Inspector Javert

Inspector Javert is the main antagonist of the Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables, and its various adaptations. 
He is a dedicated policeman who is committed to punishing criminals, and becomes obsessed with tracking down Jean Valjean, who he guarded in prison and has now broken parole.
==History==
Javert was born in prison, the son of a convict and a fortune-teller. He grew up feeling outside of society, and had a strong belief in upholding order and protecting society from crime, so he became a police officer. In his youth he was employed as a guard at the prison in Toulon, where he first met Jean Valjean. He remembers Valjean for his immense strength and repeated escape attempts. 
Years later, Javert learns that Valjean has broken parole and robbed a small child. He takes part in the search for him, but with no success. He is later stationed as inspector in Montreuil-sur-Mer, where he begins to suspect the town's mayor, M. Madeleine, is Valjean. He does not wish to accuse the mayor without hard evidence, but when M. Madeleine overrides his authority and orders the release of Fantine, a prostitute Javert had detained, Javert becomes angry and denounces the mayor to his superiors. Javert is then informed that he is mistaken, as a man matching Valjean's description has just been captured and identified.
Javert is ashamed of his actions and apologizes to the mayor, making a zealous plea to be dismissed, but the mayor tells him he may keep his post. However, M. Madeleine actually is Valjean, and he goes to the trial and reveals his identity. When Javert learns of this, he is enraged and arrests the mayor at Fantine's bedside, refusing to allow him a three-day head start. Valjean escapes from a local jail that night, but Javert helps re-capture him and is transferred to the Paris police.
Javert later reads a news report that Valjean has drowned at the prison in Toulon, and thinks no more of it. A short time later, he is told that Fantine's daughter, Cosette, has been kidnapped by an unknown man. He suspects this man is Valjean and asks the Thenardiers for information, but they lie that the man was Cosette's grandfather. Javert disguises himself and is able to run into the man, who he thinks he recognizes, and rents a room in the man's apartment. The man takes off with Cosette, but Javert organizes a patrol and chases him through Paris. He finally identifies him as Valjean and comes close to capturing him, but Valjean narrowly escapes. Javert searches the neighborhood all night but finally gives up.
He later works to capture a gang called Patron-Minette, which has been terrorizing Paris for years. With the help of Marius Pontmercy, he arranges to catch them in the act, leading a raid and arresting the Thenardiers along with most of the gang. Javert frees Valjean, who was being held hostage by the gang and who he doesn't recognize, but Valjean then escapes out the window, and Javert suspects he was a criminal.
Javert is later assigned to spy on the student rebels, but is unmasked by Gavroche and slated for execution. Valjean arrives at the barricade and asks that Javert be turned over to him. He then frees Javert and saves his life, much to Javert's shock. Javert later comes upon the trail of an escaped Thenardier and chases him, but runs into Valjean again. Now conflicted, Javert agrees to help Valjean save Marius, who is critically wounded, and they deliver Marius to his grandfather so he can get first aid. Javert then grudgingly lets Valjean go free, as he accepts that Valjean is a good man and should not go back to prison. However, Javert feels that he can no longer live as his faith in the law has been shattered. He writes a memo to his superiors advising them to reform the penal system to be more fair to the inmates, then he commits suicide by hurling himself into the Seine.
==External links==
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