Joannes Frollo “Jolllly”

“‘On my soul, it’s you, Joannes Frollo de Molendino!’ cried one of them to a sort of small, blonde devil, with a pretty and malign face, holding onto the acanthus leaves of a capital”.

• Gender Male
• Race Human
• Occupation – Student/ Revolutionary
• Religion – 
• Allies – 
• Enemies – 
• Abode/Base of operations – Court of Miracles, Paris, Kingdom of France
• Nationality –French
• Languages – French
• Alignment – Chaotic Neutral
• Affiliation (s) – Friends of ABC
• Significant others –  Claude Frollo (Brother)

A hypochondriac student of medicine. Joly is described as the happiest of all of the Friends of ABC despite his eccentricity and hypochondria. He is called “Jolllly” with four Ls, a pun on the English word “jolly”. He has the habit of touching his nose with the tip of his cane, which shows he has a sagacious mind.

Joannes Frollo’s mother and father died from the plague when he was a baby. Taken in by his older brother Claude Frollo, he was given to a wet nurse at the Moulin (another fief which the Frollo family owned).

Here, Jehan spent his childhood, his brother Claude would pay him visits every week or so, but due to the older brother’s dedication to study, he did not see Jehan as much as he should have. Perhaps due to this, or other reasons, Jehan grew up unruly. Hoping to bring him up in the scholarly way that Claude grew up, his older brother entrusted Jehan to the Collège de Torchi when the boy was of a proper age. Yet this did nothing but introduce Jehan to greater forms of mischief, and Claude would often receive reports about Jehan’s surly behavior. Where Claude had avoided all the student uprisings, Jehan practically led them. He was well-known, favorably by other students, and fearfully by the townspeople. Because the boy did not  have a source of income, he would often have to approach his older brother for money. Claude knew where exactly this money went (drinking and carousing) and would give his brother a stern lecture for every denier he handed Jehan. Jehan, however, had quite a charming disposition, and would always make Claude forgive him for his indiscretions. But this stopped when Claude’s life became so ruined by Esmeralda, he finally got fed up with his brother and cast Jehan out. Jehan then joined the Truants in the Court of Miracles.

Rather short for his age he has an attractive face, despite the maliciousness which lurks in his eyes, and chubby, baby-like cheeks. He always wears a smile and laughs at nearly everything. His laugh is described as being cruel while being comical.

There are the obvious things about Jehan; the childish wrecklessness, immaturity and charisma and beauty, makes him a favorite among all the population of Paris, despite his obnoxious attitude. Jehan, can commit every folly in the world and still escape punishment. But he doesn’t know true kindness to anyone (except when he was buying Phoebus drinks), often personifying the vilest, most licentious reactions of the crowd (he would be the one to lead the mass derision of Quasimodo on many occasions), nor does he appreciate the kindness and love shown to him by Frollo. And this is also foiled against Quasimodo‘s near-worship of Frollo. If Quasimodo were to be one extreme of the human soul, Jehan would be the other.

Jehan can also be contrasted to Esmeralda. Both are beautiful, both are 16, and both are lively. Yet where Esmeralda seems to symbolize life and love, Jehan symbolizes all the immoralities of society; drunkeness, debauchery, general mayhem. Both are very energetic, yet both find such different outlets for their energy. Whereas Esmeralda emanates it through her dancing, Jehan throws it into wrecklessness and destruction. Both are loved by Frollo, but with Esmeralda, Frollo views this as wrong, and with Jehan, he sees it as the one true love he was meant to have, other than science. They are merely one branch with a crooked fork at its center, and the ironical effects are reflected in Frollo, who views his love for the licentious one as righteous and sees his love for the moral one as sin.

Jehan can be contrasted against his brother, though they are just fingers of the same hand (to steal an analogy made by Esmeralda). Frollo is for order, calm, knowledge, enlightement, study. Jehan is for fun, chaos, experience, adventure. As said at one point in the book, the name Frollo edified the University when Claude attended it, but scandalized it when Jehan was there. Yet they are just alike. Both Frollo’s are the best at what they do, and could be considered “over-achievers.” Both have inexhaustive energy. Claude, though, from an early age, channelled that excess energy into study, and because of that, he became overly devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. He learned everything he possibly could. But Jehan did not focus his energies in the same way. Instead, the boy, like wildfire, swallowed the evils of Paris and threw them out in an unruly heap. He devoted himself to enjoying life every moment that he could, and not working at all. Only the goals of the two brothers separate them.

As for how he’s contrasted against Phoebus and Pierre, well….Phoebus and Jehan are nearly one in the same. Except for Jehan is more representative of the nastier side of the common masses, whereas Phoebus represents a certain level of the nobility. In the case of Pierre…well, Jehan had a much easier time getting into the Court of Miracles, being nearly a Truant by birth, but Gringoire, being not so lowly in morals, was nearly eaten up by that same Court.