Marius Pontmercy (born 1810) was a French student revolutionary who fought alongside the Les Amis de l'ABC secret society during the June Rebellion of 1832. He was one of very few revolutionaries to survive the fall of the barricade, thanks to the intervention of Jean Valjean, whose daughter Cosette Fauchelevent he married six months later.
Biography[]
Marius Pontmercy was born in 1810, the son of Colonel Georges Pontmercy and the maternal grandson of Monsieur Gillenormand. Marius was raised by his grandfather, who threatened to disinherit Marius unless Georges gave up custody; Gillenormand, a royalist, strongly disliked the Bonapartist Georges Pontmercy. Marius inherited his father's Bonapartist views and worshipped his father as an idol, although he was unable to see him until Georges' funeral in 1827. After an argument with his grandfather, Marius moved out of the family home and refused their financial assistance, instead befriending the Les Amis de l'ABC revolutionary society. Pontmercy never joined the society, as he was a Bonapartist and not a republican, but he befriended its members, including its leader Julien Enjolras. Marius became a lawyer and learned German and English on Jacques Courfeyrac's advice, translating manuscripts into French.
In June 1832, while taking one of his daily walks through the Jardin du Luxembourg, Pontmercy came across the young Cosette Fauchelevent walking with her father Jean Valjean, and he fell in love with her at first sight. Marius persuaded his neighbor and friend Eponine Thenardier to deliver Cosette a love letter from him, even though Eponine harbored an unrequited love for him, and he later met with Cosette in the garden of her home on the Rue de Plumet, where they introduced each other and fell in love. That same night, after Marius left, Eponine's father Alain Thenardier attempted to rob the home, but his attempt was foiled by Eponine's intervention. Valjean, fearing that the policeman Etienne Javert had tracked him down, moved with Cosette to his other house and made preparations to leave for England on a ship from Calais, with Cosette leaving Marius a note telling him of her situation. Believing that Cosette's departure might be final, Marius decided to join his revolutionary friends in instigating the June Rebellion on 5 June 1832 rather than try and follow Cosette. Marius had his friend Gavroche deliver Cosette a final letter before preparing to die on the barricades, and Jean Valjean read this letter after Gavroche delivered it to his home; Valjean, realizing Marius and Cosette's mutual love, volunteered at the barricade with the objective of keeping Marius alive for his daughter's sake. On the first night of the rebellion, Eponine was mortally wounded while protecting Marius, who cradled her in his arms as she died of her wounds, confessing her love for Marius too late.
As Marius slept that night, Valjean prayed for God to keep Marius safe and bring him home, and, when the National Guard assaulted the barricade the next day, Valjean carried Marius - who had been wounded - into the sewers, saving him from the fall of the barricade and the massacre of the other students. Thenardier, who had been looting the bodies of dead rebels in the sewers, stole the unconscious Marius' ring from his body before Valjean dunked him under the sewage and forced him to point him to a sewer exit. Valjean brought Marius out of the sewers and persuaded Inspector Javert to let him bring Marius to safety, promising to let Javert arrest him on his return; however, Javert committed suicide due to his inner conflict over whether to arrest the genuinely good Valjean or let a convicted criminal go.
Marius was nursed back to health at the home of his grandfather over the next six months, mending his relationship with his family. Gillenormand then gave Marius permission to marry Cosette, and, when Marius went to Valjean for permission, Valjean agreed, but he said that he would not attend the wedding and would be going away, as he did not wish for Cosette to discover his criminal past, and entrusted her care to Marius. At Marius' wedding, the Thenardiers arrived disguised as nobles, and Alain Thenardier attempted to extort Marius by telling him that his father-in-law Valjean had murdered a student in the sewers. When Thenardier showed Marius his retrieved ring as proof, Marius recognized the ring as his own, and alos realized that Valjean had been the man who had saved him that day. Pontmercy then forced Thenardier to tell him where Valjean was, and Pontmercy and Cosette rushed to the convent to find Valjean before he could leave.
There, they found a forlorn Valjean hallucinating as he neared death, and Valjean gave them his last confession, written on a piece of paper, and also told Cosette the name of her mother, Fantine. Valjean died minutes later, with his daughter and his new son-in-law at his side, and Marius and Cosette started a new life together, with Marius continuing to work as a lawyer.