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BLOG ENTRY : missing the amis like an mf so here’s some asian amis

published : apr 21, 2026

Started thinking about Asian Amis de l’ABC from Les Mis so here are some headcanons I wrote up. My credentials : I'm Filipino. Okay yay !

All my modern AUs are roughly set in Paris or a major Canadian city depending on #mymood. Don’t think about that too much. I’m being general today.

Missing : Courfeyrac and Bossuet, for whom I don’t have any concrete Asian headcanons.

Enjolras (he/him) is Persian (shoutout Ramin Karimloo !!!) and his family is loaded back in Iran. He’s had a complicated time putting into perspective his conservative cultural upbringing in contrast with his own progressive values, goals, and ideals. He grew up in an upper class predominantly white neighbourhood where he was equally ostracized and fetishized, while as a closeted trans boy he did not feel at home in his family’s very conservative community. He was raised Muslim but now he is not religious. Enjolras thrives in multicultural spaces but often still struggles because people do not Get all the different contradictory aspects of his upbringing, his culture, and Iranian politics that make up his life. Despite it all, he believes in progress and liberation for his people and also hates the fucking USA ! Also - he does not know how to cook a lot but makes perfect tahdig because it’s one thing that will always cheer him up.

Combeferre (she/her) is Malaysian. She is Muslimah and hijabi and also trans ! She’s a first gen immigrant, having moved for university. She’s very active on Malay social media to stay connected to home. This headcanon is in fact not mine ; it comes from my good friend Leaf who in turn was inspired by an article xe read about a trans hijabi woman in Indonesia. Go check out the original post I like her so muchsies. The good cook to Enjolras’s near-useless-in-the-kitchen, she and Bahorel often go out on adventures to discover the best places to acquire Asian ingredients. One of the most valuable items in her and Enjolras’s apartment is their rice cooker.

Jehan (they/them) is Filipino but with some Chinese and Japanese grandparents, there’s some family drama there. They’re also a huge weeb but more relevantly they are into pre-colonial Bisaya culture !!! Like this. They immigrated more recently and their accent noticeably sticks out and they don’t mind it at all. They identify as bakla or bayot, which refers to someone assigned male at birth who presents as feminine, often referred to as a third gender. It’s also often used to mean gay man/many bakla are exclusively attracted to men, but this does not apply to Jehan. Their understanding of their non-binary gender is also informed by connections made over the internet, and since immigrating they have gone exclusively by they/them, though it’s possible they’re doing it mostly for simplicity’s sake.

Another fun thing of note is that Jehan is a totally believable Filipino name. Like, their dad could have been named Jesus and their mom could have been Hanna, or some other fun origin. I think it is quite funny that I don’t know where to begin coming up with a name with the same cute, quirky connotation like Jehan in canon (a spelling convention from the Middle Ages) because Filipino naming and nicknaming convention is already Like That.

Feuilly (ve/vem/vyr/he/him) is Vietnamese but as an orphan was not raised within vyr culture and therefore strives to strengthen vyr connection to the culture by educating vemself as much as possible, his love of history spanning across Asia especially. Ve advocates for refugees and stateless people, and is loud in vyr anti-imperialism. Ve volunteers at a cultural centre and also learns traditional Vietnamese fanmaking :)

Bahorel (he/she) is Indian. South Asian Bahorel is a really old headcanon of mine, and I feel like it was definitely subconsciously inspired at least in part by Alok Vaid Menon. Case in point, Bahorel is The blue hair and pronouns guy to me. In canon era he’s known to wear his scarlet waistcoat, a symbol signalling his revolutionary leanings, and therefore in modern AUs her being visibly hippie/alternative/queer/COUNTERCULTURE is incredibly important to me. The nature of her existence of being brown and queer and wholly unashamed of all aspects of herself makes her immediately stand out and discomfort the Western heteronormative society in which she lives. Youpi ! Her family has been in France/Canada/whatever for two generations now. He helps his cousin do mehndi at weddings and is well-known across multiple Indian communities in the city because he’s such a riot.

Joly (they/he) is half-American, half-Korean. Like Bahorel, this one’s my consistent headcanon for Joly. I like to say he looks like if Mikey Way was a K-pop idol reject (NOT an actual idol. Joly’s too much of a weirdo /affectionate for that). I also like to say their Korean mother’s peculiarities about health and beauty informed part of their own quirks, though Joly’s anxieties are their own thing 😊 Sometimes he freaks out about something related to his skin and his Umma is the first person he calls 💗💗💗 Their family immigrated when they were young and in their childhood, they would fly back home frequently to visit family and they would always be half-dreading the trips because they get airsick and also airplanes in general stress them the fuck out. Watches K-dramas on the couch with Bossuet and Musichetta yayyyyy

Grantaire is the reason I started thinking about this in the first place. This all stemmed from me listening to Longview by Green Day and wanting to come up with an OC based on that song and I ended up making characters looking very similar to exr lmaooooo. (The nature of the leader/skeptic dynamic is that every so often we accidentally invent exr again).

This Grantaire’s (he/him) a slacker as depicted in Longview, representing that type of young Gen X disillusionment Green Day portrayed back in the day that still holds true today. He’s plenty clever but can’t bring himself to bother. This Grantaire is Filipino, based on boys in my high school classes, dressed in a hoodie and sweats, acting all nonchalant, that low voice, often spouting irrelevant bullshit. He was born in Dubai when his parents were working there but moved when he was a toddler. Another connection to Green Day is that Filipinos fucking love pop punk dude. All this to say… RIP Grantaire, you would’ve loved Dookie.

BONUS !!!

Marius (normal pronouns he/him (?)) is half-French, half-Lebanese, raised by his white family (Georges is Lebanese). Here’s another headcanon that’s at least a few years old. He didn’t even know he wasn’t fully white until he was a teenager. I heart my poor little meow meow Arab diaspora boy with some uhhhh questionable takes on the politics of his homeland. « type of guy who would want to connect more to his culture by having the worst political options about wars/regimes in his country » -my pal Leaf. The other, stupid side of Feuilly’s coin, if you will. Enjolras delights in discussing West Asian politics with someone else who has at least some skin in the game, even when Marius starts off so so stupid about it. Knows many many languages (Arabic is not one of them). Can you tell this is based on my beloved British-Lebanese pop star Mika.

Also he is somewhere on the girl spectrum but shhh she doesn’t know this yet. Go read about some of Marius’s adventures in my awesome wonderful fic. It doesn’t actually mention him being Lebanese, but just know that it is true.

Éponine (she/they) Azelma and Gavroche are Filipino (Malloy this is the third time you’ve shared a Filipino headcanon with the class). Shoutout Lea Salonga and all the other Filipino Éponines. Azelma loves Tagalog movies. The image of Gavroche running around town in tsinelas gives me life. These three are also in the above awesome wonderful fic.

Fuckkkk I love Les Mis. I should make a shrine or something… Write down All my headcanons… Perhaps some day.