A couple days ago, The Story Sponge created a Les Mis tag which uses Les Mis songs to connect to novel characters.
I was nominated by The Story Sponge, and because I am a Les Mis fan, there was no way I could refuse. She said I can use both my characters and already printed characters. Plus we are allowed to add new songs if we know Les Mis. In addition, we do not need to answer all of her questions. I was able to answer most of them, and believe it or not, most of them belonged to my characters. I did add some songs for this tag.
“Valjean’s soliloquy” (a character who’s whole view of the world undergoes a dramatic shift): Interesting how my first thought is a character from my book. It is Norg, who starts out as Sarge’s spy. He actually trusts Sarge at first, and he is aware of Sarge’s backstory. He becomes aware that Sarge wants to break up Sparkle and Marge’s friendship. Soon his view on Cattail Forest changes: it happens when Sarge all of a sudden changes: Sarge just blows up on him- this is around the same time (I think) when the Fairy Frogs begin befriending the Toads. Norg starts to realize just how much Sarge is starting to act more like his father. Norg’s viewpoint on Sarge changes basically- he has a lot of thinking- he realizes he has to warn Aires. He does not understand why Sarge does not see how much happier the toads are.
He went from being Sarge’s spy to being enemies with Sarge to siding with the Fairy Frogs. He sides with them because he detests Sarge so much at this point. Norg has become aware of who Sarge is- he has to tell them the dangers relating to their plan. Even when Sarge tells him to become his spy again, Norg keeps his ground and says no. He can never go back to him- ever. He does not understand why Sarge is the way he is- he knows of who Sarge’s father is, but why would it cause Sarge to act the way he does. His view of his world has completely changed from the time he spent as Sarge’s spy to siding with the Fairy Frogs.
“I Dreamed a Dream” (a character who never seems to have any good luck whatsoever)– This reminds me of one of my character’s backstories, who never had any luck growing up- he will show up again in a later question. Sarge’s backstory: okay you are 3 or 5 years old: your mother left you so now you are left with just a father. His father wasn’t a good role model at all. He was cruel toward him both physically and verbally- so Sarge never knew LOVE growing up. Then when he turned 13, his father left him. He never had good luck growing up- no friends, bad family life, and ended up being filled with anger, jealously towards his cousin, pain, and confusion (as in how is that my cousin’s father is treating her better- that is where the jealously comes from). He had no good luck up till 13- all of this would lead him to be the bully that he is an in my book: he clearly had no idea how to control his anger or pain well because he took his anger and pain on others especially towards his cousin. He still has nightmares about what has happened so he is a character that has had a lot of bad luck.
“Fantine’s Arrest” (a character who just makes your skin crawl)– Voldemort- the thought of him creeps me out and the way he looks is just creepy. He is truly truly dark and evil. He makes my skin crawl more when I actually see him in the Harry Potter films. He is one of the most evil villains out there in literature.
“Stars” (a villain with a convincing motivation)- I feel like Sarge in my Fairy Frogs book is an antagonist with a convincing motivation. He never had friends growing up or a good family situation. His mother left him and his father showed him no love. So, his mindset was “if I did not have friends, why should my cousin have a friend”, and then that motivation grew when his cousin and Sparkle decided to see if all the Fairy Frogs and toads can become friends. He gets angrier at this point- he is like “THEY SHOULD NOT BE FRIENDS PERIOD”- he does not want his cousin to have friends period and he is jealous of the fairy frogs. So his motivation is very convincing if you think about his backstory.
“Do you Hear the People Sing?” (a character who inspires other people)- Hmmm, more than one character in my book do inspire other people. I will go for Marge for this one. This girl is only 12 years old, and she started being mistreated by Sarge at age 8 or 9. Before the events in my book started, she began standing up to her cousin, Sarge. She was telling him to clean up his act or fix up Graysloup. When the book started, she still was standing up to them- she would not let how he treated him break her. She saw how his actions were affecting the other toads- in a negative way. Then when Sparkle, my main character, befriended her, they do not let him get in the way of their friendship. It was Marge that told Sparkle how Sarge’s actions were affecting the toads- so the two of them decided to see if the Fairy Frogs can have a positive effect on the toads by befriending them.
“Little People” (a little character with a whole lot of spunk)– Proceed for possible spoilers: Yes, using a character from my book again. Tweetsie is the first character that comes to mind. She is only 5 years old, the youngest character in the book. When Sarge told the Fairy Frogs they were nothing special when he found Fairy Creek, Tweetsie was the first one who spoke. Later on in the book, Sarge sneaked into Fairy Creek when my toads were hanging out there- it was night so they were sleeping- Sarge captured all the toads- Marge, Effa, Rudy, Norg, and Claude all were capture. Tweetsie was the one who realized something was wrong. She woke up Sparkle for her to notice. She even was part of the rescue mission- they were found in “The Bog”- mud, trenches, ditches and creeks are the deepest there. For a 5 year old- there is courage found in her. She is not just the youngest character, but the smallest character.
“Bring Him Home” (a character who is sacrificially protective)– Once again another book character of mine. I don’t think I would call her “sacrificially protective”, but I would call her “quite protective”. Misty and Sparkle are best friends. Misty is protective of Sparkle to the point where she would try not to get her best friend in trouble. If she does not know where Sparkle is, the first people she would go to are Darcy and Felipe (not Aires). She was the first one to notice that Sparkle did break the rules of entering Graysloup (the rule was never go there). Misty would sometimes not tell the truth to Aires to protect Sparkle. Prior to my book, Sparkle got in trouble a number of times: Misty is protective of her best friend.
The ones below are my added ones
“Master of the House” (a character that is funny)– I think the trio in Princess Bride is hilarious: Vizzini, Inigo Montoya, and Fezzik. I do not know how they are funny- they just are.
“Heart Full of Love” (a couple that you love)– the first one that comes to mind is Westley and Buttercup from Princess Bride. They loved each other before they separated. Even when Buttercup was with Prince Humperdinck, her true love was Westley. Westley risked everything to rescue Buttercup from Prince Humperdinck and when she was kidnapped by Vizzini, Andre, and Fezzik. In the Fire Swamp, when the snow sand got her, he dove in and got her out. She was never truly happy unless she was with Westley. One of the reasons why these two come to mind first is because it was one of the most recent books I read.
“A Little Fall of Rain” (a touching death of a character): So spoilers- this comes from Nicholas Nickleby. Considering this is a death, it will be a huge spoiler. My top two favorite characters in Nicholas Nicklebly are Nicholas and Smike. Up until Smike met Nicholas, he was terribly mistreated. I wanted Smike’s life to improve and have a happy ending- Nicholas was the first person to treat him fairly. Nicholas shows him compassion. Later in the story, Smike comes terribly ill (you probably know who it is going to happen)- Smike does die, but I did not want that to happen- I just loved his spirit, but his death is touching and moving because he had Nicholas by his side.
“The Bargain/The Waltz of Treachery” (a character who is a master of manipulation); “Javert’s Suicide” (an extremely conflicted character), “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” (an impossibly lonely character)- those are the three I couldn’t answer.
I feel like “The Bargain/ The Waltz of Treachery” one belongs to one of the Nicholas Nickleby characters since there are so many villains and bad guys in that book- but could not think of one.
I open this tag up to anyone Les Mis fan, and just like the creator of this tag, I will let anyone add any Les Mis song to the pile.
