Javert

Inspector who has built his whole identity on the law as an absolute; cannot integrate the mercy Valjean shows him by sparing his life; the order of his world collapses; throws himself into the Seine. Failure mode: Law without grace becomes its own idol; cannot survive grace. Restoration path: Could have received the mercy as a revision of the order rather than its end. Markers: law-and-order as identity; relentless pursuit of one figure; spared by the one he pursued; cannot integrate the mercy; ends his own life rather than be remade — Javert, Hugo, Les Misérables (Literature)