It is only by the intervention of the daroga (the Persian) that Erik escapes. Thinking that Erik could still make another palace even without his eyesight, the Shah orders Erik's execution. The Shah, pleased with Erik's work and determined that no one else should have such a palace, orders Erik blinded. At some point under the Shah's employment, Erik is also a political assassin, using a unique noose referred to as the Punjab Lasso.The Persian dwells on the vague horrors that existed at Mazenderan rather than going in depth into the actual circumstances involved. The design itself carries sound to myriad hidden locations, so that one never knew who might be listening. The edifice is designed with so many trap doors and secret rooms that not even the slightest whisper could be considered private. His reputation for these skills and his unearthly singing voice spreads quickly, and one day a fur trader mentions him to the Shah of Persia.The Shah orders the Persian to fetch Erik and bring him to the palace.The Shah-in-Shah commissions Erik, who proves himself a gifted architect, to construct an elaborate palace, Mazenderan. Born hideously deformed, he is a 'subject of horror' for his family and as a result, he runs away as a young boy and falls in with a band of Gypsies, making his living as an attraction in freak shows, where he is known as 'le mort vivant' ('the living dead').ĭuring his time with the tribe, Erik becomes a great illusionist, magician and ventriloquist. Erik is born in a small town outside of Rouen, France. Most of Erik's history is revealed by a mysterious figure, known through most of the novel as The Persian or the Daroga, who had been a local police chief in Persia and who followed Erik to Paris:) some of the rest is discussed in the novel's epilogue. In the novel, Leroux sometimes calls him 'the man's voice' Erik also refers to himself as 'The Opera Ghost', 'The Angel of Music', and attends a masquerade as the Red Death. It is also revealed that 'Erik' was not, in fact, his birth name, but one that was given or found 'by accident', as Erik himself says in the novel.

Erik himself laments the fact that his mother was horrified by his appearance and that his father, a master mason, never saw him. In the original novel, few details are given regarding Erik's past, although there is no shortage of hints and implications throughout the book.

Lon Chaney as Erik in the 1925 film adaptation of the film. 1.1 According to the Musical and 2004 Film.

The phantom of the opera 1943