Éponine

Éponine Thénardier
Gender	Female
Born	1815 (novel), April 6, 1814 (Anime)
Died	June 5, 1832
Cause of Death	Gunshot wound to the shoulder
Eye Color	Green
Hair color	Dark brown
Family	Thénardier (father) Madame Thenadier (mother) Azelma Thenardier (younger sister) Gavroche (younger brother) Pressoir and Jurges (younger brothers; novel)
Love Interest	Marius (unrequited)
Voice Actor	Yuko Sasamoto Yuki Ōtomo (4 years old)
Height	155 cm

Éponine Thénardier (1814 - June 5, 1832) was the eldest(and baddest) daughter of the Thénardier family. She took a bullet meant for Marius at the barricade and professed her love for him, as well as her childhood with Cosette and younger brother Gavroche. After sharing her regret in her past deeds, Éponine died in his arms. She was voiced in English by Ruby Jay as a child and Rebecca Shoichet as an adult.

Personality

Éponine is introduced as a spoiled and pampered child, but later when she is around the age of 18, she appears as a ragged and a miserable teenager. She bears a grudge against Cosette for most of the series for a few reasons, the main one being that [Cosette] was rarely near her mother, yet she received more attention and love from her, while Éponine's mother was around [Éponine] all the time, but received less attention and happiness from her. Other factors playing into the strained relationship between the two girls include Cosette's popularity around the priest Richard and childhood friend Toron (the latter of which would mimic the eventual love triangle between Cosette, Éponine, and Marius), along with occasional visitors of the inn, as well as the complete switching of the two girls' lifestyles once they are older.

Death

After succeeding in bringing Marius to the barricade, Éponine began to stalk Marius while still keeping her disguise on. Later, while watching Marius go outside, she spots a member of the National Guard ready to shoot Marius. Horrified, Éponine shields Marius and takes the shot for him. The bullet hits her in the shoulder. Marius was shocked to see that the person was Éponine, and tries to stop her bleeding with a piece of cloth. While dying, Éponine admits that she felt stupid for giving Marius Cosette's address, then hears her brother, Gavroche, singing. She regrets not treating her brother well, and also admits that she knew Cosette, saying that they "rode a swing together" during their childhood. After confessing her love for Marius and giving him Cosette's letter containing the latter's new address, she peacefully dies in his arms.

Éponine's death affected Marius greatly, and he even did his best to protect Gavroche at the barricade because of the boy's ties with her. After telling Gavroche and Cosette about Éponine's death, the two break into tears, and Gavroche called his sister stupid from frustration and saddness. Cosette felt great saddness from Éponine's death because of the friendship they had as children before the latter's bullying.

Differences from the Novel

• The degree to which Éponine and Cosette interacted as children is unknown in the novel. In the Anime, Éponine is constantly seen bullying and insulting Cosette alongside her younger sister Azelma in order to gain happiness and attention from her mother

• In the novel, Éponine and Cosette do not reunite later in adulthood like in the Anime
• Éponine is four-years-old at the very beginning of the series (i.e. only in the first episode), being born in 1814. In the novel, she and Cosette share the same birth year of 1815

Gallery

A young Eponine (middle) with a young Cossette (left) and a young Azelma (right).

Eponine (right) as a child with her sister Azelma (left).