I am begging everyone on Tumblr to enable custom themes for each of their blogs. Yes, this setting:
Even if you don't want to customize! One thing it does is make it so your blog has its own URL, which means people can actually visit your blog and look through it instead of just using the terrible popup interface:
Ages ago, this was the way all Tumblr blogs were. I think it was around 2015 they changed it to the app-like UI. It may not be super obvious if you use the app, but on desktop it matters a lot.
Ten years ago today on July 16th 2015, I created glenthemes. Just to be clear: I'm NOT saying goodbye. You're all stuck in here with me. This is a look-back on my journey, the good, the bad, the ugly, and how I ended up where I am now. This short journal is mostly written in chronological order; if you'd like to skip to the parts you're interested in, here's the overview in which the the titles sound suspiciously like episode names:
humble beginnings
how I learned to code
glenthemes was problematic 💅
glenthemes logo
paid themes & pages
landing internships
Discord community
powerpoint guides
college & hackathon
featured on Tumblr's "Getting Started" page
tumblr changes / mobile & NPF era
design style & branding
“the friends we made along the way”
what's next?
10 years of glenthemes.
◍ humble beginnings:
During my early teens, I had a habit of changing my theme every other week (sometimes it would be every other day.) Back then, it was a way of showing my appreciation for my favorite fictional characters; every sidebar image or corner image would be a low res GIF or a poorly cut out mangacap, and that meant the world to me. It was a form of creative outlet during my troublesome high school years. My greatest coding achievement at the time was adding a sepia filter over my posts, but I was sold. I wanted to do more, make more. Some of the theme makers that inspired me to start exploring theme making and coding in general are:
@7th-district
@a--themes/@dianthus-s
@altairisthemes
@cocorini (deactivated)
@magnusthemes
@octomoosey
@pohroro
@redfox-themes
@viwan-th
@yukoki (now @xuethms)
@zeldathemes (now @rachaelthemes)
The first base code (Tumblr theme code starter template) I used and continued using for a few years was by @mrsthemes. Tumblr's theme documentation was confusing and daunting to me at the time, so having a base code provided by others to work from was a major blessing.
(If you're looking for a more up-to-date base code though, I recommend ones from @eggdesign; she's put helpful comments throughout the code! Check [this one here], or [this one] for NPF posts compatibility as well).
◍ how I learned to code:
This is by far the most popular question I get, I'm only touching on it briefly in this post; I have a #learning tag with linked resources if you're interested!
In my opinion, there isn't a "right way" of learning anything, and coding is no exception. While many learn from courses on CodeAcademy, others (like myself) learn from more hands-on projects and via experimentation. As mentioned earlier, I used a base code template; I tried rearranging things, breaking things, building things (you can learn a lot from breaking things, especially in coding) to see what happens. Another underrated resource is CodePen – a coding playground where developers share their mini projects with the full code available for you to study and edit (just remember to credit/link back to the pen link if you end up using it in your projects!).
As an avid gamer, I enjoy challenges and gamified learning experiences, so to further my studies into full-stack development (Node, React, DevOps), I looked to Zenva (they also have courses on how to develop games if you're interested!).
◍ glenthemes was problematic 💅:
I had...issues for the first few years:
Those of you who've been around for a long time may remember that I used to be rude when replying to asks or requests. Even if I was going through a rough period of my life, it doesn't justify the attitude that I had (to users and fellow theme makers alike), and for that I sincerely apologize. I like to believe I'm a better person now; no one is perfect but it doesn't hurt to get a little closer.
I used the smallest fucking fonts for my themes. This issue is arguably way less severe than the one I just mentioned, but there's actually a ✨ good excuse ✨ for that. I used a hand-me-down laptop to make my themes and the resolution was tiny. The text, from my screen, didn't look small; that is, until I finally got a new laptop and realized just how ant-sized everything was. (This was one of the reasons I decided to revamp my older themes).
◍ glenthemes logo:
In 2018, I commissioned my high school art classmate Julie (you can find her on Instagram at julieoolie_!) to make my logo. We went through a variety of different styles ranging from my blog initials ("GT") in a brush font to firmer, geometric shapes. In the end, I settled on the logo I've been using ever since: a 3D cube with its front-facing sides taking the shape of "G" and "T". I wanted to go with this subtle design quirk that makes you go "OH, that's what it is!" after taking a closer look at it. A box/cube with open corners is also a loose metaphor for my style – recognizable and familiar at first glance, yet willing to peek and venture "outside the box/norm" a little. Whether I've actually ventured outside the norm or not is up to interpretation, but I like to (perhaps foolishly) believe that after these years, my themes are at least a little recognizable and have their distinct feel/branding – not too minimal, but too over-the-top either.
◍ paid themes & pages:
In 2018, I released my first paid theme & page. I wasn't expecting much and was nervous – I'd never sold anything online prior to this. Although I started my shop on Gumroad, I transitioned over to Ko-Fi in 2022 as Gumroad's tax on transactions became ridiculous. As a creator that mainly provides free content, publishing paid content can be daunting. While I know that I should charge fairly for the work that I do and the time I've put in, sometimes I still feel guilty for setting a higher price than "expected". So I was pleasantly surprised to see that folks took a liking to my "Ignorance" and "Bliss" pack.
I'm a firm believer in "try before you buy", so I always put up free previews and guides for folks to look through before they make their purchase. Guides take a long time to make, but rest assured that I'll always keep them free. You have the right to know what you're getting into; the more complex a theme is, the more uncertainty there is. And even though I provide free support for any type of content that I do, if I was a customer, I'd feel more at ease if I had a handbook from the start.
It wasn't until this year (2025) that I actually...made my premium code packs available to be purchased as packs. Before this, all themes and pages in each pack were available for purchase separately. It sounds super silly now that I type it out, but hey – you can get each pack for 15% off now!
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if a theme of mine is free or premium; my support / maintenance for them is the same. Premium themes don't get special treatment just because they're paid. If Tumblr comes out with an update that breaks a part of a custom theme, that will apply to all my themes. So there's only 1 goal and that's to keep everything up to date.
◍ landing internships:
I was grateful to have landed several internships despite not having any formal education in web development. The first was at a fashion boutique, where I was in charge of setting up their new online shop (from inventory management to the eshop's website). The second internship was at a software development company where I learned from and worked alongside full-stack devs, back-end devs, and design and marketing teams for the first time. It was an invaluable, eye-opening experience as it made me realize just how much I had yet to learn (more on that later).
◍ Discord community:
As time went on and more theme questions were sent in, I came to realize that a single "ask and answer" exchange is generally not enough to answer the question properly. So in March of 2019, I created a Discord server so users could join and ask questions in the chat. At some point, Tumblr removed support for code formatting in Tumblr posts and answered asks, which ultimately meant that any piece of code meant to be copied would turn into regular text and lose its syntax, and straight quotation marks (used in coding) would turn into curly ones. Since then, the server has guidelines on how to ask questions, gotten a server mod (hi Keith if you're reading this 🫵), has dedicated channels for art and content sharing, and amassed 1,000 members (a small and quiet Discord community, but a cozy home I've built nonetheless).
◍ powerpoint guides:
If there's anything that I want to be known for, it's this one right here. Guides. Manuals. "README"s. Whatever you want to call it. It's a notoriously detested activity amongst the coding community considering most of us are (jokingly) illiterate, but I love writing documentation. While my main motivation is to help users easily install and customize complex themes, another vital part of it is poor memory. Too many times has someone asked a question about a theme of mine that I barely remember making (10 years of coding and bad habits does that to you), so writing a guide helps pinpoint where I'd start looking. It's also helpful because I can just "tap the sign" and point users to which powerpoint slide in the guide they should refer to (...if I've covered that feature).
◍ college & hackathon:
As my earlier internships introduced me to how much more I could learn, I decided to pursue a formal education in web development. I was ecstatic to have achieved a distinction and went on to participate in my first hackathon. For those unfamiliar: a hackathon is where you (or a group of developers and/or designers) work on a program/coding project for a fixed amount of time, typically 24 hours. This particular hackathon was 9 hours. Many pizzas and energy drinks later, we presented WheelScout, a live accessibility reporting site that helps mobility aid users plan their journey in advance, and we were awarded 1st place. Since then, I've been working on making my themes and overall content more accessible, from best semantic practices to adding improved alt text.
◍ featured on Tumblr's "Getting Started" page:
In May of 2022, I noticed by sheer chance that I was mentioned as a recommended third-party theme maker on Tumblr's "Getting Started" page:
(The wording in this paragraph has since been updated by staff). One thing I'd like to clarify is that a "third-party theme" refers to any Tumblr theme that isn't on Tumblr's Theme Garden. I have many reasons for not publishing my themes through Theme Garden; most of it is due to the fact that I tend to push out updates/fixes and like to see them applied asap, but doing so through Theme Garden could take up to a month, as a member of staff needs to manually approve it. Regardless, being mentioned was an absolute honor, and I've been working to keep my themes up to date with all of Tumblr's changes (and will continue doing so).
◍ tumblr changes / mobile & NPF era:
This section's long, folks. Remember to take a stretch / hydrate / bathroom break if you've been reading since the start.
Tumblr has been gradually switching over to prioritize updates for mobile/app users for a few years now. Whilst the exact starting point is up for debate, Tumblr isn't the only one – most, if not all social media platforms have switched over to a mobile-first experience.
A while back, a poll titled "how do you use tumblr?" circulated:
So it's not just Tumblr staff prioritizing mobile features & updates – it's also in response to a growing number of mobile users. A lot of it attributes to the fact that many of us on Tumblr are in our twenties and early thirties – we just don't have the time to sit at our computer and scroll through our feed like we used to. So the next best quick and convenient thing? Mobile app. But it's not just convenience –
Here it comes – the rant.
Posts look normal on mobile. They look as intended. They're not squished. If there are multiple images in a row, they aren't stretched, pixelated or blurry (most of them, anyway). And the reason? NPF posts (posts made with the "new" editor which now applies to all users) look like shit on desktop themes unless you're using Tumblr's default theme or a theme tailored to accommodate NPF posts. And before anyone says anything akin to "well, just learn to adapt and make NPF posts look good 🤓☝️", it may be easy for some, but not for those who are accustomed to the legacy Tumblr documentation that was based on "blocks" system which allowed for a theme to be made with plain HTML & CSS. Now, all posts are considered "text" posts despite supporting various types of media (which is great! but that isn't the problem here) and theme makers have the following options:
Use {block:Text} (which is part of the legacy Tumblr documentation, but that includes every post made with the new post editor regardless of what type of contents there are), which is still HTML & CSS, and style things from there (this method is the most common from what I've gathered).
Use {NPF} which is also a Tumblr variable (albeit a newer one), which returns a string of the post's content and details in JSON format. This can then be dissected and extracted into displaying the post contents like they do on the dashboard. However, JavaScript knowledge is a must, and is completely different from how Tumblr themes used to be made.
Use Tumblr's API (v1) to retrieve posts (similar to how {NPF} is retrieved) and add them to the theme. Again, this relies on JavaScript as well.
So whilst NPF is not "bad" per se, a different (and arguably more advanced) skill set is needed, and acquiring these skills takes time; usually not enough for the coder of your theme (who isn't constantly on Tumblr and has more important IRL commitments) to update it to be NPF compatible by the time you've noticed your posts look off on your blog. Which is partially why I wrote a NPF fix (first released in 2020 but I've rewritten it so many times that we're on version 4 now) that can be applied to any theme (not just for theme makers, but for users too) in attempt to make NPF posts (images in particular) look tidier. But all things considered, the fix is flawed and is in no way a one-size-fits-all solution. Nowadays, most of the help requests I get are to do with my NPF fix applied on someone else's theme (which is fine, that was the intention!) since the HTML markup of posts is different depending on how the theme maker coded it.
Whilst I can't speak on behalf of every user who has chosen to turn off their custom theme at some point, in my opinion (and speculation) a lot of it is because of how unstyled NPF posts look on their blog theme. Although staff has had NPF in the works since as early as 2018, very little support or clarification for the actual changes were reflected on the Tumblr docs. Even certain legacy posts (which should have nothing to do with the NPF changes) were affected:
A legacy quote, at the time of posting or reblogging with the legacy editor, would show up as intended on your blog theme, but reblogging it with the new post editor not only destroys the quote formatting, but it restructures the HTML markup as well. Forget the "quote text" and "quote source", now it's just a plain blockquote (which is synonymously used when a user reblogs a post and adds a comment to it) and a paragraph tag. Its post type also changes from "quote" to "text".
A legacy chat post, at the time of posting or reblogged with the legacy editor, remains a chat post. However, reblogs made through the new editor turn its post type from "chat" into "text". Any additional reblogs with comments will also turn its type into "text". These, however, at least have a HTML/CSS class name you can work off from (.npf_chat).
But back to users not having custom themes enabled and just having the default in-dash / in-app blog view: it's not just a NPF issue. As of 2022, all newly created blogs have custom themes turned off by default. So newer Tumblr users either don't know about custom themes in the first place, or they're convinced it's not an important feature if it's turned off by default. Tumblr has been pushing users towards a mobile-oriented experience regardless of whether you have a custom theme or not. Let's say you visit a Tumblr blog on your phone's browser (e.g. Chrome or Safari and NOT through the Tumblr app), when you scroll down the blog a bit, an obnoxious purple toast appears that takes up a good 40% of your screen:
Personally, it makes me not want to visit the tumblr.com website again. And the sad part is that the same obnoxious toast popup is appearing across other social media platforms as well (staring at you with rage, Reddit).
So while it's easy to point fingers at staff or hold a particular party accountable, it's more complicated than it seems.
That being said, the NPF changes have had positive impact as well. Photosets no longer rely on iframes to be generated, audio snippets don't rely on iframes anymore either (...still unstyled, but at least we have names to work with), and alt text works very well on NPF images (I've only seen it bug out once). Legacy photos and photosets with alt text had a chance of being muddled with the post's actual caption text, so it's not clear which is the image description, making it harder to determine and display when the photoset lightbox is triggered in custom themes.
Since NPF posts became prevalent, I've revised my own base code many times, and the JavaScript fixes that I've applied behind-the-scenes is 3–4 times longer than the actual theme code. Not every theme maker is going to have tedious and repetitive JavaScript code like what I've come up with, but we've all got our own ways of doing things (I'm actively trying to make my code more concise whilst still being coherent!).
◍ design style & branding:
So you might wonder – how did I ever go from this:
I. A bare-ass minimal theme that has nothing in it (it's not available to download anymore),
II. To this, where no pixel dares to be left untouched and the user guide is 23ish slides long?
This may sound corny as hell (and it is) but the answer is just – practice. Stumbling. Realizing what hits well and what doesn't. It's embracing the pang of hurt when you've spent weeks nonstop on a theme and it falls flat on numbers. It's that odd mix of confusion and joy when a theme you didn't spend as long on does do numbers. It's about realizing that you can make something you enjoy, and make content that the audience enjoys even if you're not as enthusiastic about it as they are.
I've grown to learn that minimalism is not my thing. The only exception is if I accompany it with 100+ options for my users to fiddle with. Interestingly, I've had complaints about not having enough options, yet I've also received complaints about too many options. And I understand both sides well from a user's standpoint. However, there are plenty of minimal styled themes out there already, and I don't particular enjoy making them either, so I figured I'd find my own niche. It was rather simple – I just focused on what I would want in a theme.
A major aspect that forms my style is the color scheme / palette. If you look through my portfolio, you'll notice that each theme (mostly) follows either a monochromatic color scheme or analogous palette. It's made to appear that there might be 2 or 3 major colors there (and that any other color is a variation of it, e.g. a couple shades darker), but in reality (if you've used my themes more than once then you're probably aware) pretty much every color can be changed. Although I have a specific mood or feel when I personally envision a theme, users may set an entirely different tone based on their preferences, and I want to give them the ability to be creative with the building blocks I've provided.
In order to make as many colors as customizable as they can be, most components cannot be images. They'd need to be text, a background color, border colors, mask overlay colors or SVG path fill colors of some kind, which adds a whole new level of complexity. But at the end of the day, it's fun. It's like having a shit ton of sliders on a character creation/customization screen in a RPG and you're trying to make the foulest abomination mankind has ever laid eyes on without breaking the game.
Naturally, this extends to other options I offer in my themes as well. My earlier themes (pre 2019) not only have less options to choose from, but are also a lot messier. This was before I figured out how to make dividers / separators in the customization panel, so all the options (regardless of type or element) would show up as one huge list. Also, I hadn't made glorified instruction manuals to walk you through everything back then. It was sort of expected that you'd just know your way around Tumblr themes and how to install them (which is foolish, because imagine how new Tumblr users must feel, especially with the blog settings interface changing every now and then? I'd be pretty discouraged and avoid using custom themes altogether). I now have a handful of options for everything ranging from post widths to paddings to font sizes, gaps, margins, border sizes (both inner and outer), positioning, shadow strengths (if applicable), and many more. An unexpected yet welcoming outcome of providing a plethora of options is that it encourages me to be organized. If I have each part recorded as a variable (properly named, not some keysmash or random food name that I used to do, no matter how amusing it was to me at the time), it saves me a lot of time and effort to then go back and change things if something goes awry. It also helps users who are more familiar with CSS/HTML to edit things in the code if they wish.
This is also an appropriate time to point out that in my newer themes and revamps, toggle options no longer exist. This is because it's been a Tumblr customization page bug for years and still has not been fixed ("on" toggles will appear as "off" and vice versa, rightfully confusing the hell out of users), so I've given up on them. Besides, toggles only provide 2 options: on and off. So why not turn them into dropdown options instead, when you can have even more?
Sure, this makes my theme code super long compared to most other themes out there but I think it's worth it. Waking up and randomly spotting someone having customized the fuck out of one of my themes (positive!) gives me a rush of euphoria like no other (though if you're going to make layout-breaking changes, I do appreciate asking me first 😅). On the other hand, I completely understand those who prefer to have a theme up and running from the get-go without much editing and guide-reading. I have multiple side blogs for my different interests and I'm only using my own themes on half of them (I don't make that many minimal themes, and sometimes a blog does look better when a minmal theme is applied!).
◍ “the friends we made along the way”:
Of course, I wouldn't have made it this far without the power of friendship. I'd like to give a special shoutout to the following lovelies who I consider the closest friends I've made through theme-making (and the ones I talk to the most, always at the top of my DMs list):
Felix ( @nonspace ) — My edgelord partner in crime; the one I share all my soulsborne and metal music obsessions with. His themes are like manifestations of HEALTH album covers in the best way.
Ces ( @tanaka-drew ) — The chaotic and loving sibling that I never had. Not only is her rate of pumping out themes astonishing, but so is her ability (rate of fire) at sending me memes/reels. The friend who I'd help hide a body and vice versa.
Bridgette ( @eggdesign ) — Fellow villain enthusiast, holder of my deepest darkest secrets (only half joking). Queen/monarch of building murals and interactables with CSS. She also draws over at @cornetespoir and is participating in her first artfight!
I'm extremely loved and grateful to have become friends with the theme-making community – and with users of my themes, too! I consider all of you my precious family!
◍ what's next?
For the foreseeable future, I'd like to keep on reworking my older themes so they're up to my current standards. Although I patrol them regularly to check if there's a Tumblr update that impacted the appearance (it's also thanks to you folks who report these issues!), most of my older themes are not an accurate reflection of my standards and abilities of the present day. I still cringe when I receive an ask concerning an old theme that hasn't been revamped yet (usually involves looking through the code again), but I now see it as an opportunity to improve everything from the ground up!
Revamping themes (and not just themes; widgets too) is also the perfect chance to get rid of any jQuery code for good. For me (and I think this is the case for many other theme makers on Tumblr too), I learned jQuery before JavaScript itself (jQuery is a library/extension of JavaScript that designers prefer to use over JS). Sadly, jQuery is outdated, unnecessarily bulky and is infamous for causing issues (e.g. if feature A gets broken, subsequent features will break too, even if they're in a separate function), so since college, I've been going "backwards" to learn core JavaScript so I can eventually eradicate all traces of jQuery from my content.
I'll be making new themes whenever the inspiration hits me! I know I don't release themes at the rate I did 9 or 10 years ago (which was definitely not healthy, at one point I released a new one every other week and they were never checked properly) but that's just adulthood. Nowadays we're elated to accompany our friends to the dentist just so we can spend some time together.
...And that's all 🥹
Thank you for reading (if you actually read the entire thing: are you okay??) and I love you all 🥹
If you'd like to get to know me when I'm "off-duty", here are my socials:
Personal blog / no-context chaos: @devsmaycry
Discord server: discord.gg/RcMKnwz (feel free to lurk or chat as much as you want!)
THIS IS DELIGHTFUL AND I'M DELIGHTED TO RESPOND
not with a video alas but with a lengthy text response
Source on canon: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Also some meta-reference from extra reading
Source on Fanon: ...general hanging about, you know how it is. Take everything on this point with a big rock of salt, though; as the fandom's gotten quieter, I think the sense of an overarching Fanon has faded; most of this was really in play last around 2015-16, and I think fan interpretations have gotten a lot more individual since, which is very fun!
LET'S HECKIN' GOOOOOO
Enjolras
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Brick: neatly summed as "Fantine but scary" -- blond curling hair, blue eyes, tall, pale, Official Hugo Sexyman Forehead, cherry lips, "pageboy" , "young girl" comparisons, Greek Goddess comparison, general heavy "looks like classic Greek marble statuary, probably merged with cultural fanon ideas of Hot Saint Just". Just . A lot here. Hugo never shuts up about it tbh.
Fanon: usually just follows canon. Fandom (and musical)-assigned Wearer of Red Things . Variants appear but aren't common enough to have shared tropes; we got given SUCH a detailed brief on this one XD
position within group
The Breakout Star/The Solo Sensation, except that he's never leaving the group. he would hate this so, so , so much. SO much. pretty sure he'd literally rather die. but it's true.
key personality traits
Intense, quiet, focused, good at delegating, serious at all times, open to debate and discussion also at very nearly all times, has his revolution/life balance SORTED as All Revolution XD Technically the closest thing the group's got to a leader but mostly in combat; when no one's actively fighting, more or less Chief Cat-Herder Who Is Also A Cat. Strongly despises Great Man models of society. would seriously hate being the breakout star so much and this is the irony of his Fate XD
nicknames
None in canon (thought the narration compares him to Lots of people/Goddesses/Gods); usually "Enj" in fanon (this blog does not endorse all fanon)
associated animal emoji
Lion; eagle, if that wasn't taken by someone else; arguably unicorn
common ships
With Grantaire by a landslide, but Combeferre, Courfeyrac and Feuilly are not uncommon matches either
sub-units
mostly with Combeferre, Courfeyrac, and Feuilly, or any one or two of them--they're the closest to him of the group, and they go to the barricades together.
Combeferre:
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Canon: nah. None at all.
Fanon: HE IS WEARING GLASSES HE HAS GLASSES WE ARE GIVING THIS MAN GLASSES . Aside from that, a lot of variation here! Though he does tend to be either Beanpole Skinny or one of the plumper Amis (probably based on the line about him being ' less lofty but broader'). Usually no facial hair, or only sideburns (perfectly fitting for the period, of course!)
position within group
The Smart One
key personality traits
Curious, snarky, "chimerical" and a polymath; really invested in the Social Questions of the day , women's rights, children's rights, education, etc.; specifically noted to study fringe lefty social theories; a pacifist by preference, but the embodiment of that "I'm a healer But *GUNS* " image
nicknames:
None in canon, "Ferre" in fanon
associated animal emoji
Swan? both for connotations of peacefulness and for the reality of being able to Mess You Up
common ships
Enjolras and Courfeyrac, mostly; Prouvaire on occasion
sub-units
any combo with Enjolras, Courfeyrac, and Feuilly; also sometimes with Prouvaire or Joly.
Jean "Jehan" Prouvaire
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Brick description: physically awkward and badly dressed
fanon: often a redhead; usually long-haired ; always wearing the most dramatically Different clothes in the group
position within group
The Shy/Sensitive One
key personality traits
Romantic Poet. That covers a lot! But Romantic Poet in the "goth with knives" sense. Big focus on spiritual/religious questions along with the political ones. Cares about Arts so very very much . Shy and awkward until you get him going and then Look Out XD
nicknames
Jehan is a nickname! Usually everyone calls him by first AND last though
associated animal emoji
@potatosonnet uses a lamb and I can't argue with that
common ships
...none too common these days! Combeferre or Bahorel are the current defaults, I think? Courfeyrac /Jehan used to be super common.
sub-units
Combeferre or Bahorel; sometimes with Grantaire or Feuilly
Feuilly
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
no actual book desription! generally given a standard Worker's Cap in canon era fanart; often a redhead (this is a Pune , with the feu in his name)
position within group
The Ace (he's SO good at so many things and apparently self-taught for all of it)
key personality traits
"a generous heart"; driven by sympathy for others and a strong sense of Actual Justice ; would adopt the whole world if he could ; probably more single-mindedly focused on the politics-and-revolution life than anyone but Enjolras.
nicknames
None Sighted XD
associated animal emoji
Fox? Pigeon? Raccoon? he's not assigned a book fursona oh no
common ships
Feuilly/Bahorel used to be really popular; I think Enjolras/Feuilly or Feuilly/Prouvaire are probably the second-most common?
sub-units
Funeral Foursome team, with any combo of Enjolras, Combeferre and Courfeyrac; also with Bahorel and/or Prouvaire not infrequently!
Courfeyrac
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Absolutely zero Brick description! Usually brightly dressed with very floofy hair in fan depictions; but there's a lot of variation!
position within group
The Heartthrob, maybe? with occasional touches of the Fashionista
key personality traits
externally seeming to be interchangeable with any other College Bro type, but with the heart of a paladin; sincerely caring and kind and serious about the revolution, never mind the Bro Exterior; the emotional Center of the group
nicknames
None; fanon sometimes uses Courf
associated animal emoji
Cat, tabby specifically
common ships
with Marius or Combeferre; occasionally with Enjolras ; Courfeyrac/Jehan was very popular once but has faded away
sub-units
Again, with Marius; often with various combos of Enjolras, Combeferre and Feuilly; very often with Legle in the book, though rarely in fanon!
Bahorel
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Book description: energetic and loudly dressed in the era's equivalent of Punk Fashion XD
Fanon: Probably the One with the Beard (there ARE historical reasons for this but I think. mostly. he has Person With a Beard Energy). Has the Eyebrow Scar. You'll know.
position within group
The Rebel. Yes even in a group of actual armed rebelsXD Sometimes tilts toward the Fashionista or the Big Brother, especially with Joly and Gavroche
key personality traits
"brave, a spendthrift, prodigal, and to the verge of generosity, talkative, and at times eloquent, bold to the verge of effrontery; the best fellow possible; he had daring waistcoats, and scarlet opinions;... always ready to smash a window-pane, then to tear up the pavement, then to demolish a government, just to see the effect of it. The others had habits, he had none. He sauntered. To stray is human. To saunter is Parisian. ... a penetrating mind ,and more of a thinker than appeared to view. "
nicknames
None really super common?
associated animal emoji
Wolf? (that's Meta though...) Bull? Boar? I asked two discord servers and got So Many Answers. HE'S WHOEVER HE WANTS TO BE emoji-wise I guess
common ships
He has a canon gf only known as the Laughing Mistress (...rebel boy has relationship opsec??); more often he gets paired with Feuilly or Prouvaire
sub-units
M No Habits isn't particularly tied down XD but commonly gets written with Feuilly, Prouvaire, or Grantaire, and sometimes with Gavroche
Legle/Lesgles/Bossuet
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Brick: BALD THIS GUY IS BALD , Hugo is going to tell us many times, also his ass is BROKE his clothes are OLD
Fanon: pretty much as above, with variants on just how the Baldness manifests
position within group:
the Funny One, this guy is made of jokes and they're good
key personality traits
super cool under fire; basically Cursed but keeps upbeat; witty, constant maker of puns, friendly, and more thoughtful and braver than he gets credit for
nicknames: Bossuet, also any (mis)spelling of his actual last name
associated animal emoji
EAGLE
common ships
with Joly and Musichetta (who he and Joly both date canonically!); sometimes with Grantaire , either as a pair or part of Legle's more general polycule
sub-units
with Joly and Grantaire; sometimes with Courfeyrac, especially in the book
Joly
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
He has a cane that he touches to his nose ; he seems to go on some sort of Fashion Journey from 3.4.1 to Preliminary Gayeties where he levels up his Fashion Game XD Nothing more specific!
Fanon: ...he's the cute one. Find the cute one. He'll usually have a cane and be standing around Legle and Grantaire, if that helps. Might look like he has a cold or other visible health issue.
position within group
The Cute One
key personality traits
"All these young, maniacal, puny, merry incoherences lived in harmony together, and the result was an eccentric and agreeable being" who will notice a cat even in a combat zone.
nicknames: Jolllly, pronunciation: unknown XD
associated animal emoji
Cat (Brick) ; any small cute creature works though
common ships:
he's got a canon gf (Musichetta) and a basically-canon bf (Legle); he gets almost exclusively paired with one or both of them, sometimes with the inclusion of Grantaire in the mix; there ARE some Combeferre/Joly shippers though!
sub-units
Breakfast Club (him, Bossuet, and Grantaire); him and Combeferre (as co-med students); sometimes him and Bahorel
Grantaire
physical appearance (brick description and fanon tropes)
Brick: Ugly, super ugly even! " Il était laid démesurément"-- "He was ugly beyond measure". No further specifics offered, so everyone gets to define that themselves, but Hugo is not kind there.
Fanon:...George Blagden, most of the time. But like. With Scruff.
position within group
Dude Who Is Also There. IDK. Groupie?? I'd say roadie but he's not that helpful
key personality traits
a braggart, a hedonist, a big complainer, scared of believing in any kind of ideal, apolitical on purpose, a big drinker and general User of the Substances; THAT Obnoxious Talky Drunk Guy who shit talks everything and harasses everyone; a fun friend apparently?? and absolutely smitten/obsessed/basing his life on Enjolras and his general existence
nicknames: Capital R (bc in French that's Grand Aire, which of course sounds a lot like Grantaire)
associated animal emoji
the Toad (Always Has His Eyes Fixed On The Heavens)
common ships: E/R (Enjolras/Grantaire) is the juggernaut ship of the fandom, but R's popularity means you'll have a hard time finding another Ami he HASN'T been shipped with
sub-units: Bossuet and Joly seem to be his closest friends in canon and generally in fanwork too; people also like platonically pairing him with Prouvaire and/or Bahorel sometimes.
im sorry but. did i need to read in my old age "im a trekkie and i love william shatner in miss congeniality" to process the fact that stu shes beauty shes grace IS CAPTAIN KIRK???????????
tbh im not entirely immune to a villain with a tragic backstory but i do think villain origins are a lot more interesting when the focus is less "here is the original sin, the first big bad thing that happened to them that made them who they are" and more "here is the first time a person who maybe otherwise felt powerless in their life realized that they could hurt someone and get away with it"
you can get a lot more mileage out of analyzing a truly abhorrent character through the lens of like. what sort of conditions would allow or even incentivize this kind of cruelty? what kind of person benefits from those conditions and how? over the more typical who hurt them type analysis. imo.
romaincrisis
blakekathryn
stormborns
annaxmalina
ellievsbear
baratheonpilled
