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Absolutely. As much as I like him as a character and I think he's absolutely fascinating - any sort of relationship other than a casual friendship is somewhat frightening. He's posessive, selfish (generalization), and isn't always "all there", if one gets my meaning...

Not that I dislike Erik -- I simply have wary respect for him.

Obviously Fuoko, this had to be you. But I agree with Unromantic, he was only associated with the word because of fanfiction and some other Phans. It's true I have called his a Fop once, but that's only because I was encouraged.

*shrugs* You don't have to like Erik. I just seem to have this thing for characters with dark, totured pasts, and Erik is about as tortured as they come.

Raoul is very typical of the male protagonist in gothic literature. He's the unthreatening hero of the story who doesn't quite get to be the knight in shining armor.What with getting caught in the torture chamber and all...

Ah Fuoko was the first to explode on this one. Oh well. I guess I'll simply add on to this.

I went through this thread and even though people are agreeing, there are a couple of people who bring up Raoul's continuous crying. Well, I'm going to give a teensy rant on that just to further Fuoko's point about our dear Viscount.

It's the 1800s. Men back then were open with their emotions. Good God, even Dr Van Hellsing cries in "Dracula". And that man has been portrayed as this bad-a** vampire slayer!

Another thing: Erik cries a good deal in the book, too. He sobs to Christine and to the Persian a lot. He even weeps at the end! So if you're going to pull that detail out, you might as well bring up Erik's sobbing too. "Oh but Erik's a torured soul!" And Raoul's mother died in childbirth and his father died when he was a kid! Having both your parents dead is no walk in the park. "But Raoul is spoiled!" And so is Erik! The man demands 20,000 francs for god sakes. If he doesn't get his way, he goes on a fricken rampage. "But it's Erik!" So we should change Raoul's name to Erik just so we can love him, too?

I'm all for Erik, but I'm a Raoul phan too. I love all the characters as a whole because without them, the story would not be the same.



Yes, that's another thread entirely. And thanks for the mention. I seem to rant on that too much. Then again there are a lot of those threads 'round here.



Actually, no one uses the word fop these days. The term is European and is mostly used for theatre to describe a character if it's used at all these days.

He saw Christine in a carriage with another man. Not only that, but he'd been trying to reconnect with her and she'd been rejecting him. Seeing her out with another man only brought him deeper into his love-enduced depression.

How is Raoul a fool? If he was a fool, he would've left Christine alone the minute he knew something weird was going on. But he went after her because he LOVED HER.

That isn't a steriotype. A good 98% of phans in this Guild alone drool over Erik and just throw aside the fact that he is meant to be an old walking corpse with serial killer tendencies. And sometimes even those who keep it in mind still drool because they think being a phan is all about loving Erik.

As short as I wanted this post to be it ended up being long because I have a tendency to do that.

Actually, Van Hellsing cries about as much as Raoul does, only it doesn't really start until the middle of the book. But it goes on right until the end and is more frequent than Raoul's little sob moments.

And though it's different from seeing Christine riding in a carriage, it's two different plots entirely. Let me put it this way: You're madly in love with someone you've known since you were a little kid. You try and get together with them to catch up and perhaps rekindle your friendship and maybe turn it into love. But, they reject you time and time again for no reason that you are aware of. Suddenly one evening you see them out with someone else. Your heart is broken. And with the way the youth these days are acting, such things are often the cause of suicide.
That good enough to bring across his reasoning for that?

Just please for the love of God, everyone, stop calling Raoul a baby or a pansy or anything but what he really is.

Thank you for finally saying that on behalf of Raoul fans everywhere..or in this guild at least... I agree with you completely..

Really, there is no reason to hate Raoul. He is a wonderful man.

Anyways, I think phans are loosing sight of what Phandom really is. It's not drooling over Erik and despising Raoul. It's about coming together to express the central interest of Phantom of the Opera. I think, every once in a while, the phans here on Gaia need a wake up call. Even the most sensible people forget what being a phan is all about.

Sorry about my mini rant. o_O It's something I've been meaning to get off my chest for a while.

I wholeheartedly agree. Raoul and Erik are similar. (cut out murderous tendencies, etc.) Since I read the book after seeing the play, I already had this "POOR PHANTOM" bias-thing going on.

Of course, I completley adore Original!Erik, because at the end, sobbing to his good friend The Persian, you just can't help but give a little pity.

I like Raoul alot, he's pretty awesome. What girl wouldn't want a guy who'd die for them? After seeing the movie though, people generally go, "Oh, he's not THAT bad."

BS.