This is a little photoshop image I did. It’s essentially Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame Esmeralda, Quasimodo, and Phoebus in the costumes of their counterparts from Notre Dame de Paris. The costumes are like Digital Textures.
Disney Hunchback characters cosplaying as Notre Dame de Paris Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Phoebus
Here are the pictures I used from Notre Dame de Paris for the fan-art;
Helene Segara as Esmeralda from Notre Dame de Paris
Phoebus asking for Esmeralda’s name Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus is the dashing and handsome captain of the guard. Due to this namesake, Phoebus (Apollo) he has a very yellow look, gold armor, blond hair and a beard. He has a bit of a Roman look. His beard, with cape his hair style, aquiline nose are all more Roman than late medieval.
Oddly enough, Phoebus’ only describe featured in the book is his mustache which is in the “Burgundian Style.” Phoebus is first Disney guy to get facial hair, so kudos to Disney for at least taking something from the book as a basis. Well one could argue that in the 23 version and the 39 version Phoebus had a mustache, so who knows what Disney was going off of, besides the production crew. At least they went there and gave him some form of facial hair The important this is that Phoebus should be handsome, he can be a jerk, a hero or a gloried extra but he must be a pretty boy, and Disney at least did that.
Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Disney Phoebus Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus concept art isn’t much different than how he appears in the movie. However he looks like John Smith from Pocahontas. For More Concept Art of Hunchback
Concept Art of Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art of Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art of Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
John Smith Disney Pocahontas
I mean, It’s John Smith with a beard.
Phoebus’ Useless Golden Armor
Phoebus’ armor Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus wears the most useless armor ever, honestly I don’t know why he bothers with it, maybe the gold makes him feels special or pretty but clearly it’s just for show. Djali hits him in the gut and inflicts some pain but when a candelabra hits him the face he shakes it off. He gets shot with an arrow through back and yet it almost got his heart and he nearly drowns in it.
Djali in gut Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus after getting hit by Djali Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus being hit by Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus being hit by an arrow Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Frankly he’s better off without the ornamental armor.
Phoebus noticing Esmeralda’s “Disgusting Display”
Phoebus’ look is pretty generic looking considering the rest of the characters. He’s conventionally handsome with a slight roman look mix with a little John Smith through for good measure.
Phoebus and the Map Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Phoebus Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The result is a tad on the boring which is why his look didn’t change much from the concept art.
Esmeralda is the most divergent character in the Disney version from the book in both looks and personality. I already talked about her personality, now let’s look at her looks.
Disney Esmeralda Hunchback of Notre Dame dancing
The Disney Esmeralda looks 100% a traveler*. She has a darker complexion, dark hair, and light green eyes (with no glint). Her eyes also do not change color pending on how much light is in the space, which kind of makes them look witchy. She keeps her hair pulled back which it creates volume. This bigger hair makes her look older. When her hair is down she looks younger. Her hair also has a slight curl. Though in the middle of the epic running away from Frollo, her hair looks straight but that could just be inconsistencies in animation or the wind, take your pick. But it does look straight. However it also fair to point out that this voluminous hairstyle was on trend in the late 90s.
Esmeralda complimenting Quasimodo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Her age is very vague. Most of the Disney characters have a rough age range or they just say how old they are like Ariel and Jasmine. With this shift in Disney heroines being somewhat more independent and less dreamy, they appear to be older than the typical “Disney princess” (except Tiana, I would say she is like a compromise between the archetypal Princess and the confident independent heroine of the late 90s).
The question is how old is Disney’s Esmeralda? With the age inflation that Disney implements, I’d say she most likely 22 at the youngest, which is “old” for a Disney heroine. The long and short of it is, Esmeralda is meant to be older like “she’s been around.” This is not my phasing, watch the commentary, it’s the scene where Esmeralda is helping Quasimodo from the pillory. To listen to the commentary, The DVD.
One reason why this version made her older could have been to help establish her relationship with Quasimodo as more maternal, more like a big sister than romantic. This could have made her pairing with Phoebus appear more palatable for the audience, though given a lot of bad-faith internet discourse it didn’t really work that way.
19th Century Illustration of Esmeralda with Djali
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame Dancing
How Does the Disney Character Design Compare to the Novel?
Against the original novel by Victor Hugo, Esmeralda’s looks are very different. Esmeralda is never described in graphic detail but she’s described as very beautiful frequently by many characters. Disney Esmeralda is meant to be beautiful certainly but she is never called beautiful in the movie. The closest mention to her looks is Clopin saying she’s “The Finest Girl is France.”
19th century Illustration of Esmeralda
Esmeralda’s Dance Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Esmeralda in the book is not genetically a full traveler*. Her mother is a French women and while her Father could have been a traveler, it is never actually mentioned who was her father.
Esmeralda has a golden skin tone, black hair and black eyes. Part of Esmeralda’s charm in the book is her innocence and her total unawareness of her own beauty. Disney’s Esmeralda is the complete and utter opposite; she knows her appeal, exploits it and given that quote by the director Kirk Wise that I mention earlier, I’m not sure how innocent is in the movie. So it safe to say that Disney did not use Hugo for even a basis of Esmeralda’s design.
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Concept Art for Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Looking at the concept art, Esmeralda started off looking more youthful and somehow along the way she lost the youthful look. My guess the vocal inspiration turned the tables on the character design. Alas Demi’s Moore doesn’t sound youthful, at least not when the film was recording the voices. For More Concept Art of Hunchback
Esmeralda giving Frollo a peck on the nose Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
It’s actually not Disney’s fault that Esmeralda’s looks/acts sexy whereas Hugo’s Esmeralda did not. The fault lies in the film history of Hunchback movies.
Esmeralda has long been depicted as sexy or at least no stranger to feminine charms. Esmeralda has also been depicted by actresses who are more known for their sex appeal. Such actresses have been Stacia Napierkowska, Theda Bara, Gina Lollobrigida and Salma Hayak. Also Disney models their characters after the voice actor playing them, so with the choice of Demi Moore it was inevitable that Disney Esmeralda was going to be sexy and follow the line of sexy Esmeraldas.
Demi Moore
In a featurette of the movie, Moore said she could see herself in Esmeralda’s animation. While Disney took their cues from the 1939 version, I think Esmeralda’s look was based somewhat on Gina Lollobrigida’s Esmeralda as well as Demi Moore (maybe, I can’t really tell, I haven’t seen a ton of Moore’s films discern her mannerism and/or acting style in Esmeralda’s animation.)
Esmeralda Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Gina Lollobrigida as Esmeralda Hunchback of Notre Dame 1956
*Since 2021 the blog has been using the words Travelers or Nomads or Romani to convey the group of people that Esmeralda is associated with while trying to be respectful. You can read that post here. I do tend to favor the travelers usage.
Quasimodo’s Character Design – Mostly Cute and Rounded
Quasimodo’s Reveal
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In an effort to get the audience of Quasimodo’s side, Directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale gave Quasimodo a gentle disposition made compete with a kind look. He has big, friendly doe eyes, a full head of red hair and wears a green tunic. Two of the more uglier factors are his big stub nose and his teeth (large teeth in the front of his mouth). I mean for Disney he’s ugly but for Quasimodo he’s adorable. I think Disney was afraid of making Quasimodo too ugly and risk scaring people off of seeing the movie.
Quasimodo gazing at Esmeralda
Quasimodo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Quasimodo accepts Esmeralda and Phoebus as a couple Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
It’s also interesting to mention and I’ll be mentioning this again, that for many characters in the movie there is not glint in the eyes. Many of the characters their eyes are just small black pupils, exception would be Esmeralda who has green irises, black pupils, and no glint. Quasimodo is one of the few who does has a sparkle in the eyes (other are Djali (though inconsistent) and the little girl who gave Quasimodo a hug, who doesn’t have it till the final even though you see her at the beginning.) Maybe this glint is indicative of innocence, an inconsistencies, or playing favorites? I dunno. I can understand why Quasimodo would have it but for Djali and little girl (only at the end) to have it and no one else, I sense a deeper reasoning here. I’m going with innocence.
Quasimodo shine in the eye Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Djali Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Little Girl Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
How does Disney Quasimodo Compare with Book Quasimodo?
Oh not at all.
I said Quasimodo is adorable here. In the book he is not, not at all. Quasimodo is described by Victor Hugo as having a horse-shoe mouth, a small left eye with bushy red eyebrow, a right eye that’s completely hidden by a monstrous wart, uneven broken teeth with gaps that project out like tusks, callous lips, and forked chin. He was also described “a giant who had been broken and badly put together again. Disney’s Quasimodo looks like to extent but everything about is soft and round. His mouth is normal. His eyes are both visible despite the protrusion, His hair isn’t bushy in the slightest, it’s smooth and straight and he eyebrows are slightly think but not bushy. His teeth are uneven but not like tucks. He doesn’t have callous lip or a forked chin (he hardy has either).
Illustration of Quasimodo
Quasimodo Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Same Character and Yet No Comparison
In the concept art for Quasimodo ranges all other the place. Sometime he look scary (the way he should look) and sometimes almost handsome ( he just needs a haircut, and eyebrow plucking). For More Concept Art of Hunchback
A Monsterous version of Quasimodo Concept Art Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The closest to movie version Quasimodo Concept Art Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Jockish looking Quasimodo Concept Art Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Quasimodo in the scope of things is just deformed, not ugly. There are ugly people in the crowds in the movie and they don’t have the crutch of deformties for an excuse. I mean Frollo is no looker himself.
So we’ve looked deeper into the characters of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame now let’s look at them on a shallower level. Of course I mean looks.
Looks are always important with a Hunchback adaptation as you have the extreme beauty and the extreme ugly in the characters. I mention looks briefly in the character analysis but I’m going to a step further is reviewing looks now. So Let’s Get Superficial!!!
Not that I’m trying push my humble little Hunchback wares but I wanted to share some new shirts with you good people. Not sure I’ll continue doing the “what would would X do” but we’ll see. Quasimodo, Frollo, and Esmeralda are the trifecta characters anyway. The what would shirts are based on the book. I hope these shirts at least cracks a smile, or two. Edited 3/1/12 I added a Gringoire shirt and a Cartoon Rendering of Quasimodo, because who does want to wear a picture of Quasimodo on their person….
A Memorable Character who has no affect on the plot is The Old Heretic (voiced by Gary Trousdale one of directors who as did non-baas for Djali). The guy who yells “I’m Free’ after getting out of some form of confinement but then immediately gets into a new one and then proclaim “Dang it” because they can’t use the word Damn, but they used “danmation” twice maybe that was the quota for the G rating which the film was already pushing.
The Old Heretic railing against the cruel hand of fate Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
So why I’m I bothering with this character?
Well, he’s funny, he’s a running gag done well. You see him twice, it the same joke but it’s funny. And though the film goes out of it’s way to do this joke, it feel natural and not forced. Mainly because of control freak Frollo it’s believable that an old guy would be locked away in a cage for X number of years. But odd that a stock would left open during a festival.
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Old Heretic looks likes Jafar from Aladdin in his disguise (this make four cameos by other Disney characters, others are Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Carpet (Aladdin), Pumbaa (The Lion King) and the Baker (Beauty and the Beast.)
Jafar Disguise Disney Aladdin
Belle, Carpet, and Pumbaa
Maybe the Jafar Disguise is the default look for Disney’s prisoners. If Disney made a version of the Count of Monet Cristo, Abbe Faria would probably look like Jafar/Old Heretic too.
Baker Figurine Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Baker Disney Beauty and the Beast
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Little is known about the Old Heretic. We have no idea why he is a heretic or even how old he is. You don’t even learn that he is supposed to be a heretic. One thing that we do know is this; he has a Confinement Destiny*. He just a gag no more no less. But in the scope of a running gag it’s enjoyable.
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Old Heretic Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
*This is a lame joke relating to Ananke (very simply it means Death Destiny.) Ananke plays a big part in the novel and I’m making up another type of destiny, it’s a lame joke, I have a Lame Joke Destiny.
The main characters of Disney’s Hunchback don’t give us much indication of how “normal” people of Paris conduct themselves. Quasimodo is a forced shut-in, Frollo essentially King, Esmeralda and Clopin are outcasts, and Phoebus, well he just comes off too perfect to really be associated with “normal people.”
So which characters represent as Frollo put it are part of “the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd”? That would be the two guards that are seen throughout the movie. They are credited as the Brutish Guard (voiced by Corey Burton) and the Oafish Guard (voiced Bill Fagerbakke aka Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants. ) I’m just going to call them as Brute and Oaf.
Esmeralda, Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
We first see Brute and Oaf harassing Esmeralda because she’s a Romani and judging by all the gold in her hat, she is probably better paid then them. Anyway they try to assert their authority but then became submissive when Phoebus out ranks them. They are quite stupid, they shoo away people to show Phoebus to the Palace of Justice, but when viewed from behind you can hear them still shooing people but there is no there. These guy are all talk and no action, Djali can take them with very little effort.
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf are the main cause for the getting the plot moving. Yes, it’s all them. If wasn’t for them, Quasimodo would have been King of Fools without incident and Frollo would just have been mad at him. But because Oaf throws a tomato (where did he even get that) it sets the chain of events into motion. The Crowd throws food at Quasimodo then ties him down, Frollo refuses to help, Esmeralda helps Quasimodo, Frollo gets mad at her, she defies him and hello chase scene and obsession. Thank you Oaf and Brute for being common, vulgar, weak, and licentious and getting the plot in motion.
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
So Brute and Oaf represent the common people, they promote distrust in authority figures for Esmeralda, cause the plot to take off but that not it. They also provide some humor. Brute provides Achilles with a sit and oaf provides some amusement being an oaf and all. Plus Oaf’s voice sounds comedic (Patrick from Spongebob). But don’t count on them in a pinch – storming a certain cathedral – they’re no help at all.
Brute and Oaf Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Basically Brute and Oaf are glorified extras but they do something for the plot unlike some glorified extras that are memorable but do nothing for the plot, just add humor.
Some Lore. In 2011 I joined Squidoo. Squidoo was ad-sharing writing platform where users could create a single page (a lens) on any topic. I started writing content on the Hunchback to help drive traffic back and forth between the blog and my “lenses.” In 2014 Squidoo shut-down and the content transferred to Hubpages.
Hubpages was the same type of site, a little less cheeky but much the same. Hubpages didn’t exactly shut-down but it cut users off from the revenue earning. So many of the users, myself included, opted to remove their pages from the platform.
Frollo of Notre Dame de Paris
Daniel Lavoie as Frollo Notre Dame de Paris
So back in the early days of my time at Squdioo, I was obsessed with Notre Dame de Paris. I got the idea to dedicated pages to performers of each role throughout the different casts. Frollo was actally the second of this series of articles, I started with Esmeralda but I posted Frollo’s lens and not Esmeralda’s not sure why.
These pages did transferred over to Hubpages and I did try to keep up with them over the years. They were very time-consuming and hard to maintain. In fact I forgot to do Phoebus’ page entirely till 2022, that’s on me.
I think my original plan was to have the lenses of all the performers on a different platform and do more in-depth reviews of the performers on the blog but I never did that. I might but it can be very hard to source clips of the performers from over a decade ago and I’m not sure I want to anymore.
However do know that it’s very doubtful I will add these articles to the blog as they were too unwieldily to keep up with. This is due to the fact that show is still going. There are new performers all the time. It’s great for the show but hard to keep up with and update. Plus organizing the page was getting harder since there was gap in French Language casts with the revival and performers like Daniel Lavoie being in multiple different productions casts and languages. It was a lot in the end.
On the Plus Side
The good news is you don’t even need me to repost these articles because The Notre Dame de Paris Musical Fan Page has you covered. They keep up with better than I ever could and I no shame is admitting I used them as a resource many times.
Bad side is I think at one point they used one of my related Hubpage articles as a source which made me feel special but that article is gone so no more feeling special.
Another Minor/major Characters is Quasimodo’s nameless mother (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman). She’s not in the film long but she’s quite important.
Quasimodo’s Mother Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Very little is know about her other than she’s a Romani, she wants to live in Paris, and she tries to keep Quasimodo away from Frollo. In trying to protect Quasimodo from Frollo she brought them together. Frollo then uses her as a way to manipulate Quasimodo in to remaining loyal to him. Frollo would tell Quasimodo that his “heartless” mother abandoned him as a baby. This keeps Quasimodo grateful and loyal to Frollo. It’s not till Frollo tries to kill Quasimodo that Frollo tells him the truth.
Quasimodo’s Mother Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Quasimodo’s Mother Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Quasimodo’s mother raises a lot of question. We know she’s a Romani and she’s a mother, but Quasimodo looks (coloration wise) nothing like her. Was she his biological mother or she did adopt him? Or maybe (like in the sequel) boy-children look like their fathers and nothing like their mothers? And would that mean that the man with Quasimodo’s mother was not her husband/lover? My guess given her looks and her interaction with the Romani guy is that he was her husband. Originally I though that the did adopt Quasimodo but genetics can be expressed in very usual ways so she might in fact be Quasimodo’s biological mother. It’s however immaterial, she is his mother in every way that matters.
The Murder of Quasimodo’s Mother Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
Disney used the death of Quasimodo’s mother to reinforce the point that they read the book. Quasimodo’s mother dies the same way Esmeralda’s mother does in the novel. Spoiler’s – Esmeralda’s mother, Sister Gudule (Paquette Guybertaut a.k.a La Chantefleurie) dies trying to save Esmeralda from the gallows and is push to the pavement, hits her end and dies.
In the book Sister Gudule prayed for 15 years to have her child returned to her if only for an instant, classic case of be careful what you wish for. She and Esmeralda were reunited for only a few hours.
Quasimodo’s Mother Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame
So Quasimodo’s mother is a very important element to the story as she helps establishes Frollo and Quasimodo relationship and she reinforces it by Frollo being a lying and manipulate jerk (but he’s the best Disney villain so kudos to you Frollo on every terrible thing you do).
