritage – dirty looks on the street by complete strangers, mean schoolchildren declaring her ugly for not meeting westernized beauty standards (especially when it came to her hair), shopkeepers keeping a watchful eye on her when she entered their stores, adults assuming she couldn’t possibly be as intelligent as her white peers. not only was it demoralizing to little hermione, it was enraging. she developed an overwhelming need to prove herself and her capabilities – she always had to work so much harder than white children to be properly recognized, but every year, she still outperformed everyone else. of course, young hermione was seen as rather swotty, condescending, and insufferable by her classmates, so she was incredibly unpopular. her only friends were her parents, and the one place where she actually felt like she belonged was the library. books were an escape, a refuge. they offered her some comfort in an otherwise comfortless world. little did she know that this world was not truly her world – that there was something else waiting for her.

hermione developed a strict adherence to following the rules and an unwavering respect for authority partly because of the prejudice she faced from an early age. as a young black girl, she knew that if she did not present herself to be well behaved, responsible, and mature – if she ever acted out in any way – there could be a high price to pay. black children were punished (or hurt – or even killed) for very, very little. while she eventually outgrew this behavior as she found her place in the wizarding world, it took her a little time to blossom into the revolutionist that she is today.

when she first came to the wizarding world, she noticed a stark contrast in how she was treated by most people upon first glance. after all, it wasn’t as though blood purists could tell that she was muggleborn simply by looking at her (even though she didn’t realize that was what it was initially). and because of the difference that she noticed, she had hope that maybe – just maybe – this was somehow a world free of prejudice and racism, a world in which she could finally find belonging in. but of course, the wizarding world was not quite as she first thought. there was still prejudice; it was merely towards a different group of people. mudblood. when draco malfoy first spat out that venomous word in reference to her, she didn’t immediately know just what it meant, but she understood well enough. she’d been called slurs before. hermione was once again rattled with that familiar fury. she was top of her year, with an extraordinary amount of power, but still she was viewed by many as inferior. she vowed to prove her worth and become an instrument of change. she would fight for herself, her friends, her parents, the enslaved house elves, and the other muggleborns. if this world tried to tell her she did not belong there either, she would show them all that she did. she would be the best and the brightest – better than draco, pansy, and anyone else who tried to diminish her. and that was just what she did. it wasn’t enough for her though. [ END TW ]

because while hermione might have been a know-it-all who seemed rather confident in her abilities, the truth was that she was deeply insecure and terrified of failure. identified as highly gifted from a young age, this unintentionally placed an insurmountable pressure on her to overachieve in order to measure up to those high standards – to confirm to everyone, including and especially herself, that she really was as intelligent as they all thought she was. and to make matters worse, whether she was in the muggle world or the wizarding world, she always had something to prove. (in fact, she was only able to attend her expensive private school because of the scholarship that was granted to her due to her high marks and test scores. because while she was upper middle class, her family still wasn’t wealthy enough to send her there otherwise.) she somewhat grew out of her insecurities as the years went by – she’s proud of who she is and knows that she’s capable – but some of her insecurities still linger to this day. that compulsive need to be perfect will never truly go away. it’s an innate part of her now.

[ PHYSICAL ASSAULT TW ] even though she is extremely socially conscious and compassionate, she is very much a paradox and can often be abrasive, insensitive, and overly blunt. she’s also far more ruthless than she appears to be at first glance – this is the girl who destroyed marietta edgecombe’s face when she dared to betray the d.a., erased her parents’ memories, set a professor on fire, imprisoned rita skeeter in a jar and blackmailed her, and left umbridge to the centaurs to rot. while she does have a rigid sense of morals, she’s vindictive and will ultimately do what is necessary to achieve the right outcome. she honestly does not regret any of these actions – the ends justified the means in hermione’s opinion. (aka draco malfoy should consider himself lucky she only slapped his sorry arse so hard that he bruised) [ END TW ]

[ DEMENTIA/ALZHEIMER’S AND PARENTAL DEATH TW ] once the dust settled after the battle of hogwarts, after the seemingly endless funerals and memorials, she left everyone behind for a few months to search for her parents in australia and bring them back home. tracking them down took several weeks in and of itself, but once she finally found them, she quickly realized that she had her work cut out for herself. memory magic is an incredibly intricate process because it involves reconstructing the brain, and without proper training, it can easily go awry. she spent many days working on properly restoring their memories, and even after she was sure that she had done it perfectly, something was still wrong. the doctors ended up diagnosing her father with early stage alzheimer’s. although her friends reassured her that it wasn’t her fault, she still blamed herself for this – her father was well past middle aged, but perhaps his mind would not have deteriorated so much if she hadn’t cast those memory charms. she began distancing herself from her parents early on in her school career, opting to spend her holidays with ron and harry instead of trying to fit into a magicless world she no longer belonged in, and she became wracked with guilt and regret for pushing her parents away even if it was partially for their safety and peace of mind. she thought she would have more time than this, years to make up for it all. there wasn’t. a few years down the line, her father finally succumbed to his dementia and passed away, her mother following very soon after. although she died of natural causes, it was almost as though she couldn’t bear being apart from the love of her life, to go on living in a world without him. [ END TW ]

[ PTSD, DEATH, PARENTAL DEATH, GRIEF, PHYSICAL ASSAULT, AND TORTURE TW ] at some point, she returned to hogwarts to complete her seventh year, determined to graduate with all o’s on her n.e.w.t.s, and of course she succeeded because she’s hermione and she buried herself in her schoolwork, very much as a distraction from her grief, her trauma, the diminishing health of her father, and her newfound fame. being a war hero thrust hermione into the spotlight, and at first, she didn’t know how to handle it in the slightest. through time, she came to use her celebrity status to become a voice for the oppressed – house elves, werewolves, other muggleborns – because again, she’s hermione and she wouldn’t be hermione without her vehemence for social justice.

upon graduation, she landed herself a job in the department for the control and regulation of magical creatures. she stayed there for a while before transferring to the department of magical law enforcement. she never considered herself going into magical law when she was younger, but she soon realized that it was the only way she would be able to bring lasting change to a long broken system. for several years, hermione immersed herself in her work as much as she could. it was absolutely a coping mechanism, especially after her parents passed. as always, she was constantly fretting over her loved ones, asking them multiple times a week if they were alright and reassuring them that she was always here if they need a shoulder to lean on, but she hadn’t quite dealt with the fact that she wasn’t alright, not by a long shot. in fact, she was barely holding it together. rather than living, she was merely surviving, and it wasn’t for herself. her work and her friends were the only real reasons she managed to drag herself out of bed every morning. she hadn’t properly grieved the people she lost, and she suffered from petrifying night terrors, and the worst ones were of bellatrix torturing her in malfoy manor. she tried everything to remove or cover her scars from the incident, but as they were magically carved into her by curses of bellatrix’s own creation, she wasn’t able to. eventually, she gave up, deciding she would wear them as signs of her courage and resilience. but there were still those nights where she woke up from a chilling nightmare, wailing and thrashing. she cast muffling charms on her room every night as a precaution. she couldn’t even bear to visit her parents’ graves, too overcome by guilt, knowing in her heart that their deaths were her fault. she didn’t know how to carry that pain.

eventually, she settled down with ron and had two children with him, and slowly, with her two best friends by her side, she started to heal from her war wounds. there was no orderly, linear process to follow, like the five stages of grief. it was messy, and it was hard, but she pushed through it. she sought therapy at the urging of her friends, learning how to better handle her emotions, especially the ones involving grief. it took time, but she learned to live to again. she was able to move on and finally forgive herself. she healed – only for that arduous work to be undone when the third wizarding war started and the world fell into shambles again.

hermione was angry. she was so angry at the world for putting them all through this again. so many people died to prevent another war from happening, and despite her best efforts to make their sacrifices count -- to make it all mean something -- it seemed like it was all for naught in the end. after all, here they were again -- the same fight. always the same fight, with most of the same people.

and then harry died. then harry, her best friend, died for the second time, and hermione’s world shattered into pieces. it was only her love for her family and her vehemence for justice that gave her the strength to move on--but only barely so. she knew that she would never completely heal from it all. the truth was that when harry died, a part of her died along with him. he was not only her first friend but her true best friend (because ron had always been something else, something much more complicated). she considered him to be a brother, and she always did everything she could to help and protect him. she loved him so much, and she would’ve died for him without a second thought. they all would have. his death -- along with her parents’ deaths -- will always be her biggest failures, and she will forever blame herself for them. what good is it – being so smart – if she couldn’t save the ones that she loved the most? once her boggart was failing her exams, but now it is harry and her parents telling her the truth that she already knows – that their deaths were her failure and her fault. of course, this boggart is as irrational as the one she had in her childhood. harry and her parents would never say such a thing. logically, hermione knows this, but she still blames herself all the same – even if they would never, even if it’s not truly her fault.

then, miraculously, harry evaded death once more, coming back to life like the messiah himself -- but at the price of the life of one of her dearest friends. she’s even more furious now, but that anger doesn’t have anywhere to go. ultimately, she knows that even though it was the foolhardy, reckless knights who performed the ritual, the blame rests on the order’s shoulders. they failed their children. they drove them to this. in a way, she truly understands why the knights did what they did because she missed harry with all her heart and would have given (almost) anything to see him one more time, but still, it horrifies her. she wanted him back -- she is so grateful to have him back -- but not like this. not at the price of neville longbottom’s life. this is beyond anything she could have ever conceived. this is an aberration. it should have been impossible. and yet, here her best friend is, alive and (almost) well. she never expected that she would ever have him back, but now when he looks at her without any recognition in his face, she cannot help but be reminded of her father’s death all over again.

in the end, she will keep going on, and she will fight until her last dying breath to protect her loved ones and the world, but she’s so tired. how many times will they all have to fight the same war? how many more people will have to die for them to finally end this – for good this time? will this ever truly be over, or is humanity doomed to make the same mistakes and fight the same wars forever? for the girl who’s supposed to have all of the answers, even she doesn’t know.

it should be noted that hermione has never believed in prophecies or even divination at all, and even now that harry is alive, she still doesn’t. ultimately, she would argue that the reason why harry came back to life isn’t because it was destined in any way but because the knights truly believed in the prophecy and thus made it happen, much like how voldemort marked harry as his equal out of his doing after he heard trelawney’s first prophecy. in a way, it was almost a self-fulfulling prophecy. in the end, hermione doesn’t believe in predestined fate, and she never will. instead, she intends to shape her own future.

edit: also! i forgot to mention that, before the ministry was taken over, hermione was head of the department of magical law enforcement, but when she was thrust out of her position, she made the decision to dedicate herself to the order fully. hermione has never been minister of magic in this verse. although the ministry was never perfect by any means, she was a strong supporter of minister shacklebolt and worked with him personally for many years. ultimately, she was fairly content where she was at before all of this, but who knows what could happen if and when the war ends. [ END TW ]

#rev intros #no graphic this time #i really just want to get this out #it's super rushed oops

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homestuck-session-analysis · 5 years

Note

Can I have a session review for Page of Time(m), Prince of Mind(m), Heir of Hope(f), Seer of Heart(m), Mage of Light(f), Sylph of Void(f), Knight of Doom(f), Maid of Space(f), Rogue of Life(m), Witch of Rage(f), Thief of Void(f), and Bard of Breath(m)?

Wooh boy I was struggling with this one for no good reason. This ask has cemented my decision of never doing session analysis asks again, or at least limit it to like six players. That being said, this is a really cool session, Forgotten Ask Number Six! Again, sorry for the wait, but here it is!

Page of Time (male)

Personality: Pages are known to be very weak and impressionable. Like the knight, they are very insecure about their weaknesses, but instead of acting impressive, they display their weakness in hope that someone will help. As a Time player, he would be very hard on himself due to his perfectionism, or maybe he would feel like his life is too stagnant. They can only grow once they become confident in their actions.

Abilities: At 100% power, the Page of Time would be able to have extremely powerful time travel powers, and perhaps be able to give more time to their team by slowing down time or looping it like Groundhog Day. You know what? This take doesn’t belong here, but Tree from Happy Death Day is a Page of Time, inverted from a Thief of Space.

Session Contribution: Before I became a mod here, I sent an ask for a session with a Page of Time in it, and Nix told me that it was doomed to hell and back because of it, but I feel that as long as this boi is nurtured and loved, it will all work out. He will be one of the things holding you back, though.Prince of Mind (m)

Personality: Princes have fairly destructive personalities and resent others, mostly because they strongly resent themselves. Their self-hatred often lead to them harming others, either intentionally or unintentionally. As a Mind player, this Prince will be very perceptive, but feel responsible for other people’s problems. Because of this, he will avoid responsibility by avoiding difficult choices, which will ironically harm others. They are very much the kind of person who feels that life would be simpler if one person had control over everyone else. Princes need to learn how to accept accountability for their actions and accept themselves for who they truly are.

Abilities: The Prince of Mind would be able to destroy free will, being able to control other people’s choices.

Session Contribution: He will be either very useful to your session, or very dangerous. He is also extremely offensively focused.Heir of Hope (f)

Personality: Heirs tend to come off as very dumb, but a more accurate term would be happy-go-lucky. They are very much a representation of “ignorance is bliss,” for they tend to grow up very sheltered and secure, especially under by aspect. As a Hope player, this player would be so optimistic that she would have no concept of danger or distrust. That makes her one of the most powerful Heirs possible. Heirs tend to struggle with change, as they tend to get comfortable with where they are.

Abilities: If she doesn’t believe she can die, then she won’t die. Heirs manipulate the world based on their instinct, and as a Hope player, she is able to manipulate the world based on what she believes it is or should be.

Session Contribution: There is only one Heir that surpasses this one in survivability, and it is the Heir of Light. She is extremely powerful and will be one of your biggest assets.Seer of Heart (m) (personality copied for previous two asks)

Personality: Seers are exceedingly intelligent, bright, and calculating. They are the people who seem to be wise beyond their years, though they are often afflicted with hubris. As a Heart player, he would be able to intuitively understand other people, but he would find it difficult to use that knowledge himself.

Abilities: As a Seer of Heart, he would be able to see the soul, including their intentions, emotions, and identity. He can read people exceptionally well.

Session Contribution: He is going to be very helpful in preventing betrayal, as well as a very good support class to analyze the enemies!Mage of Light (f)

Personality: Mages tend to be very intelligent and bright, but also tend to be jaded and cynical. However, they gain their knowledge through experiences, often painful ones. As a Light player, she will learn things that will hurt her, or more likely, she will be put in painful situations, where she will learn something important. The Mage of Light is uncharacteristically unlucky for a Light player, but she must learn that she can learn from every negative experience she has.

Abilities: The Mage of Light will likely work very similarly to the Seer of Light, but instead of visions, she will very likely experience it in person.

Session Contribution: She will act as a guide to the team, though I doubt she would especially like it.Sylph of Void (f)

Personality: Sylphs are people who have a great sense of someone’s potential, and they tend to be driven to help in any way possible. This can make them seem to be incredibly nosy and a little annoying, but they have nothing but good intentions. As a Void player, she would be a living representation of “ignorance is bliss.” She solves problems through distraction and comfort, never really addressing the heart of the issue at hand. Is it healthy? Not really. Is it effective? Kinda. A Sylph’s biggest weakness is that they can’t seem to grasp when something is a lost cause.

Abilities: The Sylph of Void would be able to literally erase injuries by making them disappear, as well as induce amnesia.

Session Contribution: This is somehow a very good healing class, but she will also be a great teammate to the Heir.Knight of Doom (f) (copy/pasted from two asks)

Personality: Knights are a very insecure lot, typically using their aspect to attempt to create a facade that makes them seem more impressive. As a Doom player, she would try to appear intimidating and dangerous, like Death incarnate, but in reality, she is depressed and concerned for her friends. To develop as a person, she must learn to trust others and lower her walls.

Abilities: The Knight of Doom is the wielder of death itself. She would be very proficient with many different weapons, and ultimately, she may be able to temporarily raise the dead.

Session Contribution: Knights are called to sessions with a shortage of their aspect, so this session will likely have too few people dying, if that makes sense. The Knight’s job is to make the most of each death to make up for this lack.Maid of Space (f)

Personality: Maids often feel a great deal of responsibility that was pushed onto them without their consent. They feel that it is their job to ensure that everything is working properly, even when they are not recognized for their efforts. As a Space player, this Maid would be like a mother figure to her peers. Maids also tend to rely on others to feel valuable, so please make sure she knows she are perfect just the way she is.

Abilities: The Maid of Space would be able to teleport in order to ensure that things are in the places they should be.

Session Contribution: As a Space player, she is tasked with the breeding of the Genesis Frog. She would do great with this as a Maid, and she would also keep things in order in the session.Rogue of Life (m)

Personality: Rogues are very selfless people, as they share a worldview with Robin Hood. Their strong sense of justice and equality makes them easy to talk to, as they are very respectful. They are also very spunky and ready to do what’s right! As a Life player, he would be mostly concerned with issues such as world hunger and economic disparity. He likely saved a live at one point. Sometimes, the Rogue puts himself into danger to right a wrong, so make sure he understands that it’s okay that life isn’t always fair. If you’ve watched or read any iteration of Les Miserables, Valjean is a great example of a Rogue of Life.

Abilities: As an allocator of Life, he would be able to drain life from his enemies to his allies, which is very offensively focused.

Session Contribution: He’s like a healer and a fighter combined in one, but also he’s a very good person.Witch of Rage (f)

Personality: Witches tend to find themselves in societies or situations where they are dissatisfied, which makes them strong revolutionaries and visionaries. Their rebellious nature causes them to change their aspect in ways inconceivable to others. As a Rage player, she will take the negative emotions associated with frustration and anger and transform it into passion and a drive for righteousness. Witches are only satisfied when their vision is realized, which is not always possible.

Abilities: The Witch of Rage is a manipulator of anger and close-mindedness, so she would be able to drive others mad and paralyzed with frustration. Also, if she practices with her powers enough, I can also see her doing the reverse: Soothing her allies and expanding their possibilities, though that would be more of a Hope player thing to do.

Session Contribution: I can see this player being a great asset in a fight, though I would imagine she would be very emotional herself.Thief of Void (f)

Personality: I’m breaking my pattern of explaining what a class is then what it means with the aspect to just quickly state to never trust a Thief of Void. They tend to be sneaky, secretive, and manipulative, just to prove that they could be, or to assert dominance. My first OC was a Thief of Void, and let’s just say they can fuck shit up very quickly. They are power-hungry, and they always want to feel like they’re on top. Make sure you’re on their good side.

Abilities: She steals void, so she can reveal secrets and use that lack of knowledge to protect her own secrets. She can also conjure items by stealing the Void from them, but that would erase her little by little every time she does so.

Session Contribution: She’s a more dangerous and underhanded Vriska, but she will be extremely powerful.Bard of Breath (m) (copy/pasted from another ask)

Personality: Bards tend to be extremely fixated on their aspect to the point of worship, or at least obsession, and they are only happy when they are able to share the wonders of their aspect with others. They are so fixated with this positive image of their aspect, whatever that image is, that if someone were to break it, they would go crazy. This is why Bards are exceptional berserker fighters. As a Breath player, the Bard would have a warped sense of individuality, refusing to listen to others and only taking his own path. Their break would result when they discover that they couldn’t do everything alone.

Abilities: Bards invite destruction through their aspect, so in addition to their berserk fighting style, they can also likely break up the team, making them either stronger or weaker.

Session Contribution: The Bard is likely going to wreak havoc on your team, and for once I’m not talking about a killing spree. However, they are an absolute powerhouse.

Interpersonal Dynamics

The Seer of Heart and the Prince of Mind can easily work together to lock down the Thief if needed.

Keep the Thief of Void a lightyear away from the Page of Time. The Page has a long way to go in the first place, so it’s important to keep him away from any Thief, but this Thief in particular can really easily get into his head.

Also keep the Page away from the Bard, the Prince, the Witch, and the Sylph, because they can all mess up his personal growth in different ways, even when they have the best intentions.

The Sylph of Void and the Heir of Hope should work together as often as possible. The Heir’s abilities will be affected by her understanding of the world, and the less she knows about it, the more freedom she has to believe whatever she wants.

The Sylph and the Mage would hate each other soooo much.

The Mage can likely use her personal experiences to aid the Prince in his character arc. Suffering together to learn how to accept it.

The Rogue of Life and the Knight of Doom are inverses, but they aren’t hostile about it. In fact, I lowkey ship it. Full disclosure, I ship Valvert, and I’d like to believe these are their classpects. The Knight would be all broody and gloomy, and the Rogue would feel bad for her and try to be her friend, but then realize the Knight is actually a really good person because she would feel more comfortable around him and stops trying to be so angsty and if they both went through shit they would be super supportive of one another and comfort each other, but even if they didn’t they’d still like each other and ughhh.

Session Overview

Elephant in the Room: There’s two Void players, which under this blog’s rules state that one of them is destined to die before winning. Not to sound callous or anything, but if you had to choose, I’d say you’d prefer to keep the Sylph of Void.

Leader: There are really a lot of possibilities here for a good leader, but I would say the Mage of Light has the wisdom necessary to lead the team. The Maid, the Rogue, and the Seer would also be great candidates.

Offense: Bard, Thief, Witch, Rogue, Knight, and Prince. Half of your team is made up of extremely powerful offensive players, so I’d say you’re pretty set.

Planning: The Mage of Light is really going to be your lynchpin in the early game, at least until your Page matures into the OP lord he’s always meant to have been. The Seer is very good at predicting people, so that’s also really helpful, especially with all of these players who can fly off the handle at a moment’s notice.

Survival: The Knight of Doom is a great omen that not many people will die, but be careful, because again, many of these players have betrayal in their blood, and with no Blood player, that’s going to be hard to avoid.

Frog Breeding: The Maid of Space will be a very diligent breeder, and with the Knight of Doom, she won’t have to worry about the frogs dying…if she had to worry about that before…okay, the Knight of Doom isn’t the best breeding partner (don’t take that out of context), but you know who is? Ironically the Thief of Void, who can conjure up any frog.

Loyalty: Read above. No Blood player, and a lot of players with strong wills and strong emotions makes for a very hectic game.

Overall: This session is somehow both overpowered and one wrong move away from the brink of disaster. Have fun, and good luck!

]>>Maso

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maraschinocheri · 5 years

Text

A novel no one needed on the Les Mis filmed concert: 1,800+ words of stuff and nonsense.

The first thing that jumps into my head is that I am so glad the concert run is over, and the second is that it’s a very strange feeling when the strongest vocal performances on stage seemed to belong to Enjolras, Eponine, and … Cosette. But let’s get the rest of it all over with first.

• Alfie Boe’s acting has improved since he last played Valjean, thankfully, but good lord, he really needs to not get involved in any even moderately extended run of anything, because he clearly cannot hack it physically or vocally. And while it may seem churlish to say so, I am so bored of his Valjean. Warble warble warble, seeming so out of place with everyone else’s voices, and just. Enough. He looked lovely, of course, and I’m sure his fans truly enjoyed this repeat of him in the role, when … he was actually there, but he sounded absolutely exhausted. I’m afraid I spent a lot of his performance wishing I were watching JOJ on film instead.

• Michael Ball’s mention during the encore that this was his last performance as Javert seems a fair thing; he is not—and never was— meant for this role on any level (I maintain he has all the threatening menace of Snidely Whiplash), though Stars was not bad, especially because he left himself, you know, sing and not bark or growl or spend so much damn time and energy trying to not be *~MICHAEL BALL~*. The gritted teeth “m’sieur! mayor!” was just a boring choice, the Confrontation was a muddy mess, the Intervention played too much for comic effect (though MASSIVE POINTS for bringing back the original why the hell did he run? instead of why on earth did he run?), the barricade scenes had too little punch, the Sewers had so much potential that disappeared, but …

But. While Ball’s is not my preferred style of Javert and never could be, I have to take a deep breath and blinkingly applaud his wild leaping commitment to batshittery in the Suicide. I mean, if you’re going for full on batshit at that point, you have to really sell it, and with any luck make it a different range of batshit than previous batshit Javerts, and he did. My dad, the sole member of my family not much prone to show commentary, said “That was excellent.” firmly after the Suicide, and a part of me grudgingly agreed. But please, never again, Michael. Honestly I think he’s relieved it’s done.

(Also honestly, the most amusing moment of the entire concert experience for me was my mother’s interval exclamation that she had “a new boyfriend!” Assuming she meant Bwadders, I laughed and asked oh really, who? And she said … Javert. After I recovered myself, I reminded her that Javert was Michael. Ball., who has been at one stage or another my—and everyone else’s—mother’s boyfriend since 1985. She had entirely forgotten he was playing Javert in the concert and was bizarrely fooled by wig and costume, but assured me that even now, she “could swim in his dimples.” My mother, everyone.)

• Shan Ako was a marvelous Eponine, and I loved her On My Own. She’ll be great fun to watch in the actual production, I think, and I so appreciated a tough cookie Eponine with old school vocal power but newer school technique and touch and oh my god subtlety without losing anything in characterization, even given the limitations of a concert performance. Houchen’s Marius wouldn’t have deserved her, anyway.

• Speaking of Houchen. You know, I was fond of Rob while he was in his actual run as Marius, but he’s absolutely checked out of it mentally and emotionally, and it shows. He still has a lovely voice that really works as Marius sometimes, but there’s nothing … there underneath the pretty sheen, and after the few years’ distance since his proper run, I’ve seen enough Marii who enjoyed the role and found substance in it that the lack of depth in Rob’s take was disappointing. However, I acknowledge that some of Marius’ actual-show chances of showing range don’t happen in the concert version, and perhaps if they’d been included my opinion would change. He knows he’s aged out the role now, however, and I highly doubt he’d ever want to do it again even if invited to do so. But who knows.

• I walked into the concert film with no opinion of Lily Kerhoas’ Cosette other than knowing she could sing it beautifully, but I was actually impressed—and sort of want to sit nearly every principal Cosette of the last, oh, decade in front of her performance and say, see you’re allowed to act; it can actually work—and I look forward to her work in the proper show as well, especially if they get her some costumes that actually fit and don’t look made of tissue.

• God, I hate Matt Lucas. The end.

• Katy Secombe has added some different touches to her Madame T, some good, and some—obviously Lucas-influenced—bad. It’s unfortunate that some of the Thenardier ~comedy absolutely cannot work in a concert setting—the wedding was awful—but she made a decent hash of a bad deal.

• Which brings me to Bwadders. Oh, Bradley. He’s just so very, very good at Enjolras, and always has been. This concert!jolras, however, had one very different vibe from his run’s take on the role, which was … a hopefulness, maybe? A joy and breathless hope running beneath the passion passion PASSION that’s always been there, and it was beautiful to watch in his eyes and mannerisms. The concert contained Bradley somewhat, in that his strong physicality wasn’t allowed to sort of fill the room (and barricade) as it had at the Queens, and I missed that. Also—and there is no getting around this, sadly, for me—that manbun still ain’t it. (Gingerfather—whose fave character in the show is Enjolras—just sighed heavily and said that there should’ve just been one of the Ponytails of Yore instead, and you know, he’s not wrong.) Bradley also nailed two of the three Big Notes, but his until the earth is free was done differently from how he approached it during his real run, and not for the better (the Ghost of THAXTON giveth, and it taketh away). And yet … it didn’t matter. It truly didn’t. He was the best of the principals, and at least for me would probably have been even if he’d bollocked the other two Big Notes as well. Anyway, Bwadders. A thrill to watch, and alive with energy so much of the show otherwise lacked.

• You will note no mention yet of Fletcher. I refer to the point above re: Matt Lucas.

• The Amis, as one. I am aware that many, many people adore Raymond Walsh’s Grantaire, and I entirely understand why. He was fine. Craig Mather’s Combeferre and Niall Sheehy’s Courfeyrac both allowed both actors to show off some real oomph in their voices, though I’m still much too rattled by a Courfeyrac wearing Joly’s clothes. I love Vinny Coyle because he’s just so obviously, thrillingly in love with the show, but he’s also a fabulous Feuilly, and I merrily handwave the not-so-great we’ll be therrrre because a) it’s a horrendous note few people can carry well, and b) I’ve seen and heard him do it brilliantly so many other times when he was covering Feuilly as a swing. And it was delicious to see Will Jennings as a background onstage SwingAmi. Everyone else was just sort of … there, though all very pretty. It was extremely clear who had been in casts properly educated and invested in the show, but that’s a record I’ve played enough.

• I will never not love seeing Sarah Lark, Jo Loxton, and Tamsin Dowsett. I also deeply appreciate seeing Oli Brenin doing everything, everywhere, all the time.

• It is never not wonderful seeing Earl Carpenter bishoping, but my god EARL WHAT EVEN with that Bamatabois. What even. There was active squeaky recoiling happening in my row.

• Gavroche was excellent and adorable and GINGER. Full marks.

• And so to the encores. The only point I could see to the coat handover from Michael to Bradley was to give Michael a Moment along the lines of the Valjeanfest, as it’s not like the role of Javert is new to Bradley. However, I was fascinated by the strangeness of the harmonized Stars, and I think I need to watch and listen to it again about a thousand times to really confirm my proper opinion. I know Bradley doesn’t sing Stars that high for real—and certainly doesn’t need to—and what they did here doesn’t really … show his approach to the role, but it was interesting, and I give them credit for the try. (I did attempt to imagine others—let’s be real, I was imagining THAXTON—even being asked to make a go of this, and my imagined Thaxtonic response will make for excellent nightmare fuel.)

• Then, then, then. All Valjeans all the time, including some Potato in a tour costume that still has me hissing at its wrongness. Anyway! Leaving aside Alfie—whose section just really sounded like jesus christ I cannot believe I have to do this again; I just want to lie down for a thousand years and block Cameron’s number from any further contact with me put to music—I found the whole thing much more palatable than the 25th anniversary Valjeanfest, perhaps mostly because of my fave part of the whole concert—the whole two lines JOJ and Killian shared—but also because the four Valjeans not actively praying for their own deaths all seemed to have physical, emotional, and vocal respect for the role, the show, the audience, and each other. It was a strange joy to watch.

Which, truly, this concert was as well, in enough places to ensure that I will buy the inevitable DVD. On some occasions I may even start its playback before Look Down (Paris). Maybe.

(One more small thought, though, on this concert and why I am glad it’s over: I know the run sparked a lot of joy for a lot of people, but if I saw one more bitchy tweet from the cast members I might have screamed. Are some audience members dickheads? Absolutely. Then enforce the fucking rules. Train and allow your FOH to go after those people (and force the management to back the FOH staff up!), remove them, throw one of the old pest catcher boxes from under the Queens seats at them, whatever. But shut up. I don’t even follow any of the whingers I saw! Twitter just enjoyed throwing their tweets into my feed like a toddler’s wall-splattering food. #blessed)

Anyway. That’s that done. The show’s world turns, though obviously it no longer revolves.

#ginger is headed this way with an opinion #natter natter natter

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enjolraswould · 6 years

Text

Chapter 1+2 of “Death Is A Miserable Business”

Read on AO3 or under the cut. Enjoy!

The year is 1961 and Cosette Fauchelevent is on a mission to find her missing father, Jean Valjean. A series of mysterious deaths that may be linked to his disappearance lead her to team up with Inspector Javert, a detective who seems oddly determined to locate Valjean himself. Death itself is lurking around every corner, and if Cosette wants to avoid coming under suspicion herself, she's going to have to face a few of her own demons. -- This is more or less a crossover between Les Miserables and Ray Bradbury's "Death Is A Lonely Business," with a few things changed and a few surprises along the way. If you've ever wanted to read a pseudo-noir tragicomedy where Cosette and Javert are buddy cops, well, here you go.

Chapter 1

Paris, France, in the early days of the fifth Republic, was something of an enigma. According to the newspapers, this was a new day for the nation, and the nation was stronger than ever. And indeed, the City of Lights hadn’t seemed quite so bright, nor so lively, since that brilliant time over 50 years past, when the world gathered in Paris to celebrate her beauty, her progress, and her indomitable spirit. So glittering was she now that barely a night passed where the stars could be clearly seen beyond her glow, so full of life was she now that the echoes of the past seemed to quiet in observance of a louder, more promising future.

Yet underneath the music that poured from nightclubs and theaters and apartments was still the steady, languid turning of the Seine. Late at night, with the laughter gone to bed, the last running metro cars rumbled beneath the city and rattled the walls and the ribcages inside the walls with their sleeplessness. And the echoes that were so silent in the day found their voices deep in the alleyways and empty parks of the predawn hours, singly softly only to those still wandering, asking how the streets could be so dark with so many lights.

It was one of these whispering nights, rocketing through the emptiness below even emptier streets in a metro thundering towards the emptiest place of all, home, that I met the Devil.

I had been late at the library and, lamenting the lost time, had begun working on assembling my next lead on the metro, my books and papers spread about me on the seat. No one else was aboard, just myself and my thoughts in the anemic light flickering above. So absorbed was I in my work that I didn’t notice the man who entered the car until he was already seated behind me.

I would not have noticed him except for his mumbling, and even at this I did not turn around to look at him. Anyone who rides the metro knows that to look at a stranger only encourages strangeness. I kept my eyes down on my papers, though I could feel his breath close behind me, crying messily and without rhythm. My attempts to ignore him, however, did little to discourage him.

“Oh,” he sobbed, and I felt his hands grab the back of my seat. Despite myself, I closed my eyes, so better to not hear him.

“Oh, God,” he moaned louder, and even my skin seemed to pull away from him as he leaned closer behind me, something brushing the back of my neck, the tip of my ear.

“Listen,” he cried, and it was a plea issued from the very bottom of a grave.

The metro swung around a turn, sending my books sliding as the lights above shuddered, dimmed, and threatened to burn out entirely. I heard my papers scatter but could not move to gather them, could only hunch blindly forward as the wine-soaked voice behind me gasped, “Death!”

Another turn sent my books thudding to the floor. The rails below screeched but did little to cover the stranger’s voice so close beside my ear, as I heard him again cry, “Death!”

And suddenly all noise, all movement, ceased. The metro had arrived at its next station. For a moment the air hung completely still as the vibrations of the train petered out into idleness. And then he whispered:

“Death… is a miserable business.”

He whispered it so sadly that his very words dripped with sorrow. To my horror, I felt something wet splash against my neck and swim down underneath my shirt collar. Tears? Perhaps. I could not make myself turn to face him. I stayed curled into myself, waiting, praying.

I heard him stand, then, and lean closer. So dearly did he want to be heard, so urgent was his message. And so frightened was I that when his voice abruptly rang in my other ear, I almost began to sob myself.

“Death!” he shouted, and at my responding yelp, he lowered his voice once more to a murmur, “Is a miserable business.”

And trembling, I listened to his footsteps fade as he shuffled from the metro, heading out into the sparkling night somewhere above.

Only when the train began to move again was I able to jerk upright, to rush to the window in order to try and catch a glimpse of the stranger. But it was too late; we had already entered the next tunnel. Whether my tormentor was flesh and blood or a ghost conjured by my own fears, there was no way to tell. I was already journeying into the emptiness again, this time most assuredly alone.

And alone was, at that moment, something I did not want to be.

“You shouldn’t,” I told myself as I gathered my fallen books, “You don’t need a drink. You promised Papa you wouldn’t drink.” But…

Chapter 2

I had a drink anyway.

I knew of a little run-down, wood paneled, pre-war pub a few blocks out of my way, midway between home and the Seine, and this is where I headed, if only because even if it was empty except for the bartender, at least it would be more populated than home. Which it was, empty except for the bartender, distracted by his reflection in the mirror behind the bar.

“One double vodka, please.”

The request shocked me, though I was the one who had said it. I didn’t even particularly want a double vodka. What I really wanted to do was call Marius, half a world but really only a thousand kilometers away in Venice. I wanted to call him and say that I was alright. But I definitely wasn’t alright, because I was ordering a double vodka. And why? Nothing happened.

Nothing happened except… the world’s emptiest train and a stranger’s desperate sad voice dripping tears down the back of my shirt, and both were likely to creep into my bed with me that night.

Not that this was terribly unusual. Most nights now I was accompanied in the loneliest possible way, by thoughts of Marius away and Papa gone and everyone so scattered and far…

So I drank the double vodka.

“Jesus, lady,” the bartender cursed, reaching for the glass I’d slammed back onto the table just a little too loudly, “Take it easy. You don’t need it that bad.”

“I don’t need it at all,” I coughed, wincing through the burn, “At least now I know I don’t like vodka.”

“You’ve never had vodka?”

“I’ve never had anything more than wine.”

The bartender whistled lowly, cleaning the glass carefully and shelving it again. “Well, I’m honored, but what’s the occasion?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied, leaning against the bar, “But I feel terrible. I think something bad is going to happen but I don’t know what or to who.”

“We all feel like that, these days,” the bartender shrugged, then paused to glance at me through the corner of his eye, like he was seeing me for the first time, “Wait, aren’t you the young lady whose father went missing a few months ago?”

It was a common enough question. Ever since Papa had vanished, and ever since Marius and I had begun our search, most of Paris knew me as the girl with the missing father. But I shook my head noncommittally. I couldn’t write every strange feeling off as being part of Papa’s disappearance.

“This isn’t about my father being missing. There’s something bad coming, getting closer all the time. Something is going to happen.”

The bartender looked nervously from me to the door, then absently began wiping down the bar.

“Probably the weather, then. Big storm coming tonight. You ought to go home and stay away from double vodka,” he advised. Neither of us looked at each other as I dropped my money on the bar and gathered my books once again, and I left the bar feeling somehow worse that I had when I went in.

Sometime the winter before, an old police boat had been dumped in the Seine. No one would admit to who had done it; the police insisted they weren’t responsible, but who else could it have been? In any case, the wreck still floundered there, rocking in the sluggish flow of the river. The newspapers had done a merciless job of mocking it, a few small-time politicians had referenced it in their speeches for one reason or another, and then the weather had grown warmer and more important issues had captured the city’s imaginations, and ultimately nothing was done to remove the old boat from its final resting place. Sometimes a few brave children would wade out to it and play on its tilted deck and duck underneath to peer from the submerged portholes, but otherwise the wreck had become just another part of the landscape.

What possessed me to wander towards the Seine that night instead of straight home, I cannot say. One would assume that after the encounter on the train and the unpleasant drink, I would be eager to return to someplace familiar. Yet my footsteps turned me towards the river, and I found myself leaning against the wall above the water and gazing down towards that once controversial boat.

Now, long after midnight with the lights of the city glowing all around, the water took on a curious sort of life, all faintly shimmering waves and shivers. In comparison, the wreck itself was dark and still, a foreign body lodged unwelcomingly in the serene forward motion of the river. Yet not entirely still; it rocked softly in that motion, steadily, as though breathing in its sleep.

Despite myself, I stayed a moment, watching the shipwreck breathe. Underneath the silver shine of full moonlight and dusty golden glitter of more human lights around me, the water was still somehow black as anything, blacker even than the shadow of the police boat. The night rather abruptly felt whole, and wholly focused on this river and the boat within the river.

Perhaps a different vessel further along the river moved, or perhaps it was the wind. But as I moved to turn away and head back into the night, the water suddenly swelled darkly around the wreck. It rocked, roughly, once before settling back into its tired old motion, but something was changed.

My heart pounded once, twice. I leaned over the wall once again, straining to see into the dark. Something was behind one of the portholes, half-submerged; a motion, or a paleness that wasn’t there before. A reflection, I thought, or something like a ghost.

A face. A face, just behind the window, too shadowed to recognize. Disbelieving, I leaned further over the wall, half praying that the river would again surge against the boat, push the shape… closer? To be seen? Or further in, away from sight, so that I may not see?

But as the boat rocked, the shape fell forward. The face pressed itself against the glass, a familiar photograph in negative, empty-eyed and emotionless as a marble bust tossed carelessly into water to be weathered, smoothed, erased…

And it sank once again.

Somehow, my first and only thought was of the stranger on the metro, his words leaping and echoing like stones skipped across the surface of the Seine, dropping finally with great reaching ripples: “Death… is a miserable business.”

It couldn’t be.

But there it- he- was. A dead man, tapping at the window of the police boat.

Worst of all, I knew who he was.

This I contemplated, rather coldly, to myself as more and more lights around me turned on and people began to come running. I had woken them with my screaming.

#Les Miserables #Cosette #Javert #Barricade Day #Barricade Day 2018

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themanofonebook · 7 years

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—Okay here is that promised Enjolras and Javert meta that I was talking about. @pontificalandwarlike and I were having this discussion a while ago and I don’t remember what she said but I can guess based on the context and below the cut is the response which I sent to her and also an added bit from myself with more on the subject read at will I do this because I love it. There’s some stuff in there about Hugo and Christianity and blah blah it’s long because I’m dumb.

“Oh I can tell you why people laud Enjolras and decry Javert very simply, though it says a bit about how we, as humans, think of ourselves and our souls — and also just a bit about Hugo and Christianity, which was basically his purpose in writing the book if we’re going to be totally honest.

Yes Javert and Enjolras are basically the same character, it’s true; they are both “terrible”, they are both obsessively devoted to their cause with the supposed exclusion of all else (though Enjolras has his friends and Javert has his snuff and flair for the dramatic), they both value their own perception of justice above everything else in the known world; in their minds, “the right” is the most important thing and anything you offer up pales in comparison to their idea of a perfect world, Enjolras’s being a democracy bordering on Marxist ideas which would not be born for quite some time, Javert’s being a country where all criminality is stamped out and the bourgeois are petted and protected because they are born good and have the smallest chance of falling to evil.

Their character arcs parallel — introduction in which they are, in reality, a powerful, marble backdrop for the main characters at the time; Enjolras is the lover of liberty whom we compare Marius and Les Amis to, Javert is the staunch supporter of the law and Valjean’s twin and contrast. They go through their own personal development, delved into with a touch of detail, but their greatest moments are their deaths; the very ends of the developmental stages and their subsequent demises are what changes perception of their places in the story, Enjolras being an angel and stand-in for Saint Michael, Javert being closer to the musical’s “Lucifer” and falling from the grace that is his own righteousness because he cannot comprehend goodness — and there’s the point.

Enjolras, while beginning as a bit of a pigheaded arse, if I might be so bold, has the benefits of Combeferre, Feuilly, Courfeyrac, etc., and Marius on the barricade. Being there, fighting, killing others, brings out in him that shred of humanity, but his focus, his Justice, can allow for the deaths of others for the greater good. Then there is his death, and this is important in regards to what I said about this entire novel being Hugo’s prompt to return to religion (Christianity, the Christian God) and seek goodness there. Up until this point, Enjolras has killed, derided; he’s floated on his own cloud of aloof angelic righteousness, which is why he is Saint Michael; but Grantaire, lowly, non-believing Grantaire, extends his hand to him; Enjolras, touched by Combeferre’s humanity, touched by the deaths of his friends, touched by the pure goodness and all-too poignant mortal sorrow of those going to die on the barricades, takes this offering and raises Grantaire to his level (in a way, maybe not entirely), and dies with him. He is redeemed enough, as a human being, to stand with someone “lesser” than himself, to accept and to love them, and to die with them; he now relates to the very people whom he was fighting to aid with his revolution. It’s this admission of humanity which reinforces one of the most basic beliefs of Christianity. And all of this religious spew that I’m doing right now is coming from a non-Christian so there’s that, haha. Enjolras, in the end, embraced Grantaire, embraced Heaven, embraced human love, perhaps even embraced Jesus, and that, in and of itself, earns him his redemption and shifts him from “marble bastard of unfeeling harsh murderous justice and rebellion” to “sympathetic golden symbol of a new dawn”.

Javert, though he goes through a lot of development as a person, does not do so as a symbol. He becomes looser, we see that he is snarky, etc. etc., but he is still the same supporter of the law and the corrupt system as always, up until the moment of his death — in fact, his death itself is a reflection of how deeply Javert is rooted in his beliefs concerning the French justice system. Valjean, poor, suffering Valjean who has made something good of himself, who has learnt love as well as kindness and therefore raised himself up just as Enjolras did, lowers — yes, lowers — his hand to Javert, who has never grown past this point because who in France would spare an inspector, who would extend kindness their way? He offers Javert his life, and then offers himself; in conceding to go with Javert to the station and then to prison, he lowers himself to Javert’s level; it is a clear stepping down, and even Javert recognizes this, therefore he recognizes himself as low; low, in his mind, does not register as “loveless”, or lacking in morality, because he has no sense of either of these things; in Javert’s perfectly flawed world, “low” means “criminal”. Valjean is stepping down to him, bowing to his demands; Valjean had and gave up the high ground to him. Whom has Valjean served in such a way in the past? The poor. He lowers himself to them, to the destitute, to those who have nothing, to those outside of society,but not to policemen, not to Javert. Javert knew that he was not a member of society, but there was always that line; he was of the law, therefore he was right, if not good; now, Valjean extends a hand to him, bows to him, offers himself, and Javert has no choice but to consider himself a criminal… and to see Valjean as a superior once more, a vicious slap in the face giving the events of M.sur.M and what that must have done to him mentally. Javert does not take it well.

He doesn’t accept the offered hand as Enjolras did, he doesn’t lower himself to lift himself up, he hardly recognizes the change in himself — rather, he knows that something is different, but does not know what that something is, and is afraid; the system is capable of change, for Javert represents the system, but the system is required to fall to change, and Javert is only a human. He is a person. He cannot process goodness within himself, refuses to be on par with Valjean, though he concedes, in the end, to let him go, because he cannot bear to see that man die. He knows that it would be wrong. He knows! Already, his perception of right and wrong is changing! He has a chance.

…and he does not take it. He kills himself, with one foot out and one foot in, still trapped by the law which consumed his life; he must apologize, for not returning this man to jail, even though he couldn’t, for the sake of love — not romantic love, but basic, moral goodness. He couldn’t do it. And he couldn’t handle the change which Valjean prompted in him. And he fell.

A lot of people say that Javert’s death shocked them, and I don’t think it’s just because a strong man like that died so quickly; it’s because he was given the option to change, the transformation was initiated, and we as readers were so used to these being successful (Valjean, Marius, Enjolras), that when Javert cannot take it and derails before his shift is complete, it shocks us. It’s Hugo’s last jab at the system which Javert did and did not represent; it’s a snatching away of hope — hope for Javert, hope for change. Hugo wanted to see that system go down so badly that Javert died. At the same time, Javert’s death is clearly made out to be an apology to God; this is the only way he knows, now, having failed in his duties as a human being beneath Heaven, inspector aside; the last time he apologized (to Madeleine), he resigned. The only way to resign to God is… well. But Hugo leaves it semi-ambiguous as to whether or not Javert was ultimately forgiven for his sins in lacking goodness and kindness. We don’t know. That ambiguity is the only hope for the system. By taking apart what we have, can we really make it better? There’s a chance, and we have to try.

But to us mere mortals, to know that Enjolras had his chance at redemption and seized Grantaire’s hand and held tight, and that Javert was given the same chance and instead made to apologize by dying, we opt for the more hopeful, and praise Enjolras for being so good and abhor Javert for failing and falling, because we should all like to be like Enjolras, and have the hope of redemption that Enjolras has and Javert ultimately denied in dying — yes, he may have had redemption after death (I mean look at ghostverse that’s what I’m sayin’), but what can we, as living humans, do with that? We don’t want to die! We want to rise up and change and be good and loving and loved, and that is what Enjolras’s death is, and Javert’s is not.

And an addition here with a tiny note:

I think it’s important that we judge Enjolras on the same scale as we do Javert, or we’re being just as unfair as the system of law which the book was so against and so for altering. Enjolras willingly takes his friends out into the streets, builds a barricade which he must know is going to fall, fights with the army of France (made up of French citizens; note how Enjolras seems willing enough to exclude them from the people he wants to save, and, while admittedly some of them were rich and also reaping the benefits of having work and such that’s still a dick move and his redeeming point comes with the whole “he is my brother tear down the marble cheek” bit which I love), and ultimately ends up dying with his compatriots and accomplishing nothing he missed becoming historic men like Enjolras who are willing to have this brilliant moving moral suicide are not the future lovers like Marius Pontmercy who acknowledge the corruption in society and accept different points of view (see “my mother is the republic” Combeferre singing about Caesar on his way out the door his willingness to take in his father’s beliefs about Napoleon but also to go to the barricade and fight against the monarchy with his friends because that is what he truly believes to be wrong that is his opinion which he has formed after listening to others) are the future they will see the future while people like Enjolras and Courfeyrac and Combeferre will not bless them they burn out so fast.

If we’re going to judge Javert on the basis that the ends do not justify the means and that his letter to the Préfecture and his suicide do not excuse his actions then we must also judge Enjolras in the same way instead of raising him up onto this unrealistic pedestal which has been created for him he is not Apollo he is not a god he is not even marble he is a man just as flawed as any other man in this book.

#tbt.

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bonhcmme · 7 years

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VERY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.

RULES. repost; do not reblog! tag 10! good luck! TAGGED BY: @zoophagist TAGGING: @marblebelow @dottiexe @deliiverus @deathrcflected @malmaisn @mirabilixcreuit @margueritestjust @bountyman and/or anyone who’d like to!

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Jean Valjean NICKNAME/S: none; but Jeannot would be really cute?? AGE: 50s-60s BIRTHDAY: August 27, 1769. ETHNIC GROUP: white. NATIONALITY: French. LANGUAGE/S: French. SEXUAL ORIENTATION: demisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single. CLASS: born into poverty, becomes wealthy though his lifestyle shows little sign of it. HOMETOWN / AREA: Faverolles, France. CURRENT HOME: Paris, France. PROFESSION: 'pensioner’ (formerly owned a successful factory)

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: dark in his youth, lightens to iron grey then abruptly turns white after Arras. It’s thick in texture, surprisingly soft and slightly wavy. EYES: hazel, average size and between almond and round shape. NOSE: the larger side of average, straight, neither bony nor plump, with small nostrils FACE: broad, almost square features but with rounded edges LIPS: average size, slightly darker than his face, often cracked COMPLEXION: tanned from a life spent working in the sun. (This means later in life he acquires age spots more easily.) BLEMISHES: callouses on hands. SCARS: around wrists and the right ankle; after 1823, a brand on the shoulder. TATTOOS: none. HEIGHT: 5′7″ WEIGHT: 170 lbs. BUILD: robust and stout, well-muscled with broad shoulders tapering slightly to the waist. ALLERGIES: none. USUAL HAIRSTYLE: fairly long for the period to make up for his unfashionable lack of curls— it grows past his ears. Otherwise he doesn’t spend a lot of time styling it, just runs a comb through. He keeps his beard trimmed neatly but not particularly sculpted. USUAL EXPRESSION: melancholy but thoughtful USUAL CLOTHING: nearly always simple; he often shows little sign of his current wealth, but on special occasions— which can include visiting the wounded Marius, given the kind of environment the boy is in— he’ll wear something of finer quality though still tending towards solemnity. Darker colors if not black. But in an AU where he’s lovingly strongarmed by Cosette and/or Javert, they can get him to wear something a bit richer... for them, of course.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: prison, losing (or failing) Cosette, not living up to the bishop’s expectations ASPIRATION/S: to live quietly, do what good he can, read what he can; to raise Cosette as he promised her mother to do; to not tarnish her name by association with an ex-convict POSITIVE TRAITS: generous, compassionate, self-sacrificing, pacifist, hard-working, responsible NEGATIVE TRAITS: jealous, impulsive, petty, melancholy, unconcerned for self to excess, reserved, overly serious with most people MBTI: INFJ ZODIAC: Virgo TEMPERAMENT: melancholic SOUL TYPE/S: caregiver (helper & spiritualist very close seconds) ANIMAL: owl VICE/S: pride, envy, anger; self-denial FAITH: Roman Catholic. GHOSTS? yes. AFTERLIFE? yes. REINCARNATION? no. ALIENS? not something he’s thought about. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Has his own private views but partly out of a reserved nature and partly forced by the precariousness of his situation he doesn’t involve himself. That said, he’s broadly liberal, in some ways even socialistic, and due to his own experiences is deeply suspicious of the system, seeing it as susceptible to corruption at best. ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: he feels uncomfortable with the amount of wealth he has once he’s made it, but at the same time is relieved by it, given all that poverty led to for him. SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION: in M sur M, wealthy businessman and then mayor; in Paris, appears to be a former officer living on his pension. EDUCATION LEVEL: illiterate until the age of forty, when he learned at the school for convicts in Toulon. After he arrived in M sur M he was self-taught and studiously so— he read widely and improved his speech.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Jean Valjean (or Vlajean), tree pruner MOTHER: Jeanne Valjean née Mathieu SIBLING/S: older sister Jeanne, younger brother Mathieu EXTENDED FAMILY: sister’s children, and before his death her husband NAME MEANING/S: Jean is one of the most common French names and is the French form of John, itself from the Hebrew name meaning “God is gracious.” Valjean is an elision of the epithet “voilà Jean,” meaning “here’s Jean.” Jean is also a homonym of “gens,” “people,” so that his surname also sounds like “here are the people” making him a walking metaphor for mankind in general. HISTORICAL CONNECTION: none for Valjean, since it was created for his father. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus; it was also the name of an apostle and the author of a gospel as well as numerous popes and saints.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: the Bible. 5 SONGS: Ave Maria (Schubert), Nocturne op. 9 (Chopin), Entre le boeuf et l’âne gris (Christmas carol), À la claire fontaine, the Four Seasons (Vivaldi) DEITY: Demeter MONTH: April SEASON: Spring PLACE: Garden WEATHER: sunny and moderately warm SOUND/S: harsh rasp of iron chains, the terrible laugh of a convict, screams of a soul in hell, lark’s song, hymns in an angel’s voice, distant piano music SCENT/S: salty ocean air, wood fire, fresh turned earth, sweat, flowers (marigolds, lavender, roses), rosemary & thyme TASTE/S: iron tang of blood, stale bread and beans of the government, water from a clear mountain stream, tears of happiness and of struggle FEEL/S: warmth of sun on skin, soft fur of the wild beast tamed, rough grain of wood, smooth curve of silver candlesticks ANIMAL/S: owl, butterfly, lion, beaver, dog NUMBER: 3 COLOR: green, yellow, blue

EXTRA.

TALENTS: strength, agility, inventiveness, improvisation, compassion. BAD AT: trust, self-love, not being impulsive. TURN-ONS: neck kisses, being wanted; affection, thoughtfulness TURN-OFFS: sex without emotional ties, pain (though it is complicated), lack of trust from (or for) a partner HOBBIES: reading, gardening. TROPES: Badass Bookworm(/Grandpa), Cardboard Prison, The Caretaker, Chaste Hero, Consummate Liar, Death by Despair, Earn Your Happy Ending, The Everyman, Felony Misdemeanor, Heel-Face Turn, It’s All My Fault, Justified Criminal, Messianic Archetype, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Overprotective Dad, Rags to Riches, Secretly Wealthy, What You Are in the Dark AESTHETIC TAGS: idk what this means.

FC INFO.

MAIN FC/S: Hugh Jackman, Ron Cephas Jones ALT FC/S: David Strathairn, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rufus Sewell, Anson Mount OLDER FC/S: lol no YOUNGER FC/S: Dylan Schmid, Malcolm David Kelley, Aml Ameen, Chiwetel Ejiofor VOICE CLAIM/S: Gino Quilico, Maurice Barrier GENDERBENT FC/S: none.

#&& chose ni vue (HEADCANON)#&& un caractère pensif (META)#[ queue ]

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themanofonebook · 7 years

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—Why do you have Javert be non-religious?

—This is going to become very long very quickly.

I know that, in the musical and movie, Javert is portrayed as incredibly religious, which makes me cringe a bit; not because religion is a bad thing, not at all, but because it makes Javert’s duty seem like a mission for God, which waters down his character — Javert was serving the law because it was his only option, but also because he truly, deeply believed in Justice and fairness, even if he wasn’t merciful. The two are often seen to go hand in hand; not so with Javert, but you lose that in the musical/movie and it brought me down a bit, I’ll admit.

Firstly, it’s good to remember what book we’re reading. Les Misérables has heavy religious themes, and that’s an understatement. The Amis are religious, we have Sister Simplice (we’ll get to that, don’t worry), and, most importantly, Jean Valjean and the Bishop. Now, Valjean and Javert are supposed to offset one another while being the same in many ways: they are two sides of the same coin. Therefore, it can be assumed that they are both doing the right thing in their own manner; Valjean, with God; Javert, with the law; and we have seen that Jean Valjean often serves God with the absence of doing what is lawfully acceptable, so can it not be assumed that Javert is serving the law with the absence of religious influence?

Then there is the way that Javert looks upon Madeleine. It is not with the “eyes of God”, as it was with the Bishop and the candlesticks; his are the eyes of the law, Earth’s justice, nothing Heavenly (nor anything particularly devilish, as many might think; remember that Javert is not malicious, Hugo makes that as clear as possible in his character introduction), but constantly watching nonetheless. It’s a sort of yin-yang, a dog chasing its tail — you need both to make a circle, and without one (the law, or the lawless; justice without religious morals or religious morals without justice), you would come to a standstill.

Then we have Javert with religious context in the book. The book with one huge theme being the glory of God. Considering this, the times when Javert and religion are at play and Valjean is absent are… few. Let’s look at one, during Fantine’s arrest.

“Come!” said Javert, “I have heard you out. Have you entirely finished? You will get six months. Now march! The Eternal Father in person could do nothing more.”

At these solemn words, “the Eternal Father in person could do nothing more,” she understood that her fate was sealed. She sank down, murmuring, “Mercy!”

Javert turned his back.

Normally, one might interpret this as Javert making a reference to God and therefore showing religious allegiance, but hold for a moment. He is arresting Fantine, sending her to jail for six months. She just spewed about half a page or more begging him to release her, taking responsibility for her actions but pleading with him to let her go, because she is already in an unfortunate position. Javert then speaks of “the Eternal Father”, but this is directly after Fantine’s speech; one could see at as him saying that even if God were to depart Heaven, come down from the sky into Javert’s station house, and argue on Fantine’s behalf, Javert still would not budge, because this is what the law dictates. To make this all the more valid, Fantine requests mercy and Javert turns his back on her. There is no room for mercy in the game of lawful right and wrong.

The second occurrence of Javert coming into direct contact of any sort with religion is when he goes in to find Madeleine and instead encounters Sister Simplice.

Javert caught sight of the nun and halted in amazement.

It will be remembered that the fundamental point in Javert, his element, the very air he breathed, was veneration for all authority. This was impregnable, and admitted of neither objection nor restriction. In his eyes, of course, the ecclesiastical authority was the chief of all; he was religious, superficial and correct on this point as on all others. In his eyes, a priest was a mind, who never makes a mistake; a nun was a creature who never sins; they were souls walled in from this world, with a single door which never opened except to allow the truth to pass through.

On perceiving the sister, his first movement was to retire.

The “ecclesiastical authority” was the chief of all. God? Not quite. It states that he is religious… in this point. In the honoring of members of the Church, all of whom adhere to his idea of order. While there was some separation of Church and State at this point (the King was appointed and had not derived the right to rule from God), it was not extreme, and he would still hold a veneration for those who devoted their entire lives to their purpose — like Sister Simplice, who had never told a lie. Ecclesiastical is “of or relating to the Christian Church or its clergy”; so it is not God whom he holds this admiration for, but the people of the Church… of which it is never mentioned that he is a part of, and we can deduce that he is not.

Nuns and priests, in his (slightly naive) mind, are people who trumpet only truth, and we have seen that Javert is a thoroughly honest man. They are “walled in from this world”, they are not tainted (as Javert perceives himself to be) by the dregs of society, or by criminality; the proverbial “gutter”.

I think that the deciding factor in this passage concerning, “Is Javert a religious man?”, is his first response to seeing Sister Simplice. Were he a member of the Church, even seeing a nun praying, he would wait until she was done and then approach her. He does not do this, no; he withdraws almost instantaneously; then he moves forwards, becausethe law compels him to do so. No matter his respect for Simplice, he is going to do exactly as his duty demands of him.

And then we come to “Javert Derailed”.

As opposed to posting a passage as I have before, I’m just going to run along and thread in quotes as they are needed. Javert is moving towards the Pont au Change (notably between the Palais de Justice and the Notre-Dame Cathedral), and, in leaving Valjean’s doorstep, he has “ceased to be simple”. Hugo has always described Javert as having a “simplistic mind”, as well as a “narrow forehead”; whereas others who have wider brows often are both religious and worldly in their views. Javert’s mind is no longer as clear-cut as it once was.

I said we weren’t going to do big passages but then we come to this:

All sorts of interrogation points flashed before his eyes. He put questions to himself, and made replies to himself, and his replies frightened him. He asked himself: “What has that convict done, that desperate fellow, whom I have pursued even to persecution, and who has had me under his foot, and who could have avenged himself, and who owed it both to his rancor and to his safety, in leaving me my life, in showing mercy upon me? His duty? No. Something more. And I in showing mercy upon him in my turn—what have I done? My duty? No. Something more. So there is something beyond duty?” Here he took fright; his balance became disjointed; one of the scales fell into the abyss, the other rose heavenward, and Javert was no less terrified by the one which was on high than by the one which was below. Without being in the least in the world what is called Voltairian or a philosopher, or incredulous, being, on the contrary, respectful by instinct, towards the established church, he knew it only as an august fragment of the social whole; order was his dogma, and sufficed for him; ever since he had attained to man’s estate and the rank of a functionary, he had centred nearly all his religion in the police. Being,—and here we employ words without the least irony and in their most serious acceptation, being, as we have said, a spy as other men are priests. He had a superior, M. Gisquet; up to that day he had never dreamed of that other superior, God.

This new chief, God, he became unexpectedly conscious of, and he felt embarrassed by him. This unforeseen presence threw him off his bearings; he did not know what to do with this superior, he, who was not ignorant of the fact that the subordinate is bound always to bow, that he must not disobey, nor find fault, nor discuss, and that, in the presence of a superior who amazes him too greatly, the inferior has no other resource than that of handing in his resignation.

But how was he to set about handing in his resignation to God?

At this point I don’t think I really need to say anything else, so I’ve bolded all of the important points.

In summary:

Javert is religious because society tells him that respect for the Church is necessary.

However, most of Javert’s “religious inclination”, or the need to follow something by-the-book, without wavering, with the utmost devotion, is dedicated to the law.

While respectful towards members of the Church, he does not allow that veneration to stand in the way of obeying the law.

He is meant to offset Valjean in that Valjean is all morals with little societal conscience, and Javert is all societal conscience with few morals — morals in the spiritual sense, as we remember that Javert is not violent, nor does he lie; he simply does not expend kindness or mercy because he views it as dirtying that which is just.

He will still bow to any superior when presented with him; it just so happens that this superior is God, and on a higher level than any that Javert has ever known. It says that his scales are unbalanced, with one shooting up towards the heavens, the other down… towards the river; beforehand, they would have been level with the Earth. Javert, with his narrow worldview, would have only focused on what was before and around him, not above or below.

He does not commit suicide because of any religious urgings, but because God is on such a level that he views his own death as the only acceptable means of repentance.

Ergo, Javert is about the closest thing to an agnostic or atheist that we’re going to see in a work of 19th century literature who is not a villain… in the Christian sense. We don’t know if he held any other religious views that would coincide with his heritage.

I think about this too often.

#tbt.

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