The difference between the tragedy of Edwin's and Charles' lives and deaths and what makes Charles' much more compelling to me is that Edwin never had anyone he could trust: he grew up with distant parents who i imagine he saw rarely and could not confide in, then he went to school and was immediately recognized as other in a way he had not fully realized of himself yet and was killed for it, and then comes hell and well who can u trust in hell? Certainly not the things that chase you until your legs ache, and even if your compatriots in the whole ordeal are as innocent as you, trapped in the same technicality, what is the good of trusting them, when they are just as helpless as you?
But Charles? Everyone Charles was supposed to trust betrayed him. His parents were close to him, atleast somewhat, atleast his father was around enough to get sick of hearing owner of a lonely heart, and his mother was around enough to watch his father beat him and be silently horrified and ultimately not do anything about it, maybe she stepped in once and we just never saw it, but I wouldn't bet on it, Charles' mom is 'quiet' that's her defining feature to Charles not protective or gentle just 'quiet', then Charles gets to school and he is popular he has friends! He has people who care for him (or should maybe, as long as he's good at sports like he's needed to be) and then he stands up for one person, because he has always wanted to be good and maybe he trusts himself to do it just this once and his friends kill him and his own actions signed the death warrant and he cannot even trust himself to do the right thing properly (it never got better and then you died)
And maybe, maybe Edwin does it too, with less intention to hurt, and with less knowledge but Charles and Edwin trust eachother maybe more than anything (maybe Charles would sooner slip away from earth's gravity than stop putting his trust in Edwin who he thinks is good and smart and brills and aces) and maybe Edwin still looks at Charles trying to protect him after Charles has had maybe the worst week of his existence and says "that was a bit...... extreme" and Edwin still promises Charles can tell him anything while hiding himself in a way that makes Charles feel untrustworthy
So yeah I'll never stop thinking about the tragedy of Charles Rowland actually 👍 think about him with me
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As of late I've been obsessed with two fandoms: Les mis and Merlin (yes I'm ten years late on everything) so rightfully I decided to mash the two and this is the result
A Les Mis Merlin!AU,
starring Enjolras as Arthur and Les amis as the knights, bar grantaire that is gonna be Merlin.
Enjolras is a prat in a different way from Arthur, he tends to fail to see from others' prospective and is quite oblivious to feelings and emotional nuance. As a noble he would lack the ability to understand _why_ poor people/sorcerers _don't_ fight for better treatment. He expects them to. He doesn't understand having too much on your plate to do that, nor fearing for your life
Grantaire as Merlin would be a much more reclutant Emrys. He is a cynic, but it'd stem from being constantly scared of death. He'd bring Enj down a notch and make him see the reality of being a commoner, or of having magic. He is so strong he is afraid of his own power, and he doesn't want the weight of the responsability; every magic person is counting of him and he is convinced that he would fail them if he tried.
In this AU magic would be banned in Camelot by the king (role that would fit Javert to a T, ignoring the familiar relations) but Arthur!Enjolras would be pro magic from the start, AND somewhat open about that position. He is the head the knights and has a inner circle made of Les amis that are also pro magic.
I think it would make the most sense for grantaire to keep the magic to himself, even after knowing their stance on it. Maybe it could be revealed that he is a magic user early on, but he would keep being Emrys under wraps. Destiny is shit anyway.
He would gladly lay his life down for Enj and do anything for him tho, as we well know. He would bicker and fight and piss him off but his magic IS for Enj. He believes in the future of Albion just because he believes in Enjolras; destiny is shit and he won't be its bitch but one thing it got right, grantaire would not stop at anything to keep his king safe.
The other characters are more muddy:
I think Cosette could be a (good!)Morgana. Enj's half sibling, with powerful magic. BUT she could also be a good Gwen, with Marius as Lancelot and Jean Valjean as the town forger.
With Cosette as Morgana, Eponine could be her Gwen (and Cosette x Eponine x Marius would work so well here). Gwen!Eponine makes sense because it would keep her lower class status AND would put her in the position to be Grantaire first and best friend in Camelot.
I think that what would make the most sense about the line of succession would be for Enj and Cosette to be half siblings, children of a Duke who had an affair with Fantine (not that Fantine would...you can make this tragic); Fantine then married Jean Valjean (posing as a noble) to keep her honor and give Cosette a father (Valjean is perfectly aware of all of this. They made a patch). Tragedy struck and Enj parents die, so he is taken in by Javert (the king, enj's father brother) because he doesn't have any other descendant and Enj is now the second in line.
Fantine dies and Valjean is discovered to be an impostor posing as noble, and is forced to flee. Javert takes Cosette from him because he know the truth of her birth, so she is rightfully in line for the throne too.
I think most other roles could be shuffled around getting more distant from canon Merlin; we should have Joly as the court physician (or at least apprentice, as opposed to grantaire). Musichetta has her hands full running The Rising Sun, or another tavern/inn. Jehan is a druid in my heart, he could be Enj's contact with the old religion and its people.
Also Jean Valjean could be good not-related-to-Grantaire Balinor. It would give him a reason to be in hiding, and to be hated by Javert
Anyway this is all I have for now, but I'll probably add more later
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