Judge Claude Frollo

Judge Claude Frollo
Home	Paris, France
Occupation	Judge
Story appearances
Feature films	The Hunchback of Notro Dame
TV shows	House of Mouse
Video games	Kingdom Hearts Series
Voice actor	Tony Jay

Judge Claude Frollo was the main villain in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" voiced by stage veteran Tony Jay.

Place

In UltimateDisney.com's countdown for top 30 Disney villains, he was villain #10 (better then Gaston but less then Lady Tremaine).

Fictional biography

Claude Frollo resides in Paris, France, where he is employed as a Court Judge. A deeply religious man, Frollo uses his position to inflict great suffering upon the gypsy population, believing them to "live outside the natural order" and engage in "heathen" behavior. One night, a group of gypsies attempt to enter Paris, only to be stopped by Frollo and his soldiers. When one of the gypsy women attempts to flee, Frollo pursues and eventually kills her on the steps of Notre Dame, only to realize she was the mother of a hideously deformed infant child. Frollo attempts to murder the infant but is stopped by the Archdeacon, who convinces him that, in order to save his soul from eternal damnation, Frollo must raise the child as his own son.

Naming the child Quasimodo (which means "half-formed"), Frollo raises him within the towers of Notre Dame, attempting to "protect" him from the human world. For all Frollo's strict discipline and religious guidance, Quasimodo remains an optimistic, free-spirited child over the next twenty years. During this time, Frollo has continued to gain power within the city, imprisoning, torturing and killing gypsies while convincing the public of their "evil" behavior. Prior to attending the annual Festival of Fools, Frollo encounters Captain Phoebus, a well-meaning soldier who is assigned the task of locating the infamous Court of Miracles, which the gypsies have taken as their official hiding place.

While attending the festival, Frollo discovers a gypsy dancer named Esmeralda, who simultaneously attracts and disgusts Frollo with her beauty; shortly afterwards, Quasimodo is revealed to have fled the tower and joined the festivities, only to be crowned the King of Fools and publicly humiliated. As the townspeople mock Quasimodo, Frollo refuses to help and is</nowiki> disgusted when a defiant Esmeralda assists him instead. Esmeralda then ridicules and humiliates Frollo before escaping into Notre Dame, while a furious Frollo silently scolds Quasimodo.

Esmeralda claims sanctuary within the cathedral, although Frollo remains watchful of her behavior. That evening, Frollo is disturbed by his attraction for Esmeralda, believing a relationship with a gypsy will result in his eternal damnation (which he expresses in "Hellfire"). In this scene it becomes clear that Frollo is losing his mind as he struggles with his concepts of good and evil and his desire for Esmeralda. During the song he suffers from violent hallucinations, eventually passing out. Unbeknownst to Frollo, Quasimodo has allowed Esmeralda to escape the cathedral, and Frollo begins raiding villages in search of her.

Upon learning of Esmeralda's escape, Frollo is enraged and begins a ruthless campaign to "find the gypsy girl". He later attempts to murder an innocent family whom he suspects of collaborating with gypsies, but an appalled Phoebus intervenes and rescues them; Frollo declares Phoebus a traitor and attempts to execute him, but he is eventually rescued by Esmeralda.

Realizing Quasimodo assisted Esmeralda, Frollo convinces him that the Court of Miracles has been found and will eventually be attacked; a misled Quasimodo follows Phoebus to the Court where Frollo's army attacks and arrests the gypsies. Frollo then sentences her to execution while Quasimodo remains locked in the bell tower. She refuses to become Frollo's mistress and is prepared to burn to death, but Quasimodo escapes, rescues her and brings her to the cathedral. Frollo's men then attack Notre Dame, engaging in a violent battle against the townspeople and Quasimodo, who sends stones from the tower and eventually fills the street with molten lead.

After defying the Archdeacon and flinging him down a flight of stairs, Frollo attempts to murder Quasimodo (in a scene reminiscent of the shower scene from Psycho), ensuing in a violent struggle in which Quasimodo overpowers the deranged judge and informs him that for all the lies Frollo has told him, he knows that the only thing dark about the world is people like him. Esmeralda awakens, and Quasimodo rushes her to safety. Frollo chases him and Esmeralda onto a balcony overlooking the city, engaging in yet another fight with Quasimodo. He eventually confesses to Quasimodo that his mother did not abandon him and that he never saved his life but rather killed his mother, and was originally planning to kill Quasimodo as well, and that he was now going to carry out his true intentions, by throwing him over the edge of the balcony. Quasimodo manages to hold on and pulls Frollo along with him, and Frollo dangles momentarily for his life, but he is soon able to climb on a statue in perfect position to kill them. Frollo laughs maniacally and shouts "And He shall smite the wicked and plunge them into a fiery pit" but as he raises his sword the demonic gargoyle he is standing on starts to break beneath his feet, causing him to loose his balance. Frollo grabs onto the gargoyle for dear life and the figurehead appears come to life and snarls at him, glowing with fiery eyes. Whether the gargoyle actually came to life or if Frollo in his madness was hallucinating again is not explained. The gargoyle crumbles off the cathedral and sends a wailing Frollo to his fiery death below, in pure irony.

Personality

Like many Disney villains, Frollo exhibits a Deadly Sin, his being Lust given his lust for Esmeralda. While the character of Claude Frollo in Victor Hugo's novel was a much more sympathetic and complicated man, in the Disney adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, he is portrayed as a self-righteous, ruthless, vicious and arrogant sociopath. Unlike most Disney villains however, he does not consider himself evil. He is a devout Christian and genuinely believes that he is making the world a better place through his actions. Also while in the book he was the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, in the film he is a Judge so as not to portray the Church in a negative light. Nevertheless his character traits which included racism, religious bigotry and of course lust remained quite mature for a film aimed predominantly at children. Frollo's musical number, Hellfire, whilst being regarded as one of the greatest Disney villain songs of all time, garnered viewer complaints given the overt satanic nature of the song. Frollo to this day is considered one of Disney's best and most frightening villains.

His proclamation of "Bayarte Maria, you know I am a righteous man and of my virtue I am justly proud" suggests that like most Disney villains, he is narcissistic.

Frollo's physical appearence and mannerisms are similar to those of Vincent Price who did the voice of Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective.

Frollo was the final Disney villain of the "Golden Age" to have his own song, and the last one overall until Alameda Slim in Home on the Range nearly a decade later.