Enjoltaire

Enjoltaire is the slash ship between Enjolras and Grantaire from the Les Misérables fandom.

Canon
In both the musical and book, Enjolras and Grantaire are members of Les Amis de l'ABC, the rebel group opposing the French government. Enjolras is the charismatic and inspiring leader of the group. While Grantaire is a pessimistic drunk and Enjolras's main skeptic. Grantaire questions Enjolras's ideals, so many might wonder why he is part of the revolution. His reason, in fact, is Enjolras, and he has no desire for revolution. From there, the dynamic between the two develops in a series of exchanges in which Grantaire puts himself close to Enjolras, who attempts to reject him outright and send him away, but is unable to discourage the other man’s presence, as the discouragement is met with either stubbornness or mockery. Each time, Enjolras expresses skepticism at either Grantaire’s ability to help or his motivations for doing so and Grantaire responds with a combination of absolute sincerity and sarcasm.

Grantaire deeply "loved, admired and venerated Enjolras", even referring to him as Apollo. Grantaire's pessimism is not shown throughout the musical except in the song "Drink with Me". He wonders if their deaths will even matter in the end. As their revolution fails and the barricade falls, Enjolras is to be executed by firing squad. Having slept through the entirety of the fighting, ignored for dead by the national guardsmen, Grantaire awakens from his drunken slumber to find Enjolras cornered by soldiers in the upper room. Immediately upon recognizing what is going on, Grantaire gets the soldiers’ attention and takes his place beside Enjolras before telling the guardsmen to “‘Finish both of us at one blow.’” However, Grantaire does not just decide to die beside Enjolras, he turns to Enjolras and asks him a simple question: “Do you permit it?” To which Enjolras responds with a simple smile, holding Grantaire's hand in his. So the both of them die hand-in-hand.

Grantaire developed romantic or sexual feelings for Enjolras, since in the novel, they are compared to many Greek and Roman lovers, such as Achilles and Patroclus, or Hadrian and Antinous. Throughout the novel, Grantaire is described as not knowing exactly what he feels for Enjolras, aside from the obvious, but right before death, Grantaire is said to have been hit by a "coup de foudre," which literally, means "a bolt of lightning," but is more commonly used as a French expression for "love at first sight." Because of this, it's likely that Victor Hugo had meant that Grantaire died because of his love. He loved Enjolras and so, despite being able to escape the squad, he decided to take his place beside his Apollo.

Fanon
Most fanfiction involving this pairing take place in a modern setting. Likewise, their revolution takes a modern spinning, and they are often social justice activists. On AO3, they are the most written ship in the Les Misérables tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Grantaire/Enjolras on FanFiction.Net
 * Grantaire/Enjolras (book) on FanFiction.Net
 * Enjoltaire on Quotev
 * Enjoltaire on Quotev

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