Esmeralda

"You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people. You speak of justice yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help!"

- Esmeralda condemns Frollo

Esmeralda is the deuteragonist of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

She is a fearless and streetwise gypsy with a heart of gold (and is very capable of defending herself). She's also able to look beyond physical appearances and is one of the first -- and only -- people in both films to befriend the deformed yet lovable hunchback Quasimodo. Esmeralda is a wonderful heroine whose greatest wish is to see outcasts like Quasimodo and her fellow gypsies be accepted into society and be treated as people. She also seems to be quite witty, as when Phoebus first confronts her in the church, she verbally challenges him. She is quite passionate and demands justice, and displays this at the Festival of Fools, when she stands up for Quasimodo while the crowd jeers at him.

She is very beautiful and attracts the attention of three men during the course of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasimodo is the first to fall for her as soon as he meets her during the Festival of Fools. Claude Frollo takes a (rather unhealthy) liking to the gypsy as well, and develops a perverse and twisted obsession with her. Accusing her of witchcraft, he attempts to have her burned at the stake, forcing her to choose him or the fire, only for Esmeralda to reject him. The last of the three men to fall for her is Captain Phoebus, and he is eventually the one who winds up earning her love in return after Esmeralda realizes that he is not like Frollo's other men.