Heaven's Light
is a Fusion Fic written by Finmonster between The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled.
This is the tale of a meeting between two dreamers. It is a tale of love and acceptance. Of obsession and greed. Of a princess and a witch. A knight and his steed. A thief and a dancer. But most of all, it is a tale of a man and a monster.
There are 19 chapters and the story is completed. A sequel, Seven Days in Corona, is also complete; also takes place before The Dragon and the Bow.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Claude Frollo who uses isolation, verbal abuse, emotional dependence, all leading up to outright physical assault on Quasimodo. Averted with Mother Gothel who unlike her canon counterpart grows to love Rapunzel and even regret kidnapping her from her real parents.
- Action Girl: Rapunzel shows some skill in battle, while Esmeralda is as good a fighter as anyone else in the story.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Esmeralda with all three of the men who were interested in her in canon: Frollo lusts after Mother Gothel instead of her, Quasimodo falls for Rapunzel instead of her, and Captain Phoebus.. doesn't fall for her at all. Instead, Eugene falls for her.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Due to being Eugene's son instead of Phoebus with Esmeralda, Zephyr has jet black hair and a tan complexion while still having his mother's green eyes.
- Adaptational Heroism: Mother Gothel, unlike her canon counterpart, grows to love Rapunzel and ends up sacrificing her life to save her from Frollo. Her main drive to use the flower and then Rapunzel's hair is also explicitly stated to be fear of dying in the fanfic, while in the movie it's heavily implied that vanity and obsession over looking beautiful also played a part.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In the original Tangled, the Stabbington Brothers are basically thugs who Flynn and Gothel are able to effortlessly manipulate and betray. Here, they're pretty intelligent in their own right, observing Quasimodo's athletic skills while he's escaping the guards, and deciding to recruit him as their agent in stealing the crown instead of Flynn Rider. Additionally, they are able to manipulate Quasimodo into agreeing to their plans by appealing to his bitterness at being humiliated by the people of Corona so that he will want revenge; and later on, they convince Frollo to let them guide him to Clopin's hideout at the Snuggly Duckling Inn by telling him that if he tortures them for information, they can lie to him. Indeed, Frollo is so impressed by their boldness and cunning that he recruits the Brothers as his right-hand men. That said, they're not as intelligent as they think they are. If they hadn't discussed their plans to betray Quasimodo and kill him as soon as he delivers the crown to them within earshot of Quasi himself, he'd never have abandoned them and taken the crown with him. Granted, they didn't know he was there, but still...
- Adaptational Villainy: Granted, Frollo was already Disney's darkest villain in canon, but he never tried to overthrow a king and enslave his daughter.
- Adapted Out: Corona's original unnamed Captain of the Guard doesn't appear in the fanfic, since Phoebus takes his place in the story.
- Ambiguously Bi: Esmeralda. Instead of getting very close to Frollo when she's doing her sensual dance at the Festival of Fools, she has an Almost Kiss with Queen Susanne herself. And then she kisses her nose before vacating the Queen's lap. Certainly King Henri's rather amused by his wife's bashfulness. It's possible that Esmeralda was just putting on a show for the audience, but we know she definitely likes men, because she falls for Flynn/Eugene over the course of the story.
- Another Story for Another Time: "Have I told you all the story of the Highland Princess and the Dragon Rider?"
- Babies Ever After: The ending of the last chapter flashes forward years into the future showing that Quasimodo and Rapunzel, as well as Eugene and Esmeralda, have children.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Rapunzel and Quasi fight back to back in the final battle.
- Bargain with Heaven: Gothel makes one with Soleil, exchanging the extra years of life she has taken to bring Rapunzel back to life.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Gothel uses her charms to trick Frollo into helping her in her search of Rapunzel. She regrets it later when he starts to obsess over her.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: While he finds her beautiful the second he sees her, Quasimodo also falls for Rapunzel because she's a very nonjudgemental person who looks past his appearance and sees his real personality.
- Beta Couple: Esmeralda and Eugene. Tellingly, I See the Light has been slightly rewritten to be a four-voice song featuring them, and Quasimodo and Rapunzel, at the same time. Both couples share their first kiss at the end of the love song.
- Birds of a Feather: Among other things, Quasimodo and Rapunzel bond over the fact they have authoritative parental figures who make them stay in a tower and forbid them to go outside. They share the same desire of seeing the world, which is best exemplified when they sing Out There as a duet. At the end of the song, Quasimodo agrees to help her follow her dream because he feels they're kindred spirits. Both are also artists, and very agile when it comes to climb, jump or swing around buildings.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: A male version with Phoebus, Eugene, and Quasimodo, respectively.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Frollo's actions do not please the Sun god, and it leads to his death in similar fashion to the movie.
- Burn the Witch!: Frollo attempts to execute Rapunzel and Gothel through fire by claiming they are witches.
- Butt-Monkey: Phoebus goes through a lot of abuse catching up to Quasi's group. Needless to say, by the time he does so, he is not pleased.
- Carry a Big Stick: Vladimir wields a heavy mallet as a weapon.
- Composite Character:
- Maximus appears to be combined with Phoebus's horse Achilles. Though Achilles does show up in the Distant Finale as Eugene's horse.
- Additionally, Eugene himself. Apart from taking the role of Esmeralda's eventual Love Interest from Captain Phoebus, he also takes the place of Quasimodo's gargoyle friends as the singer of A Guy Like You, since by this point Quasimodo's left the cathedral behind after stealing Rapunzel's crown.
- The Stabbington Brothers take the place of the Brutish and Oafish Guards from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- Cool Big Sis: How Rapunzel sees Esmeralda.
- Dance Battler: Esmeralda's fighting style is described as very fluid and dance-like.
- Darker and Edgier: A bit, at least compared to Tangled. The narration of some fights depicts them as more brutal and realistic than in the Disney animated films. For instance, at one point Rapunzel assaults Drake Stabbington to protect Quasimodo, and actually bites a part of his ear off. Violence also isn't toned down when Quasimodo is beaten up by Drake Stabbington, and he's later flogged by Frollo as punishment for defying him.
- Death by Adaptation: Frollo's horse Snowball's fate wasn't revealed in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but in this story he's killed by Maximus.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- Mother Gothel dies from relinquishing her remaining life-force to Lord Soleil in order to revive Rapunzel, then tackles Frollo over the balcony while ageing to death, letting herself fall once he dies first. In Tangled canon, she dies when Eugene cuts Rapunzel's hair and she starts rapidly ageing, then Pascal trips her up with a length of Rapunzel's hair so that she falls out the tower window. In both cases, however, she crumbles to powder before she reaches the ground.
- Also, Frollo himself. In Disney canon, he dies when the gargoyle he's standing on to behead Esmeralda gives way below his feet and he falls, still clinging to it, into the lake of liquid copper surrounding Notre Dame. Here, the afore-mentioned Mother Gothel tackles him over the balcony, he grabs a gargoyle to save himself, but Lord Soleil himself makes the gargoyle burn Frollo's fingers so that he carries on falling, and he lands on the burning stake he tried to kill Gothel and Rapunzel on in the first place. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
- Dirty Cop: Frollo's guards are corrupt, power hungry and are shown shaking down merchants for money.
- Dying Declaration of Love: At Gothel's encouraging, Rapunzel calls out to Quasimodo that she loves him right before she dies of smoke inhalation on the stake. She gets better. Later.
- Eviler than Thou: Gothel's no saint, but when she gets mixed up with Frollo, it's clear who the bigger bad is.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humour: When he's about to force Gothel to choose between him or the stakes he's going to burn her and Rapunzel on otherwise, Frollo replies to Gothel's taunt of "bite me" with "Not yet, my dear. You're not done roasting." That's nearly as atrocious as his "Whip my men into shape" quip to Phoebus in canon (you know, 'cause he's having his former captain of the guards literally ''whipped'' only a few feet away from Phoebus)
- Evil Redhead: Played straight with the Stabbington Brothers, subverted with Quasi, as per canon.
- Exact Words: When Rapunzel promises to obey Frollo if he'll let her heal Quasimodo, she then cuts her hair off after saving Quasi's life, observing that she isn't breaking her word as Frollo never told her not to do that.
- Eye Scream: In order to help Maximus defeat Snowball, Pascal climbs onto Snowball's head and pulls on his eyelids, distracting him.
- Face Death with Dignity: Gothel willingly sacrifices her life and calmly tells Quasi she is no longer afraid of death before dying.
- Faux Affably Evil: The Stabbington Brothers fake friendliness to Quasimodo in order to convince him into stealing Rapunzel's crown for them, but once he finds out they were using him and abandons them, they're a lot less friendly by the next time they meet.
- Fix Fic: A minor variant. In the original The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo defends the cathedral by surrounding it with a moat of liquid copper. The copper stays around long enough for Frollo to fall into it right after he declared that God will "plunge (the wicked) into the fiery pit", but inexplicably vanishes by sunrise in time for Quasimodo and his friends to leave the cathedral. To resolve this small inconsistency, here, Quasi doesn't surround the cathedral with liquid copper at all, and the "fiery pit" Frollo falls into is the same wooden stake he attempted to burn Gothel and Rapunzel on beforehand.
- For Want Of A Nail: After watching Quasimodo escape the guards after the Festival of Fools, the Stabbington Brothers decide to recruit Quasimodo as their agent in stealing the Lost Princess' Crown instead of Flynn Rider. This means Quasi ends up being chased by Maximus and the guards, and he's the one that finds Rapunzel in her tower.
- Fusion Fic: The story takes place in Corona with the Hunchback of Notre Dame characters and places added in. The plot involves points from both stories.
- Girl in the Tower: Rapunzel, of course. Quasimodo himself is a rare male example. When the two of them meet, this common ground is what creates an (almost) instant bond between them.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Quasimodo's fighting style. This is also how Phoebus and Eugene fight when disarmed.
- Good Shepherd: The Archpriest is repeatedly shown to be a good, pious man and cares deeply about Quasimodo.
- Hated by All: Practically no-one in Corona likes Frollo. As far as King Henri thinks, though, the Minister of Justice is not supposed to be popular, he's just supposed to do his job. Of course, Henri himself stops approving of Frollo once he tries to usurp the crown at the end.
- Heroic Sacrifice: During the climax, Gothel sacrifices herself to save Rapunzel.
- Also, Rapunzel, after healing Quasimodo from the stabbing Frollo gave him, cuts her hair and strips it of its magic, knowing that Frollo will sentence her to death once she becomes useless to him.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Once Eugene starts to open up to her, Quasimodo, and Rapunzel, Esmeralda is quick to deduce that his selfish superficially charming 'Flynn Rider' persona is just a shell he uses to hide his true personality.
- High Priest: The Archpriest is the respected leader of Eglise Soliel.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Downplayed with King Henri. He knows that Frollo is not a popular Minister of Justice, but he thinks he's still a reliable man to do his job. He doesn't expect Frollo to betray him and try stealing the throne.
- Honorary Uncle: Emilee calls Eugene and Esmeralda "Uncle" and "Auntie", respectively.
- Hypocrite: Frollo, as per canon. He wants to take the throne of Corona to get rid of all those he considers criminals, but he looks the other side when his guards extort money from merchants or is willing to recruit the Stabbington Brothers, ACTUAL criminals, as his personal guardsmen.
- If I Can't Have You…: As per canon, Frollo tries doing this with his lust object (in this case, Gothel instead of Esmeralda), but he also tries it with Rapunzel, who has just cut and de-powered her hair, to ensure that he can't use its youth-restoring abilities to be an immortal tyrant of Corona. In contrast to Esmeralda, Rapunzel actually does die on the stake. Temporarily..
- I Just Want to Be Free: Both Quasi and Rapunzel desire to escape from their towers and explore the outside world.
- I Will Show You X!: As Frollo's guards siege the Eglise Soliel, Quasimodo tells Gothel he'll show them a "monster"."All my life people told me I'm a monster. If they want a monster so bad, I figure it's about time I give them one."
- Jawbreaker: Maximus kills Snowball by kicking him in the jaw, hard.
- Jerkass Ball: Phoebus is shown to be one of Corona's most open-minded persons. However, when he finally catches up with Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Rapunzel, and Eugene, he's furious because he thinks they betrayed his trust when he helped them earlier, and because he was washed up by the water they released during the chase. He ends up insulting Quasimodo's appearance in his anger-induced rant. He feels bad for it afterwards, and the heroes use it to convince him to help Rapunzel see the Festival of Lights.
- Kneel Before Frodo: In the end, the King and Queen kneel before Quasimodo for saving their daughter, followed by everyone else.
- Knight Templar: Frollo plans to seize the kingdom to purify it from sin.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Frollo tries forcing Gothel to be his sex slave in all but name, and when she refuses, he tries to burn her and Rapunzel at the stake. At the climax, Gothel tackles Frollo off the cathedral balcony, and he ultimately falls onto the same stake and dies a flaming death.
- Also applies to the Stabbington Brothers. By tricking Quasimodo into stealing Rapunzel's crown, they get him branded a criminal, and deprived of his job as Eglise Soleil's bell-ringer. After their master Frollo dies, they're punished for their actions by being forced to replace Quasi as bell-ringers themselves, while Quasimodo gets to live in the palace as Rapunzel's consort.
- Love at First Sight: Downplayed. Quasimodo doesn't immediately fall heads over heels for Rapunzel, but it's pretty clear from the start that he has some infatuation with her - one glance is enough for him to deem her the most beautiful girl in the world, even Esmeralda can't compare to her in his eyes, and after she hugs him because he agrees to help her see the lanterns, he blushes. Getting to know her better, and to know her personality better, only strengthens his feelings.
- Love Redeems: Gothel's love for Rapunzel causes her to reject Frollo, apologize for all the pain she's caused and ultimately sacrifice her life to save Rapunzel's.
- Mama Bear: Apart from Rapunzel's actual mother, Queen Susanne, and Gothel herself, the Archpriest of Eglise Soleil first discovered the flower from which Rapunzel derives her powers when a literal bear ate the flower in front of him to heal itself from trap-induced injuries. That same bear later shed the power of the flower with her fur, and passed down the power to her baby.
- Martial Arts Staff: While she's handy with a sword, Esmeralda's favored weapon is a staff.
- Meaningful Name: Corona worships a sun god called Lord Soliel, which is anagram of Soleil, the French word for sun. His wife the goddess of the moon is called Lady Lune, the French word for moon.
- Morality Pet: Quasimodo for Flynn/Eugene. The latter confesses to Esmeralda that Quasi reminds him of the younger kids he used to tell stories in the orphanage, so he can't bring himself to betray him and steal the crown.
- Mr. Exposition: A brief example, but unlike in canon, here Frollo explicitly tells Quasimodo how he killed Quasi's mother, although he admits that he has no idea if either of the men she was with when he first caught her were Quasimodo's father.
- My Greatest Failure: More like, My Father's Greatest Failure. Phoebus' father was the Captain of the Guard when Gothel stole the baby Rapunzel. Frollo uses this to belittle him quite a few times.
- Mythology Gag: A villain stabs Rapunzel's Love Interest, leaving him in danger of bleeding out, and Rapunzel offers to be the villain's prisoner for life if they will let her heal the injured Love Interest, and then afterwards, her hair gets cut and rendered powerless. In this case, however, the stabber is Frollo, not Gothel, the Love Interest is Quasimodo, instead of Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert, and Rapunzel cuts her hair herself, albeit after successfully healing Quasi.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- The King and Queen are named Henri and Susanne; at the time the story was written, they were unnamed until they're revealed to be Frederic and Arianna in Tangled: The Series.
- Also, the Stabbington Brothers are called Drake and Fletcher.
- Necessarily Evil: This is how the King sees Frollo, and the reason why he trusts him as his Minister of Justice. He knows Frollo is a harsh merciless person, but also thinks that his job isn't to be loved, but to keep order. As far as Henri knows, Frollo is a competent official who has managed to reduce crime. (Of course, the King isn't aware of the general corruption of Frollo's guards.)
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: When Phoebus escapes from captivity, he is so angry he savagely beats the two men guarding him.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Numerous characters in the story have these. Frollo has Snowball, Esmeralda has Djali, Phoebus has Maximus, Rapunzel has Pascal, and Quasi has Victor, Hugo and Laverne, though the last three get less screen-time, since Quasi spends most of his time outside the cathedral. At the end of the story, Eugene joins in by getting Achilles, Phoebus' horse in canon.
- Oh, Crap!: Frollo's response upon realizing, while he's hanging from a gargoyle, that the mysterious voice he insulted was Lord Soleil himself, and he's about to send Frollo off to a fiery death. All Frollo can do is beg for mercy that Lord Soleil doesn't show him.
- Oh, My Gods!: Most characters say "Sun above" instead of "Oh my God," due to the sun based religion of the setting.
- Pet the Dog:
- When Frollo remarks his disgust towards Esmeralda dancing, the Queen defends her saying the gypsy's having some fun. Then, as if thanking her in her own way, Esmeralda sat on the Queen's lap and kiss her on the nose (which she did with Frollo in the original film).
- Just like in canon, Flynn Rider is vocal about his dislike of singing. However, after Quasimodo is feeling down because he thinks Rapunzel could never love him back, he sings A Guy like You to cheer him up. He also does it because he feels guilty for having tried to seduce Rapunzel to take the crown. It's a big step in his Character Development.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Pascal the chameleon is able to carry a book larger than his own body to the Snuggly Duckling Inn to convince Clopin and his resistance members to save Rapunzel.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: As per canon, Frollo. In this case, though, his antiziganism is downplayed (because not every hero in this story is Romani), while his misogyny is played up (the way he treats Gothel, Rapunzel, and Queen Susanne).
- Rags to Royalty: During the story, Quasimodo goes from living in the cathedral bell tower as an outcast to living in the palace as the princess' consort.
- Rage Against the Heavens: At one point, it seems the Sun god is speaking to Frollo, condemning him for his actions. But he shuns them, saying he's doing what he believes is for the greater good. Only too late did he realize his actions angered the Sun god.
- Redeeming Replacement: Phoebus replaces Frollo as the Minister of Justice at the end of the story, and he proves to be a better man.
- Redemption Equals Death: Gothel gives up the magic keeping her young to save Rapunzel's life and she ages to death.
- Related in the Adaptation: Zephyr is the son of Esmeralda and Eugene in this story.
- Rousing Speech: Phoebus gives one to try to rally the people of Corona behind him during the final battle. It works. Even some of the guards end up defecting from Frollo's side to join him.
- Saintly Church: Eglise Soliel and the religion of Soliel in general are shown to be generally interested in the welfare of the people.
- Seduction-Proof Marriage: They're not married or even in a relationship at this point, but when Eugene tries to charm Rapunzel into running off with him so he can take her crown and abandon her, all she can talk about is Quasimodo. Ultimately, he feels guilty, changes his mind, and apologises to Quasi for it.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
- Shout-Out:
- While fighting the Stabbington Brothers, Rapunzel has an exchange with one of them that brings to mind a similar exchange between Rachel Dawes and the Joker from The Dark Knight.
- When an aged-up Gothel confronts Frollo during the climax, she pretty much gives the Ancient Booer's speech.
- Several little shout-outs can be found throughout. In that same chapter, Phoebus gives a speech that works in snippets from Charlie Chaplin's speech in The Great Dictator.
- The titles of all the chapters are references to Disney songs.
- Suddenly Shouting: Frollo, after Rapunzel rattles him with her "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Frollo (to guard): Get me a torch.Guard: Sir?Frollo: GET ME A DAMN TORCH!!!
- Taking You with Me: Gothel throws herself and Frollo off the cathedral at the end.
- A Taste of the Lash: Frollo personally flogs Quasimodo for continually defying him.
- Teach Him Anger: When Quasimodo is chained in the cathedral at the climax, Hugo the gargoyle uses this trope with him to get Quasimodo to break his chains and save Rapunzel. In contrast to canon, where he has to see his loved ones in danger, this time Quasi's gargoyle friend is successful.
- Title Drop: Quasimodo sings Heaven's Light with Esmeralda upon realizing he's in love with Rapunzel.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Phoebus deals with this dilemma when he finally catches up with Rapunzel, Quasi, Esmeralda and Eugene. He chooses Good. Later, during the final battle, Phoebus confronts the guards of Corona with the same choice. Some of them choose to defect from Frollo's side.
- Took a Level in Badass: Quasimodo in the climax.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After he finally catches up to Quasimodo and friends, an enraged Captain Phoebus accuses Quasi of being one of these, because he repaid Phoebus letting him escape the guards after the Festival of Fools by stealing the Lost Princess' crown. Of course, Phoebus doesn't know that the Stabbingtons encouraged Quasi into stealing the crown.
- Villain Reveals the Secret: Frollo reveals to Rapunzel that she's the Lost Princess, and her "mother" stole her from the cradle as a baby. Naturally, she doesn't take it well.
- We Can Rule Together: Frollo makes this offer to Gothel when he reveals his plans to her. Also overlaps with Scarpia Ultimatum, because if she refuses him, he'll tell everyone that she's the person who kidnapped baby Rapunzel.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Quasimodo calls out Flynn/Eugene upon working out that he's planning to seduce Rapunzel and take the crown from her. He then follows it up by offering the crown to the thief and telling him to take it and leave, while Rapunzel and Esmeralda aren't watching, since that's the only thing he cares about. Thankfully, Eugene already had a Heel Realization earlier, and he apologizes to Quasimodo and refuses the crown.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Phoebus has this internal reaction anytime Frollo praises him.
