This headcanon started its
life as simply, “How much more meaningful would the gift of the two
candlesticks be if Myriel was a rabbi rather than a bishop?” (To
celebrate Shabbat, one lights two candles.) As I developed this
concept more, it evolved into an entire fix-it AU. Speaking only for
myself, for me the most life-changing distinction between my experience
of Christianity (ok, Catholicism) and
my experience of
Judaism is this: my experience with Catholicism often glorified
martyrdom and suffering, whereas Jewish culture celebrates surviving and
experiencing life. I think this distinction would make a world of
difference in the way Valjean responds to many of the situations in his
life; that he would not be so needlessly self-sacrificing and would
instead let himself enjoy happiness when it comes to him. He would live
out his life in joy and peace with Fantine (who survives in this AU),
Cosette, and Marius. And every Shabbat, he would light the candles and
remember this warm, kind, and loving man who changed his life.
How I thought Les Miserables the brick would start: Jean Valjean is in prison with other guys and they are at hard labor.
How it started: 60 page description on the Bishop and everything he does.
aah I love your Myriel! You really did make him look old but not really old-looking, you know? Like, you avoided making him super-wrinkly or any major cues, but it still works. The proportions of his face, I think! And the little smile is perfect. 😀
An “escapist doodle” from Takahiro Arai’s twitter of young Jean Valjean as a soldier. Daaaang.
*tries to figure out how this AU would work*
I assume this is the one where a young Jean joined Napoleon’s Army and distinguished himself by valiant action,while growing ever more traumatized by the violence around him, only to end up even more destitute after an injury makes him lose his post and the Emperor is banished
his family having disappeared with no trace he can follow, he wanders the land looking for work, and barely getting by, ever angrier at the nation that used him for cannon fodder and now discards him
until the dark night when he robs a church in the poor town of Digne
and the Bishop–a man said to hate Bonaparte, the republic, all who served it– lies to save Valjean from the crushing prison sentence that would surely await him
Was going through the Hapgood Les Mis, looking for various garden references for Reasons.
And somehow??? I have managed to miss the fact that between trolling gendarmes and saving Valjean’s soul, the Bishop found a moment to be passive-aggressive about his poor flowerbed that got damaged in Valjean’s nightly escape.
The Bishop had just bent down, and was sighing as he examined a plant of cochlearia des Guillons, which the basket had broken as it fell across the bed. He rose up at Madame Magloire’s cry.
and then
“Now,” said the Bishop, “go in peace. By the way, when you return, my friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with anything but a latch, either by day or by night.”