History Headscratchers / TheHunchbackOfNotreDame

[[folder: Ending Questions

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** And Esmerelda may have known that it was Frollo's RESPONCABILTY to intervane in situations that like that. (Which is probably why he had to attend the festival in the first place, despite how much he loathes it.) Both refusing to help poor Quasimodo, AND objecting to her intervention, soley because Quasi is deformed (she didn't know of their pre-existing affiliations yet at this point) demonstrates that he's as unfairlly spiteful to the deformed as he is to Gypies. And how he rigged the justice system to benifit himself in that regard. Both of these are used in her speech ("You misstreat this poor boy the SAME way you misstreat my people! You speak of justice, and yet you are CRUEL to those in need of youre help!")

*** Not to mention, this is set in a time when certain people were considered infalliable. One did not just question a public official. If he had just let her go, most would have either done the above and gone "cool, he's acting normal again" or said "oh, okay," and gone about their lives.

* On a more practical view of the situation, why doesn't Esmeralda use Frollo's offer to her advantage in order to escape the execution? She could easily accept, and later knock him out (or even outright kill him - she is shown to have no qualms with violence as long as it's self-defence) and escape. She's used to avoiding guards and using cloak-and-dagger skills (smoke bombs, vanishing tricks, posing as a beggar) to her advantage. It's assumed, that Frollo would want some...privacy, and let's face it, she's a young woman at her physical peak, and he's an old man. Frollo is only able to grab her in the cathedral because she doesn't see it coming, and even then, Esmeralda manages to wrench herself free with some effort. If they would be facing one-on-one, and if Esmeralda would be able to get her hands on some kind of an improvised weapon (candlestick, crucifix, water pitcher to name a few that should be found from almost any room) she would overpower him easily.

*** Frollo is not thinking very clearly in that scene. What he should have been doing, if he claims to be rightious, would be to repent of his sin (lust). He is right that that he can't 'beat' the devil alone, hence the need for God's help. Rather than seek and submit to God's will, though, Frollo seeks that his own will be done, and we all know how that turned out.

** She couldn't be at all certain that the gypsies at the Court of Miracles would take kindly to Phoebus; they would see him as one of 'Frollo's men' who was responsible for their persecution. Just her word that he had done a heel-face turn likely wouldn't be enough to convince them to trust him, they might well suspect him of being a spy and be reluctant to take care of him. Given the friendship she had established with Quasimodo, she relied on him to do her a favour and look after him.

** There's also a nice PersecutionFlip, albeit a minor one. The gypsies have been stereotyped and written off as thieves, heathens, criminals etc - so they respond by stereotyping the others as racist persecutors. It all goes to show that stereotyping and demonising the group for the actions of the individual is going to result in the suffering of innocent people.

** And real life racism doesn't have a justification to it. It's systemical - where people are raised with the beliefs that they are superior to those who are different. Frollo simply hates them at heart because they are different from him - and he uses the stereotypes of conmen, seductresses and witches to justify this irrational hatred.

** If the fainting wasn't all smoke inhalation, but instead a mix of smoke + fear/adrenaline crash (See above headscratcher about fainting. Almost getting killed than getting swung onto the cathedral is going to be intense and scary) and pain, than she may be able to recover faster.

** Frollo was quite likely killed by the impact of hitting the ground if the lead was less deep than it appears. If it's as deep as it looked (based on him disappearing into it), it's probably best not thinking about what his death was like being submurged in molten lead.

* How the hell did Frollo first became Evil?j

** As the story take place in 1482, I'd say the succession war for the Burgindian Stae ("Guerre de Succession de Bourgogne") that lasted from 1477 to 1482, and involved the french king Louis I de Valois against the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg.

*** ''Very'' good observation; exceptions include ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' (where it would have been impossible anyway), and ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''.

** As the story take place in 1482, I'll say the "Guerre de Succession de Bourgogne" (War of the Burgundian Succession) that lasted from 1477 to 1482, and involved the royal dynasties of the Valois (Louis XI) vs the Habsburg (Maximilian I).

La Divina Tragedia!![[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Disney version]]

** You know they did stuff like this in ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' and everyone just thought it was funny, right?

** Also, there's a trend with many of the Disney Renaissance movies...during the climax, the hero, at one moment or another, has the perfect opportunity to kill the villain, but decides not to, often along the lines of "I'm not a man like you." Afterwards, the villain will attempt to kill the hero, often in the most absurd way possible, resulting in his death, which he [[{{Hoist by His Own Petard}} inevitably brought upon himself.]] Its seen in ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''Disney/TheLionKing'', ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', and ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}''.
*** ''Very'' good observation; exceptions include ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' (where it would have been impossible anyway), and ''Disney/{{Mulan}}''.

** And see the climax of ''{{Disney/Tangled}}'' where, even after learning that Gothel kidnapped her and emotionally abused her for years (as well as stabbing her lover right in front of her) all for her hair, Rapunzel still instinctively throws her arms out to save Gothel when she falls out the tower window. Frollo has spent years being Quasi's abuser but also his only father figure. A relationship like that is very complicated, and the feelings towards it even more so - especially after the victim has finally realised that the abuser is an abuser. If Quasi had killed Frollo then and there, he'd alternate between relief and guilt because - abuser or not - he'd have killed his only father.

** During TheMiddleAges, gypsies were stereotyped as notorious con artists who stole money, kidnapped children (Like Sarousch in [[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII the sequel]]) and had fortune tellings, palm readings etc. That sort of thing was considered witchcraft, which is unholy in Frollo's mind. And he was hardly the only one who hated gypsies in those days. He just happens to be in a position of power where he can actually do something about it. Essentially he believed they were all heathens and criminals.

** Don't know why you couldn't look this up yourself, but Wikipedia says the building underwent reconstruction during the 1800s.

* the Palace of Justice, the place where Frollo sent those gypsies appears as an gothic castle in the movie, in real life present day Paris, it's now look like a Baroque building, what happened to the original?

*** That man was worried about their well-being. The "Shut it up will you!" Line can be understandable in a life and death situation.