#La Sorelli posts

[la-sorellis-askblog]

Hello friends! My name is La Sorelli, and I am the lead ballerina for the Palais Garnier. I have made this blog to meet some interesting people in between my practises and shows.

I would quite enjoy it if you sent me asks, and I will get to all of them eventually! Unless they are unsavoury. In which I will not respond. It is wonderful to meet you all!

OOC: This is a role-play blog for La Sorelli from Phantom of the Opera! My main account is @sleepdeprivedsystem, and this is my first role-play blog!

Interact in any way you want! Fun, silly, sad, annoying, it's all good! Though please do not send NSFW asks, as I will delete them.

Faceclaim: Kitty from Anna Karenina

[kimwexlers-brownhair]

Okay, hold up. I was thinking about how similar I find Meg and Raoul in the ALWverse. Both are brave, sweet, inquisitive, and over all they want Christine safe. They even look a little alike in a lot of productions, with hair often being the same sort of blondish color.

What if....drumroll...they're uncle and niece? What if Madame Giry and Phillippe fell passionately in love in their youth? What if Madame Giry...is La Sorelli in the ALW verse?

Shut up and lemme think this through.

When Sorelli finds out she's pregnant, she's disillusioned by Phillipe's reaction. He insists she marry the first decent single man he can find, and settles on his family's accountant, Jules Giry. He's a kind but older man, and dies a few years into the marriage.

Now I need to plan a fic where I can bring the whole crew together.

Maybe Christine and Raoul move to the de Chagny estate after leaving the Phantom's lair. Philippe is infuriated by their elopement, but can't find it in him to turn his back completely on his baby brother.

Christine struggles to fit in under his cold dismissive eye and the haughty society around her. What she can't know is that Philippe isn't quite as heartless as you'd imagine. When he sees this young woman from the opera house, he can’t help but think of his own daughter just a few years younger. A daughter he's never known outside slipping in late to a show and seeing her lead her line in the corps de ballet.

He may also envy his brother his willingness to marry the woman he loved despite what it might mean for the family name.

Madame Giry learns when to use their situation to her advantage. When the Phantom demands an increase in his salary, she persuades Philippe to at least convince his brother to act as the opera's new patron, if he himself is still too cowardly to regularly attend like he used to.

So when the opera house closes in the wake of the Don Juan disaster, Madame Giry turns to him again. His daughter is now out of a job. While he may be too much of a hypocrite to ever acknowledge her as his, surely he doesn't want her to suffer the fate many attractive young unemployed girls in her position do.

To her surprise, he invites them into his home. Being around Christine and hearing her reminisce fondly about her best friend Meg suddenly makes him determined to get to know his daughter as much as he can without telling her the truth -- Madame Giry is right in that he's too afraid to face that.

So mother and daughter show up with whom they describe as a composer who wants to open a new dance school and theater with the Girys. He goes only by the name of Erik. He's a brilliant but aloof man, probably because what looks like a stroke or some such injury. One half of his face the skin seems pulled in too taught, almost paralyzed. It's almost as if the skin isn't real, instead a mask to try making him look like anyone.

(Sorelli was a dancer in a particular traveling carnival when she was a young woman, and was so incensed by the cruelty around her that she left, determined to find a serious career for herself on the stage -- but not before releasing that poor boy from his cage).

This Erik stares too much at the new Viscountess de Chagny. Yet he's also surprisingly insecure when some of the aristocratic men in their society begin taking notice of Meg. The pretty, peppy dancer hasn't the first clue how to behave properly in society, and that there are men ready to take advantage. Philippe also notices and struggles not to be too protective.

So what happens when Raoul notices for the first time how much Meg resembles his sister Roberte when they're standing next to each other? What of Christine's terrified conviction about who this Erik really is? What of Erik yearning to watch over her once more, his beautiful angel, his life -- dammit, must this damn Dauphin So-and-So keep looking at Meg like she's steak tartare?

And what of that despite the years that have passed and the bitterness and guilt between them, there may still lie a deep love between Philippe and La Sorelli?

A Little Night Music meets Phantom, essentially.

Tagging @thewildwestpyro

[wereoz]

damn okay

[ablatheringblatherskite]

POTO RP BLOGS!

So there is this really fun little community of POTO RP blogs here on tumblr that I think the phandom should know about! Because they thrive on interactions. They're all a lot of fun and have a lot of fun roleplaying and interacting (I should know, I'm one of them!). I also think that it's nice to support these parts of the fandom. So I thought I'd make a little post dedicated to them!

Go ahead and harass send asks to all of them!!

Erik: @thisloathsomegargoyle

Another Erik: @not-the-phantom-of-the-opera

Another Erik: @erikaskblog

Another Erik: @operas-phantom

Another Erik: @thephantomofthisveryopera!

Cherik: @askcherik-blog

Winslow Leach: @an-american-songbird-in-paris

Christine Daaé: @lovely-lotte

Another Christine: @cchristtineeddaaee

Raoul de Chagny: @vicomte-raoul-de-chagny

André and Firmin: @memoirsofamanager

La Carlotta: @the-better-soprano

Monsieur Reyer: @godstiredestmusicmajor

Philippe de Chagny: @comte-philippe-de-chagny

La Sorelli: @la-sorellis-askblog

Francine Garnier (OC): @sweetest-soprano

Calloway Agosto (OC): @anangrytrombonist

Alexandré Garnier (OC): @valiant-violinist

Aurelio the Propmaster (OC): @aurelio-the-propmaster

Julien de Auclair (OC): @juliendeauclair

Idony Petrikov (OC): @doeoftheopera

And another RP blog that does everyone, but as a muppet!: @ask-muppet-phantom

Also, I'm sure there's more, these are just the ones I know about (if you know of any more feel free to reblog tagging them!)

[fdelopera]

Welcome to the 20th installment of 15 Weeks of Phantom, where I post all 68 sections of Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, as they were first printed in Le Gaulois newspaper 115 yeas ago.

In today’s installment, we have Part IV of Chapter 8, “Où MM. Firmin Richard et Armand Moncharmin ont l’audace de faire représenter « Faust » dans une salle « maudite » et de l’effroyable événement qui en résulta” (“Where MM. Firmin Richard and Armand Moncharmin Have the Audacity to Have ‘Faust’ Performed in a ‘Cursed’ House and the Horrifying Event Which Thereby Ensued”).

This section was first printed on Sunday, 24 October, 1909.

For anyone following along in David Coward's translation of the First Edition of Phantom of the Opera (either in paperback, or Kindle, or from another vendor -- the ISBN-13 is: 978-0199694570), “The two Directors left their box during the interval to find out more about the cabal the stage manager had talked about,” and goes to Chapter 8, “The garden act unfolded with the usual turns of the plot.”

Please note, however, that a large portion of this section was omitted from Leroux’s First Edition.

There are some significant differences between the Gaulois text and the First Edition. In this section, these include (highlighted in red above):

1) This section from the Gaulois was sadly cut from the First Edition. It was replaced with a brief, one sentence summary — "The Managers left the box during the entr'acte to inquire about the tale of the cabal of which the stage manager had told them, but they soon returned to their seats, shrugging their shoulders and treating the whole business as so much nonsense":

"P. of the O.!... Always P. of the O.!" cried M. Richard, to the singer's great astonishment, and he asked for the envelope that she held out to him. The letter had been sent from the post office on the Boulevard des Capucines, a stone's throw from where the former Managers lived. Without saying another word, they left the dressing room; M. Richard was furious, convinced that MM. Debienne and Poligny had vowed to make a fool of him. That idea anchored itself conclusively in his mind when, after he had gone up to his office with Moncharmin, his personal secretary, M. Rémy, brought him an evening paper which ran an interview where M. Debienne implied that he would prefer to go bankrupt at the Opéra than to make his fortune there conducting himself "as a money-grubber." M. Richard assumed — quite mistakenly, of course — that this unwelcome opinion was directed at him, finding a connection between this interview and an article which appeared two evenings before in the same paper, where the new Managers were admonished for not attempting to produce anything interesting, for confining themselves to the same old shows, and ultimately for conducting themselves with the utmost frugality.

Shaking with barely contained fury, Richard turned toward Moncharmin and told his colleague point-blank that he found his face strangely placid for having gone through an ordeal as upsetting as this which they were obliged to endure.

"What ordeal?" asked Moncharmin calmly. "Is it P. of the O. who has put you in such a state?"

"Ah! It is indeed a matter of your Phantom!" replied Richard, enraged. "Don't you see that Debienne and Poligny are making a mockery of us? That they have organized a press campaign on the outside, a cabal on the inside, and that they are causing us a thousand different troubles!... I don't give a toss about your Phantom!"

As M. Moncharmin was about to protest his associate's claim, which attributed to him the sole ownership of the Phantom, the door of the Managers' office swung open and La Sorelli entered.

Moncharmin straightaway put on his monocle, in honor of the young lady's famous legs, clad in pink silk; but Richard immediately brought him back to the mood of the situation, which, if La Sorelli was to be believed, was more serious than one could imagine.

She started off by asserting that the Comte de Chagny had henceforth lost interest in Christine Daaé. She made this statement with all the more haste, since she had not been unaware of the Comte's enthusiasm for the talent of this little minx. But this enthusiasm had well and truly dried up. In short, the Comte had only agreed to get momentarily involved due to the entreaties of his brother, the young Vicomte, who had developed feelings for La Daaé which were truly ridiculous. The Comte now had a very dim view of the attentions that his brother paid the singer. As La Sorelli understood it, he had remarked about this to his brother, but the Vicomte would not be otherwise distracted, which must have greatly aggravated the Comte. As for the cabal, the Comte could not deny that La Daaé, whom he judged to be a little hypocrite and a trickster of the first degree, was capable of dragging his brother into such an affair, since he was a naïve and kindhearted child. La Sorelli did not leave the managerial office without insisting that these gentlemen have the utmost discretion regarding the "terrible secret" that she had confided in them, given that, if the Comte ever learned that she had thus abused his trust in relating such things which should be forgotten as soon as they were heard, he would never forgive her for the rest of his life.

Having said this, she withdrew and returned to the dance foyer. Men from the financial sector, the nobility, academia, the popular newspapers, and the political scene, represented by a deputy from the left, two senators from the right, and the personal secretaries of several members of the ministry, were whispering, giggling, and gossiping about the most beautiful legs in our National Academy of Music. Several coryphées, after glancing at themselves in the mirror, lifted their tutus with one hand, went up en pointe, lips puckered, and came down again, near to a cluster of young ladies where Meg Giry bitterly recounted the outrageous misadventure that had happened that very morning to her worthy mother in the managerial office. Naturally, as everyone had noted that MM. Richard and Moncharmin were attending the performance in Box 5, the primary cause of Mme Giry's dishonor and her daughter's despair, Meg's confidences were a tremendous success and once again, the talk was only that of the Phantom and his box, although the young ladies made a little sign of the devil's horns to ward off bad luck.

Suddenly, there was a great commotion and loud bursts of laughter. It was little Jammes who, followed by her comrades, "Nez qui danse" and "Jambe d'acier,"* made her entrance into the foyer. All three of them were leaning on pitchforks that they had retrieved from their properties. Thusly armed, they defied the Phantom and his maledictions, for he was capable of anything, they said, and he'd had the audacity to steal César, the white horse from Le Prophète, right under the nose of good M. Lachenal, who was worried sick because of it.

Upon hearing about this new exploit by the Phantom, the small army of terrified dancers tried to touch the wood of the pitchforks, and La Sorelli herself could not resist this superstitious temptation before going to rejoin the Comte de Chagny, who was standing in a corner, alone and quite concerned. Did he already foresee that the amorous affinity his brother had for La Daaé — an affinity that he had at first entertained — would descend into a formidable passion?

But where was the Vicomte? Leaning on an upright for a set piece that had just been put up — standing between an idling and melancholy walk-on actress, and a petit rat, who, far from her mother, was busy munching some nuts, and letting herself be charmed by a gallant old man — he was waiting for Christine to pass by. She would not be long, since as she was singing the role of Siébel, she had to be ready to go on stage when the curtain went up on the third act.

Just then, she arrived and passed close by him without seeing him, or pretending not to see him. As she passed by, there were some hostile whispers uttered by the friends of La Carlotta, but again it seemed that she had not heard them.

The Vicomte looked away, heaving a heavy sigh. He then saw the two Managers, who were looking at each other and whispering in each other's ear. He imagined that they were mocking him for his love. He blushed and walked away. The Managers left the stage as well, and went back up to Box 5.

*NOTE: There is a brief mention of similar figures of the Opéra's ballet in Sept ans à l'Opéra. Souvenirs anecdotiques d'un secrétaire particulier, by Nérée-Desarbres (Paris: E. Dentu, 1864, page 64)

2) This sentence is slightly different in the Gaulois text, as compared to the First Edition:

Mais personne ne put les renseigner, puis ils revinrent auprès de la tablette ; ils trouvèrent, à côté de la boite de bonbons anglais, un lorgnette.

Translation:

But no one could tell them anything, so they came back to the armrest shelf; beside the box of English chocolates, they found a pair of opera glasses.

3) Compare the Gaulois text:

Ils s'assirent en silence. (They sat in silence.)

To the First Edition:

Ils s'assirent en silence, réellement inpressionnés. (They sat in silence, genuinely unnerved.)

4) This line of Marguerite's in the Gaulois was omitted from the First Edition, but was curiously added back in by De Mattos in his abridged translation of the First Edition:

Je voudrais bien savoir quel était ce jeune homme, Si c'est un grand seigneur, et comment il se nomme.

Translation:

I should dearly like to know who this young man was, Whether he is a noble lord, and what his name is.

5) This sentence in the Gaulois was omitted from the First Edition:

Rien, ni sur la scène, ni dans la salle, ni dans la loge ne venait troubler l'ordre du spectacle.

Translation:

Nothing on the stage, in the house, or in the box occurred to disrupt the order of the performance.

6) Minor differences in punctuation.

Click here to see the entire edition of Le Gaulois from 24 October, 1909. This link brings you to page 3 of the newspaper — Le Fantôme is at the bottom of the page in the feuilleton section. Click on the arrow buttons at the bottom of the screen to turn the pages of the newspaper, and click on the Zoom button at the bottom left to magnify the text.

[femmeleatherface]

i tortured myself by reading the poto (1925) shooting script! there were good things and bad things and if i don't infodump about them i will explode

really long and rambly disclaimer: this isn't the original-original draft (which from my understanding is where the rosy hours of mazandaran sequence came from, but don't quote me on that), nor is it the same as the los angeles premiere cut (which from my understanding included the redemptive love ending for erik, which was apparently never scripted and got shot on the fly while they struggled to figure out how to end the film, But Again Do Not Quote Me). that said, you can see traces of the original script and some of the sequences lost with the los angeles premiere cut, and some of the choices made are... interesting!

long post so thoughts under the cut

complete list of items i am mad or at least disappointed we didn't get in some capacity:

the frame narrative. for some reason they had the story come from the files of m. faure instead of anyone actually involved in the narrative like christine or the daroga, but still. would have been cool

a close, honestly sweet relationship between joseph and simon buquet. if you're going to spend so much time focusing on joseph's death, maybe making us care about him is a good thing??? wild concept

la sorelli's knife <3 also just a role for her in general

erik using a trapdoor to spirit away cesar the horse. i don't know if they ever actually filmed this or what since it seems a little complicated, but the way it's written gives me major looney tunes vibes:

130-D ANOTHER PART OF CELLAR #5 OR #6 IF WE HAVE THE SET. MED. SHOT NEAR THE BIG OPERA HOUSE FORGE A groom currying a great white stallion while a Hercules of a smithy is preparing to put new shoes on the stallion. We plant the stallion fastened to a ring bolt in the stone wall by a strap and is parallel with the wall. The blacksmith is holding up the hoof of the great white stallion to measure a shoe, then he moves over to the forge and with his back to the horse pumps the bellows and sings to himself -- then a strange thing happens, a section of the wall and floor upon which the white stallion stands suddenly turns as if upon an axle and the white stallion vanishes leaving apparently the same wall floor and ring bolt - the smithy lifts the red hot shoe from the forge and prepares to hammer it. He casualy looks around toward the place where the horse was, gasps and drops the hammer. Then thinking perhaps one of the stablemen played a joke, he calls to him - they join him and he asks them about the horse.

so! much! daroga!!!! obviously he is the highlight to me. he gets so many more little scenes and i will say they get pretty repetitive after a while (he shows up, is mysterious for a paragraph, leaves, rinse & repeat), so i get why they changed things. but what i find interesting (and most agonizing to lose) about this particular version is that he's shown to be a pretty compassionate man, aloof but overall very kind and caring about others, even before we know what his deal is. he has a scene with raoul where he shoots him a look of "friendly compassion" while raoul is the exact opposite. it's... a wonderful characterization. what the fuck. also i get the sense that he regularly visits erik's house offscreen and maybe every time he's leaving/entering the cellars we are supposed to infer after the fact that he's paying erik a visit. MANY QUESTIONS. anyway this daroga is amazing and wonderful and i love him. we were robbed.

the "erik visible behind the mirror looking at christine" shot before ALW made it cool:

[181.] SEMI C.V. CHRISTINE ON COUCH Suddenly part of the mirror beind her becomes transparent, revealing the upper portion of the masked face.

mme valerius! she's christine's biological grandmother in this script rather than an adoptive mother, but waves hand. her relationship with christine is very sweet. definitely understand why they cut her, though, she shows up in one scene and isn't even mentioned anywhere else. but what she gets is nice

the cemetery at perros scene. it's SO atmospheric and probably was gorgeous-looking in black and white. unlike some of the scenes in this script we know they actually filmed it because we can see extant photos of it and UGH. UGH!!!!! MAD!!!!!!!

erik has a black mask. i get why they didn't do this one too because it wouldn't have shown up well in a black and white medium, but oh... it would have been nice...

the unmasking scene being partially colorized like the bal de masque. i am a sucker for silent film experimentation, this could have been neat

also the rat catcher (as a rat catcher vs. some random guy) having a colorized red scarf around his neck to make him look decapitated. very morbid. love it

the comic relief played by snitz edwards being the guy who touches red death. from a storytelling and filmmaking standpoint it makes sense (brings new characters into the original story, less actors to pay, etc.) and i'm honestly surprised this didn't make it to the final cut. also, erik's "don't touch me i am red death" warning is on his cloak like in the novel and that is one of my favorite book details so it delights me they were originally going to do it in the film

this erik line:

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IS THE BAG OF LIFE AND DEATH!"

more understanding of/sympathy for erik from him expressing his desires in general

subjectivity in the torture scene. raoul imagines a forest fire and a lion in his delirium and maybe it wouldn't have worked but i love the stark contrast of that with the daroga's perspective of the frankly banal reality of the torture chamber immediately after (if only because it's a great daroga moment)

also the daroga being more levelheaded during the torture scene in general like in the book. i don't think they necessarily changed this in the final cut, but i do think they shortened the torture scene to a degree and used shots such that the daroga actively searching for a way out based on his preexisting knowledge is a little hard to infer, whereas on the page it is very obvious

this beautiful moment between christine and erik:

[535.] MED CLOSE UP ERICK AND CHRISTINE AMBER Christine gazes up at him earnestly and the picture is held for an instant. Erick realizes that the final moment is at hand and there is sense of terror in his manner. She asks him in a trembling voice: "DO YOU SWEAR TO ME THAT THE SCORPION IS THE ONE TO TURN?" BACK: For the first time Erick shows fear. In a hushed way he answers her: "YES... IF YOU WISH TO BE MY BRIDE." BACK: Quietly she turns from him. [536.] CLOSE UP CHRISTINE AMBER Without an instant's hesitation, but with thorough consciousness of what she is doing she turns the scorpion. [537.] A LONGER SHOT AMBER Erick walks toward her - a man crushed. Christine in this instant has become his master. Christine turns calmly to meet him.

but also i am extremely glad we didn't get these things:

a long, tedious history of the opera house. so much exposition that is mostly not interesting and only barely ties into the story. yawns. we dodged a bullet on this one

just raoul's entire starting characterization. the raoul we got is hardly amazing but wow. this guy is... literally everything raoul is not supposed to be: cool, suave, dashingly romantic, a womanizer. he's basically every 1920s he-man romantic lead and I Do Not Care For It. he gets better the further the script goes along/the closer the script follows the book, but woof. bad. BAD!

reveal of erik's face and the chandelier scene way too early. 35 pages into a 126 page script, or about 30 minutes in if we follow the 1 page = about 1 minute rule. that would have KILLED the suspense of erik's character and undercut the unmasking scene with christine later. and probably also messed with the pacing and sense of stakes. speaking of:

messy pacing. the most egregious offender of this is the beginning. the first fifty pages cover a single night, in which we: meet our characters, introduce the opera ghost concept, get even MORE boring exposition about the opera house, get three "wow the persian is so mysterious who is that guy" moments, set up the plot with erik wanting christine to sing, the murder of joseph buquet (also setting up his relationship with simon so we're sad about joseph biting the dust later), stealing cesare, the chandelier scene, an erik face reveal, raoul finding out about erik, and a whole bunch of other stuff that i can't even remember because it just comes nonstop all at once. the order is... weird, and the story does not benefit because there is just no dang moment to breathe and get to know any of these people. also HOW DOES ERIK HAVE TIME TO DO ALL THIS MAYHEM IN ONE NIGHT. HOW!!!!!!!!

erik's name is erick. for some reason??? it's like they couldn't decide between the eric and erik spellings and just decided to mash them together for... some reason...

subplot with philippe and his wife trying to send raoul to monaco. i do like giving philippe more to do to make his death is more meaningful, but this... is not the way. philippe calls the cops on raoul when he ends up becoming an army deserter, and i get the desire to add stakes, but I Do Not Care About Any Of This

the rising action for the climax is way too complicated. we do not need christine and raoul planning to leave after the bal de masque and then having their plans foiled because raoul gets thrown in prison, only for him to manipulate philippe into letting him out and then give christine a new plan to run away with her after the show, have erik find out about this and be mad because he was the one helped the cops catch raoul at the bal de masque (also he found out about raoul's prison escape and the new runaway plan because erik's apparently a peeping tom who watches christine get dressed in her dressing room, charming), and THEN get to erik kidnapping christine during the performance because apparently he is great at coming up with elaborate kidnapping schemes on the spot. we do not need it. we do not.

the daroga gets less important rather than more important at the end: this is something you can see in the extant versions, but it's especially frustrating in the shooting script because so much of his character was built up, but after the grasshopper and the scorpion sequence he just... exists. becomes one with the mob and that's it. at least in the extant cuts he gets to be the ONE person who ushers in the mob, semi-justifying his presence after he guides raoul to erik's house. in this script he ushers the mob in with simon buquet and raoul (because yes, the mob ending apparently existed in some form dating back to this script if not earlier--UGH!!!!!), which doesn't make the daroga feel really useful or necessary as a character at the end. also he and erik don't even get one scene together in the entire script, which is flabbergasting to me because the trajectory of the story is clearly steering toward some kind of confrontation between them at the end, but nope. my guess this is all a casualty of the constant ending rewrites and the daroga's character being one of the more difficult characters to adapt to 1920s hollywood movie standards, but i'm still mad. this daroga was so good and even during pre-production was getting done so dirty

philippe.... lives????? how did that even happen, what. just what. he went and was drowned but sike! he's alive! what the fuck.

[flagbridge]

PoTOmer 2024/5784 Masterpost

From April 23 -June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat.

Follow POTOMER for the posts.

(Gif of @lilykerhoas is from @or-what-you-will and @hyperfixatra January 2024 (2) video)

Day 49: PHANART-Phantom Returns to Broadway (as a Lego)

Day 48: PHANFIC-No Vows, POTO Queer Week 2024

Day 47: PHANART-Journey to the Lair made with Legos

Day 46: (No Post, Shabbat)

Day 45: PHANFIC-Mes Amicales Pensees (Young R/C)

Day 44: GIFSET-West End '23-'24 Phantoms having a mental breakdown during AIAOY.

Day 43: PHANFIC-Phantom of the Capitol Crack AU Idea

Day 42: GIFSET- Jon Robyns & Lily Kerhoas, West End 2024

Day 41: PHANFIC-Sangfroid, a Raoul Navy POTO Dark Week Fic

Day 40: AUDIO-Connor Ewing Phantom Debut Full Audio Gift

DAY 39 (no post, Shabbat)

Day 38: GIFSET-Jon Robyns unique acting choice

Day 37: PHANART: POTO Lego Figurines (Again)

Day 36: GIFSET-NEW BOOT (Jon/Lily/Mikey)

Day 35: GIFSET-MOTN Goodness (Jon/Lily)

Day 34: GIFSET-The Boatride

Day 33: (Lag B’Omer Special): PHANFIC All Vows FINALE

Day 32: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 31: PHANFIC- All Vows Finale Teaser

Day 30: LIVE SHOW-POTO Vienna Goes Wrong

Day 29: COSPLAY-Meg Giry

Day 28: PHANART-POTO Lego Figurines!

Day 27: HEADCANON-My Raoul is a Composite Character

Day 26: PHANART-Erik x Mirrorbride

Day 25: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 24: GIFSET-Random POTO Broadway Phantom Gifs

Day 23: PHOTOSET/HEADCANON-La Sorelli in ALW

Day 22: VIDEO-Moisten the Lad

Day 21: PHOTOSET- POTO Uganda

Day 20: PHANART: Erik and his Violin

Day 19: FANFIC - All Vows Chapter 39

Day 18: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 17: PHANART- Various crack posts and inside jokes illustrated by @bonzlydoo

Day 16: PHOTOSET-Joe-Griffiths Brown feeding the people what they want as Raoul

Day 15: HEADCANON/Raoul Navy Uniform Musings

Day 14: GIFSET-Ethan Freeman bows to the monkey.

DAY 13: LEROUX: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GASTON LEROUX (Ethan Freeman Reads Leroux)

Day 12: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 38: my longfic that will be concluding at the end of May.

Day 11: (no post, Shabbat)

Day 10: FANFIC: All Vows Chapter 10 (Catch Up)

Day 9: ADAPTATION: Ghost of Zariya Hollow

Day 8: HEADCANON: Christine's Swedish Accent

Day 7: COSPLAY Hannibal Slave Girl Bodice Construction

Day 6: GIFSET: Raouls who make choices appreciation post

Day 5: PHIC UPDATE: All Vows Chapter 37! (And a bonus gif of Lily and Jon)

Day 4: (No post, Shabbat)

Day 3: GIFSET: Cape Twirl Comparison, Current West End Phantoms ('23-'24)

Day 2: BRAINWORM: "Ne Me Touchez Pas"

Day 1: GIFSET Robyns/Kerhoas: The Kiss

[deadolloading]

Solicitudes

Presentación de mi perfil, lo que escribo, reglas.

¡Hola pequeña personita! Me presento, soy deadolloading aún que pueden decirme Joven D, Doll, Dolly o como gustes. Mis pronombres son She/Her/Him, ¡Pero puedes decirme como sea!

Mi blog es totalmente en contenido en español, esto es debido a que no se mucho de inglés y hasta que no lo aprenda en su totalidad, no haré contenido en inglés.

El contenido de mi perfil apunta específicamente a todo lo relacionado con fanfics, pequeños escritos míos, etc. Igualmente los fanfics van del famoso Character x Reader o como el famoso Character x T/N.

Personas de cualquier edad, genero, creencia o nacionalidad ¡Es completamente bienvenido! Ya que mi contenido va para todo público ya que me incomoda escribir cualquier cosa NSFW, por lo que todo mi contenido es SFW, en caso de ser lo contrario se pide que no interactúen con esa publicación.

Requests are open!

Lea esto antes de solicitar cualquier fanfic, headcanon y esas cosas (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

Nota: A veces no puedo publicar mucho debido a lo ocupado que suelo estar.

Soy muy imaginativo con headcanons, escenarios/drabbles y es posible que veas mucho de eso en mi perfil, pero nada de fanfics o one-shots y tendrás que esperar mucho tiempo para que haga uno.

Por favor, no envíe hagas spam de solicitudes porque en esos caso no lo haré.

Si no publico un post muy largo, puede ser porque no tengo mucha imaginación en ese momento, disculpas de antemano.

¡El inglés no es mi primer idioma! Así que lo siento mucho por lo que solo escribiré en español.

Cuando pida algo en mi bandeja, por favor dame detalles de lo que quieres, como una parte específica que desea que agregue, qué personaje, género del lector, etc.

Solo puede escribir de 2 a 3 personajes a la vez.

Quiero que este lugar sea seguro tanto para mí como para los lectores.

Tengo todo el derecho a rechazar una solicitud, especialmente si rompe con las reglas que ya tengo.

Acepto escribir

Relaciones poliamorosas.

Dolor/comodidad.

Pelusa.

Amor, oc x character

No acepto escribir

Incesto

Sexo/NSFW

Violencia

Pedofilia, zoofilia

Relaciones altamente tóxicas

Fandoms y personajes para los que escribo !

Videojuegos

Phantom of the Opera - MazM

Christine Daae Sorelli Dupont Melek Levni Detective Hatim Eric

Genshin Impact

Sucrose Rosaria Beidou Amber Kaeya Diluc Jean Aloy Lisa

Mario Bros

Princess Peach Princess Daisy Rosalina Pauline Mario Luigi

Cuphead

Baroness Von Bon Bon Chef Saltbaker Cala Maria Hilda Berg

Five Night's at Freddy's

Michael Afton William Afton Henry Emily Clara Afton Animatronics

Sims 4

Elvira Lapida

Series/Anime/ARG

The Mandela Catalogo

Cesar Torres Mark Heathcliff Adam Murray Jonah Marshall Arcangel Gabriel Alt!Archangel Gabriel Sarah Heathcliff

Popee the Performer

Papi Poppe Eepop Kedamono

Kimetsu no Yaiba

Tanjiro Kamado Nezuko Kamado Inosuke Hashibira Zenitsu Agatsuma Muzan Kibutsuji Kagaya Ubuyashiki Kyōjurō Rengoku Obanai Iguro Gyomei Himejima Tengen Uzui Shinjuro Rengoku Mitsuri Kanroji Shinobu Kochō

Welcome Home

Wally Darling Julie Joyful Barnaby B. Beagle Frank Frankly Eddie Dear Howdy Pillar Sally Starlet Poppy Partridge

My Hero Academia

Kyoka Jiro Eijiro Kirishima Denki Kaminari Mei Hatsume Mt. Lady Tsuyu Asui Tenya Iida Endeavor Ochako Uraraka Momo Yaoyorozu

Sakura CardCaptor

Tomoyo Daidōji Tōya Kinomoto Yukito Tsukishiro Maki Matsumoto Nadeshiko Kinomoto Syaoran Li Fujitaka Kinomoto Kaho Mizuki Sakura Kinomoto Clow Reed Caras Clow

Sailor Moon

Usagi Tsukino Rei Hino Makoto Kino Ami Mizuno Minako Aino Haruka Teno Michiru Kaio Setsuna Meio Nephrite Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask Kou Seiya Kou Yaten Kou Taiki

Dragon Ball

Gohan Veggetta Piccolo Trunks Broly Androide 18 Androide 17 Whis Krilin

Scooby-Doo

Vilma Dinkley Daphne Blake Shaggy Rogers Fred Jones

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Montgomery Montgomery Violet Baudelaire Klaus Baudelaire Georgina Orwell Justice Strauss Fernald Fiona Kit Snicket Lemony Snicket  Gustav Sebald

Marvel/DC Comics

Solo agregare unos personajes

Doctor Octopus - Spiderman Miguel O'Hara - Spiderman Ghost Spider - Spiderman Spider-Man Noir - Spiderman Doctor Stranger - Marvel Peggy Carter - Marvel Raven - DC Comics Starfire - DC Comics Beast Boy - DC Comics Green Arrow - DC Comics

Moral Orel

Bloberta Puppington Clay Puppington Rod Putty Stephanie Putty Nurse Bendy

The Amazing Digital Circus

Ragatha x Reader Pomni x Reader Caine x Moon Caine x Reader Jax x Reader Gingle x Reader

Otros personajes (serie o película)

Miss Peregrine - Miss Peregrine y el hogar para chicos peculiares Carrie - Carrie 1976 Michael Myers - Halloween Jason Voorhees - Viernes 13 Thomas Hewitt - Masacre en Texas 2006 Ghostface - Danny Johnson Phantom of the Opera - Movie 2004 Blue Diamont - Steven Universe Yellow Diamond - Steven Universe Personajes de Disney - Solo si lo conozco

⠀⠀ ⠀ Reglas ⛧ ?!

ㅤㅤ⛧ Especificar por favor lo que quieren, no soy adivina. Si quieren cierta situación especifica, ese tipo de cosas ya saben.

ㅤㅤ⛧ Al momento de escribir para lectores, lo diré de una vez, no se mucho de pronombres. Por lo que si quieres de un personaje no binario o algo así, por favor dime como es su uso de pronombres para escribirlo y te sientas cómodo.

ㅤㅤ⛧ Esto totalmente abierta a la idea de escribir OC x Character, para eso pido que en privado me den algo de información de su oc. Alguna ficha, descripción de personalidad y física, ese tipo de cosas.

ㅤㅤ⛧ Pido que me tengan paciencia, suele escribir de forma muy tardada debido a mi gran bloqueo de escritor. Ténganme paciencia, soy nuevo en esto :').

ㅤㅤ⛧ ¡Pueden pedirme cualquier cosa! Romance, platónico, relación padre/madre e hijx, de hermandad, etc.

ㅤㅤ⛧ Por favor, pido respeto ya que esto es como un tipo de pasatiempo para mi. No vengo a molestar a nadie y tampoco vengo a que me molesten. Si no les gusta mi perfil o tienes problemas conmigo, te pido amablemente que dejes mi perfil y con gusto puedes bloquearme.

Eso sería todo por mi parte, bienvenidos a mi perfil y espero que les guste mi contenido.

¡Nos vemos!

[gwaaaaar]

Why MazM Raoul SOLOS!!!

Raoul haters dni/j. You guys know how I feel abt him from when I was replaying MazM POTO but I'm putting it into an actual post + tagging. This is gonna be long so buckle up.

The plot/characters of MazM POTO is kinda weak, and it's a little debatable on if Raoul's character is purely reliant on the decline of Christine and Erik's characters. But I'll just talk about him individually.

My first point here will be analyzing him alone, who he is without Christine.

Raoul on his own:

Raoul is very very childish on his own. The art makes him look quite baby and from the get-go you can tell how naive he is. When he first comes into the opera house with Philippe, he makes so many jokes. For example when Jammes asks who he is, he jokes that he is Philippe's son, which pisses him off and causes him to scold Raoul. Then when Philippe tells him to stay in their box seat, he decides to go in the one besides theirs, Box 5, to play a little prank on him. 10 PM PRANK GONE WRONG GONE VIOLENT!!! Carlotta constantly reminds him of his drill sergeant and makes him whimper. Lawd she is real for that. You almost forget he was part of the navy with how much he pouts.

In Christine's dressing room, when he is snooping around, he's like oh Philippe's gonna ground me for months if he finds out. Dude youre 20. And when Christine tells him she can't go out a certain hour he's like oh you have curfew? I understand. Like I know curfew might've been a *thing* back then like there's context to it probably. But between that and the grounding it does feel like Raouls life had been placed under restrictions for his protection.

When Richard pisses him off, he splatters ink all over his music scores and goes "oopsies silly me" and Richard starts going OFF at him abt how that's his important music scores and Raoul goes "That's music??? I've done a favor to the world by rubbing it off." LIKE???? He's a fucking brattttt. He's absolutely childish sometimes and I love it. But he definitely has a good heart. He calls out Philippe for playing with Sorelli's heart later on and how scummy it is. He goes to the managers when Christine gets ill and asks them if they treat their employees well, and while later on it teeters into the Christine obsession, he still wanted benefits for all the singers in a sense. AND he tells them off for conspiring with the police to cover up Buquets death to the point he becomes enough of a problem that they get Remy to kick him out. In the torture chamber when the Daroga is relaying Erik's backstory to him, he's like wow that's horrible :(((. He is a sweet guy. And I'll admit MazM fucked up when they blamed Hatim for Erik's actions, and Raoul shouldn't have been a mouthpiece for that sentiment, I am purely taking what can be said about Raoul here. Raoul gets pissed when he sees injustice, not just in the name of Christine. When the Daroga goes off at him for being privileged (French and White) and scoffing at Middle Eastern governments, Raoul holds his tongue and apologizes. Like he knows his place.

He's smart too, he's reasonable enough to know La Epoque is just a gossip magazine and absolute BULLSHIT. He knows the management is just dogshit and calls their asses out for it. He graduated with honors!!! He gets along quite well with the other characters that aren't Christine and his interactions with them fill him out quite a bit.

But that isn't all that MazM added to him.

Translation Through Time

Now, a part of why people can't sympathize with Raoul in the original book is because he is seen as a privileged brat, and he certainly acts so. His appeal as a character is lost through time as what was seen as extraordinary back then (giving up everything for your lowerclass lover) is to be expected nowadays. MazM translates that struggle into something more relatable to modern day audiences which would be a sense of golden child syndrome. Raoul is held to a standard by his family. In the original book he doesn't throw up much of a fight besides when it got between him and Christine. But here, when he lashes out at Philippe, he straight up says he never wanted anything Phillippe forced onto him. He didn't consent to the army and yet was enlisted because it'd be good for his family. He's considered the black sheep of the family and people gossip about him and he knows it. Raoul was fully ready to die in the Artic, he had nothing to his name and wanted to please his family, until Christine came back in his life. He wanted to make his own choices for once and being with Christine was his choice. Which leads to another thing about him:

His Lack of Agency and Childishness

To touch back on the point about Raoul's childishness: he doesn't know better. He has led a sheltered life, doted and pampered on by Philippe yes, but still sheltered. He had been taught to stay in line and hadn't experienced the real world. As a result he is quite pent up and doesn't exactly know what to do with himself when he's upset. Combine that with his lack of agency where hes constantly forced to live a certain way, well, you have a pipe bomb. He is childish in the sense of, quite literally he thinks like one at times. Children aren't evil or malicious or anything, just naive. They can be selfish. Raoul had been selfish to Christine many times, and it is not out of a sense of wanting to hurt her, moreso he doesn't realize what he's doing. This is not to remove his agency, not at all. He is an adult. This is about his subconscious actions and what he doesn't realize about himself.

Raoul With Christine

Christine brings out the very best in Raoul, and his worst, not her fault however it's just collateral. Raoul never curses Christine out like he did in the original book. He loves her whole-heartedly. Although there is the scene where he taunts her for crushing his flowers. Again I feel that ties more into his childish selfish side, bc. It felt very childish of him to poke at her like that.

I don't know if I'm tweaking, but considering how MazM was pushing a narrative of making choices in this game, like Christine learning to make choices for herself or Erik choosing not to let go, I feel as if this isn't coincidental. Raoul's choice to run away with Christine is a very important one. Raoul had loved Christine since he was a child. As an adult he loved her even more, she was a breath of fresh air to him as she never expected anything of him, she was a choice. When Raoul is helpless to help her during Erik's terrorization, he was miserable! He was lashing out at everyone because he didn't know who to trust or what to do. He could give the world and still it couldn't fix the situation. And thus his pushiness and toxicity came from a place of overcompensation. He wanted to be so sure of himself that he could protect Christine. He wanted her to be fully his.

His lowest point is when he barks at Christine to hand over Erik's ring even after she expressed her discomfort and anxiety. Raoul rlly went I have a pistol and a dream. And yeah this is his worst, but that doesn't mean he was beyond redemption.

Redemption

Raoul begs and cries in the torture room for Christine. He really does seem apologetic and regretful. He asks Christine if she wanted to hear about Erik's backstory. Raoul hated Erik! And the fact he is treating him with such compassion that Christine doesn't show??? </3

Christine's compassion had been butchered near the end. While they are burying Erik's body, there is a choice to be made asking if you wanted to put the ring on Erik or not. If Christine asks to throw it away, Raoul says to wait a minute. He explains that he doesn't say what he's about to say out of sympathy but rather what he would want if he were in Erik's position. He treats Erik like a human when he says "If my body were to show up one day unknown, I would at least want something to be able to identify me." He treats Erik like a fellow man which is just... so sweet. He acts as a foil to MazM Erik. While Erik refused to change for the better and stayed a bitter hateful man, Raoul changed to make sure Christine would be happy and safe. That is hella growth. He tells Christine about while he was in the torture room, the enraged man he saw in the mirror wasn't him but a monster. He is terrified that he ever put Christine through that version of himself. At the ending, while he pushes Christine to marriage again, Christine calls him out, and he catches himself and goes "I'm so sorry." He doesn't fix himself immediately bc that is not how growth works, but he is definitely on the path to growth. Christine tells him she wants him to change for himself, not for her. The ending where he is with Christine is a happy ending however. What I don't see often is people talking about the other ending.

Raoul Alone

In the ending where Raoul and Christine part their seperate ways, people talk about Christine's side a lot. However, Raoul's side of the story is fascinating and marks his own growth. He's free from the Chagny family, no money no connections. He didn't even attend Philippes funeral. He had been disowned but he didn't even feel as if he deserved to go. He's traumatized from Philippe's death but he's keeping it in. Philippe was like a father to him, as cruel as he got sometimes. They still loved each other very much. He gave it all up for Christine, so the ending where they part ways???? It's so bittersweet. He is left alone and traumatized, but his new life was solely his. He will find happiness again, as hard as it will be. Even if he was a pampered spoiled child, he isn't that anymore. He had grown and matured while still keeping his kind heart. He will move on as Christine had moved on.

Can you guys tell I love him.

[lupinedreaming]

Main Phantom of the Opera ships rated out of 5 by someone who spent the past 16-17 years basically only shipping E/C until this week

Yeah, so this post is just what it says on the tin :P This post is just for fun and my own personal opinion and preferences. I have no issue with anyone who ships any of these:

— Erik/Christine: Getting the biggest one out of the way first!! 10/5. Sorry. I imprinted on this ship at 12 or 13 and it’s a template for a lot of things I ship now. It’ll prob always be my main POTO ship

— Christine/Raoul: 2.5/5. It’s blandly cute. I just rarely find most versions of Raoul interesting at all and their dynamic doesn’t do much for me in any version I’ve seen

— Christine/Meg: 2/5? I’m neutral on this, basically. Don’t actively like it or dislike it. I’d probably read a oneshot about it if the summary was interesting enough!

— Raoul/Erik: -5/5. I’m sorry, but this one irrationally annoys me. 😅 It makes me internally go 😬 any time I see it

— Erik/Christine/Raoul: 1/5 Poly ships aren’t my thing most of the time in general, but I’d probably be less :/ about it if Raoul wasn’t involved and the third person was someone else lol

— La Sorelli/Phillipe: 1.5/5. It’s okay? I’m neutral on this one too. I’ve never been super interested in these two in the novel

Carlotta/Piangi: 2.5/5. They can be fun with the right actors, and I actually really like their dynamic in the 25th anniversary production

— Erik/Daroga: 4/5. I’ve normally just been neutral about this one, but I’ve suddenly started shipping it this week. There’s so much history between them and lots of potential

[flagbridge]

My headcanon is that this is actually La Sorelli.

POTOMER DAY 23: PHOTOSET/HEADCANON-La Sorelli in ALW

From April 23 -June 11, I am posting 49 days of POTO content to mark the Omer, except on Shabbat. Masterlist of prior posts.

"The Blonde" AKA the solo dancer in the Il Muto ballet

Not all productions feature her with a blonde or pink wig. Just as often she simply wears the same brown wig as the rest of the ballerinas. But in West End, on Broadway and some international productions they pimp her wig just a tiny hint. I wonder if the original reason was to make her remind of blonde Meg, as this solo part is now and then danced by Megs? Most common for this wig is vanilla blonde or pink with or without metallic stripes. Another take is a more "pasty" look, as if a brown wig was powdered down. Here's some:

Christina Gibbs, Oberhausen

Unidentified, Hamburg revival

Kelly Turner and unidentified, Hamburg revival

Anna Shircliff and Layla Harrison, West End

Alicia Beck, West End

Victoria Paine, Copenhagen revival

Victoria Paine, Copenhagen revival

Catherine Leppingwell and Caroline Scott, Copenhagen

Eilish Harmon-Beglan, West End revival

Unidentified, original West End

Carly Blake Sebouhian, Broadway

Kara Klein, Broadway

Carly Blake Sebouhian, Broadway

Unidentified, Broadway

Wig for Jessi Erlich, Broadway

[dolokhoded]

my top phantom complaint is people insisting on making philippe de changy into an asshole he is NOT an asshole he's a tortured soul he's my special princess and he has kind eyes.

[littlegirymoved]

meg curses loudly and often

[thephantomessoftheopera]

Notes on Gaston Leroux‘s „The Phantom of the Opera“ - Epilogue

<< Previous chapter “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known”

-Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities”

As we are coming to the end of the story, Leroux ties up a few more loose ends in the epilogue.

As for Raoul and Christine, their possible happy ending is only implied by what Erik told the Persian - that they had “taken a northbound train” and were planning to get married in secret. They have disappeared from the world, and Christine never appeared again on stage anywhere. According to Leroux, they might have finally settled in Norway together with Mama Valerius. At first, I thought Leroux might have been confusing Sweden and Norway, but when I did a little research on the name „Daae“, it turns out that the name is actually most prevalent in Norway, with almost no occurrences in Sweden. It is also implied that even if they took that “northbound” train before, Christine took a train back to Paris a few weeks later to return to Erik, because she had the wedding ring on her when she left, and it was finally found on Erik‘s finger.

As Philippe‘s death was deemed to be the consequence of the fight between the two brothers over Raoul’s supposed engagement to Christine, Raoul was a murder suspect - but as his previous testimony had already made him appear a lunatic in the eyes of the Commissary, Philippe‘s death was ultimately pronounced accidental. However, as Parisian society had taken less than kindly to the news of the engagement, I think that the couple would have had a very difficult standing if they had officially married and assumed the now vacant titles of the Count and Countess de Chagny. It is therefore likely that Raoul, having officially disappeared, never claimed his titles and inheritance, and chose the more simple lifestyle that Christine was accustomed to. Leroux concludes the story of Raoul and Christine with the statement that one day, he too might „hear the solitary echoes of the Northland repeat the singing of the woman who knew the Angel of Music''. In the epilogue, the boundaries between the „false“ and the „real“ Angel of Music become blurred, as Leroux repeatedly speaks of Erik as the “Angel of Music” - indicating that maybe, just maybe, Erik truly was the Angel of Music.

After following up on Raoul and Christine, Leroux relates how he obtained proof of Erik‘s existence from the Persian, mostly through the letters written by Christine that Erik had sent to him, but also through the testimonies of Meg Giry and La Sorelli. He supposedly placed all the proof he had gathered in the archives of the Paris Opera.

He also obtained the testimony of M. Poligny, the previous manager of the Opera. The „Opera Ghost“ affair was the final straw that made him resign his post, which again indicates that Erik‘s reign as „O.G.“ was rather short and caused by Erik falling in love (since he had been living in the Opera House presumably since the early 1870s). He also quotes from the fictional „Memoirs of a Manager“ by Armand Moncharmin, where Moncharmin relates that a few days after Christine‘s abduction, Erik returned all of the forty thousand francs he had extracted to the managers, no longer having any need for the money as he had given up his plan to marry Christine. The mystery of the safety-pin is also finally resolved, as Leroux was supposedly able to locate a small trapdoor in the floor of the managers’ office, through which a dexterous magician like Erik could easily have reached up and retrieved the envelope from Richard‘s coattail pocket as it was hanging down from his chair.

Leroux also notes that the marble pillar next to Box 5 sounds hollow and would offer ample space for Erik to hide inside it. According to Gérard Fontaine’s research, the pillars being hollow applies to all the pillars in the auditorium of the Palais Garnier. Whether that proves or disproves anything is up to you... Leroux’s plan of having the lake drained in order to obtain the ultimate proof of Erik‘s existence - finding the entrance to the house by the lake - did not go through, but Leroux still sustains his hope of one day finding the score of „Don Juan Triumphant“ there (that is, if Christine had not taken it with her when she came to bury him).

Leroux then gives a summary of Erik’s life according to the Persian. Erik was born near Rouen in France and ran away from his parents as a young boy, as they were afraid and horrified by how he looked. After being exhibited as a “living corpse” at fairs, he became a singing sensation and garnered a reputation that reached as far as Persia. The daroga of Mazenderan was sent to bring Erik to Persia as entertainment for the “little sultana”. Erik, who also worked there as an assassin, is described here as amoral, “not knowing the difference between right and wrong”. Even though he does not have an evil heart, his life up until this point has left him completely without a moral compass of any kind.

After building an ingenious palace for the shah, Erik’s execution was ordered so that he could not divulge its secrets to anyone. The daroga was supposed to carry it out, but as he owed Erik favours (and was the one who brough Erik to Persia in the first place), he helped him escape instead. He was punished for this and went into exile to Paris. Erik took a detour to Asia Minor and Constantinople before he ended up in Paris as well. It is also mentioned that Erik could make lifelike automata, which is reflected in the musical in the form of the monkey music box and also the “mirror bride”, a physical representation of Erik’s dream of a loving wife.

Once in Paris, Erik decided that he finally wanted to live a normal life, and placed a successful bid to work as a contractor on the Opera House. Wishing to hide his face from the world forever, he built his comfortable home into the foundations of the Opera. Erik’s plan to live out the rest of his life in peaceful tranquillity went well - until he crossed paths with Christine Daae and lost his heart to her completely. And the rest is history…

Leroux here gives his own view of Erik: “He had a heart great enough to hold the empire of the world, and in the end he had to be content with a cellar.” With a normal face, Erik, with his brilliant mind and extraordinary talents, could have had the world at his feet. And even though no one had ever loved him, he still had a heart capable of feeling deep, pure love, which is pretty remarkable. His beautiful voice is a reflection of the beauty he carries inside his soul - which was sadly eclipsed by his ugliness, which did not allow him to live “like everyone else”. The great tragedy of his life was his face, which kept others from treating him as a human being and recognizing his full potential. He is therefore clearly worthy of pity, instead of being cursed and condemned as evil.

Leroux had already mentioned in the Prologue that he believed the skeleton found in the cellars of the Opera was Erik’s. Now he finally reveals why he was so certain of that: because Erik’s skeleton wore the gold wedding ring on his finger, which Leroux believes Christine had placed there. Even though Erik had set her free and given her the ring, she later came back to him, and this time it was certainly not out of terror. With Erik dead, none of his threats would hold any more sway over her - and yet, she still returned to him to keep her promise. She not only buried him with the wedding ring, but she slipped it onto his finger, ultimately fulfilling her promise to accept him as her husband. In a sense, she buried him with her love, and that is truly a bittersweet and beautiful ending. After everything he had to endure, Erik’s life ends with a kiss and a ring on his finger, put there by the woman he loved more than his own life, and with Leroux praying for his salvation. That may not be a traditional happy ending, but it‘s very powerful. And it’s definitely not a villain’s ending.

As „Faust“ is the most strongly referenced work in „Phantom“, it is also worth comparing how the endings are different. In the final act of Gounod‘s opera, Faust and Marguerite first swear their love to each other, but when Marguerite sees Mephistopheles and realizes who Faust really is, she turns away from him and chooses death instead, while Faust is dragged into the fires of hell. Her famous last words to him are „You horrify me!“ In „Phantom“, the progression is almost the other way round - Christine is horrified at first, but then accepts Erik and chooses life instead of death.

It should also be noted that the ending in the novel is so vague that it also allows a lot of room for the reader’s imagination. Was Erik really dead when Christine returned? He himself was announcing his death, so it would not even be so very unlikely. But as this is Leroux’s story, the official reading would of course be how he himself imagined the ending: Erik dying and Christine coming back to bury him. This might be my favourite line from the novel:

“The skeleton lay near the little fountain, where the Angel of Music first held the unconscious Christine Daae in his trembling arms after taking her into the cellars of the Opera.”

As if the return of the ring was not enough poetic closure, he also asked to be buried in the very spot where he held the love of his life for the first time...

Symbolism and Metaphors

Now that we have concluded the epilogue, I would like to add a few more notes on the general themes which are present throughout the novel and still influence how we feel about it today.

To understand the extent of symbolism employed in  „The Phantom of the Opera“, it is necessary to understand the cultural mindset and environment in which it was written. At the turn of the century, the arts (and sciences, as evidenced by the slowly emerging works of Sigmund Freud) were rather obsessed with the fateful connection between Eros and Thanatos - love as the life-bringing force, and death as the destructive force. Both were often seen as intertwined and mirrored in the other.

Erik is the personification of Eros and Thanatos. He unites both forces in him to a degree unparalleled by any other character in the story. The death symbolism that is also clearly reflected in how he is described, would be both perceived as horrifying - and yet not without a strangely seductive fascination inherent in it. Death is intricately tied to darker feelings of passion and desire.The “Eros” and the “Thanatos” part of his character are intertwined, but his character also oscillates between the two sides in the course of the story.

Music in „Phantom“ also serves as a metaphor for romantic love, not only in the spiritual but also in the physical sense, as it is connotated with “passion”, “fire”, “ecstasy” and “rapture” throughout the story. Erik’s teaching awakens “an ardent, voracious and sublime life” in Christine, symbolizing the burgeoning romantic feelings in the young woman. She is terrified with the changes going on in her, which is also in line with how „Eros“ was originally viewed: as a frightening loss of control. Erik says in “Apollo’s Lyre” that “some music is so formidable that it consumes everyone who approaches it”, and Christine states that “Music has the power to abolish everything in the outside world except its sounds, which go straight to the heart”. In both sentences, the word “music” can easily be replaced with “love” - especially in Christine’s example, it would be the musical equivalent of “love is blind”.

Like in other (gothic) romances - “Wuthering Heights” being perhaps the prime example - the two rivals in the principal love triangle represent two very different types of love: one is intense and passionate, but also consuming, terrifying and potentially destructive, and the other is safer, but also somewhat chaste and lifeless. Erik and Raoul each represent one of the two extremes. This contrast is exemplified in the scene at the Masked Ball: Raoul wears white, the colour of innocence, while Erik wears red, the colour of passion, but also of danger and blood.

It is suggested in the novel that Erik and Christine were chained together by fate (“La destinée m’enchaîne à toi sans retour”), and I believe they were destined to save each other. Erik saved Christine from her grief in the wake of her father’s death and brought her back to life, and Christine saved his soul by being the first person in his life to accept him and grant him true happiness. „Phantom“ may be a tragic love story, but it is also a hopeful one, as love proves stronger than death. Christine’s choice, Erik‘s sacrifice and the skeleton’s wedding ring are all symbols of love triumphing over death.

[catcorsair]

Fanfic Writer’s 20 Questions!

Thanks for the tag, @sloanedestler and @shinyfire-0 ! Let's do this thing:

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

15 total, not including the 5 one-shots in “Nocturnes”, and the 17 stories in “Far Too Many Notes for my Taste”. So more like 37

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

197,965

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Phantom of the Opera, and one shameful Star Wars fic that I like to pretend doesn’t exist

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Far Too Many Notes for My Taste

Nocturnes

Last Night in Paradise

Red Velvet

À la Nôtre

Which is interesting, because my hit counts tell a very different story. I know what y'all are reading... be brave, kudos the dark stuff! 😂

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do. I used to be better about it, but alas, life. Comments mean so, so much to me, and I love them, but I get flustered sometimes and have trouble responding, especially when something really moves me. Which is why you might get a response from me the same day as the comment was left, or like… a year and a half later

6) What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

All of them? I think Nôtre and Teeth are the bleakest, while Last Night in Paradise is likely the angstiest by definition. But all of them, really

7) Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

Not really. I am a simple man, I just want to write canon insert explicit smut and that’s all there is to it

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

All the time baby! You should see my inbox every time I post something even mildly dark. And especially whenever I update Teeth. Some of y’all need new hobbies, you know who you are. I know you are just mad because you’re into it 😘

9) Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I only write smut! Of the very, very graphic kind

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Parts and lines, but nothing to get too salty over

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have been asked about a few, but I am not sure if they ever came about

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I am a lone wolf. (Actually, I'm just too disorganized of a writer to figure out how to swing that.) But I do rely on my friends and other writers in the fandom for motivation and inspiration, and I think that is a kind of collective writing

13) What's your all-time favourite ship?

Erik/Christine. Honorable mention goes to Philippe/Sorelli

14) What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I have many many WIPs, and I do hope to finish them all, one day. The only fics that I can’t really see myself finishing are two of the most ambitious: a post-canon longfic, and an 80’s glam metal AU (I know, right! What was I thinking!)

15) What are your writing strengths?

Don’t ask me that. Probably dialog. Maybe... The Bangin'

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

Crippling self-doubt

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I love to throw in a French pun here or there, but in general, I stick to English

18) What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Phantom. Almost 20 years and going strong!

19) What's your favorite fic you've written?

Like Pulling Teeth (give it a read! Let me know what you think!)

20) Who do you tag?

Anyone who sees this and wants to participate! Jump on in!

<3