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Today is a big day for all of you lovers of ’90s Disney movies. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the only kid’s movie to feature a villain threatening to burn a village to the ground unless a woman sleeps with him. Welcome back to the surprisingly uplifting animated version of Victor Hugo’s dark story, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Fun fact about me: For a solid year of my life, I would only respond to the name Esmerelda. I have no idea why I identified so completely with this canonically badass gypsy woman, but I did. However, picking such a disturbing movie to obsess over probably explains a lot. As far as Disney movies go, this one is pretty dark. The main tension is Frollo’s aforementioned struggle with his sexual desire and loyalty to his religion, so yeah. There’s a lot of heavy stuff already going on. Why not add in a crazy internet fan theory to make your few remaining shreds of Hunchback happiness disappear?
WHAT’S THE THEORY?
Do you remember those fun gargoyles, the only semi-humans who loved Quasimodo unconditionally? According to this Redditor’s theory, they never existed. Instead, Quasi used the statues as a way to project his subconscious need to not be alone for once in his miserable life. Hope everyone brought tissues!
WHY IT’S NOT THAT CRAZY
We’ll start with the one person besides Quasi who should know whether or not the gargoyles are alive — Frollo. Because he’s Quasi’s (evil) keeper, he’s the character who spends the second most amount of time in that bell tower. Frollo directly calls Quasi out for talking to stone in this exchange:
Quasimodo: My … friends.
Frollo: I see. And what are your friends made of, Quasimodo?
Quasimodo: Stone.
Frollo: Can stone talk?
Quasimodo: No, it can’t.
Frollo: That’s right. You’re a smart lad.
Because this is a Disney movie, the commonly held belief is that the gargoyles can transform into stone whenever they want. If I were them, seeing Frollo would definitely be the perfect time to pretend to be inanimate. However, in a movie that has no other magical plots or artifacts,isn’t it more likely for Quasi to be imagining all of this? As the original poster points out, The Hunchback of Notre Dame isn’t a magic-fueled romp like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast. This is a movie that’s based in realism to the point where the central conflict stems from Frollo’s repressed lust for Esmeralda. It’s dark.
However, Frollo isn’t the only character who doesn’t recognize the gargoyles. When Esmeralda walks in after “A Guy Like You,” all she sees are three stone statues and Quasi messing with a shrine made out of garbage. But as with all fan theories, there are some darker implications to this one.
The entire movie is based on the premise that, even though he looks like a monster, Quasi is a good guy. However, the gargoyles cause actual death and destruction, from pouring molten lava on people from above to throwing the sinister Frollo off a roof. If these characters don’t actually exist, then there’s only one culprit left — Quasimodo. On a narrative level, this makes more sense. An abused boy who grew up to be an abused man remains hidden from the world and is constantly told he’s a menace to society — it’s not super far-fetched to think a character like that would be unstable. Quasi’s need for human companionship could believably lead him to imagine three best friends, on whom he blames all of his transgressions. In short, the gargoyles aren’t real, but they’re a coping method Quasi uses to keep his sanity.
WHY IT’S QUESTIONABLE
During the aforementioned scene when the gargoyles are fighting in the final battle, the three stone guardians interact with people in several ways that Quasi likely can’t. There’s just not enough time for him to be causing all of the destruction that the gargoyles cause. But more importantly, this is a Disney movie. The idea that its main character is suffering from a longform mental breakdown feels needlessly cruel. However, this is the kid’s movie that contained an alarmingly sexual scene involving a woman dancing in the fire. In that context, Quasimodo actually being a sadder figure with an even looser grip on his sanity than we originally thought isn’t too farfetched.
