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If you have read the Original novel by G.Leroux, there are diaries from the managers of the Opera Populair, and by the Persian, of the real Erik. They have found his remains in the cellars of the Opera. He had captured, and taken prisonar a miss Christine Daae as well. Do not get me wrong, he might have been real, but the novel and the Musical by Llyod Alexander are two very diffrn't things. Lloyd's enterpretation, is merely a fantasy stage performance, and the novel has some fictional detail. But it is entertainment non the less.

Does it Irritate you when people say he didn't exsist? It irritates me, beyond the compass of my witts.

~Discuss

There are arguments that Leroux based his story on real events, though exaggerated and very loose. For example, there was a soprano named Christina Neilson who sang at the Paris Opera, a weight from the chandelier fell at some point during its use, there is actually a de Changy (note spelling) family that existed at the time headed by a man named Philippe, etc. etc. There are a lot of coincidences, but I doubt it was entirely true for what it was worth. Leroux was highly inspired by du Maurier's Trilby (compare Christine/Erik with Svengali/Trilby; the similarities are uncanny).

Leroux's job was as a journalist, not a novel-writer, and he writes it in the style of a journalist; which gives it its verasimilitude style of writing. But, really, the things Leroux includes in the prologue are, in all reality, false or not entirely true. It is the same exact intent as Nathaniel Hawthorne with the Scarlet Letter and even some of his other works.

I did. *points up*

I believe Erik did exist, though the current version might not all be true. I find myself wondering if Roual (sp?) did acually live to love Christine, though I am quite sure that he did live. I do not think that Roual was in the story to make a difference, if in it at all. I believe that Erik most likley did kidnap Christine, but I agree, I believe he did have some kind of mental problem, not just disfiguration. But I also agree that it could have been any body. It would be wise to throw a body into the sewers under an Popular Opera House. Who would look in such a grand place for a murder? And who would look in the sewer under an Opera House anyway, even if it were mistrusted?

HOLY s**t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! eek
I'm so happy! mrgreen 3nodding

Oh, it'd be utter anarchy, I assure you. Mis-spelled names everywhere.

And since I'm the historical nit-picker today (and since I printed that page before it went down. ^_^);

There was A BODY found below the opera house.
Dubious... There are reports of them finding a body where Leroux said, but there's no solid evidence of it. There have been several bodies of presumed commune victims found in the cellars over the years.

I do remember that there was scandal between the Chagny brothers' real counterparts (the name was rather similar) over an opera singer of a name incredibly similar to Christine's.
The opera singer was Christine (also known by Kristine, Kristina, or Christina) Nilsson, and her background was almost identical to Christine Daae's. There was no scandal with any brothers, but she did marry a Comte; Ramon de Casa Miranda.
She also had a so-called 'rivalry' with a Spanish soprano named Adelina Patti (who had a sister named Carlotta, I might add) that was mostly created by the newspapers and their respective fans.

There was ALSO a third Chagny brother named, dun dun dun: Erik. He was older than the other two by far.
There was a de Changy family in Paris at the time, as well as a Comte Philippe de Changy, who was probably the inspiration for Raoul. He's the right age, and had a brother or cousin (accounts vary) named Raoul who died in infancy. There's also some mystery involving an uncle named Eric who was born in Rouen, but unexplainably passed over for the title of Comte and only once thereafter mentioned in the family records. Some people are inclined to believe that was Erik, but, if so, he apparently had a wife and three children that Christine never found out about.

The chandelier did really fall, killing one person.
A chandelier counterweight fell in 1896, killing one person and wounding many others.

There's also a story that construction workers in the 1920's found an intact, furnished apartment sealed up inside the double-bottom of the foundations, but there's no hard evidence of it.

It's a sign of having no life. 3nodding

No, but you had the basics right... the details are just easy to forget. Unfortunately, I've said this far too often on all the ten billion, 'ZOMG! Erik really existed liek totally!' threads that pop up on other boards.

What can I say? I like crushing phangirl's dreams. They're soft and squishy between my toes. ^___^

Ya it drives me crazy when people say he wasn't real. I thought I was teh nly one.

I thought that the Christine awas Daee but it was spelt differently. And the one I read, Erik helped build the Opera house and he had a deformity. He built a lair in the opera house while he was building the rest of it and they found a bady there. And the Christine went missing for awhile. And like others have said there was de Chagny. This stuff is what I remember reading in an article thing. But it could be what you people have said. And as you can see I believe he was real.