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
Captain Phoebus dislike towards Frollo for his harsh methods, and displays sympathy towards the downtrodden and poor, shown when he steps in to stop two of Frollo's thugs from arresting Esmeralda for stealing money (which was honestly obtained), and requests to stop the citizens from torturing Quasimodo at the Festival of Fools. He becomes fond of Esmeralda, such as complimenting her for fighting as well as a man, and the two truly fall in love (unlike the Phoebus from the novel, who only wanted passion from Esmeralda). Midway through the film, as Frollo descends into a homicidal madness and burns down almost