Judge Claude Frollo was the main antagonist of Disney's 1996 animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was a powerful Parisian justice minister, who, after a series of sensitive circumstances, became the begrudged caretaker of the deformed Quasimodo. Aside from his political authority, Frollo was a religious zealot with intolerance for sinners. He believed the Romani people to be the most heinous of all malefactors, and therefore dedicated twenty years of his life to eradicating them. Frollo's self-imposed mission drove him to perform inhumane acts of violence, all the while using his loyalty to God as justification.
Background
Personality
Claude Frollo was a rather complex person. A religious extremist and a dogmatist, Frollo was convinced that all his actions were justified because they were God's will, though he was a cruel and corrupt government official who used his place in power to meet his own extreme ends, even employing common thugs to enforce his interpretation of God's will while posing as "soldiers".
This made him feared and reviled throughout the city. Although Paris' anti-Romani sentiments appear to be systemic, the persecution of the Roma appears to be advocated by Frollo, who was determined to eliminate the Roma scattered throughout Paris, as their indulgence in what Frollo calls "witchcraft and sorcery" was infectious to those around them, according to him. Frollo has also shown a mild sadistic streak, as he briefly smiled while his ex-captain of the guard was tortured and took pleasure in burning Esmeralda at the stake.
Surprisingly, Frollo had been known to be a somewhat forgiving person. This is evidenced by how he forgave Quasimodo for attempting to deceive him in order to attend the Festival of Fools, and how he equated the letter "F" with "forgiveness" when teaching Quasimodo the alphabet. Another example is how Victor, Hugo, and Laverne seemed to be aware of Frollo's merciful side, as they suggested Frollo was more likely to forgive Quasimodo for his defiance than to permit him to attend the Festival of Fools. This turned out to be true, as he did in fact forgive him for his disobedience. He also ultimately forgave Quasimodo for helping Esmeralda escape Notre Dame, believing the hunchback was under a spell of Esmeralda's making.
Interestingly, while most Disney villains know that what they do is wrong (and they either do not care or take pride in it), Frollo actually believes that he is a good person or at the very least believes his actions are for the greater good, making him a very three-dimensional character as well. He repeatedly refuses to find fault within himself and is quite self-righteous, declaring himself much purer than "the common vulgar, weak, licentious crowd" and to be above the biblical doctrine that all men are equally sinful, confirming him as a narcissist. He believes that everything he does is in the name of God, even as he attacks the cathedral of Notre Dame for the sake of catching, arresting, and executing one Romani woman. However, at the end of "Hellfire", he does beg God for mercy on Esmeralda for what he plans to do with her and mercy on him for his plans, and part of his sparing Quasimodo was as penance for his killing his mother, so he is capable of some form of guilt in his own twisted way. On a similar note, the "mea culpa" chorus of Hellfire implies that he does to some level recognize that he was at fault, and implies a more self-loathing aspect to his nature.
Apparently, Frollo used to be celibate. However, he comes to lust for the beautiful Esmeralda, but after a moment of indecision ends up blaming his own lust for her on witchcraft and the devil rather than accept that he himself is prone to sin as everyone else. His lust drives him murderously insane, which ultimately proves to be his downfall when he pushes Quasimodo too far by almost killing Esmeralda. When he believes his lust for Esmeralda to be turning him to sin, he is partially right because it's this that makes him murderous and unfair towards the other people, arresting two families and attempting to kill one just because they wouldn't give him Esmeralda.
Frollo was also very cruel and manipulative to Quasimodo. He refuses to allow the hunchback to experience freedom, forces the young man to call him "master", and allows him to be humiliated in public without even bothering to help him, as punishment for disobeying him. Additionally, during Frollo's outbursts, Quasimodo tries to move away from him, implying that Frollo has physically abused Quasimodo in the past. Despite all that, Frollo has traces of humanity in his relationship with Quasimodo, as he spends his free time eating lunch and dinner with his adoptive son, as well as his willingness to educate him, employ him as Notre Dame's bell ringer, provide for him, and even give him the means to spend time on his hobbies. He also seems to eschew imagination, believing that stone cannot talk and attempt to get Quasimodo to believe this as well:
- Frollo: Dear boy... whomever are you talking to?
Quasimodo: My... friends.
Frollo: I see. And what are your friends made of, Quasimodo?
Quasimodo: Stone.
Frollo: Can stone talk?
Quasimodo: No, it can't.
Frollo: That's right. You're a smart lad.
- Frollo: Dear boy... whomever are you talking to?
Furthermore, Frollo appears to be a rather stoic man, always appearing cool and collected, and only shows fear when Quasimodo overpowers him after he prepares to kill him and when he is about to fall to his death; he also shows visible fear when the many eyes of Notre Dame glare at him for murdering an innocent woman upon the cathedral steps. He rarely exhibits any humor, and whenever he does, it's dry and black.
Despite his single-mindedness, Frollo's true weakness is that he cannot feel or understand love for another person, even when he really tries. It was this cruelty and abuse that drove Quasimodo to have very little loyalty towards his master and protect the first two people who ever showed the hunchback true kindness, namely Esmeralda and Phoebus. Nevertheless, Frollo does genuinely try to be an attentive father to Quasimodo while raising him, but ultimately he proves to be too full of hate and arrogance to be a caring parent.
Frollo also appears to be a misanthrope with little to no sense of personalization, despite Quasimodo being the only person to whom he refers by name, as he refers to his soldiers as "You men!" as they prepare to attack the cathedral and usually refers to Esmeralda as "the Gypsy girl" or "the girl".
Physical appearance
Frollo was an aging man, shown by his wrinkled, care-worn face and thinning white hair. As the Minister of Justice and a high-ranking public official, Frollo was most frequently dressed in a black and purple robe, a purple jumpsuit, a purple and black striped tricorn hat with a red sash attached to the bottom, and black shoulder pads with red stripes. The inside of his shoulder pads are purple. He also wears rings on his fingers, two on the right and one on the left, with the jewels colored blue, red, and green.
Powers and abilities
- Authority and Influence: As the justice minister of Paris, Frollo was a rather respected, influential and feared figure among most Parisians, with enough power to give him authority over the Parisian guard, through which he practically rules Paris itself. As a justice minister, he can accuse, send to prison and even sentence to death anyone he wishes, be they criminal or innocent. However, inside the church, he has little to no authority, and must submit to the Archdeacon. As a result of his position as a public minister, Frollo was heavily implied to be an authority and influential figure throughout France.
- Resources: Frollo controls the Parisian guard, allowing him to use them as his personal army, as disobeying him carries the death penalty.
- Enhanced Strength: Frollo's most unexpected attribute is his physical strength, which almost rivals that of Quasimodo. During the climax, Frollo briefly grapples with Quasimodo and is able to hold his own for several moments. He is also able to cut partially or totally through multiple stone gargoyles with a sword.
Appearances
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
At the film's beginning, the corrupt Judge Claude Frollo ambushes a group of Romani people entering Paris illegally. Upon seeing one of them with what he thought to be a bundle hiding stolen goods, he chases the panicked latter to Notre Dame. He then kicks her down the steps of the cathedral, smashing her head in. However, he discovers that her "stolen goods" were actually her deformed baby son. Believing the child to be an unholy demon, Frollo prepares to drop him down a nearby well, but stops at the intervention of the Archdeacon, who reprimands Frollo for killing an innocent woman. Frollo tries to justify his actions, but the Archdeacon rejects his explanation, noting that his heinous act was committed on holy ground, until the judge finally admits his sin. The Archdeacon tells him that the only way to atone for his sin is to raise the boy as his own son, to which he begrudgingly agrees after seeing the stone statues of saints decorating Notre Dame apparently turn their eyes on him. However, he only agrees to save what was left of his soul and because the child might come in handy someday. Frollo names him "Quasimodo" (literally "half-formed") and raises him in the cathedral, hiding him from the outside world, and constantly reminding him that the world will never accept him for his deformity and therefore must remain in the bell tower for his own safety.
Twenty years later, Frollo, now the Minister of Justice, summons the gallant soldier Phoebus from the war to be his new Captain of the Guard, since the last one was "a bit of a disappointment" to him and is being tortured to death in the Palace of Justice. He hopes to clear the Roma out of Paris with Phoebus' help. While attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo discovers a Romani dancer named Esmeralda, who attracts him with her beauty. Shortly afterwards he learns that Quasimodo has left the bell tower against his orders, entered the Festival and was crowned the King of Fools. Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo when the latter is being publicly attacked by the crowd, allowing the humiliation to continue in order to teach him a lesson, even when the hunchback pleads for Frollo's help; he even delays Phoebus' request to stop it. He is enraged when Esmeralda openly defies him for his cruelty and frees Quasimodo. In retaliation, he orders Phoebus to arrest her. After witnessing her vanish in a cloud, he rashly concludes her to be a witch and immediately orders Phoebus to bring her in alive. With the crowd's help, Esmeralda escapes into the Cathedral, where Frollo finds her speaking with Phoebus and orders him to force her out of the Cathedral. He is rebuffed by the Archdeacon, who orders them all out. Frollo pretends to leave before catching Esmeralda by surprise and laying hands on her. He reveals his lustful feelings for her by smelling her hair. He then accuses her of twisting his mind with "unholy thoughts," and warns her that he will arrest her if she dares to leave. However, she ventures up to the bell tower and is reunited with Quasimodo, who helps her escape.
Frollo singing "Hellfire".
That evening in the Palace of Justice, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction to Esmeralda, which he believes is turning him to sin, and pleads the Virgin Mary to protect him from her "spell," and to let Esmeralda taste the fires of Hell if she would not be his. Upon learning from the Brutish Guard that Esmeralda has escaped the cathedral, he is enraged and, with his guards the next day, begins a ruthless manhunt to find her, burning down the houses of anyone suspected of sheltering Romani people and interrogating any Roma who are captured. He later attempts to execute an innocent family whom he suspects of interacting with Roma by locking them inside their house and setting it ablaze. An appalled Phoebus finally rebels against him and rescues the family. Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to kill him, but a disguised Esmeralda slings a rock at his horse, throwing him off and buying Phoebus time to escape. The guards fire arrows at Phoebus, resulting in him being wounded and falling into the river, and continue firing until Frollo stops them. They proceed across a bridge to finish the manhunt. Once they leave, the wounded Phoebus is quickly rescued by Esmeralda after being left for dead.
Frollo makes one last attempt to have Esmeralda for his own.
Returning to the smoldering city, Frollo is informed that Esmeralda is still at large. He heads to the bell tower, thinking Quasimodo might have been responsible for assisting Esmeralda. He brings some grapes to share with Quasimodo, and while eating them, he tells Quasimodo he knows he’s hiding a secret; all the while unaware that Phoebus survived and is hiding in the bell tower. Eventually, Frollo deduces that Quasimodo helped Esmerelda escape after finding the wooden figure of her that Quasimodo made. Frollo angrily lashes out at him and is on the verge of physical abuse, but when he realizes he is wasting his breath he calms himself down. Suspecting Quasimodo still has connections to Esmeralda, Frollo lies to him that he has found the Court of Miracles and is ready to attack at dawn, knowing Quasimodo is likely to try and warn Esmeralda. A misled Quasimodo accompanies Phoebus to the Court, and Frollo and his henchmen follow them and arrest the Roma. Frollo praises Quasimodo for leading him to them, admitting that he would never have found the Court without his help. He then notices that Phoebus has survived and remarks that he intends to "remedy that". He tells all the Roma that they will be at a "bonfire" in front of Notre Dame, referring to Esmerelda's execution (and hinting at all of theirs as well), and orders everyone to be locked up. Seeing this, Quasimodo begs him to call off the guards, but Frollo refuses by glaring at him and tells his guards to take the hunchback back to the bell tower, and ensure he stays there.
In the square, Frollo sentences Esmeralda to death with his trumped up charges despite the citizens' objections. Before lighting the fire, he offers to save her from immolation if she chooses to be his mistress. She refuses to become Frollo's lust slave, spitting in his face in contempt, prompting him to burn her at the stake. He watches and smiles sadistically while she passes out from the smoke. But Quasimodo rescues her and returns her to the cathedral, enraging Frollo. When Quasimodo starts dropping heavy debris in the square to drive off Frollo, Frollo orders his soldiers to pick up the same beam Quasimodo drops and use it to break down Notre Dame's doors. Phoebus escapes his cage and rallies the Parisians. Fed up with Frollo's tyranny and appalled by his attack on Notre Dame, the citizens of Paris arm themselves, free the Roma, and rebel against Frollo's guards. Though Notre Dame's ancient doors manage to hold for a while, they eventually break down. Frollo gains entry to into the cathedral, directly defying the Archdeacon when he claims he would not tolerate violence in the church. Frollo ignores him and throws him down a flight of stairs, then locks him out of the bell tower so he will not follow and interfere with him killing Quasimodo.
He then confronts Quasimodo in the bell tower, falsely consoles him for Esmeralda's apparent "death", and attempts to kill him with a dagger. However, Quasimodo notices Frollo's shadow on the wall, dagger raised, and turns on him, resulting in a brief yet violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers Frollo, wrenching the dagger from his grip and throwing him to the floor. Quasimodo then hovers over Frollo with his dagger firmly in hand attempting to strike Frollo, who momentarily abandons his pride and begs Quasimodo to listen to him. Quasimodo refuses while he throws the dagger away and angrily yells out that all his life Frollo has told him that the world is a dark cruel place, but he now sees that the cause of such cruelty is people like Frollo. Just then, Esmeralda awakens, still alive, but weak, and Quasimodo rushes to her side, thrilled that she is okay, and hurries her to safety. Infuriated, Frollo draws his sword and chases them onto a balcony overlooking the city.
Frollo falls into the molten copper.
In his rage, Frollo finally admits that he killed Quasimodo's mother when she attempted to save her baby, much to Quasimodo's shock and horror. Frollo decides to kill Quasimodo himself like he "should have done 20 years ago". In their brief scuffle, Frollo and Quasimodo are left dangling over the square, where molten metal still covers the ground. As Esmeralda desperately tries to save Quasimodo, Frollo manages to recover by standing atop a gargoyle, and raises his sword to strike at Esmeralda. With his eyes and teeth glowing a demonic, fire-like color, Frollo laughs maniacally while declaring his last blasphemy, "And He shall smite the wicked, and plunge them into the fiery pit!" Immediately after uttering these words, the gargoyle he's standing on begins to break loose and causes Frollo to lose his balance, managing at the last second to grab onto it but dropping his sword in the process. While clinging to the gargoyle for life, the stone beast appears to come to life and demonically roars at Frollo, terrifying the latter into screaming. The gargoyle then breaks off completely and sends a screaming Frollo falling to his death into the vast lake of molten metal below.
House of Mouse
Frollo with Grimsby and Grumpy in House of Mouse.
Frollo makes a few cameos in the series, however he doesn't speak, this was at the request of Tony Jay himself. In "Everybody Loves Mickey", he was seen sitting with Grumpy and Grimsby, with all three giving their trademark dry expressions in response to the comedy of Mortimer Mouse.
In "Dining Goofy", he showed to be unamused with the fact that he was seated with the Mad Hatter, calling him Frumpy during the time that Goofy lets Daisy know that he changed the seating chart so that the audience could make new friends, which did not work out.
He also appears in Mickey's House of Villains, but not as one of the villains that take over. Instead, he only appears sitting next to Ratigan in a crowd shot in between the cartoon shorts, taking place before the takeover. During Jafar's reign as host, however, Frollo is nowhere to be seen whatsoever, implying that he possibly left the club before Jafar's plan started.
Printed media
Kingdom Keepers
Artwork of Frollo in Kingdom Keepers.
Frollo appears in the fourth book, Power Play. He is seen in Disney's Hollywood Studios where he attempts to drown Willa commanding the Green Army Men. His guards also pursue Willa throughout Epcot.
In the fifth book, he is seen boarding the Disney Dream along with some other villains. He was also mentioned, but not seen, in the seventh book.
Disney Adventures
In the Disney Adventures comic based off of the movie, Frollo's personality generally stays the same. During the scene where Esmeralda is being sentenced to death, he states to her "your time has come" but says immediately afterward that even though her fate has been sealed, "it's still not too late" to change her mind and become his mistress. Like in the film, though, he falls to his death in the molten copper.
Descendants: Isle of the Lost
Frollo is one of the villains who was brought back from death to be imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. He has a daughter named Claudine Frollo who works as the bell ringer at Dragon Hall.
Video games
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Frollo appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance as a villain trapped in his sleeping world of La Cité des Cloches.
When Sora first arrived in La Cité des Cloches, he came face-to-face with Frollo in the town outside Notre Dame. The judge examined Sora, believing him to be Romani due to his "disgusting attire", but his interrogation of the young Keyblade wielder was interrupted by Captain Phoebus. Phoebus told Frollo that "monsters" have appeared in the square, and he rushed off after Sora who went to defeat them.
Soon afterward, Frollo arrived in the square with Phoebus, where he is furious to see Sora standing before Quasimodo, who is riding a Zolephant. The severity of Frollo's anger only increases when he witnessed Quasimodo flee into the Notre Dame cathedral with help from Esmeralda.
When Riku first arrived, he crossed paths with Esmeralda, who was chased by Phoebus and Frollo. Phoebus asked Riku if he has "seen a gypsy woman", but the Keyblade wielder covered for her and said that he had not, Phoebus reports this to Frollo, after which the judge questions his abilities. Later, after escaping from the Wargoyle that attacked him on the bridge, Riku found Phoebus disobeying and betraying Frollo, who then summoned the fire-breathing Wargoyle that he claimed to be "righteous judgment". Intending to use the power of darkness to "smite the gypsies now and forever", the judge headed to Notre Dame cathedral along with the Wargoyle with Riku in pursuit.
Sometime later, Sora, Phoebus, and Quasimodo traveled to the Court of Miracles to warn Esmeralda that Frollo is on his way and intends to capture her. As Phoebus ordered Esmeralda to take what she can with her and leave, the judge appeared and surrounded the group with an army of Nightmares. Frollo took Esmeralda to the square for a "bonfire" despite Quasimodo's pleas and rendered Sora unconscious.
With the combined efforts of Sora and Quasimodo, Esmeralda was rescued from her execution. Enraged, Frollo chased them toward Notre Dame. When Sora attempts to stop him, he is stopped in his tracks by the Wargoyle that fell from the sky above. Frollo cornered Quasimodo and Esmeralda and revealed the truth about how Quasimodo's mother died trying to save him twenty years ago. Frollo attempted to kill him with his sword but after a series of tussles, he loses his footing and grabs the gargoyle by the neck, saving himself, but the creature comes to life and roars at him. At that moment, the gargoyle breaks off of Notre Dame, and the terrified Frollo plummets to his own doom in the flames below the cathedral, a sight only was seen on Sora's side of the story. In Riku's story, his reaction to the above was slightly different, laughing maniacally as he falls to his death, with it being implied that he committed suicide. He is voiced by Corey Burton since Tony Jay passed away prior to the game's release.
Musical
Norbert Lamla as Frollo in the stage musical.
Frollo appears in both the German and North American musical adaptations of the film. In the German musical, Frollo is revealed to have been a priest in his youth (referencing his role as an Archdeacon in the original novel) and decided that Paris needed to be safe so he became a judge. He hated the Romani people and believed that they were the sole problem with Paris. He took care of Quasimodo as an act of contrition for killing Quasimodo's mother. He hoped that Quasimodo would think like him and his emotional abuse was something that he was unaware of. Frollo became consumed with lust for Esmeralda which drove him insane. He thought the cure was either to possess her or to destroy her.
His fate is changed between the versions of the play. In the German version of the play, he is thrown off of the cathedral to his death by Quasimodo, rather than falling off of the crumbling gargoyle fixture. In the English version of the play, when Esmeralda awakens, Frollo draws his sword and prepares to kill both of them, but then stops, drops the sword, and leaves. This was most likely included in this version of the play to give Frollo a chance at redemption, though whether or not he took that chance is unknown.
In the North American musical, which follows much more closely the original novel, Frollo and his younger brother, Jehan, were raised in Notre Dame after they are orphaned. While Frollo studied to become a priest, Jehan constantly found himself in trouble and was eventually expelled from the church. Years later after becoming the Archdeacon, Frollo learned from a dying Jehan that the latter fathered a deformed child who needed to be looked after, the child being Quasimodo. As penance for the sins of his brother and seeing it as a test of faith, Frollo vows to raise the child to be devout as him. Years later, Frollo sees Esmeralda dance at the Festival of Fools and how she defends her actions in assisting Quasimodo. He offers for her to stay at Notre Dame and learn from him the ways of the church, and indicates his attraction to her which disgusts her. He obsesses over Esmeralda and receives permission from the king to use military power to find her and make her his own.
As in the movie, Frollo offers her his ultimatum to her at the stake before she is rescued by Quasimodo. However, Esmeralda later dies from smoke inhalation and Quasimodo is overcome by grief and blames Frollo for her demise. In his anger over his former master's actions, Quasimodo throws Frollo over the edge of the cathedral to his death.
Disney Parks
Frollo's Disney parks portrait as part of the Villains Unleashed event.
Frollo appears occasionally as a meetable character but isn't particularly common and extremely rare. Ironically, he is nowadays the most common character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to be found at the parks as a walk-around character. Fittingly, he is most commonly found in Disneyland Paris of all the parks around the world.
Disneyland Resort
In World of Color, Frollo makes a small cameo in the opening of the "Colors of Fear" segment, which showcases the darkness of Disney via Disney villains.
Walt Disney World
In Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Fantasmic!, Frollo is one of the leading villains who assists The Evil Queen in her plan to do away with Mickey. He is killed in the end with the rest of the villains.
Frollo also took part in the events, Disney Villains Mix and Mingle and Unleash the Villains.
Tokyo Disney Resort
In Tokyo Disneyland, Frollo is featured in the villains' segment of the show One Man's Dream II: The Magic Lives On!, alongside Maleficent and The Evil Queen. He is accompanied by the mysterious red-hooded men seen during "Hellfire".
In Starlight Dreams, Frollo, alongside a legion of Disney Villains, plots against Mickey Mouse and friends in a domination scheme. In the end, however, they are foiled.
Differences from the source material
- Frollo in Victor Hugo's original The Hunchback of Notre Dame book was far more compassionate, caring, and tragic, as well as a considerably more sympathetic character than the Disney film, and was 36 years old, whereas he was around 66 years old in the Disney version.
- In the book, Frollo was the archdeacon of Notre Dame. The Disney version gives the role of archdeacon to a new character while giving Frollo the role as the City of Paris' Minister of Justice.
- In the book, Frollo was an orphaned child, with his parents being killed by the plague.
- In the book, Claude Frollo had a younger brother named Jehan Frollo, who does not appear in the Disney version.
- In the book, Frollo was revealed to be a gifted academic fluent in several languages and studied law, medicine, science, theology and even alchemy, whereas the Disney version does not explore Frollo's academic side (although, he is evidently politically knowledgeable, especially when considering his position as the Minister of Justice).
- In the book, Frollo willingly adopted Quasimodo out of sympathy when his mother abandoned him as an infant. In the Disney version, Frollo is compelled to adopt him in order to make up for his sin.
- In the book, Frollo named Quasimodo after the Notre Dame holiday Quasimodo Sunday. In the Disney version, he named him after his deformity.
- In the book, Frollo taught Quasimodo to communicate via sign language after he lost his hearing. As Quasimodo was not deaf in the Disney version, he taught him to read instead.
- Frollo in the book only becomes the villain when Esmeralda enters the picture. His lust drives him insane much like in the Disney version. Speaking of which. Disney's version of him is shown to be a man with a god complex and warped morals long before he even meets Esmeralda.
- In the book, Frollo hears Esmeralda's pained cries as she is being tortured, and stabs himself, later showing the wound to her to prove his unbearable infatuation for her. Esmeralda is unfazed however, and blinded by her love for the womanizing Captain of Guards, Phoebus.
- In the book, the day before Esmeralda is to be hanged, Frollo feverishly leaves Paris, overcome with his sorrow, and the insanity he believes that has come upon him. Unbeknownst to him, though, Esmeralda has been saved from the gallows by Quasimodo.
- In the book, Frollo tries to force himself on Esmeralda when he realizes he cannot have her. Though Quasimodo prevents him from doing so, the Paris authorities seize Esmeralda and have her hanged. When seeing Frollo laugh at her demise, the enraged Quasimodo throws him off the bell tower and he falls to his death. In the Disney version, Frollo makes no attempt at forcing himself on her, though he does give her a choice to either become his mistress or be burned alive, and he eventually falls down the cathedral and into molten lead when a stone gargoyle he stands on mysteriously breaks.
- In the book, Frollo never explicitly forbade Quasimodo from leaving Notre Dame, though he did discourage him from doing so as he knew how the Parisians would react to his deformity.
- Although Frollo was biased against the Roma as well as those he viewed as "heathens" in the book, he was not as extreme as he was in the Disney version.
Relationships
Gallery
Trivia
- Frollo is considered to be one of the darkest of all of Disney´s villains. In fact, Disney was intent on having Frollo to be as evil and as vile as possible (as well as being blinded to the consequences of his actions), in an attempt to avert the trope "Evil is Cool", common to many Disney villains. However, it did not work, as, despite their best efforts, Frollo became a popular villain anyway, and in some fans' cases even inferred he was closer to being the good guy.
- Ironically, in the early production of the film, Frollo was originally going to be a fully fleshed out three-dimensional character (which would've at least been closer to his original version's self), so what he did was understandable, but not excusable.
- When Frollo falls to his death in the boiling inferno beneath the cathedral, it is meant to symbolize that his soul is now trapped in eternal damnation in the fires of Hell for all eternity as punishment for all of his actions, ending his tyranny once and for all. Ironically, his final words in life were, "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit.", referring to Quasimodo and Esmerelda, but he himself was the "wicked" who was "smitten and plunged into the fiery pit".
- Frollo was Tony Jay's most iconic voice role and he has stated that it was his favorite one of his career.
- Frollo represents four of the seven deadly sins:
- Pride: Due to his perfectionist nature, Frollo considered himself as above all humans and completely flawless (although "Hellfire" shows him begging God for mercy on both their souls, so he is at least somewhat aware that what he plans is a sin).
- Lust: Frollo infamously lusted after Esmeralda and is very obsessive about her, despite being a Romni (or "gypsy") herself.
- Wrath: Frollo has an excessive desire in punishing and murdering several innocent people even for no reason, including the Romani people.
- Envy: Similar to his sin of "Wrath", Frollo is resentful and unemphatic towards Quasimodo due to his connection with the Romani, even so he arrogantly mocks his sense of freedom and joy.
- He seemingly felt guilty for two of his sins: killing Quasimodo's mother and his lust for Esmeralda. Though, consistent with his self-righteous personality, he tries without totally believing himself to blame his sins on external forces, such as the Devil, Esmeralda, or even God himself (whom he blames for having made Man weaker than the Devil). Even so, he does not fully convince himself with those lies and he still fears for his soul because of those sins, asking the Lord for mercy numerous times.
- The filmmakers briefly considered having Quasimodo killed off, since that is his fate in the original novel. He was originally supposed to be stabbed by Frollo, then Esmeralda regains consciousness and tries to save him by killing Frollo. Phoebus was then supposed to meet up with them, and Quasimodo's last wish was to ring the bells one last time. They take him to the bells, then Esmeralda and Phoebus help him ring the bells as he dies. The final shot was going to include Esmeralda and Phoebus crying over their best friend as the people of Paris cheer for their success, unaware of Quasimodo's death.
- The filmmakers originally wanted Esmeralda to kill Frollo in order to save Quasimodo. Esmeralda would have jumped onto the ledge, then grabbed Quasimodo's hand. Frollo would have attempted to kill Quasimodo with his sword, then Esmeralda would have kicked Frollo off the cathedral, causing Frollo to fall to his death. This idea was ultimately abandoned, as having a heroine kill the villain was considered improper in a family film and may have gotten the film a PG-13 rating. Disney would later go on to allow the heroine to directly kill her film's villain in Mulan.
- A Frollo toy was a prize that fans could find in a box of Cheerios cereal to promote The Hunchback of Notre Dame's theatrical debut as an animated feature film.
- Anthony Hopkins was offered the role, but he turned it down.[2]
References
External links
Claude Frollo (Disney adaptation) on WikipediaJudge Claude Frollo on Villains Wiki
- Claude Frollo on Kingdom Hearts Wiki
- Claude Frollo on Disney Media Wiki
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