#Reminded me why robespierre is my fave

[lanterne]

Grey history is so good y'all

[margridarnauds]

hey what's up i'm here to nudge you about your headcanons regarding Nous Ne Sommes and who Lazare is REALLY addressing it to

Thanks!

Your Fave is Problematic: The Lazare de Peyrol edition

*Mandatory disclaimer that the following is my own personal interpretation of the lyrics because I have never pretended to know what’s going on in Attia and Chouquet’s brains at any given point and I’m not going to start now because I feel like it would terrify me. Also I might be a little tired while typing this out and so the coherency is…questionable.* 

With apologies to anyone who’s heard me discuss this before:

So, my take on it is that there are three people, or groups of people, that Laz is addressing here, the revolutionaries (surface, and tbh probably what they were going for), his men, and himself. (Info on the military history stuff comes from The Response of the Royal Army to the French Revolution: The Role and Development of the Line Army, 1787-93 by Samuel F. Scott which is a very solid read as far as emphasizing the social changes in the army and where everyone stood in regards to one another before and after the Storming of the Bastille.)

The Revolutionaries 

“Insurgés obtempérez.” Need I say more? Lazare has been given the green light to put down the revolt by any means necessary, he’s going to do it. It’s also why he keeps emphasizing that this is their last chance (”Attention c'est l'ultime sommation“). I don’t like the interpretation of Lazare as a sadist, personally; it’s actually one of the things that I’m…not as fond of when it comes to what both Zuka and Toho did to him. (But Zuka gave me the glorious, glorious Peyronan content so I can’t really COMPLAIN.) He doesn’t necessarily want to kill people, but….well, he’s a soldier. He’s not a courtier or a diplomat (which is…unusual for the times, tbh.) He came in there to do a job, he’ll give them one last chance, and if they don’t, he’ll use whatever force is needed to keep the order. With that interpretation in mind, when he says, “Obéir sans défaillir/Nous nous sommes engagés/Toujours servir sans jamais fléchir/Oui nous l'avons juré” he’s reminding them that his men are sworn to do this and that they won’t flinch from doing what’s necessary. 

His Men

This is where things get a little dicey. Historically, we know that there was a HUGE amount of tension between the officers of the regiments and their men, with a lot of the latter deserting. One of my favorite quotes is from a pamphlet being circulated to soldiers at the time, says, “We are Citizens before being Soldiers…we are in short, Frenchmen and not slaves…if they have swords, have you not sabres? If they are a hundred, are you not a thousand?” This was one of the reasons why there was so little military involvement when the Bastille was stormed; NO ONE was sure whether the men would stay loyal. There’s a reason why the ONE regiment that we have an account of, the Royal-Allemand Cavalerie, who charged the Tuileries on July 12 was…a group of German speakers, with significantly less chance of personal ties to the people of Paris. (And who faced insanely low rates of desertion because everyone hated them so much afterwards they kind of had to stick together.) 

So…”Nous ne sommes/Les valets de personnes” is a good line for the revolutionaries, YES, but it also works very, very well for the situation about the men. And this time around, Lazare gets ahold of his men and keeps control, but…will it last? Look at his motions during some of the parts. 

Sometimes, he’s keeping things perfectly in control, others, it’s like he’s BARELY holding things in check, his movements getting very erratic at points. It’s such a 180 from the way Seijou Kaito played it in the Takarazuka, where she’s pretty much perfectly composed, or the way that he’d be played in the Toho where he’s much more PHYSICAL, even stepping on Robespierre’s face at one point. He’s trying to control the actions (AKA keeping within his character description of “il représente l'ordre et la rigidité de l'ancien régime.” Peyrol THRIVES on order and control and everything being in its proper place, when that gets bucked, he doesn’t know what to do) but? In reality, it’s a DELICATE hold. 

On one hand, his men are following his actions, mirroring him, but on the other, LOOK at his body language. His fists are clenched here as he’s leaning forward. And, like, obviously, on a purely practical level, Matthieu Carnot’s gotta be pretty damn exhausted because, despite evidence to the contrary, he’s not a superhuman figure of unlimited energy and stamina and our boy has to keep concentrated on the choreography, but on the other…Laz as a character is putting himself through some pretty difficult moves to keep control. At the same time as he’s reminding the people of what he’s doing with the lines about his men having sworn an oath, he’s also reminding THEM about it, “You swore this oath to the King, you WILL come through now” but are they REALLY going to take him up on it? It’s not really a full guarantee until the end. 

So, who’s REALLY saying “We are not the valets of anyone?” The revolutionaries, yes, but what about his men? After all, post-revolution, it wasn’t UNCOMMON for officers to face the wrath of their men, their once guaranteed authority no longer enough to hold them up. Peyrol was able to assert his authority this time, but there’s NO guarantee that that will hold up. 

Himself

His men, however, aren’t the only Frenchmen being ordered to fire on Frenchmen, though. And, even though Peyrol’s presumably been at this long enough that I think he’s somewhat numbed, this is miles away from what he did to Papa Mazurier at the beginning as far as the scope. (Though both of them are also situations where Peyrol thought he could assert control getting away from him.)

I’ve already discussed the way that Lazare tends to excuse away things, it’s seen in Maniaque when he tells Ronan that the King’s rule comes from God, from before the dawn of time, and it’s shown here as well. When he sings, “Avant que le sang coule/Par la folie des foules” on one hand…that’s an obvious reminder to the revolutionaries to back down, but on the other…there’s something OFF about it, at least to me. If he was talking to the crowd of the revolutionaries, why not address them directly instead of refer to them as “des foules.” (Besides the fact that it didn’t fit the rhythm of the song as well.) 

He’s already beginning to justify his actions, lying to himself as his way of coping with what he’s going to do because, to him, there’s never BEEN another option. It’s always been the army, it’s always been unquestioning, unthinking loyalty. (Which is why Ronan’s very existence short circuits his brain on multiple levels.) And, more importantly, he keeps on doing it. “La sanction légitime.” Who cares if it’s legal or illegal? Not the revolutionaries. It doesn’t matter if it’s legitimate or not, they’re going to get shot one way or another. The men…probably not. It could work, as far as reminding them that this is a Very Official Order, but who would REALLY care? It functions as one more way that he tries to remove himself from his own involvement and guilt, trying to justify himself preemptively.  

“I am here on the King’s order, I am speaking with his voice on this issue, and if I don’t do this, more people will die.” He’s addressing the people, yes, but he’s also trying to prepare himself for what’s going to come next. 

It’s very, very interested to me how he emphasizes “NOUS” in his statements on “Obéir sans défaillir/Nous nous sommes engagés/Toujours servir sans jamais fléchir/Oui nous l'avons juré.” He’s talking about his men there, yes, but he’s ALSO talking about himself, emphasizing his own devotion to serving. Which…could go two ways: (1) He’s trying to find common ground with the men, tying into the above, since officers and the men traditionally tended to have icy relations, namely because most officers were too busy partying and taking leave whenever they could and only tended to the regiment when it came to disciplining the men under them or (2) He’s giving himself a sort of twisted pep talk, and even as he’s talking about the men, he’s also talking about HIMSELF. “I’ve never weakened before, I won’t weaken now, I made an oath, this is what I owe the King, these are my orders, this is what I’ll do.” 

And, when he says, “Nous devons au pouvoir/La mort et le devoir”…on one hand, that could be describing the relationship his men SHOULD have to him, “We owe to those in power death and duty, therefore you should obey my orders” but it could also just as easily be speaking about himself and his relationship to the monarchy, indicating that he sees himself more or less as an expendable part of a greater machine. 

Look at the way he’s looking when he’s cut off at his last “Attention c'est l'ultime…” He knows damn well at this point that it’s going to lead to bloodshed and that he’s going to give the order, and he’s DEFINITELY not thrilled about it. Determined, but not thrilled. But he’s already willed himself into doing it and he’s not going to stop now. 

Tl;dr: Laz is working three different groups with this song, which also functions as a masterclass of how he lies to himself as a coping mechanism. He might or might not succeed with 2 of them. He really needs to give less shitty pep talks. Preferably over something besides murder. Also he is totally getting coal in his stocking for the rest of his life. And is going to be sleeping on the couch for a long, long time.