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I present to you The Stoner couple:

Grantaire who smokes weed

Enjolras who throws stones.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk

#the perfect post doesn't exi #enjoltaire

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I really do love how Javert is the ultimate physical embodiment of the word “bootlicker.”

His entire personality is composed of “respect for authority and hatred of rebellion;” he grovels before anyone of a higher legal/social status, and thinks they can do no wrong. He puts all of his faith into the institution of policing. He worships his superiors in the police force and the legal system. He would sell out anyone who committed any infraction to the police, and would do it with smug glee.

I honestly cannot think of any fictional character who embodies the word “bootlicker” better.

I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite small Javert moments is when he’s attempting to get Madeleine to fire him, and….he gives Madeleine a salute even when Madeleine’s back is turned, and he can’t see the salute. To me it shows how much Javert’s bootlicking is genuine. It is earnest. He earnestly believes in his own inferiority and the necessity of constant groveling respect to authorities. They don’t need to police him— he polices himself. He grovels even when their backs are turned.

He doesn’t just lick boots for show; he licks boots because he genuinely believes it is the morally correct thing to do, that an “inferior” is legally bound to grovel before their “superior.” And he enjoys this groveling; he experiences a savage glee at his usefulness to authority; he loves the taste of boot leather.

He’s a bootlicker all the way to the bottom of his soul.

#yes! this! #javert fans undervalue him so much with the belief he's an hero of another story he is justice he just misunderstood jvj #javert is not justice he's shaped by his respect for authority #authority may be Law God political powers or the rich #he wants to serve all four btw #and with his suicide he turn his back to all four especially God #I'm convinced his need stem from his childhood when he felt wrong because of his upbringing and he was compelled to fit #his fans say often he's the hero of another story but this other story is not one where he fights against mafia #it's one where he overcome his deep bootlicking and learn to stand up for himself and what is right despite what authorities say #javert character study

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my friend was telling me that she's attracted to enjolras and i was like "you really don't want to deal with his issues" and she was like "but i could fix him" and i was like "no you really couldn't" and she was like "but grantaire could??" and i was like "no he absolutely also can't"

#enjolras doesn't need to be fixed #he's totally valid in everything he thinks and does #but if there was someone who can teach something to Enjolras it would be Feuilly #that something is internationalism and class war

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-Call me when you're sober (Evanescence) would work very well in a modern AU

-Hot n Cold, Katy Perry's songs didn't aged very well, including this one which has gross lines, but the song describes R as Enjolras might see him before OFPD.

-Shattered by Trading Yesterday. On a first hearing it may sound too sad for Enjolras but most lines work for him. "The reflection of a lie will keep me waiting" (when it seems people would have raised), the risk of losing faith and the importance of faith, "I will not be silent", things are going downhill but hope is not lost etc. For E/R there is the refrain and "take me home to my heart"

-Skyfall in general but "put your hand in my hand and we'll stand" aaaw 💖 also "you may have my number you can take my name but you'll never have my heart" 💔 (because it belongs to Patria). But "your loving arms keeping me from arms" is more Trumvirate feelings than E/R.

-Blow me Away by Breaking Benjamin. There is a combative spirit together with a repressed sadness like "Fire your guns" "steady your helms" and between parenthesis "(I will stay in the mess I made)" that is very Enjolras, I get E/R feels especially from "Lead me to Heaven when we dies, I'm the shadow on the wall"

i'm trying to make an exr playlist soo can anyone recommend any song that reminds you of them but from enjolras's perspective?

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I realized something interesting today.

Almost every major character in Les Mis is an archetype, an allegory for something else.

Of course, the most obvious example of this is Javert. He ‘is’ the law, the relentless, unforgiving, unyielding law. He personifies the almost inhuman side of the law, the one which condemns people to worse fates than the crimes they committed just because a document tells them to. He is the epitome of a cop.

Then there’s Jean Valjean, who’s the archetype of lawless morality. He does his best to do what’s right, even if it means breaking the set-in-stone laws that Javert adheres his moral code to. Jean Valjean is a paragon, a man who chooses, each day since his release, to do the morally right thing, or at least he does his best to do the morally right thing.

Thenardier is the embodiment of capitalist greed and selfishness. Much the way Javert is the dark parallel to Valjean’s good side, he’s more-or-less the dark parallel to Valjean’s bad side the only-living-for-survival, criminal, bitter side. He’s a con man, a swindler, and he is abusive and dishonest- everything Valjean could be but chooses not to. He’s also very much a product of the system he attempts to manipulate.

Fantine is the victim, the mother, the naïve and innocent one, who is the one the world has done unfairly dirty. Forced to grow up too fast, abandoned by her lover, and forced to give up her own daughter to survive, Fantine is rightfully angry but also genuinely soft-hearted and kind. Then she dies early on, of course, fully cementing her as the foremost victim of the story, as well as the catalyst for the remaining segments of the book.

Cosette, however, is the example of peacetime, of hope, and of simple joy. She’s a little bit naïve as well, and although she grew up as one of the ‘miserables’, by luck and by fate she has risen above her beginnings- perhaps the opposite of Fantine in that way, who started so high and fell so low. She is everything peaceful, good, and pure in the world.

Marius is foolish youth and young love. He’s the epitome of the awkward teen (young adult? Same thing). He is confused, grew up sheltered, and lacks strong moral convictions at first due to this. Gillenormand (who isn’t important enough to get his own segment but is the representative for conservativism) is partially the cause of this. He’s also strongly emotional- he follows his heart, not his head. Which explains how immediately and obsessively he is attracted to Cosette, because Marius, like many young folks, never does things halfway.

Enjolras represents the fight, but the positive fight. He’s basically the ‘hero’ in every children’s book, with a one-track mind and a perceived duty to fulfill. He’s untouchable much in the way that Cosette almost is, because he also represents the ‘good’ in the world, but rather than the already-there good (Cosette), he embodies the fight for good, and the hard-won good. 

Grantaire is literally skeptical philosophy and nihilism condensed into a person. He’s the opposite of Enjolras in that Enjolras believes to the point of self-destruction and Grantaire disbelieves to the point of self-destruction. He’s in love with Enjolras because Enjolras completes him (and in their last scene together, Enjolras realizes somewhat that Grantaire completes him as well). He’s also a metaphor for the people of Paris, who sleep but eventually, someday, rise up. He’s not especially likeable, he’s extraordinarily irritating, but he’s there, and he’s important all the same.

Gavroche is freedom. He’s also childhood, and the two are often one and the same. He does what he wants to, has free reign of the streets, and takes absolutely zero shit from anyone (you go little dude). He’s also an example of how the good in human nature prevails even through difficult and hard times- Gavroche is that little kid in everyone who just wants to run around and be free. He’s also a little snark, even to people like cops who could hurt him for it. Life lesson- be like Gavroche.

Now there’s one exception to this unstated ‘rule’- that each major character represents a quality- is an ideal rather than simply a person. That exception is Eponine.

Which is really interesting, in a lot of ways. Eponine is hard to pin down. Eponine is somewhat morally grey- she does hide Cosette’s letter and bully her as a child- but she is also kind in her own way, and will do anything for who she cares about. She’s a little awkward- not Marius-level awkward, but insecure and unsure of herself. She’s lonely in a world of strangers, but she finds a little joy in her friendships. She’s described as ragged but beautiful, which is an interesting use of antithesis by Hugo.

Eponine is tough, hardened, and sharpened by years of abuse and life on the streets. She’s also soft-around-the-edges and has moments of genuine, almost childlike innocence, like when she’s so happy to learn how to read. Eponine’s motives are equal parts selfless and selfish, hard and soft. 

So as far as I can tell, Eponine is a paragon of humanity. She’s the humanest of humans, not an ideal nor a vice, but a complex, easily-forgotten, beautiful, ugly, beloved, unloved human. That’s what makes her so different from the others- she’s the prism amid all the colors. And then she dies too, and in time is almost forgotten, just as so many humans are. 

But she’s vital- her little actions, like finding Cosette, saving Marius’s life, stopping the robbery at Rue Plumet- had impacts. Though few of the characters recognized it, without Eponine, the story would’ve ended very, very differently.

#one of the best overall analysis I've found #about the characters #agree with a lot of it

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enjolras and grantaire. yes or no

#a resounding yes #both individually and together #both as characters taken at their face value and as metaphors

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The fact that I'll never get over how Enjolras' chinese translation is 安灼拉 and 灼 has essentially three meanings

1. burnt by flames

2. Clearness (mostly used to describe truth and reason)

3. brightness

like…i cant

#translation that is actually a character study

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grantaire is like oh please enjolras please i would get on my knees and polish your boots if you would only ask me to. and enjolras is like ok fine here is one very simple task for you. and grantaire’s like oui cher anything pour toi 😘 and proceeds not to do it

#ngl one among the most relatable moments in the brick #brick!Grantaire #enjoltaire

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Seeing the smiling faces of the police beating italian students bring my blood to a boil… these fuckers really didn’t have this much fun since the G8

#il questore di Pisa era vicequestore a Genova durante il G8 btw #questi soggetti vengono premiati con più potere

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Wheels chapter 3

Third chapter of my reincarnation AU fic is out.

I didn't post anything when I published chapter 2 because I was ashamed for the excessive time it passed between chapter 1 and 2 lol

For who needs a recap about what this is about, in this fic Enjolras dies in OFPD and wakes up in the same day in 2023. The story focuses on his reaction to 21st century, with lots of politics. E/R heavy with a role reversal, Enjolras realizes he's in love with Grantaire while dying, 2023!Grantaire' isn't willing to jump into his arms right away.

Wheels - Chapter 3 - Jane41258 - Multifandom [Archive of Our Own]

#les miserables fanfiction #Wheels #Enjoltaire #Enjoltaire fanfiction #reincarnation au #Enjolras #Combeferre #Jean Valjean #Fantine #cosette fauchelevent #Enjolsette as siblings headcanon

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waiting for the good omens enjoltaire crossover

#it works too well so people may think it's too obvious to be enganging? anyway i'd read it immediately

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Not a Combeferre/Grantaire shipper, but once I saw them named "CombefR" and I think it's epic so I kindle suggest that

fellow combeferre/grantaire shippers... where are yall at!! i need c/g truth as much as we love e/c/g truths!!

also the moment i get my tablet from my car and charged... it is time for more combeferre/grantaire art. which reminds me:

what is their ship name? ferretaire? granferre? combetaire? is it smth longer like "logic and philosophy" w/ enjolferre? i need answers!

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#enjolras #I'm obsessed with him #for a while I believed JVJ to be my fave but eventually I had to face the truth #Enjolras is absolute and complex at the same time #he both inspires me thousands of words in analysis and strong emotional reactions #but I favour Les Amis in general #Grantaire may be the one who turns on my interest the most after Enjolras #I have to credit Courfeyrac for dragging me into Les Mis I decided to watch the musical after watching on loop a Courfeyrac tribute #and I got 10x more invested in the brick after he was introduced #ironically the “recruiter” is his role in the narrative as well #my not-Ami favorite character is obviously Jean Valjean one of the best protagonists out there #I'm very fond of book!Eponine and Gavroche too

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"At the level of my bed, there are two flaming hearts, pierced by an arrow, and down "Love for life". The unlucky one didn't face a long engagement.

Beside [...]

And then again some flaming hearts, with this inscription, peculiar in a prison "I love and I adore Mathieu Danvin. JACQUES." "

From The Last Day of Condemned Man by Hugo, this proves this author didn't believe in heteronormativity that is didn't believe everyone to be straight. We don't know his opinions in detail - although I dare to say this reference is sad but casts sympathetic light on these Jacques et Mathieu. So when we read 1)Hugo is a XIX man, 2)can imagine only heterosexuality and 3)so every one of his characters is straight and 4)there is no gay subtext, at least the 2nd sentence is false, likely 3) and 4) as well.

We also should always remember that queerness being a modern trend and every person born before 1990 being homophobic or ignorant about the existence of queerness is at best queer presentism, more often homophobic propaganda which aim to paint queer themes as a fleeting modern delusion.

(Anyway this book is extremely important to read)

#victor hugo #queer references in literature #the last day of a condemned man #les miserables #enjoltaire #valvert #anti queer presentism

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It's often overlooked.

Enjolras raising a red flag is a powerful scene and when I read the brick I was disappointed he didn't get to raise the flag.

But the fact that two men holding hands is the climax of the revolution and one of the peaks of the whole novel is powerful, bravery and action are good and useful, but they're not at the heart of revolution, love is.

The gay component is ambiguous (strongly implied imho), but what makes me obsess is that storyline is not a side irrelevant detail on the revolution plot and Enjolras's personal arc, it's central and it's where the revolution and both characters' developments lead. If I think Enjolras and Grantaire couldn't die before clasping hands, despite it was likely for both of them to die in any moment before, as if they were immune to bullets because they were destined to meet for the last time on the Corynthe's second floor... aaaaa.

I think the weight of the scene is often overlooked, often even by E/R shippers.

Taking all of this into consideration, I think I prefer this death to the musical's one.

i think that Grantaire being canonically attracted to men can hardly be disputed because he's very explicit in his attraction and love for Enjolras, to the point where i hardly ever see anyone deny this (even outside of the fandom i mean), but i do think that it's actually very very clear we're meant to interpret Enjolras as homosexual?

of course it has always been interesting to me how Victor Hugo chose to introduce Enjolras as a wild Antinous (emperor Hadrian's gay lover), only to tell us a few lines later tells us he wasn't aware that there was a being on earth called woman and like, yeah i guess that's pretty gay but there's still some space for debate. how on earth are we supposed to interpret the following sentence though

"Evadne's bare bosom would have moved him no more than Aristogeiton; to him, as to Harmodius, flowers were good only for hiding the sword"

so in his first introduction, like in the same fucking PARAGRAPH he's compared to not one, not two but THREE different gay men, and one of those comparisons is there to explicitly say that he wouldn't care if a woman showed her tits to him. it's an INSISTENT analogy that only gets stronger when we get to grantaire's part, with them being pretty much two sides of the same coin, getting compared to even MORE gay men

#enjoltaire #I agree also with gay Enjolras headcanon btw #he could be equally ace and gay or both but the gay parallels tip me slightly toward the gay or gay ace one #they're pretty blatant #Antinous btw wasn't only a gay character #he was one who was used as a gay icon during those years #and I've read somewhere (something like queer paris) that somewhere in the Tuilleries it's carved here is where modern Antinous meet #so it's blatant #obviously it's not canon #enjolras could still be straight and very repressed (lmao) #or ace since he's also blatantly uninterested in sex #or homoromantic asexual #it's not far fetched once Grantajre says he believes Marius to be only capable of romantic attraction and not sexual one #he's wrong btw but here we know Hugo has some vague idea about the split attraction model and can imagine asexuality + alloromanticism #anyway I think Enjolras's sexuality was meant to be Saint-Just's one that if I remember right is still debated #I also find interesting R is allowed to be more openly queer than Enjolras #because R is already full of vices #his obsession over Enjolras could pass as one of his many vices #but Enjolras being more openly queer could be more triggering to homophobic dicks because Enjolras was supposed to be perfect #a moral role model etc #it reminds me of the Hays Code #I'm curious if there are other instances of queerness “hidden” among vices #in that era literature #it's unrelated to lgbt+ themes but I has also been interested in the flowers are good only to hide the sword #it almost seems Enjolras thinks romance is useless if not as an urban warfare strategy

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FREE PALESTINE. BEING NEUTRAL IS SIDING WITH THE OPPRESSOR. ITS A FUCKING GENOCIDE YOU CANT TAKE A NETURAL STANCE

#free palestine

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(if more than one, please vote for the one that's most central to your identity and put the others in the tags!!)

#people think I'm 5 years younger #sometimes 10 #i have a youthful face and a teenager behaviour lmao #the friends are a work in progress #almost all of them are enough radical #but they're too defeatist and depressed to do something #a bunch of Grantaires #too bad I'm not an Enjolras myself #I'm a Grantaire too #best scenario I can be Bossuet