Hello and welcome to the Les Mis Shipping Showdown!
That's right, we're bringing ship brackets to the Les Mis fandom! The Shipping Showdown is an all new, 5 round contest intended to answer some of the internet's greatest questions, such as "is E/R's dominance really as overwhelming as AO3 statistics would have you believe?", "what is the fandom's all time favourite Les Amis pair the spares combo?", and "what would happen if we tried to Jurassic Park the ship wars of 2013 back into existence 12 years later?". Ignore that last one, maybe.
The competition will begin on the evening (GMT/UTC) of 28th February 2025, with each poll lasting a week, unless this majorly flops and the timespans are truncated as a result. Special rounds between particularly iconic matchups may occur at a later date if they do not get a chance to face off in the bracket proper.
Finally, if you're a fanartist or editor and spot your OTP/OT3 in the bracket, ESPECIALLY if it's a rarer pair, please feel free to submit pieces of your art to this blog to be used -with credit - in the relevant polls!! (no AI generated art though, please)
CURRENT BRACKET BELOW:
We the mod team look forward to seeing you all pokémon going to the polls later today! <3
Please see below the cut for FAQ, rules, and mod details:
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Who is responsible for all this?
Great question! The Les Mis Shipping Showdown is the brainchild of @lonelyroommp3, with invaluable assistance including graphic design, bracket seeding, and wildcard suggestions from @glindalesbian. We are both veterans of the Les Mis fandom, and although it's not been either of our main fandoms for a while we're both still filled with love and nostalgia for both the work itself and the memories the fandom and its myriad shipping messes evoke<3
Q: Woah, wait! How did you decide upon these specific ships?
29 of the ships are - as far as it's possible to accurately sort these things on AO3 - the 29 most popular romantic relationship tags in the Les Misérables (All Media Types) fandom category. This sorting method isn't foolproof, and if we've missed something major we can only apologise! If you bring to light a really notable ship that we've missed, it may get included as part of a special round at a later date if demand is sufficient.
In addition, between the two mods we have chosen three wildcard entries based on such scientifically rigorous selection criteria as "one of us personally shipped this back in the day", "we remember this being really popular but the AO3 stats don't seem to reflect that", and, in one case, "we thought it would be really funny." It is up to you, dear reader, to try and figure out which ship fits in each category.
For the sake of transparency, a couple of ships have been excluded because they have significant overlap with another, more popular ship. For example, both Joly/Bossuet and Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta have AO3 works in the hundreds, but including them both felt a little redundant, so we made the executive decision to just include the more popular combination of the above characters.
Q: Are platonic/familial/queerplatonic relationship tags included? What if I like a combination of characters in a given match up, but only platonically?
All my love to the non romantic relationship dynamics in Les Mis - after all, "to love another person is to see the face of God" is a lyric that intentionally does not specify a type of love! However, to keep things streamlined, this poll is specifically about romantic/sexual ships. Whenever you see a match up, assume you are being asked which combination of characters you personally would prefer to see depicted in a romantic relationship and/or sucking and fucking.
Q: Can I submit propaganda? Where should I do this?
Yes! You are welcome to add propaganda in the reblogs of any given poll, or send asks or submissions to this blog. We will try to reshare propaganda as long as it follows other rules, but this is not a promise because we're busy people! We also ask that you do NOT send propaganda directly to the mods' personal blogs.
Q: Can I share this blog/contest/specific polls outside of Tumblr?
If you're sharing on a small scale with a discord server, individual friends without Tumblr accounts, etc, please go ahead! We would, however, politely request that if you are lucky enough to have contacts who are, or have been, involved with professional productions of Les Misérables in any capacity that you do NOT share this competition with them directly or go shouting about it in places they are likely to see it, no matter how funny you think it may be to try and get some organic propaganda off the US Tour's 2nd cover Grantaire or whoever. Some of us are fujos in the sheets and actual theatre professionals in the streets, and we'd prefer to keep those two streams of our lives as separate as possible. Please respect this!
Q: You've used my fanart in a post and I don't want it in there/it's been credited incorrectly.
If this happens to you, please let us know via asks ASAP with a link or clear reference to the offending post & artwork, so we can either remove your art or amend the credit accordingly!
FURTHER RULES
We were both around in this fandom in 2013 when people were in the actual trenches about certain ships, and we know this can be a testy subject. We also think a bit of healthy competition and ship warring is fun from time to time, and the Les Mis Shipping Showdown is not intended to be a totally sanitised arena where we take everything super duper seriously and everybody has to be really really niceys 100% of the time. However, we do ask that good taste and interpersonal respect is considered:
You're free to fight about ships until the cows come home, but please refrain from personal attacks on other users in any arena related to this tournament.
Any hate speech in propaganda, notes of official tournament posts, asks/submissions, or any posts about the tournament brought to the mods' attention will NOT be tolerated and will result in an instant block (+ the offending account being reported if deemed necessary).
We've both seen shipping tournaments play out in other fandoms and know that it's absolutely impossible to avoid botting & vote rigging. However, any cases of the above that are deemed excessive, malicious, or generally against the spirit of the tournament may result in a match up being aborted, repeated, or, in extreme cases, a ship being permanently excluded from the tournament. Just be normal pleaseeeeeee
FIC REC | To Kingdom Come by myrmidryad | M | Combeferre/Enjolras/Grantaire | 84800
“There are many more of us south of the Wall,” Feuilly told him, not bothering to hide his amusement as Grantaire absorbed the sight of a thousand tents set up in wobbly lines and irregularly-shaped clumps around small clearings where cook fires had been laid. “We did want to come north as soon as possible. We are looking for people we know…”
“Everyone is looking for someone,” Joly said tiredly. “Most of them, anyway.”
Grantaire is a Finonn Traveller who saves the lives of three Southerling refugees. With nowhere else to go, he stays in their camp for a while, and grows close to Enjolras and Combeferre, two Southerlings who have a complicated history of their own.
This fic damn near saved by sanity last May. I remember sneaking off to my car on my breaks to read it, trying to savor it while at the same time speeding through. It’s a whole ass saga and wonderful. It’s based off the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix but I might have read the first book back in the 90′s/00′s and that’s it and I was fine so don’t let that scare you off.
There is so much emotion packed into this fic. It’s a story about refugees and losing your home and people you love and everything that comes with it. All the characters are missing someone and I 100% read for longer than I should have when it seemed like a reunion was imminent. The Combeferre/Enjolras/Grantaire is delightfully complex and developed. Combeferre & Enjolras relationship especially got me.
The cast is huge and impressively woven together in a family throughout the fic and that I think is my favorite part. (There are a couple warnings so make sure you read the tags.)
FIC REC | Firstborns: unexpected bargains, terrible tradeoffs and surprising gains by les Amis DCD | T | Bahorel/Jehan | 21000
“The text was short, straightforward, and though they expected more enthusiasm and bumbling from Marius, there was nothing inherently alarming about “baby’s born!!!! Please come!!”, so Jehan did just that.
They weren’t sure what they expected; Jehan, who had a flexible mind and was nothing if not an enthusiast for the strange and the unknown, was very generous with their expectations. They did not expect the scene that met them upon their arrival.”
After a firstborn vow is mysteriously made, Jehan and Bahorel have to raise Cosette’s and Marius’ baby.
This fic is so fun (well, not that Cosette and Marius can’t see their baby obviously but everything else!!). The word is rich and interesting and I was on the edge of my seat with them waiting to see how the vow was made and how they would fix things. Jehan is perfectly Jehan and Bahorel is adorable with the baby. Jehan’s familiar is hilarious, especially with Bahorel. The rest of the bunch are absolutely wonderful rallying around them.
FIC REC | To Sail a Golden Sea by estelraca | G | Courfeyrac/Cosette/Marius | 7900
When Marius is kicked out of his grandfather’s house for daring to have a political opinion, he goes to see his best friend Courfeyrac. If he had been paying better attention to what was going on around him, perhaps he would have noticed that the voyage Courfeyrac invites him on is a treasonous mission to find the only artifact capable of killing the immortal king who controls their homeland.
Hi, yes, I don’t know how it took me so long to read this fic because it’s absolutely wonderful. There is so much world building that I could easily read a whole series but the story is perfect just the way it is. It’s fun and adventurous and Marius’ POV which I didn’t realize I wanted more of until I read this. Coufeyrac, Cosette and Marius all work so well together and the supporting cast all shine without stealing the spotlight away from Marius. 100% read this while skyping friends and 100% ignored them for a bit because I got so invested (sorry!).
FIC REC | Sculptures and Sunday mornings by Children_in_a_Fairytale | NR | Feuilly/Grantaire | 3000
Grantaire takes a sculpture class, moves into a new apartment, and becomes Feuilly’s no. 1 fan.
It is a DELIGHT watching Grantaire and Feuilly’s relationship go from Grantaire bumping into Feuilly about town like he’s a local 3am supermarket cryptid, to classmates, to friends, to oh my god they were roommates. It progresses so organically and it’s lovely. ♥
FIC REC | I’m Almost Me Again, You’re Almost You by jeremystollemyheart | G | Jehan & Joly | 7300
A party at Jehan’s place runs long. Joly never meant to be there in the first place, but then again he’ll do almost anything Bossuet asks him.
There’s something borderline mystical about Jehan. Joly doesn’t believe in the mystical, but he’s going to try. Because he has questions.
Or, Joly pines for Bossuet and Jehan reads tarot.
This is such a fun snapshot of Joly and Jehan’s friendship (and the whole bunch in general!). It’s cozy and warm and delightful. I loved reading Jehan explaining tarot to Joly and doing a couple readings for him. This fic is an ode to friendship and it’s wonderful. (Plus some super cute Joly/Bossuet which I’m always here for!!)
pilf tells me about rarepair week, i think “ooh that’ll be fun, maybe I’ll write some crack one-shots that aren’t just imagines” and then proceed to get my dates mixed up, lose all motivation + will to live and whenever i sit at my laptop have the post-it with my new rarepair ships staring at me accusingly.
so! we are doing headcanons, because otherwise none of them will ever see the light of day:
Valjean X Magloire
Magloire is so disturbed by this CONVICT in her house that she finds herself constantly watching him
what she doesn’t realise until he looks her dead in the eye is that there’s ANOTHER reason she’s fixated on him
she’s alarmed and enthralled at the same time
Valjean, for his part, has never really had female attention so he doesn’t know what to do about his feelings
it definitely seems like something you Shouldn’t do when a nice priest has taken you in
but the way Magloire smiles and blushes when he looks at her….
that night she’s on her way to find him as he’s leaving the house
they run into each other in the dark and immediately know there’s no point resisting
they have sweaty, passionate sex on the dining table
for a while they lie enclosed in each other’s arms but then the sun rises
and Valjean leaves
she’s heartbroken and he’s wracked with guilt
when he’s dragged back to the bishop’s house he can’t look magloire in the eye
nor can he accept the bishop’s absolution when he has this dark secret
he’s only just beginning to get over it when he encounters Fantine and the sight of a woman whose lover has abandoned her brings all the guilt rushing back
he decides to help Fantine to honour Magloire’s memory
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Courfeyrac/Marius Pontmercy
Characters: Marius Pontmercy, Courfeyrac (Les Misérables)
Additional Tags: Fencing, First Kiss, Love Confessions, Canon Era
Summary:
Marius’ fencing practice with Courfeyrac goes different than expected.
“I confess, it was not my finest hour,” said Courfeyrac,collapsing onto the chair across from Marius; “I panicked, I prevaricated, I perjuredmyself, and in short I told my father that I wouldn’t meet his eligible societymademoiselle because you and I were passionately in love and soon to be married.”Courfeyrac let out a great sigh and mournfully added, “The damnable old fellowdidn’t even disown me.”
Marius paled; “But I’vejust told my grandfather I’m going to ask Cosette to marry me whether he likesit or not and I can’t pretend to be engaged to both of you at – Courfeyrac, whyare you smiling like that, this is serious!”
I roll the window down And then begin to breathe in The darkest country road And the strong scent of evergreen From the passenger seat as you are driving me home.
FIC REC | Une Liaison Dangereuse by BadassIndustries | G | Bahorel/Fantine | 13100
Felix Tholomyès, like any self-satisfied 18th century gentleman, thinks it only natural he hides his mistress away at his hunting lodge. Bahorel, who stumbles upon Fantine and her adorable daughter on his way home to see his family, disagrees entirely. He thinks Fantine should be free to make friends and enjoy herself, preferably far away from Tholomyès. Fantine just wants a safe place for her daughter to grow up and make friends. Cosette just wants to find worms with the chickens…
A mid-1700s adventure of wigs, silk dresses, respectful friendships and daring flights to freedom.
Soooo Bahorel/Fantine is the ship I didn’t know I needed. This fic is the perfect AU, Fantine and Cosette get to be happy and loved, Bahorel gets to shine–he’s funny and adorable with little Cosette, respects Fantine’s boundaries and agency. Bahorel’s family is a dream and the community they build is everything I’ve ever wanted for Fantine. This is just a delightful fic that left me in such a good mood after reading it. ♥
Also Tholomyès gets what’s coming to him so, like, what more could you ask for?
FIC REC | Enough by fraternite | G | Courfeyrac/Feuilly | 9300
Courfeyrac worries he isn’t enough for Feuilly. Feuilly worries he isn’t doing enough.
Together, they work things out.
If you’re looking for a fic that focuses on communication this is a lovely one. Courfeyrac and Feuilly both have realistic and relatable fears (especially for right now imo!) and it’s so cathartic to read them working through them and coming back together to move their relationship and themselves forward.
