Dear Friends,
When I planned this latest Frollo fan fiction, I was in a dilemma. Since I wanted set this story apart from my "Claude and Me" and "Beyond the Palais" anthologies, that meant I would have to keep the true essence and outcome of HoND intact, i.e., everything happens as in the film and Frollo dies in the end.
Now, if you've read my earlier fanfic efforts, Claude Frollo meets a late 20th Century woman who, along with her contemporary friends and family, has discovered the wonders of time travel. This meant I could "tweak" the facts, play fast and loose with Hugo/Disney, take a few (many!) liberties, e.g., Frollo is victim of far-reaching conspiracy plot and his 20th Century lover travels 500 years into the past to rescue him. Thus Frollo is alive long after the true novel/movie ends, and lives long enough to see the end of the 15th Century and maybe a few years into the 16th.
OK, so those first two stories (Back to the Frollo and What Really Happened) served as a springboard for this ambitious, very bloated, story arc that followed 1400's Claude Frollo and his 1990's African American lover and confidante. They shared and loved through so many daring adventures, touching drama, and raucous good times.
Now that I'm starting to write HoND fanfic again, I thought it was time to write a story that features the Good Judge in all his dark, austere, repressed glory. While my previous stories did touch on the "dark Claude" (as Aranxta FSM #4 so thoroughly spelled out), my Claude Frollo became a kinder, gentler man a man capable of love, laughter, and fun.
This latest fic a crime story involving Frollo nearly duped by a slick con artist demands that His Grace should be the man we all love to hate, the way Disney portrayed him. There will be that glimmer of "Oh, I do feel somewhat sorry for him" after he becomes quarry to a predatory female, but further in the story you will see how the man's prejudices and narrow world view leaves a few people close to him vulnerable. While he's so busy chasing Gypsies, other matters are not closely monitored, resulting in tragedy.
His zealous quest for eradicating the Gypsy "problem" will cloud his better judgment, and the resultant search for Esmeralda will serve a backdrop for a startling plot twist.
While the original Judge Frollo is in true form, I decided to throw in a few asides alluding to my previous fan fiction. However, there will be no mention or hint of time travel, the 20th Century American connection, Danisha, Fern, or any of the post-modern pals from Back the Frollo to People Like Us. I did retain a few minor 15th Century characters (my own inventions: Philippe Ouimet, Fabrisse, Frollo's housekeeper Ide Poulin, etc.) for effect, and I even threw in a tavern (Le Papillion Dorι) as previously mentioned in an earlier fan fiction.
What you will detect is Frollo using expressions that he'll claim he learned from an unnamed friend. However, there will be no Timescape time travel machine, no Claude Frollo or Quasimodo humming 20th Century American pop or jazz. As far as this current story is concerned, these things never existed. That means no Danisha, no rescue of Claude Frollo, no Quasimodo carving a Civil War battle scene, etc. I thought it was high time I wrote a "straight" HoND fan fiction with everything intact.
One more thing: The story, as the movie, is set in January 1482, on the eve of the Feast of Fools, flashing back to 1470. I will intersperse a few scenes from the Disney film as reference points.
So without further ado, let us begin "Family Values"
Regards,
Crazedwriter FKA "FrolloFreak"