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I think it's high time we needed this- Wow! A Canon coupling?

Why do people hate on Christine so much for leaving Erik behind for Raoul? I'm going to take a little time to try to explain why I love this coupling so much.

Why Erik and Christine, or Erik and anyone really could not work:

Erik has never known human love. Ever. He has gone it seems, depending on the version, thirty to fifty years without human love. We know he is mentally unstable, he has the social skills of a five year old... a very violent five year old, when something doesn't go his way he kills. Erik thinks that all he needs is love and he will be fine and he thinks Christine is what will make him happy.

To begin, it's clear that he does not have Christine's interests in mind, or honesty at all, when he uses her dream of the Angel of Music to work his way into her heart. He's extremely possesive and plays on her fear of losing him to keep her from seeing other people. It got to the point where Christine was emotionally weak from the loss of her father and his voice filled the void she could not tell the difference between the two, thus why she fell under his spell. Did we mention that he chloroformed her when he dragged her down to his lair in the book? Oh yeah.. how loving.

Remember Christine did NOT start panicing when she saw Erik's face. She paniced long before when she realized he was HUMAN.

I do not think Erik would know how to handle a relationship. He would be far too possesive and violent, however sweet he can be, which he tries, he would probably end up killing something dear to her if it was getting in the way of their relationship- that's pretty abusive.

Christine didn't really love Erik...but she was not two-timing.
After the death of her father, Christine was pretty much on her own, with the help of Mama Valerius, but otherwise alone. She had to make her own way in the world and grew with a little attitude and the ability to do for herself as well as an amazing survival instinct I feel.

When she found herself in Erik's lair, confused and obviously decieved, she knew she had to play along with what Erik wanted or she would never get out of there, at least alive anyways. She has realized that he is dangerous.

However, she does not just humor Erik for her safety, but she genuinely finds that he is a musical genius and she sympathizes with his solitude because she has also felt isolation and emptiness from the loss of her father. There is a part of her which does not want to abandon Erik and force him to suffer more lonliness, remember she BEGGED Raoul to sing for him one more time: a kind gesture which ultimately led to her demise.

I do not believe this was love. She did call him a monster and attempted suicide at the thought of marrying him. I wouldn't really even think about commiting suicide if someone I loved asked me to marry them.

She actually holds a lot of power in this story. She takes it upon herself to not force Erik (who she admires and pities) be utterly abandoned... but at the same time she has to protect Raoul from him. The perfect example is the Masquerade scene in the book where you can tell the one thing on her mind is: Okay... Erik over there, Raoul over there. Stay in your separate corners you two! You knew she could not tell Raoul the truth without him being in danger or jumping headfirst into something stupid, especially with Erik so nearby.

Christine and her feelings for Raoul.

Of course we know that he rescued her scarf- probably a symbol for his attempted rescue later.

She obviously cares deeply about him, if she didn't why wouldn't she just let Erik kill him and be done with it? She would have no troubles staying away from Raoul if she loved Erik and that's what he wanted.

She purposely pretends not to remember him to protect his identity and admits to that later on.

Oh and let me cite the line: If I did not love you, I would not give you my lips.

That's her first kiss ladies and gentleman!

Also she agrees to marry Erik only to save Raoul's life and cannot bring herself to look at him afterwards, I believe is what happened.

Raoul and his feelings for Christine

The book pretty much implies that Raoul is a hard working Sailor who is most likely still a virgin or has at least had very little sex compared to his brother. The fact that he kind of melts when he is with Christine is a sign that he loves her.

Also, he had Christine's best interests in mind most of the time. Even when people say he was overbearing on her he really was thinking about her. Some people might say him looking around in her dressing room was an invasion of her privacy: This was well over a century ago, they didn't have the same ideals about privacy back then.

Raoul, I will admit is feminine (being raised for the most part by two sisters and a governess as well as his older brother), and emotional but this is from a time when that was a GOOD thing. Men wept openly back then, there was not this same manliness myth. I like to call Raoul the original metrosexual, however.

Oh yeah, one final thing, in the society and times of Phantom for a high society person like Raoul to have even considered being in love with a poor orphan with no prestigious family line was completely taboo. In the end he completely abandoned his money, his title, his estate (I'm assuming his sister's got the property), everything to be with Christine.

I'm gonna quote Utakan here:
"He risked his life and put his trust in someone he did not know (The Persian) and went below in the catacombs of the Opera house, only to fall into a trap.
Though he did pretty much go insane through that, he was risking all he had to get Christine. And it was evident that if he wanted Christine as a wife, his title as Viscount (or even Count since Philippe died) would suffer and he would probably lose that and any money entitled to him. "

Now it's late, I'm tired, there it is.

Also please if you are going to debate, please don't say "Raoul sucks, Erik rules, nyah" give some back up biggrin

agreed!

stare

I know Erik is violent. xD

Raoul < Erik

I dun care how bad the man was... I will always admire him.

Knew this was gonna happen. MindlessSoul, respect others and their opinion. No one asked about who, in your opinion, PWNED the other. Warning. heart

Its so true crying

Poor, unhappy Erik!

I'd hug Erik... if I wasn't afraid he'd kill me

I agree with what you are saying. and I wish I had an Erik plushie to hug.

Well not everyone's that smart, Baka dear. They think to like one thing is to hate the other. I adore Erik The Persian moreso, oddly but it's sweet to see R/C. Though I do like E/C SOMETIMES. I don't read fanfics anymore. PotO got me off those horrid things. I roleplay as Erik alot (with Painted_Black as my Christine) but usually our roleplays end with Christine going with Raoul instead. Which, hey, is how it's supposed to go. It's a rarity that we have the "omghappyending" thing for those RPs.