Les Misérables characters

Also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent

First appears in chapter 15

A former tree-pruner imprisoned for stealing bread for his sister's hungry children, then held for years after repeated escape attempts. Nineteen years in the penal system have left him embittered and feared wherever his yellow passport identifies him as a convict. He arrives in Digne exhausted, barred from inns, and expecting rejection.

Also known as Monseigneur Bienvenu

Appears from the start

The elderly bishop of Digne, known for living simply and giving most of his income to people in need. He welcomes strangers without asking whether they deserve help and offers Valjean food and a bed when the rest of the town refuses him shelter.

First appears in chapter 28

A young working-class woman from Montreuil-sur-Mer who comes to Paris and joins three other women in a circle of students and lovers. Sincere and inexperienced, she is deeply attached to the charming student Tholomyès and takes their relationship seriously.

Also known as Euphrasie, the Lark

First appears in chapter 37

Fantine's small daughter. Fantine meets Madame Thénardier while the innkeeper's wife is watching her own two girls and, seeing what appears to be a happy family, asks the woman to foster Cosette while she seeks work.

First appears in chapter 44

A police inspector shaped by an absolute belief in law and social order. Born in prison and determined to stand on the side of authority, he distrusts the prosperous mayor Madeleine and is especially alert to signs that a supposedly respectable man may be concealing a criminal past.

First appears in chapter 37

An innkeeper at Montfermeil who once profited by appearing heroic after Waterloo. He agrees to foster Cosette for payment and quickly calculates how the arrangement can be made more profitable.

Also known as Madame Thénardier

First appears in chapter 37

The forceful co-owner of the Montfermeil inn and mother of Éponine and Azelma. Fantine first sees her showing affection to her daughters and mistakes that display for evidence that she will offer Cosette the same care.

First appears in chapter 50

An aging carter in Montreuil-sur-Mer who is trapped beneath his overturned cart. The accident creates a public test for Mayor Madeleine, since lifting the vehicle seems to require strength that might draw Inspector Javert's attention.

First appears in chapter 168

A serious young Parisian raised in his royalist grandfather's household and kept apart from his father. He has inherited his family's hostile account of that absent parent and knows little about the conflict that determined his childhood.

First appears in chapter 160

Marius's wealthy, sharp-tongued maternal grandfather, a proud royalist who has raised the boy. He loves Marius possessively but mocks the memory and politics of Marius's father, making affection and control difficult to separate in their household.

First appears in chapter 201

The Thénardiers' elder daughter, now living in poverty in Paris. Thin, streetwise, and accustomed to helping her father beg, she approaches Marius as a possible source of money and takes a quick personal interest in him.

First appears in chapter 148

The neglected young son of the Thénardiers, living largely on the Paris streets. Resourceful, cheerful, and independent despite hunger and danger, he knows the city's hidden corners and moves easily among beggars, students, and other street children.

First appears in chapter 176

The intense leader of the Friends of the ABC, a republican student society. He is wholly committed to political liberty and treats the prospect of insurrection with disciplined seriousness, organizing his companions around a cause larger than any private ambition.

First appears in chapter 176

One of the Friends of the ABC and the first of the group to befriend Marius. Sociable and generous, he gives Marius a place to stay and draws him into a circle where republican politics, fellowship, and debate are inseparable.

First appears in chapter 169

An elderly churchwarden and amateur botanist whom Marius knows through his father's history. Gentle, poor, and devoted to books and plants, he becomes a surrogate family connection for Marius after the young man breaks with his grandfather.