A great deal has already been said about Judge Claude Frollo. He’s not the mightiest or the scariest, but he’s in contention for the most troubling of all Disney villains.
His main motivations are “I am going to rid Paris of an entire group for God or burn the city down trying”, “I need to kill this woman so I don’t lust after her” and “I’m going to shut this baby in a tower after killing his mother because I have righteous works to complete.”
What we are therefore looking at here is a very dangerous villain. Not just because he enjoys executions, but because he is a tyrannical, zealous lunatic.
Presence – 4 out of 5
I’m trying to assess each Disney villain without bias, but when you rock up with the voice of Tony Jay, you immediately earn a bonus point on this list. Tony didn’t need much of a range; he just had one magnificent voice. Judge Claude Frollo has the same voice as Galactus from the X-Men cartoon and the Elder God from Soul Reaver, and it never fails to make a terrific villain. I suppose you can remove a point if your DM is not able to replicate it.
With that voice comes an incredibly unnerving presence. This ‘holy man’ radiates pompous hatred. He is never not ready to treat people in his presence with malignant, sneering indignation. His entire modus operandi is ‘find and root out evil anything that might be evil’ and he lives and breathes to sentence people to death/imprisonment with a side of torture.
Atmosphere – 3 out of 5
A tricky one to measure. He isn’t directly, magically or otherwise, influencing the state of the world around him, but the role he plays in a corrupt and unfair society is noteworthy. He’s a primary reason outsiders to Paris sneak through the shadows, why they don’t even feel that a temple is a safe haven from the law. And he very clearly has the power to order large parts of the city put to flames without reproach.
Omniscience – 3 out of 5
As the above alludes to, Frollo is a very connected individual. He seemingly knows everyone in the city, and has a tight grip on its goings-on. The one thing he couldn’t find was the Court of Miracles, and that’s a fairly big deal; it’s hardly a tiny hidey hole in the sewers. When Quasimodo gets to the Court, it seems more like a small township in a vaulted expanse beneath the city.
He also seems unaware of the seemingly magical gargoyles of Notre Dame. Or that Quasimodo is unhinged and talks to stone. It’s unclear.
Henchmen – 3 out of 5
In TTRPGs, at least in my experience, there’s one sort of villain that gets underplayed: the turncoat. I can think I plenty of examples of ‘good’ NPCs betraying the party, but I’ve witnessed very few henchmen turn on the main villain (unless they were double-crossing them all along). If there’s a head-henchmen in the game, they are set up to be the mini boss before the final fight.
This is what makes Captain Phoebus so compelling for a TTRPG story. A war veteran intent on upholding the law, much more capable than most Disney goons, with a wit and charm to boot. Until the villain overplays his hand, he’s a real threat to Esmerelda’s freedom. For your players to Insight Check this man and discover his heart of gold, to see him rebel against Frollo’s arson-based salvation, would be a satisfying aspect of any adventure.
And of course, Frollo has a lot of guards at his disposal, nothing particularly bold or deadly, but they reasonably competent. Phoebus would testify to this; that one guard managed put a bolt in Phoebus’ back as he sped away on horseback.
Threat Level – 1 out of 5
Another human opponent, sans magic, sans dark arts. At least he’s capable of wielding a sword? There’s some upper body strength in the old, lanky fella, and he’s quite the adept sneak… though he wasn’t able to sleight of hand a blade into Quasi’s back despite the fact that he was completely overcome by grief.
If you were a pious character, Frollo could maybe put the fear of god into someone to make them surrender, but that’s about as good as it gets.
Finale – 2 out of 5
This is another example of a great scenario let down by the lack of presence of the villain themself. The hero’s escape takes center stage above a city that at one point seems to be entirely on fire. The stakes are suitably high, the trapped NPCs are doomed if you fail… but in terms of a D&D adventure there’s not a lot for the group to do.
Unless you run a solo game, Frollo isn’t adding much to the scenario. You could do something with Charisma Checks to convince the masses to rise up, maybe a chase sequence with Frollo and some extra guards. In the end, you would have to be adding something to spice up the finale for your players.
Final Score = 2.66
This isn’t the wimpiest stat block I’ve made, but I really can’t think of anyway to boost him…
I love Frollo as a villain. Great character, grim motivations, great songs. Nevertheless, he’s not big enough or powerful enough to play the lead antagonist in a D&D campaign. Once his head henchmen turns, he’s very vulnerable. Paris and Notre Dame depicted in the movie are definitely good inspiration for your game’s setting, but Frollo himself is just a bit too frail.
| Disney Villain | Score |
| Hades | 4.00 👑 |
| Jafar | 3.83 |
| Professor Ratican | 3.66 |
| Lyle Tiberius Rourke | 3.66 |
| Elsa of Arendelle | 3.16 |
| Hopper | 3.16 |
| Robert Callaghan | 3.00 |
| The Horned King | 3.00 |
| Judge Claude Frollo | 2.83 |
| Gaston LeGume | 2.66 |
Gaston and Frollo have even scores, but I think Gaston should retain the 10th place. Gaston does a lot more of his villain shenanigans in public, whist Frollo broods in private, ‘off screen’.
I actually think Frollo’s behaviour and motivations would lend better to a henchmen or low level boss. His self-righteousness and scheming makes for an unnerving combo, even if he can’t back it up with force.
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