10 Horrific Truths Behind Your Favourite Disney Movies

8. The Story Is Even More Morbid Than Depicted In The Movie - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame

Walt Disney Pictures

In Victor Hugo's novel, Quasimodo doesn't speak to anthropomorphic statues or help Esmerelda land a cute blonde guy. Instead, Esmerelda straight up MARRIES another dude, and not even said cute blonde guy, otherwise known as Captain Phoebus.

After marrying some rando, he ends up turning on her when she is falsely accused of attempted murder. Quasimodo tries to save her by having her take sanctuary in the church, but Claude Frollo (who is probably as terrifying in the book as he is in the movie) sells her out, and then she is hanged. HANGED.

And the book doesn't end here, folks. After she dies, Quasimodo lies with her body in her tomb until he, too, passes away. When their bodies are found 18 months later, someone tries to move them and Quasimodo's skeleton turns to dust.

Contributor
Contributor

Holland Baker is based in New York City, where she is an editor, writer and co-host of Whatever It Takes: A Degrassi Podcast. In her free time, you can find her searching for bodega cats, eating mass amounts of pizza and using humor as a defense mechanism.