Archdeacon

The Archdeacon was a character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, who serves as the clergyman at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He is responsible for allowing Quasimodo to live in the film by condemning Frollo's killing of Quasimodo's mother and his attempt to destroy Quasimodo, and convincing him to spare Quasimodo's life or be damned to hell for his actions. Later, he defends Esmeralda when she claims sanctuary in Notre Dame from Frollo. He and the other priests provide some of the dialogue in the song ''Hellfire. ''In his final appearence, the Archdeacon attempts to stop Esmeralda's execution, but is halted by the guards. When Frollo enters the cathedral to kill Esmeralda and Quasimodo, the Archdeacon demands that he call off the attack on Notre Dame and stay away from the two, to which Frollo responds by shoving the startled Archdeacon down a flight of stairs and locking the Archdeacon out of the belltower so he can't interfere.

Creation
The Archdeacon was most likely created as a placeholder for Frollo, as Frollo functioned as the Archdeacon in the Victor Hugo novel. This was probably done by Disney's part as a means of not creating tensions with the Roman Catholic Church, which played a large role in the film and the book, especially seeing that the Archdeacon functions as a good character in the film. It could be said that Frollo's act of shoving the Archdeacon down the stairs could be symbolic of religious extremism attacking pure religion.