#erik/christine/daroga

[jmwdoesthings]

Erik: (lying in his coffin with his eyes turned towards the ceiling) So let it be done. Before I leave this cruel, accursed world, Christine, I want you to know that you are the very fibre of my being and I love you. I love you like the sky loves it's stars, like the ocean loves the heavens it strives up to kiss each time it rises, my beautiful angel. Let these be my last words, spoken into the silence, with only you and my fettered conscience as the witness.

Christine: (turning book page serenely) Thank you, Erik, but for heaven's sake and for the last time, you have the common cold.

[thedrawingduke]

Happy (belated) Halloween from the worms that live in my brain! 💀✨🪱

Here’s some concept sketches too. It was very hard to get the poses figured out…

Hope you guys had a safe and spooky October ♥️

@ thedrawingduke on Instagram + Bluesky

[luneemeritus]

[femmeleatherface]

[royalavera]

I'll be uploading all my drawings in full res in my patreon, they'll be all available for free, for personal use, so leave a tip if you want to help me create more free content.

[ereyies]

one day I want people to be like, ‘omg it’s THAT phantom of the opera artist’ when they see my art

like how people in the phandom immediately recognise nipuni or royalavera or lepetitghostcat because they have such recognisable, unique, and overall beautiful styles...

[tortoise-n33ds-purpose]

The Plankton of the Opera

[opera-ghost]

phantom of the opera + twitter

[unamazing-sheep21]

The Daroga is actually an extremely important character to the themes of Phantom of the Opera

Many people might not know this but living as a Muslim/brown person in the west ( especially France… see: burqab ban, burkini ban, hijab ban, etc) is extremely difficult for some. Not to mention in a world post 9/11. Not to mention ( probably) in the 1890’s like in Phantom of the Opera where orientalist art and inaccurate and often dehumanising portrayals of the Middle East and it’s people ( muslims, arabs, Persians etc) were common and were used to justify colonialism.

In classic literature there’s only like, ONE character who is brown and is treated like an actual human being by the narrative and is presented as a central cast member to boot: and that’s the Daroga/ The Persian in Phantom of the Opera. And even then, every adaptation after either replaces him with a white person or has an incredibly disingenuous and inaccurate portrayal of him and his ethnicity/religion. Heck, in the Phantom Susan Kay book he’s given the surname “Khan” which isn’t even Persian it’s a PAKISTANI name.

Every other presumably brown/POC character are written animalistically and antagonistically. E.g Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights and Bertha from Jane Eyre. Bertha especially who is just used as an obstical/metaphor instead of an actual genuine character who deserves her own nuance and voice.

Now, back to the tittle, why do I think The Persian’s mere existence and especially with him being Persian/Muslim is inexplicably tied to the themes of POTO? Because he’s just like Erik and completely unlike Erik at the same time. In the book he’s constantly described as wearing as astrakhan cap/ a fez. Something quintessentially Middle Eastern and exposes him as ethnic right away to the eyes of the then European public. Both Erik and The Persian have sides of them that the society they live in at large shuns/dehumanises/condemns. For Erik it’s his face, and for The Persian it’s his culture/ religion/ race. But unlike Erik, The Persian has the choice to “ take it off” or assimilate more into society. He can, and it was better for him if he wore, a top hat but he CHOOSES to wear a fez. And he never takes it off. While he CAN and he has the chance to be more accepted in society than he already is.

But Erik can’t “take it off”, he can’t take off his face.

Though we don’t know much about the Persians’ beliefs, it’s safe to assume he was probably Muslim since Persia has been a Muslim country for a long time ( ignore the one we have now lmao). And I like to think that even in France he doesn’t give up this one part of him. He could just convert to whatever the majority religion in France was at the time and he would be more assimilated into French society, but he doesn’t . He actively chooses to keep parts of who he is even though they put him at a disadvantage. In contrast, Erik would give anything and does try everything ( even to phycotic lengths ) to be considered “ Normal” in society.

And throughout all of Erik’s efforts the only one who was ever really there for him was The Persian. But Erik dismisses him constantly.

I like to think that The Persian stayed because he understands Erik to a certain degree, and I like to think that Erik resents him because he doesn’t use every chance he gets to assimilate into society. To be considered normal. Sometimes Erik quite literally would kill for. Instead hanging onto every part that makes him who he is even when it only isolates him further.

[0peraghostt]

Christine: hey you guys wanna get some d-e-s-s-e-r-t

Daroga: yeah dude i need me a t-r-e-a-t

Raoul: whatchu guys talking about?

Erik: yeah why did you guys just spell desse-

Christine and Daroga: SHUT UP DON’T SAY IT

Erik: uh why?

Daroga: oh god how do we tell you this

Christine: Raoul can’t spell, so when we talk about something he wants we spell it out loud so he doesn’t get too excited

Erik: he’s a grown man, he can’t handle hearing the word treat?

Raoul: TREAT?

Daroga: NO TREAT

Raoul: TREAT?

Daroga: NO TREAT

Raoul: awww

[hostess-of-horror]

Source: Pinterest

[thedrawingduke]

The old posts are reminding me how big ur brain is, so I made a meme about it (not actually trying to knock anyone's ships, it's all in good fun)

Love our beeg phantom man and his two little mice

The only flaw in this otherwise brilliant plan is how does the Daroga factor into this equation?

[luneemeritus]

There isn't enough queerness in the Phantom of the Opera fandom in my opinion

I want bi/pansexual Christine. Lesbian Meg Giry. Bi/pansexual Erik. Genderqueer Erik. Christine as a trans girl. Bi/pansexual Raoul. God damn it, can we have a gay Daroga/The Persian?

Listen listen everything about Erik is genderqueer: aside from naturally not being what a 19th parisian society expects from the "male sex", he kins Death (agender), he is known as The Phantom (genderfluid? non binary?), The Siren (common associated with femininity), let's have a He/She/They Erik please.

[femmeleatherface]

something about the phantom of the opera novel that i really like and don't see talked about as much is how raoul doesn't really "get" christine until after he demonstrates selfless love for her

they both know their feelings for each other and are secretly engaged, yes, but christine doesn't fully confide in raoul about what's been happening with erik and agree to leave paris with him until AFTER he promises to not only help her escape but also leave her out of respect for her wishes not to marry

it demonstrates a growth in raoul's feelings, where he stops being so pushy and demanding with christine and his feelings toward her grow more mature. it shows that raoul, however young and naive and a little silly as a romantic hero he may be, genuinely cares about christine as a person. he respects her agency and will help her because he loves her and wants what's best for her, even if he doesn't receive anything in return

it's an act of selfless love that happens again with erik giving up christine at the end of the novel because he develops similar emotional growth and recognizes his own failures with her. something something erik and raoul character parallels and foils

[royalavera]

Get them here (I'll get them to work on Instagram in the near future too.)

Another way to access them, install the app Whatsticker, then search the code Ysunic and the you go!

This is the last post of this year so happy christmas and happy new year, see you in 2024!

[tondroom]

The Daroga decides to check out Erik's opera (and therefore his plan to kidnap Christine). Hold up. Erik wanted to do WHAT on stage?

Palais Garnier fits 1979 people so 1979 people would have witnessed this phenomenon. Erik, why