The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favorite animated films from Disney. I love the story and the characters, showing how even the good guys can have flaws in them and how the villains can become evil just by failing to see their flaws. I know it’s drastically different from Victor Hugo’s originally tale, but it’s still a wonderful fantastic story, which is why I was saddened by how it was misused in one of my favorite video game series.
In Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, the heroes Sora and Riku have to travel to a world based off of the Disney animated film, which in this game is called La Cité des Cloches. Here things get strange, as they are both traveling different versions of the same world, yet the events seem to affect each other. For example, when one character has to face a monster, the other character has to defeat a weaker version of that monster. But the complicated story elements are not the point here.
What makes me sad is how much of the religious elements and darker themes are taken out of the story itself. For example, Quasimodo tells one of the heroes who came to the cathedral that the Archdeacon is away at the moment. That’s kind of pointless because where would he have gone in 1400s France that was more important than attending to Notre Dame? Couldn’t someone else have been sent to whatever was important? Moreover, it removes the character who served as the polar opposite to Frollo, someone who could’ve done more in guiding the heroes to where they needed to go. Instead the guiding part was given to the three gargoyles Hugo, Victor, and Larvene, as well as Quasimodo and Esmerelda.
Also, as a result of removing the religious elements, they ended up removing a lot of Frollo’s motivation. In the film a lot of his self-righteousness came from the fact that he viewed himself as incapable of sin, and when he began lusting after Esmerelda, he became desperate to kill her in order to hide the fact that he was not as perfect as he wanted to be. His own inability to admit he was capable of sin led to him arresting countless gypsies across Paris, even setting fire to the whole city just to try and find Esmerelda, and in the climax he even orders his men to take control of Notre Dame. That in itself was a crime against the Church, and showed that Frollo cared nothing for God. After analyzing his character in the movie, I daresay this villain was putting himself above his maker.
So how was Frollo portrayed in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance? Well, they still tried to make him self-righteous, but it felt flat and empty. He assumed Sora was a gypsy simply because he wasn’t dressed as the locals (might be handy to come up with a spell to have the attire of the characters blend in with wherever the heroes are visiting, Square Enix) and went on a rant about how the city was overrun by gypsies, but neither hero is given an idea of why Frollo hates gypsies so much.
Another problem with removing the religious elements is the monsters in the game. Since technically the world is asleep, it gets visited by creatures called Dream Eaters which are basically dreams given physical form. There are two varieties in the game with the good ones being called Spirits while the bad ones are appropriately called Nightmares. There is a moment in the game which is supposed to be inspired by the Feast of Fools, but feels really empty since you can only hear people cheering but don’t see anyone apart from the main characters. Nightmares are supposed to be parading around with Quasimodo before his fear when his master appears makes them go berserk and Sora has to save him.
My problem with that is given how strongly religion was a part of the lives of 1400s Paris, no one in their right mind would’ve allowed the Nightmares to get close. The people would’ve appropriately viewed them as monsters or demons, as I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say Dream Eaters weren’t native to that time or place. I’m pretty sure the first thing people would’ve done if they saw those creatures would be to run and hide while praying for deliverance. As a result of not having the religious elements or darker themes, the unseen people of La Cité des Cloches came across as being idiots. The only person who saw the Nightmares as a threat was Phoebus, who in different parts of the game referred to them as monsters and demons.
Frollo, as a result of having the religious undertones taken out, was out of character when it came to the Dream Eaters as well. At one point when the final boss shows up, the pompous judge declares that the creature is a holy gift given to him so he can rain judgement down on the city and its people. While it does show how he can’t see his own evil (even after Riku calls him out on it) he comes across as more of a Saturday morning cartoon character than the complex and dark villain the film made him out to be. After watching the film several times, I can conclude that Frollo would never in his or any world see something like a Nightmare as a gift from heaven. With its freaky shape and bright colors, such a monster would’ve made him see those things as demons from hell.
Overall, it was a shame that the world of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was so poorly used in the Kingdom Hearts series where light and darkness are constantly used. This world could’ve been a great example of how something good can be twisted around for evil purposes, or how light can be used to defend dark deeds. Sadly, the story and result we got were hollow and empty, as if they had removed its heart.
Image Credit: Disney