Captain Phoebus Captain Phoebus "Capitaine" Phœbus de Châteaupers is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame". He is the Captain of the King Louis XI's Archers. His name comes from Phoebus, the Greek god of the sun (also called Apollo). In the original novel, Phoebus is an antagonist. Despite being of noble birth and very handsome, he is also vain, untrustworthy, and a womanizer. He saves Esmeralda from Quasimodo and she falls in love with him. Phoebus makes a convincing show of returning her affections, but merely wants a night of
Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) anchoress, curses Esmeralda, claiming she and the other Gypsies ate her lost child. Two months later, Esmeralda is walking in the streets when Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier, the fiancée of Phoebus, and her wealthy, aristocratic friends spot the Gypsy girl from the Gondelaurier house. Fleur-de-Lys becomes jealous of Esmeralda's beauty and pretends to not see her, but Fleur's friends call Esmeralda to them out of curiosity. When Esmeralda enters the room, tension immediately appears—the wealthy young women, who all appear equally pretty when compared to each other, are plain in comparison to Esmeralda. Knowing that Esmeralda's beauty far surpasses their own,