Why did Jean Valjean go to the barricade?
Besides, why did Javert let Jean Valjean go?
Javert reveals his reasons in the song he sings when he commits suicide. Javert kills himself because the mercy shown to him by Jean Valjean so disrupts his black and white world view that he cannot bear to live in a world he no longer understands.
Then, what happened to Jean Valjean?
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. He is buried in an unmarked grave, per his request, after death.
Jean Valjean arrives in the village of Digne after being in prison for 19 years. He has money for food and lodging, but no one will take him in because he's an ex-con. Valjean moves to the town of Montreuil-sur-mer and becomes rich after inventing a new way of making black jade glass.