Hugo loves his soulmates, platonic or not. And sometimes, he says there's barely any difference.
This is specifically about my last reread of Homme Qui Rit and my current reread of Ninety-three, but can be applied to many other cases in Hugo novels.
Gwynplaine and Dea are in love romantically, but Hugo says that, in a heavenly sense, their love transcends the romantic definition and also becomes, at the same time, the love of two siblings, of two friends, of a parent and a child.
YMMV on how icky or not this is. Hugo describes Valjean's paternal love for Cosette in a similar fashion, while declaring that it's still very much a fatherly love.
And now, in Ninety-three, Cimourdain sees Gauvain as his son. They're described as literal soulmates, a soul divides between two people. But then, en passant, he says they're like Orestes and Pylades. But wait, weren't those two lovers. Weren't Enjolras and Grantaire, in a more romantic way, written as such?
I'm just saying the way Hugo writes about love is interesting.
