History Fridge / TheHunchbackOfNotreDame

** The song "Hellfire" ''itself' qualifies because of the lyrics, [[BilingualBonus especially if you can translate the Latin,]] and even more once you know about the history of the [[CorruptChurch Church]]. That functions on three different levels of [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel horrifying]]... To clarify, the [[OminousLatinChanting background Latin]] in "Hellfire" is a real version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confiteor "Confiteor"]]; the main lyrics are likely Frollo's response.

** This troper distinctly remembers sitting in the theater with my parents, utterly confused during ''Hellfire''. [[ChildrenAreInnocent (I was seven at the time.)]] In the silence after the song, I looked over at my dad, who was wearing a look of absolute shock and horror on his face, and heard him whisper "Holy shit." FridgeHorror at its finest, folks.

* At the end of the film, Frollo probably destroyed all but one of Esmeralda's dresses so that she can be executed properly, and had Esme almost executed in the one dress he did not destroy: a white dress. Now consider where Esmeralda hid that dress the whole time...
** [[spoiler: Underneath her purple one (the one she normally wears).]]

!!!FridgeHorror

!!!FridgeBrilliance
* The opening musical number "The Bells Of Notre Dame" starts with a line sayings its the story of a monster. While it seems to be refering to the mysterious bell ringer, it quickly becomes obvious that Frollo is the real monster in the story.
* As different as the Disney movie is from the original book, you could justify it by saying that the Disney version is the version that Clopin is telling to the kids he's performing for, [[UnreliableNarrator while the book's version is closer to what really happened.]]
* During the song "Heaven's Light", which is about Esmeralda, the gargoyles draw their impressions of Esmeralda. [[ComicRelief Hugo]], however, draws Esmeralda's ''[[NonHumanSidekick goat]]''. The book had a character who was married to Esmeralda but found himself liking her goat much better. Maybe the ShoutOut wasn't intentional, but it's still pretty amusing.
* Why were gargoyles placed in cathedrals? To ''protect them'' from evil. That's exactly what they do during the siege of Notre Dame and Frollo's death scene.
* In the song Hellfire, Frollo seems to beg forgiveness from God in the beginning but reveals his true feelings about Esmeralda by the end of the song. The structure of the song is exactly parallel to Quasimodo's song 'Out there'. In the song, Quasimodo is begging for forgiveness for thinking of the festival in the first half but reveals his true feelings about the festival by the end of the song. Both songs follow the structure of false loyalty followed by their true desires. Either this was used to contrast the two or show that Quasimodo really did inherit some traits from his adoptive father.
* Many people blame Disney for making Esmeralda fall for Phoebus and not for Quasimodo, arguing that it conveys the idea ugly people can never be loved. Except the point of the story is not love: it's how monstruous-looking Quasimodo is really human while human-looking Frollo is really a monster. Having both characters experience an unrequited love / desire and react very differently to it enable to clearly see this divide.
* When the Archdeacon tells Frollo that he can't run or hide from the eyes of Notre Dame, there's a double meaning. It doesn't just refer to the cathedral, "Notre Dame" is French for "Our Lady". This states that Frollo has incurred the wrath of the Virgin Mary

!!!FridgeHorror

* FridgeHorror: Admit it, when you first saw this movie, you had no idea what ''Hellfire'' was ''really'' about.
** The musical makes the talking gargoyles much more obviously hallucinations/wish fulfillments by Quasimodo's damaged mind. The equivalent of Jason Alexander's Hugo in the film is pretty much the same, but the Victor gargoyle is made into more of a loving father figure, and the female of the trio is changed into a beautiful angel gargoyle named Loni, who seems to be [[OedipusComplex both his source of motherly affection and romantically approachable]]. This is weird enough, but then you get to the final scene, in which Quasimodo is hesitating throwing Frollo off of the cathedral. Frollo pleads "You don't want to do this!", and Charles leans into Quasimodo's ear and whispers, "Yes, you do."
** The first time we see Frollo hunting for Esmeralda, he locks an innocent family inside a house and tries to burn it with them inside (including the children). Fortunately, Pheobus saves them, but later we see that a good portion of Paris has been burned down. With no one to help people escape, it is heavily implied that Frollo just executed mass murder.
** Also, one wonders if Esmerelda is the first woman Frollo lusted after...
*** Given how horrified he is by both his "weakness" and his belief he's been bewitched, I think it's safe to say that she is. If he'd gone to such insane extremes before, he probably wouldn't have been around to see her in the first place.
** It's implied that Frollo's level of abuse seen in the movie is his normal behavior.
** How many innocent people has Clopin executed thinking they were Frollo's spies?
** A traditional way to scare children in many European countries is that if they disappoint their parents they'll sell them to [[AcceptableEthnicTargets the Gypsies]]. Now picture why Quasi does not look like his mother at all.
* FridgeLogic: Frollo burns a house down after locking the family inside. Why would you design a door so it could be barricaded shut from the outside?

** Victor Hugo's full name was Victor-'''Marie''' Hugo. The two male gargoyles are called Victor and Hugo, after him. The third and female gargoyle is called... Laverne. Huh?
* FridgeBrilliance: The opening musical number "The Bells Of Notre Dame" starts with a line sayings its the story of a monster. While it seems to be refering to the mysterious bell ringer, it quickly becomes obvious that Frollo is the real monster in the story.
** As different as the Disney movie is from the original book, you could justify it by saying that the Disney version is the version that Clopin is telling to the kids he's performing for, [[UnreliableNarrator while the book's version is closer to what really happened.]]
** During the song "Heaven's Light", which is about Esmeralda, the gargoyles draw their impressions of Esmeralda. [[ComicRelief Hugo]], however, draws Esmeralda's ''[[NonHumanSidekick goat]]''. The book had a character who was married to Esmeralda but found himself liking her goat much better. Maybe the ShoutOut wasn't intentional, but it's still pretty amusing.

** As different as the Disney movie is from the original book, you could justify it by saying that the Disney version is the version that Clopin is telling to the kids he's performing for, [[UnreliableNarrator while the book's version is closer to what really happened.]]

** As different as the Disney movie is from the original book, you could justify it by saying that the Disney version is the version that Clopin is telling to the kids he's performing for, [[UnreliableNarrator while the book's version is what really happened.]]

* FridgeBrilliance: The opening musical number "The Bells Of Notre Dame" starts with a line sayings its the story of a monster. While it seems to be refering to the mysterious bell ringer, it quickly becomes obvious that Frollo is the real monster in the story.

* FridgeBrilliance: The openning musical number "The Bells Of Notre Dame" starts with a line sayings its the story of a monster. While it seems to be refering to the mysterious bell ringer, it quickly becomes obvious that Frollo is the real monster in the story.

** If you look, it's a handle on the door which conveniently serves as the barricade support. That said, fridge logic might come into play if one questions exactly what that house is made out of given it's ignition speed...