Upon the completion of the opera house, Erik planned to retreat to his lair and 'never wake up'. His reputation for these skills and his unearthly singing voice spreads quickly, and one day a fur trader mentions him to the Shah of Persia.Īfter escaping from the Shah's order of execution, Erik finds a place to live beneath a Paris Opera house that is still under construction. During his time with the tribe, Erik becomes a great illusionist, magician, and ventriloquist. his birthplace is given as a small town outside of Rouen, France.īorn hideously deformed, he is a 'subject of horror' for his family and as a result, he runs away as a young boy and falls in with a band of Gypsies, making his living as an attraction in freak shows, where he is known as 'Le Mort Vivant' ('The Living Dead'). Most of the character's history is revealed by a mysterious figure, known through most of the novel as The Persian or the Daroga, who had been a local police chief in Persia, following Erik to Paris other details are discussed in the novel's epilogue, e.g. Leroux sometimes calls him 'the man's voice' Erik also refers to himself as 'The Opera Ghost', 'The Angel of Music', and attends a masquerade as the Red Death.

It is also revealed that 'Erik' was not actually his birth name, but one that was given or found 'by accident', as Erik himself says within the work. Erik himself laments the fact that his mother was horrified by his appearance and that his father, a master mason, never saw him. In the original novel, few details are given regarding Erik's past, although there is no shortage of hints and implications throughout the book. Gerard Butler, who also portrayed Set in Gods of Egypt, Clyde Shelton in Law Abiding Citizen, Count Dracula in Dracula 2000, and Attila in the 2001 miniseries of the same name, in the 2004 film.Julian Sands, who also portrayed Warlock in the Warlock film series, Vladimir Bierko in 24, DeFalco in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Steve Essex in A Nasty Piece of Work, Warlock in the Warlock film series, Valmont in Jackie Chan Adventures, Yulish Rabitov in Banshee, Gerald Crane in Gotham, and Jor-El in Smallville, in the 1998 film.The late William Finley in the 1974 film.The late Herbert Lom, who also portrayed Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther franchise, in the 1962 film.The late Claude Rains, who also portrayed Griffin in The Invisible Man and Jacob Marley in Scrooge in the 1943 film.Erik has been portrayed by several actors over the years, including:

Who is the phantom of the opera