Least favorite character?

[Gervais]

That's true. So, would he be the one mistress at a time or multiple mistresses at a time type? I'm thinking one, who wouldn't be permanent by any means, who's mostly there just to be a change from the norm.

It's on topic, I promise! Talking about why we don't like him.

[Aurelia Combeferre]

I think that depends on his finances, and what he construes as having 'mistresses'. He could be flirting with multiple girls at one time and maintaining a few in some way or another.

This is something I do not see Courfeyrac doing; I imagine Courfeyrac being a flirt but a serial monogamist, despite what Hugo has to say about the similarities between him and Tholomyes.

[between4walls]

Not only do Tholomyes's actions seem more likely to ruin people's lives than Bamatabois's, but there's also a nasty psychological element- he has no problem using, lying to, and betraying someone who trusts him completely and whom he's known for years. He could have made it clear to her that this was a fling, he could have told her he wouldn't take any responsibility for Cosette much earlier, but he lets her depend on him for years (financially as well- Fantine hasn't been working much while she's been in a relationship with him) before pulling the rug out from under her.

As MmeBahorel points out, he'll have plenty of opportunities to do it again, to women he'll have even more power over than he did over Fantine. And I can imagine him using all sorts of mind games on his wife, as well, or just generally making sure she's the one who copes with the consequences of anything he does.

It's true that there aren't likely to be consequences for his actions, but then again there aren't usually consequences for harassing prostitutes either; Bamatabois got unlucky (or lucky, if it teaches him not to do it again). And even though there were consequences for him, Fantine getting arrested might wipe out the lesson for him.

[Majestic_Picnob]

I don't think there are any "bad" characters in Les Mis. The Thenardiers are hatable, yeah, but that's their role and they play it admirably. Least favorite character would thus probably be someone really minor, like Thomoyes or Cousin Theodule. I also vaguely recall thinking the three guys who snitched on Champmathieu were pretty slimy.

[YoungStudentMarius]

All right, so I don't exactly hate her...but I have recently come to terms with the fact that I strongly, strongly dislike Aunt Gillenormand.

[Aurelia Combeferre]

She's more odd than actually distasteful (for me the distasteful one in the Gillenormand bunch is Theodule, with Luc-Esprit as a close second).

[YoungStudentMarius]

I can't stand Theodule as a person, but the thing is, he's just so fun to hate and mock that I sort of like his existence. And while Luc-Esprit is terrible, he doesn't come up enough for me to really care about him that much. At first I really didn't mind Aunt Gillenormand, but as time went by, and through repeated readings, I just haven't really found anything in her of worth. Worse than Gillenormand, she really cared nothing for Marius, it seemed, easily forgetting him (and she said she thought his name very ugly), and when he came back almost dead, her first thought was that the furniture would be covered in blood. And the whole time, she never seemed to care at all. I guess the very fact that every change seemed to have no effect on her is what's so exasperating, and that she seemed to mostly lack resolution and emotions other than annoyance and apathy, and was motivated by money and appearances often enough. It's just a personal sore spot, I guess; wondering if she would have cared for anyone at all. Oh, and she doesn't like books. But yeah, bit of a rant on Aunt Gillenormand, there.

[Aurelia Combeferre]

I guess one can look at it that way.

Trying to look at Theodule now....let's see. I like hating on him since he's so pompous and childish but objectively his fault is that he is all too eager to curry favor with someone be it his aunt or Luc-Esprit. And he doesn't seem genuinely interested in being *around* people, not the way that other characters in Les Mis are.

[Little Cozelma]

Watching the 58 movie the other night, I actually liked Thenardier more than a lot of the other characters!

So did I, but my opinion shouldn't count much. I always fangirl the "bad" ones, and I love Thenardier.

Least favorite character? His wife. No matter how many times I think about it, I can't find anything interesting or good about Madame Thenardier. She's heartless like many characters I adore, but is far from smart, which makes her just unimportant.

Other than that, I can't think of any characters I don't like. Though sometimes I can't stand Marius and Enjolras, because I detest coldness in people.

I try to hate Bambi, but I've always imagined him in gorgeous clothes and a proud face so.. this is enough to wash away all of my hate C: You must think me very stupid.

[Aurelia Combeferre]

Each to his or her own, Cozelma. No, we don't think you're stupid.

I find Mme. Thenardier at least a bit more sympathetic in the sense that she does care for her daughters. Otherwise she's really someone that the CPS would love to call in.

[Majestic_Picnob]

I like Mme T. better in the musical than in the book, actually. I also like that she lives in the musical.

[Gervais]

I like Mme T. better in the musical than in the book, actually. I also like that she lives in the musical.

That she lives, that she isn't entirely submissive to Thernardier, and it helps that she's comic relief, too. That's how I stand her, anyway.

[Majestic_Picnob]

I like Mme T. better in the musical than in the book, actually. I also like that she lives in the musical.

That she lives, that she isn't entirely submissive to Thernardier, and it helps that she's comic relief, too. That's how I stand her, anyway.

It's weird, you see all sorts of people who raise a stink over adaptations where Javert, or Valjean, or whoever survives, but judging by the amount of people that love both the book and the musical, many if not most of them likely believing the musical is in fact the best adaptation, sparing Mme. T doesn't really seem to rankle people. I think it's probably because it just... happens; all the other deaths had some form of plot or thematic significance, but she kind of randomly drops dead after being missing for a few hundred pages.

[MmeBahorel]

And quite frankly, i think she'd be perfectly happy going off to help her husband buy and sell people, since she was perfectly ok selling her own children, so it isn't like Thénardier's disgusting triumph in life requires her to be offed. It doesn't affect his actions in going after Marius, either in motive or means (if he didn't want her with him, she would have stayed out of the way). She just gets erased needlessly.

[Enjolvert]

Thinking on it, I'm not too bothered by Azelma as a character. She's fine, but she's just kind of unimportant in a way. She's almost just there as a foil to Éponine in the way that she doesn't have the guts to go against her father and will submit to whatever he asks her to do, but even then she's not too important and just feels a tad pointless at times. Don't dislike the character really, but just not one that really bothers me.