Do we like them?

Do we like Javert?

A character from Les Misérables (1862)

Our score: 4 out of 10. We'd respect his honesty and discipline, but we wouldn't back a man who puts the letter of the law above mercy. He's more tragic than villainous.

Javert is a police inspector in 19th-century France. He was born in a prison, the child of a convict, and he has built his whole life on the idea that the law is absolute. Victor Hugo's novel follows the ex-convict Jean Valjean as he tries to start over, and Javert is the lawman who will not let him.

He is honest, disciplined and fearless, and he holds himself to the same standard he sets for everyone else. He sees people as either lawful or criminal, and he can't imagine that someone could change. That blind spot makes him the story's main antagonist, though Hugo plays him as a rigid believer rather than a monster.

We score him a 4. His integrity and courage count for a lot, but he makes the lives of people who are trying to do right far harder. Mercy is the thing he lacks, and the story is largely about that.