Okay so I'm not French or anything but how come everyone in Les Misérables has a weird fucking name. Real French people are named like Paul and Louis and shit but in Les Mis everyone has a name I've never heard of. Fantine? Cosette? Javert? Don't know them

Not sure if you actually were looking for an answer, but in case you were: 

a lot of the first names that sound unusual (like Fantine and Cosette!)  are nicknames, or unusual names in some way; “Fantine” gets her name from “Enfantine”, which someone called her when she was a little street kid. “Cosette” is an abbreviation of Cosette’s on-paperwork name “Euphrasie” (don’t ask how that’s a nickname it’s a Complicated Pun). “Eponine” (like her sister, Azelma) is supposed to have a very unusual name that Mme Thenardier gave her because  it was dramatic, something out of a book-- a modern equivalent would be...well, it would be an American naming their kid Eponine, really.

“Javert” is probably the name Javert was given as a foundling-foundling kids were given new names by the state, and all it had to be was completely unlinking him from his birth family..  This is also probably what’s up with “Feuilly” in the Amis; he’s an orphan,it’s an incredibly trade-linked name, it’s probably not what his parents were called. 

As for the rest of the Amis, they’re all going by last names too--except Jean Prouvaire, whose “Jehan” nickname is pretty usual sort of self-chosen thing for a French Romantic. . At least some of the  Amis’ names are known French last names, though some (like Enjolras) are quite rare. The rest seem to be invented in the same sort of way that Dickens invented last names for some of his characters, for the sound/suggested meaning of it all. (and yeah it seems a little weird that a group of friends is all going by last names with each other until you’ve read a lot of Hugo’s correspondence and realize this dude was just. Absurdly formal. Even with really good friends! so it’s probably his idea of How People Do.)  

Of course the REALLY weird name is Jean Valjean, which seems perfectly normal! Until Hugo tells us he’s the son of Jean and Jeanne,who was raised by his sister, Jeanne.  (... and it’s all in service of another complicated pun) 

So yeah that’s definitely more of an answer than you wanted but uh. I hope it’s ...useful?? Maybe in a trivia contest?? XD

1. Yeah but the musical’s still running and the book’s still in print, so the fandom never dies! Unlike almost all the characters in the story  :P 

2.Yay, glad it made sense!

3. He has no first name given in the book! There’ve been too many adaptations for me to keep easy track of, and one of them may assign him one. But it’s very likely “Javert” is his whole name, as foundlings/ kids taken by the government were generally just given the one name (and, of course, He Was Born Inside a Jail, so it’s very likely he was raised as a foundling). 

Adding on, guys calling each other by last name is pretty normal in the English-language literature of this period. Dropping the honorific shows informality and a degree of intimacy, and is really common between young men who are friends. Women will use first names in similar circumstances, but the examples I can think of where men are called solely by first names are basically just employers addressing junior servants, or else close relatives (parents, siblings, people who knew you as a child). Even wives will refer to their husbands as Mr. Lastname.

[Honorific + First name + Last Name is standard for differentiating between people with the same surname, so it isn’t that first names are somehow secret, it’s just not the social convention. I have a hypothesis about how public/private sphere ideas affect the use of first names, but haven’t had time to fully research it...]

I just want to add two things: the names used in Les Misérables were often street names in Paris, and their originality allowed Hugo to build 'types': a Javert, an Enjolras, a Gavroche all mean something in today's France. Some of the names, such as Fantine (I know several) and Cosette (very rare but given during the 20th century), are also given to children by French teachers which means they're actually known as first names now.

YAY I love the chapter of Les Mis where Fantine rides a roller coaster!

The “Russian Mountains” were an early version of roller coasters. They were (obviously) invented in Russia, and then became a Thing in France when Russia occupied the country after helping defeat Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, which resulted in a lot of cultural exchange.

Obviously at this point roller coaster technology was in its infancy (they were basically just carts that rolled down a track.)

Here’s a longer post with more detail on the coasters!

But yeah, I wish adaptations would just let Fantine zoom around on her little roller coaster for a bit. She goes through so much later on that she deserves that. Let her have this one thing.

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐚 𝐋𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐞́𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 ( 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐢 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐨 )

a lil redraw

Careful the things you say Children will listen

more porco rosso → lupo rosso screencap edits (that’s fantine in the last one!)

Fantine was beautiful, and remained pure as long as she could. She had gold and pearls for her dowry; but her gold was on her head, and her pearls were in her mouth.

[ID: Two pieces of artwork of Fantine from Les Miserables, a young blonde white woman from the shoulders up, each facing the opposite way. In the first, her hair is long and she wears a blue dress, and in the second her hair is cropped short, there is a red bruise on her cheek, and her shoulders are bare. End ID.]

my favorite vintage les mis fandom thing was when everyone latched onto this one girl in the brick who’s i guess? one of les amis’ girlfriends and is literally mentioned in like a single line and started making content about how she was a hard femme feminist icon overnight for like no reason at all

there is four times more fanfiction about her on ao3 than about fantine, a character 20% of the book is named for.

What makes Les Mis characters so powerful is that all of the ones we love have an “and yet.”

Some of these are very explicit, like Jehan and Éponine:

He spoke softly, bowed his head, lowered his eyes, smiled with embarrassment, dressed badly, had an awkward air, blushed at a mere nothing, and was very timid. Yet he was intrepid. (novel)

Her name was Éponine. Her life was cold and dark, and she was unafraid. (musical)

Some of them take slightly more interpretation.

The skeptic who did not believe in the cause and did not have to die, and yet he died among his comrades with revolution on his tongue.

The superstitious hypochondriac who was terrified of the world and yet had a joyful, happy nature.

The unlucky, prematurely balding man who failed at any endeavor he attempted and yet lived his life fully and completely and never let it stop him from trying anyway.

The bishop who had the upper hand over a man who could offer him nothing, who had even done wrong unto him, and yet he acted with kindness and generosity.

The woman whose life had beat her down at every turn when she had done no wrong and yet she still had the audacity hope for a better future for her daughter and even that the daughter’s father might return someday.

The ex-convict whose past followed him no matter what he did and yet he lived a righteous, good, kind life.

The grandson of a wealthy politician who could have lived his life with great ease and yet elected to give up that life for his beliefs.

The working man who clearly had little free time to invest in The Cause after a day of worl and yet devoted his energy wholeheartedly to The Cause.

The only son in a wealthy family, born and raised with a silver spoon in his mouth, and yet he elected to devote his life and energy to taking care of those whom society had not been so kind to.

The brilliant scholar who dedicated his life to knowledge and its pursuit and yet was soft and human and acknowledged human life and its value.

Almost every character we know and love overcomes something to be who we know them to be, and Goddamn if it isn’t beautiful.

Character concepts for Les Miserables, which I maintain would make an excellent animated series.

lesmis sketches

As a complete failure of an ink user I decided to piggy back along @deboracabral s glorious Inktober (with permission) and do some colour work. Because colour is better. (shh Debs I’m NOT cheating… there’s ink involved… just yours not mine…)

All the ink/drawing (aka all the hard work) is by @deboracabral  I just provided colour, which is what I love best! :D

Please check out deb’s original inkworks!! [x]

But the tigers come at night With their voices soft as thunder As they tear your hope apart As they turn your dream to shame.

FANTINE!!!

shoutout to fantine

One small detail from the Les Mis movie I never appreciated until now is the fact that after Valjean dies, as his spirit walks out of the church to meet the Bishop, Fantine stays behind, standing over Cosette and Marius, and looks back down at them as soon as she finishes singing with Valjean. It’s as if she stays with Valjean for as long as he needs her, but once he’s fully ready to move forward into the afterlife, she lets him go on his own and stays with her grieving daughter, who needs her mama’s loving presence even more.