Young Writers Society

In "Stars," the whole song is about how "those who falter and those who fall must pay the price" - Javert does not believe in divine (or human) mercy or redemption, only divine (or human) punishment for wrongdoing.

And frankly I don't see him singing in his suicide song about never making the right choice, either! As he grapples with Valjean's actions vs. what he's always believed about punishment over mercy, he says, "I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold. I'll escape now from that world." He chooses not to go on because he cannot reconcile Valjean's merciful world with his own belief in retribution...and he'd rather die than believe mercy wins out over retribution.

We can further see this because Javert's Suicide parallels Valjean's Soliloquy!

Like Javert, Valjean starts the story believing in a world that is harsh and cruel, one where wrongdoing is always punished. (Unlike Javert, he's on the "wrong" side of the law, so while Javert believes in always punishing wrongdoers, Valjean believes he might as well always do wrong because he'll always be punished anyway.) When the bishop shows kindness - helping Valjean escape returning to prison, even though Valjean has stolen from him - Valjean is shook, just like Javert is later shook when Valjean lets him go rather than killing him.

They have even have similar lines:

I am reaching but I fall
And the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold
I'll escape now from that world
From the world of Jean Valjean
There is no where I can turn
There is no way to go on

- Javert's Suicide

I am reaching, but I fall
And the night is closing in
As I stare into the void
To the whirlpool of my sin
I'll escape now from that world
From the world of Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean is nothing now
Another story must begin

- Valjean's Soliloquy

Valjean, staring into "the whirlpool of my sin," clearly realizes he has made mistakes. Javert, however, does not stare into his own actions but "a world that cannot hold," i.e. his worldview rather than his own actions.

Both reject "the world of Jean Valjean," but they mean different things by it: Valjean rejects his old worldview of a punishing, merciless world and chooses to embrace a new worldview of mercy and redemption by changing his identity and becoming a new and different person. However, Javert rejects Valjean's NEW worldview of a merciful world filled with the possibility of redemption...and then kills himself because he realizes that there's no way for him to overcome this new worldview otherwise.

Basically he annoys me because they both had a very similar experience and had faced the same kind of moment that COULD lead to them changing for the better. But while Valjean DOES change for the better...Javert chooses not to, so decisively that he kills himself rather than embracing this change.

Him giving Gavroche his badge is the ONLY thing he does that I like, but I think he actually immediately regrets THAT - he realizes he has started to faintly embrace Valjean's worldview, and he's mortified with himself for doing so. Thus leading to his suicide song and the suicide itself.