I've been meaning to write this entry for a while so I'm glad I'm remembering and I can actually do it. I just wanted to keep a tab of what parts of the Phantom of the Opera story I'm actually using in recreating it in He's There. Even though this isn't a retelling, and obviously as different people AND roleplayers they're going to do their own things, it was my intention to make the plot and some of the ideas coincidentally line up with the original story, sort of inadvertently for the characters.

I'll go ahead and brief what each of the terms are, just so what I say is clear.



Meg
I'm pretty sure everybody knows I have a Meg in my story, but funny enough, not a lot of Phantom stories include one. She was in the book a little bit if I remember, but I think her biggest role as Christine's best friend is in the musical. She was also very cute in Robert Englund's version. That's the extent of Meg. But I think having her is important because then Christine can show a little more personality, and have someone to confide in. I've decided to really elaborate on her because she can bring her own thing into my story, instead of "phantom this" and "phantom that". Also, I need her for the ending, because she is an insider with a rational POV, which we need when Lily's delusional behavior escalates.

Madame Giry
Madame Giry is supposed to be the ballet mistress, keeper of Box 5, and she reminds M. Firmin to pay the Phantom 20,000 francs every month so he doesn't get pissed. She's Meg's mother so she's probably in her 40's or 50's. She's been working at the Opera a long time and knows about the Phantom, but only that he's below the opera, and not an actual ghost, as most people believe. She doesn't actually talk to him, at least not often - they stay out of each other's space.

No doubt, my Giry is different, but I try to give her the spirit of her, in that she also knows about the Phantom, and is a little more respectful of the situation and understands, even, that he could be dangerous. She does treat Lily like she is younger - some people are like that - she just wants to look out for her, and probably everyone she knows. On the other hand, I want her to have a more active interest in figuring him out, even if it's an unwelcome interest. I think she plays her part well enough.

Raoul
Raoul is supposed to be Christine's former childhood friend that she falls in love with when they meet again, and he reciprocates. He's a big chunk of many plots because usually The Phantom of the Opera's romance component is a love triangle and that's why Erik gets so angry. He's not attractive and he lives in the damn catacombs, but he's tried as hard as he could to win her heart and suddenly it's taken by some douche with pretty hair that comes out of nowhere. And then he... traps him in a room of mirrors and almost kills him by torture... *cough*

I decided against having a Raoul in my story loooong ago, because I already knew I was making a Mary Sue and I didn't want to make it worse by having her affection being fought for. Also, my story doesn't quite allow it anyway because it was my intention to have Lily become obsessed with the Phantom and NOT want to leave him, much like the Julian Sands version, even though in that it was because he was psychically controlling her. So.. it really wouldn't make sense if he was around.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I have incarnated him in the Giry girls, and Lily's parents. Raoul is, in essence, the real world trying to take Christine from Erik, so in my story, Raoul is everyone. He is jealous and vengeful to everyone that's trying to talk reason into Lily or direct her away from his plans. And he takes them all on at one point or another. It's kind of scary. lol

Carlotta
Carlotta is the diva of the Paris Opera. She can't sing as well as Christine, but mostly everyone loves her anyway. But then Christine starts gaining fame, with the help of the Phantom, and this pisses her off, so she tries, unsuccessfully, to pressure her back into the chorus or upstage her so she can stay on top herself. Most versions have the Phantom pranking her or otherwise scaring her out of performing, but in Robert's version he decapitates her at the masked ball and leaves her head in the soup. *CHORTLE*

There hasn't been a Carlotta because I wasn't really so interested in including her for some reason. Christines don't have a terribly competitive personality, and neither does Lily - it's the Phantom that insists she try out for these huge roles, to get everyone else to love her as much as he does. Since my Phantom's going to become more hands on in her life, I think I will add a Carlotta, but she won't be as intense as the original. I think she will probably be a very talented Senior girl who suspects it's Lily herself making the shit happen when things "don't go her way". In the end, she won't have the star role, but it won't be because she was so outwardly obnoxious or didn't have the talent.

Joseph Buquet
Joseph Buquet is the poor unfortunate stagecrew guy that gets pwned by the Phantom in all versions no matter what. You feel kind of bad for him, knowing he's going to die. Sometimes he's out looking for Erik, sometimes he has nothing to do with why the Phantom's pissed. But he's there and he has a very nice neck to tie a rope around. Charles killed his Joseph on total accident, it turned out, just by running into him in the dark and making him lose his balance.

I almost didn't have a Joseph Buquet but last minute I decided "what the hell."  Nobody dies in my story though. Now, hurt is different.

M. Firmin
The owner of the Opera House, who's kind of not that great at it. I can't think of who he'd be besides Mrs. Vardega, the theatre teacher. I'm sure she's going to be confused once or twice by happenings and unsure what to do about them.

M. Andre
Co-owner of the Opera, I think? I didn't include him.

The Persian
The Persian is a man the Phantom knows personally, so like Madame Giry, he's aware that the ghost is a man, and if you're not careful, he'll snap your throat. The versions are split on who actually leads people down to his lair when he starts causing too much trouble - sometimes it's Madame Giry, sometimes it's The Persian. In the versions where I've seen the Persian, he's leading Raoul down and he ends up getting stuck in the mirror torture chamber as well. I don't know if The Phantom intended it, but on the other hand, his old friend betrayed him...

There isn't a Persian in the strictest sense of the role, but I think it's safe to say much of his point is in the owner of my Phantom's theater, as... well... I can't really go into detail. Sorry. 

The Mask
I put this in here because SOME VERSIONS don't have a mask. Or maybe it's just Julian Sands? I don't know, sometimes it's not as easy to define. Robert has a mask, it's just not made of plastic or leather or other artificial materials. I guess the mask category is just my way of asking "how is your phantom deformed?" The original Phantom's just plain hideous, deformed from birth and looks like a corpse. Lon Chaney and Charles Dance follow in those lines... Robert's face is burnt/decaying something of the sort. A couple phantoms have been normal people whose faces got splashed with acid... The musical Phantom is deformed, but then... the movie OF the musical features a Phantom who just has a freakin' SUNBURN, I swear.

Some of you know what's up with my Phantom's face already. He's definitely wearing the mask for a reason, but what he's hiding is his own doing, not someone else's or a deformity.

The Angel of Music
This is a very interesting idea to me, in terms of how I used it. The Angel of Music is what Christine believes to be ... well, an angel of music... that her father sent her from Heaven, as he had died many years ago and they had a close relationship. The angel is there to guide her in her singing and performing so her dreams can come true. The truth is that the Phantom, having stalked her for so long, knows about this relationship she has with her deceased father and he is the one teaching her to sing, talking to her through walls, etc etc, pretending to be that angel. So basically he pretended he was someone very special to her because he knew it was the only way someone like him could get closer and gain her trust.

I thought it would be kind of weird to include this since she already knows he's The Phantom, but I realized all along that I was definitely using this idea, at its core. In The Phantom of the Opera, Erik calls himself the Angel of Music to gain her trust. In He's There, "Erik" calls himself The Phantom of the Opera to gain Lily's trust. The Phantom himself is her special person, that she has grown up with and adores and wants in her life. But all the same, he is not just "The Phantom", he is a stranger that she will have to confront the same way Christine has to confront Erik, rather than her "angel".

Faust
Faust is an opera that the Opera House does in most of the versions, centering around a man who gives his soul to Mephisto/The Devil for a woman's love. In the book, the play had its connections with Erik, although many movie versions don't make the same connection, save for Robert's version, where HE himself has given his soul to the devil, so seeing the play makes him uncomfortable.

There really isn't a way to include this since a normal high school isn't doing operas, lol, and I don't know of any play versions of it, but I'm thinking now that I may develop a play that is similar to it without it being blatant, like you can tell I was trying to do it. It'd be kind of interesting rather than just a random play, completely misfitting the mood of what'll be happening with Lily outside of it.

The Graveyard Scene
Christine has a bad night at the Opera and she's distressed about what's been happening between her and "the Angel", so she goes to the cemetery to lay some flowers on her father's grave. The Phantom decides she looks vulnerable enough to finally come to her in person, so he appears, playing a violin and coaxing her into a carriage to take her to his lair.

Welllll... honestly... I guess that kind of happened in Chapter 13, but he didn't take her to his lair. Although he won't be revealing himself to her for the first time, I'm sure he's got something nice planned to coax her back in case something happened. The problem with this idea, though, is that playing a violin and saying "please come with me" is not something most sensible people will take seriously.

Don Juan Triumphant
There isn't exactly a Don Juan Triumphant, because my Phantom doesn't write operas. He does write music, and prose, but he will practically NEVER share any of it. I think the closest thing to Don Juan Triumphant is the book that they're now sharing that Lily bought him. I think they will learn to protect it at all costs, as the personal messages to each other increase.

The Ring
When Christine sees his face, Erik tells her she can never leave his lair again, but because he sees how upset she is, he lets her go back up once more to tie up loose ends. He forces the wedding ring on her, and, at least in Rob's version, she can't get it off her finger, and it's also when Raoul starts feeling like their relationship is threatened.

I can see myself having my Phantom give her a ring, but I don't know if it's exactly a marriage proposal. It's too far ahead right now, but yeah, I don't think he cares about actually getting married. Being together complicated with the law and papers? Yeah, no.

The Masked Ball
It's kind of self explanatory. The Opera has a masked ball and Christine and Raoul go and The Phantom goes as well, dressed as Red Death. In some versions he's there to present Don Juan Triumphant, in others he just wants to warn everyone that he's not done dishing out the shit if they don't do whatever he wants. In Rob's version, he uses the bustle to his advantage and kidnaps Christine.

I'm thinking I'll leave this one out. There IS a Winter Formal coming up but... trust me, it's not what you're thinking. XD The Prom won't be happening within the story line I think. Even if it did, 1. WhyTF would Lily go, and 2. The Phantom's not that angry with a bunch of high school students, so it doesn't make sense.

The Chandelier
Always. The chandelier falling is like staple to the Phantom story. He gets pissed and chops it down and people die. The only movie that didn't do it was Rob's, because their budget was very small, although it's funny that the movie looks so great regardless. It would've been spectacular with the chandelier...

That chandelier's falling, that's all I have to say.

"Keep Your Hand at the Level of Your Eye!"
Said by The Persian to warn people about nooses that strangle you out of nowhere when you wander into the Phantom's territory. Keeping your hands up stops the rope from going right around your neck.

My Phantom doesn't hang people, although he does entangle an unfortunate one or two in ropes. He's much more into keeping knives in his pockets and slashing people.

The Lair
They all have one, so does mine.

The End (in most versions. Rob's a bastard though.)
Most endings have, or at least mostly have, the Phantom threatening to kill Raoul, who is trapped, if Christine will not be with him forever. She's going to make the sacrifice but last minute, Erik has this thing called humanity and lets them both go, as he can see she doesn't love him and will be miserable. Afterward, some different things can happen. In Lon Chaney's version, the mob finds their way to the lair and chases him for a while, and to serve some justice for the 1920's movie-going public, they kill him. Julian-Phantom was killed. Most often he just disappears, though. In the musical, he sits in a chair and pulls a curtain over himself, and Meg reaches the lair, and when she lifts up the curtain, still with his shape, they play a sort of magic act and there's just his mask sitting in the chair. ...Charles Phantom commits suicide. *cry*

I obviously can't tell you what happens to my Phantom, but the ending about letting her go doesn't apply in the first place, so it's all a wild card. Stay tuned?



That was interesting to write out, but very long. o_o