Henriet Cousin is a supporting antagonist of the 1831 French novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame by the late Victor Hugo, and he appears in various adaptations of the novel as well. He is the local city executioner who is in league with Claude Frollo.
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Biography
Novel
Cousin appeared briefly in the novel as he was ordered by the authorities to hang Esmeralda after she was forced by the corrupt jailer Pierrat Torturue to falsely confess for the attempted murder of Captain Phoebus, unaware of the fact that Frollo was the one responsible for committing the act in the first place. After Emseralda's right to sanctuary was revoked before she was betrayed by Frollo, Cousin willingly carried the act to hang her, but this led an angry Quasimodo to brutally push Frollo from the cathedral to his death before burying himself in Esmeralda's grave.
It is unknown what happened to Cousin afterwards following the deaths of Frollo and Esmeralda.
1996 film
Henriet Cousin as he appears in the 1996 movie.
Cousin only appeared near the end of the Disney film, where he is holding a fire torch as Judge Claude Frollo and his soldiers are overseeing the executions of the Romani population (including a captive Phoebus). Starting off with Esmeralda, Cousin (with a smirk) eagerly passes the torch to Frollo, who offers to set Esmeralda free in exchange for being his lover, an act that Esmeralda refuses. Cousin watches in delight as Frollo sets Esmeralda to be burned at the stake, but this was foiled when Quasimodo comes by to rescue her and bring her back to the cathedral for sanctuary, much to the people's great delight. This act drove an angry Frollo to order Cousin and the rest of the soldiers to lay siege on the cathedral, though the citizens freed Phoebus and the Romani and helped them in warding off the soldiers.
It is unknown what happened to Cousin following Frollo's death, as his fate is left undisclosed.
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