Okay, my last post about Les Miserables was sorta kinda a disater :P

So from here out I’ll just focus on characters. And today we’ll start with my favorite; Enjolras.

first of all, how the heck do you say this name? well, from what i have gathered, it’s like “on-jahl-rahz” and this is french so make sure the j is pronounced like it is in jean valjean. sort of a zshuh. ack. it’s one of those sounds you can’t write out.

moving on.

Who the heck even is Enjolras? If you have only seen the movie, your confusion is understandable, considering they only say his name once in the entire movie, and it’s during a big action scene.

Enjolras is this here BAMF.

He’s the leader of the revolution, an amazing speaker, and a loyal friend. He doesn’t really give a (yay) about love and romance, because he sees the people as the whole.

“Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive towards a larger goal; our little lives don’t count at all!”

Also, everyone ships him with Grantaire, who is never named in the movie or musical, but has a large role in the original book. Grantaire is basically stinking drunk all the time and hangs out with the revolutionaries because he has this unhealthy obsession/love/adoration for Enjolras. The two of them are like Yin and Yang; they are polar opposites.

There’s the brave leader of the revolution who has a clear view of what they are fighting for and believe that a better day is coming, and then there’s the cowardly drunk who believe in nothing and no one.

But this is wrong, because if he believes in one thing, it’s Enjorlas. In the movie, Grantaire is sorta just there for some comic relief and mocking Marius, but in the book he could be considered Enjolras’ pet project.

Grantaire is changed throughout the story and in the end becomes the man who lived for nothing but died something great. And he and Enjolras really bonded and in the final battle clasped hands as they were massacred by the french army.

Yet while the battle was lost, they both died happy. Grantaire because he understood at last what Enjolras devoted his life to, and Enjolras because he made the nonbeliever understand.

So everyone ships them and just calls them E/R because Grantaire calls himself R and both their names are french and impossible to pronounce so E/R is just easier.

When did this turn into an E/R post?

Back to Enjolras.

He is described (by Victor Hugo) as being

“A charming young man capable of being terrifying.”

And oh man, he was quite charming. And terrifyingly awesome. And epic. I mean he friggin (SPOILERS) died by being shot at point blank range and falling out a window! But we Enjie fans don’t like to talk about that.

In the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert at the London O2, Enjolras was played by the fabulous Ramin Karmiloo (for those who don’t know, he is the ORIGINAL guy phan phangirled over. aiyah, phantom related nostalgia). I know a lot of people like to be all “oh this character was played much better in the 25th/movie” but no one does that with Enjie since all the fans adore both Aaron Tveit (the movie one) and Ramin. Although it’s awkward to ship E/R in the 25th Concert because that would be shipping the characters played by Ramin Karmiloo and Hadely Fraser, who also played the Phantom and Raoul in the 25th anniversary performance of POTO. So yea that’s awkward.

… back to enjie!

His two main songs are Red and Black (ermahgerd mah favrit serng!) and Do You Hear The People Sing and oh man they are both amazing. In the movie, Red and Black iis basically their “let’s get pumped about overthrowin the crown” song that they use to get all the people pumped. And Do You Hear The People Sing is the re-occuring song that they always use to give themselves hope before starting an attack or while badly beaten down.

And then at the very end of the movie, DYHTPS is reprized and sung by all those who had fallen, which was friggin everyone. I never really realized that the reprise was about all the souls who found freedom in heaven as opposed just a final full-cast last song. When I realized the truth during the movie, I was sobbing all over myself, it was so unfair.

So, in review, Enjolras is the brave, gorgeous revolution leader who is super awesome, but kinda blunt to the childish Marius. Also he’s shipped (implied canon too) with a drunk and Enjie dies in an epic way that made Dawn and I make little strangled noises of horror and grief.

So yea, he’s the coolest.

~phan

(WHY CAN’T FICTIONAL CHARACTERS BE REAL?!)

(WHY DO MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS ALWAYS DIE?!)

*turns up on dawn’s doorstep for more fangirling moral support*

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