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Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower, lives the mysterious bell ringer. Who is this creature? What is he? How did he come to be there?
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~ Clopin
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Go on. Nobody wants to be cooped up here forever.
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~ Quasimodo shows his compassion to the baby bird.
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No, you listen! All my life you have told me that the world is a dark cruel place! But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about is people like you!
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~ Quasimodo standing up to Frollo.
Quasimodo is the main protagonist of Disney's 34th full-length animated feature film The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and its 2002 sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.
Like in the novel, he is adopted by Frollo, deformed and lives in solitude in the bell tower, and falls in love with Esmeralda. In the Disney version, he befriends three gargoyles named Victor, Hugo, & Laverne who come to life, as well as Phoebus who ends up with Esmeralda.
He was voiced by Tom Hulce, who also portrayed Amadeus. In Kingdom Hearts 3D/HD: Dream Drop Distance, He is voiced by Ari Rubin.
Contrary to his in-universe hideous outward appearance, Quasimodo is not a monster at all. He is a gentle soul who only wants to fit in with everybody else. In Clopin's opening narration he is the man (ugly on the outside yet selfless and beautiful on the inside) in contrast to his father-figure Judge Claude Frollo (normal-looking on the outside yet vile and repulsive on the inside) as the monster.
However, while Quasimodo was a gentle creature, the man who raised Quasimodo, Frollo, was extremely prejudiced and hid him away in the bell tower of Notre Dame so that no one could see his repulsive appearance as nobody would accept him (which was initially true). Eventually Quasimodo began to see his place in society as the monster Frollo made himself out to be. However, he did not share his master's cynical and misanthropic views and only wanted to be a part of them.
He was also raised in Frollo's beliefs (in the dark judge's ideals the gipsies were evil and revealed genocidal intentions to their interests). However, Quasimodo showed no hatred towards gipsies and actually fell in love with one, the gipsy girl Esmeralda.
Quasimodo is quite artistic, over the years being locked away in Notre Dame he was able to construct his own miniature Paris and the townspeople (such as the weaver and the baker, etc.)
However, Quasimodo also has an aggressive side. After helping Esmeralda escape the cathedral and meeting Captain Phoebus at the top of Notre Dame, he then yells defiantly to the soldier: "No soldiers! Sanctuary! Get out!" all the while wildly swinging a torch in his face. This hostility also shows while he violently fought off Frollo's soldiers who were attacking his sanctuary. In either case, it only proves Quasimodo's undying devotion towards Esmeralda.
Perhaps Quasimodo's strongest trait is his never-ending loyalty toward people who show him kindness which proved to be Frollo's undoing as he couldn't feel love for another person besides himself and never showed Quasimodo anything resembling love or kindness which is why he betrayed him for a person who did. After being humiliated at the Feast of Fools and then being saved from an angry mob by Esmeralda, he repaid her by assisting the gipsy girl in escaping the cathedral and later fending her off against the entire army of Frollo's soldiers. Quasimodo used to be slightly naive, as he didn't see Frollo as a cruel man despite his obvious abusive mistreatment over the poor boy, but only showed loyalty because he rescued her from being killed (when Frollo was prepared to drown him as a baby if the Archdeacon had not stopped him and only adopted him out of selfish fear of his mortality).
In the end, despite not getting the love of his life, he was able to flourish Phoebus and Esmeralda's romance and was able to achieve his dream of being accosted by the townsfolk of Paris.
Appearance
Quasimodo is a short person. He wears a green shirt, brown pants, and teal shoes. He has a hump on his back, plump arms, and his head is deformed. He has red hair and bluish-green eyes.
Trivia
During the song "A Guy Like You", the gargoyles dress Quasimodo in a white powdered wig, a possible reference to Quasi's VA Tom Hulce's acclaimed role in Amadeus.
Tom Hulce, who voiced the character, also does the singing voice, coincidentally, Hulce had dreams of being a singer when he was younger.
Tom Hulce recorded the line, "What? What am I supposed to do? Go out there and rescue the girl from the jaws of death and the whole town will cheer like I'm some kind of a hero? She already has her knight in shining armor and it's not me! Frollo was right... Frollo was right about everything... I'm tired of trying to be something I'm not." in one take.
Quasimodo earned his name from the Italian word for the holiday. It also means half-formed, as he suffered deformities.
Quasimodo is the etymology of the Jurassic fish genus Quasimodichthys, which is also known for having a high back like him.
The filmmakers briefly considered having Quasimodo killed off, since that is his fate in the original novel. He was originally supposed to be stabbed by Frollo, then Esmeralda regains consciousness and tries to save him by killing Frollo. Phoebus was then supposed to meet up with them, and Quasimodo's last wish was to ring the bells one last time. They take him to the bells, then Esmeralda and Phoebus help him ring the bells as he dies. The final shot was going to include Esmeralda and Phoebus crying over their best friend as the people of Paris cheer for their success, unaware of Quasimodo's death. Luckily, this is not the ending that was used because even hardcore fans of the novel agree that the ending they used instead was a more suitable conclusion for the theme of this film.
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