Thénardier orders Valjean to either give back Cosette or pay a thousand crowns, but Valjean ignores him and departs with Cosette.
Valjean hands him a letter signed by Fantine authorizing him to take charge of Cosette. He claims that Cosette's mother gave her into their care and that he cannot release Cosette without a note from her mother. He runs after them and tells Valjean that he has changed his mind and wants Cosette back. Thénardier tries to swindle more money out of Valjean. Valjean pays them 1,500 francs, settling all of Fantine's debts, and he and Cosette leave the inn. Thénardier feigns affection for Cosette and reluctance to give her up. On Christmas Day, Valjean informs the Thénardiers that he wants to take Cosette away with him. Thénardier tells her that Valjean can do as he wishes as long as he pays them. At first Cosette is unsure if the doll really is for her and is reluctant to take it, but then joyfully accepts it. Valjean leaves the inn and returns a moment later with a beautiful new doll, which he offers to Cosette. After arranging lodgings at the inn for the night, he observes how the Thénardiers abuse her and how Éponine and Azelma mimic their parents' behavior and complain when Cosette plays with their doll. He finds Cosette all alone fetching a pail of water for the Thénardiers in a dark forest and accompanies her back to the inn. The Thénardiers spend the money Fantine sends them on their daughters.Īfter Fantine's death, Jean Valjean arrives in Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. Thénardier extorts more money from Fantine by claiming that Cosette is ill. Fantine is eventually reduced to working as a prostitute in order to earn enough money to meet the Thenardiers' demands, as M. The Thénardiers treat Cosette very badly, dressing her in rags, selling her clothes for 60 francs in the streets of Paris, forcing her to work, and beating her often. įantine, a struggling single mother, arranges for her daughter Cosette to stay with them, if she pays a regular fee. The Thénardiers are both described as being very ugly Monsieur Thénardier is "a skinny little runt, pale, angular, bony, rickety, who looked sick but was as fit as a fiddle" and Madame Thénardier is "tall, blond, ruddy, barrel-like, brawny, boxy, huge, and agile". They run an inn in the town of Montfermeil. When Hugo introduces the Thénardiers, they have two daughters named Éponine and Azelma, whom they spoil and pamper as children, and a son called Gavroche. The novel portrays them as brutal and abusive figures some adaptations transform them into buffoonish characters, though sometimes still criminals, to provide comic relief from the generally more serious tone of the story. While Javert represents the justice system that would punish Valjean, the Thenardiers represent the lawless subculture of society that would blackmail him. They serve, alongside Javert, as one of the two arch-nemeses of the story's protagonist, Jean Valjean. After they lose the inn in bankruptcy, they change their name to "Jondrette" and live by begging and petty thievery. Early in the novel, they own an inn and cheat their customers. They are ordinary working-class people who blame society for their sufferings. eɪ/ French pronunciation: ) and Madame Thénardier, are fictional characters, and the secondary antagonists in Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables and in many adaptations of the novel into other media. The Thénardiers, commonly known as Monsieur Thénardier ( / t ə ˈ n ɑːr d i. The Thénardiers, from the first French-language edition (1862) by Gustave Brion.