Madame Thénardier

Madame Thénardier (born 1788) is the wife of Thénardier and the mother of Éponine, Azelma, and Gavroche. She abused Cosette until Jean Valjean took her away (via a letter of permission by Cosette's mother, Fantine). In the novel, she died in prison, but is spared in the series, returning to Montfermeil with her youngest daughter, Azelma, to re-open the inn and begin a new life without her husband.

Personality
She yells, swears a lot, and abuses Cosette in every way possible. She does not respect her husband and appears to dislike him. By her last appearance in episode 50, her future looks bright, as she begins her journey back to Montfermeil to run her former inn alongside her younger daughter, Azelma.

Background/Role in Story
Madame Thénardier abuses Cosette for much of the first arc of the series, and like her husband, enjoys accumulating vast quantities of money, either by over-emphasizing costs of living or expenses at their family inn in Montfermeil, or while staying at the Gorbeau House in Paris. When Cosette is eventually taken away by Valjean, she is next seen with her family (minus Gavroche) moving out of their inn and heading to "better pastures".

Eventually the remaining family move into the Gorbeau House under the alias "Jondrette", with their neighbor, Marius. During their stay, the family lives under even greater poverty than they were back in Montfermeil, having to write letters under various aliases in order to accumulate money. During their time in Paris, Thénardier in particular forms a partnership with the criminal gang Patron-Minette, who aid Thénardier in various robberies and other schemes in order to make a living. In February of 1832, after having a letter given to Valjean at the Saint-Jacques church by Azelma, the family arrange to have Valjean (living under the alias of Fauchelevent, a benevolent philanthropist) bring them money and food. When Valjean arrives with Cosette by his side, the Thénardiers realize the man is infact Valjean, and the woman accompanying him is Cosette. After over-emphasizing the costs of living at the Gorbeau House, Valjean returns to his residence to bring back the proper amount of money to cure the family's debt. When he returns, this time without Cosette, he is ambushed by Thénardier, this time accompanied by the Patron-Minette. After an agonizingly long and tense scuffle and hostage situation, the Thénardier family (minus Eponine, who vacated the scene earlier) and the Patron-Minette are arrested by Javert.

From then on, Mme. Thénardier (along with Azelma) spends much of the series in prison, having not been included in the Patron-Minette and Thénardier's eventual breakout. By the time Marius and Cosette's wedding has occured in February of 1833, the two women have been released with the intent of heading back to Montfermeil to run the inn without Thénardier.

Differences from the Novel

 * In the novel Madame Thénardier eventually dies while in prison, while in the Anime, she and her younger daughter, Azelma, are set free, and decide to head back to Montfermeil to run their old inn without Thénardier
 * In the novel, Madame Thénardier is described as "tall, blond, ruddy, barrel-like, brawny, boxy, huge, and agile". All of these except her hair color are true in the Anime, her hair color being black in the series instead of blond