Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

No One Loves the Light Like the Blind Man

just-french-me-up:

Now, I know the blind man is supposed to be Grantaire and the Light is Enjolras, Hugo has weaved enough light/darkness symbolism into his hell hole of a novel for that to be clear

but consider

Enjolras keeps dismissing Grantaire. All the time. He never realises the extent of Grantaire’s feelings and faith for him. Not until the very dusk of his life, when darkness is closing in around him, when Grantaire manages to make him smile.

Then, truly, no one loves the light like the blind man

ALL RIGHT ELISE.  I DIDN’T NEED TO FUNCTION.

(via just-french-me-up)

Anonymous asked: in your avatar au, I have a mighty need for someone (joly/bossuet) to go crazy with the "bending" puns, like "oh grantaire went on a bender again," "don't get all bent out of shape," "I'm bending over backwards here," "this is just mind-bending," etc

OH FRIEND, I HAVE PLANS.  Specifically those plans involve Grantaire’s current lack of air-bending expertise and Bahorel and Joly/Bousset playing peanut gallery.  I got you.  If people want to submit bending puns go for it, although I can’t promise that all of them will get used.

sparrowsfallingfromthesky:

Part of me is like “Jean Valjean is the main character of Les Miserables and that’s very important and maybe the miniseries will remind people of that” and part of me is like “listen. I literally only care about Les Amis and would watch six hours just of Enjolras and Grantaire sitting in the same room doing nothing” so I’m a little conflicted

(via permets-tu-not-permettez-vous)

Anonymous asked: oooh I'd love to hear some headcanons about your avatar au!!

HOW COINCIDENTAL, BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE SOME HEADCANONS ABOUT MY AVATAR AU.  For anyone who isn’t aware, these are for my Les Mis Avatar AU, things we lost in the fire, in which Grantaire is the Avatar and the Fire Nation is…well, the Fire Nation.

• Joly and Bousset’s departure from the North Pole was, um…dramatic?  There was a bit of a storm, which ended with a non-bender getting part of an ice structure dropped on him, and of course Joly is Joly and he healed him without thinking twice.  Having been outed as a man learning healing in secret, he was given the option to turn his (not inconsiderable) talents to a more acceptable method or leave.  He took the second option after Bousset settled down to a really good tirade and spent an hour haranguing the elders.
• Gavroche had a group of kids in this universe too, for a little while, street rats he took care of and taught to steal and tried to get set up with enough money to be well-fed and not street rats anymore.  Eponine and her brutal efficiency helped with that, once she found him again–they robbed a passing Fire Nation noble and took every scrap of gold and jewelry on him, and there was a sudden increase in the average age of the homeless in their town.  They make a habit of it, and keep it under Thenardier’s radar.  For a while.
• Cosette’s ship is called the Rose, and no, I’m not telling you who she is, it’s a surprise.  But her ship is called the Rose, and if you know the book well enough to get the reference it’ll tell you something about what kind of ship it is.
• There have been three Avatars since the start of the war, since Avatar Roku died at the hands of the old Fire Lord (not that Grantaire is aware of this detail).
  
• Roku’s immediate successor was a young monk from the Southern Air Temple, a birdlike and intelligent boy with a tight bond to his companion, a flying bison.  He was told that he was the Avatar at eleven, and when the elders of the Temple suggested that they remove him from the care of his mentor, he fled into a storm.
• In another universe, the Avatar state saved him, and he woke up a hundred years in the future.  In this one, he drowned.  It’s a tragedy, one the Air Nomads linger over, but they survive to linger.  In the other universe, they do not.
• The Avatar after the child who drowned was a waterbender from the South Pole.  They didn’t tell her nearly so young–they had learned from the death of the Air Nomad Avatar.  But they didn’t tell her nearly young enough, either, and when the Fire Navy struck, she died, sixteen and scared and fighting for her family.
• In another universe, she brought back the Air Nomads.  In this one, it’s not necessary.  That’s almost like a victory, isn’t it?
• Grantaire hasn’t spoken to any of his past lives in almost a decade, except for the occasional desperate draw on their power and skill.  It’s bad enough to be a disappointment to an entire world of living people, okay, he doesn’t need to face down Roku and Kyoshi and the line of glowing eyes. 
• Every once in a while he wishes he could talk to them, get some advice, maybe a reassurance that he hasn’t completely fucked up, but he can’t face the possibility that they would say he has.
• The Spirit World is a tense place these days, Avatar incarnations milling about and waiting for their newest member to let them through.  Roku is drowning in the knowledge that he died and left this mess behind, and there are more than a few Avatars (including the Air Nomad) who just want to give Grantaire a damn hug.
• Bonus sixth headcanon: Bahorel is a very bad Air Nomad and a very good airbender.  It’s the pacifism thing that he can’t get past, he believes in fighting for what he believes.  You may draw your conclusions accordingly.

revoluutions:

if you’re excited for bbc les mis but also hoping that they won’t fuck it up can i have a hell yeah

(Source: glyn-dwr, via enjolrarses)

Anonymous asked: Do you think Victor Hugo actually intended Enjolras and Grantaire to read as in love with each other?

just-french-me-up:

I think it’s very unlikely Hugo didn’t at least intend Grantaire to be in love with Enjolras. And since I’m way too passionate about this, let’s make a non-exhaustive list of my favorite “#nohomo” brick moments :

• “Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras”
• “No one loves the light like the blind man”
• Hugo writing on actual paper that Grantaire and Enjolras are part of a whole, two sides of the same coin and that Grantaire can not live without Enjolras (spoiler alert : He can’t)
• Comparing them to Orestes and Pylades because ~~alphabetical affinities~~. Notice he says here Grantaire is “an unaccepted Pylades” because Enjolras “disdained this sceptic”. We’ll come back to this later
• “Grantaire, in the  presence  of  Enjolras, became  someone once  more.”
  
• Grantaire saying of Enjolras : “What a fine marble" 
• Now bear in mind that all of the above happen in the scope of TWO PAGES. TWO PAGES that are used to highlight Grantaire’s love and admiration for Enjolras. Call me delusional but that’s not insignificant
• Grantaire being described as “soft” and “gentle” whenever Enjolras is involved
• “I believe in you”
• 19th century blowjob euphemism #gentlemanbrojob
• “Grantaire, will you do me a service?” “Anything.”
• Grantaire “eyes intently at Enjolras” and “whispers in his ear” in the scope of 3 lines like wow man personal space much
• Remember that Orestes and Pylades business? That Grantaire wasn’t accepted as Pylades? Well, not only does this comparison comes back in the chapter in which they die, but Grantaire gets accepted as Pylades by his Orestes
• Now let’s switch to French for a minute because this is very important to me. That holding hands thing? In French, it’s specified that Grantaire “regarda Enjolras avec une inexprimable douceur” or “se tournant vers Enjolras avec douceur” depending on your version. The first one literally translates to : “Grantaire looked at Enjolras with an ineffable softness”. That in itself is a huge red flag but that’s not all. Let’s talk about the word “douceur” for a bit. In French, using the word “douceur” isn’t meaningless. You don’t specify “avec douceur” unless you really want to focus on the feelings of your character. It seems very unlikely as a sign of friendship, considering all the above.

I’m pretty sure Hugo knew where he was going with that. Plus, let’s not forget all the homoerotic greek figures thrown in from time to time. Hugo was one cultured man. One reference can be called a coincidence but the thing is… there are way more than one.
Hugo was also very ahead of his time, morally speaking, so I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility that YES, he did intend Grantaire to have deep amorous feelings for Enjolras

This analysis is so gratifying, it’s so pretty.

more-tangent-than-normal:

Why do so many people assume that liking Eponine means you want her to end up with Marius? Like, no, I want Eponine to end up with supportive parents and a nice flower garden 

(via enjolrarses)

pandamito:

I’m bored so let’s play a game: tag which les mis characters you think you are.

(via just-french-me-up)