a conversation I had with @deboracabral and @awkwardbookishgay about the extra/awful correlation in enjolras, achilles, lestat de lioncourt, and dorian gray, and this is what was agreed on.
yes… I did just group interview with a vampire in with the picture of dorian gray, les mis, and the fucking illiad like. don’t even look at me right now.
so I did some research regarding Enjolras’ name and discovered that he was almost definitely based off of French anarchist/friend of Victor Hugo Louise Michel. Enjolras was one of her pseudonyms when writing, and she signed her letters and poems to Hugo with the name (Hugo also referred to her in his journal as ‘Enjolras’.
this is interesting because Michel is a lot like Enjolras, daring to be shot (“Since it seems that every heart that beats for freedom has no right to anything but a little slug of lead, I demand my share. If you let me live, I shall never cease to cry for vengeance.”) instead of imprisoned, publicly protesting the government, and being violently anti-Bonapartist. It’s also interesting that another of Michel’s pseuds was ‘La Louve Rouge’ (the red wolf), and Enjolras is almost always depicted as wearing red.
Louise Michel went on to help lead the Kanak Revolt, and later singlehandedly lead many demonstrations in Paris. She was also most likely not straight, and involved in a relationship with Sylvia Pankhurst while they advocated for women’s rights.
tl;dr shown through their many similarities (and Michel’s affiliation with Hugo), it’s quite possible that Enjolras’ name/character was based off of feminist-anarchist Louise Michel.
Sources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] (a couple of those are in French)
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