OOC: Profile Meme
[Character Name] Inspector (Possibly Eugene, Possibly Gerald, Possibly Gerard, Mostly Unknown Christian Name) Javert
[Canon] Les Misérables (book-verse)
[Point Taken from Canon] Post-suicide
[Age] 52 when he died on June 6th, 1832,
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] Firmly heterosexual. Some may have questioned it before but it's difficult to any longer.
[Eye Color] Gray
[Hair Color] Once black, now mostly gray and long, tied back in a neat black ribbon. UPDATE: Since the May 2009 'Somarium AU' event, his hair has been cropped short courtesy of Naomi Hunter.
[Height] 6'3"
[Other] Because most icons of Javert generally lie, a thorough physical description of Javert is appropriate for gameplay. Javert is of half-Roma descent, and he clearly looks the part of a gypsy, with dark graying hair, a dark complexion, a broad snub nose and wide, thin mouth. Therefore, he is no stranger to prejudices, but this makes him no less sympathetic to others of the same or similar race as him. Javert clearly holds plenty of his own prejudices against others, even so far as despising his own heritage.
He has a pair of rather impressive muttonchops and large nostrils with a tendency to flare during his bursts of short temper. His gaze is sharp and unapologetic. He's incredibly lofty and imposing at six-feet-two-inches tall, with a broad neck, a thick set of shoulders and massive hands. Despite his exceedingly towering height, he is extremely gaunt and skinny. This is made more clear on the rare occasions that he removes his greatcoat, which gives him the illusion of bulk around his middle and legs. He possesses an extremely firm grip, and it's clear he has the strength to back up his imposing appearance, even if he doesn't seem to be the healthiest of sorts.
Overall, he is very exotic in appearance, but he is by no means a handsome man.
[Clothing] If you can get past the steely, thick and imposing greatcoat, he's wearing a dark waistcoat, white collared shirt and conservative trousers appropriate for a fiftysomething from 19th century France. UPDATE: Since he has lived in Somarium for well over a year, he has slowly begun to 'update' his wardrobe to suit his environment. He is still very attached to wearing a top hat, and he still dresses very conservatively and neatly, but there are some more modern elements to his clothes. For example, Naomi, his wife-to-be, had given him new boots, a new coat and a new hat over the course of a year's worth of holidays.
[Background] Javert was born in a prison in 1780 to a gypsy fortune-teller mother and a galley slave father. There isn’t much known about his childhood, but one can surmise that he grows up around the galleys of Toulon and eventually becoming an adjutant-guard of the prison at age 20. He first meets the convict Jean Valjean as an adjutant-guard, whom he runs into during his daily rounds. He becomes familiar with Jean Valjean’s strength, gait, and appearance, particularly since the convict had a nasty habit of attempting escape several times. Twelve years later, Jean Valjean is released from prison, commits two thefts, breaks parole, and disappears off the face of France.
As a young man, Javert knew that as a half-gypsy child born from the dregs of society, he never had any hope of entering as a normal, well-to-do citizen. Thus he was presented with a choice, for society excludes two classes of individuals: the criminals who lash out against it, and the policemen who protect it. Javert chose to become a member of the police, hating his own gypsy heritage and the people that populate it. He officially enters the police sometime after 1812. By 1820 he has become an inspector and is transferred for work at the quiet seaside town Montreuil-sur-Mer.
From the start, Javert is very suspicious of the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, thinking that the man seems terribly familiar. The mayor has been operating under the name of Madeleine, but he is truly Jean Valjean under an alias, now a changed man for the better. Several incidents occur, and slowly Javert suspects that the mayor is actually the escaped convict Jean Valjean, whom he was very familiar with back at the Toulon galleys. The incidents include the arrest of a TB-suffering prostitute named Fantine and the Mayor’s command for her release and the rescue of a man named Fauchelevent who was nearly crushed under the mighty bulk of a runaway cart. Javert believed that only Jean Valjean would have such massive brute strength at such an old age, so he sent a letter to the prefecture behind Madeleine’s back about his concerns. However, Javert received a quick response explaining that Madeleine cannot be Jean Valean, for he has been arrested just recently under the alias Champmathieu. Javert took a trip out to examine Champmathieu and concluded that he must have been mistaken, for Champmathieu resembles Jean Valjean in very way.
Disgusted by his own disrespectful behavior, Javert appears before Mayor Madeleine and requests a swift dismissal. Madeleine, however, refuses, insisting that Javert had done nothing wrong and was only doing his job. Javert is perturbed by the Mayor’s decision but continues work as the inspector of Montreiul-sur-Mer with respect regardless.
Jean Valjean has his own personal crisis and, eventually, he decides to turn in his Mayor’s chain and confess to the court that he is Jean Valjean and not Champmathieu. Javert is given an arrest warrant for the real Jean Valjean and the long hunt begins. Javert makes a beeline for the hospital, where Jean Valjean is visiting Fantine and assuring her that he will take charge of her daughter. Javert bursts in and treats Valjean viciously, scaring the daylights out of Fantine and inadvertently causing her death (though he could care less, since a criminal is as low as all other criminals in his eyes). Javert then arrests Valjean, but he soon escapes and leaves Montreuil-sur-Mer.
Javert is transferred to Paris in order to continue his hunt. The police believe that Valjean probably tried fleeing to Paris, where most criminals go in efforts to disappear from the public eye. Javert successfully catches Valjean and the ex-con ends up in prison once more. WOOHOO THE END OF VALJEAN-or is it?
Truth be told, sometime later, Javert reads in the newspaper that Jean Valjean has died at sea in an accident. He resolves that this is the end of the matter and there is no use thinking any more on it. But, of course, Javert still suspects something is wrong, particularly when he hears news of the disappearance of a young girl named Cosettes from the town of Montfermeil. Javert remembers the ‘Cosette’ as the name of Fantine’s young daughter that Valjean had promised to take under his wing. Javert realizes that Valjean must have faked his death, so he goes out to Montfermeil to investigate. However, he ends up with no clues and returns to Paris with no leads.
Back in Paris, Javert gets a tip-off from a police contact that Valjean is located in the city. Javert takes some men with him and plans to ambush Valjean at the home where he and Cosette are staying. He chases Valjean into a cul-de-sac and, thinking that he is COMPLETELY VICTORIOUS, stalls away some time by snorting some victory snuff. Well, it was premature - Valjean was gone by the time he entered the small court. Javert was completely humiliated and frustrated by the loss, but at least he is now certain that Valjean had indeed faked his death. Javert keeps a watch on the quarter where Valjean had disappeared.
For years Javert simply goes about his business, carrying on his normal day-to-day police duties. We do not hear of Javert again until a poor young lawyer named Marius Pontmercy visits him in the police station to report a potential robbery. Javert treats Marius rather rudely, but he allows him to borrow a pair of pistols and instructs him to fire a signal shot in his room just before the crime is about to happen. This is so that Javert can arrest the robbers red-handed and they won’t be able to escape the heavy hand of the law. Javert successfully arrests with dramatic flair the Patron-Minette gang (though to no help of Marius’s, since he never fired his signal shots), and he catches a brief glance of a white-haired hostage before he flees out the window. He is frustrated that the hostage escaped before filing a report and supposes that he must have been the most valuable arrest of all. Unbeknownst to Javert, the hostage was none other than Jean Valjean.
Many months pass until a group of rich, know-it-all, revolutionary students called Les Amis de l’ABC (pronounced l’abaissee, or “Friends of the Abased”) - of whom Marius is a part of - toss up some barricades in the streets of Paris and declare an insurrection. Javert is sent in as a police-spy; he dons their colors and offers help to their side in order to gain valuable information about their movements. However, Javert is discovered for who he really is, and he is tied up to a post in a corner café and sentenced to be executed before the dawn of the next day. Jean Valjean is also at the barricade, arriving just in time to save Marius’s life for the sake of his “daughter,” Cosette, who has fallen in love with the young man. Valjean manages to save the students’ leader from certain death, and in return for his gallantry and excellent aim he asks to shoot Javert. Javert and Valjean had recognized each other immediately, and Javert, with dry, sardonic humor, declares GOODBYE UNTIL IMMEDIATELY to the upstart students as he is taken to a back-alley by Valjean for the execution. Javert believes it to be fitting of the criminal he knows Valjean to be, and implores the man to kill him.
Much to Javert’s surprise, however, Valjean cuts Javert’s bonds and lets him walk free. Javert is completely torn by this decision, aghast that a criminal would dare to spare his life. He even argues with Valjean, insisting that he annoys him and that he should die right there, but Valjean refuses. Javert eventually heads off, leaving Valjean at the barricades.
Javert is speechless and near-paralyzed at Valjean’s act of kindness, but he still has a commitment to his duty. He returns to the prefecture of police and provides a verbal account of the happenings at the barricade, then immediately returns to his patrol. At his post, he once more discovers Jean Valjean, this time carrying a severely injured and unconscious Marius. It turns out Marius and Valjean were the only remaining survivors of the barricades. Valjean begs Javert to let him take Marius back to his home for medical care, and then he agrees to go with Javert back to the station for his arrest. Javert agrees and even provides a carriage ride back to Marius’s place. INSERT EXTREMELY AWKWARD AND SILENT CARRIAGE RIDE HERE. Valjean goes inside to drop off Marius, but by the time he goes back out to head to the station, Javert has already disappeared.
Javert wanders the streets of Paris in a dazed silence late into the night. He cannot wrap his mind around Valjean’s behavior, nor can he rationalize why he allowed Valjean to walk away a free man. Valjean had single-handedly shattered Javert’s conception of a black-and-white, evil-or-good world. By allowing Valjean to go free, he has repaid his life debt to the man while at the same time breaking the law he so covets and respects. He realizes that, over the years, Valjean has not acted like a criminal but more like a saint - caring for young children, caring for the sick, giving money to the poor. It’s completely unthinkable for a person like Javert.
And so, Javert writes a brief letter to the prefecture of police explaining all the flaws in the holding cells and all the observations he’d made over the years that they could improve upon. After writing the letter, he takes a walk to the Pont-au-Change, places his hat upon the parapet and takes a leap into the frothing waters of the Seine River below.
[Personality] Javert is an extremely unusual man, reflected by Victor Hugo’s own description of him. In fact, what Hugo tells us of Javert’s character in the chapter of his introduction actually contradicts the character he shows us.
At his core, and most prominently, Javert is doggedly dedicated to the Law. His only joy is to uphold and enforce law and order. He hates crime with a passion - each criminal is just as bad as any other criminal in his eyes. Javert is the type of man that would turn in his own child (lol, if he had any) if he committed a crime, and he wouldn’t feel sorry about it, either. He has extreme respect for authority and a blind faith in his superiors. He is extremely hardworking and brutally honest (and it reflects in his rather rude attitude and manners to most normal citizens he wouldn’t consider a superior), but he is also pretty naïve in thinking that people are either all good or all bad. He is a stickler for the rules and sticks to them by the book, opting to be a just man rather than a kind one.
On the flip side, Javert is not all seriousness and stoicism and cross-armed Napoleonic dedication. In fact, he has a rather dark, wry, and witty sense of humor that tends to come out in the most dire of situations - such as during a difficult arrest or in light of his impending death. He also is somewhat flamboyant in how he carries out his arrests, and in fact, one would think he considers it a kind of art that he strives to perfect. Most of his work is done with a spectacular sort of flair for the dramatic, more like a theater than an average police officer.
Javert is also a relentless perfectionist. Failure is fairly unacceptable to him and he’s somewhat OCD about his tasks and duties.
[Specialties/Abilities] Javert is human and therefore has no special powers. However, he does have uncanny Holmesian powers of observation and he is very good at disguising himself if the situation calls for undercover work. Every now and then, his observation capabilities are so good that some accuse him of otherworldly powers. This is Hugo's way of hinting that Javert's magical roots in gypsy fortune-telling have manifested as almost an eerie clairvoyance.
[Affection] Um... you can try. But Javert is pretty rude and will likely not return a damn thing but dry sarcasm. The only person he has come to accept and administer signs of affection to (but rarely in public) is Naomi, his wife.
[Fighting] Javert is slightly above-average strength, but he has clear limits. He's pretty normal, just a little buff for his work in rough Parisian policing.
Somarium AU
1920's AU
[Canon] Les Misérables (book-verse)
[Point Taken from Canon] Post-suicide
[Age] 52 when he died on June 6th, 1832,
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] Firmly heterosexual. Some may have questioned it before but it's difficult to any longer.
[Eye Color] Gray
[Hair Color] Once black, now mostly gray and long, tied back in a neat black ribbon. UPDATE: Since the May 2009 'Somarium AU' event, his hair has been cropped short courtesy of Naomi Hunter.
[Height] 6'3"
[Other] Because most icons of Javert generally lie, a thorough physical description of Javert is appropriate for gameplay. Javert is of half-Roma descent, and he clearly looks the part of a gypsy, with dark graying hair, a dark complexion, a broad snub nose and wide, thin mouth. Therefore, he is no stranger to prejudices, but this makes him no less sympathetic to others of the same or similar race as him. Javert clearly holds plenty of his own prejudices against others, even so far as despising his own heritage.
He has a pair of rather impressive muttonchops and large nostrils with a tendency to flare during his bursts of short temper. His gaze is sharp and unapologetic. He's incredibly lofty and imposing at six-feet-two-inches tall, with a broad neck, a thick set of shoulders and massive hands. Despite his exceedingly towering height, he is extremely gaunt and skinny. This is made more clear on the rare occasions that he removes his greatcoat, which gives him the illusion of bulk around his middle and legs. He possesses an extremely firm grip, and it's clear he has the strength to back up his imposing appearance, even if he doesn't seem to be the healthiest of sorts.
Overall, he is very exotic in appearance, but he is by no means a handsome man.
[Clothing] If you can get past the steely, thick and imposing greatcoat, he's wearing a dark waistcoat, white collared shirt and conservative trousers appropriate for a fiftysomething from 19th century France. UPDATE: Since he has lived in Somarium for well over a year, he has slowly begun to 'update' his wardrobe to suit his environment. He is still very attached to wearing a top hat, and he still dresses very conservatively and neatly, but there are some more modern elements to his clothes. For example, Naomi, his wife-to-be, had given him new boots, a new coat and a new hat over the course of a year's worth of holidays.
[Background] Javert was born in a prison in 1780 to a gypsy fortune-teller mother and a galley slave father. There isn’t much known about his childhood, but one can surmise that he grows up around the galleys of Toulon and eventually becoming an adjutant-guard of the prison at age 20. He first meets the convict Jean Valjean as an adjutant-guard, whom he runs into during his daily rounds. He becomes familiar with Jean Valjean’s strength, gait, and appearance, particularly since the convict had a nasty habit of attempting escape several times. Twelve years later, Jean Valjean is released from prison, commits two thefts, breaks parole, and disappears off the face of France.
As a young man, Javert knew that as a half-gypsy child born from the dregs of society, he never had any hope of entering as a normal, well-to-do citizen. Thus he was presented with a choice, for society excludes two classes of individuals: the criminals who lash out against it, and the policemen who protect it. Javert chose to become a member of the police, hating his own gypsy heritage and the people that populate it. He officially enters the police sometime after 1812. By 1820 he has become an inspector and is transferred for work at the quiet seaside town Montreuil-sur-Mer.
From the start, Javert is very suspicious of the mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer, thinking that the man seems terribly familiar. The mayor has been operating under the name of Madeleine, but he is truly Jean Valjean under an alias, now a changed man for the better. Several incidents occur, and slowly Javert suspects that the mayor is actually the escaped convict Jean Valjean, whom he was very familiar with back at the Toulon galleys. The incidents include the arrest of a TB-suffering prostitute named Fantine and the Mayor’s command for her release and the rescue of a man named Fauchelevent who was nearly crushed under the mighty bulk of a runaway cart. Javert believed that only Jean Valjean would have such massive brute strength at such an old age, so he sent a letter to the prefecture behind Madeleine’s back about his concerns. However, Javert received a quick response explaining that Madeleine cannot be Jean Valean, for he has been arrested just recently under the alias Champmathieu. Javert took a trip out to examine Champmathieu and concluded that he must have been mistaken, for Champmathieu resembles Jean Valjean in very way.
Disgusted by his own disrespectful behavior, Javert appears before Mayor Madeleine and requests a swift dismissal. Madeleine, however, refuses, insisting that Javert had done nothing wrong and was only doing his job. Javert is perturbed by the Mayor’s decision but continues work as the inspector of Montreiul-sur-Mer with respect regardless.
Jean Valjean has his own personal crisis and, eventually, he decides to turn in his Mayor’s chain and confess to the court that he is Jean Valjean and not Champmathieu. Javert is given an arrest warrant for the real Jean Valjean and the long hunt begins. Javert makes a beeline for the hospital, where Jean Valjean is visiting Fantine and assuring her that he will take charge of her daughter. Javert bursts in and treats Valjean viciously, scaring the daylights out of Fantine and inadvertently causing her death (though he could care less, since a criminal is as low as all other criminals in his eyes). Javert then arrests Valjean, but he soon escapes and leaves Montreuil-sur-Mer.
Javert is transferred to Paris in order to continue his hunt. The police believe that Valjean probably tried fleeing to Paris, where most criminals go in efforts to disappear from the public eye. Javert successfully catches Valjean and the ex-con ends up in prison once more. WOOHOO THE END OF VALJEAN-or is it?
Truth be told, sometime later, Javert reads in the newspaper that Jean Valjean has died at sea in an accident. He resolves that this is the end of the matter and there is no use thinking any more on it. But, of course, Javert still suspects something is wrong, particularly when he hears news of the disappearance of a young girl named Cosettes from the town of Montfermeil. Javert remembers the ‘Cosette’ as the name of Fantine’s young daughter that Valjean had promised to take under his wing. Javert realizes that Valjean must have faked his death, so he goes out to Montfermeil to investigate. However, he ends up with no clues and returns to Paris with no leads.
Back in Paris, Javert gets a tip-off from a police contact that Valjean is located in the city. Javert takes some men with him and plans to ambush Valjean at the home where he and Cosette are staying. He chases Valjean into a cul-de-sac and, thinking that he is COMPLETELY VICTORIOUS, stalls away some time by snorting some victory snuff. Well, it was premature - Valjean was gone by the time he entered the small court. Javert was completely humiliated and frustrated by the loss, but at least he is now certain that Valjean had indeed faked his death. Javert keeps a watch on the quarter where Valjean had disappeared.
For years Javert simply goes about his business, carrying on his normal day-to-day police duties. We do not hear of Javert again until a poor young lawyer named Marius Pontmercy visits him in the police station to report a potential robbery. Javert treats Marius rather rudely, but he allows him to borrow a pair of pistols and instructs him to fire a signal shot in his room just before the crime is about to happen. This is so that Javert can arrest the robbers red-handed and they won’t be able to escape the heavy hand of the law. Javert successfully arrests with dramatic flair the Patron-Minette gang (though to no help of Marius’s, since he never fired his signal shots), and he catches a brief glance of a white-haired hostage before he flees out the window. He is frustrated that the hostage escaped before filing a report and supposes that he must have been the most valuable arrest of all. Unbeknownst to Javert, the hostage was none other than Jean Valjean.
Many months pass until a group of rich, know-it-all, revolutionary students called Les Amis de l’ABC (pronounced l’abaissee, or “Friends of the Abased”) - of whom Marius is a part of - toss up some barricades in the streets of Paris and declare an insurrection. Javert is sent in as a police-spy; he dons their colors and offers help to their side in order to gain valuable information about their movements. However, Javert is discovered for who he really is, and he is tied up to a post in a corner café and sentenced to be executed before the dawn of the next day. Jean Valjean is also at the barricade, arriving just in time to save Marius’s life for the sake of his “daughter,” Cosette, who has fallen in love with the young man. Valjean manages to save the students’ leader from certain death, and in return for his gallantry and excellent aim he asks to shoot Javert. Javert and Valjean had recognized each other immediately, and Javert, with dry, sardonic humor, declares GOODBYE UNTIL IMMEDIATELY to the upstart students as he is taken to a back-alley by Valjean for the execution. Javert believes it to be fitting of the criminal he knows Valjean to be, and implores the man to kill him.
Much to Javert’s surprise, however, Valjean cuts Javert’s bonds and lets him walk free. Javert is completely torn by this decision, aghast that a criminal would dare to spare his life. He even argues with Valjean, insisting that he annoys him and that he should die right there, but Valjean refuses. Javert eventually heads off, leaving Valjean at the barricades.
Javert is speechless and near-paralyzed at Valjean’s act of kindness, but he still has a commitment to his duty. He returns to the prefecture of police and provides a verbal account of the happenings at the barricade, then immediately returns to his patrol. At his post, he once more discovers Jean Valjean, this time carrying a severely injured and unconscious Marius. It turns out Marius and Valjean were the only remaining survivors of the barricades. Valjean begs Javert to let him take Marius back to his home for medical care, and then he agrees to go with Javert back to the station for his arrest. Javert agrees and even provides a carriage ride back to Marius’s place. INSERT EXTREMELY AWKWARD AND SILENT CARRIAGE RIDE HERE. Valjean goes inside to drop off Marius, but by the time he goes back out to head to the station, Javert has already disappeared.
Javert wanders the streets of Paris in a dazed silence late into the night. He cannot wrap his mind around Valjean’s behavior, nor can he rationalize why he allowed Valjean to walk away a free man. Valjean had single-handedly shattered Javert’s conception of a black-and-white, evil-or-good world. By allowing Valjean to go free, he has repaid his life debt to the man while at the same time breaking the law he so covets and respects. He realizes that, over the years, Valjean has not acted like a criminal but more like a saint - caring for young children, caring for the sick, giving money to the poor. It’s completely unthinkable for a person like Javert.
And so, Javert writes a brief letter to the prefecture of police explaining all the flaws in the holding cells and all the observations he’d made over the years that they could improve upon. After writing the letter, he takes a walk to the Pont-au-Change, places his hat upon the parapet and takes a leap into the frothing waters of the Seine River below.
[Personality] Javert is an extremely unusual man, reflected by Victor Hugo’s own description of him. In fact, what Hugo tells us of Javert’s character in the chapter of his introduction actually contradicts the character he shows us.
At his core, and most prominently, Javert is doggedly dedicated to the Law. His only joy is to uphold and enforce law and order. He hates crime with a passion - each criminal is just as bad as any other criminal in his eyes. Javert is the type of man that would turn in his own child (lol, if he had any) if he committed a crime, and he wouldn’t feel sorry about it, either. He has extreme respect for authority and a blind faith in his superiors. He is extremely hardworking and brutally honest (and it reflects in his rather rude attitude and manners to most normal citizens he wouldn’t consider a superior), but he is also pretty naïve in thinking that people are either all good or all bad. He is a stickler for the rules and sticks to them by the book, opting to be a just man rather than a kind one.
On the flip side, Javert is not all seriousness and stoicism and cross-armed Napoleonic dedication. In fact, he has a rather dark, wry, and witty sense of humor that tends to come out in the most dire of situations - such as during a difficult arrest or in light of his impending death. He also is somewhat flamboyant in how he carries out his arrests, and in fact, one would think he considers it a kind of art that he strives to perfect. Most of his work is done with a spectacular sort of flair for the dramatic, more like a theater than an average police officer.
Javert is also a relentless perfectionist. Failure is fairly unacceptable to him and he’s somewhat OCD about his tasks and duties.
[Specialties/Abilities] Javert is human and therefore has no special powers. However, he does have uncanny Holmesian powers of observation and he is very good at disguising himself if the situation calls for undercover work. Every now and then, his observation capabilities are so good that some accuse him of otherworldly powers. This is Hugo's way of hinting that Javert's magical roots in gypsy fortune-telling have manifested as almost an eerie clairvoyance.
[Affection] Um... you can try. But Javert is pretty rude and will likely not return a damn thing but dry sarcasm. The only person he has come to accept and administer signs of affection to (but rarely in public) is Naomi, his wife.
[Fighting] Javert is slightly above-average strength, but he has clear limits. He's pretty normal, just a little buff for his work in rough Parisian policing.
Somarium AU
1920's AU