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''The Phantom of the Opera'' was a GothicHorror novel by French author and renowned mystery writer Gaston Leroux, published in serialized form in ''Le Galouis'' in 1909 and 1910. Leroux tells what he insists is the true story of a young soprano, Christine, who believes she is being tutored by the "Angel of Music", sent to her from Heaven from her deceased father. Originally considered nothing special, especially compared to her rival and the opera's resident diva, Carlotta, after three months under the Angel's tutelage, Christine shines. The managers quickly realize the depth of her talent... and so does Christine's childhood best friend, Raoul, who sees her in all her newfound glory and realizes that SheIsAllGrownUp.

After a show, Raoul is eager to be reacquainted with Christine, but she is kidnapped by the Angel (really the titular Phantom) and taken to his lair. There, the Phantom puts her under his spell with his music and tells her that he wants her for his bride. However, when Christine takes off his mask to reveal his disfigurement, the Phantom throws her out in shame.

Shortly afterwards, Raoul and Christine become engaged. The Phantom overhears them, and decides to win Christine's love, once and for all... or, failing that, punish them both for their arrogance.

[[Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Also has had a good number of adaptations throughout the years]]. The novel is notable for being heavily influenced by Literature/{{Trilby}}, particularly [[TheSvengali Svengali.]]
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!!Contains examples of:
* AbominableAuditorium: The Opera House in The Phantom of the Opera was designed by the Phantom himself, and comes equipped with dozens of secret passages and hidden chambers that he can use to his advantage, including a private lair deep beneath the building. For most of the story, the Phantom is terrorizing the staff, extorting money from the managers, grooming a young ingenue for stardom, and is fully prepared to murder both audience members and employees if he doesn't get what he wants.
* AboveTheInfluence: Christine obviously expects several times to be raped during her two abductions, but it turns out the Phantom [[AffablyEvil respects her privacy and honor]], though it’s played with in that he comes off almost asexual and seems to want Christine as his wife for dressing up, taking out on walks, and spoiling with presents, rather than sleeping with, in the first place.
* AffablyEvil: The usher Madame Giry certainly thinks so -- as far as she knows, the Phantom is always a polite patron and a generous tipper who promises to make her daughter an Empress.
* AgentScully: Mifroid and Faure, the police commissary and examining magistrate, laugh at Raoul's and the Persian's stories about the phantom of the opera.
* AlasPoorVillain: Even Christine, the Persian, and the {{Narrator}} feel sorry for the homicidal maniac stalker's DeathByDespair.
* AnAesop: Nobody is born inherently cruel, and people who are have most likely become so due to a [[FreudianExcuse traumatic past]], and while FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse, it's still in society's best interest to be compassionate to those who are often shunned so they don't [[MaddenIntoMisanthropy become monsters]].
* AntagonistTitle: [[ProtagonistTitleFallacy But then again...]]
* ArtifactTitle: For English translations that refer to Erik as "the Opera ghost" or "the ghost" in the text instead of "phantom."
* {{Backstory}}: The Persian tells the Phantom's backstory to Raoul (and to the {{narrator}} later).
* BadLiar: Christine, to the point where the Persian is practically {{Face Palm}}ing as she fails to ShowSomeLeg to Erik to get him and Raoul out of the torture chamber unnoticed.
** In her first meeting with Raoul in years, she lies about knowing him to protect him from Erik who was eavesdropping. While it convinces Raoul to some degree, Erik is not fooled since she admitted to Erik that Raoul was a childhood friend of hers earlier.
* BeastAndBeauty: Tragic enough to border on {{Deconstruction}}.
* BetaCouple: Count Philippe and La Sorelli.
* BettyAndVeronica: With Raoul as Betty, the nice childhood sweetheart, and The Phantom filling the role of Veronica, the passionate madman.
* BittersweetEnding: Letting Christine go is, unquestionably, the right thing for Erik to do... but it's still hard not to feel sorry for him.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Opera House. Originally this was because the Phantom was actually the architect and did it on purpose, but later versions leave it unexplained.
** The Phantom also has a gigantic mirror room, which he uses to torture Raoul and the Persian, by introducing a sun lamp. This is one of the stranger moments in the melodrama.
** Parts of it are TruthInTelevision; the Palais Garnier really is like a maze, and has a lake beneath it.
** The Daroga mentions that Erik built a palace at Mazenderan where ''you could not utter a word but it was overheard or repeated by an echo.'' With his trap-doors Erik spied for the Shah. {{Ventriloquism}} explains how Erik could be heard at First Tier Box Five, [[FridgeBrilliance but this trope explains how Erik can hear all the conversations in the ghost’s box without being present.]]
* {{Blackmail}}: The Phantom demands 240,000 francs a year and exclusive use of First Tier Box 5 or else he'll drop chandeliers on people.
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Christine tries to do this to Raoul to save him from Erik's wrath. She goes so far as to deny knowing him during their first meeting in years.
* BuildingOfAdventure: The Paris Opera.
* CaptainObvious: Christine, when warning Raoul and the Persian: "You're inside the Torture Room! Get back the way you came from! There must be a reason for the room to be called like that!".
* CassandraTruth: After Christine is abducted from on-stage, Raoul quickly gains a solid reputation as a madman when he begs anyone who will listen to believe that she's been kidnapped by the phantom of the opera who lives in the cellars under the building.
** The Persian confessed everything to the Judge. The [[AgentScully Judge doesn't believe a word]].
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Christine and Raoul.
* ColdIron: Is that the phantom coming? Run to touch iron, if you didn't take the precaution of having keys or a horseshoe near you!
* CompellingVoice: Yes, this ''does'' come across all too well in a literary medium.
* CorruptTheCutie: Long before even meeting Christine, [[{{Backstory}} Erik worked for the Shah of Persia:]] the little sultana, the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. Erik built a HallOfMirrors for her. When she got bored of that, Erik transformed it into a RoboticTortureDevice, aptly named “the chamber of horrors”, used to [[DrivenToSuicide execute people sentenced to death]]. He also taught her how to strangle people efficiently with the Punjab lasso. The little sultana [[MoralEventHorizon soon applied that knowledge to simple peasants]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon and her own friends.]]''
--> "Wretched man!" I cried. "Have you forgotten the rosy hours of Mazenderan?"
--> "Yes," he replied, in a sadder tone, "I prefer to forget them. I used to make the little sultana laugh, though!"
* CrazyJealousGuy: Erik becomes more and more vicious and threatening towards Christine as his jealousy of Raoul grows.
* DamselInDistress: Christine.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mifroid.
** Erik also has his moments.
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: The final line of the novel is a plea for giving Erik's body this treatment. Oddly enough, it seems to be a Type 1, where the person was an honored figure (despite the fact that Erik was an unrepentant killer), and his body would be preserved as a relic/object of reverence:
--> And, now, what do they mean to do with that skeleton? Surely they will not bury it in the common grave! ... I say that the place of the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the archives of the National Academy of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton.
* DeathByChildbirth: Raoul's mother.
* DeathTrap: The Phantom installed one as the first room beyond the back entrance to his lair to intercept trespassers. When Raoul and the Persian fall into it, it starts as a SaunaOfDeath and ends as a DrowningPit, although its greatest torture is psychological.
* DecoyProtagonist: La Sorelli seems to be set up to be the female lead in the first chapter, but after the first few chapters she never shows up again.
* DeceptivelyHumanRobots: Erik ''"also invented those automata, dressed like the Sultan and resembling the Sultan in all respects, which made people believe that the Commander of the Faithful was awake at one place, when, in reality, he was asleep elsewhere."'' for Mehemet Alí Bey.
* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The {{Narrator}} claims he put together the story from firsthand accounts from people who lived and worked at the Opera House.
* DisappearedDad: During his MotiveRant, the Phantom laments (among other things) how he never knew his father.
* DomesticAbuser: Erik could be a {{deconstruction}} if not an UnbuiltTrope. In the original book, the author wants you to think Erik's a {{Jerkass}} and Christine is a saint for putting up with him: (Domestic Abuser meets LoveMartyr), but the MisaimedFandom (and [[LostInImitation some of the adaptations]]) wants you to think Erik's [[FetishizedAbuser totally hot]] and the relationship is [[CorruptTheCutie deliciously kinky]].
* DramaticUnmask: It drives Erik into a rage to have his deformed face exposed.
* DrivenToSuicide: TortureTechnician Erik's favorite method of disposing of his victims with his "chamber of horrors". If you are lucky, he only will strangle you to death.
* ElaborateUndergroundBase: When your evil genius's skillset involve architecture, you end up with a sprawling underground lair complete with lake, pipe organ, and mechanized death pits.
* EntitledToHaveYou: Erik sees Christine's love for Raoul as betrayal.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[AnAesop The whole point of the novel]] is that Erik never believed that Christine could love him and so [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds he was ready to destroy himself, her and everyone in the Opera house]], [[ThePowerOfLove but when she really accepts to be with him if he spares Raoul]] and lets him kiss her, Erik is so moved that he lets her go.
* EvilLaugh: Which leads Christine and the Persian to suspect poor Erik is (going) insane.
* ExactEavesdropping: Raoul, twice. Christine is not too happy about it.
* FaintInShock:
** Christine faints on stage after her splendid gala performance. Possibly exacerbated by exhaustion.
** The first time the Phantom abducts her, Christine faints due to the smell of death on his hand.
** When Raoul first comes face to face with Erik in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Understandable, as Erik has been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.
* FallingChandelierOfDoom: Probably not the {{Trope Maker|s}}, but definitely the TropeCodifier and still one of the most famous examples of the breed. Based on a real-life accident when one of the counterweights of the Opera House's grand chandelier fell into the auditorium and killed a woman.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Christine sees being married to Erik as this, as she tries to kill herself when she's abducted for the final time. The Persian is likewise convinced that she will decline Erik's marriage proposal and choose death, and rushes to warn her that Erik will blow up the opera house and kill everyone else with her if she does.
* FauxAffablyEvil: In the same conversation Erik explains how he pulled the PracticalJoke on Carlotta with his {{Ventriloquism}} he casually uses it to prank Raoul and the Daroga in the TortureCellar.
* ForegoneConclusion: Anyone who reads the prologue knows that the Persian survives to tell his story to the narrator, Christine and Raoul disappear from Parisian society never to be seen again, and Erik and Philippe both die.
* FramingDevice: Leroux framed the story as a result of his investigations of the Opera house and the mystery of the Phantom of the Opera.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: After running away from home, Erik [[ComeToGawk was exhibited as “the living corpse” in fairs across all Europe]], then learnt to be a [[StageMagician magician]] and artist from the [[UsefulNotes/{{Romani}} Gypsies]]. He was a great singer and {{ventriloquis|m}}t and displayed [[StickyFingers great feats of legerdemain]]. The Shah-in-Shah, hearing about him, sent the Daroga to bring him to Persia. While there, he developed [[ProfessionalKiller a talent for murder.]]
* TheGentlemanOrTheScoundrel: Raoul and Erik, with Raoul being the gentleman due to his being upper class, usually polite, and genuinely on good terms with Christine, while the dangerous and uncontrollable Erik whom can mesmerize Christine with his artistic passion as a singer is the scoundrel. This trope is downplayed, however, as Christine spends most of the novel trying to get ''away'' from Erik's influence and join up with Raoul.
* GildedCage: Christine's Louis-Philippe bedroom in Erik's house.
* GothicHorror: While a later example, the novel ticks all the boxes. Mysterious classical architecture, a foreboding evil lair with a torture chamber, a story heavy on the {{Romanticism}}, an atmosphere filled with dread and the thrill and fear of the unknown surrounding the Phantom. The story is full of {{Revenge}}, superstition, madness, and forbidden love.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: The Phantom's gold eyes can only be seen in the dark, and they glow like a cat's.
* TheGrotesque: Subverted by Erik, whose deformities make him a living corpse, but also averts being a GentleGiant: he is so socially deformed that his attitude as a [[PsychopathicManchild psychopathic,]] [[CrazyJealousGuy jealous monster]] makes him truly terrifying. Ironically, his [[AboveGoodAndEvil morally ambiguous attitude]] lets him fit into society very well, because HumansAreBastards.
** The {{Narrator}} lampshades in the Epilogue that Erik, with an ordinary face, ''would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind'', due in no small part to his [[MadArtist artistic]] and [[EvilGenius engineering skill.]] However, Erik is vindictive towards the humanity that rejected him, he holds human life at no value, and his [[EvilCannotComprehendGood act of mercy surprised even him]].
* HallOfMirrors: The torture chamber in Erik's house is constructed with heat-reflecting mirrors. The heat, along with the multiple reflections of trees, creates the illusion that the victim is trapped in a desert forest.
* HappilyAdopted: Christine by Madame Valerius after her father died.
* HeWhoMustNotBeNamed: Half the dancers and employees of the Paris Opera constantly try to tell the other half never to speak of "the ghost." The Persian refers to him as "He" around Raoul and orders Raoul not to say his name.
** In Chapter XX, Raoul and the Persian come across a mysterious appearance while on the trail of the phantom. When asked by Raoul if this is another member of the theater police, the Persian responds "It's someone much worse than that!", the authors note attached to it furthermore states how the author "can give no further explanation touching the apparition of this shade", saying the reader must have to try and guess for himself. The nature of this mysterious person is then dropped, never to be mentioned again.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The Phantom spends a lot of time as TheVoice and TheFaceless.
* HilariousInHindsight: The {{narrator}} refers to Christine's first abduction (the one where she disappeared for two weeks) as "not the infamous abduction" which everyone has heard of. In context, this refers to how famous her second abduction became in the news in-universe, but the story is so famous now through PopCulturalOsmosis that this clarification seems to be LeaningOnTheFourthWall.
* HypnotizeTheCaptive: The Phantom's voice has a seemingly mesmeric effect on Christine.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Given that the Phantom [[AboveTheInfluence is not interested in sex]], he pulls a AndNowYouMustMarryMe.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: The Phantom's motivation -- the guy doesn't actually ''like'' living underground.
* InterruptedSuicide:
** The Persian only just manages to stop Raoul from shooting himself in the torture chamber.
** After abducting Christine to force her to marry him, Erik finds her trying to kill herself and ends up binding her to prevent another attempt.
* InTheBlood: Christine is following in her father's footsteps with her career in music.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Arguably, everyone except Christine, the Persian and Madam Valerious:
** Raoul: After Christine murmurs: “Poor Erik!”
-->''At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It would have been quite natural if she had said,'' "Poor Raoul," ''after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated:'' "Poor Erik!" ''What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy?''
** Erik: After his LoveRedeems scene, meets the Daroga, who asks him (repeatedly) about the murder of Count Philippe:
-->''"Daroga, don't talk to me ... about Count Philippe ... "'' … ''"I have not come here ... to talk about Count Philippe ... but to tell you that ... I am going ... to die..."''
** Mme. Giry:
--> ''"Mme. Giry. You know me well enough, sir; I'm the mother of little Giry, little Meg, what!"''
--> This was said in so rough and solemn a tone that, for a moment, M. Richard was impressed. He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, nor even "little Meg!" [[SmallNameBigEgo But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her.]]
** Moncharmin: Excerpt from the (exceptionally long) ''"Memories of a Manager"'':
-->''"A grievous accident spoiled the little party which MM. Debienne and Poligny gave to celebrate their retirement. I was in the manager's office, when Mercier, the acting-manager, suddenly came darting in. He seemed half mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar under the stage, between a farm-house and a scene from the Roi de Lahore. I shouted: "'' 'Come and cut him down!'
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: The Phantom, at the end, as he lets Christine go because he knows she loves Raoul and won't be happy married to him.
* IWasJustJoking: Raoul wonders aloud how Erik knows how to work all the trap doors and navigate the secret passages. What, did he build them? The Persian explains, yes, he did.
* TheKindnapper: Erik. He kidnaps Christine multiple times with the intention of romancing her and making her his wife so that he can buy her nice things and take her out on Sundays. He keeps her in a [[GildedCage luxurious bedroom]] as well. Despite his becoming increasingly controlling and aggressive towards Christine, she develops a case of UsefulNotes/StockholmSyndrome so bad that she even asks Raoul to take her far away from the Phantom NoMatterHowMuchIBeg. Not that Raoul has a chance to follow up on that...
* LemonyNarrator: Gaston Leroux, which Lowell Bair, at least, mostly preserves.
* LivingMacGuffin: Christine, whose very presence sets in motion Erik's downward spiral that leads to him almost blowing up the whole opera house, in addition to being the object of Raoul's affection.
* LostWeddingRing: Erik gives Christine a plain wedding ring and says that she is protected so long as she wears it, although Raoul doesn't like it since he wants to marry Christine himself. Christine is thoroughly distressed when she loses the ring, because she doesn't know what will happen. In the final scenes, Erik is revealed to have found the ring, and he gives it to Christine when she promises to marry him.
* LoveAtFirstNote: Erik falls in love with Christine because her voice, while untrained, is full of glorious potential; Christine falls in love with her "Angel of Music" because his voice is incomparably beautiful. (Subverted, in that the Phantom's voice remains incomparably beautiful but Christine very quickly falls out of love with him for a multitude of valid reasons.)
* LoveHurts: Erik's love for Christine brings great pain towards both of them as their violent actions get worse, love for Christine and belief that Erik is a fellow suitor nearly drives Raoul mad, and many times, love is Erik's motivation to kill.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Erik is already an unbalanced individual by the start of the book, but a point is made of how falling in love with Christine, and becoming convinced that she loves him back, led to him becoming even worse than before.
* LoveMartyr: Christine -- she herself {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it in everything but name, and Raoul is saddened but not at all surprised or confused to see how much she evidently cares for her psychotic, jealous, possessive stalker while fearing him at the same time.
* LoveRedeems: After finally getting Christine to marry him, and after kissing her on the forehead--in what was certainly the first time he'd ever been allowed to show affection to anyone in his life--Erik breaks down and lets Christine and Raoul go free, knowing that she'll be happier with the man she truly loves than with him.
* LoveTriangle: Raoul and Erik are both after Christine's affection, although on Christine's part, her feelings for Erik are a mix of pity and horror rather than love.
* MachiavelliWasWrong: The connection between love and fear and which is the strongest is a recurring theme.
* MadArtist: The Phantom composes beautiful music. And, you know, kills people. Besides the music, [[ProfessionalKiller Erik's]] [[{{Blackmail}} many]] [[StickyFingers talents]] include being a great [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} architect]], the world’s best {{ventriloquis|m}}t and a TortureTechnician.
--> "Did you design [[TortureCellar that room?]] [[RoboticTortureDevice It's very handsome]]. You're a great artist, Erik."
--> "Yes, [[IronicEcho a great artist]], [[TortureTechnician in my own line]]."
* MadScientist: Deconstructed by Erik: He built a RoboticTortureDevice / DeathTrap and a DeceptivelyHumanRobot at the middle of the 19th century, but his tragedy, as the {{Narrator}} lampshades in the Epilogue, is that he is so ugly he could never become a scientist, but rather a toyman or stage magician:
--> ''And he had to hide his genius or use it'' to play tricks with, ''when, with an ordinary face, he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind!''
* MasqueradeBall: Central enough to the story that the chapter in which it appears is named for it.
* MatchlightDangerRevelation: Escaping the DeathTrap to find a room full of gunpowder... this is just not your day, Raoul.
* MeetCute: Raoul and Christine met as children when the wind blew Christine's favorite red scarf into the sea and Raoul jumped in to rescue it. When they reunite as adults, they reminisce over the incident.
* {{Melodrama}}; Pretty justified, given the time period in which the book was written.
* TheMoralSubstitute: Erik is Theatre/DonGiovanni done right: While Don Giovanni (and all versions of the Don Juan legend) is TheCasanova who never cared if he hurts the women he claims to love [[EnforcedTrope and is sent to hell at the finale of the opera only to please the]] MoralGuardians who insist that Don Giovanni must be punished so the audience [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing would not do this cool thing]], Erik (who is Don Giovanni's {{Fanboy}}) who's also abusive to Christine while claiming to love her, but after breaking Christine’s spirit and successfully blackmailing her into being his wife, lets her go with Raoul ''by his own will'' after Christine let him kiss her.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: According to the narrator, the figure Raoul shot on his balcony was Erik coming to attempt this. Erik then gets another chance when Raoul and the Persian come to rescue Christine, and is only prevented from doing so when Christine swears to marry him.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Many of the characters in the original novel, including some of the main cast, are thinly veiled versions of real people who lived in Paris around the time Leroux wrote the story, and a few references to real events are also made. Some scholarly fans have even suggested that apart from the parts which involve the Phantom, the book was essentially a true story, although this is almost certainly heavy exaggeration.
* NoMatterHowMuchIBeg: Christine eventually tells Raoul to take her out of the country away from Erik no matter how much she protests later.
* OffscreenTeleportation: The Phantom is everywhere and sees and hears everything! [[JustifiedTrope This is later explained in that The Phantom can move through the hatches on the Opera, and some rooms were intentionally designed to be spied upon.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: Mama Valerius for Christine. Count Philippe is also 20 years older than his brother Raoul and has raised him since their father died when the latter was 12.
* PluckyGirl: Christine is a Swedish peasant girl trying to make her way in the world and a name for herself with her singing, not to mention all the physical, mental, and emotional torture she has to endure, mostly on her own unless she's trying to protect her boyfriend as well.
* PrettyBoy: Raoul, according to Leroux's description of him in Chapter 2.
* PsychopathicManchild: The Persian and Erik himself lampshade Erik's attitude as childish, and despite his multiple talents, he is [[AboveTheInfluence not interested in sex]] but to [[TheFourLoves have a beautiful wife]] and [[IJustWantToBeNormal a life like any other guy]]. It’s only [[AndThenWhat when he actually triumphs that he realizes how impractical those dreams are]].
* PointyHairedBoss: Deconstructed with Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin: Everybody knows they got their jobs [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections thanks to their connections]], and that they don’t know a lot about music or how to run the Opera. Nobody really respects them and they're accustomed to cruel pranks and jokes, and thus they never take the Opera Ghost's threats seriously until the FallingChandelierOfDoom incident.
* ThePowerOfLove: Ultimately, Christine's love convinces Erik to release her.
* PracticalJoke: [[AgentScully Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin]] believe that each and every one of the strange happenings at the Opera are this. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that they're two [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] and [[DudeWheresMyRespect they get no respect]].
* ThePrimaDonna: Carlotta. She becomes this rather than improving her skill any further, once reaching the peak of her career.
* ProfessionalKiller: According to the Persian, [[{{Backstory}} Erik did this as part of his work for the Shah-in-Shah]]:
--> ''He took part calmly in a number of political assassinations;''
* ProtoSuperhero: The Phantom is an archetype for many later super''villain'' concepts.
* TheRival: Carlotta for Christine.
* RedundantRescue: Raoul's and the Persian's rescue mission ends with Christine being forced to save ''them'' from the Phantom's DeathTrap.
* RetiredMonster: Erik, after his FromNobodyToNightmare phase, survives the assassination attempts from his employers because HeKnowsTooMuch.
--> ''"Then, tired of his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be someone [[IJustWantToBeNormal "like everybody else."]] And he became a contractor, like any ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted."''
* RoboticTortureDevice: The aptly named ''"torture chamber"'' is completely automated: when the victim falls in the room, it activates and gives him the illusion of a tropical forest. When the victim cannot endure any more, [[DrivenToSuicide there's also a rope to hang himself]]. The Phantom uses it as a defense against curious people. The first victim of the book was already dead when the Phantom found him.
* SaveTheVillain: The Persian saved Erik's life during their backstory in Persia; he now ''frequently'' laments "MyGodWhatHaveIDone"
* ScarpiaUltimatum: The Phantom threatens to blow up the Opera, killing everyone inside, if Christine doesn't marry him.
* ScoobyDooHoax: Erik is pretending to be a ghost haunting the opera house.
* ScrapbookStory: We hear the story from the {{Narrator}} based on his research (which contains several {{flashback}}s narrated by Christine to Raoul and by Madame Giry to the new managers), memories of one of the new Opera managers Moncharmin, and the Persian.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Deconstructed in the original book, which shows the consequences of a society that embraces this principle: Richard and Moncharmin know how to play politics better than to manage an opera house, and Carlotta knows it's easier being ThePrimaDonna than to sing better. This means that everyone is a PointyHairedBoss who doesn’t know how to do their job. What's more, every employee knows this as well, so the managers are ProperlyParanoid about being pranked by them because [[DudeWheresMyRespect nobody respects them]]. They're also the ideal victims for a {{Blackmail}}er, and that’s how Erik could convince them into letting him do whatever he pleases.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The departure of Opera co-managers Poligny and Debienne, at the very start of the book - once a Phantom starts skulking around their Opera and delivering {{Blackmail}} demands, they waste no time passing the buck and getting out of the Opera business as fast as they can.
** Also Raoul de Chagny and Christine Daae (with Mama Valerious) flee from Paris to "the northern railway station of the world." Even when Raoul is a victim of the {{Malicious Slander}}ing that accuses him of his brother’s death, they never look back.
* SheIsAllGrownUp: Before their reunion at the Paris Opera, Raoul and Christine were childhood friends and last met on the verge of adolescence and strange new feelings that they couldn't understand.
* ShootTheBuilder: After Erik built his palace in Mazendaran, the Shah-in-Shah tried to do this to Erik. It didn't work.
* ShootTheMessenger: The standard method of solving any problem by [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] Richard and Moncharmin is to fire those employees involved in it. Only those with [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections enough influence can escape]].
* ShoutOut: To Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "The Masque of the Red Death." Prior to ''Phantom,'' Leroux was best known as a detective novelist (''Phantom'' itself is technically a mystery), and Poe was one of the first writers of detective fiction.
* SmallNameBigEgo: InUniverse: [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] Richard and Moncharmin and ThePrimaDonna Carlotta. Madam Giry is lampshaded as this (see ItsAllAboutMe), a humble usher who thinks of herself as an equal to the Opera’s administrators… just moments before they fire her. But FridgeBrilliance shows us how this is subverted: In Parisian society at this point, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Madam Giry ''knows the Phantom and he is happy with her work''. Therefore, ''she is more important than Richard and Moncharmin''. She gets her job back pretty quickly.
* SnipeHunt: Inspector Mifroid attempts to send Raoul to one, claiming that his brother Philippe kidnapped Christine and is headed to Brussels. He nearly falls for it until he bumps into the Persian, who reveals that Christine is actually in Erik's captivity.
* StageMoney: How Erik gets his 20,000 francs each month without being caught. Moncharmin and Richard give Madame Giry an envelope containing the cash to place in Box Five as instructed by Erik. She has a second, identical envelope full of fake bills, given to her by Erik; she puts the fake in the box, pockets the real one, and drops it into a manager's coat pocket. Later, while the managers are in their office, Erik opens a small trapdoor on the floor and swipes the cash from that pocket.
* StalkerWithACrush: Erik to a T.
** Also Raoul, who despite being the ostensible 'hero' does a lot of things [[ValuesDissonance that sit rather uncomfortably with the modern reader;]] Christine is not impressed ''at all'' when she finds out about him listening at her door. And then he goes and hides in her closet...
* StalkingIsLove: Again, Erik. And Raoul.
* StartOfDarkness: The Phantom's exile from the human race because of his ugliness.
* SupervillainLair: Erik's an architect who's had plenty of time to trick out his underground lair with both elaborate death-traps ''and'' sumptuous living quarters.
* SympathyForTheDevil: The narrator suggests that the readers pity Erik for the life that he lived, and the fact that he was not able to reach his full potential of the good he could have done the world with his genius if not for his hideous appearance that led society to reject him. During the story itself, Christine is also shown as having immense sympathy for Erik, as one of her reasons for not cutting and running from the opera house when she has the chance is that it would be "too cruel" to him.
* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Explanation for the difference between Carlotta and Christine. Carlotta is technically perfect but has no soul to her singing, which is why her croaking on stage is such a big deal as it had never happened before. On the other hand, Christine sings with incredible passion when she is on top of her game, but she is a very erratic performer and the narrator points out quite a few moments when she is not singing well.
* TemptingFate: A near-epidemic among the characters. Sure, Christine, it's ''perfectly safe'' to discuss your AxCrazy voice teacher on the roof of the very building he's been living in for years. That eerie disembodied voice you hear echoing your words is [[ItsProbablyNothing just the wind]], really...
* TenderTears: When Erik kisses Christine, both weep: Erik because he's never been able to kiss someone before, not even his own mother, and Christine because she realizes this.
* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: This is the reason Erik could maintain his reign of terror: In Parisian society, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Therefore the executives at the Opera and the police are not only corrupt, but are also [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] who don’t care about how to do their job properly, but rather how to practice office politics and be discreet with any problem (read: sweeping it under the rug).
* ThirdPersonPerson: Erik does this when he is particularly upset or angry. So, a lot.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin.
* TogetherInDeath: The Phantom's backup plan.
** This was Erik's real plan all along. Erik really never believed that Christine could marry him without being DrivenToSuicide. When Christine convinces him she will not attempt suicide and lets Erik kiss her, Erik is so shocked he lets her go.
* TortureCellar: An automated one!
* TortureTechnician: The Persian reveals that Erik worked as one of these for the Shah-in-Shah in Mazenderan. It explains a lot of things.
* TragicMonster: Erik, who has known nothing but hatred and fear his entire life, and wants desperately for someone, anyone to love him.
* TruthInTelevision: Because it was built on swampy ground, there really is a lake beneath the Palais Garnier. (And it has fish in it!) Today it's used to train Parisian firefighters for underwater rescues.
* UglyGuyHotWife: What would have been, had Erik carried through with his ultimate plan, given his deformities and Christine's beauty.
* UnseenPenPal: Christine only communicates with Erik through her wall for three months, never seeing his face and only knowing him as "the Angel of Music." She tells Raoul that she fell madly in love with him, but she was also terrified at the control he had over her soul -- she couldn't recognize herself anymore, did whatever he told her... When Raoul tries to tell her adoptive mother that she's in over her head with a guy she doesn't know, Christine gives him the familiar "You-don't-know-anything-about-him-it's-none-of-your-business" speech. Then, of course, he kidnaps her (drugging her to ensure her cooperation), leading to the infamous DramaticUnmask...
* VampiresSleepInCoffins: Erik, who has to an extent internalized his appearance as a walking corpse, sleeps in a coffin.
* {{Ventriloquism}}: The Persian declares that Erik is the best ventriloquist in the whole world. He must be, because he uses this skill to do a lot of {{Practical Joke}}s, including convincing Opera Singer Carlotta (and all the Opera’s audience) that she croaked like a toad.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The story was inspired by an incident at the Palais Garnier opera house in 1893, where a counterweight from the chandelier fell through the ceiling and struck a concierge below, killing her instantly. Gaston Leroux, then a journalist, based the story's mystery elements on a theory that the tragedy was actually a failed murder plot.
** And the skeleton of Erik's featured in the novel was inspired by the persistent RealLife rumors that a real skeleton had been utilized for the 1841 Paris Opera staging of the "Der Freischütz". The rumors themselves were just that, however.
* VillainousBreakdown: Christine notices that Erik gets more unhinged and frightening as the plot progresses.
* WellExcuseMePrincess: Christine never lets Raoul push her around and has no problem telling him to mind his own business repeatedly.
--> ''"I am a free agent, Monsieur de Chagny; you have no right to control my actions and I will ask that you desist henceforth. As for what I have done during the past fortnight, there is only one man in the world who would have the right to demand that I give him an account: my husband! Well, I have no husband, and I shall never marry!”''
* WhatTheHellHero: Christine and her guardian both chew out Raoul for too quickly assuming the rights of a husband or lover with his love interest and meddling in Christine's private affairs. He knows they're right, but LoveMakesYouCrazy.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Leroux reveals what happened to a few minor characters in the prologue; Meg, for example, eventually marries a baron and becomes the Baroness de Castelot-Barbezac, and Sorelli retires to write her memoirs, as do the managers.
* WickedCultured: Erik has an encyclopedic knowledge of fine art, opera, classical music, and of course, wine.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Erik -- he murders at least three people over the course of the plot and is definitely not the sanest person on the block, but Leroux expresses pity for him in the epilogue, lamenting what Erik's genius could have given to the world if only the world had not mistreated him.
** Arguably, he's this the entire time due simply to his appearance; at the time, BeautyEqualsGoodness was commonly enough believed to be TruthInTelevision. Imagine what people who believe ''that'' are going to think of somebody like Erik--no matter '''what''' he does...
** And yet simultaneously, and equally to his disadvantage, people of his era were much more used to mundane birth defects and scars than we are today, simply because we can now fix most forms of disfiguration with reconstructive surgery. Erik's unspecified condition (which largely resembles congenital syphilis, which would also explain his erratic mental state even aside from the lifetime of abuse) is so horrific to look at that no one has any context for it besides comparing him to a rotting corpse rather than a disfigured living person, which cannot have helped his baggage.
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