As a parolee, Valjean is issued a yellow passport with marching orders to Pontarlier, where he will be forced to live under severe restrictions.

This document, often called a "passeport jaune" (yellow passport), identifies him to all as a former convict and immediately brands Valjean an outcast wherever he travels.

His life turns around when Bishop Myriel of Digne, from whom he steals valuable silverware, tells the police that he has given the treasure to Valjean.

It was more than a transformation; it was a transfiguration [...][he had] henceforth only two thoughts,—to conceal his name and to sanctify his life; to escape men and to return to God.

"[1] By the end of the novel, even the police officer Inspector Javert acknowledges that Valjean is "kneeling on the heights of virtue, more nearly akin to an angel than to a man.

"[1] This revelation that "authority might be put out of countenance, that the rule might be inadequate in the presence of a fact, that everything could not be framed within the text of the code" leads to his eventual suicide.

The second book opens with the arrival of a stranger to the town of Digne, who is gradually revealed to be the ex-convict Jean Valjean.

In the winter of 1795, when resources were scarce, Valjean stole a loaf of bread from a local baker by breaking the window.

Bewildered and not understanding what the bishop is talking about, Valjean heads back out into the nearby mountains and meets a young traveling worker from Savoy named Petit Gervais.

Javert, who witnessed the scene, tells Madeleine that he had only known of one man capable of doing such a feat, and that was a convict doing forced labor in Toulon.

That night, Valjean has a terrific struggle within himself, but finally decides to go to the trial and reveal his identity in order to free Champmathieu (for, if he gave himself up, who would care for Fantine or rescue Cosette?).

A short chapter, mainly consisting of two newspaper articles, informs the reader that Valjean has been re-arrested while getting into the stagecoach to Montfermeil (on his way to get Fantine's eight-year-old daughter, Cosette, whom he had promised to rescue).

In July 1823, he was condemned to death for the 40-sous theft and the escape from the jail in Montreuil-sur-Mer, as the prosecutor claims that Valjean was part of a gang of street robbers and the latter refuses to defend himself.

Valjean was assigned a new number of 9430, but escapes from a sailing vessel after only a few months' imprisonment, on 16 November 1823, by apparently falling into the sea after a daring rescue of a sailor who had gotten stuck in a dangerous situation up in the ship's rigging.

He sees the Thénardiers' daughters Éponine and Azelma acting unkindly to her as well, tattling on her to their mother when she tries to play with their temporarily abandoned doll.

After seeing this, Valjean briefly leaves the inn and returns with a beautiful new doll to give to Cosette, which she happily accepts.

it turned out that this was the convent where Fauchelevent worked, who wanted to return the favor and save Valjean's life this time.

Valjean, however, gives Thénardier a false name and address and manages to free himself of the ropes tying him with the help of a file concealed in a hollowed-out coin, which is found afterwards.

The event leaves a profound impression on Cosette and makes Valjean even more determined to stop his ward from learning about his past.

Valjean, feeling threatened since the incident with Thénardier and since he believes there has been a man hiding in his garden, decides to move to England.

Valjean asks permission to return home to say goodbye to Cosette and Javert agrees, saying that he will wait out front.

Valjean makes peace with Marius, with whom he had uneasy relations, and tells Cosette the name of her mother, Fantine.

He dies content, under the light of the Bishop's candlesticks, and it is stated that an angel awaits to carry his soul to Heaven.

[2] Valjean's character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq, an ex-convict who became a successful businessman widely noted for his social engagement and philanthropy.

Vidocq helped Hugo with his research for Claude Gueux and Le Dernier jour d'un condamné (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).

[citation needed] In 1828, Vidocq saved one of the workers in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders as Valjean does.

[4] On 22 February 1846, when he had begun work on the novel, Hugo witnessed the arrest of a bread thief while a duchess and her child watched the scene pitilessly from their coach.

In 1871, when Hugo was living in Brussels during the radical revolt known as the Paris Commune, anti-revolutionary mobs attacked his house and broke windows shouting "Down with Jean Valjean!

Since the original publication of Les Misérables in 1862, the character of Jean Valjean has been in a large number of adaptations in numerous types of media based on the novel, such as books, films, musicals, plays and games.

[citation needed] Many notable actors have portrayed the role on screen, including Fredric March, Jean Gabin, Frank Finlay, Georges Géret, Richard Jordan, Lino Ventura, Liam Neeson, Gérard Depardieu, Dominic West[citation needed] and Hugh Jackman, the last of whom received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for playing Valjean in the 2012 film adaptation of the musical.