The Romani People of Paris

Character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Walt Disney Animation Studios

The persecuted Roma community living in and beneath Paris — the people Frollo hunts and Esmeralda fights for.

The Romani community is the moral heart of the film's conflict. They are not a threat. They are a scapegoat — Frollo has defined them as vermin to justify a persecution driven by his obsession with Esmeralda and his need to project evil onto others. Clopin leads them. Esmeralda speaks for them publicly. They survive through community, secrecy, and the collective intelligence of people who have learned to be invisible to power.

Appearance

The Roma of Paris dress in vivid colors — layered skirts, embroidered vests, head scarves, bright tambourines and musical instruments. They perform on the streets by day: dancing, juggling, palm-reading. By night they vanish into the Court of Miracles. They are, collectively, the most colorful and the most endangered people in the film.

Also known as: The Gypsies, The Roma, Paris Roma

What They Know

• Have survived Frollo's twenty-year persecution by maintaining absolute secrecy about the Court of Miracles' location
• Practice a rich performance tradition — dance, music, juggling, illusion — that serves both as livelihood and cover

Connections

• leads — clopin
• member_of — esmeralda
• enemy_of — frollo
• located_in — court_of_miracles

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