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Post by asianorange on Dec 10, 2011 17:14:03 GMT -6
There's a part in Chapter 21 (or Chapter 20 maybe depending on which version you have): In The Cellars of the Opera where Leroux goes on to talk about some figure in a felt hat and a cloak. He says it's not the Phantom but it is someone else that he's not allowed to talk about who renders "state services". I always wondered, who is it supposed to be then? I don't think it's the ratcatcher? Because he's supposed to have a lantern? And he talks about the ratcatcher later...so who is it?
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wulphe
Chorus
au chapeau de feutre.
Posts: 237
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Post by wulphe on Dec 10, 2011 23:29:04 GMT -6
Leroux never lets anyone know who the shade in the felt hat is, so we're left to speculate. He also doesn't elaborate much on the ratcatcher or the mysterious woman who seems to watch operas in box 5 with Erik (if it's not just Erik messing with everyone, making them think there's a woman there too).
The best suggestion I've heard so far is that the shade is a criminal working for the police to manage the lower levels as his "community/state service". They turn the Persian over to the opera house director multiple times, and the Persian suggests this person is unsavory and dangerous. Another possibility is that it is someone Erik has employed.
As a silly fan, I like to interpret this shade in my own fanciful way, but I won't go in to that here. XD
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Post by asianorange on Dec 10, 2011 23:49:16 GMT -6
Ohhh I see. Hmm. Yeah, there are a few characters in the novel that are never explained. I was wondering about the "ghost's lady" as well. I thought maybe the Phantom was doing that to keep people from his trail. If they thought it was a "ghost couple" they would be less likely in thinking that it was a solitary corporeal man. But that's my own mind trying to think of an explanation. What is your own interpretation? I would like to know.  |
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wulphe
Chorus
au chapeau de feutre.
Posts: 237
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Post by wulphe on Dec 11, 2011 3:02:12 GMT -6
>.< I really let my imagination get away with this one, based loosely off another theory I don't actually believe to be what Leroux intended... BUT I like to think of the shade as Erik's first "protege". One to learn his deadly secrets rather than his beautiful ones. I've kinda even made this character into an OC of mine, that I might (still debating it) squeeze into a fanfic I've been working on. I call her "Shae" for now, but that's just a placeholder. I don't want to say too much... Basically, she's an orphan from Persia who mimicked Erik and learned from him. Then stuff happens and she ends up persistently following him. She's really dark and creepy, but loyal.. to the point that even freaks him out, not to mention she's blatant remind of his dark side. In my developing universe, she's the sociopath to his bipolar outbursts, and, in a very twisted way, she views him as a father-figure.. and he tries really hard to ignore her existence. She's represented in my avatar, and the phrase below it. "l'Ombre au chapeau de feutre": The shade in the felt hat. If you really wanna know more, you can check out my deviantart page... but it's not really that interesting yet.  And.. umm.. the theory I built this off of, and ran with, just mentioned that the shade and the woman in box 5 could be the same person; someone as screwed up as Erik, and in such a way that he has no interest in her besides her use as a security guard. I always felt a weird pull to the shade's mystery, so I was hooked. |
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Post by asianorange on Dec 11, 2011 5:03:55 GMT -6
Oohhh, I see. Your character sounds really interesting. Hmm, it's so weird for Leroux to add a character and then never elaborate on the person. You would think that an author would include things for a reason, from characters to color choice, to tell the audience something...but the addition of this character...it's just so very interesting.
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Post by The-Savage-Nymph on Dec 11, 2011 5:22:39 GMT -6
Oohhh, I see. Your character sounds really interesting. Hmm, it's so weird for Leroux to add a character and then never elaborate on the person. You would think that an author would include things for a reason, from characters to color choice, to tell the audience something...but the addition of this character...it's just so very interesting. I think that is one of his tricks to make it believable to be a true story. Not everything is explained in true stories. Random people DO pop up and you have NO clue, who they are and what they do. AND it adds to the creepy admosphere XD |
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Post by asianorange on Dec 11, 2011 5:30:23 GMT -6
I think that is one of his tricks to make it believable to be a true story. Not everything is explained in true stories. Random people DO pop up and you have NO clue, who they are and what they do. AND it adds to the creepy admosphere XD Ohhh that's true, I never thought about it that way before. But now I feel like overwhelmed with curiosity and really want to know who that person is, haha. Too bad Leroux is gone and I can't just ask him myself...haha |
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wulphe
Chorus
au chapeau de feutre.
Posts: 237
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Post by wulphe on Dec 11, 2011 12:40:31 GMT -6
Oohhh, I see. Your character sounds really interesting. Hmm, it's so weird for Leroux to add a character and then never elaborate on the person. You would think that an author would include things for a reason, from characters to color choice, to tell the audience something...but the addition of this character...it's just so very interesting. I think that is one of his tricks to make it believable to be a true story. Not everything is explained in true stories. Random people DO pop up and you have NO clue, who they are and what they do. AND it adds to the creepy admosphere XD Exactly! He really got in to the whole "I'm a reporter telling you everything I know about what happened" but, like you would expect in reality, he doesn't know everything. |
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Post by salierisantfarm on Dec 18, 2011 14:49:49 GMT -6
I remember reading somewhere that there were reports of a half-crazed monk living down there and that that was probably who the "shade in the felt hat" referred to.
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Post by asianorange on Dec 18, 2011 17:00:42 GMT -6
I remember reading somewhere that there were reports of a half-crazed monk living down there and that that was probably who the "shade in the felt hat" referred to. Ohh really? I never heard that. That's so interesting. |
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Post by The-Savage-Nymph on Apr 6, 2012 12:43:23 GMT -6
I have a question:
Erik isn't wearing a mask during the masqued ball, is he? because Raoul recognised him as the death-skull from perros. I don't think that erik would wear a skull mask at Perros, so he might have been without mask at all and therefore he wasn't wearing a mask as the red death.
Right? Wrong? What do you think?
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wulphe
Chorus
au chapeau de feutre.
Posts: 237
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Post by wulphe on Apr 6, 2012 14:48:16 GMT -6
I have a question: Erik isn't wearing a mask during the masqued ball, is he? because Raoul recognised him as the death-skull from perros. I don't think that erik would wear a skull mask at Perros, so he might have been without mask at all and therefore he wasn't wearing a mask as the red death. Right? Wrong? What do you think? I'm pretty sure you're right there. Raoul faints at the Perros-Guirec graveyard when he sees Erik's true face and thinks he is some kind of undead thing. If Erik were wearing his mask, Raoul wouldn't have been as frightened. It would just be kinda creepy to see a guy running around with a black full mask. I think it makes the Bal Masque even more interesting; everyone assumes Erik's real face is some elaborate mask. It's the only time he can walk among the crowd and seem normal, and yes, Raoul does recognize him there as the same face. It seems like most of the time Erik does not wear a mask, only when he's trying to hide his face from Christine, etc. Joseph Buquet also saw him creeping around the opera without a mask. |
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