Archdeacon

"Judge Frollo learned a long ago to respect the sanctity of the church..."

- The Archdeacon

The Archdeacon is a character from Disney's 1996 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is enemies with Claude Frollo. He is voiced by David Ogden Stiers who also did the voice of Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast.

He first appears near the end of the movie's prologue, condemning Frollo for his cold-blooded murder of an innocent woman on the steps of Notre Dame Cathedral, as well as his attempting to murder the woman's baby. Though Frollo refuses to accept responsiblity for his crimes, the Archdeacon points out that if he does not repent God will punish him. Considering this for a brief moment, Frollo agrees to listen to the Archdeacon, who tells him to care for the baby he was about to murder and raise him as if he were his own son, which Frollo reluctantly accepts.

The Archdeacon appears twenty years later protecting Esmeralda from Frollo's wrath when she seeks sancturay in the cathedral. Esmeralda expresses disgust with Frollo and also the callousness of the crowd that was tormenting Quasimodo earlier. The Archdeacon points out that Esmeralda cannot right all of the wrongs in the world by herself but nevertheless urges her to seek inspiration from God. After Esmeralda sings "Gold help the Outcast" he notices Quasimodo being scared away by a parishioner who mistaken him causing trouble and is also attempting to stop Esmeralda from following him, he stops the parishioner and throws him out and let Esmeralda follow Quasimodo.

The Archdeacon's final scene is in the climax, where he attempts to dissuade a now completely unhinged Frollo from assaulting Notre Dame, only for his pleas to fall on deaf ears as Frollo pushes him down the stairs and locks the door behind him to stop the Archdeacon from interfering with his goal to kill Quasimodo. The Archdeacon last appears briefly when Esmeralda and Phoebus emerge from the cathedral after Frollo's death.

Differences from the novel
In the original book, Claude Frollo was a troubled archdeacon. In this version, Claude Frollo was converted into a completely evil judge and the archdeacon takes all his good qualities. This was likely done to avoid controversy.

Trivia

 * Although the Archdeacon was the one who originally saved Quasi's life, the two are never seen together onscreen. Though it is possible they may interact offscreen.