Sarousch

"I wonder if they make diamond underwear."

- Sarousch, while seeing the La Fidele.

Sarousch is the main antagonist of Disney's 2002 direct-to-video sequel film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, the sequel to Disney's 34th full-length animated feature film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is extremely unscrupulous, materialistic, deceitful, flamboyant, and completely in love with himself owner of the Cirque de Sarousch, a travelling circus that uses carnies to rob the spectators blind.

He was voiced by the legendary actor, Michael McKean, who also played Ian Peek in Batman Beyond, and Chuck McGill from Better Call Saul.

Personality
Sarousch is an extravagantly vain, pompous, and scheming circus ringmaster. Despite his arrogance and egotism, he is far beyond from appearing just as ruthless, malicious and heartless as his villainous yet contemptible predecessor Judge Claude Frollo. 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 egotistical, narcissistic, uncompromising, presumptuous, and completely in love with himself, he is seen admiring his reflection in the mirror and even says "I'd kiss me but then I'd fall in love" which is a homage to the Greek myth Narcissus who actually fell in love with his own reflection in the river all the time.

Sarousch takes in a beautiful young girl named Madeleine who was caught stealing from him, he is seen putting her down and rarely shows her any affection and just wants her to "stand there and look pretty" and only cared for her as long as she completed whatever he always wished for. When he got confronted by Captain Phoebus, Sarousch places all of the blame on Madellaine for his crimes, 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 Bell-Ringer of Notre Dame as a "hideous monster" When the situation calls for it, Sarousch can also be quite uncaring, deceiving, traitorous, hypocritical, and egomaniacal, as he threatens the life of Captain Phoebus's son, so he could make an escape with La Fidele.

History
Years ago, when a starving street kid named Madellaine attempted to steal from Sarousch and begged not be turned over to the authorities, Sarousch agreed that, in return for food and a place to stay, the girl would work as his assistant in magic acts.

One day, the Cirque de Sarouch arrives in Paris to steal La Fidele, a priceless, jewel-encrusted bell. Sarousch sends Madeleine, now a beautiful young woman, to search Notre Dame and find out which bell is La Fidele. When Madeleine returns and tells him she doesn't want to go near the tower again because she met the hideous bell-ringer named Quasimodo, Sarousch blackmails her into helping by reminding her of their deal.

During the circus' first show, the performers steal jewelry and gold from the audience while they watch Sarouch's disappearing act. Sarousch then sends Madellaine once again to find out about La Fidele, which she does by going out on a date with Quasimodo into the Church of Notre Dame. During the date, Madeleine sees Quasimodo's kindness and begins to fall in love with him.

The next day, Sarousch has Madeleine take Quasimodo for a walk while he and his men steal La Fidele. When she attempts to stand strong and refuse her master, he threatens to harm Quasimodo if Madeleine doesn't obey.

Phoebus (who is investigating the missing jewelry and gold) comes to Sarousch's tent and finds some of the stolen goods. Sarousch lies by saying that Madeleine is responsible, claiming that she is a born thief. Phoebus is easily duped by Sarousch and leaves to go find Madeleine. Sarousch then goes with his men to the Cathedral to steal La Fidele, but unknown to him, Phoebus and Esmeralda's young son, Zephyr, and pet goat, Djali, has followed them to the Cathedral and witnesses their thievery. The duo secretly follow them onto Sarousch's boat underground.

When Sarousch discovers Zephyr and Djali, he takes Zephyr hostage, but Djali manages to escape and runs off to go and find Esmeralda, Phoebus, Quasimodo, and Madeleine. When Djali brings them to where Sarousch is, Pheobus closes the gates to the entrance of the under-bridge and orders Sarousch to give up, but the magician shows that he has Zephyr and threatens to hurt him if Phoebus doesn't let him pass safely. Phoebus grudgingly opens the gate and allows Sarousch to pass, but just as Sarousch is about to escape with Zephyr, Madeleine, with a little help from Quasimodo, manages to stop him by using her tightrope skills to rescue Zephyr while Phoebus' guards arrest Sarousch and his men.

Sarousch unsuccessfully tries to talk his way out of being arrested, begging that he could perform circus acts for birthdays, but he is ignore and send with his men aboard a carriage to prison. It's completely unknown what happened to Sarousch after this, but it's likely that he was given a life sentence and spend the rest of his days at prison or was executed under Phoebus' orders for the kidnapping of his son.

Trivia

 * Sarousch is considered one of the worst Disney villains, especially because of how popular his predecessor was.
 * Ironically, Sarousch is exactly what Frollo thought of all gypsies. Even then, he's nowhere near as evil as him.
 * Sarousch is similar to Gaston from Beauty and the Beast: They are both handsome but selfish, and prove to be evil and villainous.
 * He bears some similarities to Captain Phoebus from the original novel and Clopin from the original novel.
 * Like the original Captain Phoebus, both are narcissistic jerks who are seemingly beautiful on the outside - though they are both notoriously ugly on the inside.
 * Like Clopin both are ringmasters of a circus of gypsies but are actually crime bosses who commit crimes of theft, but in contrast Sarousch does his crimes with selfish reasons while Clopin did his with selfless reasons.