Claude Frollo

Unreleased

Claude Frollo is a character who appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Development
Frollo was the first Disney villain confirmed for the game, and he was first revealed to appear in the game in a November issue of V-Jump, where he is depicted in a screenshot meeting Sora alongside Phoebus. He is also seen in another screenshot harassing Esmeralda, and the same scene in the Jump Festa 2012 trailer depicts Sora charging towards him with his Keyblade drawn.

In the February 2012 Special Trailer, he is seen facing Riku on the balcony of Notre Dame, surrounded by darkness and setting the Gargoyle Dream Eater on him.

Appearance
Frollo appears as an aging man, defined by his wrinkled face and white hair. As the Minister of Justice and a high-ranking public official, Frollo is most frequently dressed in dark robes, a purple and black striped hat with a red ribbon attached, and shoulder pads with red stripes. He also wears rings on his fingers, two on the right and one on the left, with the jewels colored red, green, and blue.

Origin
Frollo's original appearance dates back to 1831 in Victor Hugo's classic novel, Notre-Dame de Paris, where he is the Archdeacon of Paris and the novel's tragic villain. This incarnation of the character first appeared in the 1996 adaptation, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where he was changed from a tragic figure to a fully-fledged villain. In this version, he is the Minister of Justice of Paris, and apparently the ruler or Governor of the city, given that he seems to be above every law in the city outside the cathedral, and even has his own army of thugs who dress up as soldiers to enforce his will. In the film, Frollo murders Quasimodo's mother outside Notre Dame and is forced by the Archdeacon to raise the child as atonement, an act Frollo only performs to save himself from damnation and in hopes of finding the gypsy stronghold, the Court of Miracles.

Twenty years later, Frollo falls for a young gypsy girl, Esmeralda, but also makes himself her enemy when he orders her arrested for defying him in public by defending Quasimodo. Frollo's lust reaches the point of obsession when he begins a ruthless manhunt to find her, burning down most of Paris in the process. Eventually, Frollo finds the Court of Miracles with Quasimodo's unwitting help and sentences Esmeralda to execution when she refuses to become his mistress. This, however, proves to be his final mistake, since it arouses Quasimodo's anger and results in a ferocious battle between the citizens and Frollo's army of thugs. Frollo forces his way into the cathedral and attempts to kill Quasimodo, but the two end up fighting across the balconies of Notre Dame. During the battle, Frollo spitefully reveals that he killed Quasimodo's mother, but the fight eventually culminates in Frollo falling to his death into a lake of molten copper.

Other appearances
Although Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is Frollo's official debut in the series, he previously appeared as a minor villain in the non-canonical comic book, El Cetro y el Reino, where he spots Sora and Riku in the town and orders them arrested as witchcraft-practising heathens, although Sora and Riku evade him easily.

Trivia

 * Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance will be Jim Cummings' first full performance as Claude Frollo.

Notes and references
Juge Claude Frollo