Phoesme

Phoesme is the het ship between Captain Phoebus and Esmeralda from the Hunchback of Notre Dame fandom.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Phoebus first sees Esmeralda when she's dancing for money in the streets of Paris, he is enamored with her and gives her a few gold coins. However, other guards accuse her of stealing the gold coins she had earned, leading to Phoebus causing a distraction by telling his horse to sit on one of them, allowing for Esmeralda to get away. Later, when all of them think that Esmeralda had fled, Phoebus puts a few gold coins in a beggar's hat, unaware that it was Esmeralda in disguise, who turns her head at him, unsure of what to make of him.

When Esmeralda performs at the Festival of Fools, Phoebus' superior Judge Frollo tells him to look at that "display", which Phoebus gladly does. As Esmeralda is done dancing, Phoebus flips her another gold coin. However, as Quasimodo is crowned King of the Fools and gets pelted and mocked by the townsfolk as a result, Frollo orders for Esmeralda to be arrested when she stands up for Quasimodo. Phoebus refuses, seeing nothing wrong in Esmeralda's words and is outright impressed by her bravery. As his men are fruitlessly chasing after her, Phoebus spots the beggar he met before entering Notre Dame cathedral and follows "him".

But as soon as Esmeralda recoginizes Phoebus, she starts fighting him in the church, believing that he had come to arrest her. Phoebus never had that in mind, telling her that he legally can't arrest her in a church. The bit of tension between them is interrupted by the arrival of Frollo and his guards, which leads to Esmeralda accusing Phoebus of deliberately trapping her. Phoebus however stays calm and whispers to her to claim sanctuary, but Esmeralda is far too puzzled to listen. Phoebus then lies and claims sanctuary for her, which is backed up by the arrival of the Archdeacon who protects and comforts Esmeralda, kicking out Frollo and his men including Phoebus.

However, Phoebus has no idea that Quasimodo escorted Esmeralda back outside and sneaks back into Notre Dame, asking Quasimodo if he had seen her. Quasimodo however thinks that Phoebus is loyal to Frollo and nearly beats him up to get him to go away, but Phoebus tells him that he is sincerely sorry for trapping Esmeralda in Notre Dame, believing it was the only way to protect her from Frollo.

However, Frollo tests Phoebus' loyalty in his hunt for Esmeralda. As Frollo instructs Phoebus to burn down the house of a family with young children, believing that they shelter Esmeralda's people, Phoebus refuses and grows completely disillusioned with Frollo's insanity. Esmeralda watches him save the family from the fire in disguise, nearly blowing her cover when she sees Phoebus get shot by an arrow and falling down a bridge. As soon as Frollo and his goons are out of sight, Esmeralda retrieves Phoebus' body, he's still alive but badly wounded. She decides to take Phoebus to the only man in Paris she can trust, enlisting help to carry Phoebus up to the belltower of Notre Dame. She tells Quasimodo that Phoebus is a friend of hers who was wounded by Frollo and asks him if they can hide him here until he recovers. Quasimodo agrees and allows them to use his bed to lay Phoebus down while Esmeralda cleans and stitches his wound. In the moment, Esmeralda kisses Phoebus passionately, unaware that Quasimodo is standing right there having already caught feelings for her. As they hear Frollo coming, Esmeralda trusts Quasimodo to hide Phoebus. As Phoebus overhears Frollo telling Quasimodo that he wants to find Esmeralda's hideout, the Court of Miracles, they both realize that they need to work together in order to warn them.

Using a necklace Quasimodo got from Esmeralda, they manage to locate the Court of Miracles, but are immediately mistaken for Frollo's spies, with Esmeralda preventing their exectution at the last minute. They tell them that Frollo will come to capture and kill them all, only for Frollo himself to arrive telling them that he followed them there. Phoebus is put into a cage near the fire, with Esmeralda being the first to be scorched if she denies becoming Frollo's bride. When Esmeralda literally spits Frollo in the face, Quasimodo comes to her rescue and intends to keep Esmeralda safe from Frollo. Phoebus meanwhile escapes from his cage and frees all of Esmeralda's people, leading them and the other citizens of Paris into a fight agains Frollo's goons. However, he eventually makes his way up the cathedral just in time to prevent Quasimodo from falling into the molten copper like Frollo did. Downstairs, Esmeralda is reunited with the two of them and Phoebus willingly steps aside for Esmeralda to be with Quasimodo. But Quasimodo holds both of their hands and pulls them together, he is happy with their relationship. Outside the cathedral, Phoebus and Esmeralda watch as Quasimodo had finally earned the acceptance of the townfolk.

Fanon
In the first 10-15 years after the movies release, people had criticized Esmeralda's decision to choose "that other guy" over Quasimodo, feeling her choice was rather shallow because Phoebus was more conventionally handsome. Ironically, fanworks depicting Phoebus as a cheating jerk who never loved Esmeralda fit his characterization from the original book to a T, due to the generally young age of the fanbase at the time, this was most likely a coincidence.

As time progressed, people have come to respect Esmeralda's decision, as she didn't care for being treated like a goddess (Quasimodo's view of her) or an object (Frollo's view of her), Phoebus was the only one who treated her like a person.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION


 * TUMBLR