| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details that people who haven't experienced the source material yet might wish to avoid. |
| “ | If I do not go back to him, terrible misfortunes may happen! ... But I can't do it, I can't do it! ... I know one ought to be sorry for people who live underground ... But he is too horrible! And yet the time is at hand; I have only a day left; and, if I do not go, he will come and fetch me with his voice. And he will drag me with him, underground, and go on his knees before me, with his death's head. And he will tell me that he loves me! |
” |
— Christine Daaé, The Phantom of the Opera (1909).
| ||
| Erik | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Others | The Angel of Music Living Corpse Opera Ghost The Voice | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Species | Human (genetically deformed) | ||
| Gender | Male | ||
| Place of origin | France | ||
| Affiliation | The Persian Shahanshah (formerly) The Sultan of Constantinople (formerly) | ||
| Occupation | Circus attraction Illusionist Musician Architect Assassin | ||
| Current status | Deceased | ||
| Cause of death | "Love" | ||
| Biology | |||
| Body type | Humanoid | ||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Sapient | ||
| Behind the scenes | |||
| Universe | The Phantom of the Opera | ||
| Created by | Gaston Leroux | ||
| Performed by | Lon Chaney, Sr. (1925) Aiden Grennell (1988) | ||
Erik, a.k.a. the Phantom of the Opera, is the identity assumed by a man born with an unknown genetic condition which causes his face to resemble a fleshy human skull. Wearing a mask to cover his hideous deformity, Erik lived clandestinely in underground catacombs beneath the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris during the 1870s; having been previously involved in the construction of that same building. Gifted with an angelic singing voice, as well as ventriloquism skills, he took advantage of superstitions and elaborate deceits to manipulate those around him.
Overview[]
| “ | His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils. You just see two big black holes, as in a dead man's skull. His skin, which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead, is not white, but a nasty yellow. His nose is so little worth talking about that you can't see it side-face; and the absence of that nose is a horrible thing to look at. All the hair he has is three or four long dark locks on his forehead and behind his ears. |
” |
— Joseph Buquet, chief scene-shifter, describes the Opera Ghost.
| ||
Although very little has been revealed about Erik's past, it's known that he was once employed as an architect by a young sadistic Sultana. He used his skills to create a chamber of illusions with walls of mirrors, where the Sultana would torture people for fun.
Besides architecture, however, his greatest asset was his exceptional singing voice, so magnificent that it could be described as mesmerizing. In addition to this musical ability, he was also an accomplished ventriloquist, able to make it appear as if his voice was coming from any point in any given room, and deceive people accordingly.
In regards to his nature, Erik was an evil man; never above resorting to murder, kidnaps, and blackmail to achieve his goals. Living incognito under the Palais Garnier, he knew all the scandals and problems that the opera faced, and used such information to blackmail directors Poligny and Debienne, signing his letters as the "Opera Ghost" and relishing in the ensuing atmosphere of superstition and panic.
Most notably, he also developed a romantic obsession over a young singer named Christine Daaé, and felt entitled to marry her, having "helped" her career in such ways as sabotaging the performances of her rivals.
Despite all his wickedness, however, Erik does seem to have at least some sense of honor. He owns a life debt to the Persian, ever since the latter spared his life when Erik was about to be executed. And for all his mistreatment of Christine, he does allow her to go at the end.
History[]
According to the former daroga known only as "the Persian", the man who would later become known as Erik was born in a small city in the vicinity of Rouen, northern France. His father, a master-mason, has never seen him, and his mother; in order to avoid seeing him due to his monstrous appearance; gave him his first mask.
At an early age, Erik ran away from home and joined a circus, where he was exhibited as the "Living Corpse". From this point on he traveled all over Europe, switching employment, moving from fair to fair, and living among Gypsies, with whom he could perfect his skills as a musician, ventriloquist, and illusionist.
Erik's shows became so well-known for a time that the Persian Shahanshah ordered the daroga to find Erik and bring him to his palace at Mazandaran. During his time working in the Shahanshah's court, Erik took part in political assassinations and made use of his devious inventiveness to assist in the war against the Emir of Afghanistan. For the most part, however, he spent his time entertaining the young Sultana by concocting strange trick rooms and torture chambers. He became quite close to the girl during this period, and would later remember her fondly.
Erik's grandest accomplishment in Persia was the creation of an entire palace filled with secret passages for the Shahanshah's personal use. After the completion of this edifice, the Shahanshah ordered the execution of Erik and all those who had worked in its construction; reasoning that no one alive should be aware of the palace's secrets, and that such a thing like it should never be built again for any other monarch to use. The daroga, who was tasked with the execution, took mercy upon Erik and helped him escape, while some accomplices of his dressed the corpse of a drowned man, half-eaten by birds and unrecognizable, with Erik's clothes. The Shahanshah believed that the corpse was Erik, and for that reason alone the daroga wasn't executed for disobeying orders, but he was still exiled permanently, and eventually moved to Paris.
Erik, meanwhile, found new employment under the Sultan of Constantinople by building all sorts of contraptions: from trap-doors and secret chambers to life-like automatons disguised as the Sultan, to make it appear that he was in one place when he was in another. At the end, once again, he was forced to escape Constantinople before facing execution for "knowing too much", as the daroga would put it.
At this point, Erik was done with political business, and opted to move back to his native France and work as a contractor, building "ordinary houses with ordinary bricks". When he became involved in the design of the Paris opera house, however, he took the opportunity to create an underground lair and all sorts of secret passages that would allow him to live comfortably in secret, away from the judgmental eyes of humanity, and at the same time close to the world of music, which was one of his greatest pleasures in life. After some time, he became known as the Phantom, and when he wasn't "haunting" the place, he was composing his own masterpieces.
The greatest and final turn in Erik's life came when he became enchanted, and gradually obsessed with the young Christine Daaé, whom he desired to marry. Using his ability as a ventriloquist to pose as a disembodied voice (that Christine believed to be the "Angel of Music" that her father told her about when she was little) while hidden within the walls of her dressing room, Erik helped to tutor the young singer, and at the same time made use of devious tricks to sabotage the performances of her rivals; going as far as to set lose the chandelier on the audience one night, killing a spectator. This whole episode reached its climax when Erik kidnapped Christine; hoping to take her away from her lover Raoul; and revealed his true nature to her.
He kept Christine locked away in his lair and tried to force her to marry him, threatening to blow up the entire building with strategically-positioned barrels of gunpowder, all the while keeping Raoul and the Persian hostage in one of his trick-rooms; after the two had ventured together into the underground chambers in hopes of rescuing Christine. Even after a desperate Christine conceded to the marriage, Erik still contemplated killing Raoul and the Persian, and only agreed to spare them after Christine promised that she would be with him forever, and not try to kill herself to escape the marriage.
At this point, Erik collapsed in tears. When Christine kissed him, it was the first time in his life that he had been kissed, as not even his mother would. Realizing the hollowness of forcing her to pretend to love him, Erik ultimately allowed Christine to leave and marry Raoul, but only if she promised to visit Erik again upon his death. He also informed the Persian that he was dying "of love", and knew that he would be dead soon. Sure enough, Erik died a few days later. Christine kept her promise and returned the ring he had given her, before burying him; and the Persian arranged for the newspapers to publish a humble obituary: "Erik is dead".
Years later, Erik's skeleton was found beneath the building, recognizable only by the ring in his finger, and not by his ugliness, "for all men are ugly when they have been dead as long as that".
Appearances[]
- The Phantom of the Opera (fr: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra), by Gaston Leroux (1909 - 1910)