#and also usually he stops being a cop and im like <33333 bestieeeeeeeee

[hhawkeye]

Hold up, something didn't make sense, but, wasn't Javert the bad guy who was anti-revolution and hated Valjean and is the main cause of Valjean's suffering? Why are we shipping them? Is there something in the musical that I missed because I only watched the 2012 movie and that was once a long long time ago?

okay i mean. technically. i guess. but also javert isnt actually the bad guy in les mis, he's not... great, he's not a GOOD GUY but he's not the villain either and i mean a lot of the point of les mis is that yknow people are not wholly one thing or the other

anyway. valjean and javert are deliberate parallels and mirrors of one another and are compared, both in the book and in the musical, to one another over and over again, sometimes more explicitly than others -- for example their soliloquies in the musical have the same lyrics and music and themes, stars and bring him home are merged at points, their characters are entwined because they play off and complement one another

and anyway. in the musical specifically. the part where valjean frees javert at the barricade "i'm a man no worse than any man" and "there is nothing that i blame you for, you've done your duty nothing more" etc like. valjean isnt... ok i'm not saying he's not mad but he isn't dwelling on it like oh that javert. the bane of my existence that fucking asshole i hate him so bad. yknow? he does actually forgive javert and understand that. well. it's not javert that's tracking him really it's just... the entire penal system. which ok "i am the law" is there even a difference ? well. that's the question isnt it.

but javert is Complicated really and i mean. hes a fictional character so im allowed to say this but he straight up was basically just following the moral code he had upheld his entire life and yknow. when faced with the fact that that code is perhaps Wrong he deals with it in a way that is... not ideal. but he's not the actual cause of valjean's suffering. the cause of valjean's suffering is the law itself and yknow, poverty and capitalism and the monarchy and also napoleon and and and etc etc like. much of the point of les mis is there isnt actually one specific thing that damns people or ruins their lives yknow?

and i mean! the book is good! you should read it if you get a chance like it's long as fuck and there are a lot of digressions my god victor hugo was just like i will be writing every thought that comes into my head and then acting like im Not doing that, but it does provide a bit more insight into. The Whole Thing esp if all you've seen is the 2012 movie. it's good! and in a book where yknow there are literal awful people javert is really just some guy and also my best friend. like he's a fictional cop in 19th century france he's not a GOOD DUDE but he's my BEST FRIEND.

also

you know.

just sexy to have a nemesis who tracks you down for, like, decades, and you change his worldview so much he has to kill himself to deal with it. there's just something hot and kinda fun about that. is there not.

#sorry its like 2am these thoughts are not cleaaaaarrrrr #also mooooost? most? idk if its most. but i mean a GOOD AMOUNT of valvert fics take place like... AFTER javert has his whole crisis #and kind of yknow. realises the law is not the be all end all etc #and that it is in fact. a littol bit fucked up #and also usually he stops being a cop and im like <33333 bestieeeeeeeee