- “I wonder if they make diamond underwear!”
- ―Sarousch admiring the La Fidèle and his plans to steal it.
Sarousch is the circus ringmaster, master thief, and the main antagonist of the 2002 Disney sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.
Background[]
Personality[]
While Sarousch is not nearly as sadistic or as genocidal as Judge Claude Frollo, but regardless, he still proved to be highly greedy, selfish, deceptive, opprobrious, untrustworthy, and quite avaricious for a kleptomaniac thief who is willing to commit kidnapping and murder for his goals to be fulfilled. Sarousch is narcissistic, uncompromising, presumptuous, and seemingly in love with himself, he is seen admiring his reflection in the mirror and even says "I could kiss me but, I'd fall in love" which is an homage to the Greek God Narcissus who actually fell in love with his own reflection in the river all the time.
Sarousch took in a young girl named Madellaine who was caught stealing from him since he was impressed by her ability to steal at such a young age. He is constantly seen putting her down and rarely shows her any affection, and just wants her to "stand there and look pretty," only caring for her as long as she completes whatever task he always wishes for her to carry out. When confronted by Captain Phoebus, he blamed Madellaine for his thefts, proving himself to be a dirty coward with no love in his heart.
Sarousch is also very shallow, negligible, and inconsequential, only wanting Madellaine to act as a pretty face and completely ignores her talents. He also describes Quasimodo, the bellringer of Notre Dame as a "hideous monster" When the situation calls for it, Sarousch can also be quite uncaring, deceiving, hypocritical, traitorous, and egomaniacal, as he threatens the life of Captain Phoebus' son, so he can an escape with La Fidele.
Physical appearance[]
Sarousch is shown to have a narrow face and blue eyes with thick, black, pronounced eyebrows, a thin body structure, and dark red lips. However, he is actually quite overweight but forces himself to appear skinnier in public by the use of a tightly worn corset. He is also balding when he is not primped for the public, so he wears a wig, and also has wrinkles beneath his eyes, but hides this in public by stretching his face and pulling back his hair. He has dark skin similar to the Romani characters, but it's never stated whether or not he has any connections to the Roma.
For most of the movie, he wears blue, long-sleeved clothing with maroon stripes adjoining the blue on the sleeves, waist, and lower half, complete with a red cape tied around his neck.
Appearances[]
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II[]
In the movie, Sarousch is the owner of a traveling circus that comes to Paris, France. However, this is merely front as he and his circus are notorious thieves who steal from the visiting patrons. Sarousch tells his personal assistant Madellaine to go and search in the Bell Tower and find out which bell is La Fidèle because it's the most famous bell ever and he wishes to steal it so he can become rich but when Madellaine returns from searching she tells him that she has met the bellringer Quasimodo and that she doesn't want to have any part of it. However, Sarousch reminds her that he took her in when she was a poor six-year-old orphan child instead of handing her over to the authorities when he caught her stealing from him, and she unwillingly agrees to help him.
During the show, Sarousch has his men steal jewelry and gold from the audience while they are distracted watching his performances. Sarousch then sends Madellaine once again to find out about La Fidèle, which she does by going out on a date with Quasimodo in the Church of Notre Dame. The next day, Sarousch has Madellaine take Quasimodo for a walk while he and his men steal La Fidèle and threatens to kill Quasimodo if Madellaine doesn't obey him.
Later on, Phoebus comes to Sarousch's circus to investigate the missing jewelry and gold and finds one of the missing items in Sarousch's office and interrogates him on this discovery. Realizing he could use this to his advantage, Sarousch "confesses" to the crimes but lies and says that it was all his fault for not watching Madellaine because she was a thief since she was six, which Phoebus easily believes. He asks Sarousch where she went and leaves to go find Madellaine after Sarousch tells him she is with Quasimodo.
After Phoebus leaves, Sarousch goes with his men to the Notre Dame Cathedral and finds La Fidèle, covering the bell in a blanket in order to dramatically smuggle it out of the bell tower. Unknown to Sarousch, Phoebus and Esmeralda's son Zephyr and pet goat Djali follow them to the Cathedral and witness them stealing the Bell. They secretly follow Sarousch to his boat underground.
When Sarousch finds Zephyr and Djali, he takes Zephyr hostage after hearing him say he is Phoebus' son, but Djali manages to escape and runs off to go and find Esmeralda, Phoebus, Quasimodo, and Madellaine. When Djali brings them to where Sarousch is, Phoebus closes the gates to the entrance of the under bridge and orders Sarousch to give up. However, Sarousch shows Phoebus that he has Zephyr and threatens to hurt him if Phoebus doesn't let him pass safely. Phoebus opens the gate and allows Sarousch to pass safely, but just as Sarousch is about to escape with Zephyr, Madellaine, with a little help from Quasimodo manages to stop him by using Madellaine's tightrope walking skills. She swoops down and rescues Zephyr while Phoebus' guards pounce on Sarousch and his men and arrest them.
As he is being arrested, Sarousch tries to talk his way out of being arrested and says that he does birthday parties, but this doesn't change the guards' minds.
Trivia[]
- Sarousch is considered to be one of Disney's worst villains and most hated/disliked antagonists. His only confirmed crimes are theft and child endangerment. He's considered inferior in every way to his predecessor, Judge Claude Frollo, who was a much more serious threat and was strongly implied to have used his position of power to wrongfully execute multiple people. Whereas the only evidence the audience is given that Sarousch would actually go through with harming a captive Zephyr is Madellaine's word. Sarousch also embodies almost everything that Frollo despises about the Roma, with no justification for this, making him a highly problematic villain who contradicts the message of the original film.
- Sarousch is also considered to be a very weak villain with no power or strength whatsoever.
- He seems to be in love with himself. This is especially hinted at when the line: "I could kiss me, but I'd fall in love.", and when Phoebus picks up on Sarousch's narcissism and dismisses himself from the circus master's presence by saying, "I'll leave you to.…..yourself."
- The voice that Michael McKean used for the character is the same one he uses for his Spinal Tap alter ego David St. Hubbins.
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