# Les Miserables: Was Jean Valjean secretly in love with Javert? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987 "2001-02-18T13:22:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@Cumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumber)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/1 "2001-02-18T13:22:53Z")
I have never actually seen Les Miserables performed, but my brother plays it all the time, so while I’m hardly an expert on it I’ve picked up a bit. Anyway, in evidence there is the obvious thing of Valjean saving Javert’s life. Then there’s a slightly more subtle thing I’ve noticed: “My name is Jean Valjean.” “And I’m Javert.” Compare with: “My name is Marius.” “And I’m Cosette.” See the link? Oh and one more thing… please don’t take this seriously. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![magdalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@magdalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magdalene)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/2 "2001-02-18T17:13:09Z")
Actually, I think it’s the other way around. Javert is in love with Valjean, in a sadistic love/hate kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/3 "2001-02-18T17:54:54Z")
I have to agree with Magdalene. Valjean had other concerns and issues in his life. His largest involvement with Javert was pretty much staying away from him. But Javert was obsessed with Valjean. His every thought for most of 20 years was Valjean. So much so that when his mental image of Valjean was proven false, he committed suicide rather than deal with the truth. Oh, and I never take questions about literary classics and Broadway musicals anything **but** seriously! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/4 "2001-02-18T21:14:08Z")
I am reading this book for English class right now (just started yesterday) and now I have to go through the whole story with THIS is my mind. Disturbing. (Don’t worry, I’ve known the plot for a while and nothing so far has been a spoiler.) ---
**Author:** ![Cumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@Cumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumber)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/5 "2001-02-19T04:27:47Z")
That’s probably true. Javert did want to chain him up and everything. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/6 "2001-02-19T16:45:24Z")
Good lord, I never even thought about that being a spoiler! My apologies to anyone whose pleasure in Les Mis has been ruined by my slip of the fingers up above. So how old does a book have to be before you can’t possibly spoil it anymore?! ---
**Author:** ![SterlingNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@SterlingNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SterlingNorth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/7 "2001-02-20T04:55:39Z")
I remember a political cartoon by Oliphant, back in 1999 “Bill’s Miserables,” with Clinton as Valjean and Starr as the singleminded Javert. That was the first thought I had when I saw the toon; “Starr was after Clinton because he was sexually frustrated.” Why I had the thought, I do not know. Hey, I was under the influence of unstable hormones at the time. Ah, being a teenager in the Clinton years. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/8 "2001-02-20T16:05:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cumber \* > \*\*That’s probably true. Javert did want to chain him up and everything. 😉 \*\* And Valjean didn’t want to “be his slave any more” Hmmmmmm Javert commits suicide because he “doesn’t want to live in the debt of a thief.” Valjean was in a position to kill Javert, some would say justifiably, and when that didn’t happen Javert was forced to re-think his opinion of Valjean. Javert had a messianic complex to be sure. Listen to “Stars”. It is basically a prayer for help to find the wretched Valjean who had “fallen as Lucifer fell.” "Lord let me find him,That I may see him safe behind bars I will never rest till then, This I swear by the stars. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/9 "2001-02-20T16:49:11Z")
Javert the Dom. He can chain me up any day. Yummy. Actually, if you read the whole, unabridged Les Mis, it seems more apparent to my f-ed up brain that ValJean is in love with Cosette at some point…and THAT’S some wacky shit. jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/les-miserables-was-jean-valjean-secretly-in-love-with-javert/54987/10 "2001-02-20T17:02:40Z")
Valjean having a “thing” for Cosette is really not very surprising – they were not blood relatives, after all. But the important point about Valjean is that he could _deal with_ his feelings. He could deal competently with just about anything. He scored high on “emotional intelligence.” Javert, by contrast, was an imbecile when it came to emotional intelligence. He couldn’t deal with his feelings. He couldn’t deal with his obsessive/compulsive nature. He rationalized it by appeal to law ‘n’ order up to the point where his rationalizations all broke down.